The Ark II crew enjoys a little bit of downtime. For Jonah, Ruth and Adam, this means fishing, though they’re slightly annoyed that their expert fisherman, Samuel, is spending his free time inside the Ark, working on his hobby project, a huge robot named Alpha-1 (or, to Samuel, “Alphie”). When toxic gas is detected in the air, and Jonah and his friends see strange behavior in people exposed to the gas, the vacation is over. Jonah orders Samuel to shut Alphie down because there’s serious work to be done. Alphie has other ideas, however, and escapes from the Ark. Now Jonah has to contend with a toxic gas and an escaped robot on the loose, either one of which could do serious harm.
written by Chuck Menville and Len Janson
directed by Ted Post
music by Yvette Blais & Jeff Michael and Horta-MahanaCast: Terry Lester (Jonah), Jean Marie Hon (Ruth), Jose Flores (Samuel), Al Dunlap (Brant), Elizabeth Cheshire (Nestra), Lou Scheimer (voice of Adam / voice of Alphie)
Notes: If Alphie looks familiar, it’s because he’s as close as anything in Ark II gets to being a genuine sci-fi icon: he’s better known as “Robby the Robot,” an invention of MGM’s prop shop for the 1956 movie Forbidden Planet. He has appeared in dozens of other productions since, including Lost In Space, Twilight Zone, The Man From U.N.C.L.E., and Ark II’s Filmation stablemate Space Academy.
LogBook entry by Earl Green
