"Amazing Stories" Retro Recap: "The Mission"

Written by Scotty

There are many times in life when you have the chance to do something special for yourself or your friends.  If you are willing to take that extra step however is the question.  Knowing that they will do anything within their power to make sure you are successful in your ventures is one thing, but are you willing to pay them back for it, even if it could cost you something extra.  Even if you are not able to help, your friends will still be there for you, but they may be a little more hesitant in the future to step up when called upon.  

On his way out of the Air Force since his time is up, Jonathan has one more thing that he has to do.  With his former crew being one flight short of twenty four successful missions, Jonathan has been branded the Captain’s lucky charm.  Not wanting his buddies to fall short of such a feat, Jonathan puts on his uniform one last time and heads down to the airstrip to board the B-17.  But the Captain is none too happy to see the young man, since he has just gotten married and should be heading state side.   But Jonathan is not willing to give up on this and since he has been nothing less than good luck for the crew, he is able to join one more time.

Jonathan is all about tradition and this mission is no exception since he is a talented artist and makes sure to draw his usual pre mission cartoon and by sending his picture up to the cockpit, the crew is ready to start their final trip together.  As everyone is ready for the war to be over, they know what they are charged with and continue with their duties.  With their good luck charm and belly gunner along for the ride, they all know that they are in good hands.  But they are not aware of the enemy hiding in the sun and are caught off guard for the first wave of attackers.  Being able to catch up quickly, all of the enemy’s aircraft are blown out of the sky, but the front of one of the victim’s planes crashes into the overloaded B-17.

Not hurting anyone in the process, the damage from the collision damages the hydraulic system that allows Jonathan to move around in the belly gun.  With the metal being fused together from the heat, Jonathan is trapped on the belly of the plane for the remainder of the trip, but when the Captain finds out that the landing gear is no longer working, he needs to find a way to get the boy out of his soon to be tomb.  Without being able to get the hatch to open without a blow torch, Jonathan is trapped in the little space and begs for his Captain to come up with a plan of releasing him.  When nothing works, the Captain starts to ignore his gunman and focuses on landing the plane safely.  But Jonathan has a wild idea. Since he has drawn what would happen to the plane before takeoff, he may be able to change what happens to the plane before it lands as well.

This is a great episode as you get to see a band of friends band together to try to help one of their own.  Not wanting to give up for any reason to release Jonathan from the fused in belly gun, all of the ideas are good, but nothing conventional will work with their time remaining in the air.  The Captain has to focus on getting his men safely back to base, or they will all lose their lives when the plane runs out of fuel and at the cost of his good luck charm's life, he will not let that happen.  Every character in this episode shows how much love they have for their friend and they will go to the ends of the earth to save him, but when they are not able to get anything to work, they come up with an alternative that might make his impending doom a little less painful.  But Jonathan is a fighter and will never give up since he knows what he is meant for on this planet and will not let his life end without a fight, no matter how crazy his ideas really are.  Keep dreaming, you never know when one will come to life.

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