Starring Gareth Thomas, Paul Darrow, Barry Jackson, Beth Morris, Stephan Tate, Michael Keating, Sally Knyvette, David Jackson, Jan Chappell & Peter Tuddenham
Written by Terry Nation
Directed by Pennant Roberts
When Zen picks up a drifting spacecraft close to the Liberator's position, Blake, Cally and Avon teleport across to discover the craft damaged and the pilot murdered. The crew were all knocked out by gas, and the ship's vital cargo, a Neutrotope, hasn't been touched. Blake agrees to transport the cargo to Destiny, while Avon and Cally help to fix the Ortaga.
However, the murderer continues to strike, and Avon and Cally are cast as investigators in an increasingly desperate situation. The Liberator crew, on the other hand, become trapped in a belt of meteorites, with there power running low. And, resting on both crew's minds, is that the fate of a whole world depends upon them...
Mission To Destiny continues the precedent of Blake's 7 episodes like Space Fall or The Web which are very different to anything the show will do in the future. It's essentially the Blake's 7 version of an Agatha Christie Sunday afternoon murder mystery story. And, while it's a little slow for a Blake's 7 episode, it's an interesting version of a tried and tested idea, something which Blake's 7 has proved itself more than capable of doing.
The set up is certainly an intriguing one, and allows for action which is very much driven by it's main characters. In particular, Avon gets the chance to be cast as a Miss Marple-style role, and is a part that really suits the character of Avon. His logical outlook in life is something that really suits him and that allows it to make sense as to why his character was chosen for that particular part. And whenever Paul Darrow is cast in the role of summery and deduction, he is absolutly fantastic, really one of his best performances in the show. No one in the show, apart from proberbly Blake, could do what Avon does in this story. The script builds towards it's climax with a hell of a lot of clues and and even red herrings being dropped along the way. Now, all of these help to create the idea that it's very much a pastiche of that genre, however it also inherits the pace that comes with it. So, unlike previous episodes of the show, the pace slows to a virtual standstill at times, which means that a seasoned viewer of the show may find it's slower pace very unlike the show. And, I must be honest, with more ruthless editing, it could have been compacted down, so that it moves along more snappily. However, the story isn't detrimentally harmed by this, and it still works. It's just a flaw with the show's format.
The real strength of the story, however, comes from it's characters. As I said, Avon clearly relishes his part here, really wanting to get to grips with the mystery and solve it. And as I said, Paul Darrow does it deliciously. That's not to exclude the rest of the cast, however Paul Darrow is so good that it doesn't really matter what anyone else does, it still won't be enough to top his exemplary showing. Jan Chappell, however, certainly gives him a run for his money, as she gets into trouble, discovers bodies and generally provides all the clues for Avon to work out the identity of the murderer. She's therefore the really proactive force in the story, and Chappell really runs with that as far as possible. Blake himself is rather more like the kind of bumberling detective that shows up every now and again to arrest the wrong person and Gareth Thomas seems perfectly happy to let Darrow take the lead. Sadly, however, it's clear that Michael Keating, David Jackson and Sally Knyvette have been deprived of a substantial appearence. In Keating's case, that's ok, because he often shines in every scene he's in. However, both Knyvette and Jackson need better material than this if there characters are to remain interesting. It seems both are being sidelined in favour of Blake, Avon and Cally. The guest cast, are fairly interesting, but there's no performance that's really out there or interesting. I would say that Barry Jackson is the clear pick of the bunch, his acting talent really shining through in a rather lightweight role. In general, however, the supporting cast (even John Leeson) make this good, but not great. Pennant Robert's direction is also perfect for this sort of story, really managing to convey the claustrophobia of the situation and allowing the performances to be of centre focus.
Mission To Destiny is an experiment. It mostly pays off with it's strong plot, bunch of characters and it's brilliant use of Avon's logic and reasoning. Where it really falls down is in how it handles a good portion of the Liberator crew and it's unmemorable guest performances. However, Mission To Destiny is a fun, if lightweight, Blake's 7 story.
Liberator Rating - 7/10
Comments
Post a Comment