Someone is sawing off a tree limb up the street, just as the local church is tolling six bells and the dog is chomping on a bone. These are three sounds that have nothing to do with each other and cannot be arranged into any pleasing form. The whine, the bong, the chomp. They have different intentions, and they don’t hear each other. Sounds are all solipsistic.

The whine of the saw made me start for a second, since I spent the lunch hour at the dentist’s. Everyone’s nice there. I think they have to be. If anyone’s in a bad mood, well, here, put this over your face and breathe deep. It’s probably a mistake for dentists to offer nitrous while they work; they should just charge a lot for nitrous and offer free dental work. Hey, as long as you’re here! I like my dentist; he’s a capital fellow, and we have something of a conversation while he works. As much as you can when someone else’s hands are in your mouth, anyway.

But whoa, was I loaded when I left. It’s pleasant enough when you’re on your back and there’s sharp whiny metal things in your gob, but when you’re expected to rejoin the proper world you’re off, you’re askew, and you wonder why people take drugs that make simple things like “nothing falling down the stairs on your face” rather difficult. I had my legs under me before I left the place - they're keen on that - but it was a reminder that everything pleasent has a cost. Especially if your dental plan doesn't cover it.

 

Walking the dog today I came to a spot in the road that was nearly impassable - two trucks for a neighbor’s construction project, and a city truck with flashing lights. It was dark-hued, and for a moment I wondered if it was some type of police vehicle making a round up. They’ve come for the people who quote Wikipedia but edit out the “Citation needed” part! The day we feared has come to pass! But isn’t that redundant? All days come to pass. They don’t arrive with the intention of passing, because that would be depressing, as if the sun rises and the day thinks “well, let’s get this over with.” Adding “to pass” isn’t needed.

Anyway, as noted, no one could pass. But the truck would leave after they’d left something:

I wanted to say “why don’t you just ask me? I’ll tell you. And I’ll tell you something else: dang kids drive too fast. They get out of school and streak down here like it’s devil-take-the-hindmost.” And then they’d say “well, this is our job, and it’s more exact than asking you, and I think the devil could take any of them, possessing supernatural abilities as he does. It’s possible the devil would take the first-most, because that person would be more surprised and despair.”

“I see your point. And you have to wonder why the devil would do such low-level work, like chasing people.”

“Well, throughout history - at least in Western literature - he engages on a personal level with people to make them sign over their souls, so it’s obvious he’s a hands-on type. Perhaps he just enjoys his work.”

Never thought of it like that. Then again, we always assume that the guy doing the transacting is The Devil capital D, not a lesser devil who’s handling the grunt work. Think of it - who’s running hell when the Devil is swanning around with contracts in hand, trying to get souls one at a time?”

“Hell probably runs itself, inasmuch as it runs at all. Well, we have to get going.”

Wish I had said something, but I just waved: hello, municipal employees putting rubber-coated wires in the street.


 

More from Back to the Fifties, which also included the 30s, 40s, and 60s. But nothing newer than 1964.

This is about the prettiest thing the car has. That horse-collar grill is still one of the oddest things I've ever seen.

The Obligatory Crest, edited down as tightly as possible:

 

I would polish this every day if I had one:

 

 

 

 

 

 

We conclude Commander Cody with a big, big mystery: what will happen in his battle with the Moon Man?

When last we saw our hero, he was being electrocuted in the same buzzy thing that had killed the head moon minion. The criminals - who comprise, apparently, the entirely of the Moon People’s fifth column - ask what now? And President Moon tells them to carry out the head moon minion’s plan. So they empty a revolver in Cody, just in case, and run off.

Nah.

Back at the lab, Cody explains: there was enough metal in his suit to ground him. okay. Everyone agrees that the super-secret plot to take over the world will involve machines stored in . . . AN OLD ABANDONED MINE. No one says "but those are in every serial. Surely they'll not make that kind of mistake." But no, a mine.

Right then the guy from Al’s Cafe calls, and says those criminals who were here the other day are back, with more criminals. Because there’s only one cafe in LA. It’s the Devious League of Hats:

Of course, it’s not LA; it’s the backlot. We’ve seen that overhang a few times before. Here’s it’s WARDS for some reason, a strange note of verisimilitude.

Mind you, this is the culmination of 12 parts, and we’re mucking around with rounding up the criminals. There is, of course, a fist fight. Note the desultory chair-smashing in the background:

Hats remain on at all times, of course. If you slow-mo it, you can see no one is hitting anyone else, but apparently the force of the wind generated by the flying fists is sufficient for Cody to get his ass kicked, again. But he shakes off 3 dozen blows to the head and temporary unconsciousness - on top of electrocution, remember - to get the car and engage in a car chase / gun battle.

In case you were thinking there would be fleets of alien spacecraft swooping out of the sky to lay waste to our cities.

One shot nails the driver, and it’s farewell to our securely-hatted adversaries.

 

NICE.

So Cody and the other guy head after Retik, aka President Moon, and Cody suits up to fly around because that’s what this is about! Actually, no; they walk over to the mine in hats and suits, and have a gun battle with the one (1) Moon Dude who came along to protect the LEADER OF THE MOON. Whatever happened to the ray gun they carried, I don’t know. But they fight their way back to the lair where President Moon is waiting, and he runs for his rocket, which we haven’t seen before.

That’s all it takes to call off the invasion. This wasn’t thought out too well, you suspect. He doesn’t even have a driver.

Again, nice work:

“He’s getting away in his rocket!" Cody yells. "Let’s get to the truck!” Where the flying suit is, right? Because we haven’t seen it this episode. Perhaps Cody will use the suit to fly after President Moon, enter the ship and have a fist fight! But then he remembered: I got something else. And so:

 

Annnnnd that’s it for President Moon. Some wrap-up in the office, where the mysterious government man says the invasion is over, and now they have time to beef up their defenses if the moon tries anything else. He also says the government will tell everyone about the story, which would guarantee that everyone would stop looking up at the moon with a kind feeling and regard it with dread and hatred.

 

All in all, a crackerjack serial. One minor note: no flying suit in the final episode. But Cody will return in . . .

. . . in many months. Stay tuned. Next week? No idea.

That'll do; a few more cards from the World's Fair. See you around.

 

 
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