Part one of two. Archer and his colleagues at ISIS voyage to the final frontier in an effort to prevent a catastrophe on the Space Station Horizon.
This episode provides examples of:
- Epic Fail: Archer's team could have assisted the real workers under a mutiny had Cyril not started to shoot like crazy before asking.
- Genre Savvy: Both Archer and Lana immediately doubt if there's even a mutiny aboard the Horizon when they're shown the video, because all they see is one man panicking in it.
- Government Agency of Fiction: The International Space Agency (ISA), which is a multinational space program with an Arbitrarily Large Bank Account and seemingly no oversight from any government. Drake appears to run the whole show without having to answer to anyone. Months after the ISIS gang leave Barry and the remaining crew trapped on board, nobody on Earth seems to make any effort to check up on the Horizon.
- Little Stowaway: Well, actually large in the case of Pam and Cheryl, who were snuck onboard so that Archer could have sex with Pam in a Zero-G Spot.
- Obviously Evil: It's obvious from the start that Drake is unhinged, most explicitly shown when he asphyxiates Archer to near death.
- Schizo Tech: Possibly the most extreme example on the entire series. The Horizon is a huge space station, far larger than anything possible with present-day real-world technology. They have more advanced space shuttles, as well as Ray Guns. The overall effect is very similar to the James Bond film Moonraker.
- That Came Out Wrong: Drake doesn't want to put Pam and Cheryl in danger because he doesn't want to put women at risk. Cue Lana coughing and he rectifies things.
- Too Dumb to Live: Archer constantly causes life-threatening situations for his team with his dangerous curiosity, such as shooting Cyril and Pam with a Ray Gun capable of stopping hearts with the lightest settings.
- Vomit Discretion Shot: Lana suffers from motion sickness while in zero-g and vomits all over the guys offscreen, and then...
- Vomit Indiscretion Shot: She's shown vomiting once too.
- Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?: Actually, a valid question, since the M41A pulse rifle can apparently produce an EMP effect it should have been very effective against bionic Barry. Also, Forgotten Phlebotinum, since weapons of this sort are never seen on the show again (similar to the lasers used in the above-mentioned Moonraker).
- Zero-G Spot: Archer had Pam stow away on the Intrepid so they could engage in this trope. They do.
- Archer also accuses Tony of wanting to get his mother into the Million Mile-High Club by bringing her along on the mission.
