The Star of Bedlama

The Copper Kidd leaves with the team on his first official flight mission, a patrol in the outer sector, while Stargazer calls Bluegrass in. The Star of Bedlama, a diamond stolen from the Bedlama Museum about a century ago and worth about a million limbo dollars, has been recovered on Earth, and Bluegrass is to take it to the museum. Earth Command is sending it by a top-secret courier, someone guaranteed not to attract attention: Seymour, paid double the meter to deliver a package he has not opened. On the way, three Space Bandits play a game of steal the cash box with his cab and find the diamond inside, and they take it to Poker-Face to fence.

Poker-Face promises the Bandits their money, then plans to keep the diamond as his ticket out of the galaxy and out from under Mon*Star's thumb. He calls Stargazer, offers the diamond in exchange for leaving Limbo free and clear, and names a meeting at an abandoned space freighter in Sector 7. Stargazer sends Bluegrass. Poker-Face then tells Mon*Star that Bluegrass will be at the freighter alone, and Mon*Star sends Melodia.

Bluegrass walks into the ambush, comes out of it, and reports that Poker-Face set him up. The Mob hear it too, and Mon*Star, furious that Poker-Face has been holding out on him, transforms to teach him a lesson. Stargazer calls the team back from far outside Limbo. At the Starship Casino Bluegrass catches Poker-Face packing and gets the diamond, and then the transformed Mon*Star arrives to demand it and goes for Bluegrass, until the SilverHawks arrive in the nick of time.

Afterwards Seymour catches up with the Bandits, and Stargazer, holding the diamond, admits he earned his fare. Poker-Face is let go, until he is reminded that Mon*Star may not be so forgiving, and he runs after Seymour's cab begging to be taken out of Limbo.

A valuable diamond becomes the object of desire for the Mob and the SilverHawks.

Poker-Face: "This diamond is my ticket out of this crummy galaxy and out from under Mon*Star's thumb."

Poker-Face: "I'm tired of being his flunky."

"And you, Poker-Face, I'm going to deal with you later!"

Earth Command needs a courier for a diamond worth about a million limbo dollars,[1] someone guaranteed not to attract any attention, and Kimberly Morris's script picks the least likely man for the job: Seymour, singing "Secret Agent Man" to himself, who has not looked inside the package and does not care, because Earth Command is paying him double the meter. It takes a gang of Space Bandits playing a game they call steal the cash box to find the diamond, and they only find it by accident.

Everyone who gets a hand on the Star of Bedlama tries to buy a way out with it, and Seymour, who never wanted it, is the one who gets paid. The Bandits want to sell it, Poker-Face wants to leave Limbo on it, Mon*Star wants it handed over, and Seymour wants his fare.

Poker-Face gets a scene alone with the diamond, which the Mob rarely gets. In it he tells us "This diamond is my ticket out of this crummy galaxy and out from under Mon*Star's thumb." and then, more quietly, "I'm tired of being his flunky." He plans to set up shop anywhere in the universe, maybe start a mob of his own, and settle a score with the SilverHawks on the way out. His scheme: sell Stargazer a meeting at an abandoned freighter,[2] sell Mon*Star the news that Bluegrass will be there alone, and slip away while the two of them are busy. "Nice having Mon*Star do my dirty work for a change."

The best writing is the showdown at the Starship Casino, played in card-table talk. Bluegrass finds Poker-Face packed and boasting that by this time tomorrow he will be a hundred million miles away, and the two of them trade bets across the room. Then Mon*Star fills the casino doorway and asks which of the two aces is going to hand over the diamond, and when he turns on Bluegrass he saves a promise for his card sharp: "And you, Poker-Face, I'm going to deal with you later!" Even Mon*Star talks like a card player in the casino, and the ambush at the freighter, with no such talk, cannot match it.

The weakness is the SilverHawks themselves. The episode opens by sending the Copper Kidd out on his first official flight mission, and we never hear of it again. The patrol takes the rest of the team so far out that when Stargazer calls them back they are a long way from Limbo, and they arrive in the nick of time at the casino. This is Bluegrass's episode and Seymour's, and a twenty-two minute slot with a courier, a gang of Bandits,[3] a double-cross and a Mon*Star transformation to fit in has no room left for the rest of the squadron.

In the last minute, Poker-Face, let go with no hard feelings, is reminded that Mon*Star may not share the SilverHawks' generosity. He ends by running after Seymour's cab shouting "Get me out of Limbo!" and Seymour gets to drive off with his fare. Seymour wins this one!

1 ^ The diamond was stolen from the Bedlama Museum about a century ago and was recovered on Earth; Stargazer puts its worth at about a million limbo dollars.

2 ^ When Poker-Face first calls Stargazer he is threatened with half a century in the slammer for withholding, and he answers by demanding to deal first.

3 ^ The Space Bandits are never named in the dialogue, and their capture is covered in a line or two; by the end they are told they will never rip off another cab again.

1. The courier Earth Command chooses because he is guaranteed not to attract attention is Seymour, paid double the meter to deliver the package to Hawk Haven on the QT.
2. The episode opens with the Copper Kidd leaving on what he is told is his first official flight mission, an anti-crime patrol in the outer sector.
3. The Space Bandits' robbery of Seymour's cab is a game they call steal the cash box.
4. Poker-Face plays both sides: he offers Stargazer a meeting at an abandoned space freighter in Sector 7 and tells Mon*Star that Bluegrass will be there alone at about 0700.
5. Mon*Star orders his transformation to deal with Poker-Face for holding out on him, not to fight the SilverHawks.
6. Stargazer's gold mechanical arm reaches into frame at 3:10, and at 18:56 he holds the recovered diamond in that gold hand while shaking Seymour's with the other.
7. The closing quiz covers binary stars, whether most stars exist in pairs or groups (the Kidd guesses some, and loses the points) and nebulae; he finishes on fourteen points.

3 names enter the series in this episode.

• Bus Stop
• Bandits Limo
• Abandoned Space Freighter

Appearance lists compiled from the episode articles on the ThunderCats wiki, checked against this site's encyclopedia. Names we have no entry for are shown without a link rather than left out.