The Space Girls - Comparison Feature

Tam Meets the Trygans was never reprinted. However, there is a Here Come The Space Girls strip in the 1969 Princess Tina Annual which is the same story retold. So, either the script itself was rewritten, or someone copied it from the Lady Penelope annual. After all, if a story is any good, why not tell it again!

Air Hostesses Of The Future

For those unfamiliar with The Space Girls, they were Fran, Sally and Kathy, a trio of air hostesses on the Space Liner X-77 in the year 2501AD. Four stories ran in Tina between February and September of 1967, and one story in Princess Tina during September and October of 1967. Essentially, they were the futuristic equivalent of today's air hostesses, and their outfits and status have been propelled into the future unchanged. They wear high heels when working on the X-77, talk about their boyfriends, and often suffer the wrath of Captain Pepper's fiery temper. Oh, and they save the day whenever danger threatens. The stories have some faults (the writer of one thinks that a spaceship would come to a dead halt if it ran out of fuel), but are good fun, although they would be unlikely to grace the pages of a modern girls' comic.

The Space Girls version of Tam Meets the Trygans was printed in blue duotone on pages 99 to 103 of the 1969 Princess Tina Annual. The artist has not yet been identified. It opens with the X-77 returning to Earth from a test flight to Jupiter. The ship is caught in a meteorite storm which throws it off course and into hyperspace. The engines are dead, but the liner is caught in the gravity field of a planet, where they land to make repairs. Fran notices a space Station orbiting the planet, and it is thought to be an unmanned Space Survival Station, fully equipped for emergency use. The Girls ask for permission to investigate: if the Station has a radio then they can use it to contact Earth and ask for course directions. It is at this point that it becomes the same story as Tam Meets the Trygans.

Note: purple will be used for characters in Space Family Robinson and cyan for those in Space Girls. Sections do not necessarily mean separate panels; sometimes two or three panels have been combined. Some have been omitted altogether as they did not appear in both stories.

Section 1: Asking for permission to go to the Space Station

Craig: I'm sorry, Tam, but you can't go back to the Space Station alone.
Tam: But, Dad, I'm old enough to look after myself. Taking rock samples is no fun for me.

Sally: Oh, yes, sir! We'll be all right! We can look after ourselves.
Captain Pepper: No! You can't go to that Station alone. Anything might happen - and I'm responsible for you!

Section 2: Permission granted

Text Box: Craig Robinson is determined, but...
June: Let her go, Craig. We'll be finished here in an hour. Nothing can happen in so short a time!
Text Box: Under this double attack craig Robinson relents...
Craig: All right, Tam, you can go. But remember, go straight back to the Space Station!
Tam: Sure, Dad. You're an angel!

Text Box: Pepper was determined. But...
Scarlett: Let them go, sir! We'll be finished in an hour. What could happen in so short a time?
Pepper: All right, girls. But be careful! Take the ejector jet-packs from the main cab.
Fran: Gosh! Thank you, sir!

Section 3: Were we right to let them go?

Craig: I hope we were right to let her go, June. Space can be a pretty dangerous place!

Captain Pepper: I hope I was right to let them go, Scarlett. Space can be a dangerous place.

Section 4: Better check the Control Room

Text Box: But as Tam passes the main control room...
Tam: That's funny. I thought Dad fixed all the controls before we left. I'd better check!

Text Box: Once aboard, the girls made for the control room.
Sally: That's funny... I thought Captain Pepper said these were unmanned Space Stations.
Fran: We'd better check.

Section 5: Discovering the alien

Text Box: But as Tam opens the door...
Tam: Eeek!

Text Box: But as they opened the door...
Sally & Kathy: Eeeek! What is it?

Section 6: Must get to the Radio Room

Text Box: The strange alien grabs at Tam...
Alien: ZORT AL FEE!
Tam: I must get to the radio...I must warn Dad!

Text Box: The strange man grabbed at the leading girl...
Alien: YAK UNG WAY!
Sally: We must get to a radio and warn the Captain!

Section 7: The alien is not following

Text Box: Tam races for Radio Control...
Tam: He's not following! Why...?

Text Box: The girls raced for the Radio Control...
Kathy: He's not following.
Fran: Keep running!

Section 8: Trapped!

Text Box: Then...
Tam: Another one! I'm trapped!

Text Box: Then...
Kathy: We're trapped!
Fran: More!! Oh, no!

Section 9: Need for a Speech Translator

Alien: TRIX ULA ARUN SIBER!
Tam: He's talking about the controls, but what's he saying? I'd better get a Speech Translator!

Alien: HANG UN GORT ALOF.
Fran: He's talking about the controls.
Sally: But what's he say? There must be a speech translator aboard. We must use it quickly!

Section 10: Now perhaps we'll find out what this is about

Text Box: Using signs, Tam indicates the Speech Translator rack and what she wants...
Tam: Now perhaps I can find out what this is all about!

Text Box: Using Signs, the girls indicated the speech translator...they found one in the Control Cabin...
Kathy: Now perhaps we can find out what is happening.

Section 11: The Station now belongs to us!

Text Box: The aliens answer Tam's questions...
Alien: We are travellers from the planet Trygos. We reached your Space Station by rocket pack after our ship was destroyed by meteorites. A rescue ship is on its way, but we are impatient to return to Trygos with our space discoveries. Your Station now belongs to us!

Text Box: The speech translator worked...
First Alien: We are travellers for planet Regus. We reached this Space Station by rocket pack after our ship was destroyed by meteorites. A rescue ship is on its way.
Second Alien: But we are impatient to return to Regus with our space discoveries. This Station now belongs to us!

Section 12: You will explain the Station's controls

Tam: Take our Station? But you can't...I won't let you!
Alien: You cannot stop us! Now, many of your Station's workings are strange to us. You will explain them!
Tam: Help you? Never! I'll die first!
Text Box: As Tam steps back against the bench, she suddenly remembers her father's laser pistol...
Tam: Now, you'll do as I say. You're not...

Fran: But you cannot take this Space Station. It is vital space equipment.
Alien: You cannot stop us! Many of the Station's workings are strange to us. You will explain them!
Text Box: As Fran stepped back she grabbed at the spaceman's gun...
Fran: I'd die first. But now you'll do as I say! First, release my friends.

Section 13: The power of the mind moving matter

Text Box: Suddenly...
Tam: The pistol...how?
Alien: A simple case of the power of the mind moving matter. Now, you will explain this ship!

Text Box: Suddenly...
Fran: What on Earth..!
Alien: A simple case of levitation! Now will you explain the ship?

Section 14: We found out how to work the scanner

Text Box: Tam is taken to the Main Control Room...
Tam: I won't... I won't! Nothing you can do will make me!
Alien: No? Before you came we found out how to work a few of your ship's controls. Look!

Text Box: The girls were taken to the Engine Room...
Sally: We will not help you.
Fran: There is nothing you can do to make us.
Alien: We will see. Before you came we found out how to work some of this ship's controls. Look.

Section 15: You will not save them unless you do as we say

Text Box: The aliens turn on the Scan Screen...
Alien: see, stupid child, your relatives. You cannot save your ship - and you will not save them unless you do as we say!

Text Box: The aliens turned on the screen...
Alien: You see, your crew members of X-77 will die, unless you help us!

Section 16: Must think of something

Tam: I've got to do as they say...it's my only chance...but I must think of something...I must...

Sally: We will have to play for time until we think of something...we must do as they say.
Kathy: But we must think fast!

Section 17: A tour of the Station

Text Box: Slowly Tam takes the Trygans over the Station. The generators...
Text Box: The Directional Beam Control...
Text Box: Until finally the galley, where Tam has a sudden idea...
Alien: We have encountered many races who cook and eat such as this. But Trygans have no need of food. Come, we waste time!

Text Box: Slowly the three girls took the Regals over the Space Station until they reached the galley... then Kathy had a good idea...
Alien: We have encountered many races who cook and eat... but we have no need for food. Come, we are wasting time.
Kathy: That's the plan. Wait till I give the word!

Section 18: The galley houses the lift to the Space Mobile Bay

Tam: But you will have need of this. The galley houses the lift to the Space Mobile Bay! You will need them to land on Trygan. I will take you down!
Text Box: As they step inside the cylinder Tam sidesteps - and pushes...
Text Box: Then...
Text Box: Too late, the Trygans realise they have been tricked...

Kathy: You will need this. The galley houses the lift to the Space Mobile Bay. You will need it to land on your planet. We will take you down.
Text Box: As the spacemen stepped inside the cylinder, the girls acted...
Kathy: Now!
Fran: Lock the door fast!
Text Box: Then...
Text Box: The spacemen realised they had been tricked... but too late...

Section 19: They won't get back in

Tam: They can try as much as they like. They won't get back in now I've locked all the hatches!

Kathy: Try as they may they won't get back in now. I've locked all the space hatches.

Section 20: Nothing happened

Craig: Hi, Tam, any trouble?
Tam: No, Dad, nothing! Nothing I couldn't handle, anyway. After all, I can look after myself, can't I?

Scarlett: Any trouble?
Kathy: Nothing we couldn't handle. We told you we could look after ourselves.

Notes:
• It is unclear just how a meteorite storm would have propelled the X-77 into hyper-space, or how they would have found a planet there, moreover, one with an Emergency Space Survival Station. However, perhaps the author did not intend hyper-space to mean extra-dimensional space, but rather space beyond those parts which had been charted. Is was a popular misconception at the time, and also used in TV Century 21.
• Interestingly, when the X-77 is knocked off course, someone says that they are lost in space!
• It is not entirely clear how the girls get to the Space Station, but they appear to do so by using Jet Packs.

• The aliens are Regals from the planet Regus.
• The Regals bear a slight resemblance to the Phants as seen in the Dan Dare story Rogue Planet (right). Was the artist's depiction of the Regals inspired by this?
• It is interesting that the Alien speech is different in each story. Why was it changed for The Space Girls? With the exception of TSALB! (which is BLAST spelt backwards), the Trygan speech doesn't seem to mean anything. However, that of the Regals can perhaps be made intelligable. YAK UNG WAY almost sounds like ‘Ya kun g'way’. Mutter that a few times and it sounds like ‘You can't get away’. Given that this is what the alien says when the girls run away, it does appear to fit. Similarly, HANG UN GORT ALOF can be distorted into ‘an youn gor tal of’. An alien says this when he is trying to get the girls to explain the controls. Is it going too far to interpret this as ‘And you go tell of’? Well, maybe...
• The speech translators as seen in The Space Girls are simlilar in design to those Tam wears. Perhaps the design was detailed in the script?
• It appears that Fran, Kathy and Sally do not know what the Space Station is when they first see it. Maybe it was a case of not recognising the design. However, if they haven't seen one before then how do they know its layout? They have no problem finding the Control and Radio Rooms. Also, were there really Space Mobiles on the Station in The Space Girls story, or did they invent them to trick the aliens? The Robinson's Space Station really does have a Space Mobile Bay.