For some reason, the first two pages of each 3-page chapter of this
story are in color, with the third page in black-and-white.
On page 1 of the story, the craft usually referred to as a
lunar module in the UFO episodes is here called a
moonferry.
C'mon...the drug invented by Dr. Brant in this story that
miniaturizes large-scale living organisms is pretty
ridiculous! And based on research into lunar geology?!
Unwilling to order one of his SHADO personnel to take Dr.
Brant's miniaturization drug, Straker volunteers to take it
himself...and he doesn't even ask first if the effect is
reversible!
Dr. Brant states that they (who, SHADO?) have had the
ability to miniaturize inert material for some time. His new
breakthrough allows miniaturization of living organisms.
Dr. Brant claims that, without the miniaturized spacesuit
Straker wears, the noise of normal-sized people speaking, or
even moving, would shatter his senses. If that's the case,
why wasn't the miniaturized mouse on page 2 similarly
effected?
In the miniaturization, the subject,
such as Straker, loses most of its mass. Where did all that
mass go? It seems to be a violation of the laws of physics,
in that energy cannot be created or destroyed, merely
transformed from one form of energy to another. (Straker
also somehow regains all his former mass when he reverts
back to normal size.)
Returning to Earth with the concealed, miniaturized
Commander Straker, Dr. Brant is depicted piloting the
moonferry himself! Sure, it's possible the good doctor also
has piloting experience, but we've seen in episodes of the
TV series that the "moonferry" (lunar module) has two
professional pilots in the cockpit and a separate,
comfortable passenger seating area.
Previous stories have implied there is one or more spare
Interceptors at Moonbase. Page 3 of this story suggests
there is at least an entire flight of them (in the case of
Moonbase Interceptors, that would seem to be three), when
the commander of the Interceptor flight sent to battle the
incoming UFOs reports back to Moonbase a "whole pack of
UFOs" and requests the launch of another flight of
Interceptors.
Page 4 of the story reveals that Straker has been reduced to
half-inch size by the miniaturization drug.
The SHADO ship that comes to rescue Dr. Brant as he drifts
through space appears to be a modified lunar module.
On page 5, Straker uses the exclamation, "Great space!" It
seems an unlikely phrase for a person of the 1980s, even an
astronaut faced with a pair of UFOs!
Also on page 5, we see that the UFOs have the ability to
fire tether lines that will attach to a metallic object (in
this case, the moonferry) to tow it through space.
Dr. Brant brought the drug that will restore Straker to
normal size with him on the moonferry. After his recovery
from the UFO attack on page 6, Brant tells Foster about the
miniaturized Straker's presence on the moonferry and states
the restorative drug was in his spacesuit. So, Dr. Brant did not
have any other samples of the restorative in his own lab??
This story reveals the aliens having a large space station
far beyond Earth's moon from which to launch missions to
Earth. This actually makes much more sense than the
previously presented scenarios implying that the aliens were
constantly piloting their craft from their own homeworld in
another solar system.
The aliens on the space station have what seems to be a
never-before-seen translator device between their language
and English which they use to interrogate Straker.
Foster is also miniaturized to a half-inch on page 12 of the
story. But, on panel 4, he looks about twice that height
against Dr. Brant's finger...unless Brant has awfully small
hands!
The insect with which the aliens threaten Straker looks very
similar to a centipede, but may be an alien variety; I am
not aware of an Earth centipede species that has
lobster-like claws on the front, nor such large,
centrally-placed eyes.
After Straker and Foster abandon the robot and seek out the
alien space station's power source, page 18 of the story
describes them as walking "many miles" before finding it.
The narration must actually mean "the equivalent of many
miles" at their half-inch stature.
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