Fusion Patrol

This week’s episode under discussion: Space: Above and Beyond, S01E04 “Mutiny” by Stephen Zito. Directed by Stephen Cragg, which originally aired October 15, 1995. Hosts Kenneth and Eugene look at the Space Above and Beyond this unique episode where, surprise, it’s not the 58th who are the mutineers (mostly) and we question who draws up their stupid navigation plans. Mutiny Synop...

In this second of two parts, Simon and Eugene continue their chat about #TheGiggle and discuss what type of undershirt Tennant’s Doctor wears, will Donna spill coffee on the Vlinx and get fired from UNIT, and did RTD give us all a massive gift when he turned the Doctor’s history into a Toymaker-created puzzle? Come join the conversation.

In Part One of two episodes on The Giggle, Simon and Eugene consider if David Tennant’s Doctor is now a discarded snakeskin, is RTD actually the Toymaker, and if Steven Moffat can fix all this mess later.

Simon and Eugene ponder the Wild Blue Yonder and wonder what the US Air Force song tells us about nothing on a spaceship, how and when you need to get the supersonic screwdriver out of the way, and Eugene breaks into song.

Don’t think. The newly-minted 14th Doctor arrives in London just in time for an alien invasion and to meet an old friend. It’s the first of the three 60th Anniversary Doctor Who specials, The Star Beast. Episode Synopsis The newly-regenerated Doctor, suffering no obvious post-regenerative effects, arrives in London, where he almost immediately encounters Donna Noble, followed by her da...

Sometimes events sweep you away a bit faster than you’d like. If you’re new to these “Patroling Beyond Fusion” segments, welcome. This one is a bit unplanned, and different because it contains a podcast attached. Things have changed, and hopefully, you won’t notice at all! Our podcast is hosted on two different services.  A “local*” hosting company that handles the fu...

David Tennant is back as the Doctor, and Simon and Eugene look at his first outing in this special episode of Fusion Patrol. Computer-generated Transcript. (Errors may exist) [00:00:10.01] Eugene: You're listening to Fusion Patrol, a Lister-supported podcast. Each week, we take a single episode of a science fiction TV series, movie, or audio, and overanalyze it to within an inch of its life. W...

While the Fightin’ 58th battle over a worthless rock in space, we wonder if the cockroaches were real, is it ironic or operatic that Tank is afraid of tanks, and if this episode is a senseless wreck or a key piece of groundwork for an epic 4th Season episode that never was. Kenneth and Eugene discuss The Enemy. *Note: In this episode, the Commodore has been inadvertently promoted to Admiral....

In this episode, we begin our look at the 2013 Japanese TV series Neo Ultra Q, which was intended as a second season of 1966’s Ultra Q. We’ll be looking at them two episodes at a time. In the first episode, Quo Vadis we are introduced to a world populated with kaiju, not all of them being overtly dangerous. Tensions run high between the anti-kaiju and the kaiju preservation factions as...

Simon and Eugene discuss the evolution of Bugs into a slicker but more standard thriller, whether ministers in Bugs are dealt with any more consistently than in Doomwatch, and we reminisce about LaserDiscs.

Kenneth and Eugene ask the question, can writers wrap a conspiracy within a conspiracy within a conspiracy so deep that the whole thing vanishes up its own butt? Spoiler: Yes, they can. Episode Synopsis The Saratoga is putting in to Earth for some much needed R&R, but it is not to be.  The Secretary General of the Commonwealth of Earth is assassinated by an in-vitro, and everything goes i...

John and Eugene look back in time to 1976 for a peek at Irwin Allen’s prospective pilot for the Time Travelers. The story of scientists trying to solve a pandemic of the day using a pandemic of yesteryear.

Find out what happens when a production team looks at their series and says, “Hey, this just isn’t working,” when John and Eugene look at the Return of Starbuck. Episode Synopsis Dr. Z has a dream, and he comes to discuss it with Adama.  When Adama hears it is about a warrior named Starbuck, he’s all ears Yahrens ago, Starbuck and Boomer were in a battle with the Cylons.&nbs...

Simon and Eugene discuss the emerging love polygon within the Bureau of Weapons Technology, why Beckett is being written as a bit of a jerk as well as a bad boss, and they speculate on the identity of the mole within the agency. Episode Synopsis Ed and Alex are out on the racetrack, about to test a device that shall henceforth be called, the Engine Killer.  Alex will shoot Ed’s bike’s engine...

Kenneth and Eugene discuss and ask how many people it is acceptable to kill to bury the already dead. Episode Synopsis An unidentified Marine ship approaches the Saratoga, ignores all attempts to communicate, and when docking permission is denied, it just overrides the Saratoga’s computers and docks anyway.  In the landing bay, the occupant, Lt. Colonel Raymond T. “Killer” Butts, is dead.&nbs...

John and Eugene look at the 1960 George Pal film, The Time Machine. John and Eugene discuss if eating Eloi is really such a bad thing, and what three books we’d take to start a new civilization. Synopsis It is January 5th, 1900, and four men arrive at the home of their friend, George, for dinner, but George is not there.  Being busy industrialists on a Friday evening, they have more importan...

It’s every bit as bad as you remember, and not nearly as bad as you think. John and Eugene look at Space Croppers. Episode Synopsis The Cylon Imperious Leader is getting impatient.  The Colonials haven’t lead them to Earth so he’s decided to force their hand.  He orders a flight wing to destroy the Colonial Fleet’s agroships.  In the fight, two out of three of the ships are destroyed.  Witho...

Simon and Eugene discuss the difference between a sequel and the second of two parts, when heroes are allowed to commit manslaughter and how this differs on each side of The Pond, and the state of password security in the 1990s. Episode Synopsis The new, as-yet-apparently-unnamed Bureau of Weapons Technology is being assembled under Beckett’s supervision.   Ed is still in the hospital, and Ros is...

Kenneth and Eugene look at the Space Above and Beyond episode Mutiny where, surprise, it’s not the 58th who are the mutineers (mostly) and we question who draws up their stupid navigation plans. Episode Synopsis The Fightin’ 58th are on their way for time on Earth, and we’re introduced to a new squad member who’s on his way back to see his wife. A Chig sniper shoots him, of course, and he dies alo...

John and Eugene consider if constellations look the same “on the other side,” when Chekov’s gun misfires and do robots have murder/suicide pacts when we look at the Galactica 1980 episode, The Night the Cylons Landed. Episode Synopsis A routine viper patrol encounters an unusual Cylon vehicle, but their communications are jammed before they can warn the fleet.  Aboard the Cylon ship, in addition t...

John and Eugene try to figure out what science or religion brings to the fight in the War of the Worlds, George Pal’s 1953 extravaganza. Synopsis It’s just another quiet night in small town Linda Rosa California when a meteorite strikes nearby, igniting fires. After the danger from fires is quelled, the locals are pretty pleased that an intact meteor has landed nearby.  They’ll be able to tu...

Simon and Eugene discuss what kind of government department builds a ridiculous deadly weapons store under London, whether secret agents ever genuinely expect that “when they’re out, they’re out,” and when fictional spies become legends in their own fictional universe. Episode Synopsis Kitty McHaig, a techno-destruction artist, gets a birthday call – a day early &#821...

Kenneth and Eugene journey to the Dark Side of the Sun and raise questions about the notion of a deterministic universe, was the deck stacked against Tank, and in what ways the Silicates are just like Marty McFly from Back to the Future. Episode Synopsis Killer has got a problem. She’s got a recurring nightmare that starts with the exploding sun and ends with her reliving the death of her parents...

If you could throw a baseball 780 mph, would the US Air Force really be a problem? John and Eugene discuss Spaceball. Episode Synopsis Troy and Dillion leave the kids with Jamie when they’re called away for an important mission from Adama, relayed to them by Lt. Nash.   They will take a special viper into space, reach certain coordinates, and then play the top-secret encoded message.   They tell N...