Breakdown isn't particularly exciting TV, but it does expand the lore in interesting ways.
WRITTEN BY
Terry Nation, who clearly had no solid idea what to make of Gan.
PLOT
When Gan's limiter seriously malfunctions and threatens brain damage, the Liberator is forced to take a daring path to a neutral space station, where they employ the services of the renowned neurosurgeon Dr Kayn, whilst Avon considers abandoning the crew.
ANALYSIS
There's not really much of a story here. As the title aptly says, a lot of stuff breaks down and the crew need to fix it before any number of disasters finishes them off. It's almost like a bunch of Blake's 7 skits strung together by the motivation of saving Gan. Fortunately, the variety does at least mean there's enough to just about keep your attention.
Much of the runtime is spent on the Liberator, where we see the crew learn just how important Zen is to them when they decide to cope without him for a while. The discussions over the value of Zen's warnings and how his computer brain thinks were quite informative, and I feel like they'd really help children understand the impartiality of computers, and the folly of anthropomorphising them.
I also liked the subtle enigma surrounding Gan's situation. Avon states that the limiter is supplying his brain with erratic signals, so the audience can blame his behaviour on that. However, Gan's behaviour contradicts that - he is calculating enough to trick Cally, and seems to deliberately target the Liberator's computer links to sabotage the ship.
I feel like the implication here is that the Gan we see in this episode is actually the real criminal Olag Gan, who is a monster. And that the limiter basically pacifies him, or in a more positive way is the only thing preventing some kind of deeper neurological problem that makes Gan naturally incapable of being "normal".
The Federation are of course no strangers to brainwashing, and it would completely fit their modus operandi to install such a device.
CHARACTERS
Plenty of internal conflict this episode. Blake as the crew's moral center clearly feels obligated to save Gan after all he's done for him, and of course on principle as well. This seems to bring out some insecurity in him, as Avon forces him to admit that he's avoiding the hard facts due to not immediately knowing what to do. After all, breaking Federation property is much easier than trying to fix something.
Avon's dilemma over leaving the Liberator deserved a better episode and more runtime. It's not set up particularly well, and there's no real resolution. He just decides to come back. I can of course imagine that Avon would not prefer to stay someplace he couldn't depend on, but I'm not sure why weak-spined Farren is any less dependable than Blake, who just drove the ship straight into a vortex with no idea of whether they'd survive or not.
Cally is depicted as being oddly very innocent and sincere. Chappell plays her worry and disgust over Gan's restraints very well, and it's certainly the most likable that she's been, but given her freedom fighter origins, I'm surprised she let Gan get the better of her so easily. It doesn't outright contradict her character, but I do find an odd turn.
Although he spends a lot of the episode being a doomsayer, Vila's heartwarming loyalty to Gan is prevalent, as is his uncomplicated nature. Unlike Avon, Vila clearly has no intention of ever leaving the Liberator. It's the best place he's ever been in.
The only noteworthy guest star here is Julian Glover as Professor Kayn, and only because it's Julian Glover. I'm not sure if the character's extremely rushed mental breakdown(nudge nudge wink wink) would've been more appropriate with a flamboyant performance, but Glover's matter-of-fact delivery deeply contrasts with his increasingly exaggerated character, who stops making any sense by the end of the episode. Still, Glover's always great to watch so his presence here can hardly be called a negative.
NOTES
*Seeing Gan attack people in POV shots gave me dreadful flashbacks to The Web.
*How were Avon, Vila and Cally alerted to the fact that he was choking Blake on the flight deck?
*In the scene where the crew examine Gan, Keating does some great background acting. He looks worried sick for Gan.
*I'm confused about the design of Gan's restraints. They're clearly there to hold patients, but given that Gan can quite freely writhe inside them seems to render the whole thing pointless. I mean, what was to stop him from shaking his head about during the operation?
*The whole gravitational vortex bit is complete nonsense, especially Blake's solution of simply flying into the center at maximum speed. Avon was quite right to quit there and then.
*We see Cally listen to the Liberator's internal communications on a set of earphones, which is something new.
*After Gan attacks Avon in the computer room, a convenient box of tranquilizers simply appears out of nowhere on the floor for Blake to use, as he didn't pick up any from the sickbay.
*There's an odd moment where Avon tries to alert Blake that the auxiliary computers are restored, but doesn't get a response, implying that something is wrong. But we never get an answer for why Blake didn't reply, as he was on the flight deck at the time. Did Gan cut communications somehow?
*The flirting between Kayn's assistant Renor and Jenna is just cringeworthy. As is the fact that Blake's first instinct is to try and get Jenna to seduce him for information on Kayn. Which she completely forgets to do, by the way, probably because she was overwhelmed with Christian Roberts' poor acting.
*I'm not sure if it was intentional, but I like that Farrell mentions Avon to his security men via name despite his presence on the station being supposedly a secret. I mean, I guess not all Avons have to be THE Avon, but some of them should be able to put two and two together. Just shows off his carelessness even more.
*The beeping noises do not match Gan's brainwaves on the monitor.
*I love Blake's icy cold threat to Kayn. "I'll destroy your hands." Dr Strange winced at that one. Apparently that's the catalyst for Kayn's subsequent freakout too.
*How stupid are the XK-72 workers that they don't bother to activate the station's shields when they can't get an answer from Farrell? They just let themselves get blown up. Now, I may not be a man of the greatest initiative myself, but that's next level stuff there.
INFORMATION!
*Gan's limiter was first seen in Time Squad. And unless I'm mistaken, it's also changed design since then.
*Not only is Auron very strict about personal honor(as in Time Squad, Cally considered herself exiled for being the only survivor of a conflict), but they despise restraints.
*Professor Kayn references the abandoned matter transmission project that Blake, Avon and Jenna first talked about in Cygnus Alpha.
*Blake shows considerable scientific acumen by immediately understanding Avon's complex warning about the danger of losing the Liberator's auxiliary computers, to the point of guessing some of what Avon says to the letter. Blake was first implied to have a scientific background in Cygnus Alpha.
*Avon attempts to sell XK-72 teleportation technology from the Liberator. He previously suggested that the crew make themselves rich by introducing other worlds to the ship's powerful utilities in Cygnus Alpha.
*The inhabitants of XK-72 consider Blake's crew celebrities. Blake's celebrity status throughout the Federation was established in Seek-Locate-Destroy.
*Vila holds Professor Kayn at gunpoint and claims to not have a conscience. He killed a man for the first time in Cygnus Alpha.
"Staying with you requires a degree of stupidity of which I no longer feel capable."
CONCLUSION
Intriguing, but overall skippable.
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