Power (John Garfield) and Tempo (Derek Fowlds) belong to an interstellar space force known as the Solarnauts. The Solarnauts are dedicated to defending the Solar System from alien threats. They are part of a larger organization called the Solar System Security, SSS or Tri-S. Power and Tempo take their orders from a Tri-S representative (John Ringham).
Power and Tempo are on patrol when they see an unusual cloud heading for a planet in their sector. The cloud hovers over Colony Research Base 4. The two pilots are unable to communicate with the research base. Suddenly they are pulled into the cloud. They watch helpless as Research Base 4 is destroyed.
Tri-S receives a message from Logik (Alex Scott), an evil alien. Logik demands that Tri-S hand over the mining rights to Mars or he will destroy the planet’s capital using a poisonous cloud. The lives of 50,000 people are at stake. Logik gives Tri-S twelve hours to comply, or he will release the poison cloud.
Logik’s base is on asteroid 137 in the asteroid belt. The Space Force will not be able to arrive in time to stop Logik’s plan. The only ship close enough to reach Logik’s base in time is 2511. The pilots of 2511 are Power and Tempo. When Power and Tempo come under attack by Logik’s missiles they need to come up with a plan to avoid Logik while destroying his base before he can launch his deadly cloud.
“The Solarnauts” was shot in 1967 and was directed by John Llewellyn Moxey. It is a pilot for a British science fiction show that was never sold. At only 25 minutes long it’s tough to get excited about the premise of the show.
In addition to Garfield and Fowlds the show features Martine Beswick as Kandia. She works for Meteor Control and got stuck on the asteroid when Logik blew up the observatory. I don’t know if Beswick was intended to be a reoccurring character or not.
The clothing styles are a combination of shiny polyester tunics for the guys and silver lame and purple body stockings for the girls. The evil alien, Logik, sports a black open knit sweater with duct tape decorations over his shiny boiler suit. Logik himself is also shiny. The guy’s spacesuits are slightly padded polyester with helmets. Beswick’s spacesuit is silver lame. Her helmet looks like a silver rain-bonnet.
The pilot was done while “Star Trek” was in its second season. Unlike Roddenberry’s legacy, this has the look and feel of a Saturday morning children’s program. The show’s appeal seems to be limited to kids and adults who like lots of camp, slick looking miniatures and 60’s style futuristic jazz music. It reminded me a little of “Thunderbirds” but with people instead of puppets. The pilot was interesting, but I couldn’t see myself watching an actual reoccurring show on a regular basis.