HydroWorld: Hydroplanetary Adventures - Season 1, Episode 93: “Reaching For The Real Stars”

The episode first opens to a live-action sequence of the Kennedy Space Center on the futuristic peninsula of Cape Canaveral, Florida. We see real-life NASA astronauts training and preparing for the first human mission to Mars, before cutting straight to the captain's office in the Mission Control Center. We see the captain of the mission meeting with American Girl's CEO, saying that he has heard about the Luciana Vega doll's dream to be among one of the first female astronauts to set foot on Mars. The CEO agrees and affirms that going to Mars has been Luciana Vega's dream ever since her 2018 real-world release. She also says that she has been in close contact with Luciana, who has said that she is really enjoying life in the central Hydroplanetary System with her best friends and family members.

The NASA mission captain then says that there is an extra seat available on the SpaceX Starship that is too small for a human astronaut but perfectly-sized for an American Girl doll, and would like to offer Luciana that space so that she can fulfill her dream of going to Mars. The CEO happily accepts the offer and shakes hands with the mission captain before promising that she will reach out to Luciana about the opportunity. The captain then rises out of his chair and says that with the mission to Mars only three days away, he must make sure the rest of the astronauts complete their training and are ready to fly by launch day. The CEO and mission captain walk out of the office, and the intro theme starts.

After the intro theme, we cross back to the central Hydroplanetary system with the episode title appearing as the humongous, futuristic, hydroaerodynamically-streamlined Hydrohovership Helicarrier Hovercraft is seen sailing through the night skies at breathtaking speed. 11-year-old Luciana Vega is seen watching a live News video feed of the real-world Starship rocket launch with her younger sisters Meg and Isadora, as well as her best friends Rolan, Taslyn, Krissalyn, Raelyn, Katie, Styx, Pixie, Lea, and James all with her in her very large bedroom. Luciana says that she can't wait for the first human astronauts to step foot on the red planet and her friends and younger sisters agree.

Rolan explains that the first human mission to Mars is a major historical event that will forever revolutionize the advancement of human technologies, and Raelyn says that she's really excited to hear all about what the humans find on the red planet. Then Styx speculates that maybe they will find aliens, and James tells him that there can't possibly be any aliens living on Mars or the humans would have found them already with the unmanned terrestrial exploration rovers they had deployed in the years leading up to this mission. Styx's sister Pixie agrees with James.

Luciana tells Styx that maybe he's right and wishes she could go find out, if only she could be there on that mission. She then says that being among the first to step foot on Mars was her dream, but she knows she’s only 11 years old in fifth grade and is far too young to go. Seeing her disappointed, Taslyn places a hand on her shoulder to comfort her. Then Luciana's computer chimes, and Luciana switches to her email account, open in another browser tab, and announces that the American Girl CEO sent her a new message. She opens it and her friends crowd around to see what it says as Luciana reads it aloud. She pauses and gasps when she reads the CEO's offering of a place on the first human mission to Mars.

When her friends stare at her with wide eyes, and Taslyn asks what it says, Luciana screams with delight and spins around in her chair with joy, announcing that the American Girl CEO has said that NASA is very interested in her abilities and wants her to fly with him and his team on the first human mission from Earth to Mars. Meg, Isadora, Lea, Raelyn, Krissalyn, and Taslyn immediately cheer and hug her, all of them jumping up and down in excitement, while Styx slowly claps his approval and Rolan verbally congratulates her. Isadora runs out of the bedroom to tell her parents while Luciana says that flying to Mars has always been her dream, but she never knew she would ever be selected for an actual mission to the red planet, especially at such a young age.

James smiles and says that attending Space Camp with Mallory and Alex must have really payed off if NASA truly felt the need to include her on an actual mission to Mars. Luciana hugs her parents as they walk in the room to congratulate her, and Mrs. Vega tells her and the kids that they were extremely proud of her and couldn't wait to see her walking on Mars with the other human astronauts. Rolan says that he couldn't be happier to have one of his own best friends selected as the first kid to actually travel to Mars, and that he couldn't imagine just how thrilled his other best friends would be when he told them about Luciana's place on the mission.

Then Meg and Isadora push out two large, nebula-patterned rolling suitcases from Luciana's closet (which match the color of Luciana's dress) and remind her that the humans' mission to Mars is now less than two days away and she should really start packing to leave as soon as possible. When Luciana's parents nod in agreement and tell her that there are many things she needs to pack before leaving for the Solar Sector, Katie chimes in and realizes that Luciana will be away from the Helicarrier during the Mars Mission and may not come back depending on how well it goes. The excitement disappears from everyone's faces as they all take this into consideration, and Raelyn tells Luciana that they'll all really miss her while she's away as her mother steps out to take a phone call.

Luciana tells her best friends that she'll really miss them all too, and she really hopes that everything goes well on the Mars Mission. Luciana's mother steps back in and says that the CEO has called to discuss her travel arrangements. Luciana will first travel to Toy City on a Hydrohovership Helicarrier HoverShuttle subcolony ship bound for Seacoast International Hydroport on Earth in the Solar Sector. In Toy City, she will then transfer to a southbound HydroWorld Hyperloop Express train that will provide ground transportation to the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Rolan suggests that he and his friends go return to their family staterooms for the night to give Luciana some space to pack, and his friends agree. Rolan then tells Luciana that they will all meet her at Helicarrier Hydroport Central the next morning to see her off before he and the other kids say their goodbyes, leaving Luciana, Meg, Isadora, and their two parents alone in the bedroom.

We then cut to Rogue Island, where villains Atrocitus, Killer Croc, Lord Garmadon and Red Skull are all seen supervising the construction of a large octagonal structure resembling a portal. Atrocitus explains to them that once his new gateway into the Solar Sector is complete, they will have all the tools they need to take over HydroWorld, starting with targeting the first human mission to Mars. Lord Garmadon comments that Hydrohaus would be most pleased with gaining unfiltered access to the human world, as having such an advantage over the HydroWorld Elite Rescue Squadrons Forces would make them completely unstoppable. Killer Croc agrees and affirms that with the Real World in the villains' reach, Supreme Admiral Commander Rolan Dines and the HydroWorld Elite Rescue Squadrons Forces would be absolutely no match for them. Red Skull states that his workers believe the gateway would be complete roughly by dawn of the day the human astronauts were due to arrive on Mars, and Killer Croc says that would be perfect timing.

The next scene takes us back to Luciana's bedroom at the break of dawn the next morning. We see her tossing and turning in bed before entering her dream, where the human spacecraft is touching down on the red planet. Luciana descends from the ramp in her new NASA spacesuit just as a green alien slithers up to her saying "Hello, Luciana," before her dream is suddenly interrupted by the loud buzzing of her futuristic alarm clock, which reads 6:00 AM. Luciana punches the snooze button and climbs out of bed before suddenly realizing what day it is and running off to her closet to get ready.

We then cut to the enormous, busy Helicarrier Hydroport Central, where thousands of charter buses are seen clogging up the roadways. We see various shots of long futuristic trains arriving at platforms, huge futuristic hybrid cargo passenger aircraft taking off from runways, and ginormous futuristic ground-effect Hydrofoil Hoverboat Airships departing from pier docks throughout the complex, before the camera focuses in on the primary HoverShuttle loading terminals. HERSF Troops and soldiers stand and salute in acknowledgement on both sides as the boarding gate slides open and Luciana exits to the ginormous, futuristic Hydrohovership Helicarrier HoverShuttle that awaits her with all her baggage in tow. 11-year-old Supreme Admiral Commander Rolan Dines and his many best friends all wait for her at the end of the line by the shuttle's primary starboard entry hatch, and when she reaches them, she temporarily sets her bags down and tells them this is it.

Rolan wishes her the best of luck with the human astronauts on the NASA Mars Mission, and Taslyn, Krissalyn, and Raelyn all nod in agreement. Welliewishers Kendall, Ashlyn, and Camille step forward and tell her that she can do it, and Liann, Paisley, and Aliya all remind her to believe in herself. James tells her to remember what they learned at Space Camp during the mission, as she never knows when such knowledge may prove useful to the other human astronauts on her team. Luciana promises him that she will, and Lea says that they'll all be sure to look for her when watching the live news feed of the human Mars mission on launch day. Katie then worries aloud and asks Luciana what will happen if something goes wrong during the mission and she never comes back. Luciana, feeling a bit anxious herself, tries to comfort her by confidently reassuring that she will return and telling her not to worry, before adding that she'll really miss her best friends.

All the kids huddle together in a huge goodbye hug, before Meg, Isadora, and their parents walk up to wish Luciana the very best of luck with the other astronauts on the NASA Mars Mission. The five of them hug, and then Luciana grabs her bags before turning away to board the HoverShuttle. The HoverShuttle’s LEGO minifigure captain, who waits by the entry hatch, smiles, salutes, and nods at Luciana in acknowledgement as she boards. Then, the HoverShuttle's large boarding ramp gate raises, closes, and seals with both of them and all its other passengers inside as the massive spinning blades of its enormous acclivity lift and thrust fan proprotors all whirl to life.

Her best friends and family all wave goodbye as they watch the great Hydrohovership Helicarrier HoverShuttle rise into the air from from its landing pad. Luciana is seen smiling and waving back at all of them out her passenger colony cabin window as the HoverShuttle banks rightward and flies away from the Hydroport. Not long after clearing the Hydroport's safety zone, the HoverShuttle rapidly accelerates and emerges from an outer starboard-side deployment tube of the Hydrohovership Helicarrier Hovercraft into the vast, endless skies of HydroWorld's infinite core atmosphere. It then hyper-jumps straight through an atmospheric wormhole out of the central Hydroplanetary System towards Toy City on Earth in the Solar Sector of HydroWorld.

As the humongous Hydrohovership Helicarrier Hovercraft slowly shrinks away behind the comparingly microscopic HoverShuttle, Luciana swipes through photos of herself with Rolan, James, Raelyn, and all her other best friends back aboard the Helicarrier on her smartphone, taking the opportunity to get one last good look of them before shifting her full attention to the Mars mission. We can see her eyes welling with tears when she swipes to the last photo of her and all her friends hugging. Even though she has told her friend Katie with confidence that she would return, she's still a bit anxious about what could possibly happen if she's wrong by some small chance and never sees any of her friends or family again. She hugs her smartphone and then powers it off completely to focus her mind, and then tells herself that she has been awaiting this day her whole life and needs to be really brave if she's actually going to fulfill her dream of stepping foot on Mars.

After a long montage of the Hydrohovership Helicarrier HoverShuttle soaring through the clouds at hyperspeed (more than three-trillion times the speed of light) day and night, we see Luciana in a purple and lime green scuba suit vigorously practicing building constructions for the Mars Mission on the bottom of the swimming pool in the HoverShuttle’s upper onboard fitness center, occupying herself with practice drills for the Mars mission to focus on something other than worrying about leaving behind her friends and family. When she finishes her model and rises to the water’s surface to take a breather, she pulls off her scuba mask and gasps in surprise when she sees the American Girl CEO in action-figure form standing there at the edge of the pool and slowly clapping for her.

The CEO compliments Luciana and tells her that the NASA mission captain would be very impressed by her strong dedication to the mission. Luciana blushes and acknowledges the CEO before pulling off her diving flippers and climbing up the ladder out of the swimming pool. The CEO goes on to say that the captain of the first human mission to Mars has heard all about Luciana and is confident that she will be a valuable member of his team. She also adds that she is sure the captain will very much appreciate to hear how much Luciana is pushing herself to be a valuable and successful member of the team, and that her parents must have taught her very well.

Luciana agrees with the CEO and tells her that attending the Youth Space Camp with her best friend James and learning how to be a good team member also helped, and that the support from her friends back on the Helicarrier has encouraged her to keep going even though she feels a bit anxious about the mission. Luciana suddenly pauses, thinking about leaving her friends behind. When the CEO sees the worried expression on Luciana’s face, she places her hand on her shoulder and says that she knows leaving all her friends behind isn’t an easy thing to do, but she’s sure that she will see them again after the mission.

Luciana then asks the CEO what in HydroWorld she's doing on the HoverShuttle, and the CEO replies that she's returning to Toy City to watch the first-ever manned mission to Mars with her family after previously traveling to the Helicarrier for a special assignment. She then says that Luciana’s friends and her own two daughters will surely be very excited to see her walking with the other astronauts and making history as one of the first females on Mars, but she just has to believe in herself so that she can achieve that goal. Inspired by the CEO’s words, Luciana smiles and thanks her before the two of them hug. Then the CEO reminds her that she should head back to her seat in the passenger cabin and rest up for the big day tomorrow.

The Hydrohovership Helicarrier HoverShuttle descends through the clouds of the Earth at sunrise on the morning of launch day and touches down at Toy City International Hoverport (much smaller than any Hydroport). We see Luciana navigating her way through the massive, busy, futuristic Hoverport passenger terminal, heaving her two large rolling bags close behind her, as she makes her way to the HydroWorld Hyperloop Express rail station on the lower level. She temporarily pauses just short of the Hoverport Hyperloop boarding platforms when she passes a digital screen displaying a picture of herself floating through space in a spacesuit with an outstretched palm, publicly advertising her as the first girl on Mars. Luciana touches her own palm on the screen and reminds herself that she *is* the first girl on Mars and is about to make history, but only if she can keep her eyes on the prize.

Luciana then turns around to find herself face-to-face with a large cheering crowd of elementary, middle, and high school kids, all of whom recognize her by the obvious purple streak in her hair and the nebula-patterned dress that she wears. All the kids are seen cheering and screaming excitedly, bombarding her with requests to sign autographs and exchange email addresses and take selfies with her. One of the boys slip Luciana a small digital tablet with a bunch of email addresses loaded onto it, and one of the girls excitedly tell her that she owns a copy of the 2018 American Girl doll who represents her. Luciana smiles and then tells all her new friends that she will happily do all of those things up on the Hydrohovership Helicarrier Hovercraft after she returns from Mars, before telling them she has to go and quickly slipping away to catch the Hyperloop. With a new sense of determination, Luciana runs off towards the boarding platforms, positively reminding herself that she can do this.

The streamlined, futuristic triple-decked HydroWorld Hyperloop Express train is then seen zooming through its transparent tube tracks at hyperspeed towards the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, where she is greeted at the hyperloop station by the human captain of the NASA Mars Mission. The human captain shakes hands with Luciana and takes her up to the training center to meet her human crewmates. The captain introduces his crew to Luciana Vega and the astronauts greet her and introduce themselves before he goes on to discuss the technical details of their imminent departure for the Mars mission. Luciana tries to listen to him, but is distracted by her anxiety of not returning safely from the mission. She then shakes her head and tells herself to get out of that mindset and focus so that she fulfill her dream.

After the captain finishes talking, Luciana and the other astronauts proceed upstairs to suit up and prepare to board the massive SpaceX Starship that will fly them to Mars. The captain shows each crew member their spacesuit, and Luciana changes out of her dress to put on hers. We then see Luciana and the human crew boarding the SpaceX Starship for launch to great fanfare. Thousands of screaming human fans cheer and applaud as the astronauts disappear into the spacecraft, and back onboard the Hydrohovership Helicarrier Hovercraft, Rolan and his best friends and family all crowd around the Hydrocave computer screen (with younger sisters Mila, Taslyn, and Victory all sharing a bag of popcorn) as they all watch Luciana board the SpaceX Starship. Luciana's parents cry with joy as they watch their daughter wearing her new spacesuit and taking her position on the Starship's bridge.

The humans’ cheering and applause swells as the launchpad tower boarding bridges disconnect from the SpaceX Starship and the launch countdown begins. Mission control counts down from t-minus ten seconds and we see Luciana mentally bracing herself on the bridge. At t-minus zero seconds, the Starship's engines all ignite with a deafening roar as the launchpad tower falls away. And then, we see the SpaceX Starship rising and accelerating into the air, rapidly gaining speed as it climbs. Luciana holds on tight in the bridge and one of the human astronauts flash her a smile and a thumbs-up as the spacecraft climbs higher and higher into the air.

We then see every human in mission control clapping and cheering for Luciana and the other astronauts, wishing them all well on a safe and successful first manned mission to Mars. At t-plus three minutes, after leaving the Earth’s atmosphere, the Starship’s single large rocket booster stage falls away from the main spacecraft as it prepares to exit Earth's orbit for Mars. Afterwards, the main Starship’s rocket thrusters fire again for the departure burn, and the spacecraft blasts away from the Earth’s gravitational pull and into the dark, starry cosmos.

In the evening following launch, all now well on their way to Mars, the astronauts on board the Starship are seen throwing a zero-gravity pizza party to celebrate. As the NASA mission captain floats over to Luciana and hands her a pizza slice on a space plate, he sets himself down down next to her and tells her just how honored he is to have her onboard for the mission. Luciana thanks him and tells him that going to Mars has always been her dream since she left Kindergarten, and she can't wait to tell her friends and family back home what she finds when they land on Mars. The captain then compliments her on her training and prior completion of the Youth Space Camp, and asks if she feels confident about the outcome of their mission.

Trying to hold back her anxiety, Luciana confidently smiles and tells the captain that as worrying as things may seem, she knows NASA has put forth a lot of time, money, and resources into their mission and is absolutely positively certain that they will succeed. The captain explains the reason he's asking her is because the previous unmanned exploration rover NASA sent, *Perseverance*, lost contact with mission control in 2024, and they have not been able to reestablish communications since. He hypothesizes that something on Mars must be interfering with the rover's power source, and that if a similar situation occurs with *Starship* after they touch down, he cannot be certain whether they will have sufficient backup power to return to the Earth. Luciana's eyes widen as she tries to suppress her rising anxiety, but she pulls herself together and tells the captain with confidence that she's sure everything will go well, and if it doesn't, then they'll find a solution together. The captain quietly considers this for a moment before nodding, high-fiving Luciana, and telling her that he likes her positive attitude.

Back on Rogue Island, Atrocitus' gateway into the human world is almost complete. Lord Garmadon’s aquatic henchmen and henchwomen are seen welding and hammering components together, and futuristic flying construction vehicles are seen carrying large, heavy machinery into the massive new structure.