Breakd0wn

Or: Watch out! Swirly thing alert…!!

As previously discussed (Mission to Destiny) we’re in a stretch of the show that is sidelining some of the crew so that we can highlight others – learn a bit more about them, get some character info & history, that sort of thing. This week it’s the turn of everyone’s favourite member of the crew, Gan. And about time! Gan’s been a pretty omnipresent figure since Space Fall, providing the muscle for the team but also acting as a sort of Number One in the absence of Avon; a bit of a handyman, bringing heart & conscience to some proceedings and the medikit to others. But other than his propensity to kill men who attack “his woman”, what else do we know about him? Not much, so what a welcome chance this is to get to know him a bit better.

What a shame then that he’s unconscious for most of the episode.

The story plays out as such: Gan goes a bit Radio Rental on the bridge, attacking everyone left, right & centre. He’s incapacitated, leaving the crew to brave flying through the heart of a swirly thing to get to a Space Hospital where his brain can be fixed by one of Britain’s finest thespians. Along the way both Avon & Zen have respective hissy fits before the day is finally saved.

By the end then it’s not really clear who this episode is about. Avon? Zen? Gan? Professor Kayn? They’ve all got an equal claim to the episode, but neither really gets to stake that claim with any authority. And at the risk of these reviews becoming “What’s Nation done wrong this week..?” it’s pretty clear where the fault lies, and how it could have been fixed.

First up, this could be a proper Gan story, as he stakes the initial claim. We catch up on him alone on the flight deck, clearly having taken lessons on flying from Jenna – “If you couldn’t manage it yourself you should have called for help” – before his limiter breaks down and causes him to attack her. It’s an interesting tidbit we’re dropped here: I talked in Time Squad about how every member of the crew has a unique skill/talent to bring to the proceeding; Jenna seems to be the only one keen to outsource hers to the rest of the crew. You never see Vila teaching Cally how to pick a lock for example, even though if he could do this then he’d probably save himself a ton of drama.

So Gan is then quickly incapacitated and we enter the B plot – for Breakdown is another example of Nation jamming two plots together and running them one after the other, rather than side by side. Much like The Web then The Liberator has some Space Drama to get to before the main event. And much like The Web it involves a crew member going rogue and the ship having to fly through a shady section of space. It’s pure padding, of course, with nothing of any consequence to the resolution to the story taking place at this time. But that doesn’t mean it’s not without it’s charm, as it does dangle some tantalising character threads for us to play with.

Gan, as mentioned, is spark out for most of this one, but there is the bit where he comes to enough to convince Cally to release him. This is as close as the story comes to giving us an insight into Gan’s character, and it’s not a pleasant one when you boil it down. We know that Gan’s limiter stops him from killing people, but doesn’t stop him giving them the odd thump. Here, when it’s malfunctioning, we need to ask if it actually controls his personality or not. If it does, then the Gan we see when it’s broken – the one that is so cunning in getting himself released just so he can attack Cally – is the real Gan, and the pleasent, kindly giant we’ve seen so far is a facade. If it doesn’t then we’re on much safer ground. The fact that he goes berserk after attacking Cally & goes for the computer servers suggests that he’s acting out of character – unless, of course, he’s some sort of computer misogynist. But it’s still an interesting concept that Gan may just be this smiley, happy psycho.

The padding section also gives us a chance to focus on Zen as well. And why not? If we’re treating him as one of our Core 7 then it’s only fair he gets an episode himself, right? Again, this is possibly as close as we get, but it really is quite wonderful. It’s an essay in pure logic by way of Asimov’s Laws of Robotics: Zen thinks he will be destroyed if he flies through that zone so refuses to do so, even if by shutting everything down he increases the risk of this happening. As an insight into the limitations of logic it’s impressive enough, but when it’s played out with Zen’s cool, waspish & aloof manner it’s a real winner. Looking back – and forward – there’s so much more that could have been done with Zen, so many more exchanges that would have hit the spot, I cherish the ones we get. My memory being as it is there may be more to come that I’ve forgotten, as I don’t have Zen down on my list of neglected characters, so I will look forward to possibly getting more.

The last one to come out of this section – and probably the one with the biggest thread to yank on – is Avon, who decides that Blake’s casual disregard for his safety opinion is not worth hanging around for. This is something that has been floated for a few weeks now, ever since Cygnus Alpha really: why does Avon actually stick around? Vila makes it clear that he won’t be safer anywhere else, while Jenna, Cally & Gan seem more aligned with Blake’s mission to Fight the Feds – Avon isn’t, and we know he has the wealth available now that he’s so dearly wanted, so why not leave? This is the one thread that could have been really explored properly in this episode and could have made a great central core to a great episode. Instead we’re reduced to a few lines as Avon explores his options on the Space Station before coming over, and a nice exchange between Cally & Blake about not convincing him to stay. Nice, but not great.

What would have made this episode better then would be to alter the ratio of B to A plot. In a 50 min episode, 30 is spent on the padding while 20 is the main event. Flip that and you could have another 10 mins in which to delve into Avon’s desire to leave; we’d have more of Julian Glover’s Kayn, and we’d have a good episode become a great one. What would we lose? Well, 10 mins of Gan possibly, but as he’s reduced to Ian Levine levels of hand acting, I’m not sure that would be a miss. Which is a sad thing to say about one of my favourite characters, but there you have it. What we’d stand to gain vastly outweighs what we’d lose.

And who wouldn’t want more of Julian Glover? We’ve had some great villains this series so far: the first of our Tarrants, Raiker & Vargas stand out. The introduction of Travis has cut out the need for Villain of the Week, so Kayn this week is a very welcome addition. Despite his relatively short screen time he comes across as a very well rounded and fleshed out character. Despite being on a neutral space station he’s clearly another Space Nazi who would be more than welcome – and happy – working with The Federation. He’s also the consummate surgeon: arrogant, aloof and with a very big God complex. Blake gets one of his biggest moments across his two series in this episode when he gets the absolute measure of Kayn and knows exactly how to threaten him: by destroying his hands. Kayn and us at home know that Blake’s no killer, but THIS we can believe of him – especially when it comes to his friends. He’s never been more menacing or on point.

And of course Julian Glover is superb, as you’d totally expect him to be. Cool, calm and collected until he needs not to be; the look on his face as he understands Blake’s threat, followed by his, well, Breakdown as he realises his final fate: all superb.

Final shout out for this episode needs to go to Messrs Scoones & Irvine for their model work in this one. We get loads of lovely shots of The Liberator and the Pursuit Ships, but the model of XK-72 itself is an absolute banger. Another one that I see no need to watch with enhanced effects, as I can’t see how this can be improved on with CGI.

Oh, and I’m pretty sure this is our fiorst “You have been watching” ending, as the crew all gather round to have a chuckle about the life & death scenario they’ve just found themselves in. We’ll have many more of these…

So not a great episode then, but one I enjoyed first time and enjoyed this time round as well. “I can talk or I can work” says Avon at one point, and this feels very much like a Terry Nation self insert here: he can rewrite this one or give you the next. So while it’s so easy for me to sit here almost 50 years after the fact & tell you what would have made it better, it shouldn’t detract from what was achieved by one guy writing 13 stories flat out. I enjoyed it, I’d watch it again, and I probably will. That’s enough for me :o)

NEXT: Bounty