Cool Barbie IX - Last of the Mysterons

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Cool Barbie IX
Last of the Mysterons

The Mysteron addresses Xeaphon after arriving on Earth.
Written by HIM Emperor Jonathan I
Original air date 11 December 2015
Runtime 08:54
Production code CB.IX
Episode chronology
Previous Colin minisode
Next Cool Barbie X - War in the Sky

Cool Barbie IX - Last of the Mysterons, abbreviated as CB.IX, is the ninth episode of Cool Barbie produced by Austenasian Television Productions. It was released on 11 December 2015 to coincide with the tenth anniversary of the original Cool Barbie film, and contained numerous references to the history of Cool Barbie, both ATP and original.

Plot

Xeaphon enters the living room on the phone while a toy hippo is watching television; Xeaphon asks him to turn the TV off so that he can listen to his phone call. After finishing the phone call, Xeaphon tells the Hippo that the Supreme Allied Commander has warned them of an extraterrestrial object heading straight for the Garden; worried that it may be an alien attempting to free the Titans, Xeaphon heads outside with the Staff of Forest Elves and Edd.

A circular being of light crash-lands on the lawn, forming a small crater which Xeaphon hesitantly approaches. The alien being identifies itself as a Mysteron, and claims to have important information that Earth can use against the Uranians. Xeaphon takes the Mysteron to NETDOF HQ, where Corporal Barbie (now in Moonita's body) helps him question it. The Mysteron claims to be the sole survivor of a Uranian attack on Mars, and offers technological knowledge which can be used to reclaim the Moonbase and Mars; Xeaphon agrees to give the Mysteron remote, guarded access to NETDOF systems.

Meanwhile, back at the Land, a toy school is giving a history lesson when Moonita - now in Corporal Barbie's body as the new Queen of Toys - arrives to inspect the school. The teacher thanks her for setting up the education program, and Moonita leaves with the Chancellor and a Barbie advisor for other engagements.

On their way through the house, a Golden Arrow with a large red gun teleports in front of Moonita's car and orders them to freeze, but Moonita activates the car's ejector seat and is catapulted to safety. The Golden Arrow chases after Moonita while the Chancellor sends for help.

The Golden Arrow catches up with Moonita and - assuming her to be Corporal Barbie - holds her at gunpoint, demanding to be taken to Xeaphon and not believing her when she informs him that she and Corporal Barbie have magically switched bodies. Four toy soldiers arrive and attempt to rescue Moonita, but are shot dead by the Golden Arrow, whose gun is able to fire a powerful blast of energy which kills all four of them with one shot. Moonita tells the Golden Arrow that Xeaphon will be at the NETDOF base, and the Golden Arrow teleports them both there with modifications he has made to his gun.

The Golden Arrow teleports with Moonita into the NETDOF base, and tries to get Xeaphon to go with him so that he can give him a private message. The Mysteron identifies the Golden Arrow's gun as a "Scourge blaster" and demands it be destroyed. When Xeaphon questions how there can be Scourge technology in the gun, the Golden Arrow informs them that he had teleported to the Scourge homeworld along with Colin and the rest of the latter's followers in an attempt to forge an alliance, but that the Scourge instead attacked them on sight; the Golden Arrow escaped, fused some technology to his gun and used it to teleport back to Earth. The Mysteron continues to demand that the Golden Arrow disables his weapon, and when he refuses, attacks him. The Golden Arrow shoots the Mysteron at close range, causing an explosion that vapourises the Mysteron and throws the Golden Arrow to the ground; the Scourge blaster is thrown across the room and is stamped on by Corporal Barbie, destroying it.

Aware that he is dying, with his last words the Golden Arrow warns Xeaphon, Moonita and Corporal Barbie that he heard the Scourge discussing battle plans and a fleet, and they will soon be coming. The Golden Arrow dies, and Xeaphon tells Moonita to get back to the Land and fortify it. Turning to Corporal Barbie, he starts to issue some orders but is interrupted when an alarm goes off. Grabbing Xeaphon's arm, Corporal Barbie directs his attention to a computer screen...

References to former episodes

CB.IX was intentionally released on the tenth anniversary of the creation of the original Cool Barbie film. Post-credits, there is a montage with clips from each of the three original and eight ATP episodes released prior to CB.IX, played to We Are Family; a paraphrased version of this song was sung by the main characters at the end of each of the original three episodes. CB.IX contained numerous other references to past episodes, both those produced by ATP and the original three:

  • Not including the post-credits montage, footage and/or audio from all three original episodes was incorporated into CB.IX. At the start of the episode, the Hippo is watching the original Cool Barbie film (2005) on the television; as Xeaphon approaches the Mysteron in the Garden, the creepy music is audio taken from when Bubbles' escape pod descended to Earth in Cool Barbie 2 (2006); and the dialogue "Go, go, go! Come on, move, move!" of the soldiers running to rescue Moonita is audio taken from Golden Arrows arriving to protect Cool Barbie and Sophie in Cool Barbie 3 (2008).
  • The character of the Mysteron is based entirely off of the antagonists of Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons, a series from which Cool Barbie has often borrowed various elements, most notably the organisation of Spectrum, and the character of Captain Scarlet himself as a protagonist in Cool Barbie 2 (2006) and CB.II (2009).
  • Corporal Barbie's jeep (now belonging to Moonita), the Scourge blaster, the Chancellor, the Hippo, and one of the school students (named as Beany Dolly) were all seen in the original Cool Barbie 2 (2006), the episode in which Captain Scarlet references such as the eponymous Mysteron were first introduced to the franchise.
  • The NATO base - now belonging to NETDOF and also seen in the Xeaphon minisode - is featured in a full episode for the first time since the very first ATP episode (CB.I, 2009).
  • In the classroom, a history lesson is underway, and in the background is a piece of paper functioning as a whiteboard which displays pictures of King Ken II (the monarch of the toys seen in CB.III and CB.IV), Rose (one of the Protectors of the Realm, seen in CB.IV, who in real life had died the previous year), and the Garden Fort (referenced in CB.III and CB.IV).
  • The "ejector seat" is used for the first time since CB.IV (2009). Cool Barbie's car is seen to have an ejector seat in the first and third original episodes as well as the first four ATP episodes.

Production

Filming for CB.IX took place sporadically at the Imperial Residence from June to August 2015 (not including the Supreme Allied Commander's lines, which were recorded by Lord Timothy along with lines for the Xeaphon minisode (2015) in December 2014). The scenes set in the NETDOF base were filmed at St George's Hospital on 11 July 2015, together with scenes for CB.X.

The script had originally called for the Golden Arrow and Moonita to sneak into a car heading for the NETDOF base instead of teleporting there; in preparation for this, some shots had been filmed in November 2012 of a car journey to the hospital and an office window. With the script edited to have them teleport there, the shots of the car journey were no longer necessary, but the shot of an office window was retained and used in CB.IX as the establishing shot for the base. This means that the finished episode of CB.IX (taking into account the CGI; see below) was technically produced over three years, from November 2012 to November 2015.

The CGI for the Mysteron was obtained in November 2015, and after final editing the episode was completed by the end of the month; however, the release was postponed to coincide with the tenth anniversary of the franchise.

Cast

In an intentional tribute to the ten year anniversary of the first original episode, casting was arranged by ATP so that the only speaking roles in CB.IX were voiced by the three co-creators of the Cool Barbie franchise.

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