H.G. Wells' The Shape of Things to Come (1979)
A lunar team fly to another planet to stop a madman in control of a robotic army.
Genre
Characters/Groups
Senator Smedley - John Ireland
Sparks voice - Greg Swanson
Lomax voice - William Hutt
Robot Technician - Albert Humphries
Robots - Michael Klingbell, Jonathan Hartman, Wili Liberman, Rob McEwan, and Angelo Pedari
Niki's Army - Jo-Anne Lang, Danny Gage, Linda Carter, Terry Martin, Lutz Brodie, Bill Yak, and Terry Spratt
Character thumbnails with links to profiles
Detailed Synopsis
"The time is the tomorrow after tomorrow. Earth has been polluted and devastated by the great robot wars and is all but deserted. Man has moved onto the moon, colonised it's surface and erected vast cities in what was once wasteland. Ranging further out into deep space he has embarked on an even greater era of adventure and discovery. But the survival of mankind is dependent on a continuing supply of the miracle drug RADIC-Q-2. ...And RADIC-Q-2 is produced only on the distant planet DELTA THREE."
On New Washington, a thriving colony on the surface of the moon, Senator Smedley tells Dr. Caball the lunar colony no longer has need for his intergalactic warship called Starstreak. Dr. Caball warns him that the warship may be needed in defense of the lunar colony. A cargo spaceship from Delta Three approaches and Kim tries to communicate with it, but receives no response. After a few more tries with no response, Kim attempts to override the spaceships controls. The Robot pilot cancels the override and Kim tells Lomax there is an emergency and a spaceship is on a crash course headed towards the Lunar Colony. Lomax recommends full emergency procedures and Kim contacts Jason and tells him there is an emergency. As Kim initiates a Yellow Alert alerting the population to move to the lower city, she informs Jason of the kamikaze spaceship. Senator Smedley is still trying to convince Dr. Caball to dispose of his warship and threatens to ask for Dr. Caball's resignation, when the Yellow Alert starts to blare. Kim tells a Lunar Technician to go to Red Alert as the impact time reaches six minutes and the population hurries underground. Jason notices the cargo ship is almost carrying nothing and tries to get Lomax to override the ship. Dr. Caball and Senator Smedley walk onto the bridge as Jason tries to convince Lomax to override the spaceship. The Lunar Technician notifies everyone that there is 70 seconds to impact. Lomax attempts to override the spaceship and cause it to self destruct, but fails, and the spaceship impacts with the Lunar Colony.
Jason asks Lomax to initiate repair of the dome breach and a Spacesuited Man notifies Kim of the damage to the different sectors. Lomax opens communications with Delta Three and Omus tells Dr. Caball, the former governor Niki and Niki's Army have fled the citadel and he is now in charge. Omus demands that he be made supreme commander of the Earth and the Moon and all outposts in the Solar System. Senator Smedley refuses his demands and Omus stops all shipments of RADIC-Q-2 immediately. Spacesuited Man tells Lunar Control he has located the pilot and the pilot was a Robot. Lomax tells Senator Smedley to alert the Moon Council that no aggressive action may be taken against Delta Three. A Robot Technician tells Kim the Robot was programmed to blow itself up and she reprograms it and names it Sparks. Sparks is rebooted and starts to tell Kim poetry. Dr. Caball goes into the fuel center of Starstreak. Kim uploads tapes into Sparks teaching him the history of the solar system and he shows her a teleportation trick he can do. Lomax detects an unauthorized presence on Starstreak. Jason tells Kim, Dr. Caball is up to something and she and Sparks follow him to Starstreak. Dr. Caball suffers a heavy dose of radiation initiating the fuel center of Starstreak. Lunar Technician tells Senator Smedley she can't locate Dr. Caball or Jason and Senator Smedley requests Lomax shut down all travel. Dr. Caball, Jason, Kim and Sparks lift off in Starstreak.
On Delta Three, Niki, Merrick and Niki's Army train with weapons and Merrick tells Niki, he thinks they are ready. Niki tells her army they need to get to the citadel to send out a message. Niki makes her way into the citadel and sends a message to New Washington asking for assistance. Omus finds out Niki sent out a message from the control panel and sends out a general alarm. Niki makes it back to her Army as they are attacked by Robots. She and her Army manage to escape after a few of their members and some Robots are killed or destroyed. Sparks tells Dr. Caball that there is a malfunction with the ships gyrocompass and he decides to go to Earth to make repairs. Dr. Caball tells Kim, an old friend named Charlie Montgomery still lives on Earth and may be able to help them. They land on Earth and Kim and Jason go to look for Charlie Montgomery. They go into a communications building and while Kim is going to check on the antenna, Jason finds Charlie dead from radiation poisoning. Jason goes to look for Kim after telling Dr. Caball, he found Charlie dead and Dr. Caball sends Sparks to help Jason. Jason gets a jeep running and they drive to a point Sparks detected Kim. The jeep's engine overheats and they walk to where Kim is located. They find Kim with a group of Irradiated Children wearing ghillie suits. The Irradiated Children all suffer from radiation burns as a consequence of the Robot Wars seven years ago. They contact Dr. Caball, but he tells them they can't bring the children with them and they promise to come back to help the kids later.
They fly to Delta Three as Dr. Caball's condition worsens. Niki and her Army barely avoid being caught by a Robot patrol. Kim finds Dr. Caball reading a book about Greece and he tells her about their philosophy. The Starstreak runs into a magnetic field and go through time dilation, but make it out alive. They arrive near Delta Three and see a Phobus Four cargo ship on their monitor heading towards New Washington. They pick up a distress signal from Delta Three and head towards its coordinates. Omus sees them arrive and sends a Robot patrol to attack them as Niki and her army also see them arrive. They meet up with Niki and her Army and greet each other. Omus' Robot army attacks them, but suddenly stops. A giant image of Omus appears in the sky and he declares himself the Emperor of Delta Three. Omus invites Dr. Caball to his citadel and Dr. Caball goes with Omus' Robots to the citadel. Niki and her Army lead Jason and Kim into the citadel, while Omus meets with Dr. Caball. Omus shows Dr. Caball all he has built on Delta Three and tells Dr. Caball if they accept him as their leader, there will be no war. Dr. Caball tries to convince Omus to surrender, but Omus refuses and says someday humans will no longer be necessary. Kim, Jason and Niki head to the citadel center. Omus puts on a protective helmet and releases a field of some kind that kills Dr. Caball. Sparks tries to contact Dr. Caball and Omus tells Sparks, he is his creator. Jason finds Dr. Caball dead and he, Kim and Niki mourn him. Sparks lifts off Starstreak and Kim and Niki search for Omus. Niki's Army is attacked once again by Omus' Robots and everyone is killed, including Merrick, whose head is bashed in with a rock. Omus confronts Jason and tells him Sparks now works for him and he will use Starstreak as his flag ship after he destroys Delta Three. Niki finds her Army dead and Omus pushes a button which will cause Delta Three to explode. Omus puts on his helmet and turns on the field. As Kim and Niki are about to be killed by the Robots, Sparks reprograms them and they stop. Jason tackles Omus and steals his helmet and Omus begs Jason to turn off the field, which he does. Niki, Kim and Jason run to Starstreak. Omus tries to escape, but his Robots block his path and he yells at them that he is their creator before accepting his fate. The Starstreak takes off as Delta Three explodes. Jason has Sparks send the surviving cargo ships filled with RADIC-Q-2 to Earth.
"Out there in the vastness of space, the unknown where all possibilities exist. Man's future is limited only by his imagination and his vision of the stars."