Trial (1979) Review

Trial moves a bit slowly, but it does a commendable job of depicting the fallout from the events of Pressure Point and serving as something of a character study for Travis.

WRITTEN BY

Chris Boucher, who, as a script editor, has clearly paid close attention to Nation's previous episodes as there's plenty of callbacks here.

PLOT

Faced with a loss of self-confidence after Gan's death, Blake exiles himself on an uninhabited planet and leaves it up to the Liberator crew to decide his fate. Meanwhile, Travis is charged for murder to ensure the stability of Servalan's power.

ANALYSIS

Obviously, the purpose of the episode is to show how Blake's attack on Control affected both the Liberator and the Federation, and set up a new status quo for both. That makes Boucher's choice to focus on Zil's bizarre alien planet... perplexing, to say the least. It's an interesting ecology and it kept me intrigued, but I'm just not sure what exactly to make of it. Having to focus so much on understanding what Zil is saying and what's going on heavily distracts from the expertly constructed character work that the episode is supposed to be about.

Blake could've been thrown into nearly any kind of survival situation, and he still would've arrived at the conclusion that he's not ready to surrender yet. It really didn't have to be this overcomplicated. Not to mention, the setup of him deliberately stranding himself is somewhat forced and unnecessary.

All the scenes at Space Command were superb, adding a significant amount of depth to the Federation military forces(as well as continuing to hint at the political chess between Servalan and the President). The trial, not so different from Blake's in The Way Back, finally distinguishes between Travis and the Federation. We already know what kind of person Travis is of course, but before this, he was always a part of the system, a representative of its mammoth authority. Here we see Travis reject it, like Blake, but also not like Blake. Travis doesn't hate the Federation for its lack of morality. He hates it because it assumes to have one, assumes to judge him. To him, the entire organization has become a traitor.

CHARACTERS

Brian Croucher is the star of the episode, and I was mostly very impressed. A few hammy moments aside, he really manages to sell his dedication to duty, to the point where I felt genuinely sad to see him stripped of it, despite him being a psychopath. I loved Rontane's line of "who can really tell what Travis is thinking?". Croucher is so good at seeming like he'll explode at any second, that you really have no idea what he's going to do next, and that makes him a dependably compelling villain.

Mirroring Travis, Blake goes through his own spiritual trial of sorts, having to decide whether or not his cause is worth the heartache. One of the more fascinatingly dark aspects of the episode is that it leaves the role of the judge deliberately enigmatic - did he genuinely go soulsearching himself or is he, as Avon strongly implies, pulling on the Liberator crew's heartstrings to get them to rejoin his crusade? I would like to think that Blake is still honest. But just the idea that he may not be above emotional manipulation is a tantalising concept.

It's also interesting to examine the crew's differing reactions to the situation. Cally, having herself expected to die for the cause at one point, seems to hold no grudge towards Blake at all. Vila, whilst not personally blaming Blake, is very eager to be done with freedom fighting and get back to thieving. Between the two is Jenna, who takes a jab at Blake early on, but clearly feels uncomfortable about the notion of abandoning him entirely.

And then there is Avon, who in a manner similar to Lord Henry in The Picture Of Dorian Gray, espouses an idea(in this case pursuing wealth), but is remarkably conservative in action. Despite an obvious chance to rightfully assume command of the Liberator, Avon decides to follow Blake some more... why? The only obvious thing that comes to mind is that he wants Blake to succeed in removing the Federation for him before taking the ship. Which, interestingly, reveals something else: that Avon now believes in the cause enough to assume that's even possible.

With the addition of some great make-up and sound effects, Claire Lewis does a remarkable job as the most alien alien that's ever alien-ed on the show, and still being likable at the same time. Despite my misgivings about her storyline being in this episode, I was quite fascinated by Zil and found her likable with all her odd tics.

NOTES

*It's revealed that, rather unsurprisingly, Space Command is the true power of the Federation, which means that in order to maintain its power, the High Council and specifically the President require someone loyal and trustworthy as its Supreme Commander to avoid losing that power. I'm honestly just surprised that a military takeover hasn't happened sooner.

*The computer voice in this episode is truly dreadful, even by bad computer voice standards. It sounds like its speaker was damaged or clogged up.

*Jenna and Avon are playing some kind of "space board game", that looks like a mix of backgammon and chess, with ridiculously oversized pieces.

*I'm surprised Servalan defends Travis's intelligence in front of others, given the sheer amount of his failures.

*Apparently, Avon no longer considers the Liberator alone to be "wealthy", despite that big treasure room worth a Federation Bank that they had.

*Why does Zil steal Blake's belongings if she thinks he's a child?

*I love the authority that Travis retains despite being locked up. He's still officer enough to threaten the trooper with a report for bothering him.

*Travis "never wasting troopers unnecessarily" is a flat-out lie, given the two pursuit ships he allowed Blake to blow up willy-nilly in Duel.

*Man, what did Blake do for 11 hours on that planet before Zil showed up?

*How did Zil get Blake's stuff like miles away? They walk for about half the episode before she finds them again.

*Avon, I'm not sure that Blake handles the crew "very skilfully", considering that they were on the verge of abandoning him and might have if the whole planet hadn't started collapsing.

*What's the deal with Thania's greasy hair?

*Despite being fairly accurate to Nation's scripts, Boucher seems to forget that Travis's most recent massacre was on Auros and not Serkasta. Maybe he didn't want to confuse people with a name that sounds similar to Cally's home?

INFORMATION!

*The episode is a sequel to Pressure Point. The attack on Control and Gan's death are major plot points for the storyline here.

*There's also a considerable amount of references to Seek-Locate-Destroy. Schemers Bercol and Rontane make a second appearance. The trial is centered around one of Travis's military crimes, which were mentioned in that episode, and takes place on Space Command, where he was first assigned to kill Blake. "Old Star Killer" is the commanding officer of the Galactic Eighth Fleet, from whom Servalan borrowed pursuit ships for Travis's assignment.

*Once again, Avon suggests using the Liberator as a means to make money, as he did in Cygnus Alpha and Breakdown.

BEST QUOTE AVON QUOTE

JENNA: "What would you know about guilt?"
AVON: "Only what I've read."

CONCLUSION

Very strong character work with a side of philosophical fleas.