REVIEW: THE DERELICT is an entertaining hour even if some of the science does not make sense. How can Will detect a signal from Alpha Centauri? The heat from the comet cannot be--a comet is ice. Despite this, the show works best as adventure fantasy and here it is quite entertaining. Every bit of it thrills from the trapped outside the ship as a comet threatens to the swallowing of the Jupiter II to the escape at the end. And it is much more sensible to have the Jupiter II find the planet after John used the star maps in the alien ship rather than have the Earth ship find the planet after the meteor storm. That is too coincidental. Here, in THE DERELICT, it makes much more sense. Will's character of being peaceful, friendly (even to strange aliens) and seeking out communication between life forms is noted here. Smith had no reason to shoot at the monster (and didn't appear to have killed it) and was really quite annoying here. Traces of his later stupidity are seen in the section where he tries to call Aelous Umbra and gets static which hurts his ear. One thing which seems odd is Don's quote to Maureen about having serious control trouble for some time. How long a time passed between the very end of act four and the beginning of the tag. Further quotes in ISLAND IN THE SKY lead me to wonder how long also--John tells Smith the Robot's worked properly ever since he once ran amok. Smith also reminded John of this event--"you remember" which makes me wonder how long ago the Robot attack was supposed to be--John would hardly forget it if it was just a few days or even a week ago. Some fan fiction stories take off on this and predict a great deal more adventures between ACT FOUR and the TAG. This is quite interesting. The sad music is first heard here but more fully in WELCOME STRANGER.
Music from DERELICT is heard in TARGET: EARTH, KIDNAPPED IN SPACE, TWO WEEKS IN SPACE, SPACE DESTRUCTORS, A CHANGE OF SPACE, THE RAFT, THE ANTI MATTER MAN, THE PROMISED PLANET, and A VISIT TO A HOSTILE PLANET, THE FLAMING PLANET. Some musical cues are not heard in any other episode (mostly during the very first walks through the alien spaceship).
by user: Mavericstud9