City At The Edge Of The World (1980) Review

 

City At The Edge Of The World is brimming with wit and interesting concepts, but the execution is so-so. 

WRITTEN BY

Chris Boucher, script editor. This is probably one of his defining works, for better or for worse.

PLOT

Under threat of putting him off the ship, Tarrant forces Vila to accept an assignment from the people of Kezarn, who turn out to be under the thrall of the infamous space gangster Bayban the Berserker("Babe" to his mother). Baby wants him to open a mysterious door supposedly leading to the great vault of Kezarn. Meanwhile, Avon and Cally mount a rescue. 

ANALYSIS

I think people largely remember City for its brilliant character interactions and top-class dialogue. The banter is admittedly magnificent and the sheer entertainment value from the actors does a considerable job of disguising the episode's fault - the largest being that the logistics make no sense whatsoever. 

The ideas in this episode seem really clever at first - Vila's unusual perspective in opening doors with the designer as an opponent, the use of a city as a gigantic terminal to travel to another planet and the Kezarn people's promise of wealth to distract Bayban into doing their dirty work. But on careful consideration, all these ideas fall apart to reveal a plethora of plot holes. 

Most glaring is the entire concept of the Kezarn's escape - why go to such convoluted lengths instead of just setting up a huge rocket like all the other dying alien races? I mean, if you think about it, City is a fancy remake of Deliverance. 
But there's also little ones that annoy me even more. Why does Vila abandon his teleport bracelet and Avon's tracer before he is given cause for alarm? After all, it's not like Tarrant threatened to murder him. Worst case scenario is that the Liberator crew refuse to let him back into the ship, but he removes even the possibility of escaping Kezarn on his own volition!

Why does Vila immediately drop the idea of investigating the vault once he's in it? He left his instruments outside, so it's not like he could've left the place anyway. He assumes that the designer has left a trap for him, even though there'd be no need to since he'd slowly die inside - the logical thing to do to a thief who's penetrated a vault. And even if he could magically get out, he'd only run into Bayban again with no means of escape. Might as well make him as happy as possible and actually find the treasure. 

Oh, and here's another one: why don't they just go around the door? The entire point is that the door is capable of reflecting any attempts to open it because it's a force field, but it's very clear that only the rhombus area is the field, otherwise the entire thing would've vanished. You're telling me that Bayban couldn't have used all the measures available to him and cut a hole into the terminal? 

I don't think these are tiny nitpicks - the plot depends on these contrivances to work, and I just can't fully enjoy a story that makes so little sense. Even if it is funny. Very funny. 

CHARACTERS

Colin Baker is easily one of the best guest stars the show ever got. Bayban is practically a living cartoon, but it works because Colin makes him entirely humorless and lacking in self-awareness. The magic of Colin is that he can sell the most absurd ideas by sheer conviction and with obvious relish. 

Paul Darrow also gives a phenomenal performance, grounding the proceedings a little by emphasising his monotone standoffishness. I love the way Avon defends Vila(or rather his valuable skills) in his absence and how intimidating he makes himself to Bayban's troops. It's also nice to see Avon and Cally working together in this episode, clearly trusting each other more than the newbies. They're a great pair on the planet, with Cally's positive determination nicely accentuating Avon's grim demeanour.

Tarrant seems to have been written with his earlier, older incarnation in mind. Perhaps that would account for his suddenly overbearing, superior attitude(and Pacey is clearly trying his damnedest to sound as authoritative and deep-voiced as he can). It just doesn't work for me. Tarrant seems like far too much of an arrogant liability to keep around. As Avon said - good pilots are a dime a dozen. They could probably even hire a good mercenary one and fly the ship on their own in the meantime, which they are clearly capable of. I much prefer the excitable Prince Charming that Pacey's character evolved into. 

Kerril is something of a Bond Girl type of character, but I actually quite like her in spite of Carol Hawkins's unfortunately dull performance. She very obviously takes an unexplainable fancy to Vila early on(perhaps he's the only polite person she's met??), cleaning up her act for him. It's a shame that she and Keating have no chemistry, because I think that with a sweeter actress, I would've quite felt for Kerril's desire to settle down. 

Poor Valentine Dyall, completely wasted. His presence adds atmosphere and dignity, of course, but it's not really a story that needed one, and certainly not from a talent like him. 

Bravo to Michael Keating, though. He finally got to play the hero and he played it to the hilt. Vila in this episode reminded me of when we first met him in The Way Back. There was a slightly psychotic element to Vila and his vocation to steal. So saying no to Kerril after all the complaining and worrying that Vila has done seems to be a decision made by a slightly warped mind, a mind that cannot live in a universe where he doesn't at least have the possibility to outwit others and steal their belongings, even for the sake of a loved one. The episode plays it for laughs, but it's a slightly sad reality. 

On a brighter note though, I just love seeing Vila be clever and basking in it to boot! His rapid-pace explanation to Bayban about the nature of opening doors, followed by his smug disruption of the forcefield are some of the best Vila moments in the entire series. 

NOTES

*I love that one of the native extras doesn't even shift to move the hair being whipped into his face. 

*What's the correlation between the stone ruins we see on location and the obviously technologically advanced city inside and in the model shots?

*It's a bit daft for a coward to point out hygienic problems on the person holding a gun on him. 

*If I was Avon, leaving Tarrant and Dayna alone on the Liberator would be the last thing I'd do. I know I said I liked him and Cally together, but it would've been cool to have him deliberately choose to bring Dayna as a means of keeping an eye on Tarrant and the ship. 

*How does the 3000-year old Kezarn computer recognise Vila and Kerril's language as "Terran"? The show takes place in the 27th century.

*Despite still retaining her penchant for building weapons(that adorable robo-grenade!), Dayna for some reason needs Tarrant to shoot three of Bayban's henchmen for her?

*I get that Vila's predecessor might've been an alien, but it's a bit odd that his gadget - predating Vila's by at least 35 generations, no less! - is more compact. 

*For a paradise, Vilaworld is surprisingly shite. In fact, it's easily the worst-looking planet in the entire series.

*The "what did I do to upset you" shtick is such a charmingly old married couple routine. I love it. I would pay money to see Avon and Cally repeat it.

*What's with the random Gregorian chant as the Kezarns enter the terminal?

*"You can't like someone without them liking you back." Sweet summer child...

INFORMATION!

*Vila protests Tarrant's order to get off the ship by reminding him that he joined the Liberator's crew before the latter, and with Blake, which was depicted in Cygnus Alpha.

*Bayban describes Vila as a "failed revolutionary", obviously describing his exploits with Blake in Series A and B, and possibly the Federation's current process of restoration. He also mentions that Blake took "political shortcuts" to top the Federation's most wanted list, very loosely referencing The Way Back.

*Tarrant has met Bayban.

*At some point before the events of this story, the Liberator's weapons were rendered unusable until unnamed crystals can be found to repair them.

*Vila comments that Avon's welcoming him back "makes it all worthwhile", continuing a running gag from Bounty and Gambit. 

BEST QUOTE AVON QUOTE

CALLY: "Vila, we thought we'd lost you!"
AVON: "But every silver lining has a cloud."

CONCLUSION

It's still good fun, but I care less for it with every rewatch, which isn't the sign of a true classic.