SYNOPSIS

As the Solo Ship heads to Earth, a meteor passes them and hits the planet, confirming their worst fears. Their spirits are shaken further when the Earth Union on Earth orders them to turn back. A Science Academy vessel docks, putting aboard an investigator named Kiranin Colbeck. He explains they aren't being allowed to land because of Karala. Colbeck wants to see Sheryl's data on the Ideon, and she strikes a deal to share it if she gets access to the super-computer Gloria, located on the moon at a station known as Moonland. Just then, a remote-controlled force of Zlow Jicks and Zigg Macks sent by Daram attacks the ship. The Ideon makes short work of the unpiloted craft, using the All-Directional Missile Attack. Having seen the robot in action, Colbeck agrees to take Sheryl to Moonland, though as the base is under military control they'll have to sneak in. Daram decides to focus his attack on the moon, and force the Ideon units to split up. The first phase goes well, with the Ideon separating. As Sheryl, Colbeck and Joliver head down in a shuttle, Bes realises with disgust that the forces on Earth are abandoning the moon rather than fighting the Buff Clan.

Sheryl and Colbeck take advantage of the chaos to reach Gloria, and begin to input their data. Above them, Gije has arrived in the Galbo Jick, and manages to catch all three Ideon jets in the Gel Zone beam. The Solo Ship heads in to help, and rams the mecha, destroying the beam array. Down on Moonland, Gloria computes that the Ide's power is infinite - however, before they can complete analysis of the systems, the base personnel arrive and arrest them. A scuffle develops, and Colbeck is shot dead. In the confusion, Joliver grabs Sheryl and they leave, taking a tape of their findings with them. However, as they escape the roof collapses, destroying Gloria. Gije continues to attack the Ideon with the Galbo Jick, but without the Gel Zone it's easily defeated, and his escape pod crash-lands on the moon. Rather than rescue him after another failure, Daram leaves in the Gerowa Zan and abandons Gije. Back on the Solo Ship, Sheryl and Joliver tell the other colonists of the true extent of the Ide's power. Joliver theorises that it became active to defend the Solo colony, using Lou as an example. Karala realises that the Ide's self-defence instincts will extend to itself if it gains independence and feels threatened. As they take this in, another meteor streaks towards Earth.

NOTES

Sheryl Formosa: Sheryl's clearly fallen for Colbeck (and he for her). She's actually in a good mood for most of the episode because of this, even giving Cosmo a wink. The he dies and she goes a bit mad. That's about 7 on the Sherly Breakdown Scale.

Joliver Ira: Of course, if you're planning to flirt with a hunky Science Academy chap, you'd better take along this cheerful chap as a third wheel... Joliver has the tact to literally tell the pair they're socialising too much. Is he jealous of Colbeck? Or is he just a miserable bastard? I'm leaning towards the latter. To be fair, he does at least realise she's upset at the end.

Moonland: The Earth's moon is home to a large military and/or scientific base - the Science Academy seems to have some sort of independance from the military channels. The colony seems largely contained within one large base complex, outside of which spacesuits must be worn - there's no atmospheric dome or anything.

Galbo Jick: Presumably the Gerowa Zan has a fair amount of spares for this type, as the destroyed third section has been completely replaced already. A complete additional unit is most likely, as this episode takes place almost straight after the last.

REVIEW:

After the optimism of the last episode, the stool is brutally kicked out from under the Solo Ship crew immediately as the Earth they've been longing to see refuses to have anything to do with them.

And then it gets worse in stages - first of all, it's so nice to see Sheryl happy for once that it really hits when Colbeck dies. Just in case the breaking of the poor woman isn't enough, we find out that the Ide isn't some benevolent force protecting the innocents on the ship, but a force of nature quite likely to destroy everything in order to preserve itself.

Mind-expanding stuff, and even with a couple of minor problems (Moonland being called Moonland, Gloria looking like it's designed by John Frink) this is a hard-hitting, doom-laden episode.