Scimitar (2014) Review

 

Scimitar is a fun little space adventure. 

WRITTEN BY

Trevor Baxendale. I'd only read his short story Contagion before, but it had an excellent grasp of the characters, so I came into this with optimism. I wasn't disappointed. 

PLOT

Upon discovering that Dayna has gone missing, the Liberator crew track her to an irradiated asteroid field - a consequence of the Intergalactic War - and stumble upon the wreck of a Federation flag ship. A salvage crew sent by Servalan also arrives upon the site, to reclaim a treasure left behind... 

ANALYSIS

Similarly to Series One's Fractures, Scimitar is a self-contained story that focuses mainly on the crew dynamics and sets up the arc going forward. I think it's handled much better here, though. The arc is established right at the start so it doesn't feel tacked on, and the emotional drama comes from the natural interactions between the crew, and their reactions to situations rather than from the manipulations of some eldritch creature. 

There's a nice, patient pace to the proceedings. Baxendale takes his time setting up all the pieces and then we delve into the sci-fi thrills with the exploration of the doomed Scimitar. These scenes are suspenseful, though perhaps not quite as doomladen as they could have been. Nothing is found lurking in the depths, there are no survivors to convey the horrors. It's just desolation. But that does mean we are concentrated on the crew. This is the first audio drama to feature the entire Series C cast, so it's only appropriate that we're given time to get used to having them all together like this, particularly with how different the audios have been from the televised Series C. 

Rather than stay true to its anthological storytelling, Big Finish has chosen to fill in the gaps and make it a more meaningful period of transition, from the lost wanderings of the post-Blake period to Avon's own crusade (as seen in Series D). Although the search for Dayna deviates from this transition somewhat, we are obviously continuing on with the developments established in Liberator Chronicles vol 3 and 9. There are still mentions of the Armageddon Storm, and of course Grant's very presence on the ship is a constant reminder of the ongoing conflict. 

Scimitar does subtly continue the thread also, with Avon's obsessive desire for the Trojan Device nearly costing Grant his life. It's ironic that the more overtly heroic he becomes in his objectives, the more callous and monomaniac his personality becomes. It's a lot easier to be the lovable rogue than the responsible hero, it would seem. 

CHARACTERS

The conflict between Avon and Cally over Grant's apparent death was really interesting. It's rare to see them in a serious argument at all, but the fact that it is over Grant, whom Cally can't know all that well from the limited amount of time he's spent on the Liberator speaks volumes about the impact Grant has already made. It's also just nice to see that Cally does have a limit to her patience with Avon's cold attitude. Seeing the crewmembers put their foot down about something on ethical grounds and make their voice heard is what separates Blake's 7 from lesser franchises. 

I will admit that despite my dislike towards Dayna's character (I just don't find her that interesting, and Simon's performance grated on me at times), I did find myself missing her a little bit. Maybe it's just because I'm used to knowing she's there, and it feels odd to have Tarrant without her. Speaking of Tarrant, Steven Pacey's voice has dropped so low that I can barely distinguish between him and Tom Chadbon. It was easier when they were both narrating in Defector, but when their voices get mixed up with the rest of the crew, it's genuinely hard for me to keep track which one is which. It's a shame because the actors have good chemistry and obviously got along (there's a really fun scene of Tarrant and Grant bullying a slimy Federation port guard that was pure Blake's 7 gold). I just wish I could see them to tell the difference more easily. 

Buffy Davis's Karlov and Daniel Brennan's Drince made for amusing working class villains, a double act of a greedy veteran and cautious rookie that's clearly intended to recall those of Robert Holmes, albeit nowhere near as funny. Davis was the better half of the two, so cartoonish and deluded in her thirst for success that I could practically hear her panting. It was a fun performance. 

NOTES

• Since when does Zen get confused when given conflicting orders? We've seen him be given those before (for example, in Terminal when Avon prevents the crew from changing course) and he was just fine then. This just felt like padding. 
• Baxendale retroactively creates a plot hole for this story when he has Orac recognise the crew cannot harm it in Contagion (whereas he apparently submits to Vila's childish threats here). 
• I wonder, why does Avon want Dayna back so badly? He's going through a lot of effort to retrieve her, even though she made it clear that she doesn't want to come back. Maybe he thinks she's found something of value? Or maybe he just likes having something to chase to take his mind off of things. Vila, too, seems to place inordinate value on her, given his willingness to enter the Desolation. 
• Alistair Lock's Orac is so much more punchable than Peter Tuddenham's. 
• Apparently, there's a business term "first refusal on something valuable" when you get first in line. English is weird sometimes. 
• I love that Tarrant barely cares when Vila abandons teleport duty. Gan wouldn't stop yelling at him. 
• We never really do find out why the Federation salvage ship arrives at roughly the same time as the Liberator. I know the Trojan Device was on the Scimitar, but Dayna's brief trip to the asteroid field seems unrelated to that. Did Servalan learn of the Scimitar's survival from her, somehow?
• What made Karlov so confident that the Liberator wouldn't detect her salvage ship when her ship obviously could detect the Liberator? Just overconfidence, I guess?
• The casual dialogue between Chadbon and Darrow over the repetitive running sound effects was hilarious. 
• It's not really clear how Grant was able to get inside a lifeboat, and how Drince was also able to get into it despite being in a spacesuit (and thus logically exposing the lifeboat to vacuum). This is where I really miss the Chronicles-style narration. Sound effects can't cover everything in an audio drama format.
• Maybe I'm missing something, but couldn't Avon have grabbed the Trojan Device and used it to conceal the Liberator and then escape? That's what I thought would happen, but he just leaves it on the salvage ship and lets it get blown up. What a waste. 
• I didn't expect Grant to cooperate with the salvage team to trap the Liberator crew. It's a sharp reminder that despite his honorable nature, he is still a mercenary like Avon always calls him, and not someone who necessarily puts his life above others. 
• Paul Darrow sometimes said that he always made sure Avon had two motivations to go rescue someone: one being their life and the other being something valuable. Thus leaving it for the audience to decide which one truly drives Avon. We get a nice example of that here, with his desire to both save Grant (or at least honor him) and the Trojan Device. 

INFORMATION!

• Orac calculates the thrust-mass ratio to escaping a black hole, probably in reference to Dawn of the Gods. 
• The Desolation was caused by the events of the Galactic War (as seen in Warship). 
• Space Command appears to have been rebuilt following its destruction in Dissent (which is set before the Grant adventures), as Karlov is able to report the Liberator's location to it.
• Avon references his history with Grant when defending his attitude to Grant's death. 
• Upon meeting Avon, Karlov mentions his most famous deed: holding the Federation ransom with the Armageddon Storm. 

BEST QUOTE AVON QUOTE

AVON: "Now Servalan wants her toy back."
TARRANT: "Then I'd say let her have it."
AVON: "Over my dead body. Or Del Grant's. Despite what you think, Cally, I won't waste a sacrifice like that."
CALLY: "That wasn't a sacrifice, Avon. It was a needless, pointless death."
AVON: "Is there any other kind?"

CONCLUSION

It's a very casual listen. I can imagine this being a frequently revisited story.