"The Artificers of Aldebaran"
Episode transcript (provided by Andrew Norris)
Episode transcript (provided by Kooshmeister)
On Aldebaran, the homeworld of the feline artificers, Jenny is instructing a young apprentice of hers named Princess Felicia. In a private area away from the palatial estate of Felicia's grandmother, the High Artificer of Aldebaran, Jenny uses her powers to battle and defeat a training robot, which she destroys. Felicia is impressed, but Jenny warns her the spell she used can only be used on machines, not living things, especially cyborgs, she adds, remembering her earlier encounter with Toadborg.
Although highly skilled in the use of magic, Felicia is impulsive and impatient. She disappoints Jenny, who believes the younger feline has much better potential than that. In an effort to teach her to hone her reflexes, Jenny releases a small glowing sphere called a quark demon from a device called an Aldebaran sensor and tells Felicia to catch it, but the younger Aldebaran proves unable to.
Nearby, out of sight, Bucky, Deadeye, Willy, Bruiser, and Blinky are having tea with the High Artificer, who politely refuses to explain the nature of her granddaughter's training when Deadeye asks about it, because the artificers' secrets are closely guarded. Willy, curious, goes and spies on Felicia trying to catch the quark demon, and he is accidentally found out. Jenny decides not to report him, because she knows he'll keep their secrets and not tell anyone what he witnessed. Willy's efforts to befriend Felicia are met with icy contempt, though.
Jenny then recaptures the quark demon herself, warning her apprentice that only with patience and inner peace can she hope to properly hone her spells. When Felicia broaches the subject of going on her soul quest, a journey all young artificers undertake, she is angered and disappointed when Jenny tells her she isn't ready. Insisting she is, she runs away.
Elsewhere, a toad ship flies through space and approaches the Dark Heart Nebula, a large yellow cloud the artificers use for their soul quests. The communications officer summons Toadborg over and explains he detects massive amounts of energy from inside it. Intrigued, the toads fly inside it, but they soon get lost, and the ship is buffeted by lightning. The navigator, worried they'll be lost forever, advises they return, and Toadborg agrees. He is told that their sensors aren't equipped to successfully navigate inside the nebula, but the communications officer says Aldebaran sensors would work if they had some. Remembering his fight with Jenny, Toadborg decides they need to capture an Aldebaran.
Back on Aldebaran, the crew bids goodbye to the High Artificer and leaves in The Righteous Indignation. After they're gone, an indignant Felicia, intent on going on her soul quest sneaks away in a private spaceship and flies to the nebula, where she is immediately captured by the toads. She psychically contacts her grandmother to inform her of the situation, then destroys all her sensors so the toads can't use them. She is taken away and "tortured" by being forced to watch Toad TV, but all it does is bore her, angering Toadborg.
At Orwell Station above Genus, the Righteous is being worked on by Jenny and Blinky while everyone else is in the snack bar having lunch. Willy, still curious about the ways of the Aldebarans, wanders off to the ship to talk to her. Mimi LaFloo shows up and attempts to seduce Bucky, insisting he come tour her ship, The Screaming Mimi, dragging him off with her before he can protest.
Jenny receives a message from the High Artificer about Felicia's capture and, giving Blinky a message to give to Bucky, steals The Righteous Indignation and races off to rescue her. Willy insists on accompanying her, fearful that if the ship gets destroyed, so will his doorway back to Earth. Blinky gives the message to the others, a holographic recording of Jenny explaining why she had to take the ship. Mimi considers it typical of a cat, but Bucky decides to go and help her. Having no ship to go in, though, the crew are forced to hitch a ride aboard The Screaming Mimi.
At the Dark Heart Nebula, the Righteous arrives and squares off against Toadborg's ship. Toadborg demands Jenny surrender or he'll kill Felicia. Jenny agrees to escort Toadborg into the nebula herself if he'll release his prisoner unharmed. Meeting her halfway, Toadborg tells her to meet him inside the nebula. He leaves the ship with Felicia in a spacesuit, and they fly into the dense cloud. Jenny and Willy don spacesuits of their own and follow them on the Toad Croaker. Even though it doesn't have Aldebaran sensors, Jenny is able to use hers to guide herself and Willy to where Toadborg waits with Felicia.
The evil cyborg refuses to release Felicia just yet, and he forces Jenny to lead him through the cloud until they come upon what appears to be a giant gray planet, which Jenny refers to as "the father of all the quarks." The energy coming off of it makes Toadborg's sensors go haywire. Yelling that he will "drink the power of the stars themselves," Toadborg throws Felicia away and then flies over to the planet. Felicia goes spinning off helplessly through the nebula. Jenny and Willy fly after her and save her while Toadborg attempts to siphon the planet's energy into his body, only to discover it isn't a planet at all, but a gigantic bat-winged demon, sleeping with its wings wrapped around itself. Awakening, it knocks him away, sending him flying out of the nebula.
Jenny is horrified. The demon is supposed to be dormant. She attempts to use her power to put him back to sleep, but it isn't enough. She uses her memory stone to contact all of the other Aldebarans, and they send her their energy. Felicia even lends Jenny hers, and together, they're able to force the monster to go back to sleep. Jenny then announces that by completing this mission, Felicia has successfully completed her soul quest. They fly back to The Righteous Indignation. The toads, seeing them return without Toadborg, prepare to attack them, but then The Screaming Mimi arrives, and they retreat.
Bucky coldly orders Jenny to return his ship and return with them to Aldebaran, implying she is in trouble for taking the Righteous. Willy reassures Jenny that Bucky will understand why she stole the ship. Elsewhere, Toadborg floats around unconscious and gets picked up by his ship. His communications officer asks him if he found what he was looking for inside the Dark Heart Nebula, but Toadborg has no idea what he's talking about, and indeed has no memory of the events inside the nebula. He stomps off angrily, leaving the other toads confused.
Back on Aldebaran, the High Artificer presides over a ceremony proclaiming her granddaughter a Sister to all Aldebaran artificers. Nearby, Jenny tells Bucky she doesn't deserve to be forgiven for taking the ship but begs him to say something, since he hasn't spoken to her since the nebula. He finally responds with, "How 'bout welcome back?" She hugs him, and he winks.
This episode is available on the US video "Corsair Canards" and was not released on video in the UK.
