Velandra is a fascinating psychological thriller that returns to the franchise's roots.
WRITTEN BY
Steve Lyons. Couldn't have guessed he had something like this in him. I always saw him as workmanlike.
PLOT
Blake dreams repeatedly of the death of a woman, and becomes convinced that it's a memory suppressed by the Federation. He tracks her origin to the planet Velar, which has been recently occupied, and sets out to find her father and fulfil a promise he made long ago...
ANALYSIS
It would seem that a fashionable approach to Liberator Chronicles is to take an element of The Way Back (which, to be fair, is one of the show's most unique and daring episodes) and expand on it. Logic and Three dissected the Federation and its crimes against humanity, layer after layer. President and Spoils explored the lives of those in power, the difficulties of reform and the temptation to become part of the system. The Hard Road gave us insight into how easily even rebels can become the thing they rebel without knowing it.
Now we have Velandra, which casts a spotlight on yet another facet of The Way Back: the resistance of Roj Blake, personally. Not his cause or the larger than life leader, but Blake's own mind fighting back against a foreign invader (represented here by Travis) like antibodies on a virus. Velandra is a testament to Blake's resilience, and his good heart. At one point, it's even implied to be beyond the brain. Blake's own heart and soul refuses to accept slavery, and slavery in turn refuses to accept his heart and soul. Unstoppable object meets immovable wall. That's basically what this is about.
On a more superficial level, it's a fun little mystery about what exactly happened to Blake when he was brainwashed. We learn a few answers along the way, but there's a satisfying ambiguity about Velandra's role in it and her fate in the end, with multiple possible interpretations to choose from. It kept me guessing throughout and I enjoyed how the surrealistic aspects of the story were woven into a straightforward action-adventure. Sometimes, writers can get a little too carried away with their symbolism and metaphors, and the story becomes more respectable than entertaining. But Lyons clearly knows that this is still escapism in the end, and provides just enough of a solid backbone to help digest the more highbrow stuff.
CHARACTERS
I'd never really thought about how traumatic the brainwashing must have been for Blake. Building a story around his struggle to cope seems obvious now. And isn't that just the best kind of writing, when we get things we never even knew we wanted/needed? The way Lyons tied his trauma directly to Velandra's identity was very cleverly done, and made the mystery surrounding her more satisfying than it otherwise would have been (my postulations were all far less interesting than the truth about her). It should go without saying that Gareth Thomas gives a marvellous performance in these heavyweight scenes. He was a phenomenal leading actor who deserved far more praise than he ever got, even in Blake's 7 circles. Velandra also gives him an oppurtunity to ham it up a bit (remarkably rare for him) when he doubles as some of the villagers. Usually I don't care for these double performances, but it was worth it for Thomas's hilarious accents.
For the first and only time in the audios, Blake goes up against Stephen Greif's Travis. Their rivalry constitutes the story's framing device (set during Blake's brainwashing, which is revealed to have been done under Travis's jurisdiction... or at least that's what Blake's mind seems to think), in which Travis tries to question everything the audience sees and hears, and challenges all of Blake's fundamental beliefs. He's basically the devil on his shoulder, tempting him to give into the Federation's control. Greif gets to utilise his silky evil voice to its fullest degree. Ironically, his character here resembles the more cartoonish Brian Croucher version of Travis (lacking the depth and grey morality of Greif's TV performances), but Greif still makes their rivalry feel intimate and emotionally impactful.
NOTES
- This marks the final performance of Gareth Thomas as Blake.
- I like that we get to see quite a bit of Gan in this. I was really interested in his vicious killing of the wolf. At first, I thought it was an obvious hint towards the serial killer personality his limiter contains (a fan theory I subscribe to), but the explanation is a bit more complicated than that.
- The teleport console beeps like it was the Fifth Doctor's TARDIS for some reason.
- As much as I enjoy Gareth's performance, I have to say that having him voice the terrorist villager was a poor choice. His voice is so squeaky that it makes her suicide seem comical.
- I like Blake's use of the military term "klicks". It's a nice touch.
- Imagining Keating fight a giant wolf with his toolbox was hilarious. Thanks for that image.
- Blake losing the bracelet right outside the rehab center was overly convenient for my liking.
- This story is set at some point between Project Avalon and Deliverance.
- There's a slight retcon to Seek-Locate-Destroy here as we learn that Blake was not immediately captured and brainwashed after he injured Travis at the foiled rebel meeting. Instead, Blake was free for some time further and was caught trying to infiltrate a Federation rehabilitation center. (Although, given the nature of the story, this might be part of Blake's delusions).
- Gan's limiter is mentioned several times.
- Blake's brainwashing will be seen to have further side-effects in Voice from the Past.
- Travis quotes himself from Seek-Locate-Destroy: "Run, as far and as fast as you like."
- The brainwashing chamber described here matches the one seen in the flashbacks of The Way Back.
- Blake mentions his encounter with Avalon and his visit to Cygnus Alpha.
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