The Box is all over the place, but has an intriguing and horrific central concept.
WRITTEN BY
No specific credit.
PLOT
Blake persuades his crew to join in a risky attempt to wreck the Federation's axtranium mining facilities and rescue vaunted physicist professor Noirama from their psycho-extraction team.
ANALYSIS
Probably the biggest flaw of The Box is a lack of focus. The writer introduces so many simultaneous happenings on Axtra(which Avon at least points out, but it doesn't make the problem go away), most of which don't factor into the main series of events. They're not even bad concepts, but it's a waste of writing that could've been spent on polishing the actual storyline that we ultimately go on. I guess maybe they wanted to flesh Axtra out a bit by referring to its mythology and giving all the members of the crew some reason to contribute, but it's overcooked.
What does work is the Box itself, which is essentially a sci-fi version of the One Ring from Lord of the Rings. Its existence, nature or influence over others is never explained, nor is it stopped. It's just a random alien box that spends the whole story making anyone who holds it want to protect and take it off of Axtra. A cheap idea, but the complete lack of backstory beyond a vague idea of it being from another universe is unsettling and creepy. I would have loved to have seen it in the actual show.
Another unique idea is professor Noirama's "time manipulation" experiments. It's a throwaway line, but given that Blake's 7 never delved into time travel, it's worth keeping in mind.
CHARACTERS
The crew are excellently written. They don't all shine, but everybody is true to their TV personalities - Blake is driven to stand against the Federation, and has a working relationship with fellow freedom fighter Cally, whom he employs to manipulate the rest of the crew(one of my favourite underused dynamics on the show). Jenna prefers safety, but is loyal to Blake. Avon is cautious and paranoid and skeptical of everything coming out of Blake's mouth. Gan doesn't think much, but helps everyone. Vila is lazy.
Kord as the Gollum of the story is pathetic and pitiable, though he at least retains enough common sense to redeem himself by the end. So that's nice.
NOTES
*This story was published in the 1979 Blake's 7 annual.
*My personal theory is that the Box was sent from the Andromedan galaxy during a previous attempted invasion.
*One of the downsides of the awesome Box arc is that it does detract from the considerably interesting Axtran setting. As I said, it has no explanation so it has nothing to do with what's already going on at the planet, and as a result, the world's impending revolution is glossed over and the potential secret treasure is entirely forgotten.
*It's a bit convenient that the Box's influence over Kord immediately wears off when he stops holding it.
*Avon is drawn in his painter outfit from Time Squad, which initially threw me off as I thought the story might take place around that time. But there's no squeezing it in between that episode and Seek-Locate-Destroy so I'll simply have to reasonably assume that Avon reused the outfit(though I couldn't tell why - it's terrible. At least it doesn't look like it's crumbling on the page).
INFORMATION!
*Avon had met the professor at a scientific convention shortly before his arrest.
*Gan is referred to as a "giant Zephronian". Quite where they got this, I've no idea. The closest I can think of the is the planet Cephlon in Deliverance, but he's obviously not from there. I guess maybe it refers to a Federation colony.
*Cally claims to have fought alongside an Axtran during her stay on Saurian Major(where the Liberator picked her up from in Time Squad), although it's implied that she lied on Blake's behalf.
*Blake correctly assumes the Federation can restore professor Noirama's memories, as his own had returned following his brainwashing in The Way Back.
BEST QUOTE AVON QUOTE
"A planet full of ghosts? A hidden treasure? A daring rescue with lots of big explosions in the mines? This is madness."
CONCLUSION
Entertaining and eclectic.
*One of the downsides of the awesome Box arc is that it does detract from the considerably interesting Axtran setting. As I said, it has no explanation so it has nothing to do with what's already going on at the planet, and as a result, the world's impending revolution is glossed over and the potential secret treasure is entirely forgotten.
*It's a bit convenient that the Box's influence over Kord immediately wears off when he stops holding it.
*Avon is drawn in his painter outfit from Time Squad, which initially threw me off as I thought the story might take place around that time. But there's no squeezing it in between that episode and Seek-Locate-Destroy so I'll simply have to reasonably assume that Avon reused the outfit(though I couldn't tell why - it's terrible. At least it doesn't look like it's crumbling on the page).
INFORMATION!
*Avon had met the professor at a scientific convention shortly before his arrest.
*Gan is referred to as a "giant Zephronian". Quite where they got this, I've no idea. The closest I can think of the is the planet Cephlon in Deliverance, but he's obviously not from there. I guess maybe it refers to a Federation colony.
*Cally claims to have fought alongside an Axtran during her stay on Saurian Major(where the Liberator picked her up from in Time Squad), although it's implied that she lied on Blake's behalf.
*Blake correctly assumes the Federation can restore professor Noirama's memories, as his own had returned following his brainwashing in The Way Back.
"A planet full of ghosts? A hidden treasure? A daring rescue with lots of big explosions in the mines? This is madness."
CONCLUSION
Entertaining and eclectic.
No comments:
Post a Comment