Neptune Crossing

April 4, 1994
In this promising series kickoff about an astronaut exploring the surface of Neptune's moon, Triton, Carver ( Dragons in the Stars ) masterfully captures the joy of exploration, although the story itself follows a fairly standard save-the-world plot. Pilot John Bandicut has been cut off from his internal link to the ``datanet'' by faulty technology, leaving him subject to maddening ``silence-fugues.'' His need for contact makes him a perfect candidate for a symbiotic relationship with the alien quarx, who are trying to save humanity from a mysterious disaster threatening Earth. The quarx, creations whose understanding of Terran culture comes mostly from monitoring old TV and radio programs, have a certain gee-whiz quality, although their interactions with the datanet are intriguing. A rather adolescent love story combines amusingly with an unlikely case of xenophobia, and a fiery conclusion sets Bandicut up for further adventures in yet another alien world, where Carver may find greater room to employ his gift for the fine rendering of difficult scientific concepts.