[BLAKESCREWE]

[Cockroach Boy]

I like Sand a lot. Its the only 'Sleer' story that does anything remotely interesting with her and it certainly is Jackie Pearce's strongest peformance of the season. The episode elaborates on the hints droped in Pressure Point and Rumours that Servalan is a very damaged person. Some of her backstory also seem to have been influenced by Jackie's own life - she was by all accounts good friends with Tanith Lee and they had many conversations about this script.

There is a lot more subtlety in the use of the character than was the case with Games or Traitor. When she first finds herself on the planet, she is very self-confident. The death of the trooper does not disturb her and she is more than capable of standing her ground against a psycho with a gun. The way she delivers the line that she is 'unique' suggests she is just as delusional as Avon. However, after she has discovered Keller's corpse, she becomes more uneasy, visibly flinching when the food machine activates. Hiting Keller's corpse is probably a release of emotions that have been burried since she was 18.

If Servalan had to come back after Terminal (and I still think it was a mistake) then this should have been her last episode. Gold and Warlord didn't have anything new for her and Orbit dragged her further down the rout of camp carricature that just wasn't right for the character. To have seen her crying as she realizes that anyone she gets close to she will ultimately have to kill would be a very satifying way for her to exit.

Steve Pacey is also very good in this one, giving his strongest peformance since Death Watch. Tarrant is cynical and smart but, like his brother, he still holds to certain ideals. His weakness is not, as he claims a reluctance to shoot a stationary target but a yearning for a damsel in distress. Tarrant wants to be a heroic knight, saving a beautiful woman from strange monsters. It is a totally different sort of idealism to that of Blake who wanted to be the saviour of an entire galaxy.

The Tarrant/Servalan kiss (and the fact they obviously have sex) has upset some fans, but I don't see that it is so out of character. Certinly Servalan has shown a fondness for younger, 'decorative' men in the past - Rai for example. Tarrant for his part is in a situation that must seem straight out of his daydreams. The fact that it is an enemy just increases the emotional intensity.

Their conversation over the meal is well written and played, with both being aware of the absurdity of their situation. Their is a playfullness between them that was absent in the more intense, slightly S/M scenes between Avon and Servalan in Season 3.

The idea of the vampiric sand is unusual and, like the themes of Sacophogus, very different to what is expected in B7. Such semi-mystic notions would seem to have more place in a dark fairy tale themed show like Doctor Who than in a series where all the heroes wind up dead. However, it is refreshing and, like other odities such as Gambit, means this episode has an unusual atmosphere. It's a pity that Lee never got to write a Soolin focussed episode, as I think she would have done some interesting things with her.

On the subject of Soolon, its striking that she raises the possibility that the alien from Sacophogus has cursed the crew. She later dismisses the idea saying she doesn't believe a word of it, but still....could a case be made?

After Sacophogus, Tarrant's brother dies, the Liberator and Zen are destroyed, Cally dies, Dayna's former lover is gunned down in front of her eyes, Avon's schemes just make his enemies more powerful and finally of course, they are all killed by a squad of gaurds ho probably don't even know who the hell they are shooting at. This is fairly typical of the existentialist themes of the series of course, but maybe the alien had powers we didn't know about?

There's a neat bit of forshadowing of the crew;s fate when Vila complains that no-one cared when Cally died and that if he died it would be 'a joke'.
_________________
Everything in life is only for now.

[BLAKESCREWE]

Don`t like it !

[inge]

Things that I like about this episode are:
Inspector Reeve who realises who Sleer is, their confrontation is a high point for me.
The 'dominant male' line from Avon, when Vila falls ill.
Servalan and the girl next door line, I love it.
As it turned out, in real life they did live next door to each other.
Dayna tells Avon that she trusts him and he replies: "I must be slipping"

[thunda]

[Servalans Hair]

Better than sarcophagus...
Was interesting to see Servalans vulnerable side, and you begin to feel sorry for her, but then she's back to her good old ways by the end of the episode!

[inge]

thunda said:

[Tim Squad]

A bit to slow this ep for my taste, maybe I must view it again to get the full story. Fun thing was Orac speaking gibberish! He was certainly out of character but what caused it?
Observation:
If there was a virus on the planet why didn't Servalan and her crew wore protective clothes? Ofcourse a space suit on 'Servie' wouldn't look fashionable/sexy.
I remember having read in a TV guide that Steven Pacey had a real life relationship with one of the crew -Josette Simon?- but here I read Jacky Pearce was his neighbour?
_________________
'All knowledge is valuable'

[ZEN]

[Tim Squad]

[MagnusGreel]

After all these years, it was only with tonight's viewing that it hit me: If the sand is destroyed by the least little bit of H20, then how were they able to consume human beings who (as is often pointed out in SF) consist mostly of water? The sand seems to insist on nice, plump, moisture-rich corpses too. Drying out from the passage of time isn't permitted. Oops.

I think Soolin's "theory" about the Sarcophagus being still hovering around doing mischief was a nonsensical, embarrassing, forced reference of Tanith Lee's to her own earlier episode. Soolin's smarter than that. She also would be the last person present to harken back to that incident, since she wasn't there. Besides, I'm just never going to be friendly to a supernatural sort of idea intruding into science fiction, without a solid SF justification. That's one reason I'm not on the worshipping bandwagon for the current version of Doctor Who.

Good episode, despite bits of nonsense. Odd that the planet has a breathable atmosphere, without life as we know it. The pilot was the actor who played the weaselly retirement home manager in the UK sitcom "Waiting For God". I hate these ridiculous uniforms... are they supposed to be Federation policemen, as opoosed to soldiers?

[ZEN]

[Lucifer Sam]

[Janov Seldon]

[MagnusGreel]