Plague has a nicely dark atmosphere, but I found the story generic and uninteresting.
WRITTEN BY
No specific credit.
PLOT
The Scorpio crew investigate an abandoned Amridam cargo ship, which contains a massive treasure vault. Soon afterwards, Vila and Tarrant fall deathly ill, and the Federation close in for the bounty.
ANALYSIS
The early scenes onboard the Amridam ship set up a truly eerie, foreboding feeling, like this was going to be something nightmarish or at least emotionally gripping. The setting was described in grand detail, and felt like something out of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre (with the decaying corpses littered everywhere). In Series A, the show wasn't yet afraid to tackle such dark material, as can be evidenced by the crucification in Cygnus Alpha and the mass graveyard world of Duel. But that aspect of Terry Nation's cynical worldview was toned down as his level of participation in the show faded. Even Series D, for all its gallows humor and psychological drama, never really delved into body horror territory.
My point is that the opening was gruesome, effective and refreshing. A pity then, that the rest is so mundane. There's a slight promise of seeing the rest of the crew infected (which Orac even compares to the black plague) and faced with death that is never paid off. Instead, the main tension shifts to the mysterious box Vila stole, and Avon's attempt to murder him upon realising that Vila has put the ship at risk. Both plot points from previous episodes (Headhunter and Orbit respectively) that are nowhere near as well done here. Servalan's eleventh hour appearance is just that - eleventh hour. There's really no reason to even include her and the fact that she didn't know Scorpio would be near makes it exceptionally funny to me. They just bump into each other in space! This was becoming a problem in the series when Jacqueline Pearce's contract meant that she had to be in the majority of the episodes, so why exacerbate it here? Either have a reason for Servalan being there, or don't have her.
The climax, relying on the latest set of magic crystals, is laughably silly (basically it amounts to Avon throwing a bunch of them out of the airlock and then riding the explosion when the Federation's plasma bolts hit them). If I was being extremely nitpicky, I'd call it out for imitating the ending of Games. I've criticised the magazine for being derivative with its plot points before, but this really shows that they're in desperate need of some fresh blood.
CHARACTERS
I love dark Avon. I really do. His transformation over time is one of my favourite things about Blake's 7. But I feel like the magazine is trying too hard to push it. I was forgiving of his decision to let Dayna die (in Quantum Jump), because it was still a matter of survival, but trying to murder Vila in a temper tantrum? It seems very out of character to me. At no point in the show did Avon consider letting anyone in the crew die when he had the ability to save them, no matter how badly they screwed up. Even Lucifer didn't go that far!
On a more positive note, I really liked the depiction of Soolin. She's independent, willing to go along with Vila's defiance of Avon's orders, as she knows his wrath won't land on her. She also shows her humanity by refusing to let Avon murder him. Soolin may be a gunslinger by profession, but she's clearly one with a moral code, possibly born out of her parents. There's certainly more to her than meets the eye.
Vila, of course, is greedy. And his greed apparently outweighs any fear or respect he might have for Avon. Or even for his own life, given how he disregards all the warnings about the box. Which I'm not entirely sure I like (I prefer the more streetwise Vila of Gold, who flat-out refuses to get involved if he smells a bad heist). That being said, it's interesting how spiteful of Avon's intellect he is. It's a nice, subtle hint of how downhill the lives of the crew have gotten under his lead.
NOTES
- This two-part short story was published in the Blake's 7 Marvel Monthly issues 14 and 15.
- What's the deal with the American influence on the dialogue? Can't really imagine Tarrant shouting "Geez...!" or Vila yelping "I suuuuure do!"
- At one point, the writer forgets to let the audience know that Tarrant has begun communicating with Avon via the bracelet, as they just start talking to each other despite being on two different ships without any setup.
- Despite being in flight, the crew are able to access other areas in the Scorpio (labelled "alpha number" and "delta number", and presumably beta and gamma areas exist too). In the show, only the flight deck was available during flights, although it's never made entirely clear whether this is only during atmospheric takeoff or in deep space as well.
- Given Avon's cruel behaviour towards Vila, it's interesting that the writer makes a point of saying that he was more pre-occupied with Tarrant's safety than the potential wealth aboard the Amridam ship. Seems a bit inconsistent.
- Orac surely shouldn't need Avon to tell him to expand the scan radius to locate the death ray. Yet he seems incapable of doing so until Avon orders it.
- Lol at "This is man's work!" Nobody could ever accuse Avon of being gentlemanly.
- Since when does the Scorpio have a force wall?
- I chuckled at Servalan's blase reaction to Avon's escape. She's so used to it by now that it barely phases her.
- During his rage, Avon mentions that he's threatened to kill Vila before. I can only recall him doing so in Orbit, setting this story after that.
- Vila tells Tarrant of a previous encounter with the Warg Strangler on Targaan, which in of itself is a callback to the episode Traitor, where he describes Tarrant as one.
No comments:
Post a Comment