Sundown pt. 1
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Contents
Story Synopsis
TV listing
The Legion is put to the ultimate test when an ancient weapon known as a Sun Eater comes to life. The Legion mounts a heroic defense, but the Sun Eater proves too powerful. Now at full strength, the unstoppable Sun Eater sets its sights on Earth...
Part one of a two-part episode
Expanded synopsis
The Legion is involved in a fight against the Fatal Five: Superman vs. Validus, Persuader vs. Saturn Girl, Mecha Brainaic 5 vs. Tharok, Ferro Lad vs. Mano, and Lightning Lad vs. Emerald Empress. Neither team has the upper hand. The Legionnaires call in to their new leader, Bouncing Boy, for new orders. He's flustered, and it doesn't go well - in short order, Brainy, Saturn Girl, and Triplicate Girl (on board the Legion Cruiser) are taken out, followed by Lightning Lad and Ferro Lad. Only Superman is left against the entire Fatal Five, but he too falls. The Fatal Five then board the Cruiser.
The emergency force field fails, and an instant before the Persuader's axe can fall on him, Computo announces that the training scenario is over and they have failed. The holographic simulation is terminated. Cosmic Boy suggests another sim, with him and Phantom Girl on the team this time. The team gives Bouncing Boy words of encouragement by telling him how long it took them to get it right, but he leaves in shame. Outside, he's berating himself as Triplicate Girl/Purple tries to console him, and White and Orange corner him. He admits he'll never be a leader - he did fine last time because nobody had any expectations of him. Brainy calls in, it's a Priority One message, and this time it's a real mission. On board the ship, Brainy reveals that the signal came from Cheyenne Delta, a deserted moon, but it turns out that the Fenton Arms Depot is there. The Depot is the maximum security storage location from the weapons left over from the Great Crisis. Superman notices that the moon's sun is a red dwarf, under which he'll have no powers. Fortunately, they've come prepared with a battle suit that will shield him from the red sun's radiation. At the planet, the robot guards won't let them pass, but Brainy convinces them. He announces that they've had a category 9 containment failure, whatever was in there has been activated and it's now on the move. Down on level 4, they are locked in with it, and they step out of the elevator to see guard robots strewn about. Bouncing Boy tells everyone to split up and look for whatever it is. It gets by Lighting Lad and Saturn Girl, then Phantom Girl sees it head off towards Cosmic Boy on level 3. Cosmic Boy's barricades don't work, and Superman sees it on level 2. It charges up to level 1, and the Legion meets it in a room. Brainy recognizes it and says they cannot let it escape to space, but the Legionnaires are brushed aside as it blasts through the building. It's the most dangerous weapon ever developed - a Sun-Eater. In space, the Sun-Eater expands and goes off in search of food.
Back on the Cruiser, the Legion follows the Sun-Eater. Its core is heavily shielded, and the gas cloud around it is lethal. It's headed for Cheyenne Prime, the red sun. Since it's capable of eating an entire star, any planet around it would have its life extinguished by cold. Brainy further explains that the Sun-Eater was created during the Great Crisis by an interdimensional race called the Controllers. They hoped it would frighten people enough to stop the fighting - a weapon to end wars. It was only used twice, and after that it was considered too dangerous to be destroyed or dismantled. The Controllers had no way of getting rid of it, so they locked it away in Fenton. Right now it's running on reserve power, so it's slightly vulnerable, but the closer it gets to the red sun the stronger it gets, and if it eats Cheyenne Prime, it'll be unstoppable. The Legionnaires split up into a strike force of ships - then Bouncing Boy commands all ships to attack. Lightning Lad and Saturn Girl have a shot at the core, but miss, and Bouncing Boy and Triplicate Girl's ship loses its light drive propulsion unit. Cosmic Boy and Phantom Girl take a shot, but are repelled, nearly missing Bouncing Boy's ship. Brainy and Superman, operating outside, go after the core, but Brainy is hit by the cloud and knocked back to his non-mecha state, and Superman's battle armor is destroyed. Brainy rescues the powerless Superman and brings him back to the ship. There, it looks bleak: they won't be able to restore propulsion before the Sun-Eater reaches the star, and Superman is powerless under a red sun. Bouncing Boy takes charge and orders Brainy, Ferro Lad, and Phantom Girl to come up with a plan, and the rest will get the ship ready in 15 minutes. Superman asks if they should be thinking about what caused it to fail in the first place, but goes down to the engine room. Superman fixes the repairs on the light drive, but hears something nearby. It's some kind of robot, nearly invisible, which explains why the light drive went out in the first place. Superman fights the robot, but since he's not fully powered, it's a tough fight.
Brainy protects Superman from the robot's blast, and then destroys the robot. He remembered what Superman had said, and Bouncing Boy ran a dimensional scan on the ship, and found the cloaked robot. Brainy doesn't think the Sun-Eater sent the robot, but he has a pretty good idea who did: a Controller. Their motivations have always been extreme. As the ship nears the Sun-Eater, an army of the same robots uncloaks. They have been surrounding and protecting the Sun-Eater. Superman pilots the ship through the cloud and through the robots. Triplicate Girl announces that other Legionnaires - Star Boy, Sun Boy, and Colossal Boy - are in position. Brainy and Saturn Girl set in motion a plan where her thoughts reach the Sun-Eater's cybernetic mind, via Brainy's robotic circuitry, to convince it that the sun has disappeared. Sun Boy creates an artificial sun to distract the Sun-Eater, which now turns course to follow him. The Beta Team - which also includes Timber Wolf - starts to destroy the robots. When the Alpha Team is in position, Phantom Girl phases out of the ship and reaches the core, then turns on her tracking beacon. In her phantom state, they can fire at the beacon and not hit her. Lightning Lad and Cosmic Boy charge up Ferro Lad to take a powerful shot - but he's overcharged and can't handle the power, and he just barely misses the core. The Sun-Eater fights back and blasts everyone, which breaks the connection it had to Saturn Girl and Brainiac 5, so it now reverses course back towards the sun. Ferro Lad thinks it's all his fault. The Sun-Eater consumes Cheyenne Prime. At full strength, it speeds off. Bouncing Boy tells everyone to get on the ship - they're going after it. It has set a new course: Earth.
To be continued!
Cast
Legionnaires
The following appear in the episode:
- Bouncing Boy
- Brainiac 5
- Cosmic Boy
- Colossal Boy
- Ferro Lad
- Lightning Lad
- Phantom Girl
- Saturn Girl
- Sun Boy
- Superman
- Star Boy
- Timber Wolf
- Triplicate Girl
Villains
- Sun-Eater
- Robots created by the Controllers to protect the Sun-Eater
- Fatal Five (as holographic images only)
Other Characters
- Computo
Miscellaneous
- Holographic training simulator
- Legion Cruiser
Locations
- Legion HQ
- New Metropolis
- Daxam (mentioned in passing)
- Deep space, aboard the Legion Cruiser
- Cheyenne Delta, a deserted moon
- Fenton Arms Depot on Cheyenne Delta
- The Cheyenne solar system
Trivia about the episode
- This episode was aired in the UK about six weeks before it aired in the US.
- It took 9 tries for Cosmic Boy to master the Fatal Five sim. It took 11 for Lightning Lad to master the Daxam sim.
- The voices of Computo and of the guard robots were not identified.
Quotes
- Phantom Girl: "OK, seriously? There's only so many times a girl can face her simulated doom in one day!"
- Brainiac 5: "This battle suit is coated with a high-density nano polymer specially designed to shield you from the red sun's rays. Think of it like sunscreen. Only with laser cannons."
- Bouncing Boy: "Brainy, you speak robot, do something!"
Adaptations
- unknown
