Fusion Patrol

When inadequate safety protocols at a factory in a small industrial town lead to the death of a child, the events set in motion are about to make a new public enemy. Simon and Eugene discuss the Doomwatch episode, Public Enemy. Episode Synopsis: In the town of Carlingham a healthy young boy kicks a football onto the roof of a factory.   With the help of a neighbor, he climbs to the top to retrieve...

What happens in scientific research on the lawless frontier can’t get approvals for human or animal trials?  You conduct it anyway because it’s the “lawless” frontier. John and Eugene discuss the Star Cops episode, Conversations with the Dead. Episode Synopsis: A freighter bound for Mars, the Daedalus, has a wee problem.   Its engines have fired at the wrong time and the fr...

Firefly comes to a close with the motion picture, Serenity.  Simon and Eugene discuss. Movie Synopsis: We open on what appears to be flashbacks showing the day Simon broke River out of the Alliance experimentation facility.   Paradoxically, even though this happened in the past, he seems to know quite a bit more about what was being done to River than he did during the TV Series.   Actually, it’s...

Teaching and computers.  An amoral match made in hell? Simon and Eugene discuss the Logicians. Episode Synopsis: It’s a jolly lovely summer’s day at the Elsdene School and the boys are preparing for a field trip to a pharmaceutical company after spending the night planning a heist.   The boys seem a bit full of themselves but their teacher reminds them that people respect cleverness, but they don’...

This week we start a new series on Fusion Patrol:  The 1987 BBC Science Fiction Police Drama, Star Cops by creator Chris Boucher, who long-time listeners will know from his work on Blakes 7. What does murder and crime look like in the age of computers and space travel? And what constitutes being a good copper?  John and Eugene discuss. Episode Synopsis: The year is 2027, and two events far, far ap...

We come to the end of the TV Series Firefly as Simon and Eugene discuss Objects in Space. Episode Synopsis: River is wandering about the ship, as if in a dream, she sees the others and hears their thoughts, or what she thinks their thoughts, she sees a branch on the floor… then she comes around, the branch is a gun and everyone is very worried [expand title=”More…” swaptitl...

What happens when Doomwatch is called in to investigate rabies?  Simon and Eugene discuss The Inquest. Episode Synopsis: Hardcastle of Doomwatch is on the job at a lab in Ipswich.   The lab manager, Dr. Fane, is giving Hardcastle an earful of the problems he’s had running his lab, and the constant attacks and vandalism that he, his staff and his lab are under.   The attacks are the responsibility,...

John Wyndham’s novel seminal post-vegetable-apocalyptic novel, The Day of the Triffids has been adapted several times, but possibly most faithfully by the BBC in 1981. Simon and Eugene look at the 6-part Day of the Triffids. Story Synopsis: Triffids are plants bioengineered by the Soviet Union to be an efficient fuel additive. They are unique in that they can move about and can sting animals...

Our tour of Moonbase 3 comes to an abrupt end with the destruction of all life on Earth.  What happens when the last remnants of the human race contemplate the imminent end of all mankind? John and Eugene discuss this uplifting – and final – episode of Moonbase 3. Episode Synopsis:   Moonbase 3 is getting ready for the arrival of a distinguished visitor, Nobel-prize winning, octogenari...

It’s the Magnificent Seven with whores, in space.  What studio executive wouldn’t jump at that elevator pitch? Simon and Eugene discuss the Firefly episode, Heart of Gold. Episode Synopsis: On a charming planet, moon or planetoid stands the brothel Heart of Gold, and to this brothel comes a man named Rance, who terrorizes a pregnant whore named Petaline.   “If that baby is mine, it’s c...

The population of the UK is exploding and they must find a way to deal with the surplus population.  Are high-rise apartments the way forward or is it a human time bomb waiting to happen? Simon and Eugene discuss. Episode Synopsis: Our story opens on the ugliest building they could find in the stock footage library – a horrid cement block of 1970s Council flats.   Here we meet a harried, squ...

Space is dangerous, and expensive. Will that get Tom Hill killed? John and Eugene discuss Castor and Pollux. Episode Synopsis: A satellite in Earth orbit fails and must be repaired by the Moonbase 3 team. At the same time, Caulder is hosting the Russian General in command of Moonbase 2. Russia is about to launch an ambitious Mars probe commanded by Dimitri, a young hot shot astronaut who grew up i...

We pick up our coverage of Firefly with the episode, the Message.   Simon and Eugene discuss. Episode Synopsis: Stopping at a space station to take on supplies and attempt to fence the Lassiter, Mal and Zoe are surprised to receive a package in the mail. The package contains their dead friend and former war colleague, Tracey. His last request: To return his body to his parents on St. Alban’s. Of c...

It’s time once again for another re-telling of the classic, timeless tale by H.G. Wells, War of the Worlds.  This time the BBC have hired Peter Harness, acclaimed writer of Doctor Who’s Kill the Moon to put his unique spin on this beloved tale. Simon and Eugene discuss. Episode Synopsis: It’s War of the Worlds, you know it already it. In fact, do we even need to bother? A question the...

The regular 2020 Doctor Who series comes to an end.  Simon and Eugene look at Ascension of the Timeless Cyberchildren. This episode has been released early. Episode synopsis: Following the coordinates obtained from Percy Shelley, the Doctor and the gang arrive on a planet in the far future where there are 7 remaining humans. She has them set up defenses against the Cybermen, that fail. The Cy...

Nigel Kneale’s dark and prescient look at the near future. Simon and Eugene review this classic work of British television. Episode synopsis:  In a future sooner than you think, the world is divided into two groups – the elite High Drives, who live in Apathy Control and the Low Drives, the masses who live outside. Those in Control spend their time living a luxurious life and providing...

There is history and then there are moments in history.  This is one of those as the Doctor pays a visit to Lord Byron and the gang.  Simon and Eugene discuss the Haunting of Villa Diodati. Episode Synopsis It is June 1816, and in a completely atypical fashion, the Doctor has decided to pop in at a famous moment in history just for her companions to sniff the air around some famous historical figu...

This week on a very special episode of Doctor Who… Simon and Eugene discuss Can You Hear Me? Episode Synopsis The year is 1380, in the Syrian city of Aleppo, and Tahira, a mentally ill woman who gets her kicks by stealing things is returning, hastily to the hospital she is staying in. She asks Maryam, a hospital worker, if she’s prepared for the coming of the things, but, she hasn’t, because...

Thar’s plastic in them thar hills! (and oceans, and birds, and airplanes, and people.) Simon and Eugene solve all of Earth’s pollution problems… or, failing that, they discuss Praxeus, the latest episode of Doctor Who from the folks who brought you Kablam! Episode Synopsis: It’s a tale of three threads. In one thread, UK astronaut Adam Lang is lost on re-entry, only for his estra...

We’re experimenting with a new feature here at Fusion Patrol, called Fusion Reaction, which is planned to be a regular livestream video event. Fusion Reaction is a show that covers the odds and ends that, for whatever reason, don’t make it or don’t fit into the weekly podcast.  It’s also your chance to be part of the action. Our next Fusion Reaction will be Saturday, Feb 8...

After this episode, nothing will ever be the same.  Well, we can all hope against hope that they can fix this mess. Simon and Eugene discuss Fugitive of the Judoon. Episode Synopsis:  It’s Gloucester, modern day, and in what is not at all a contrived coincidence or metaphor, it’s Ruth Clayton’s birthday, but apart from an anticipated birthday cake from her husband Lee, it’s just a typical day flog...

Quick!  Name two famous inventors from the turn of the Twentieth Century. If you picked Thomas Edison and Guglielmo Marconi, you are right!  However, in this episode, Simon and Eugene talk about Nikola Tesla’s Night or Terror. Episode Synopsis: The Twentieth Century is dawning and Nikolas Tesla is having a bad day.   He’s trying to find investors but it’s a hard sell.   Things go from bad to...

54 orphan planets in all, 54 orphan planets.  If another planet should happen to fall, 55 orphan planets in all. Simon and Eugene discuss Orphan 55. Episode Synopsis: Graham wins an all-inclusive vacation at Tranquility Spa, unfortunately, the vacation begins before they can adequately prepare as they are immediately teleported from the TARDIS to the spa.   Seemingly unconcerned by being isolated...

Doctor Who returned to our screens in 2020 with the two-part opener, Spyfall. Simon and Eugene discuss. Episode Synopsis: Part One Operatives are attacked all over the world by strange creatures pushing through the walls. The Doctor and her fam (and if I never hear the word “fam” again it will be too soon) are “collected” by C, head of the MI6. The agents have all had their DNA re-written, and tha...

On September 13th, 2019, Big Finish productions launched a new line of Space: 1999 audio adventures, starting with a re-imagining of the original series pilot, Breakaway. Eugene and John take a listen and decide if our wandering moon’s adventures are beginning again, or should they already be over. Episode Synopsis: The year is 1999 in an alternate timeline without so many Republicans and Ea...