Games (1981) Review

 

Games is a phenomenally plotted match of wits and a very entertaining adventure. 

WRITTEN BY

Bill Lyons, a prolific soap opera screenwriter, having penned 300 Emmerdale and 60 Eastenders episodes, for example. His good understanding of characters shines through, as does his relative lack of familiarity with science fiction(the one flaw in Games). 

PLOT

The Scorpio crew partner with the shady geologist Gerren to scam Belkov, the Federation overseer for mining operations on Mecron II, out of invaluable Feldon energy crystals before Servalan occupies the planet, unaware that Belkov is using them all as pawns to facilitate his own escape.

ANALYSIS

Right off the bat, I've got to praise how well the concept is executed. The titular games are not just a half-arsed theme, but you can genuinely see how Belkov and Avon are manipulating the crew and Servalan's people as pawns, and reacting to each other's moves as it were. It made the episode so engaging to watch. There didn't seem to be any throwaway moments at all - everything was the result of careful deliberation by two masterminds. Which isn't to say that everybody else became their puppets - all our heroes and villains still have free will and get their moments to shine, but it's clear that Belkov and Avon have a strong understanding of psychology and manage to utilise it effectively. 

I also enjoyed seeing the concept creep into the story in other ways. Obviously, there's the actual games played by Belkov, as well as the challenges on the Orbiter, but then there's the more subtle ideas, like how the Gambit computer has been programmed to respond to reality itself as a game, and is able to betray Belkov because her logic would allow her to see him as an opponent when threatened with destruction. Orac can only retrieve information from her by playing. Vila bets on simplicity and tries to skip all of Belkov's obvious BS by pocketing the treasure, only to be thwarted. 

My point is that Lyons put some real thought into the structure of the script and it paid off. But in addition to everything I just said, Games is also fun in a traditional sense. It's full of witty dialogue, mystery, plenty of action. A lot of it is shot on location in the good old quarry, giving us a sense of grand scope. The crew's straightforward need for the Feldon crystals to make some money and/or provide themselves with unlimited power(unlimited powahhh!!!!) is established from the very beginning, so the pace is just spot-on. 

In fact, everyone's motivations are pretty clear throughout. It's pure greed, which makes this an episode that could never have happened during Blake's era. The only ones who even bring up anything resembling a moral argument are Tarrant and Dayna, who don't want the Feldon sold in case it ends up back with the Federation. But we never find out if Avon would have agreed with that, because the crew decide to ignore what they're going to do with the Feldon until after they've actually gotten it. Anything more than the basic desire to steal valuables is irrelevant. Servalan, Avon and Belkov are all just criminals fighting over goods. And I love it. 

The main drawback of Games(and indeed, the reason why I underrate it in my mind all the time) is that it's littered with near-incomprehensible technobabble. I can just about make out what happens in the end(the Feldon-covered satellites try to magnify a "negative" black hole to suck the Mecron system in, but the Scorpio shoots them, which powers them with "positive" energy, the two cancel each other out). It's still a total mess, though, not helped by Stratford Johns getting his lines wrong. Lyons was a greenhorn when it came to science fiction, and either him or Chris Boucher really should've edited the script in that regard. 

It doesn't kill my enthusiasm for the episode, but it is a glaring issue when everything else is so good.

CHARACTERS

Paul Darrow has PICKED up an... IRRITATING habit... of ENUNCIATING... every OTHER... word! He overdramatises all of his lines, which can get a little bit wearisome. Darrow is exceptionally talented at making his lines hit hard, but when he delivers all of them with the same extreme emphasis, it loses its impact. That being said, I did tremendously enjoy(as I always do) his frustrated discussions with Orac, an obvious reflection of Belkov's fondness for Gambit. 

Stratford Johns totally steals this episode with his jolly, good-sport demeanour, which Belkov cunningly uses to put his opponents at ease. He is so pleasant that you want to trust him! I almost don't even want to count him as a villain, because he doesn't seem all that different from our heroes. Like with Nebrox in the previous episode, I wish I could visit some parallel universe where Belkov gets to join the crew and figure everything out in every episode without ever leaving his chair like some absurd, funloving version of Hercule Poirot. 

Michael Keating is given some of his best treatment yet when Vila is abandoned to be a lone piece on the board, ready to be sprung into action when necessary. We also get to see how much the character has changed since Cygnus Alpha - his irreverent whistling before gunning down a guard and blase reaction to another one getting mulched are a far cry from the horrified little man who just accidentally stabbed a monk. Vila might seem nervous and cowardly in comparison to the company he keeps, but he's become a badass space mercenary in his own right. 

Academician Gerren(portrayed by David Neal) looks a lot like Jürgen Prochnow in 1984's "Dune" with that hair and beard. Aside from that, I haven't got much to tell. He is the most blatant pawn of them all. 

I'll admit that Servalan's role in the episode is a little weak. The Federation's presence serves to kickstart the plot and little else. It could've been any official, and the fact that Servalan isn't one of the main players in the episode takes away from her role as the main antagonist. It's like if Darth Vader bumbled into the "Solo" movie's heist for no substantial reason.

NOTES

*Lol at the energy crisis reference. Very topical. 

*It's unclear if the crystal Avon is toying with is supposed to be a Feldon sample. If so, would Vila's Feldon necklace have even been valuable? 

*I wonder what the crew would have done with limitless power if not sell it. Xenon Base seems to be fairly self-sufficient(especially with the functional power station nearby), so would they just hoard it and power Scorpio?

*Tarrant's got balls to blame Vila for getting the crew caught when they're all hanging about in the open! He's also a terrible strategist, given that he decides Vila should be the backup instead of, say, Dayna.

*Given that Belkov's been on Mecron II for over a decade, it's interesting that he knows about Orac(the existence of which should be a tight secret). He seemed to have some computer skills, so I guess it's not impossible, but it's certainly improbable.

*Vila sticking out his arm like that seems like one of those things that comes across as far more reasonable in the script than acted out.

*I hope that burning stuntman got a raise.

*You'd think Belkov would have programmed Gambit not to just give up her circuits to strangers, but I suppose he never predicted somebody would be nice to the computer. 

*On the Orbiter shooting range, we see that winning the first round earns Gerren's accomplice 76 points. But then Soolin's final count is 100. So did she have a day off or does each round provide a significantly less amount of points for some arbitrary reason?

*How would the players know which machine to pick to get to the supposed chamber with the Feldon crystals? Orac said that the other games are all "attached to the outside of the Orbiter", which I assume means they get the players thrown out into space. Is it just a gamble, a guessing game? Not out of character, I suppose, but I expected something more fun from Belkov.

INFORMATION!

*Belkov has been running the Mecron II plant for 12 years, meaning that the Feldon crystals were discovered long before the events of the series. Why it's only being brought up now is anyone's guess. You'd think it'd have been a topic before if there's whole planetfuls of the stuff. 

*Avon made contact with Gerren via an obsolete communications satellite in Sector 4, placing it in the vicinity of Helotrix(from Traitor) and Saurian Major(from Time Squad).

BEST QUOTE AVON QUOTE

"Belkov does not trust anyone except that machine. It is his bodyguard, his companion, his playmate... his friend, Orac."

CONCLUSION

Well played.