This episode reveals that Moonbase has mobile
rocket-launching vehicles for defending the station against
attack by UFOs.

Colonel Virginia Lake appears again for the first time since
"Identified".
The scattering of film shots from 5:49-6:16 on the DVD are
previews of events to come within the episode.
At 7:52 on the DVD, notice that the
small window in the martial arts
room appears to open into one of the
Interceptor bays, as an Interceptor
is visible through it. This implies
it is an underground area of Moonbase. |
 |
At 10:20 on the DVD, notice there is a wine bottle hanging
on the exterior wall of the check-in point!

Checking with his friend at the security checkpoint, Regan
mentions Dan Dare.
Dan Dare is a British science-fiction comic strip hero
created by Frank Hampton in 1950. The character has been
described as a British Buck Rogers.
Early in the episode, Regan's wife calls him Methuselah.
Methuselah is the grandfather of Noah in the Bible and is
allegedly the oldest man to ever live, at 969 years,
according to most versions of the book.
The shots of the cat exiting Straker's office into SHADO
headquarters at 22:53 and into Miss Holland's reception area
at 41:18 have been transposed, so the cat is walking into
the wrong area in both shots.
At 31:18 on the DVD, a cylinder labeled GYRO PILOT is
visible in the cockpit of the Interceptor. A gyro-pilot is
an automatic pilot found in aircraft.
Miss Holland fills in as Straker's secretary in Ms. Ealand's
absence this episode. Holland is played by Lois Maxwell
(1927-2007), best known as M's secretary, Miss Moneypenny,
in the first fourteen James Bond films from Dr. No
to A View to a Kill (1962-1985).
Miss Holland remarks to Straker that the Harlington-Straker studio just
finished filming The Rebels of Santo Domingo.
At 41:50 on the DVD, we can see a wire holding the
foreground Interceptor model as it passes in front of the
Venus probe.
At 42:39 on the DVD, we can see that a panel in Regan's
Interceptor has the words "Shado Research Labs" in the
bottom left corner.
At 44:04 on the DVD, Miss Holland has a rather long ACE
bandage wrapped around her right arm. Presumably it is due
to the scratch given to her by the cat she found under the
desk earlier in the episode.
UNANSWERED QUESTIONS
Who sent the Ouija cards to the Thompsons? Why would use of
the Ouija have any connection to the aliens?
This is the only episode that directly suggests, in the form
of Dr. Jackson's speculation, that the aliens may have no
bodies of their own. Are the aliens incorporeal in their
true state?
MEMORABLE DIALOG
they didn't lose all those craft just to give up.wav
a week ago when I was a young man.wav
we've all believed they were humanoid.wav
it's possible that these creatures are not humanoid at
all.wav
they may have no physical being at all.wav
living computers.wav
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Episode Studies