New Places, New Faces

Episode Details

Plot Summary | Ongoing Story and Character Developments
Unanswered Questions | Memorable Lines | Glitches
Trivia, Inside Jokes and References | NotePAD

Plot Summary

This episode picks up moments after last season left off: our heroes have just escaped from the clutches of Warlord Shank when the Christa's sister ship exploded. Catalina was pulled into Suzee's dimension during the explosion. Suzee is now on board the Christa, much to the surprise of the crew, who had always believed she was imaginary. Suzee does not know how to switch them back without blowing up the Christa.

The crew are just beginning to accept the idea of Suzee's existence when they are confronted with another threat: Three Spung killcruisers drop out of hyperspace to attack the Christa. They inflict some damage on the Christa, but Elmira stops them, revealing in the process that she is the royal daughter of Warlord Shank (a fact that we learned last season, when Shank referred to her as his daughter, but the crew did not know this). The Spung transport Elmira back to their ship and resume the attack.

Our heroes escape by making a blind hyperjump. Although they survive the jump, they find themselves headed for a planet, moving too fast to avoid a crash landing. The ship is damaged, but Suzee assures the crew that the damage can be repaired. It will just take some time.

In the meantime, they begin to explore this new world, after Suzee assures them the atmosphere is safe by using her gills to test it. The crew tries to find food and water and sets up a base camp.

Thelma, while exploring, gets caught in a quicksand pit with a creature. Radu and Harlan rescue Thelma, but then Harlan gets caught in the pit, nearly crushed by the creature. Suzee enters the creature's mind, finds out that it just wants something to eat, and they manage to get Harlan out of the pit.

At the end of the episode, the kids are in the rec room, talking about Suzee. They are a little intimidated by her powers and intelligence, but they decide that she's one of them.

Ongoing Story and Character Developments

• Suzee is real. She is a genius, and is rather arrogant about that fact. She has gills that let her breath in almost any environment, and she has the ability to read other beings' minds, though she can't do it for long and doesn't like to do it.
• Cat is safe and well in Suzee's dimension, but Suzee does not know how to bring her back.
• Elmira is a Spung princess, important to the Spung Empire.
• Elmira and Radu have a destiny together.
• Thelma is so much in tune with the Christa that when the Christa changes color while crashing, Thelma also changes color, and when the Christa lands with its nose in the dirt, Thelma also lands with her face in a pile of debris.
• The crew have crash-landed on an alien planet and must repair the ship to continue their journey.
• The Christa can be repaired, but it will take some time, and a new fuel source must be found.
• Suzee is unable to communicate with Cat while on the planet because something in the planet's atmosphere interferes with the communication.
• The Christa has some ability to "heal" itself when it suffers damage.
• Both Harlan and Radu are attracted to Suzee, and she flirts with them mercilessly.
• Rosie no longer needs to wear a hood, at least not on the planet.

Memorable Lines

Davenport: I will not faint. I will not faint. I will not faint. (she gets hit on the head with falling debris and passes out)
Goddard: Figures. She fainted.

Radu: (immediately after crash) Way to go, Harlan.
Harlan: Oh, yeah, fine! Blame it all on me!
Radu: No, I meant it. You got us down safely. Thanks.
Harlan: Oh. You're welcome.

Suzee: (to Radu) Maybe later, we can get together for a game of Brains versus Brawn.

Rosie: Does anybody know where we are?
Goddard: Yes. We're definitely lost.

Bova: (talking about Suzee) Do you think she snores?
Rosie: Nah. She's got gills.
Bova: Nah. She probably flaps instead.

Rosie: (talking about Suzee) She's so different from us! What can't she do?
Radu: Go home.
Bova: Guess she's not so different from us after all.

Suzee: So you heard me out there, huh?
Radu: You have to ask? (tugs ear)

Glitches

• There are serious continuity gaps from last season's finale to this episode. Even though this episode begins literally seconds after last season's final episode, the Christa has changed dramatically. The ComPost set has a very different look, much more mechanical rather than techno-organic. Elmira's costume and makeup have also changed. At the end of last season's finale, she was wearing that little tutu thing that she was wearing in Spung at Heart. Now, she's wearing something that looks more like a pants suit. There's a lot less makeup on her face, so much so that I was not sure at first that it was the same actress.
• Watch Radu's hair while he is rescuing Thelma from the quicksand pit. Its position is inconsistent. This is part of the reason they started tying Radu's hair back in later episodes. (information provided by Kristian Ayre).

Trivia, Inside Jokes and References

• The actress who played Elmira was credited last season as Katie McIninich. This season, she is credited as Katie Emme, but it is the same actress.
• The creature in the pit is reminiscent of the creature in the trash compactor in Star Wars.
• The creative team wanted to make Elmira a regular, but a variety of factors - not the least of which was budget - prevented it.
• The decision to make the Christa look more techno was made by Nickelodeon, who decided that the extremely alien look of the ship was offputting for younger viewers and wanted to put more "familiar looking" controls in place.

Unanswered Questions

1. What is the nature of Radu and Elmira's "destiny" together?
2. Where did all of the useful stuff on the planet come from?

NotePAD
(Notes from co-creator Peter A. David)

• None available at this time.

Episode Details provided by Tracey Rich.
This page was last updated on July 6, 1997.