The Robot Rocket

 

Read/Watch 'em In Order #174

We--sadly--come to the last Tom Corbett novel, published in 1956, about six months after the TV show had been cancelled.

It is, in fact, based on one of those final episodes, though the ebook edition I own does not include a credit. "The Space Projectile," written by Richard Jessup, was broadcast on April 30, 1955. Jessup, by the way, had a successful career as a novelist and screenwriter, with his best known book being The Cincinnati Kid (1963).

Here's the episode:

The novel takes the idea of recovering a robot rocket that is about to crash into a star and adds a couple of villains out to hijack that rocket to the mix. 

Also, during the last season of the TV show, Jan Merlin (who played Roger Manning) left the show. He was replaced by Jack Grimes, who played Cadet TJ Thistle. I don't know if the TV show gave a reason for Roger's departure, since, as far as I can tell, the early episodes from the final season don't exist. Or at least I can't find them streaming or on YouTube. In the early days of episodic TV, cast changes were often made without explanation.

But the novel dives head first into this. We find out that Roger has been reassigned to the Mars Academy, while a Mars Academy student (Thistle) has been transfered to Earth and takes over for Roger aboard the Polaris.

This is a big deal for Tom Corbett and Astro. Roger's abrasive personality brought him into conflict with the other two in the first novel, but since then they've all become best friends and trusted each other completely. They hate the idea of Roger leaving and Astro at least is resentful of his replacement.

But soon, they are on a mission to recover a possibly malfunctioning robot rocket, orbiting a world near the star Sirius. A cadet trained in astrophysics--Alex Monroe--joins them for the mission. Monroe is openly disdainful of the other cadets, allowing Astro and Thistle to bond over their dislike of the guy.

More serious problems soon arise, though. Aside from the discovery that the robot rocket is hurling towards Sirius, there are a couple of crooks following the Polaris. They plan to hijack the information contained in the rocket and use it to lay claim to a planet rich in uranium. This, of course, means they can't leave any witnesses behind.

Several nifty action sequences follow one after another. Astro and TJ crash in a jet boat on a dangerously radioactive planet where the atmosphere is thick with methane and visibility is virtually nil. 

This is followed by an attempt to capture the off-course robot rocket before it crashes into the star. This is a particularly good sequence, with each cadet (including Monroe, who is finally proving his worth) to use their respective skills to both reach the rocket in time and recover the information it contains. Skill, training, intelligence and determination are emphasized perhaps more effectively than in any other novel in the series except the first.

At one point, Monroe asks permission to do something very dangerous to ensure success. Tom tells him no, which sets off the normally easy-going Astro, who gives an absolutely epic speech on the responsibilites of leadership:

“I know my job,” Astro continued, “Roger and T.J. know their jobs, but I’m beginning to doubt if you know yours! Being in command of a ship and of men, being responsible for the lives of your passengers and crew is more than just turning a few switches and giving orders on the control deck. We’ve got automatic gear that can handle a ship better than you or anyone else. They put a commander on a ship to make decisions! Big decisions like the one you’re avoiding right now. Have you ever thought about what it’s going to be like when you get that black-and-gold officer’s uniform? You think it’s all going to be a bed of roses? You’re going to have to tell me to do things that are dangerous and that you want to do yourself, but you don’t dare, because if you’re lost, then the crew is without a skipper and the ship is lost. Of course it’s dangerous for Monroe to go out in the rocket— of course you want to go yourself and would go, if I wasn’t big enough to stop you. So what do you do? Instead of facing the decision of sending a man— possibly to his death— so he can find out the depth of his courage, you back out! You haven’t got the guts to be a commander, Corbett!” roared the big cadet. “You haven’t the courage to be able to tell a guy ‘Go out there and get yourself killed, because I’m the commander and I’m telling you to!’”

I love that this is included in a novel aimed at kids. It doesn't hold back at all in its lesson about leadership and trusts the kids reading the novel to get it.

In the meantime, the bad guys have hijacked the Polaris and captured Captain Strong. They plan to lure Tom and the other cadets into a trap, but Tom deduces what's going on and lays a countertrap...

It's a good novel and a solid ending to the book series. It would have been nice if we could have seen Tom, Astro, Roger and TJ eventually graduate, but with the TV series gone, it was inevitable that the books would come to an end.

Here, by the way, is the Tom Corbet fan page, which has good information about the TV show and its various iterations on radio, comic books and novels.