The Zeta Project – 16hunthub

Zee and Ro travel to the Hub, the country’s central transit nexus, to meet Dr. Boyle (a scientist who worked on the Zeta Project). But instead of helping the duo, Boyle disables Zee’s cred-card, forcing them to steal items for his research from around the Hub.

Media by Borg4of3
Review by Matt Zimmer

Voices:
Diedrich Bader as Zeta / Zee
Julie Nathanson as Ro
Michael Rosenbaum as Agent West
Dominique Jennings as Agent Rush
Dabney Coleman as Dr. Boyle
Luray Cooper as Weather Guy
Mark Davis as Horoscope Machine
Chad Enbinder as Security Chief
Julianne Grossman as Flight Attendant
 

Zeta and Ro find a colleague of Dr. Selig’s…who leads them into a trap.

Zeta and Ro arrive in a city called the Hub to find a man named Boyle who used to work with Dr. Selig. When they meet him Boyle slips a jamming device on Zeta which empties his cred card, turning Zeta and Ro into sitting ducks–unless they complete some assignments for him. The assignments range from stealing computer chips to stealing other electronic devices which Boyle claims he need for scientific research.
Each assignment brings Zeta and Ro to near disaster and things only get worse when Agents Rush and West arrive in the Hub searching for them.
After their most recent successful grab Boyle says that they will continue to work for him if they ever want him to remove the jamming device because security is after them, not him. This gives Ro the idea to transmit a confession after their latest steal to let security know that they are working for him. His back to the wall, Boyle removes the jamming device and Zeta and Ro escape. Boyle, however is not so lucky and is taken in by the authorities.

If there was one complaint I had about Batman Beyond, it’s that outside of Rebirth there really wasn’t anything to suggest that it actually took place forty or fifty years in the future. Sure, they had robots and flying cars but so does Justice League. The cool thing about The Zeta
Project is that a lot of the plots of the second season gave off real futurey vibes. The idea that once you run out of money in the Hub, security is alerted because you must be an undesirable vagrant is almost
Orwellian in nature. Despite the Hub being bright and colorful this suggests a darker side is lurking underneath the hubbub of the Hub. I wish this episode had explored more of that idea, but honestly the fact that it is an afterthought and that Zeta and Ro don’t question it or are surprised by it almost makes it scarier.

Dabney Coleman portrays Boyle as a wormy type eel so it is a real pleasure when he gets what’s coming to him. As for Agent West, his bumbling would probably be more grating if he wasn’t voiced so likeably by Michael Rosenbaum.

The animation in this episode was serviceable. I didn’t notice any mistakes and saw that the explosions when Zeta is in the rocket chamber were original and pretty neat. I thought this episode was pretty well done and consistent with the improvements of the second season.

Story: ****
Animation: ****