Counterfeit is a wonderful recreation of Terry Nation's gritty, heroic style.
WRITTEN BY
Peter Anghelides, his debut to writing Blake's 7 unless I'm mistaken. This story shows off his keen understanding of the series in detail.
PLOT
Blake infiltrates a Federation mining facility on Bovee, intrigued by their discovery of a chemically malleable mineral called Illusium and hoping to recruit more followers from the enslaved scientists forced to work there. Blake is not a great actor.
ANALYSIS
The first and foremost thing I've got to compliment Anghelides for is his excellent handling of the unique Chronicles POV format. The story is told in a clear and succint manner from Blake's specific perspective. There are no awkward impressions of other characters, but their personalities are still perfectly conveyed via descriptives alone. That puts this story clearly ahead of The Turing Test, which pretty much ignored everyone who wasn't Avon, Vila or the android and certainly of Solitary and its clunky storytelling.
Out of all three parts in Volume One, Counterfeit is the only one that truly feels like an episode of the original series and specifically that of Series A, with its cheap/realistic feel and occasionally frightful atmosphere. There were certain scenes where I could see 1970s footage before my eyes, which is a huge accomplishment for an audio production as far as I'm concerned.
I suppose it helps that it's set in a dark, creepy mine, which immediately brings to mind sequences from Project Avalon. But it's more than just that. The characterisation is on point.
CHARACTERS
The greatest strength of Counterfeit is the reunion of Gareth Thomas and Paul Darrow. They are also technically together in the first series of the full-cast dramas, but the writing for those was unfortunately subpar and failed to capture the barbed chemistry between the two. Counterfeit, however, has some crackling dialogue for them to chew on and they both seem to thrive in recreating their roles.
It's especially notable in Darrow, who seemed to be on autopilot in the dramas, but properly reprises the Series A era Avon here, full of thinly veiled disdain, pragmatism and a touch of loyalty. Avon's role is brilliant, but I dare not spoil it. Suffice to say, it's another great example of Anghelides's clever use of the format.
Having Blake in the lion's den without any backup was pretty awesome. Similarly to Aftermath, there's a certain sense of isolation when the rest of the cast aren't around(even Avon is missing for huge parts of the story) and I was actually beginning to worry he wouldn't make it out!
The rest of the crew are treated relatively well. It's disappointing that Gan is pretty much shafted again, but then I suppose it's true to the source material. Vila gets a few obligatory drunk jokes, but Jenna, oh my... Jenna has a role that Sally Knyvette might've relished onscreen.
I really loved the colorful bunch working in the Bovee mines. Supervisor Kerrell, the ambitious and slimy work manager is an amusingly absurd villain. The curt Dr Disvald manages to be quite menacing early on, though he has something of a heel turn later(the only part of the story I disagreed with - I felt that Disvald had been a little too threatening to be believably sympathetic). And then there's Lowry the henchman. Lowry should be a source of pride to henchmen everywhere. Physical intimidation is the oldest form of antagonism in the book, but it can be incredibly effective, as is the case here. The way he leers and looms over Blake the entire story is very unnerving, and their fight scene over the dark chasm is as tense as Counterfeit ever gets.
Finally, there's the naive, nerdy Dr Raylton, who is one of the more likable people to appear in the series, entirely dedicated to making the world a better place through research and keenly moral. It's honestly a shame he never got to go on the Liberator. It would've been interesting to have a genuinely nice guy onboard.
NOTES
*Zen's refusal to assist Avon in further decoding of the Centero material is a bit bizarre. In the past, he usually put the foot down in regards to Liberator itself(its heading and operation) and/or crew relationships.
*I love it whenever the crewmembers reference historic Earth. In this case, Avon mentions the ancient alchemists.
*Did Blake seriously consider Vila as his rebel leader on Bovee? Is he mad??
*Paul Darrow's pronounciation of migraine as "mee-graine" is hilarious.
*The name 'Craddock' is classic Terry Nation(from Doctor Who's "The Dalek Invasion Of Earth").
*Blake always mentions the Aquitar group project whenever he has to talk about his past job. That's like the one single real job he ever had, isn't it?
*How in the hell did Blake conceal the teleport bracelet underneath his sleeves? Have you seen those things?
*It's funny that Blake should think Disvald would never let him leave Bovee mine alive, considering that even if Disvald loved him, he'd never have been able to leave Bovee mine alive if it wasn't for the Liberator.
INFORMATION!
*Avon discovers the Bovee operation from the files collected by the cipher machine the crew stole from Centero in Seek-Locate-Destroy.
*Zen refuses to assist Avon in further analysing the data by paraphrasing his own words from Cygnus Alpha: "Wisdom cannot be given, it must be obtained."
*Avon briefly references Cygnus Alpha and the Liberator's storeroom of treasure, both of which also appeared in that episode. Blake later pretends to be a scientist by referencing the Aquitar project.
*Blake uses part of his experience from Space Fall as a backstory.
*Kerrell refers to Travis as "the Butcher of Auros", an epithet mentioned in Seek-Locate-Destroy.
*Blake describes an Auron proverb: "To live a life without illusions is itself an illusion."
*Bovee is described as existing on the fringe of the Terran Federation.
BLAKE: "I'd live in poverty rather than give up my fight against the Federation, can't you understand that?"
AVON: "I understand that it reveals the poverty of your imagination."
CONCLUSION
Great throwback.
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