TIME KNOTS |
"The Mystery of Stasis" - In this exciting episode the planet Stasis suddenly deviates from its orbit and is set to collide with the Ugonian asteroid belt. In a race to evacuate any life forms from the planet, the NSEA Protector is caught in a meteor shower from the outer ring of the asteroid belt. Disabled, they are forced to land on the planet for repairs where they find themselves in a planetary aura that compels them to tell only the truth. The crew must find a way to over come the aura and the problems that it causes, make the necessary repairs and escape the planet before it is destroyed in the asteroid belt.
"The Two Faces of Avsnoyl" - On the planet Avsnoyl, the crew encounters an amiable race of folks. Soon the Commander discovers that their new-found friends are merely after their stock of virrilium combustible. When the Protector refuses to give them their fuel, the Avsnoylians turn violent. At the end of the episode, in a terse, chess-like confrontation, the Commander must justify to NSEA Headquarters why he needed to obliterate such seemingly "benign" life-forms.
"A Crack in the Mirror" - The NSEA Protector butts into an impenetrable magnetic shield with reflective qualities. As the crew tries to figure how to penetrate the wall, there's a slight shift in magnetic alignment and Lt. Madison falls to the other side through a crack in the time-space continuum. As always, our good Commander must save Lt. Madison, by blasting through the shield, or traveling eons in the other direction to find her. He finds a crack in the mirror by facing his worst fear - the fear that though he has repeatedly shown valor in the line of duty, he will one day lack courage at a crucial moment.
"The Scithyan Syndrome" - In this classic episode we see Dr. Lazarus' real mettle as a warrior as he saves the Protector and its crew from a trap set by their treacherous "allies," the Scithyans. The episode starts with our heroes going to a state dinner aboard the Scithyan craft. Everything seems on the up-and-up until a couple of Scithyans -- flying on Cerebrum Crystals and Gat Extract -- force Lt. Madison away from the rest of the crew and into an adjacent room. When the Commander intervenes, the Scithyans disdainfully chew the roots of a Goppa plant and squirt a paralyzing secretion at him and his men. Fortunately Dr. Lazarus happens to be immune to the paralyzing agent and is pitted against the now rabid horde of Scithyans. After a uncharacteristically brutal dogfight in which Dr. Lazarus outwits and out hits his short-minded adversaries, he rescues the beautiful Lt. Madison and the rest of the crew. The episode ends aboard the Protector with the crew laughing at their Mak'Tar friend's heroics while he enjoys a well-deserved big bowl of his beloved Kep-Mok Bloodticks.
"The Angel Dust of Abraxas" - After the Protector passes through a strange dust cloud in the Abraxas Quadrant the ship starts to structurally change on a molecular level where each atom turns to the base element of carbon, duplicating over and over like a cancer. In order to quell the spreading tumor Taggart takes drastic measures and flies through the super-heated aurora of a sun to irradiate the ship's cancer.
"The Two Lovers of Medusa" - Playing mediator between the warring Gdonks and the Ssazzbatts, Commander Taggart becomes the object of affection for each of the opposing female leaders. Unfortunately for the Commander both Gdonk and Ssazzbatt lovers dismember their mates after copulation. To save the universe from another cataclysmic war, as well as his well-worn fanny, Taggart has to make both females lose interest in him, escape from the planet Medusa in one piece, and still broker a peace accord.
"The Ambassador's Gambit" - During a high level diplomatic meeting, Tommy Webber unwittingly pulls the ultimate faux paus and shakes the hand of the KQU-flux ambassador. According to KQU-flux custom, Tommy must fight to the death the ambassador's chosen champion. The ambassador picks - Lt. Tawny Madison.
"The Planet of Dr. Garbanian" - In this classic episode the Commander and crew of the NSEA Protector encounter a small planet hidden behind a double-starred nebula. Dr. Garbanian, the inhabitant of the planet, is an amiable enough host, until the nature of his experiments is revealed: Garbanian believes the universe is intended to be populated by one type of being which is a hybrid of all other beings. To accelerate the process he has developed a Gamma-Microcoagulant Ray that can transform whole planets in one swoop. Fortunately the Commander and the crew foil his plans and arrest the doctor.
"The Bivrakium Element" - The episode begins with Commander Taggart bravely standing his ground against an alien army on the planet Peraxis 5, saving the life of his closest friend and advisor, Dr. Lazarus. As the smoke settles the episode takes a Rashomon-like turn with Dr. Lazarus, Commander Taggart, Lt. Madison, and Tech Sergeant Chen telling a court martial how they got engaged in battle with the aliens.
"Friends Never Forget" - In this tear jerker about friendship and commitment Dr. Lazarus finds himself pregnant with his mother's child. (His species carries the fertilized embryo in a volvac sac until certain hormonal changes brought on by behavioral patterns occur.) The good doctor has to choose between the service he loves and fatherhood. The Commander is torn up when he receives his friend's resignation, only to be relieved when he learns that the suspected pregnancy were merely stomach cramps brought on by batch of bad Bloodticks.
"Mist of Delos 5" - The crew of the Protector arrives at Delos 5 after another NSEA ship, the Trojan, is inexplicably moored on the surface of the planet. Soon after their arrival, crew members of the Protector start experiencing sudden passionate urges triggered by the sweet mist that mysteriously blankets the planet without warning. Just as quickly, the mist dissipates leaving many crew members in compromising situations. The Commander quickly realizes that the planet's passion-mist led to the grounding of the Trojan and the disappearance of its crew. While trying to avoid the same fate, Taggart is suddenly overcome with passion towards Lt. Madison. As they fall into each others arms and vanish into the mist, Taggart realizes that he can only save his crew by conquering his untamed libido. Showing tremendous strength Taggart overcomes Lt. Madison's flirtations and directs his ship away from the salacious planet.
"The Hair Shirt" - After the NSEA Protector chases a Zatchzxy battle barge into a polluted worm hole, the crew of the ship find themselves plagued with accelerated hair growth. Fortunately Dr. Lazarus must find an antidote before the ship's drains clog for good.
"Split Decision" - During a routine mission in the Zarnon constellation a molecular plasma ray accidentally splits Commander Taggart's body in half. It is up to Dr. Lazarus to keep the two halves of the good Commander alive until they can figure out how to make him whole again while battling the rebellious Zarnonians who have siezed the moment and decide to attack the ship.
"Never Bet on Sundays" - While coming out from thrust drive the Protector runs into another vessel, a small space junket. They evacuate the crew of rogue space gypsies from the smaller ship and hose them in the Protector's guest quarters. On the way to transporting their new passengers to a safe haven, Commander Taggart becomes involved in a game of chance and looses the NSEA Protector to the gypsy commander.
"The Two Worlds of Dilirium" - On hand to chronicle the creation of a new black hole in the Dilirium Nebula the Protector is positioned in too close as the hole as it inexplicably splits in two. Similarly, the Protector spawns a perfect duplicate of the ship and crew. To rectify the situation Commander Taggart has to return back in time to moments before the splitting and move the ship away from the black hole.
"The Icicles of Pentillium" - In the icy expanse of the planet Pentillium nothing is what it seems. The NSEA Protector is called to duty at Pentillium after an unannounced thermal-neutron blast sends ripples through the Milky Way. The blast puts the galaxy itself on the brink of war. Commander Taggart and his crew discover that a holo-plant on the surface of Pentillium actually faked the blast in an attempt to undermine the Galactic Peace Accord. In a desperate race against time Taggart has to uncover those responsible for the simulated blast to save the crumbling galactic alliance.
"Time Spirals of the Pryll'a Nebula" - Something is rotten in the Ptryll'a Nebula and it's not the cheese. It seems that the crew of the NSEA Protector became stuck in a time warp in which they are repeatedly re-living the same 12-hour period. While entrenched in their solipsism, their dreaded Meechan enemies have usurped the Protector and are attacking the neighboring allied colonies. This time it is Lieutenant Laredo who uncovers the foil when he hears a transmission from one of the victimized spaceships claiming that the Protector has attacked them. With the help of Tech Sergeant Chen they rig a Time-Extractor Pod to extricate their comrades from their never-ending time loop.
"The Two Moons of Mee'Kan" - The magma fields of the two moons of Mee'Kan produce a particular type of radiation that drives human being to extreme acts of violence. When the NSEA Protector unknowingly enters within it's radiation field, affable Lt. Laredo's aggressive behavior boils out of control. Medicated and bound, he is able to escape the Medic Bay and engages in a campaign of sabotage and terror. As others too have been affected by the violent radiation, the ship plunges into a Tower-of-Babel-like state of self-destruction. Again, it is left to Dr. Lazarus -- the only non human aboard -- to discover the problem and develop an antidote to remedy the situation.
"The Pupae Farm" - A mega space wasp captures the Protector and flies it to its home world nest. There it buries the ship and lays a multitude of eggs on the hull. Not wanting to become insect food, the Commander and crew device a way to kill the deadly insect and destroy its rapidly developing spawn.
"The Price of Peace" - When the Protector is used to hold an intergalactic peace conference a Gdonk delegate claims political prosecution and defects to the NSEA. The Protector is immediately surrounded by an armada of Gdonk heavy cruisers and given twenty-four hours to surrender. Commander Taggart uses a prototype mime simulife to mimic the Gdonk delegate and buy enough time to escape with the real Gdonk.
"The Shape Shifter of Textorian 3" - When the Protector on-loads core fuel from the penal mining station on the far ring around the planet Textorian 3, they unwittingly bring on board six hardened space convicts. Mutants who can shape shift into any form they want. They capture and hide away the Protector's officers one after another and just as their takeover is almost complete (when they finally master the difficult shift into Lazarus' form) the delayed effects from exposure to the fuel contaminants eventually causes them to boil from the inside out.
"Wormhole in Time" - In this highly unusual episode the NSEA Protector becomes trapped in a wormhole time bump in which the crew views their own deaths. As Tech Sargeant Chen tries to get all system back online, the crew finds their ship haunted with the ghosts of themselves. It is up to Taggart to device a way to extricate themselves from the situation by cunningly enlisting the help of their very own ghost images.
"Hal'Pern, the Magnificent" - In this bizarre episode we get to meet the evil Hal'Pern, the Magnificent He will wow you with his magic show, inspire tears with his poetry, and lull you into the warmest of friendships - only to pick your pockets clean when he has gained your trust. However, the crew is assigned to bring Hal'Pern alive and well to the emperor of Zarzipo, or the Universe will suffer the diplomatic consequences. Hal'Pern tries to trick his way back to freedom, but the alert eyes of Tech Sargeant Chen catches every one of his tricks.
"Escape from Tev'Meck" - Dr. Lazarus is tortured by nightmares of his harrowing escape from the planet Tev'Meck. The visions become more acute as the Protector approaches the Mirad'llah Constellation. There, the true source of Dr. Lazarus' despair becomes evident. A pocket of evil Meechans have set up camp in one of the moons of Doras. Of course, the Meechans were the species that conquered and destroyed the peace loving Mak'Tars back when Dr. Lazarus was a child. Overcome with anger, Dr. Lazarus sets off on a mission to avenge the bygone holocaust. Stopped by the Commander before recklessly violating the Galactic Peace Accord, the crew of the NSEA Protector manage to arrest the despicable Meechan warriors for armament and biologic transgressions.