Episode #12 Return To Zenn La
Original Airdate May 9th, 1998

At last, the Surfer finds his way home...or does he?
Credits
Written By: Larry Brody, Brooks Wachtel
Directed By: Marc Strange, Alison Sealy-Smith

Review: This show has a problem with writing coherent action scenes.

Though dubbed “Return to Zenn-La,” this episode actually has the return of Ego, the living planet. Ego pretends to be Zenn-La, so it can keep the Silver Surfer as a protector. When Silver Surfer discovers the ruse, they fight. That’s when it all gets screwy.

Silver Surfer does something. Blasts a ray. Sucks the life from the core. Whatever. It’s not fully explained, and the art only obfuscates it more. But whatever he did, it is fatal to Ego.

Silver Surfer decides he can’t let Ego die, so he does something else equally esoteric. It involves more stupid beams, and it somehow heals Ego. None of it is explained, so Ego goes from doomed to healthy in 30 seconds with no indication of how is given to the audience.

This show has a bad habit of hammering on the obvious and not explaining the inscrutable.

However, this episode is not all bad. Ego and Silver Surfer have an interesting relationship. I think the term is “frenemy.” Sometimes they argue, but Silver Surfer has a habit of saving Ego’s life.

Also, it was nice to see the Silver Surfer temporarily happy for a change. Brian Essiembre, the Surfer’s voice actor, is much better at the light-hearted stuff than the perpetual angst.

But this episode still has some basic trouble with storytelling, primarily in the climactic action scene, which undoes it.

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