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Behold a Distant Star
Review and Media by Jon T

Episode #8 - Behold a Distant Star
Original Airdate - November 4, 1967

On the Skrull homeworld, Warlord Morat is out hunting game when he decides to capture the Fantastic Four in order to impress Princess Anelle's father, the emperor of the Skrulls. The Four themselves are testing out Reed's new rocket, when it is bombarded by meteorites controlled by Morat. They are pulled through a space-warp and end up in the Skull's galaxy. Upon their arrival, the Four are attacked by Morat's Skrull soldiers. They defeat the Skrulls, but soon lose the use of their powers due to an immobilising ray. They are taken to Morat's base and held captive. Swearing to deliver the Four to Anelle's father, Morat instead attempts to overthrow the emperor with the quartet's aid. As the Skrull emperor journeys to Morat's base to find out what is going on, Morat is told by Reed to use a special ray-gun from his ship. The rest of the team object, but Reed asks them to trust him. Morat uses the weapon on the Four and inadvertently restores their powers. The Fantastic Four are then left to beat Morat and find a way off the Skrull's home planet.

Notes: Based on "Behold! A Distant Star!" from Fantastic Four #37 (April 1965), written by Stan Lee, art by Jack Kirby.


Review: Even for this series, this episode is quite simplistic, with the Fantastic Four forced to fight since they were kidnapped and taken to a hostile planet. Behind this simplicity is a treasonous plot from Warlord Morat, planning to use the FF's defeat to take over the Skrulls, which makes one episode's enemy(the Skrull emperor) this episode's ally.

Some of the Skrull's are given a makeover in this episode (that's not always consistent) to given them more human-looking faces. Interestingly, Princess Anelle, the most sympathetic Skrull character seen so far, more or less looks human, not even having green skin.

Perhaps the lack of a "name" super-villain was a contributing factor, but this episode seemed pretty boring and forgettable.


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