So pay attention to Pets whenever she's in the background. ....I read throughout the show she's constantly gathering stuff. ... she's PACKING FOR THE TRIP TO MARS.
One positive point of those these seasons: Toonami and the writers didn't have anyone be related to old ones, which would come off as being a tad gimmicky.
N these are great 4 characters, fully fleshed out from the first scene they appear in, and they act like real friends. They're KIND of moe, but not in the stereotypical, marketable way.
Looking back this SOL story is actually pretty great .... almost like it DOESN'T NEED ANY OF THE FLCL STUFF TO BEGIN WITH. I kinda wish this had been Toonami's next original anime (after IGPX) instead of being attached to something that in the long run doesn't need to be tied to it.