Space Family Robinson #19 (December 1966) picks up right where the previous issue left off, with Gaylord Du Bois' intelligent script still highlighted by Dan Spiegle's dynamic art. But before we dive into this issue, I have a confession to make, by golly. I left off an important plot point in my review last week! I shall report to the closest Agony Booth for punishment.
Kor, the alien, had explained that there are "holes" (a modern story would probably say "wormhole") in space and the Robinson family's space station had travelled through one of these and is in a different galaxy. But before he can give any concrete navigation advice, he keels over with a high fever.
So this issue picks up with the Robinson family and their 14 guests from medieval Earth believing that Kor is probably doomed. Kor believes it as well, asking the humans not to revive the other Iklatalians and expose them to the same disease.
Knowing they might be stuck on this planet, the humans decide to explore. They divide into two teams and take the two spacemobiles, with Craig flying one of them and Tim flying the other.
One of the many smart elements of the script is that Du Bois never forgets that all this technology is brand new to the medieval guys and gals. They adapt quickly, but are continually surprised or intrigued by each knew thing.
One of those things is a shower. This leads to a very human touch when one of the men going with Tim is delayed because he's enjoying taking a shower for the first time in his life. I love it.
An impish young lady named Elaine puts on the guy's armor and thus tricks her way onto Tim's spacemobile.
She soon has reason to regret her impishness. When investigating yet another set of ruins, Tim's crew encounter some ancient and ill-tempered robots. Tim's laser pistol helps even the odds, though he temporarily loses the pistol in the struggle and has to use a sword to deactivate one of the robots.
Soon after, Tim's spacemobile gets targeted by a missile:
There's no radio contact with Tim after this happens, which understandably worries Craig and June. In the meantime, though, Kor recovers. He uses antibodies from his blood to give the other Iklatalians immunity to the disease, then the lot of them form a telepathic ring to contact Tim. He and his crew were okay, but the blast knocked out radio and radar, so he was trying to fly home by dead reckoning. The aliens guide him home telepathically.
Both the alien ship and the space station are repaired. Kor is able to give directions to a wormhole that will take the Robinsons and their friends back to the Milky Way, but he can't direct them to their specific sun. Still, it's a start. The four Robinsons and the 14 medieval people take off for (hopefully) home.
Like the previous issue, this chapter in the 4-issue story arc is solid science fiction in the Space Opera vein. Had this been a prose story written in the '30s or '40s, I could easily see it being the cover story in an issue of Amazing Stories.
We'll check back in next week to see how they're doing.
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