The Magnificent Four (2012) Review

 

The Magnificent Four starts out with a good concept, but then executes it in the most boring way possible.

WRITTEN BY

Simon Guerrier, who previously brought us The Turing Test. One hit, one miss.

PLOT

Avon and Cally are kidnapped by Trent, a former slave of the System, who's been inspired by Blake's crew to wreak havoc across the galaxy aboard his stolen ship, the Libertine. Suddenly amongst a new, morally flexible crew, the two have to decide their future. 

ANALYSIS

It's a neat setup, but the problem is that Trent's true intentions are made far too black and white far too quickly, at which point the story devolves into figuring out a way to get rid of him. This is a story that should be all about analysing the negative effect that Blake's legend can have on people, yet we barely get a hint of personality from the Libertine crew and no suggestion that Trent isn't the villain he appears to be. 

It feels like the really interesting parts - Trent's backstory, the way his crew's behaviour is compared to the Liberator's - are just distractions to disguise a barebones, unexciting plot about some space pirates that doesn't even go anywhere. Oh, and the pretense that they've killed off Cally was truly laughable. Who was ever going to believe that?

As far as the production itself goes, the decision to have Chappell voice Trent as opposed to describing his words and actions was a bit silly. I always prefer it when actors stick to their own characters, like in Counterfeit. But I must commend Guerrier for allowing the POV to switch between Cally and Avon to get a bit of insight into both of their perceptions of what was going on.

CHARACTERS

It's a somewhat interesting story for Avon. He'd already made an attempt to leave the Liberator crew in Breakdown (under far more amiable circumstances) so it's not surprising that he'd do so again given a profitable oppurtunity. I do like the enigma behind whether or not he was truly going to betray Cally, but I feel like his sentiments about wanting a quiet life and being willing to settle for using the smaller Libertine for his purposes as opposed to fulfilling the deal he'd already made with Blake ring false. Perhaps he was just keeping his options open, as always. 

That being said, I suppose this does neatly set up his general inactivity throughout Series C. From his energetic and pragmatic attitude, I always had the general assumption that Avon would naturally find something for himself to do until he really was a rich fat cat, but the idea that he actually does want to retire in peace and solitude, perhaps tinkering with experiments like Ensor, is curious. 

Jan Chappell seems a bit tired and underused in the full cast dramas, but like Paul Darrow, really comes to life in these. The sequence where Cally is forced to walk the plank is genuinely one of the most tense in Blake's 7, and Chappell sells the terror of the situation perfectly. What makes Cally as a character great is her earnest desire to be the best she can possibly be in the extraordinary situations she finds herself in. It's easy to root for someone like that, especially with Chappell's kindly voice. 

Trent's a dick. He's just a dick. All that time spent talking about how sad his backstory is and how he related to Blake's cause was a complete waste of time because he's just a dick who kills people and steals money because he's a dick. It feels like there was a good character there at the start - a fan of Blake's gone wrong - but then somebody pressed the loony button and all that was completely forgotten in favor of him just being a physical threat. What a disappointment.

NOTES 

*I'm left somewhat confused about the advanced satellite defense system arund the planet Mogul. Is Mogul part of the Federation or are they simply overly defensive of outside influence? And how do they have so much influence that they know about all ship-routes a decade ahead of time?

*I was surprised to see Avon being willing to sacrifice himself for Cally! I do always love how he matter-of-factly brings up how stupid he is being whenever he does something like that. 

*For some reason, the Liberator and the Libertine both are described as having warp capability as if it was Star Trek. 

*Cally's imitation of Vila is brilliant. On an unrelated sidenote, now I kind of want to hear Paul Darrow star in a really rubbish Liberator Chronicle where he has to do impressions of everyone.

*Cally or Simon Guerrier appears to misremember the events of Redemption - the System did not want to make slaves of the Liberator crew, but rather just execute them all.

*There's a ton of exposition in this story, which bogs it down in quite a few places. Just whole scenes where people are describing stuff that happened 'offscreen', so to speak. That's one of the main reasons why the Libertine crew are so flat - they're all introduced at once, in passing. 

*Having an archaic printout complete with the proper sound effect is a nice touch.

*The detail of Avon being more relaxed around the obviously self-serving Trent than Blake is lovely. 

*I looked up the old Earth saying that Trent quotes: "Peaceably if we can, forcibly if we must." The only citation on the internet that I found was in Paul Pickering's essay about the 19th century Chartist movement, which focused on male suffrage and political reform for greater democracy. Talk about obscure. 

*The other saying about eliminating the impossible of course originated from Sherlock Holmes(Avon is also aware of it, which ties nicely into his detective work in Mission To Destiny).

*I wonder who made the Trent grunting sound effects. Cause it sure wasn't Paul Darrow. (Alistair Lock?)

*Trent's champagne is referred to as "green fizz". That's awesome.

*Since when are System computers programmed to automatically teleport people back if they leave the ship? I feel like Cally's survival was a bit of a deus ex machina.

*Jan Chappell very obviously mixes up her narration with Cally's dialogue at the very end. Should've used another take.

INFORMATION

*Avon and Cally are on a mission to gain access to the Mogul database in order to, amongst other things, ascertain the location of Star One. This sets the story some time after Countdown. 

*The System and their other ships were seen in Redemption. 

*Avon briefly references his desire to find Anna Grant's killers, foreshadowing Rumours Of Death. 

*Gan's death in Pressure Point is discussed. 

BEST QUOTE AVON QUOTE

CALLY: "At least we tried."
AVON: "We failed. That's all that matters in the end."

CONCLUSION

This one didn't do anything for me.