The lst of brain patterns Sam looks at feature names of characters who had already appeared in the series (e.g Igor Sladek.). The name of the aquanaut whose brain pattern Joe should have received is Bill Frazer, who would appear in the second series of Space: 1999, played by John Hug.

At the end, Mac says to Joe that they're gonna go buy him a swim suit now. They couldn't before because he wanted to go swimming cos he thought he had an aquanauts brain pattern but didn't, so Weston and Loover rushed round buying all the stock of them everywhere so he wouldn't go off thinking himself an expert and maybe drown. But at the end, noone cares that
A)There are no swimsuits.
B) They shouldn't have to buy them. WIN have them all.
and
C) Joe still doesn't have the aquanauts brain pattern so he's gonna drown. Bummer.

The MiniSat 5 camera module from Shadow of Fear can be seen very briefly in the background as the A14 begins its rampage in Beneleta Base.

When the World Army was evacuating the base, wouldn't dismantling the weapons systems be S.O.P?

One of the things that I like about this show is that the main characters aren't always lovey-dovey together. Mac was irritated with Sam at the beginning of the episode, and this soared into genuine anger when he realized that Sam had followed them. He maliciously sent Sam off on a wild goose chase, and when Sam finally returned, there was a distinctly vindictive tone to Mac's voice when he asked if Sam had enjoyed himself. (Sam was, no doubt, very peeved about the situation.)

Joe certainly cut a swath of death and destruction in this episode, didn't he?

Sam and Shane claimed that they had bought up the swimsuits because they didn't want Joe to risk himself swimming when he didn't really have an aquanaut's skills. This really doesn't wash.
A) What if Joe had simply grabbed a pair of shorts and swam in those? My brothers-in-law and nephews have often swum in their clothes rather than bothering to change.
B) Joe has been an aquanaut before. The same one, I believe. The instant he slipped his goggles on, he would have known that something was amiss.

Which brings me to another point. Why wasn't Joe aware of the switch during and immediately after the transference? He wears the original electrodes when he's in the chair, which gives him access to the brain patterns. After that first episode, they imply that only the portable electrodes in the glasses will give him access.

There's an odd, sort of dual nit here. When Sam suggests that they give Joe an aquanaut's brain pattern, he looks down the library list of patterns. Bill Frazer, Aquanaut, is listed as Q8, but Sam looks further down the list and tells Mac that it is Q14.

However...in "Big Fish", when Joe is given the brain pattern of Bill Frazer, Aquanaut, it is Q14 on the library list. No wonder Mac didn't catch the trick--the number sounded correct!

They were rather sneaky about the men following the McClaines--the man in the cast, seen only from the back, looked a lot like Sam Loover.

BTW, I wouldn't have thought that Sam would have such loud taste in shirts.

You would also think that Shane Weston, Supreme Commander of WIN London Headquarters could do a neater job of searching a room.

Come to think of it, wouldn't it have been simpler to just "mislay" Joe's goggles? He surely wouldn't risk trying to swim wearing the regular glasses.

How did Mac know how long it would be before Sam got back from his wild goose chase? He had no way of knowing how long Sam would prowl about before giving up and coming back.

Is Joe in the habit of bringing his glasses wherever he goes, or did Sam or Shane bring along a pair? Mac was insistant that this was going to be a real holiday, so there would have been no point in bringing the glasses along, only the goggles. Actually, Joe would have looked rather cute riding in the tank wearing goggles.

I found a DVD-related nit. In the chapter selection for this episode, the final "chapter" is the beach scene, where Mac presents Shane with a bill for their extended holiday, and Joe tells him that "the yolk's on you." The picture for the chapter selection showed Shane Weston at the beach, and the caption for it was "Shame on Brad." Ummmm...who is Brad?

BTW, while Sam Loover wearily acknowledges Shane Weston's puns, he laughs uproariously at Joe's "yolk."

On the UK DVDs, chapter 4 was called 'General Alarm'.

I prefer the US version. Shame on Brad, whoever he is...