What am I, Who am I, What will I be?

In the third installment, ``The Enemy's Stronghold'', it turns out Rogers, Buddy, and Deering were not in fact killed.

So even though the rocks of the giant gates swinging shut on the mountain entrance of the Hidden City closed on the stolen Leaderian spaceship, the passenger cabin was damaged but not even a little crumpled. This suggests the spaceships are stronger or rock gates weaker than they looked in the last installment. They're arrested by the Hidden City, but soon cleared of being spies or traitors because how were they supposed to non-suspiciously fly an enemy spaceship into the Hidden City, right?

Rogers reports how the evil Leader Kane is closer to forming an alliance with Saturn, without mentioning his whole ``holding a ray gun on the Saturnian high council'' role, and the conversation turns to what kind of spies the Hidden City has in the Leader's city. They've had a number of spies, all swiftly captured and killed. Rogers suggests that he could go, but Scientist-General Dr Huer says he's more valuable as a pilot. I don't wish to over-snark a weak target here, but I have to note that we've seen Rogers fly three times in this serial and crashed every time. But they go with the plan to put Rogers in a captured Leaderian uniform. Buddy also manages to sneak his way into the mission and they parachute into the Leader's headquarters. (I suppose it's possible Dr Huer has given up on Rogers and figures this way he won't be blamed for the result.)

Saturn had sent Prince Talien to Earth, to meet Leader Kane and evaluate whether they should ally with the super-racketeer ruling Earth. There's an interesting point here in that Talien is played by Korean-American actor Philip Ahn, and he's given an important, responsible role that doesn't conform to any Yellow Peril stereotypes. It's a small thing but when you consider what a big deal George Takei's role as a recurring extra on Star Trek was treated as I'm surprised it's not mentioned more as an example of breaking racial barriers on film.

Anyway, as Kane is talking up his role as benefactor to a satisfied humanity seeking help against the last malcontents, Rogers and Buddy break in to the council chamber, hold guns on Kane and his underlings, and declare they're going to show Talien who the real menace is. Again, I wonder what side Rogers is on. But he forces Kane to show footage of the ``dynamo room'' where amnesia helmets suppress the will out of the enslaved humans. Fistfight, fistfight, running, and the installment ends with Rogers, Buddy, and Talien being shot by ray guns as they try to escape.

Trivia: The first (Soviet) R-2A dog flight on 16 May 1957 carried Ryzhaya and Damka to 130 miles and gave them six minutes of microgravity. Source: Animals In Space: From Research Rockets To The Space Shuttle, Colin Burgess, Chris Dubbs.

Currently Reading: The Groucho Letters: Letters To And From Groucho Marx, Groucho Marx.