The Sea of Iron is a nice change of pace.
WRITTEN BY
Marc Platt, who in my experience is generally better at creating a unique vibe for a story than a concrete story in its own right.
PLOT
Hearing a telepathic call for aid from other Auronar, Cally heads into the mysterious Sea of Iron (a proto-black hole) to save her kin alongside a most unusual companion: Supreme Commander Servalan.
ANALYSIS
Marc Platt's stories often have a fantastical vibe (most memorably in the 1989 Doctor Who serial "Ghost Light"), and this carries over to this Blake's 7 adventure. I really liked that, as the audios rarely seems to delve into that side of the original show, often preferring the tried-and -rue action-adventure genre or hardhitting character drama. It was this variety - getting the chance to experience something truly new and interesting and surreal - that primarily kept me engaged. Because if I had to be fully objective, I found the actual plot to be somewhat implausible. Servalan wanting to breed an army of Cally clones? A despicable corruption within the Auronar government that is never once mentioned when the crew visit the planet? The babies being fully intelligent as fetuses? It's a rocky premise that only works because of Platt's strong prose and Chappell's heartfelt performance.
Once I looked past that, however, I was definitely swept along. Cally being the strongly empathetic person that she is, it was easy to relate to her longing for other Auronar, and desperate desire to help them even though she didn't truly understand what was happening. The mystery of the missing ship is a classic trope, and the 'Bermuda triangle in space' (the third or fourth one in the franchise) is even more so. The whole sequence of Cally and Servalan exploring the Sea of Iron was rife in atmosphere and tension, and I had no idea how either of them were going to get out of this situation. When you're successfully made to worry about characters despite knowing they're both going to be fine, that's good storytelling.
Platt also thankfully avoids the traditional Liberator Chronicles pitfalls. There's no forced framing device with one person narrating the events to someone else in painful detail. Chappell and Pearce are not made to perform other characters with modulated voices. That being said, there are scenes which would have greatly benefitted from the inclusion of more actors, specifically the ones between Cally and Blake. They're very heartfelt and I feel like we could've had something truly special if Gareth Thomas had participated. Instead, they're 'merely' very good.
CHARACTERS
Servalan being able to hear the Cally clones that she bought was an interesting touch. I always wondered why she had a telepathic connection with her own clones in Children of Auron (given that she presumably is not one of the Auronar herself) and it's not fully explained here either. Despite some stories like Three and Sand elaborating on her backstory, we really have no idea who Servalan is after all this time. Though Paul Darrow's assertion that she's one of the pirates of the Caribbean is quite amusing.
I'm not really sure what to make of her plan. I must assume that her intention was to betray and kill Cally rather than actually have her raise the clone army as she claimed, but that she trusts the genes of a rebel in the first place seems a bit out of sync with the traditional portrayal of Servalan as someone who stamps out any sign of insurrection, no matter how obscure.
Having recently listened to President which detailed Servalan's daily work at maintaining her imago, I also felt that her willingness to allow Cally to assume control over the situation didn't fit. Obviously we're dealing with the work of different writers and they have differing perceptions of Servalan. And I don't think Platt's more vulnerable and human take is out of character with what we saw in the original show (indeed, he's clearly hinting that these events in some way led to Children of Auron). It is, however, out of character with what Big Finish has done with Servalan, which is focus almost entirely on her calculating and devious nature to the point where she now comes off as almost omniscient, three steps ahead of everyone else. Three, President and Logic have her win before the episode even begins. And even other episodes featuring her usually have her be defeated only by factors that she couldn't have foreseen. So it's a bit jarring to go from that to this 'simplified' version of the character, that abandons the entire project simply because the babies hate her.
Poor Cally, she's really put through the wringer by this entire ordeal. I do wish we'd get more of her past beyond just events relating to her eventual assignment on Saurian Major. I feel like every episode that touches on her background always comes back to that in some way. There's some nice hints here about what her childhood was like, and I would've loved to have heard more of that and her early days on Auron, before she became defined by her rebelliousness.
Although Jacqueline Pearce gives a solid performance, this is very much Jan Chappell's show and she goes to town with it. It really makes one realise how wasted her talents were in the original run where Cally never got this kind of material. Although the babies are technically Cally's clone sisters, there's a very maternal quality to Cally's interaction with them, and the fairy tale she reads to them about the original Cally's children seems to reflect her own emotions. It's heartbreaking stuff.
NOTES
- The episode begins with Servalan idly wondering about Cally. That was the first sign to me that this wasn't the usual version of Servalan we're dealing with. She wouldn't spare Cally a thought.
- I really do love the camaraderie between Blake and Cally. With their shared ideals, they make such natural allies. It's a shame the pairing became so rare after Series A. Despite Gareth's absence, Blake's willingness to take Cally into Federation territory simply because she needed it speaks volumes of his loyalty and trust in her.
- Some wonderful examples of Platt's prose: "The planet Redweather in the Goliath system.", "Orac's circuitry flickered with disdain."
- It's cool that Jenna and Cally have a girls only adventure on Redweather. I hope there's another one at some point, where they maybe get to have more fun (and of course having Knyvette is a must).
- I dearly wish we could've seen them reprogram Orac as a woman! Chappell's imitation alone is a hoot.
- I don't really understand why Cally sought out her mentor Mani Yalek specifically. Did Servalan influence her somehow, or was it just Cally's first instinct?
- Jacqueline Pearce sounded about 30 years older when she laughed. She has a proper Macbeth witch's cackle.
- How could the Federation shuttle closing possibly mute the telepathy? It's telepathy.
- Despite its fearsome reputation, it seems the Sea of Iron is a bit overrated given that everyone we see entering it in this episode survives (Servalan even makes it out offscreen and without a scratch).
- We learn here that Cally's mentor was an Auronar named Mani Yalek, and that it was he who trained Cally from a mere pilot to a freedom fighter, and dispatched her to Saurian Major. This directly contradicts Promises, in which Cally was supposedly a high-ranking Auronar and was recruited to Saurian Major by Scetona Clorensis.
- The Saurian Major mission was depicted in Time Squad.
- Cally refers to Servalan as "an old enemy". They have previously met in Orac and Wolf.
- Servalan dates this story as taking place in 5467, though whether she's referring to a year or not is unclear. If she is, this would massively contradict previous stories which suggest the series is set in the 27th century.
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