Explosion on the Sun

plot
From the Jovian satellite Ganymede, a man named Doctor Duncan fires a freighter of beryllium into the sun.  The resulting nuclear explosion causes a tremendous heat wave on Venus and Earth.  He threatens to create more explosions if the UGO does not send him weapons and robots.  Raeburn sends Galasphere 347 to Ganymede where Slim manages to send Duncan’s thirty-nine remaining freighters back to Earth.  Duncan however has Dart and his crew imprisoned until Raeburn sends the freighters back to Ganymede.  Raeburn agrees but tells Duncan that before he can do so he must send a Galasphere to intercept them and modify their programming.  This gives them the chance to place devices on board each freighter which will cause the freighters to explode when they exceed two million miles per hour, which they will automatically do when they enter the sun’s gravitational pull.  Duncan releases Dart and his crew and when Raeburn refuses to send him what he wants he fires all of the freighters into the sun.  However, as Professor Haggerty predicted, the freighters explode before they reach their target.

notes
Doctor Duncan was once employed by Haggerty, but was fired when he attempted to steal one of the Professor’s inventions.

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
recordist: Cyril Brown
dubbing editor: John Beaton
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
2nd unit cameraman: Jimmy Hopewell