Category: Season 2

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Hyperdrive Season 2

Green Javelins

HyperdriveCommander Henderson has big news for the crew of the Camden Lock – due to the destruction of another ship, they have secured a place in the Green Javelins, a stunt-flying squadron of starships showcasing Britain’s finest spaceship builders and crews. What Henderson doesn’t know is that his ship is only filling in for one display, but it’s a big one: an alien government is considering purchasing British-made starships, and even one slightly inept maneuver could end that deal. Worse still, Teal had a previous relationship with the commander of the Green Javelins’ flagship, and is both mortified and intrigued to find that he still harbors feelings for her as well, so much so that he wants her to transfer to his ship. Meanwhile, York creates an artificial replica of himself that bewilders all of his shipmates.

Order the DVDsDownload this episode via Amazonwritten by Kevin Cecil & Andy Riley
directed by John Henderson
music by Mark Thomas

HyperdriveCast: Nick Frost (Henderson), Kevin Eldon (York / False York), Miranda Hart (Teal), Dan Antopolski (Jeffers), Stephen Evans (Vine), Petra Massey (Sandstrom), Stephen Mangan (Mason), Paterson Joseph (Space Marshal), Marek Larwood (Amorf Spets), Toby Park (McCluskey), Robert Galas (Teenager), Maggie Service (Voices), Ewan Bailey (Voices)

HyperdriveNotes: The Camden Lock is an Andover-class ship. By the end of the episode, the Camden Lock is an Andover-class ship with lots and lots of heavy damage. We also find out that Andover-class ships with lots and lots of heavy damage can land, at least in low-gravity environments such as Earth’s moon. Guest star Stephen Mangan would later take on the title role of the BBC’s TV adaptation of Douglas Adams’ Dirk Gently books.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Hyperdrive Season 2

Artefact

HyperdriveThe discovery of an artefact in deep space stirs irresistible curiosity in the crew (except for York, who warns that it is almost certainly a hero trap). After deciphering alien writing on the object, Henderson decides to take it “home”…which turns out to be a planet ruled by the Queppu race. There are cameras installed in an enclosed zone on the planet, where the Queppu send hapless contestants to fight to the death for a television reality show. York is eager for the opportunity to show his killing prowess, while Teal isn’t adjusting well to this new scenario at all. And since he can’t simply say “I’m an Earthling, get me out of here!”, Henderson is baffled as to why the rest of the crew isn’t mounting a rescue…and why no one seems to be rising up to oppose the tyrannical ruler of the Queppu.

Order the DVDsDownload this episode via Amazonwritten by Kevin Cecil & Andy Riley
directed by John Henderson
music by Mark Thomas

HyperdriveCast: Nick Frost (Henderson), Kevin Eldon (York), Miranda Hart (Teal), Dan Antopolski (Jeffers), Stephen Evans (Vine), Petra Massey (Sandstrom), Geoffrey McGivern (Supreme Ruler), Montserrat Lombard (Lavya), Hon Ping Tang (Sergeant Destruction), Dustin Demri Burns (Queppu Warrior), Stephan Kreiss (Gunface), Tannoy Voices (Ewan Bailey)

Notes: The Queppu were first encountered in season one (in the episode Hello Queppu, naturally).

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Hyperdrive Season 2

Admiral’s Daughter

HyperdriveThe Camden Lock is dispatched to retrieve the wayward daughter of an Earth admiral, which Teal, York and Vine manage to do in a somewhat clumsy undercover operation. Vine is a bit smitten with the girl, and once he meets her, so is Jeffers. But the admiral’s daughter has such an utter disdain for anything to do with the Earth space service that neither one of them has a chance with her…unless one of them works up the nerve to do something like going against orders.

Order the DVDsDownload this episode via Amazonwritten by Kevin Cecil & Andy Riley
directed by John Henderson
music by Mark Thomas

HyperdriveCast: Nick Frost (Henderson), Kevin Eldon (York), Miranda Hart (Teal), Dan Antopolski (Jeffers), Stephen Evans (Vine), Petra Massey (Sandstrom), Catherine Shepherd (Arabella), Paterson Joseph (Space Marshall), Wren Shepherd (Captain Helix), Jim Howick (Swamp Creature), Ewan Bailey (Voices)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Hyperdrive Season 2

Harvest

HyperdriveAn incident during the arrest of an alien goes viral on the news, making the Camden Lock crew, especially York, look thuggish and unsavory. Henderson is left with no choice but to relieve York of duty and put the ship on a heading for the nearest Starbase, where York will disembark in disgrace. Teal is promoted to first officer in his place, but doesn’t really know what to do when, upon arrival at the Starbase, she discovers that alien robots have taken it over to harvest human organs, and intend to do the same to the Camden Lock‘s crew.

Order the DVDsDownload this episode via Amazonwritten by Kevin Cecil & Andy Riley
directed by John Henderson
music by Mark Thomas

HyperdriveCast: Nick Frost (Henderson), Kevin Eldon (York), Miranda Hart (Teal), Dan Antopolski (Jeffers), Stephen Evans (Vine), Petra Massey (Sandstrom), Dan Tetsell (Robot 1), Ben Crowe (Robot 2), Wren Shepherd (Captain Helix), John Roy (Humanoid Alien), Ewan Bailey (Voices)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Hyperdrive Season 2

Dreamgate

HyperdriveA routine inspection of a ship in deep space puts Henderson in possession of a forbidden device known as a dreamgate, enabling its user to experience the dreams of others. While Henderson and York both know the dreamgate should be destroyed to prevent its misuse, they proceed to misuse it to peek into the others’ subconscious. When they discover that Vine’s subconscious is basically a 1990s pub – or, as York puts it, his “pubconscious” mind – they find it difficult to return to reality.

written by Kevin Cecil & Andy Riley
directed by John Henderson
music by Mark Thomas

HyperdriveCast: Nick Frost (Henderson), Kevin Eldon (York), Miranda Hart (Teal), Dan Antopolski (Jeffers), Stephen Evans (Vine), Petra Massey (Sandstrom), Wren Shepherd (Captain Helix), Tom Basden (Lallakkiss), Fox Jackson Keen (Lallakkid), Pastie Lord (Andy Riley), Maggie Service (Voices)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Hyperdrive Season 2

Convoy

HyperdriveThe Camden Lock joins a convoy to escort a British-built space superweapon to a classified location. Henderson naturally takes the opportunity to flirt with the female commanders of the other two ships in the convoy, and with his attention on that matter, the Scrane’s sudden overwhelming attack to seize the weapon for themselves comes as a bit of a surprise. The Scrane are driven off, and a prisoner is taken who claims that there is a traitor among Henderson’s senior crew – an accusation that York finds evidence to back up in the wreckage of the Scrane ship. But who among Henderson’s crew would sell out Earth?

Order the DVDsDownload this episode via Amazonwritten by Kevin Cecil & Andy Riley
directed by John Henderson
music by Mark Thomas

HyperdriveCast: Nick Frost (Henderson), Kevin Eldon (York), Miranda Hart (Teal), Dan Antopolski (Jeffers), Stephen Evans (Vine), Petra Massey (Sandstrom), Wren Shepherd (Captain Helix), Paterson Joseph (Space Marshal), Clare Thomson (Commander Roche), Thalia Zucchi (Commander Gulati), Alisdair McKee (Scrane), Ewan Bailey (Voice Over), Maggie Service (Voice Over)

Notes: This is the final episode, to date, of Hyperdrive. Although Kevin Cecil and Andy Riley Hyperdrivedeveloped outlines for a third season, a third year of the show was never commissioned. Nick Frost has gone on to appear in, among other things, the 2014 Doctor Who Christmas special (as Santa Claus, no less), while Miranda Hart moved on to greater fame in both Call The Midwife and her own self-titled sitcom (and has been mooted as a possible female Doctor Who every time the subject of selecting a new star for that show has come up since Hyperdrive’s conclusion). Kevin Eldon also moved on to a self-titled sitcom, and has more recently been the voice of Penfold in the revived Danger Mouse series and appeared as Camello in Game Of Thrones.

LogBook entry by Earl Green