Well, I was right. Vila and Cally are alive
and well and off having adventures. No, because you couldn’t possibly have a
drama series with only three lead characters, plus Zen and Orac and Servalan.
You need someone to be knocked unconscious or possessed at some point, and
someone to stay on the Liberator to operate the teleport. Also, somebody to
turn up at the last minute. Oh, and Vila for punchlines.
But this is exciting, because nothing is
quite as it should be: nothing is straightforward. Avon and his new ally Dayna
are immediately taken prisoner by smooth-faced Tarrant and granite-faced
Michael Sheard. Only a thin veneer of disguise is keeping them alive. And
meanwhile, Zen is searching for his masters, listening for their voices
Stranded in space, Cally and Vila are light
years from one another. She’s been rescued by a fleet of wonderfully eerie nurses
from a neutral planet. Vila is being hunted by robots on a jungle world, with
only John Hollis for protection. What could possible bring them together?
Well, how about the most outrageous coincidence?
Yes, that’ll do.
I do like what they’ve done with Servalan,
though. Watching her storyline makes me wish they’d bring the whole series
back. She’s been a background manipulator, risen to the heights of power,
seized the presidency and now she’s on her uppers. It’s now that we see the
true strength of the character, and of Jacqueline Pearce too.
It’s like the show was actually leading
somewhere in the last season!
Well, yes, Servalan is picked up by the
same ship that Cally is on. Not only that, she’s put on the bunk right next to
her – and the pair of them are flown to Vila’s planet. If they’d touched down
any nearer, they’d have actually knocked him over. Last week I arranged to meet
my friend Steve in Waterloo Station and we still ended up missing each other in
the crowd. If only we all had a little of what Servalan’s got – and I don’t
mean a wardrobe full of figure-hugging evening dresses, but obviously that too.
She even seems to be getting away at the
end of the story, but we’ll see how that goes for her.
Meanwhile, Avon and Dayna are playing cat
and mouse with Tarrant and Mr Bronson. It’s all a bit shooty shooty for me, but
there’s plenty of fun stuff thrown in. Avon picks a lock with little success. “Don’t
judge by appearances,” he tells her. “I don’t,” she says, “I judge by results.
And you’re not getting very far!” At which point, Avon gets the door open after
all. The guard outside is dead – with a dagger in the back.
“Quite a complicated way to commit
suicide,” observes Avon. “Perhaps it went off in his hand?” suggests Dayna. I’m
not kidding when I say they reminded me of John Steed and Emma Peel. In space.
This could be a good series…
In the nick of time, Avon teleports Vila
and Cally from a fate worse than death. Just to show Dayna and Tarrant how to
do it in subsequent weeks, presumably.
I photographed the Radio Times listings
from copies held by the British Library. Other screencaps are thanks to this
amazing website: www.framecaplib.com/b7lib
