Sand (1981) Review

 

Sand is an uneven mixture of eccentric concepts and shameless fan service. 

WRITTEN BY

Novelist Tanith Lee, who previously brought us the equally bizarre Sarcophagus. 

PLOT

The Scorpio stalks Servalan to the mysterious desert planet Virn in the hopes of learning about the Federation's interest in it. Once there, Tarrant discovers that the sand on the planet all around them is a living entity intent on absorbing the energy of humans... 

ANALYSIS

I don't think I've seen anything so random since Moloch. Pretty much everything about this was so very inconsistent - from the ideas to the direction to the characterisation... the episode kept shifting from moments where I felt the show was at its creative peak to unsubtle drivel. From gloomy model designs to ghastly CSO. From Vila's heartbreaking depression to an attempt to ship Tarrant and Servalan. 

My opinion on it was pretty much in flux the entire time and even now, I'm kind of befuddled. I certainly wasn't bored by it, but at the same time, I can't say I enjoyed it much either. Sand is the televisual equivalent of someone baking steak inside a cake and then pouring soda all over it. Like, what do you even say to that? It exists. Someone made it. There's brilliant ingredients. It's complete nonsense. 

Well, I'll try to separate the positives and negatives. On the good side, there's a token attempt to recreate a similar kind of isolated, oppressive atmosphere as in Sarcophagus, and that already makes it stand out from the noisy survivalism of Series D. Turning the sand itself into a primordial sort of villain is really cool. Steven Pacey and Jacqueline Pearce get their meatiest script. Lee patches up various recent plot holes. 

Now the negatives: Tarrant/Servalan? Really? Why? There's no reason why it shouldn't be Avon on the planet's surface. It's so strange seeing Tarrant in the detective part whilst Avon is making dominant male quips on the ship. But most of all, Avon and Servalan have an established rapport that could have become far more interesting here. Hell, given Tanith Lee's predilection towards continuity, why not compare Keller with Anna Grant? 

I also found the logistics of the sand really frustrating. So it sucks out energy, but it also acts as a preservative for some reason(which naturally must take energy)? Or is the preservative unrelated to the entity? It can be destroyed by water(which the Scorpio can just magic into existence). And it tries to kill any non-dominant males as opposed to trying to maximise food production because... "herd". I'm sorry, I have to say it... I think the sand is stupid. They piled on too many contrivances for my liking. 

Although I praised the fixing of plot holes, the script goes way too overboard with the references. "What if the lady from Sarcophagus is back?" "She probably isn't." "Yeah, you're right."

"Why are you not president anymore and also why are you alive and also why are you wearing a dress on a desert planet? Please exposit, it makes me horny."

I really wanted to like this episode. I wanted it to be a nice callback to the earlier seasons, a refreshing change in pace and a cool Halloween-type story. And I guess it technically is those things, but it kept pissing me off by getting various small details wrong in like every scene, which ultimately accumulated to bring down the entire thing.

CHARACTERS

Tarrant is infected by a virus... and it's called Blake-itis. The main symptom is inexplicably being able to extrapolate the entire plot of an episode from a few details. Apparently Lee was a fan of Doctor Who, which I can easily believe, seeing as how the entire section with Tarrant and Servalan exploring the base feels like it's out of a serial. 

Now, to give them some credit, I do think Pacey and Pearce have spectacular chemistry and put in maximum effort. In fact, their enigmatic interactions are a real highlight. That whole schoolyard romance is very different from the type of relationship that Avon has with Servalan, so that's a strong point in its favor. But the fact that this is the only episode to remotely indulge a connection between the two makes it fall a bit flat. Maybe if they'd met again in a future season, I'd take it more seriously. But as it is, seeing Servalan weep over having to kill Tarrant someday is just goofy to me. It's *Tarrant*. You can make it as poetic and dramatic as you want, but at the end of the day, it's still *Tarrant*. It's late for me to start taking him seriously. 

I'm also not really a fan of the Don Keller idea. I don't think we needed an explanation of why Servalan does what she does, especially one that involves her being ditched by a (poorly cast) nobody. And speaking of which, what is up with the whole herd thing anyway? It seems to be there just for the sake of... well, making me uncomfortable. Should I start shipping Tanith Lee with Ben Steed?

I absolutely loved Vila's part in the episode. He's been drunken before, but it's always been played for laughs. This is the first time where it actually seems like he's a miserable, lonely alcoholic that the crew merely tolerate. Now, you could say it was the influence of the sand, but it's still shocking to see him brought into harsh reality. And it's nice to have the crew's increasing emotional detachment be commented on. Every once in a while, there comes a writer who makes you feel like everything our heroes have been through, they have really been through... do you see now why this episode is so frustrating?

NOTES

*I wonder what "Don" stands for. Gangster don or Donald?

*The opening monologue is quite neat and spooky, I'll admit. At least the script is. The actor's useless. 

*Servalan quips about watching "old films". I wonder what's her favourite. Maybe she saw Tommy Wiseau's "The Room" and thought... "hmm, Lisa, huh? I could do that too."

*The costume design was pretty crap this time around. What was up with all the tinfoil? Oh, and get this... tinfoil pillows. I'm sort of willing to forgive the blankets, because that's a real thing, but tinfoil pillows!!

*A lot, and I really mean a lot of the dialogue is far too literary, if that makes any sense. When you have the characters say stuff like "Suddenly..." and "Meanwhile..." whilst referring to themselves, you're in trouble.

*There has to be more than one Federation ship investigating strange phenomena, right? Why does Avon just latch onto this one as potentially important? Or was he just bored that day and really wanted to go somewhere? This has definitely been the laziest motive this season

*The fact that Reeve has a gun with percussion bullets and they didn't just give him a classic revolver... annoys me. What a missed oppurtunity!

*What's with the blurry image as Servalan, Reeve and Chasgo explore the surface of the planet?

*Lol at Dayna simply being removed from the action halfway through the episode. Poor Josette got teased.

*It's great fun seeing Peter Tuddenham live up to the second half of his last name.

*Whilst much of the infodumping is clunky, I did love Servalan having to be reminded of why Tarrant wants to kill her. 

*Part of the base's set design very obviously includes the glass bowl from the Liberator flight deck.

*The probability square thing seems like a real life idea that Lee just picked up from somewhere. No?

*Lol at the "ohhh yeahhh" look Dayna and Soolin share upon the potential menage a trois.

*A great example of the lack of consistency in any aspect of the episode's quality - Servalan goes from leading Tarrant by the balls to having to give him the gun so he can simply shoot a window. 

*Speaking of which, how the hell would Dayna know that some glass just got broken somewhere on the planet??? 

*So... is the pilot still there when Servalan's having her breakdown at the end of the episode? Who's flying the ship? Did she shoot him?

INFORMATION!

*Reeve reiterates that Sleer is in charge of the pacification programme, which was introduced in Traitor.

*Tarrant accuses Servalan of sitting by as his brother died(more like directly orchestrated it). This occurred in Death-Watch. He also reminds her that he likes to shoot a moving target, a trait that he shared with Deeta.

*Soolin theorises that the entity on Virn is some remnant of the alien Queen from Sarcophagus(which the crew have filled her in on at some point), and that it caused the destruction of the Liberator in Terminal, and Cally's death in Rescue.

*Servalan elaborates on her survival after the events of Terminal, and the loss of her presidency.

*It's strongly implied that Servalan was president five years ago, meaning that it's been at least five since Star One.

BEST QUOTE AVON QUOTE

DAYNA: "I trust you, Avon."
AVON: "I must be slipping."

CONCLUSION

I'm not sure if any of the episodes I've rewatched on this blog have disappointed me quite as much as this one. Thematically, production-wise, acting-wise, writing-wise... all over the place. Every scene feels like it belongs in a different story. But at least I won't be forgetting it anytime soon.