Killer somehow wastes two equally compelling premises.
WRITTEN BY
Famed Doctor Who scribe Robert Holmes, who seems to be trying to ape Terry Nation's style with this script.
PLOT
In order to obtain a crystal that will allow the Liberator to decipher the Federation's new pulse code, Avon and Vila visit an old colleague of Avon's named Tynus, who is base commander of Q-Base. Meanwhile, Blake joins Q-Base's medical section in investigating an ancient Earth ship.
ANALYSIS
Having Blake and Avon lead their own simultaneous storylines that affect one another gives the episode a nice structure, but it does mean the focus of the episode and the tension is also split in two. On Blake's side, he never appears to be in any particular danger(despite the virus being airborne). Most of the disease's progression happens offscreen, so really, the tragedy is almost entirely conveyed through the sympathetic Dr Bellfriar.
On Avon's, we have the narrative of him reuniting with an old friend, which is somewhat interesting, but Tynus's relationship with him is left so vague that it's hard to care. And of course, we've seen the crew capture cipher machines before, so there's nothing new there.
Honestly, it's all just mediocre, and it's a shame, because the setup on both sides was promising.
CHARACTERS
Gareth Thomas plays his scenes with a kind of flippancy we've not seen yet. Blake is very empathetic - willing to warn the Federation base of potential danger and work with them to find a cure, also leaving the stay-away signal behind when all else fails. But when he's down on the planet, amidst the outbreak, he appears to be barely fazed by anything and completely ignores the potential danger of infecting his crew later. Avon's warning of a Federation fleet approaching also just kind of goes over his head.
Tynus is already underwritten as a character, but Ronald Lacey's plummy voice and acting(he looks like he belongs in 1920s upper class drama shows) fails to bounce off of Paul Darrow in any meaningful way. He's too reserved to be intimidated by Avon, but also too much of a cur to be an equal. As a result, he's just boring.
Paul Daneman is remarkable as Dr Bellfriar. He's just so... nice. Professional, courteous and willing to bend the rules to benefit those around him. The guy just seems like he'd be great to work with and I loved watching him just do his thing. It's a shame he had to die.
NOTES
*Tynus's first encounter with Avon was depicted in Paul Darrow's Avon: A Terrible Aspect.
*The heavy leather costumes(or rather drapes) of Tynus and his men are preposterous.
*I love the concept of a space Bermuda Triangle. "The Darkling Zone" is such a wonderful name also.
*Why on earth would Blake think he can be allowed to see the chief medical officer simply by barking "don't ask questions and take me there!"?
*Blake's theory about an alien invasion from within the Darkling Zone is possible, but kind of comes out of nowhere. He has nowhere near enough facts to make that sort of hypothesis.
*It's not very Avon to delay telling the Liberator about Servalan being on her way. Surely, their immediate escape is more important than getting to overhear Federation news.
INFORMATION!
*Vila tells Tynus about Avon's anti-detection screen, which was installed in Trial.
*Blake informs Dr Bellfriar that he got his information via Cally, due to her being from Auron.
*Dr Bellfriar is surprised to discover that teleportation has been "cracked". The Federation's abandoned teleport project was first mentioned in Cygnus Alpha.
*Blake displays obscure historical knowledge of pre-space Earth by describing Lord Jeffrey Ashley's germ warfare manuever. He previously showed a good understanding of history in Bounty by recognising president Sarkoff's antique butterflies.
*The episode implies that the show takes place in the 27th century.
*The Q-Base's ship is of the same type as the London in Cygnus Alpha(reused footage).
"There are a quarter of a million volts running through that converter. I make one false move, I'll be so crisped up what's left of me won't fit into a sandwich."
CONCLUSION
It's perfectly watchable, but I really wanted more out of it than what I got.
This episode is not IMO as good as Countdown the next but one episode after this but it Countdown is much more preferable than the next episode immediately after this one .The episode that follows Killer is appalling and only saved by the presence of arch-enemy Servalan and the space battle of 20 to 30 pursuit ships and also in the next episode we see Servalan in a pursuit ship. In Killer Blake actually saves Servalan,s life so the arch-villain can survive to meet Blake and his crew again
ReplyDeleteSaw this episode by myself, as an under-10 lad well after my bedtime. I was too scared to turn off the lights and walk to my bedroom in the dark afterwards! Great premise for an episode and still one of my faves. Only negative is those ridiculous costumes.
ReplyDeleteI assume Blake's historical reference is to Jeffery Amherst ( "-ery" was how he spelled it himself). I'm not sure where the name Ashley came from; either Holmes made a mistake, or he did it deliberately to give Blake a slightly garbled version of history.
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