vilakins | The Keeper (212)

Entry tags:

blake's 7 - episode reviews

The Keeper (212)

Tents, warriors, a conniving telepath, fools, grapes, and the mystery of the missing ships. And I really should post these reviews after I've seen the episode, not a week later.

Goths
They're have a Mongol look with their yurts and yellowish skins (esp the Fool, who going by the actor's name, may actually be), but they've also got some medieval-looking weapons and decorations. Ah well, at least it wasn't the standard medieval village they encounter all the time in SG1 and SGA. Tara is the interesting one with her telepathy; at least I assume that's what it is. What on earth possessed them to call Rod that though? Couldn’t they think up something more exotic? At least it wasn't Fred or, worse, Jack, the nom ~~du jour~~ de la décennie (decade).
I wonder how they grow food given the poisonous atmosphere. If it's all imported, what do the Goths export to pay for it?

Avon
Poor Avon. He so wants to present Blake with a dead rat and Blake isn't impressed.

Vila
This is the episode in which Greg realised how much he liked Vila, back in 2001, when the poor guy asked for a torch. Vila's quite good in this: clever, funny, cute, and engaging our sympathy when he's dragged off to the dark and doubtless niffy dungeon. I like how he told Jenna that Blake was outside, and I'm very glad that there wasn't a tinkly bit about his being a fool at the end.
As the other one says though, "It's a sad life, that of a Fool."

Jenna
I think Bounty's a much better episode for Jenna, though she has to play a role in this one as well and pretend an interest in Gola. In Bounty, she's still the tough smuggler though; in this one she has to be the compliant and dazzled female which makes her part the bit I like least. She does it very well though, and she was very clever to pretend that the Fool had drugged her wine so that Vila was reinstated.

Blake
Why is Blake so annoyed when Avon says he got Travis? Is he angry because he wanted to take Travis himself, or because Avon acted on his own?

Plot and ship-shaped holes therein
Travis obviously took the class one ship that Avon thought was Servalan's to get to Star One. What was the signal Cally detected being sent from the other pursuit ship before they blew it up? Travis doesn't send a message--from Servalan's--till after that. And why are Travis and Servalan obviously working together after what happened at Freedom City? What ship does Servalan leave on? I assume there are more ships in orbit (hers, at least two other pursuit ships going by "pursuit ship four", and shuttles to get Travis and Servalan to them) but in that case why doesn't Zen pick them up?
And as hafren pointed out, how did Travis and Servalan get there first? The Liberator is a very fast ship and Blake wouldn't have taken his time.

Not a bad ep--a lot better than I remembered anyway--and more entertaining than some, but I do wish we'd seen something more of Travis's motivation. As it stands, he's now taken off for Star One to take control of it and presumably the Federation, and what he does next is a complete surprise.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I must watch this again, because maybe I'm misremembering Travis. I thought the last straw for him was when he discovered in Gambit that Servalan had booby-trapped his fake arm, and that from then on he's in cahoots with the jellies to Destroy Everyone, the Feds as well as Blake, feeling equally bitter against the lot of them. This is only clear in hindsight after Star One of course, and it leaves loads of questions - like when did he first meet the jellies and how does he always get everywhere well before or just after the fastest ship in the galaxy? But I did think he'd given up on the Feds after Gambit.

Yes, the dead rat is my favourite bit of this ep!

What ship does Servalan leave on?

By George, that's a question you could ask of a lot of eps. Aftermath comes to mind...

Excellent point about Travis getting there first. He's obviously been there long enough to have ingratiated himself with Gola, but then Gola doesn't waste much time with Jenna either.

Travis and Servalan appear to be quite comfortable with each other (and the grapes) and seem to have arrived together because they both know what Docholli told Blake.

TRAVIS: [Entering] It's them! It's that fool Vila and the girl, Jenna, they're here.
SERVALAN: What? Is Blake here?
TRAVIS: No. [into transmitter] Pursuit Ship Four, Travis here. Reply.
SERVALAN: The Liberator has obviously destroyed it.
TRAVIS: Yes. Blake must be one step behind us. We know the keeper of the secret is on Goth. We know he is a royal person. Perhaps Blake knows that too.
SERVALAN: But which royal person? There is the Charl and there is his sister.
TRAVIS: It has to be one of them.

I'll buy all that, but with the proviso that whatever Travis pretends, he has in fact already jettisoned the idea of using Servalan to get back in with the Feds and doesn't trust her as far as he could throw her. I think for anything later to make sense, he has to be acting on his own account by now. Maybe he needed her clout to get transport to Goth.

It's very odd though that he has the use of pursuit ships when he must be on the wanted list, having been sentenced to death. They seem fairly amicable, but then by this point Travis probably has the coordinates and is just waiting his chance to scarper. In his own ship perhaps? I wonder where it is.

He also doesn't come across as someone planning to take the human race down with him, laughing with Gola when he kicks the Fool.

Thanks for the review. I agree it's not bad. I actually quite like Jenna in this one. At least she gets to do clever tactical things and isn't stuck on teleport duty.

True. She was sadly underused, though I recently heard that Sally Knyvette had a lot of trouble with the technical dialogue and asked for it to be reduced. It's a pity as she said it with such assurance too.

That's a pity, and a bit of a wimpout. Patrick Stewart cheerfully admitted he didn't have a clue what Picard was on about a lot of the time - it didn't stop him acting it.

Apparently her lines about the history of space fight in 'Killer' were given to Blake, who then annoyed us with his presumption of Jenna's ignorance. And really, she always sounded as though she knew what she was talking about, impressing me anyway with her competence and efficiency.

I have the impression S.K. was the least experienced of the cast, and it does kind of show. Nonetheless, she was very good. Yes, it's a shame she felt she had to back off on the technobabble; she handled it well.

I rather liked Jenna in this episode, although the idea of an actor acting a character acting gives me a bit of a headache. But the fact that Travis and Servalan were working together always confused me mightily (I mean really...the hell?)

And it was definitely written after 'Gambit' because of all the Star One arc content. I know arcs were new then, but you'd think they'd have grasped the idea of a continuing story.

Ah yes, I will have to see this episode again and thanks for a review - nice!

It's quite fun if you don't think too hard. :-)

Actually I was rooting for Vila to turn out to be the Chosen One or whatever the local name was.

As for what they export...couture?

Thy Rod and thy staff will comfort me

I've read a few zine stories in which Vila solves a puzzle to become the predicted saviour or leader, and there are always very nasty strings attached.

Or handmade tapestries and rugs and other rare and unique objets d'art for the discerning Alpha.

I think he did more hitting with his staff.

The Keeper is one of the (few) episodes of B7 that bores me to tears. I try not to watch it much for that reason. So most of my issues actually deal with how this episode ties in to the next one...

The plot holes in this episode continue on into Star One. Travis got the coordinates for Star One shortly before Blake. He leaves Goth maybe an hour or so ahead of the Liberator (two-three hours at most). The Liberator goes directly to Star One from Goth (or so we assume, given how fanatical Blake has become). Yet Travis has had time to contact the Andromedans and hatch a plan to get them into the galaxy. The Andromedans have time to manoeuvre their ships beyond their own galaxy to the boarder of our galaxy. THIS WOULD TAKE TIME. More time that has elapsed. At most it would have taken the Liberator a few days to reach Star One. How has all of this happened in that short amount of time?

Ok, so the Andromedans had already been on Star One for a while and they were already planning to invade. We don't know how long that has been going on, so conceivably with an inter-stellar drive they would have had plenty of time to get their ships in position. However, how did Travis contact the Andromedans and hatch his 'evil-genius' plan (those never work!) before the Liberator was able to reach Star One? For that matter, how did Travis know the Andromadans were on Star One? And since he was so cozy with Servalan in this episode, why the sudden urge to wipe out humanity? *sigh* So very many problems...

I am much more bored by VftP; my eyes and brain glaze over. And 'Animals' was so bad it's the only one I fast-forwarded. This is fairly entertaining if you don't think too much.

Yet Travis has had time to contact the Andromedans and hatch a plan to get them into the galaxy.

I can only assume he did it months before, perhaps after 'Trial'. But yes, the whole arc doesn't make much sense.

so the Andromedans had already been on Star One for a while and they were already planning to invade.

That's what they imply in 'Star One', that the breakdown has been going on for 'some time' as Lurena says.

However, how did Travis contact the Andromedans and hatch his 'evil-genius' plan (those never work!) before the Liberator was able to reach Star One? For that matter, how did Travis know the Andromadans were on Star One?

Exactly. And if he'd contacted them months ago, he'd already have the coordinates for Star One and wouldn't need to go to Goth to get them. The more I think about this, the worse it gets. The Andromedans are pastede on, yay.

VftP and Animals are the other two I really loathe...along with Sarcophagus.

Oh yes, that's a love or hate, and I hate it too. 'Sand' isn't much better but at least it's more SF than wishy-washy fantasy.

For the fastest ship in the Galaxy Servie and Travis never seemed to have problems staying ahead of our heroes.

If Travis was already working with the Andromedans perhaps they picked him up. That minefield around the Federation (Bloody big minefield!)might have kept out a fleet but maybe a small ship got through.

I have no problems with Travis selling out the Federation to the Andromedans as he'd been so shafted by his own side it would only be human to seek revenge, especially if the price was right.

Maybe the Lib's batteries kept going flat.

Bloody big minefield!

Ah, the minefield. I shall reserve my comments on that for my next review, but space is 3D and galaxies are huge, and minefields only work on the flat or around small object. Like I could imagine one around Star One, but much of a galaxy? All the jellies had to do was drive around it.

I have no problems with Travis selling out the Federation

Oh me neither, but I'd like some foreshadowing and a little logic. The timing's not there, and it doesn't make sense for him to be working amicably with Servalan after 'Gambit'.

I believe there's a very good long story by Neil Faulker about it all which I should read. Maybe he filled in some of the gaping holes.

Maybe the Lib's batteries kept going flat.

ZEN: More'n a year since I had anything twixt my nethers that didn't run on batteries.
BLAKE: I can't be hearin' this!
VILA: I could stand to hear a little more.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

The Keeper (212)

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

I Wonder What the Winesellers Buy

Re: I Wonder What the Winesellers Buy

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject