I didn't know it was possible to have 30 minutes of filler in an episode, but Volcano is here to trailblaze.
WRITTEN BY
Allan Prior, known for singlehandedly writing most of the show's boring episodes.
PLOT
Servalan's forces ambush the Liberator, our heroes fight them off. That's it. There's also some waffling about fanatical pacifists that goes nowhere. No, seriously, that's it. Nothing else happens.
ANALYSIS
As the first regular adventure in this new Blake-less era, Volcano practically has intrigue written into it, and the episode starts off on the right foot by sending the newbies to explore Obsidian - a chance to get to know them better and a whole new mysterious world!
From what little we hear of Obsidian, it's actually quite interesting - an entire society at psychologically enforced peace, based on some misguided scientists' theories of humanity's evolution. Hower mentions teaching children peace from the cradle with electric shocks and daily propaganda, which immediately gave me Orwellian vibes. Discussions over free will and comparisons with the Federation seem like they should be obvious, but Tarrant and Dayna don't seem remotely bothered by what's going on! Though, it might have something to do with Michael Gough, who exudes such lofty disinterest that he sucks all the energy out of every scene he's in.
And indeed, Obsidian is merely the backdrop for Servalan's scheme to sneak her own crew onto the Liberator, which is mildly entertaining, but over before it even gets started. The final ten minutes of the episode are spent merely on tying up loose ends! It's some of the worst pacing I've ever seen.
From what little we hear of Obsidian, it's actually quite interesting - an entire society at psychologically enforced peace, based on some misguided scientists' theories of humanity's evolution. Hower mentions teaching children peace from the cradle with electric shocks and daily propaganda, which immediately gave me Orwellian vibes. Discussions over free will and comparisons with the Federation seem like they should be obvious, but Tarrant and Dayna don't seem remotely bothered by what's going on! Though, it might have something to do with Michael Gough, who exudes such lofty disinterest that he sucks all the energy out of every scene he's in.
And indeed, Obsidian is merely the backdrop for Servalan's scheme to sneak her own crew onto the Liberator, which is mildly entertaining, but over before it even gets started. The final ten minutes of the episode are spent merely on tying up loose ends! It's some of the worst pacing I've ever seen.
Bonus points for the astonishingly terrible direction, which turned tense shoot-outs into a poorly edited joke and brought us the single worst death in Blake's 7 history - the guy falling into the lava backdrop.
Oh, and the dialogue is rubbish too. Most of the characters basically announce their intentions for no conceivable reason, like self-righteous schoolchildren. Almost everyone are irritating in this episode.
CHARACTERS
One huge positive: the sequence where Avon and Vila are left ruminating in the wrecked Liberator is a comic masterpiece, and one of my favourite moments from the whole series.
As I said above, sending Tarrant and Dayna on a mission sounds good on paper. But since Prior isn't really interested in exploring Obsidian, the two spend most of the episode fiddling with their thumbs. Without an established character elevating those scenes, they become utterly forgettable.
Now, to be fair to Michael Gough, he's not working with anything resembling good material here, but the guy just makes no attempt to elevate it either. He putters along with the same reserved, genial performance he gives in just about everything I've ever seen him in and honestly, I think he's kind of overrated as an actor.
I'm not sure how much of this I can put down to the writing, but one of the genuinely interesting aspects of Volcano is its depiction of the Federation - in direct contrast to the clean-cut, authoritarian soldiers we've seen in the past, Servalan's battlefleet commander is grizzled, unshaven and somewhat slow-witted. Likewise, her choice for potential Supreme Commander(although possibly a ploy) is insolent and obviously self-interested. There's a strong implication that Servalan had to go to great lengths to even get him out here, which does a good job of making it feel like her authority is hanging by a thread and that she's reduced to promoting all kinds of scum officers to fill the ranks.
NOTES
*Tarrant claims he came to Obsidian personally because he doesn't trust anyone else. But what exactly is his investment in this mission? Or to be honest, anyone's? Why would they need either Blake or a base? There's a mention of "recruits" and "spoils", so do they want to start a criminal cartel? It's very vague.
*Hower describes Earth authorities as the "High Command". Which I guess could be the High Council or something new that Servalan has invented.
*What's the deal with Hower's robot and the pills he takes?
*What's the deal with Hower touching Tarrant and Dayna's faces to wake them up?
*What's the deal with the Pyroans who teleport every few yards closer to the Federation troops?
*What's the deal with Avon threatening to leave? He could just teleport Tarrant and Dayna up any time.
*Which idiot Federation scientist wrote down that the volcano will explode in "some years"? I hope they shot him.
*Pyroans. Obsidian. I can see Prior took inspiration from Terry Nation when he named stuff in this episode.
*Avon's willingness to teleport down and drag Tarrant and Dayna out of trouble is a far cry from "not expendable, not stupid and not going". I suppose he feels more responsibility now as a leader.
*Another change from previous seasons is that Avon pretty much handles the battle with Federation pursuit ships himself. No more dramatic "BATTLE STATIONS!!"
*Vila and Cally appear to just sit in the same place for several scenes - they didn't even bother with this episode, did they?
*There's some new trooper outfits, but I'm glad they didn't stick because I love the original helmet design.
*Zen can detect weapons activity from anywhere on the planet?? Wouldn't that have been massively useful around that time Blake exiled himself to the planet of philosophical fleas??
*Obsidian is covered in radioactive fallout, causing the slow death of the Pyroan race. Why? "No more questions". Yeah, shut up Tarrant. We just need more sad at the end, because we couldn't be arsed developing it naturally.
*How did Vila know to be in the teleport room if Orac was bringing Tarrant, Dayna and Cally up?
INFORMATION!
*Hower was a student in the Federation Central Science complex alongside Dayna's father Hal Mellanby, presumably around 40 years ago.
*Several references are made to the recent war(referred to here as "the Galactic War"), specifically that three major battles were fought in the sixth sector where Obsidian is located, but that the planet stayed out of the conflict.
*The Liberator crew explore a false rumor that Blake visited Obsidian, a rumor that Avon claims is becoming common.
*Tarrant introduces himself to Hower as an ex-Federation captain.
*Vila rambles about the origins of his "grade four ignorant" classification. Avon previously insulted him by calling him a fifth grade ignorant in Horizon. You'll notice Prior's tendency to invent things that no other writer on the show uses, like "time units". Funnily enough, two Prior trademarks - the Liberator crew looking for a base and Vila drinking soma - both became a permanent fixture in Series D.
BEST QUOTE AVON QUOTE
*Tarrant claims he came to Obsidian personally because he doesn't trust anyone else. But what exactly is his investment in this mission? Or to be honest, anyone's? Why would they need either Blake or a base? There's a mention of "recruits" and "spoils", so do they want to start a criminal cartel? It's very vague.
*Hower describes Earth authorities as the "High Command". Which I guess could be the High Council or something new that Servalan has invented.
*What's the deal with Hower's robot and the pills he takes?
*What's the deal with Hower touching Tarrant and Dayna's faces to wake them up?
*What's the deal with the Pyroans who teleport every few yards closer to the Federation troops?
*What's the deal with Avon threatening to leave? He could just teleport Tarrant and Dayna up any time.
*Which idiot Federation scientist wrote down that the volcano will explode in "some years"? I hope they shot him.
*Pyroans. Obsidian. I can see Prior took inspiration from Terry Nation when he named stuff in this episode.
*Avon's willingness to teleport down and drag Tarrant and Dayna out of trouble is a far cry from "not expendable, not stupid and not going". I suppose he feels more responsibility now as a leader.
*Another change from previous seasons is that Avon pretty much handles the battle with Federation pursuit ships himself. No more dramatic "BATTLE STATIONS!!"
*Vila and Cally appear to just sit in the same place for several scenes - they didn't even bother with this episode, did they?
*There's some new trooper outfits, but I'm glad they didn't stick because I love the original helmet design.
*Zen can detect weapons activity from anywhere on the planet?? Wouldn't that have been massively useful around that time Blake exiled himself to the planet of philosophical fleas??
*Obsidian is covered in radioactive fallout, causing the slow death of the Pyroan race. Why? "No more questions". Yeah, shut up Tarrant. We just need more sad at the end, because we couldn't be arsed developing it naturally.
*How did Vila know to be in the teleport room if Orac was bringing Tarrant, Dayna and Cally up?
INFORMATION!
*Hower was a student in the Federation Central Science complex alongside Dayna's father Hal Mellanby, presumably around 40 years ago.
*Several references are made to the recent war(referred to here as "the Galactic War"), specifically that three major battles were fought in the sixth sector where Obsidian is located, but that the planet stayed out of the conflict.
*The Liberator crew explore a false rumor that Blake visited Obsidian, a rumor that Avon claims is becoming common.
*Tarrant introduces himself to Hower as an ex-Federation captain.
*Vila rambles about the origins of his "grade four ignorant" classification. Avon previously insulted him by calling him a fifth grade ignorant in Horizon. You'll notice Prior's tendency to invent things that no other writer on the show uses, like "time units". Funnily enough, two Prior trademarks - the Liberator crew looking for a base and Vila drinking soma - both became a permanent fixture in Series D.
| VILA: Pretty? Yes, I suppose she is. I hadn't really noticed. AVON: We've seen you not noticing. Frequently. CONCLUSION Sheer incompetence. |
I have read stories that Volcano was originally written for Blake and Jenna instead of Tarrant and Dayna I wonder if this episode would ahve worked out better with Blake and Jenna
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