- A.R.C. - Spaceship Venus SCENE 12. VENUSIAN DESERT, EXTERIOR The Sun, so much bigger in the sky than they are used to, beats down upon the A.R.C. crew as they trudge doggedly on. As blinding sunlight reflects off the metal of their suits, Dr Melody LAKE, ZARA Kneale and Mr VALENTINE find themselves navigating a series of deep, dusty dunes, not unlike quarries found back on Earth. ZARA (panting a little) Can't we rest a bit, Doctor? I'm terribly tired. LAKE Just a little further sweetie, I think I spotted some sort of structure in the distance where we can have a sit-down in the shade. Mr VALENTINE, walking ahead of the other two, gives the tiniest of sniffs at this. He knows as well as LAKE that shelter from the harsh desert is a long, long way off. EFFECT: A distant high-pitched humming coming closer. Mr VALENTINE turns to the approaching sound then drops to a crouch, motioning for the others to do the same. Both he and LAKE draw their pistols as they squint up the slope of a dune to where the humming noise now emanates. EFFECT: Clouds of sand blow down off the top of the dune, as if a helicopter were landing somewhere out of sight. The humming dies down as the three astronauts cautiously crawl to the top of the dune and peer over the sandy ridge. Not far away, a curious metallic platform seems to have settled on the sands. It is flat and disc-like, about the size of a car, with a single rail running around at waist height. It seems to have settled into a shallow dusty depression of its own making. Disembarking from the hover disc are four alien KREEGS - hairless, wide mouthed and devoid of expression. Each one unslings an odd lamp-like device as they fan out, searching the dunes. ZARA (panicky) They're bound to find us! We've got to get away! LAKE (laying a reassuring hand on ZARA's arm) Tish, but we haven't introduced ourselves yet! Mr Valentine, if you wouldn't mind..? VALENTINE nods at her unspoken suggestion and scrambles back down the dune, circling around. LAKE straightens up, dusts herself down and begins walking over to the nearest KREEG.
How many did you get? Did you spot our nod to the Mekon, and who I cast as the actor to play him, and why? As Dan Darish as A.R.C. is, our most obvious homage to the Pilot of the Future appears in another 7TV show altogether. Bluntly pitched as ‘Charlie’s Angels meets Thunderbirds’, The Daredevils stars three sisters - glamourous Diana, roguish Katrina and tomboy Charlie - who have inherited their father’s love of high-flying adventures. Aboard their futuristic Dareplanes, these fearless female flyers respond to emergencies around the world at the behest of their perpetually off-screen daddy, who communicates with his ‘devils’ via long-distance speakerphone. The family name? Dare, of course.