Review Stardrive: Episode 43

[Doctor Omega]

Your thoughts on this episode....

Scorpio is damaged in a collision course with a asteroid and the Scorpio crew require a star-drive from Federation scientist Dr. Plaxton so they can out-run all Federation pursuit ships. Only to find Dr. Plaxton is working for space pirates "The Space Rats".

On to the next episode....

ANIMALS

https://www.imdforums.com/threads/animals-episode-44.3486/


Back to the previous episode....

TRAITOR

https://www.imdforums.com/threads/traitor-episode-42.3483/

 

[Doctor Omega]

A load of rubbish, with some good moments, so no Blake's 7 episode is a complete waste of time.

Again, a necessary episode as the show continues to replace things. Now the ship is super fast, like Liberator was.

At least we have the "Who?" from Avon at the end as his character continues to harden and lose touch with his own humanity. I remember at the time, Paul Darrow saying to the press a quote along the lines of.... "He is surrounded now by a lot of hot-headed youngsters and I think he is fed up with it all. I try to portray him like Winston Churchill. Someone you may not like, but have to admire."

The episode spills over to the wrong side of camp though, although the brutality of Doctor Plaxton's fate makes it worthwhile in terms of that ending. The novelisation was truly gruesome: "She tried to scream, but her face didn't exist anymore", off the top of my memory.

Altogether, pretty flagging awful!

Come on guys! Let's get this season underway!

Dead expert, that could have joined the crew score: 1

 

[ant-mac]

I think you're underestimating this episode.

After all, it's not every day that Vila gets to outsmart Avon and Tarrant.

 

[Doctor Omega]

Oh yes! I forgot about that scene. Yes, it showed that he wasn't the idiot he pretended.

 

[michaellevenson]

If this was an episode of Buck Rodgers we'd applaud it as genius, but for Blakes7 it's poor but necessary as the Scorpio finally gets the final element to turn it into Liberator mark 2.
I think that was a mistake, it would have been interesting to keep it as a slow rust bucket.
The idea of the space rats as a movement keeping alive a creed from ancient times (i.e. our times) was clever and done well I thought. But Atlan saying he's not a space rat was odd, he looked like one to me.
Dr Plaxton demise was going to happen anyway because there just wasn't enough time to save her, but Avon's callous remark is the beginning of his descent into the unbalanced individual he became.
7/10

 

[Doctor Omega]

Adapted into SCORPIO ATTACK....

 

[Doctor Omega]

I wish that there had been a proper, concerted attempt made to novelise the whole series, rather than the compressed and random handful of books we got.

Mind you, I still treasure these efforts. Just wish that novelising the series had been thought through much more.