Crossed Wires is slightly farcical, as the title might suggest.
WRITTEN BY
No specific credit.
PLOT
An unexplained explosion on the Scorpio draws the attention of Federation ships to Xenon Base. With Tarrant out for the count, it's up to the rest of the crew to defend their home with an unreliable spaceship...
ANALYSIS
I don't find the story that interesting - like The Flying Bomb, it merely presents the heroes with a single dilemma to solve and devotes its entire length to it. Maybe this sort of concept would work better if the idea wasn't a comical mishap. It's also strange that despite the sheer absurdity of the situation, the rest of the story seems to take itself seriously, with a pretty good, dramatic battle sequence capping it off. I guess the lesson of the day is to pick one tone and multiple twists, not the other way around.
Points for that ending though, the way Avon manages to crush the Federation ships together by taking advantage of the Scorpio's warping of vacuum(if that is a real thing) is pretty damn great. And as a minor bonus, we get to see Xenon Base's silo, which is always a wonderful visual. On the more negative side of the artwork, Soolin resembles a buxom elf more than Glynis Barber.
NOTES
*This comic was published in the Blake's 7 Marvel Monthly issue 8.
*I've never really understood how Orac's supposed to function as a medical device. From the show, I assumed he was simply an advanced scanner, but Crossed Wires implies that he can actually be vital in saving Tarrant's life.
*Avon's "action station positions" isn't quite the old "BATTLE STATIONS" cry, is it?
*I joked before about how inconsistent the length of spacials is, but the Federation ships being only 0.7300 spacials away from the Scorpio has to be some kind of wild record.
*The Federation are actively looking for a rebel base in the Xenon system, which is kind of interesting. I guess they finally noticed all the ships Avon's been shooting down over the course of the Marvel stories(ignoring Servalan's little visit in Wanderlust).
*How the hell do "percussion laser charges" work?? Lasers don't make noises, last I checked.
*Avon defines the circuits on the Scorpio using the old military "alpha, bravo, delta" code. My theory is that Tarrant(as an ex-military pilot) named them.
*This is going to be the nerdiest thing you'll ever hear, but one thing I've noticed about the comics is the costuming. The characters are all drawn wearing specific outfits from Series D, but what fascinated me was which costumes they wore.
You see, the crew in Series D wore two outfits after taking Xenon, one from Rescue to Headhunter and the other from Assassin to Blake(with the exception of Avon, who resumed wearing his original clothes after Gold).
However, in the comics, Soolin and Dayna are wearing the second half of the season costumes, whilst everybody else is wearing the first half's, a setup that never occurred onscreen. Why am I pointing this out when obviously the crew would wear different clothes at different times? Because nerd.
INFORMATION!
*The story could take place at any time between Power and Warlord.
BEST QUOTE AVON QUOTE
"In future, I shall make all the maintenance, do I make myself plain?"
CONCLUSION
Lol.
*Avon's "action station positions" isn't quite the old "BATTLE STATIONS" cry, is it?
*I joked before about how inconsistent the length of spacials is, but the Federation ships being only 0.7300 spacials away from the Scorpio has to be some kind of wild record.
*The Federation are actively looking for a rebel base in the Xenon system, which is kind of interesting. I guess they finally noticed all the ships Avon's been shooting down over the course of the Marvel stories(ignoring Servalan's little visit in Wanderlust).
*How the hell do "percussion laser charges" work?? Lasers don't make noises, last I checked.
*Avon defines the circuits on the Scorpio using the old military "alpha, bravo, delta" code. My theory is that Tarrant(as an ex-military pilot) named them.
*This is going to be the nerdiest thing you'll ever hear, but one thing I've noticed about the comics is the costuming. The characters are all drawn wearing specific outfits from Series D, but what fascinated me was which costumes they wore.
You see, the crew in Series D wore two outfits after taking Xenon, one from Rescue to Headhunter and the other from Assassin to Blake(with the exception of Avon, who resumed wearing his original clothes after Gold).
However, in the comics, Soolin and Dayna are wearing the second half of the season costumes, whilst everybody else is wearing the first half's, a setup that never occurred onscreen. Why am I pointing this out when obviously the crew would wear different clothes at different times? Because nerd.
INFORMATION!
*The story could take place at any time between Power and Warlord.
"In future, I shall make all the maintenance, do I make myself plain?"
CONCLUSION
Lol.
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