"The things I let myself in for!" - Bill Gibson
Keep It Cool is the 6th produced, and the 7th broadcast, episode of the British television series Supercar.
Plot[]
Dr. Horatio Beaker has created a new fuel, and he and Bill Gibson are transporting it to their home base in Black Rock. However, Masterspy is keen to get his hands on it...
Synopsis[]
It's eleven o’clock at night in the Nevada desert. On a road, somewhere in that chilly late-night darkness, a truck belonging to Gibson's Transport is travelling. Bill himself is driving, with Dr. Beaker alongside him.
In the back of the truck, secured in a refrigerated container, is the scientist's new fuel. It's highly dangerous - so much so that, if the temperature outside were to get above zero degrees, then the fuel would explode!
Unknown to them, though, they're being watched...by none other than Masterspy and Zarin. This time, Masterspy gloats, "we will get what we want..."
After driving over a small boulder, Dr. Beaker and Bill find themselves stranded - oil is found to be leaking from the cracked carburetor, and without power the refrigeration protecting the fuel is now at risk. They radio this news to their friends in Black Rock, who are not a little relieved to hear from them - including Jimmy, who's insisted on staying up late, as he's eager to see his older brother. Mike organizes the replacement batteries Dr Beaker has asked for, and will bring them out in Supercar - and, after Jimmy finally acquiesces about going to bed (along with Mitch), Mike settles into Supercar's cockpit and waits for his friends to turn on their radio, so that once aloft he can home in on its signal.
But as time continues to pass - time until the inevitable hour of sunrise - and still in radio silence, Mike elects to set off. Although the extra weight of the batteries is affecting Supercar's stability, he nonetheless gets the vehicle up and out through the open roof doors. Without the radio signal to home in on, though, to it'll still be difficult to find his friends: "The desert's a big place..."
He may be waiting awhile, however: Dr. Beaker and Bill have just been captured!
While Masterspy knows a small amount about Dr. Beaker’s new fuel, what he doesn't know involves that temperature problem...
Out ahead of him, after loading the fuel onto their own car, Masterspy and Zarin have driven away from the tied-up Dr Beaker and Bill ("There goes a charming fellow," Bill dryly remarks). But then, slowly, the sun rises...and the volatile fuel explodes!
Mike can see the smoke, from the explosion, which helps him find Dr. Beaker and Bill.
Cast[]
Regular Cast[]
(Graydon Gould)
(Sylvia Anderson)
(George Mercell)
(David Graham)
[]
Notes[]
- Bill Gibson, the older brother of Jimmy Gibson, returns in this episode (his previous appearance was in Rescue).
- Masterspy's dialogue establishes that he and the Supercar team have met up before. It's Bill's first encounter with his friends' recurring nemesis, however.
- Although Bill and Dr. Beaker are shown to be gagged (as well as tied up), their gags have come loose as Masterspy and Zarin are about to leave. How this came about, is neither explained nor shown.