The Sima Experiment (1979) Review

The Sima Experiment is classic, pulpy fun, but feels unfinished.

WRITTEN BY

No specific credit.

PLOT

After picking up a Federation signal ordering the removal of the planet Sima from all official records, the Liberator crew travel there to investigate, only to discover a horrific mutation spreading across the entire planet.

ANALYSIS

Giant crabs! Giant snakes! Giant prawns! Who doesn't love giant monsters? It basically writes itself. I was really enjoying most of the story, and it had the pace of a good television episode, starting out with an expository tone-setting scene on the Liberator, followed by some fun investigation on the planet below and even an interesting subplot revolving around the shadier crewmembers. Early on, Jenna, Avon and Vila tell Blake that they'll only agree to investigate the Sima research facility if he allows them to teleport to another sector of the planet later on for untold reasons.

So there's intrigue, action, a good dose of horror with the creatures and the mad scientists who made them - it seems like success should be inevitable. But the problem with The Sima Experiment is that it just ends abruptly, as if somebody ripped out the final page. I could live with the mutations going unresolved - it's a morbid, suitable finale for a Federation experiment gone wrong and there could've been some message about that - but we also get no resolution whatsoever for the subplot and it all "concludes" on a joke and sitcom-style group laughter! It's just a bizarre way to cut off the story.

CHARACTERS

Blake is on good form - I liked the scene of him searching through Federation files specifically to find a new mission for his crew, and thinking of how best to convince them to do it. His homesickness when seeing the Earth-like Sima was also quite poignant. All in all, it sums up his character nicely.

The idea of a large chunk of the crew engaging on a shady escapade away from Blake's overseeing is a fantastic idea and reminded me of Gambit, but the fact that we never actually get to see it is a gigantic wasted oppurtunity.

Also, maybe it's a leftover of Cally's freedom fighting persona, but I didn't buy her suggesting they leave the remaining survivor to die just because he'd become delusional(probably from a month of not eating). And I especially don't buy Blake, Jenna and Gan agreeing to it.

NOTES

*This story was published in the 1979 Blake's 7 annual.

*The entire crew teleports to Sima, suggesting that in the context of the story, Zen is capable of operating the teleport system just like in Revenge Of The Mutoes.

*Gan offers to literally go outside the Liberator to collect a satellite, which seems a bit silly. I know he's not the brightest bulb, but wouldn't catching it in the hold be anyone's first suggestion? Also, no shit it's made out of metal. What else would a satellite shot from the orbit be made out of?? Wood?

*At one point, Blake throws a pillow at the giant crab, which is now one of my favourite Blake moments ever.

*Another brilliant moment is when he suggests that the invasion of the giant monsters would be beneficial for the planet's population, because they'd no longer be brainwashed by the Federation. Giant killer insects > Federation.

*Some classic bad writing has the crew laughing at Blake's closing dad joke for a whole minute, with even Avon cracking a smile.

*Speaking of Avon, I love that he sniffs at the "primitive" quarters of the Federation scientists. He can be such a dandy sometimes.

INFORMATION!

*The Federation possess psychological profiles on every member of the Liberator crew except Cally, due to her being from Auron.

BEST QUOTE

"That place is just crawling with giant mutations, so I'd advise you to pack a weapon or two along with the sandwiches. What kind would you like, by the way? Crab?"

CONCLUSION

Honestly, it was going good, but I guess the writer just ran out of word allowance.