Planetfall (2014) Review

 

Planetfall is Blake's 7 as a disaster movie. And it's brilliant. 

WRITTEN BY

Mark Wright and Cavan Scott, who routinely crank out 10/10 stories.

PLOT

Avon and Cally go undercover on the pleasure station Arcadia in order to meet a Federation contact willing to trade them a list containing the names of rebel agents. Things go horribly awry when someone plants a bomb on the station, causing its stabilizers to fail and the station to begin a fall towards the surface of the planet below... 

ANALYSIS

Disaster movies are a formula that almost write themselves, given that they depend on the constant presence of tension from everything crashing down all around the heroes. But even so, this is an exceptionally written one, with plenty of twists as well as great character dynamics between the two pairs we follow throughout. 

The lush casino setting in the early scenes immediately brought to mind images from Gambit. I had been hoping for something eccentric like that in the audios, which more often than not have stuck to either dramatic character studies or straightforward action. This one ultimately does lean towards the latter, but the way we're caught offguard by the change in tone - from the seedy richness to utter chaos - is really well done, and I have no regrets. It helps that I'm fond of Darrow and Chappell in particular. As unfair as it may seem, my appreciation of a Blake's 7 adventure is heavily influenced by who it focuses on. If it's a character or a pairing that I'm not so drawn to, then I won't be as invested as I could be. A good example of this is Epitaph, which focused on Jenna and Vila. I like both just fine and it was interesting to see them work together, but there's really no emotional connection between the two. There's no layered meaning to anything they might say to each other, because they're just not that close. So the story just ended up being a Jenna episode that Vila happened to guest star in. Worser still is a story like Solitary. I like Vila fine, but can he hold the narrative entirely on his own, with only an uninteresting guest character like Gustav Nyrron for company? No. 

Here, however, we do have a pair with a strong connection, as well as a phenomenal guest appearance from David Warner, an established character actor with gravitas. The story also works in a fourth main character, largely depicted through Darrow's narration but written well enough to where I barely noticed the lack of an actor for her. Taking that into account, along with the nailbiting race to the depths of Arcadia, and what you have is one happy little listener. 

CHARACTERS

This is a shipper's dream come true. Avon and Cally's cover story as official and mistress lends itself to an endless amount of shameless flirting and references to the ambiguous relationship the two shared in the show. My particular favourite being Avon's offer to escort Cally back to her room. Darrow and Chappell's chemistry is as subtle and charming as ever. I really enjoy seeing her bring out the hero in Avon too, quite literally ("I don't want to see you get killed just as you started playing hero?" "Who's playing?"). It's a marked difference from the cold, isolated Avon we saw in the previous story, Defector, but I suppose it can be a matter of perspective. Perhaps Avon isn't quite as willing to shut himself off from Cally as he is from the rest, or maybe Tarrant and Grant were just paranoid. We barely see them this episode, so there's no way to tell.

I knew nothing about David Warner's role going in, so I was pleasantly surprised that he was given material worthy of his talent (unlike, say, his appearance in a 2013 Doctor Who episode). Solvin Tavac is a Federation official with some similarities to Hugh Fraser's President in that he's a manipulative bureaucrat with a kindly demeanour and enigmatic motivations. Tavac seems to be more of an antihero than an outright antagonist, though, at least in this first appearance. I'm very excited to see how his role evolves, particularly after the fantastic cliffhanger. 

Kitchen/Kitrin (not really sure how to pronounce her name) is the fourth member of the group here, a young Federation soldier who allies with Avon to survive. As I said above, Darrow's narration gives us a vivid image of a headstrong, fierce woman who complements Avon remarkably well. In a way, she's almost like a kinder, more vulnerable version of Soolin. She's smart enough to realise that she needs his help, and also that he will need her to get the job done. I greatly enjoyed the dynamic between the two. As far as characters who are conveyed solely through narration go, she's one of the best in the Chronicles.

NOTES

• Although it'd be nice to have some more eccentric standalone audios, I must say that I've greatly enjoyed how focused and dynamic they've been. It feels like Mark Wright and Cavan Scott in particular have made a great effort to redefine Series C as a period where Avon takes on Blake's mantle and becomes the best he can be. It really leaves the original run of episodes (good as they may be) to shame. 
• I love how Avon always finds a shady justification for all the good deeds that he does. In this case, claiming that he's only helping to save the rebel list because "knowledge is power". Avon just loves to be seen as the bad guy. He could save orphans, and would still be pretending it's because he wants to blackmail their parents one day.
• I hope we find out who compiled a list of rebel agents inside the Federation. Because if it was the Federation, I don't see how there could only be one copy. And if it wasn't, then the rebels are just thick. 
• Great to see Cally kick some ass in this one, with stilettos! I especially enjoyed the scene where Avon took care of the escape pods whilst Cally fought behind him. He didn't even bother to look. He knew Cally had it covered. 

INFORMATION!

• Vila tries to get Avon and Cally to take him along to Arcadia, mentioning that it would mean "the old team is back together". This references the fact that the three of them are the only remaining members of Blake's original crew. 
• Cally and Avon compare the latter's leadership style with that of Blake. 
• Solvin Tavac (the former governor of Mars) is revealed to be Vila's father. He was previously mentioned in Solitary as a "salt of the earth man", which was obviously a lie. 

BEST QUOTE AVON QUOTE

CALLY: "Have you found a way of beating the system yet?"
AVON: "It's only a matter of time. If you believe the laws of probability-"
CALLY: "Which you do."
AVON: "The player will eventually lose everything to the house."
CALLY: "You may have a winning streak."
AVON: "They never last. As we know better than anyone."
CALLY: "Yet you persist in applying the rules of logic to a game of chance."
AVON: "I like a challenge. Here, blow my dice."

CONCLUSION

Absolutely spectacular. If you can make me feel like you've got a big budget with sound alone, you've done your job right.