Actually there's two versions around of the first episode.
The original one where the mission was just a scenario, then there was a later compilation of episodes were the 'scenario' elements were taken out and he actually did blow up everything.
Of course the idea of a Westerner sneaking into a Russian base, jumping into a fully armed fighter, and taking off, and battling back to the West - was obviously a great idea...
... years later, the whole episode was ripped off to become a Clint Eastwood movie called Firefox...
The similarities are rather extreme, then there's that episode of Space: 1999 where a crew come across an abandoned derelict spacecraft, and find a lone creature that attacks the crew and eats them, with one lone survivor escaping in a life pod, whose story is not believed. I think that became a movie or two as well...
The original one where the mission was just a scenario, then there was a later compilation of episodes were the 'scenario' elements were taken out and he actually did blow up everything.
Of course the idea of a Westerner sneaking into a Russian base, jumping into a fully armed fighter, and taking off, and battling back to the West - was obviously a great idea...
... years later, the whole episode was ripped off to become a Clint Eastwood movie called Firefox...
The similarities are rather extreme, then there's that episode of Space: 1999 where a crew come across an abandoned derelict spacecraft, and find a lone creature that attacks the crew and eats them, with one lone survivor escaping in a life pod, whose story is not believed. I think that became a movie or two as well...