Dissent (2018) Review

 

Dissent is pretty much a perfect encapsulation of all there is to love about Blake's 7.

WRITTEN BY

Mark Wright, who I consider to be the best writer for the audios.

PLOT

Avon tells Magda of a time when he lost the Liberator to a ruthless Avalon, who had come to believe that he was mistreating Blake's legacy by not making full use of the vessel. Having gained control of the ship, Avalon chose to attack Space Command HQ... 

ANALYSIS

The gulf of quality between this and Project Aquitar is quite impressive. Of course, having your main lead actor still alive helps to recreate the original atmosphere of the show, but still, the pacing and writing are much stronger. It's almost as if Wright felt hamstrung by the Series A time period. Perhaps it's not a coincidence that most of his weaker stories are set when Blake was still around. That period of the show was much better defined on TV than Avon's, leaving little room for experimentation and new revelations. 

With the obligatory Aquitar out of the way, Wright returns to his comfort zone of exploring the Andromedan War fallout and what it represents for each of the crew, as well as Blake's legacy as a whole. I'd argue this aspect of the franchise has also been pretty thoroughly mined at this point (The Armageddon Storm, Incentive, Devil's Advocate...), but it is appropriate for an anniversary and at the very least, it's nice to feel like the writer is invested in trying to tell something, not just paying homage to past episodes. Although there's plenty of that too. 

My favourite part of the story was the framing narrative set during Paul Darrow's sequel novels. Specifically the very last scene in which Avon is literally left pondering what the point of all his life has been, and whether the Liberator's adventures really mattered at all. We've had many of these post-Gauda Prime stories over the years and most of them are irrelevant. But this is the one time where I felt like having Avon survive actually progressed his character. 

I loved the use of Space Command to metaphorically represent the shift from a Blake-centered period to a more uncertain post-Blake era. Space Command was such a staple of the first two seasons that it has its own symbolic value and I was especially glad to have a scene between Avon and Servalan in that iconic office (one of their best discussions, easily living up to the glory days of Aftermath and Death-Watch).

The audio issues that plagued Aquitar were thankfully either fixed or avoided. The action sequences worked the way they're supposed to. They were exciting and even downright operatic at times. 

CHARACTERS

Paul Darrow still sounds exhausted, but the context hides it a lot better. Avon spends much of the story confused and spiteful (even by his standards), so the tired monotone fits his mood a lot better than when he's supposed to be playing his Series A self. Darrow's theatrical sense of timing is of course as impeccable as always. 

Jacqueline Pearce is reliably feline as always. I find it interesting that I can never imagine her as a young woman in these audios (whereas I can sort of picture a young Tarrant with a deep voice for example). But the croaky cougar-like coquettishness perfectly fits an older Servalan. And it was great to have some more iconic material with her. 

Steven Pacey has remarkably evolved into one of the show's strongest actors over the years, when at the start I would have called him the weakest link (save perhaps for Josette Simon as Dayna). Tarrant really is the glue holding everything together these days. I've enjoyed how the audios continue to give him these unpredictable storylines without resorting to making him unlikable. It feels a lot more in tune with the show's original character-building stuff. You're supposed to feel like each of the crew are their own man or woman, but not at the cost of believability. 

With the crew being so passive, Olivia Poulet's Avalon adds the necessary fire of youthful fanaticism. I found the comparisons between her and Blake intriguing (the fact that Avon has to resort to praising Blake purely to put her down is hilarious), and she's a nice continuity link back to Series A. Avalon's another wild card that I look forward to seeing more of. 

I have nothing but praise for Glynis Barber's return to the franchise as Magda. Barber was always one of the show's best actors, and she does a terrific job recapturing her cynical vibe from the show without turning the character into a copy of Soolin. 

NOTES

• Dissent is a sequel to Project Aquitar. 
• It's suggested that Cally has visited Cryonax (the ice world with the Federation base, from Project Avalon) before. She recognises certain landmarks and comments that the conditions on the planet have worsened. However, Cally was never shown being part of the landing party in the original episode. It is true that she was originally scripted as having Jenna's role though, so maybe the writers got confused. 
• In Project Aquitar, Avon implied that the Avalon android story was a legend, not truth. They seem to have dropped that idea here.
• Avalon is able to take control of the Liberator because her voice is registered in Zen's databanks. When did that happen? Why?
• Avon, Cally and Vila are rescued from Cryonax by Federation troops, who found them outside the base. But it's never explained why they left the security of the base to begin with.
• Vila talks about a penal colony on the moon, which might be a sly nod to the Doctor Who story "Frontier in Space".
• I'm begging writers to give Dayna anything character-centric to do that isn't revenge against Servalan. She had musical talent at one point, can we do something with that?
• The ending is a bit confusing. Avon is mad that Avalon stole the ship and rashly attacked Space Command, but then he's happy that Space Command got wrecked, but then he warns them that it's only made the Federation stronger? Just pick a reason to be grumpy and stick with it. 
• I'm very tired of the 'our well-meaning actions ultimately bite us in the backside' trope. 
• This is like the fourth or fifth time that Avon has decided to start fighting back against the Federation. 
• The only reason I'm forgiving Avon's "I don't believe in fate, but..." speech is because it's an anniversary special. Sentimentality is not his style. 

INFORMATION!

• The planet Cryonax from Project Avalon is revisited. There's several references to the events of that episode. Ironically, Avon refused to visit the planet in the original story but ends up trapped there.
• Part of the narrative takes place during Paul Darrow's sequel novel Lucifer. There's a callback (or call-forward?) to his line about Gaius 7 being lit by "light reflected from distant stars onto dying worlds".
• There's multiple references to Star One and the Galactic War. 
• It's mentioned that Avon would like a peaceful life, but would also probably escape it if he could, which ultimately comes true in Lucifer. 
• The planet Cygnus Alpha is referenced. 
• The Liberator's previous attack on Space Command (which occurred in Trial) is briefly touched on.
• Tarrant is told that he's too good a pilot to rely on computers, possibly a callback to The Harvest of Kairos. 
• Vila claims that he learned from Avon to have a picklock in the heel of his shoe. This occurred in Bounty. 

BEST QUOTE AVON QUOTE

MAGDA: "So you rode off into the sunset and everybody lived happily ever after."

AVON: "You tell me, you've read the book."

MAGDA: "I never got to the end."

AVON: "I approve. Endings are rarely as good as the journey that takes you there."

CONCLUSION

It's nothing new, but it's the franchise celebrating what it does best - articulate and introspective science fiction.