You’ll recall that our hero – Crash Corrigan – was sadly killed at the end of the previous episode. This week’s chapter opens with a caption card dedicating it to his memory. Or at least I assume it will.

Chapter Five - "Prisoners of Atlantis"

The recap begins with Unga Khan and his winning scowl. He is "cruel and crafty" and now has a "mad desire to own the world". I thought he wanted to destroy it. Yes, he definitely wanted to destroy it. Or at the very least rule it. No one said anything about legal ownership. That’s just asking for trouble. Sharad is still "kindly" and we are reminded he gave Crash command of "the White-Robe army" before Crash’s untimely death. Diana the girl reporter "came to Atlantis in search of headline stories" as you do if you want your editor to sack you for being insane, and finally Crash Corrigan "who defends the sacred city against assault by Khan’s Army". I hope the caption writer was fired for his tasteless use of the present tense when describing the late Lt. Corrigan.

The recap reminds us that war is hell.

We see Crash fall from the battlements and into the path of several hundred on-coming horses. Thank goodness this is black and white so the blood won’t be…

Hang on. This is a lot of horses trampling over the late Crash Corrigan.

Somewhere during the intervening week this cavalry suffered an acute personnel establishment shortfall and we're left with three horses who ride quite close to our hero.

Crash lives! Crash lives! Once again, Crash lives!

But he and his new friend decide to play dead because then the people sent to capture them might give up and go home. When one of them bends over to make sure Crash has been completely squashed Crash surprises him with a perfectly executed small-package roll-up.

They grapple manfully for a moment before the black hat passes out and Crash decides to celebrate by removing his cloak.

All this gratuitous nudity turns out to have a point as Crash (and his new friend) have figured out how to infiltrate the enemy base. Yes – you’ve guessed it – they’ve stolen the black hats.

Say what you will about these old serials, they put the money on screen as this battle sequence shows. And those are real people fighting. If you are a young person and think only computer graphics can fight, ask your parent or guardian about the olden days (or visit your local library).

As they ride away in their stolen chariot, Crash puts on a comedy voice and orders a full retreat. The several hundred men on several hundred horses fall for this cunning ruse and retreat fully.

Wondering where Crash is, Billy the small boy decides to hide in one of the baddies’ ladder carts and sneak into their stronghold and… do something presumably.

By the time the black hats reach their cave it seems to be daylight again. Obviously they don’t have a flame gun that looks ace in the darkness so normal service is resumed.

This next bit is bizarre. A black hat shouts over to Crash (or rather the person whose clothes Crash has pinched). Crash replies (using his deep, comedy voice) but puts his hand up first as though he's just answered the telephone. He keeps his hand there the whole time and only puts it down when his interlocutor has gone away. Maybe his black hat is too tight.

Unga Khan conveys his anger via the medium of tele-vision. Crash, hiding off camera, explains that he and his friend were killed to death under the horses hooves.

Khan believes him and has a moment of personal ecstasy.

Then his lackey says something cynical (about whether it will be possible to raise Khan’s tower to the surface and then go on to conquer the world) and Khan gives him a scowl. Charmingly, he leaves his ecstatic finger in the air the whole time. I think he must be on strings.

Billy the small boy sees his chance and escapes from the wicker basket that the black hats took with them as they attempted to conquer the sacred city. Presumably they were going to make them do their laundry once it was over.

It is heartbreak all round when Professor Norton fails to recognise his little boy.

Diana uses Billy’s questions to give the audience a handy summary of the plot while the Prof storms out having discovered he’s been given the wrong chemicals. Billy decides to take this chance to smash the fruits of his father’s brainwashed labours.

I’m fairly sure that is only a replica of the rocket motors and not the real thing. Still, good marks for effort, sonny.

Sadly, the lackey comes down and interrupts Billy’s fun. He blames Diana for the damage and tells her she will be given a dose of the brainwashing machine. Billy is appaaaaalllllled.

Billy runs away in search of someone in this mad, crazy world who can help him. Luckily, it takes him just under thirty seconds to find the place where Crash Corrigan is hiding. Yay Billy.

A black hat was following the small boy and Crash lays a trap for him. Although he may appear to simply be leaning against a wall in an “I’m relaxed, deodorised and camp” sort of a way.

The man Crash left for dead outside the Sacred City stumbles into the baddies’ cave like a drunkard. He’s spotted by a couple of his pals and the alarm is raised.

A fight ensues and, egged on by Billy the small boy, Crash and his new friend beat up a couple of bad guys. Crash rushes to the throne room in the hope of saving Diana from Unga Khan’s ray.

 Khan probes Diana for information but she is firm and determined. “I won’t tell” she says. Meanwhile, Crash finds his way blocked by a pair of terrifying Volkites.

His only option is to climb through a window and climb up Khan’s tower from the outside.

Diana is now trapped in the transforming machine. At which point she becomes a bit girlie and looks like she’s going to burst into tears.

But wait! Crash Corrigan is here to save her. Flying, quite literally, to her rescue.

But oh! The irony! Crash is knocked out by a black hat and falls next to the lackey’s techno-girdle. His woozy hand paws at it but, just before he loses consciousness, he activates the brainwashing machine. Diana is doomed…