The Last Sunset

Air Date: 01/01/76    written by Christopher Penfold    Directed by Charles Chrichton

The moon and Alphabase draw near a planet which they dub Ariel - preliminary analysis suggests that it may be habitable. It appears that one of the Eagles is fired upon by a missile, but the object merely attaches to the ship's exterior. Koenig makes the inadvisable decision to bring the object inside the base to study it. It soon begins to emit a gas which expands quickly, blowing out some sections with extreme pressure. Bergman, however, quickly makes the startling discovery that the gas is air; more objects arrive on the moon and rapidly give the moon a new atmosphere. Joyous, the Alphans frolic in their transformed habitat, behaving as if on some vacation retreat. Regular characters Paul & Sandra veer towards a permanent romance. Bergman makes plans to jumpstart a rainfall but they all find that this is also taken care of. Finally, some sobering news: Koenig deduces that with such rain, their base will soon be at the bottom of a lake. He sends out an Eagle scoutship with Dr. Russell, Alan, Sandra & Paul to find a better spot for permanent quarters, but the ship crashes after encountering lightning.
This episode just piles on the problems after a beginning that seems to bless the Alphans with great unexpected fortune. The stranded quartet lose most of their provisions and are usually in the middle of a sandstorm, so other Eagles cannot spot them. Then Koenig is informed that all other Eagles are becoming non-functional due to rapid corrosion - something in the new atmosphere. In an odd twist, Paul finds new food growing nearby - resembling mushrooms - but these have hallucinogenic properties, turning Paul into a raving lunatic. This episode is not one of the boring ones, including some fight scenes towards the end, but it also displays a common weakness in the scripts in regard to the behavior of the characters. Koenig and all the others behave as if the change to the moon is permanent, at the same time knowing full well that there's only a 50/50 chance that the moon will settle into permanent orbit around the local sun. It was an interesting, offbeat episode, all together. BoG's Score: 6.5 out of 10