Jonny Quest (1964)/The Robot Spy

The Robot Spy
Season 1, Episode 8
Airdate	November 6, 1964
Written by
Directed by
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Jonny Quest (1964) — Season One

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The Robot Spy is the eighth episode of the first season of Jonny Quest.

Guest Stars:

Plot Overview

The Quest nemesis, Dr. Zin, sends a giant robot spider (by flying saucer) into a U.S. government research facility to steal the secrets of a ray gun project on which Dr. Quest is working.

Notes

THIS IS A DETAILED ACCOUNT OF THE EPISODE (with spoilers)

A mysterious flying saucer glides in over the Pacific Ocean by night - approaching the Western seaboard of the United States. It is picked up by a US Air Force radar station and two jet fighters are scrambled to investigate. The UFO, however, submerges to avoid the jets, then continues on its way into American airspace. A lone driver on a West Coast road can hardly believe his eyes as the saucer overflies his car and proceeds inland.

The saucer penetrates deep into the Southwestern desert and settles in an isolated place near the Quest Laboratory complex (a sprawling US Government research facility). A soldier manning the installation's main gatehouse notices an unusual glow emanating from the landing site and alerts his superior.

In his laboratory, Dr. Benton Quest is putting in a late night's work on his new project (a para-power ray gun cannon), when he receives the guard's report. The Doctor and Quest family bodyguard, Race Bannon, are soon outside, driving off toward the glowing horizon by jeep.

Meanwhile, out on the desert, the flying saucer awaits. A dome on top opens to reveal a featureless black sphere, inside. On this, a single eye blinks awake and a set of articulated legs unfold. The whole weird thing can walk about like a giant daddy long-legs spider. It briefly surveys the area, before collapsing back into a ball, and re-sealing itself under the saucer dome. Dr. Quest and Race soon arrive on the scene, where they come upon the landed craft. Astonished and intrigued by the unworldly-looking thing, Dr. Quest sends Race back for a winch tractor.

Meanwhile, Dr. Quest's son, Jonny, and his adopted Indian son, Hadji, take a break from homework in their own quarters at the laboratory complex. Hadji entertains Jonny by performing a levitation trick on their pet dog, Bandit. The magic show ends abruptly, however, as the boys notice Race pass by their window in a tractor. They rush outside with Bandit to hitch a ride.

Soon, the whole Quest party is united at the UFO landing site. There is a moment of levity as Bandit sniffs out a jackrabbit - only to be left in a cloud of dust when the critter runs away. The mood quickly turns serious, though, as the saucer dome opens. The black sphere inside gazes upon the startled Quest party with its cyclops eye.

Far away, in a castle headquarters (at some unknown location), Quest nemesis, Dr. Zin, views his startled adversaries over a television monitor. The alien-looking thing, it turns out, is an ingenious robot of Zin's creation, under the evil Doctor's remote control. Pausing from his work to slap away a lowly servant who interrupts with a meal cart, the cruel villain commands his robot into sleep mode.

At the landing site, the Quest party is more mystified than ever as the eyeball closes up and returns to its inert state. They lift it from the craft with their winch tractor and haul it back to the laboratory complex. There, the sphere is placed in a warehouse and a soldier is posted on guard outside the door.

Later, in Dr. Quest's laboratory, the Doctor and Race prepare for the next morning's test program of the para-power ray.

Meanwhile, back at the warehouse, the robot sphere unfolds into giant spider mode and sprouts a set of antennae. The guard investigates - only to be struck on the forehead by one of the antennae feelers. This sends the soldier into convulsive spams, before dropping him to the floor, paralyzed. The robot spider-walks out of the warehouse and prowls about the facility grounds in eerie silence.

In their room, Jonny & Hadji wrap up their homework, unaware that the robot lurks just outside the window, watching them. Bandit barks an alarm, but the thing slinks away before Jonny can get up from his desk to investigate. It stalks up outside Dr. Quest's office and uses it's feelers like a pair of stethoscopes to listen at the wall (relaying the data on to Dr. Zin in his remote castle). Inside, The Docter and Race discuss the capabilities of the new para-power ray. It is a non-lethal weapon, designed to drain the energy from any vehicle and, thus, immobilize an enemy army without the need to destroy it. The two men decide to make one more check on their mysterious find, before turning in for the night.

With the Doctor and Race thus departed, The giant mechanical spider makes its way to the entrance of Dr. Quest's lab. There is a desk soldier on duty in the laboratory reception area, but before he can react, the robot strikes with one of it's feelers. As before, the man goes into convulsions at the touch of the antennae sensor to his forehead, and is quickly rendered into paralysis. The thing proceeds into the lab, where (under Zin's direction) it begins to examine the para-power ray cannon.

Meanwhile, Dr. Quest and Race arrive at the warehouse to discover the black sphere missing and the guard unconscious. They quickly revive the soldier and get his story about the thing sprouting legs and attacking. All three men are soon out searching the installation for their missing specimen.

They soon come upon the other unconscious soldier and move on to the laboratory, where they discover the mechanical spider, still scrutinizing the para-power ray cannon. Dr. Quest is completely perplexed at the thing, until recognizing the voice of his rival over it's intercom speakers. From his remote control console, Dr. Zin introduces his robot creation and explains its purpose: to gather intelligence on the new Quest invention and return to Zin headquarters with the data in its memory banks. The evil Doctor cannot help but gloat over the fact that there is no way to stop his indestructible machine from completing its mission. With that, the robot spy crashes through the laboratory wall to make its escape.

Within moments, the base is at full alert. Dr. Quest and Race Bannon rush to the main gate by jeep, where they join a phalanx of heavily armed soldiers in position to stop the robot. The walking spider eye soon approaches the roadblock and the army defenders open up with everything they've got: small arms, heavy machine guns, flame throwers, even a tank! Unaffected, the robot spy wades right through the curtain of fire - and the electrified fence - to escape out onto the desert.

Jonny and Hadji are aroused from their sleep by all the commotion. They soon arrive on the battlefield with Bandit, only to find the giant robot already gone. Some of the infantrymen chase after the thing by jeep, as Dr. Quest rallies Race and the boys to his lab.

Continued attacks by army weapon teams fail to stop the robot spider as it reaches its delivery craft.

Back at his lab, Dr. Quest deploys the para-power ray cannon, which requires a fevered teamwork effort by Race, Jonny and Hadji to hook in and power up. They manage to get the gun operational, just as the robot's flying saucer takes to the air. With no time to lose, the Doctor zaps the escaping craft with his cannon and brings the saucer down in a fiery crash. The robot is, thus, stopped. Oddly enough, however, the Doctor is disappointed. His new invention was only supposed to disable its target, not destroy it.

The whole Quest party soon gathers at the crash site, where Bandit drags the robot's eye out of the wreckage. Acting as a 2-way television tube, the eye comes alive with the image of Dr. Zin. He promises his rival that they will meet again...and Dr. Quest vows to be ready when that time comes.