The Dream War

Season 2, Episode 20
Air date	November 02, 1994
Episode guide
Previous	Warrior Brood
Next	No Surrender

"The Dream War" is the 20th episode of the second season of Exosquad.

Summary

Torres, Bronski, and Takagi return to Canberra to provide air cover for a withdrawal attempt by the resistance. The attempt fails miserably, and they are forced to retreat back into the Parliament House. Weston stayed with DeLeon to try to fix his e-frame, and they come under attack by lizard Neo Warriors. They escape to an aborigine camp, but are followed there. They lead the Neo warriors into a trap and destroy them with a rigged fusion pack. Napier escapes with Marsala in the cloaked e-frame.

Synopsis

Click HERE of a detailed synopsis of "The Dream War"

Quotes

• Shiva, lamenting his current position:

"I was once commanding general of all Earth forces. Now I am a zookeeper."

• Maggie Weston, after needing to kick DeLeon's e-frame to get it to work:

"Whaddya know, I'm a mechanical genius."

• While fighting the Neo warriors:

Weston: "What was that stuff?"
DeLeon: "Some kind of acid. Just don't let it hit your e-frame."
Weston: "Oh, like we've got a choice?"

• Alec and Maggie, while lost in the desert:

DeLeon: "Look! Water! In survival training they told us..."
Weston: "Birds fly toward water in the evening. Oh, I just hope he isn't lost."

Significant events, revelations, and other notes

• For all of the anti-Terran propaganda spoken by the Neosapien leadership, many of them have studied terran history.
  • “A Traitor Among Us”: the shuttle pilots ridicule beliefs such as the sun god and the Tooth Fairy.
  • “Mindset”: Marsala quotes Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord (it should have been Georges Clemenceau).
  • “The Dream War”, “No Surrender”: Marsala and J.T. Marsh tell Sean Napier about Douglas MacArthur's “I came through and I shall return.” speech after his escape from the Philippines.
  • “Fire Ship”: Typhonus tells Barca the history of the fire ship and the hellburners.
  • “The Price of Courage”: Phaeton tells Shiva the story of Julius Caesar and his decision to cross the Rubicon River and march against the capital of Rome. Both Phaeton and Shiva say the quote “The die is cast.”
  • “The Art of War”: Livia sees art as useful for understanding Terran psychology and psychiatry.
  • “Fifth Column”, “Abandon Hope”: Phaeton’s bunker has the phrase “Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch’intrate” (“Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.”), which is from Dante Alighieri’s “Divine Comedy”.
• New Neo warriors seen in this episode are a rhinoceros based Neo, and a different type of lizard based Neo.
• Weston's frame has been abandoned in a barn.
• Takagi loses his exofighter, which was specially fitted with a holographic decoy system. Apparently this special feature is installed into the new exofighter he gets, as it is seen in future episodes. This may indicate that the modifications presented by Algernon in "Inner Dark" have since become standard for all Exofleet e-frames. However, only Able Squad is seen using them in combat.
• In her dream, Weston sees a picture of the solar system, and a gigantic explosion centering at the planet Mars (see "Heart of Mars"). It seems when she awakens it seems all she remembers is the gigantic explosion.
• All Alec dreams about is the Neo warriors still chasing them.
• Alec and Maggie begin to develop feelings for each other.
• Napier is told that his importance requires him to get out. A plan is made for his escape is made, but he isn't happy at abandoning a fight.
• Considering the time frame that "Exosquad" is set in, why do the aborigine tribes still have the "natives versus Europe" cultural view? Furthermore, why do they believe that the Neosapiens will allow them to reclaim Australia? Even if Phaeton has ignored them since they are not an immediate threat, they must have heard the stories of the Neosapien atrocities and oppression. Denny is certainly not the only outsider to have joined them.

Season 2

"The Gathering" • "The Embassy" • "Pirate's Ransom" • "Ultimate Weapon" • "Expendable" • "Mindset" • "The Last Man" • "Dragon's Rock" • "Inner Dark" • "The Dogs of War" • "The First Step" • "The Greatest Fear" • "Flesh Crawls" • "Behind the Shield" • "Venus Rising" • "Miracle" • "Under the Skin" • "Ultimatum" • "Warrior Brood" • "The Dream War" • "No Surrender" • "Fire Ship" • "Martian Luck" • "The Lost Patrol" • "Call of the Unknown" • "Heart of Mars" • "Winged Fury" • "Night of the Traitor" • "Trial by Combat" • "The Perfect Warrior" • "The Price of Courage" • "Dark River" • "The Art of War" The Fall of the Neosapien Empire "One Small Step" • "Fifth Column" • "The Last Jump" • "The Night Before Doomsday" • "Abandon Hope" "Beyond Chaos"