The second broadcast episode was shot much later (actually 13th on the production schedule), but provides Joe with such an important mission that it clearly would help attract viewers to the new show. Sets depicting the space ship launch pad are familiar to fans of the Andersons' "Thunderbirds" show.
After a crash, the re-supplying for the space station is interrupted, leaving a pair of astronauts aboard with only 3 days air supply left. WIN sends Joe as a last minute rescuer equipped with his special glasses to receive the brain patterns transfer from an injured astronaut Charles Drayton, to bring him up to snuff on all the necessary space pilot expertise. Sam and Mac fool the authorities, not letting on that the astronaut is actually a 9-year-old boy.
Episode is basically workmanlike, not very exciting since the audience, even at Episode 2 stage, knows that Joe will succeed. The most suspense occurs at the outset, when the normal supply run launch goes awry and the spaceship is ordered to be destroyed (killing an astronaut inside) since it would land in a highly populated area. This decision is only momentarily questioned, even though it is the primary moral issue raised in the entire program.
Key hitch is that Joe on the way home after his successful mission must navigate re-entry and landing manually, quite a task, but we know that with the transferred brain patterns he has the wherewithal to get home safely..
After a crash, the re-supplying for the space station is interrupted, leaving a pair of astronauts aboard with only 3 days air supply left. WIN sends Joe as a last minute rescuer equipped with his special glasses to receive the brain patterns transfer from an injured astronaut Charles Drayton, to bring him up to snuff on all the necessary space pilot expertise. Sam and Mac fool the authorities, not letting on that the astronaut is actually a 9-year-old boy.
Episode is basically workmanlike, not very exciting since the audience, even at Episode 2 stage, knows that Joe will succeed. The most suspense occurs at the outset, when the normal supply run launch goes awry and the spaceship is ordered to be destroyed (killing an astronaut inside) since it would land in a highly populated area. This decision is only momentarily questioned, even though it is the primary moral issue raised in the entire program.
Key hitch is that Joe on the way home after his successful mission must navigate re-entry and landing manually, quite a task, but we know that with the transferred brain patterns he has the wherewithal to get home safely..
