Now cascading through the second half of the second disc, Agent Rob bears witness to some of the show's finest visual moments in a star cluster of stellar episodes. Choice picks as ever those as lovingly restored by Adam Adamant....
EPISODE 14
"You will experience exquisite sensual delight forever in death."
The episode begins with Yumi playing a beautiful, if haunting, melody on a flute, which she claims she heard in a dream. Suddenly an "unidentified flying object" is approaching the Odyssey. This stone coffin is from the wreckage of a space exploration vehicle and, recognising it too from her dream, Yumi uses the beautiful melody to open it. The body within is holding an electronic card and suddenly, by piloting via The Black Sun and the planet Sirena, Ulysses realises they can obtain a complete map of Olympus. However, the map is guarded by the mysterious Sirens....
On the surface of the planet Sirena they are captured by space pirates and Ulysses and Nono are sent to find the treasure, the children kept behind as collateral. And so Ulysses and Nono set sail, disappearing into the fog. Disconnecting Nono's hearing circuit Ulysses asks to be tied to the mast in an attempt to resist the Siren's call. This plan fails, however and he dives overboard. The children, having made their escape are close behind and must hope to save Ulysses, find the map and evade the angry pirates....
EPISODE 15
"Ooh! I could do with a swig of anti-freeze."
The Odyssey orbits a planet like Earth (only of 200 million years ago) with a different polar axis. Ulysses, Nono and the children take a shuttle to the surface to investigate, narrowly escaping after being attacked by huge Black Firebirds. Taking refuge in what they believe to be a cave they happen to find a lift that takes them to a giant underground city....
As Shirka loses contact due to a "strong atmospheric disturbance" Yumi activates a hibernation chamber to revive Sauria, one of the planet's inhabitants. It transpires that these slaves to the Gods took refuge in a huge ark to escape a great flood, waiting until it was over....
Unfortunately a second flood is now just beginning, leaving Ulysses and Nono to devise a plan to escape to the ark (and to avoid the invading Black Firebirds) in time. As Telemachus and Yumi help revive the rest of the planet's inhabitants from their hibernation the situation worsens, a reverse polarization of the planet's axis imminent....
EPISODE 16
"It least I know your face. I will remember you, Ulysses."
After a another somewhat melancholy introduction - Ulysses and Telemachus thinking of their distant Penelope - our heroes fall into a deep slumber and the Odyssey enters an "unknown dimension A"....
With their spaceship held by an unknown force Ulysses takes a shuttle to investigate a planet they suspect could be Earth. Nono, meanwhile, encounters a mysterious energy cloud on board the Odyssey. Seeing the Odyssey suddenly head towards the planet surface Ulysses crashes his shuttle, meeting a forlorn character called Hermes who, so he claims, is the only member of his crew not captured and enslaved by Circe, "the enchantress who bewitches"....
With his companions turned into pig-people and set to work building Circe's tower of knowledge - the means by which she hopes to become more powerful than the Gods themselves - Ulysses comes to the rescue. On discovering his identity Circe promises to free everyone and to give them a video map of Olympus... on the condition that Ulysses promises to stay by her side and challenge the Gods. Ulysses agrees... only Hermes, now revealed as the messenger of the Gods, has other ideas and sets the Tridents to attack. Ulysses and his (momentarily revived) companions must try and escape, leaving poor Circe to witness the destruction of her beloved tower before the Gods pass judgement on her....
EPISODE 17
"Anyone who has gone inside the Labyrinth has never returned."
The episode opens with Ulysses talking to Aegeus and, after consulting the Oracle, he is persuaded to follow their advice and seek Theseus, the son of Aegeus (for he alone knows the route back to Earth). Unfortunately King Minos is angered by the relationship between Theseus and his daughter, Ariadne, and so condemns him to the Labyrinth, where he will face the Minotaur. Ariadne defies her father and takes off in a spaceship, intent on following Theseus (in)to the maze....
This action puts her on a "collision course" with the Odyssey and, after a narrow escape, she is taken on board, the pursuing ships of The Kingdom of Minos duly defeated. By using her string of pearls to allow Shirka to track their "electromagnetic path", Ariadne, Ulysses, Yumi and Nono enter the Labyrinth hoping to find Theseus....
As the walls of the maze suddenly shift, Telemachus, concerned at the loss of contact, takes a shuttle to the rescue, the ships of Mino's close behind him. Meanwhile Ulysses and Theseus must face the mighty Minotaur if they are to have any hope of escape....
EPISODE 18
"Ulysses, quickly! The universe is toppling over!"
The children are in the garden when Shirka announces there are "galactic ice flows directly in our flightpath." Ulysses attempts to resist the gravitational pull but Yumi, who feels the presence of something, encourages him otherwise....
Ulysses takes a shuttle into the ice flows and, with the aid of a mysterious other, is directed safely to where he can land. From there Ulysses descends a strange staircase whereby he meets Mercurius, the bubble-dwelling "grandson of the gods". Naturally Mercurius has plans for Ulysses, hoping to use him to steal the jewel from the forehead of Atlas for the presence of any god would awaken this sleeping giant who holds up the universe....
Ulysses takes a shuttle into the ice flows and, with the aid of a mysterious other, is directed safely to where he can land. From there Ulysses descends a strange staircase whereby he meets Mercurius, the bubble-dwelling "grandson of the gods". Naturally Mercurius has plans for Ulysses, hoping to use him to steal the jewel from the forehead of Atlas for the presence of any god would awaken this sleeping giant who holds up the universe....
The reward? Of course, it is a promise of the route back to Earth (and potential power over the gods for Mercurius). Ulysses and Nono climb up the huge static body of Atlas and when they reach the top Ulysses, by this time blindfolded so as to not look into the jewel for fear of death, attempts to prise the jewel free. Unfortunately Atlas begins to stir, his great heart begins to beat, and the universe is knocked off balance by the meddling of Mercurius. Can Yumi or Telemachus help Ulysses replace the crystal in time to restore the order and balance to all things....
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