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Aftermath (301)
Sun, sand, sea, and savages (not all of them Sarrans)!
For some reason, this is one of the few episodes I can remember seeing as a kid, probably because of the sweeping beach scenes which are such a change from the usual interior or quarry. This may be why Bounty is another one I remember.
Lauren
I also remembered her. I think as a child I'd hoped she and Dayna would both become new crewmembers, and was very upset when she died so horribly (nice family fare, B7. But why did she? Was there even a reason to have the poor girl exist? Surely murder of her father was enough to isolate Dayna so that she would join the crew?
It's also a puzzle that Lauren looks so unlike the Sarrans with their long, straight, black Mongolian-looking hair. I originally thought that she might have been exposed as a baby or abandoned like so many savage peoples do with their female children, but maybe it was because she looked different and wrong to them.
Hal Mellanby
He's a hypocrite, sorry. He designs weapons which, as Dayna says, have the sole function of killing people, so his objection to killing the merciless Sarrans is weaselly and one reason Lauren died. Does he think it's all right for others to kill with his guns as long as his daughters don't? Me, I'm with Dayna on this one.
Dayna
I don't particularly like S3 Dayna, but she's stunning and an utter joy to watch. As I said, though she's hard-hearted and unsocialised, she was quite right in wanting to kill the Sarran when he was down--she knew them better than Avon did--and Servalan too. Pity she took such an extraordinarily long time to fire at her at the end.
The cave
Just what was that convenient cave with its concealed lighting and skin-covered bed? Just a base on shore for her and Lauren when out hunting, or a Sarran hideout she discovered and used? No, they wouldn't be capable of the lighting; it must be a Mellanby base.
Dayna and Avon
That's a lot of flirting going on there. They're obviously both attracted to each other, but there's absolutely nothing between them later. I wonder whether it was planned to have some Liberator romance which was then dropped.
Servalan
She must have that purple thing on backwards given the shoulder Dayna always bares is her left one. I wonder how long she'd have given Avon if he'd accepted her offer.
Other stuff
I felt sorry for the troopers--"Oh, we're all right. We're out of the war now."
I liked the Mellanby place. It had a nice underwater and SF feel to it.
How long did the battle last: hours, days, weeks?
Hal says, "It was a close-run thing. What's left of the Federation fleet, which isn't much, is scattered halfway across the galaxy. I'd say the Federation's in a lot of trouble." It's an interesting point, and one that Avon will ignore in this season. What a wasted opportunity, and how does the Federation recover so well by S4?
A seaside feast for the eyes and a good introduction to Dayna, though I question the necessity of Lauren and the flirting in the cave.
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I also recall someone pointing out that Dayna obviously didn't take to Servalan before Mellanby's death, seeing as she gave Her Supremeness a Supremely unflattering dress...
And I do love the way Servie's pitch to Avon is [a] so totally, hysterically misjudged (that she thinks Avon is interested in power indicates the dire quality of her information) and she's flat out even getting his attention ("forget Blake!!" Yeah right, by Terminal she'd worked that one out :)
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Dayna gets her own back by offering her the purple dress with the pointy neck, and asking 'Not too young for you ?'
What a shame she didn't offer Servalan one of her jumpsuits - that would have been interesting to see.
I don't think we ever do see Dayna in a skirt again, do we ? Possibly as a disguise in Traitor, but not otherwise. Cally was still wearing skirts in S3, so why did Dayna never get another frock ? Curious.
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She was. I'm just glad they kept it fairly civil; I loathe cat-fights, which are almost always written by men.
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She's in trousers in "Traitor" in both costumes. She does wear that white dress again, at the end of some episode. And she has a red thing that might be a dress, but I think it's just weird trousers.
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I do quite like this episode, but it does have it's ups and downs. I feel sorry for the troopers at the beginning (especially as one of them is Richard Franklin, of Who fame), but I like them as a source of exposition. I want to know how the heck Servalan got off that base though and ends up with Cally, later. And some other inconsisencies, which I've ranted about before.
I'm convinced that the war lasted as least weeks. Haven't rewatched most of S3 and S4 recently, they make many references to "the war" and stuff, which seems strange to me if it was only a few hours long.
It's a shame Hal is such a hypocrit, but I agree. It doesn't mean that isn't how he really felt though.
I love the beach scene. I wish we'd gotten something like that in Orac.
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True; viewers at the time wouldn't have known either.
I want to know how the heck Servalan got off that base though and ends up with Cally, later.
Oh yeah, me too, but that belongs to the next ep. It's not as bad as her surviving Terminal though. Feh.
I don't think there's any canon answer about the length of the war so you're probably right, esp since Servie is now president which wouldn't happen in hours or even days.
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Servalan just has a bunch of clones that active when the main body gets destroyed. IT'S ALMOST CANON, ahahahaha.
I definitely think weeks makes more sense logically. I imagine the main war probably happened fairly quickly, but that repercussions went on and on for some time. She says in "Traitor" that she's killed, I believe, 26 people to get to the presidency and keep her identity quiet. Not that you can't kill a bunch of people in one day, but it does imply to me that it took some time to slowly work her way up.
When I first saw Star One, Powerplay and Aftermath, I thought nearly a year had passed between the two seasons.
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I don't know. I imagine things were different back then and B7 wasn't a hot property like DW is now. They probably had articles in the Radio Times (I think that's right) but I don't really know what UK TV was like then.
Servalan just has a bunch of clones
Bwahahaha! Or she's a robot that can jet through space under her own power.
Yes, weeks or months make more sense, and Avon and Vila have different clothes on from 'Star One'.
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Robo-Servalan! LOL
You're probably right. I bet a lot of people DID know that Gareth and Sally left, but just as many probably had no idea.
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So they are. I looked at the costume lists and worked out the ep numbers wrongly.
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I think it's quite interesting that Avon at this point seems to be a bit sick of killing.
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Perhaps Avon is tired of killing in the wake of the war. It's tactically a very bad idea however to leave your enemies armed and dangerous.
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Prospero going back to rule a country that's already kicked him out once for an incompetent, while Miranda marries the first man she's ever met. I don't think that's necessarily going to turn out so well....
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Paul Darrow didn't like the idea, and I think Chris Boucher agreed with him so the idea of Avon being more ethical was quietly allowed to wither away.
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My thoughts on Lauren are that she is supposed to be just what she appears to be, a childhood friend/sister to Dayna so that Dayna has someone other than her father to talk to/play with. She helps to show us that while Dayna has been isolated with her father she has had another person to interact with.
I didn't much like Hal, for the same reason you stated. What's the point of designing/building weapons if you aren't willing to use them.
I think part of the reason the Dayna/Avon flirtation was dropped was because Josette Simon wasn't real comfortable with it.
I really enjoyed the scenes with Avon and Servalan. She obviously misread Avon if she really thought he would except such an offer. I mean really! He'd never be stupid enough to fall for that.
I also think Paul Darrow did an excellent job in this episode, especially considering he had a broken ankle during filming.
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I hadn't heard that, but it explains it. Thanks!
I can understand Servalan giving it a try and even meaning it if the Feferation's in such a tattered state, and she's obviously attracted. Avon made the right decision though; Servalan would get rid of him at the drop of a hat no mater how useful he was if he annoyed her.
he had a broken ankle during filming.
Did he? I'm very impressed as there's so sign of it unlike those clunky headless Travis scenes in 'Orac'.
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I found both of those little tidbits in PD's autobiography. He doesn't actually say Josette wasn't comfortable with it, but he certainly implies it. He broke his ankle on the first day of filming for Artermath.
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I have that somewhere. I should find it and start reading it again; the tiny font is a pain though. You certainly can't tell PD has a broken ankle. I should watch again to see how he manages. Perhaps all the running's implied; I do remember him just appearing behind Servie when she's tied to the rack. It's very well done.
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Yes it is, actually. Paul says that the way he did it was to hide behind the camera and pop out next to Josette as she ran to make it look like he was running with her. :) Yeah, the tiny font is a pain but it is so worth reading. There are many hilarious parts.
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I think that Avon was tired of the endless killing and destruction long before the war. You could see how sick he looked of everything when he lashes out angrily at Blake at the beginning of "Star One". Avon never was a killer or destroyer by nature. By then, he just wanted it to end and he knew that as long as he stayed with Blake, it never would.
I love this episode mainly because of Avon's interaction with Hal Mellenby and Servalan. He seems so relaxed and at ease when he is with Hal Mellenby. I always wondered what it would have been like if it was Hal who joined the ship and not Dayna. Avon rarely behaves like this with anyone else, except perhaps in some scenes with Cally. He seems to interact well with Mellenby and as a human being; without any tension, suspicion, aggression or lack of respect as he does with almost everyone else on the Liberator and he seems to even respect the man to some extent. The only time we see the old negative Avon attitude is when Mellenby mentions how magnificent it must have been to be with Blake and the Liberator; and Avon's almost snarl of detest when he says, not from where he was sittimg. This follows directly from the attitude he expressed in "Star One".
There are only two other times that we see Avon relate without all the negative tones in his manner one is when he is onboard the Destiny with Cally and the colonists, after Blake has left, the other is with Dayna (he seems somewhat flirty with her at first and then he becomes more like a big brother and even in the next episode, he seems to joke easily with her), before Tarrant joins them.
As for Avon's interaction with Servalan...she clearly doesn't understand Avon yet and pushes all the wrong buttons; he has never been motivated by power, he doesn't want everything and he has no interest in shaping everything and everyone into what he wants.
The physical chemistry between these Avon and Servalan is very strong and the air almost seems charged with energy when Avon kisses her. This man can kiss. But of course, Avon has never been one to be motivated by physical senses, so that is not enough of a draw for him.
Perhaps if Servalan had appealed to his intellect instead, not offering him power or a partnership with herself, but giving him what he really wants, safety, freedom, independence, pursuing scientific and technological interests, and a life not going around trying to kill, destroy or dominate and control things; in fact, the life he tried to live in Season 3.
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And he certainly lost his distaste for killing in season 4.
He seems very at ease with Dayna and Hal. He sometimes was with Vila too, but I don't think he ever is again.