the Slaves of Neptune

plot
When three spaceships disappear near Neptune, Raeburn sends Dart and his crew to investigate.  A colonist ship heading for Pluto disappears and Raeburn orders Dart to follow it.  However, the crew of the Galasphere soon becomes dizzy and falls asleep.  While unconscious, Husky accidentally hits a control, which throws an electromagnetic field around the Galasphere.  The crew wakes up and Slim realizes that it prevents an hypnotic force from entering the Galasphere and causing them to fall asleep.  They extend their electromagnetic field around the colonist ship until they are out of range of the hypnotic force.  The Neptunians, who had been responsible for the disappearance of the ships and had intended to use their crews as slaves, fire missiles at the Galasphere, but its forcefield protects them from the attack and they return safely to Earth.

notes
The Neptunians would later appear in the episodes the Cloud of Death, the Planet of Thought, the Telepathic Robot, Deadly Whirlwind and Forcefield X.
This episode introduces Gabbler, Husky’s pet Gabblerdictum parrot, which Professor Haggerty teaches to speak with his birdsong-translating machine.

credits
a National Interest Picture production
produced by Roberta Leigh and Arthur Provis
directed by Frank Goulding
created & written by Roberta Leigh
voices by Libby Morris, Dick Vosburgh, Ronnie Stevens, Murray Cash
puppetry by Martin & Heather Granger, Joan Garrick
electronics by F.C. Judd
space consultant: Colin Ronan
RCA sound recording
script assistant: Denise Kaye
cameraman: Arthur Provis
editor: Roy Hyde
art director: Roland Whiteside
models: Derek Freeborn
special effects & animation: Bill Palmer, Brian Stevens, Bert Walker