SYNOPSIS

The Solo Ship takes refuge on the asteroid-surrounded planet of Night Star, unaware that a combined force under Hannibal and Marshall Franklin is following. Sheryl continues her research into the Ide with help from Gije, but thinks they will never control the energy and are just its' pawns. Hannibal leads an attack on the planet in a Gidu Mack, with Marshall sending a group of Puffer fighters in to help. The Ideon jets follow him, only to find another Gidu Mack waiting in the asteroid field. Meanwhile, Marshall's squadron attacks the Solo Ship. A shocked Bes reluctantly orders the colonists to return fire. Meanwhile, the Ideon units dock, only to be caught by Hannibal's claw attack.

Hannibal tells Marshall to drive the Solo Ship to the same point where he has the Ideon so a Sublight missile attack can be launched, destroying both. Joliver overhears their transmissions, and lets both the crew of the Solo Ship and the Ideon know the Union and the Buff Clan are working as a team. The Ideon partially separates, and Cosmo is able to destroy both Gidu Mack mecha. Meanwhile, Marshall orders his forces to break off the attack, and launches Sublight missiles. The explosions cause Night Star's moon and asteroid field to break up, showing both the Solo Ship and the Ideon with rocks. The Ideon Swords activate themselves once again, and the robot uses them to destroy any falling rocks that come near it. However, the Solo Ship is knocked to the surface by the debris, and Night Star begins to erupt into lava. As the planet's surface disintegrates underneath them, the Ideon finds itself standing on the Solo Ship, which has been protected by the Ide. The colonists realise they've seen a manifestation of the Ide, but are still uneasy about the Ide's rising power levels and self-awareness.

NOTES

Sheryl Formosa: Sheryl and Gije seem to have started a relationship - she gives him a rather sweet kiss on the cheek.

Karala Ajiba: Karala is becoming very interested in looking after Lou, and behaving in more and more of a motherly fashion. She's also having bouts of sickness. See if you can guess why...

Deck Afta: Deck is studying combat tactics and the like to help his co-piloting skills.

Marshall Franklin: Marshall is his name, not his rank (which I'm guessing is Commander, like Leclan). His flagship is the battleship Scarabelli, a notably different design to the battleships seen before. The cruisers are of the same design as previous Earth Union squadrons, though.

Puffer: An Earth Union space fighter type, following the same rough look at the Cutlet, but larger and with a 'droop' nose.

Hannibal Gen: Hannibal is quite prepared to sacrifice himself in order to destroy the colonists - the honour from this feat would then pass to his family. Quite what happens to them when he dies a failure isn't made clear, however.

Night Star: The planet is known to the Buff Clan (Hannibal claims it's known to everyone but the insular Earth people - this is a little bit harsh, as while the majority of Earth people do still live on their home planet, there are a fair number of Earth colonies), and doesn't seem to have any lifeforms.

REVIEW:

This is much better. For once, the aggressors make a determined attack to wipe the colonists out rather than just sending in a fraction of their force - possibly because the Earth Union are involved. Tomino doesn't exactly have a high opinion of the human race, does he?

The episode also does a good job of portraying the general weariness, low spirits and depression that's rife among the colonists - crucially without turning it into a whining moan-fest. Hannibal's rather good in this one as well, prepared to sacrifice himself to stop the colonists and not even really making a big thing out of it. It's nice to see Sheryl get a break and find someone too.

The deflection of the exploding moon is a majestic scene as well.