Fortuitas is an excellent mystery which, despite some writing issues, is very endearing.
WRITTEN BY
George Mann, a newcomer. He's a certainly a good ideas man. But this script desperately needed some redrafting to remove glaring narrative errors. Maybe I should blame Justin Richards for that?
PLOT
Avon and Tarrant follow a lead to Dayna that takes them to the leisure world Solus. Once there, they learn she has been kidnapped along with a number of other people, presumably by the extremist political group Fortuitas. Tarrant disappears shortly after. It's up to Avon to investigate and learn the true nature of the conspiracy...
ANALYSIS
People are willing to overlook mistakes and problems when they're having a good time, and that was the case for me with Fortuitas. It didn't matter that the writer forgot basic principles, like Zen's inability to operate the teleport. I was willing to overlook inconsistencies in characterisation from scene to scene, ignore yet another example of Big Finish's terribly cheap habit of letting actors double for minor characters. There were some truly awful exposition dumps of the worst kind. The climax is indecipherable. Orac seems to disappear from the story at one point.
But I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy it at the end of the day. Fortuitas is a rare breed amongst Big Finish audios in that it has a lot of personality. The villainous scheme is so bonkers and silly and memorable that it feels like something the original show might have done, and a far cry from the self-conscious approach favored nowadays. Most writers creating Blake's 7 these days are clearly trying to make something that improves on the TV show. They want to have more emotional depth, more of a grounded tone, more of an arc. None of that is wrong in any way and I applaud them for the astonishing work they've done. It's just that I love Blake's 7 for its campiness as well as its drama, and it's nice to taste some of that particular flavor for a change.
It must also be said that Fortuitas massively improves on the franchise's previous attempt at a detective mystery (the execrable Mission to Destiny). Mann does a truly great job of slowly building up the intrigue. There's reasonable clues, red herrings. The dilapidated amusement park is a terrific setting. We get some nice worldbuilding when the crew have to deal with the local Solusian political situation, which unintentionally foreshadows Brexit and Donald Trump's reign at the White House rather heavily. This makes it a lot of fun to try and work out exactly what is going on. The only limitation here, I would say, is the lack of a bigger guest cast. It doesn't leave a lot of options for who the villain could be.
CHARACTERS
I'm becoming slightly concerned by the fact that there's only four episodes with Tom Chadbon left. I've already spoken at length of my great appreciation of Grant's character and what he adds to the show (and will do so again when he's gone), but at the risk of sounding spoiled, I wish they'd do something more with the electric dynamic that exists between him and Avon. At the moment, it seems the quest for Dayna has overshadowed the crew's development into active rebels. I'm fine with that, but I just don't feel that Darrow and Chadbon have been utilised as well as they could be together since The Armageddon Storm. There's so much unique history (most of which is still unknown) and differences between Avon and Grant that could come to the forefront in some blazing row or conflict of interest. At the very least I would appreciate some sincere conversations to highlight how significant their bond is compared to the rest of the crew. Because right now, Grant is basically just Series D Tarrant played by a better actor, and he deserves better than that.
Speaking of Tarrant, I was greatly amused by his early disappearance. Pacey is prominently featured on the cover art, and the story sets him up to have a major role only to pull the rug out from under our feet. At the risk of sounding petty, it felt satisfying after all those boring Tarrant/Dayna episodes I've had to sit through.
I really liked the teamwork we saw between Avon, Orac, Grant and Ranking in solving the mystery. Each of them contributed meaningfully, and Orac's enthusiasm for detective work was a nice character beat for him. The rivalry between him and Avon, and everyone's distrust towards Ranking meant that the dynamics were not stale and there was something to hold our interest beyond just the mystery itself (in the tradition of Poirot, there should always be a subplot concerning the leads).
The tragic romance between Ranking and Eva was much more touching than I had anticipated, mainly due to the cartoonish cruelty of one and the nicely underplayed vulnerability of the other. Hywel Morgan and Jo Howarth were both excellent in their roles. I can't remember the last time I was this invested in a storyline exclusively about guest characters in a Blake's 7 audio, so I have to give Mann kudos for that.
I'm not surprised that subsequent audio seasons often only featured a few crew members at a time, as Chappell and Keating really have nothing useful to do. It's just like old times, back at the teleport console...
NOTES
- In my review of Mission to Destiny, I criticised it for starting the mystery before giving us a chance to be introduced to the guest characters, and said that we simply couldn't get to know them before the mystery took everything over. Now I have to eat my words and cast further shade on Destiny, as the Liberator also arrives on Solus long after the kidnappings have begun and yet the investigation is still incredibly compelling. I can only surmise that Destiny is just, well, crap.
- Avon hates the idea of growing fat and lazy. Now, this is obviously just a jab at Vila, but I like that it also serves as a reminder that Avon is something of an adrenaline junkie. That aspect of him will become much more prevalent in the later years.
- Ranking is supposed to be a dedicated father, so what the heck does he think he's doing by leaving his son "with friends" when there are kidnappings going on??
- Why would Tarrant run into an isolated alleyway if he suspected someone was after him? You'd think he would try and mingle with people. Given that Solusians are meant to be paranoid of kidnappers, they might've helped him out. I can't see anyone taking him directly off the streets.
- I love that Avon designates Ranking's apartment as the crew's base of operations on the planet. Ever so practical.
- The crew have earpieces??? Why do we never see them? Those sound like they would be insanely more useful than talking into giant bracelets.
- Fortuitas literally declare an intention to "make our planet great again". That's some Simpsons level predicting.
- The authorities never noticed that all the kidnappings took place in a 10-mile radius?
- "Galaxyland amusement park". Subtle.
- The fight scene in which Orac instructs Grant on every single punch might be the worst written one in Blake's 7 history. It was so ridiculous.
- Avon's such a stubborn old goat sometimes. Preferring death to Gaya's colony? He could probably take it over and build some SOS transmitter, but no, he has to make a show of how cool he is. Well, that's Avon for you. The only two things that override his pragmatism are Blake and panache.
- Speaking of overriding pragmatism, Avon leaving Orac alone with Ranking is plainly out of character for him.
- We now know that Dayna left the Liberator on a space station, bought passage which took her past the Desolation asteroid field and to Solus, where she asked some questions before moving on. Still no clue as to what she's after. Still impressed that the crew go through all this trouble to get her back.
- Between the events of Scimitar and this episode, it's become public knowledge that the Liberator is looking for Dayna.
- Solus was declared neutral territory during the Intergalactic War. Why would aliens honor neutral territory?
- Grant comments that Avon was always secretive, even when he knew Avon years ago.
- Avon suggests that Blake would have enjoyed fighting against the political extremists on Solus.
- Vila says that Avon's habit of keeping things from others will be the death of him. This proves to be correct. Avon dies due to his refusal to surrender Orac in Lucifer: Genesis.
AVON: "I am a threat."
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