Children of Auron (307)
And now for an episode with bigger holes than a quarry. (These reviews are going to be shorter and less structured since I don't think many people read them, and I'll stop at the end of this season.)
This episode has bigger holes than a quarry.
They made such a mess of Cally's background. We're originally told that she couldn't go home because she failed in her mission, then that the Thaarn and his fellow beings created telepathy on Auron ages before, but now it appears that Cally left because she disagreed with their isolationist policies, and that telepathy is a result of very recent cloning.
OK. Assuming that Cally lied about the rest (and this is so very out of character unless she did so to protect Auron's secrecy and isolation), why did they suddenly bring in cloning? Did they have a declining birth rate before? Did they feel the need to raise an army?
Huh! I didn't realise that Pilot Four-Zero (the one with the floppy fair hair) was Michael Troughton.
It seems rather odd that Avon is accusing the Auronar of gutless inanity for being neutral when for most of this season he takes little interest in the affairs of the galaxy. Once again Tarrant shows his sense of honour, stating that mercy has a higher priority than revenge. Were it not for 'City', I'd like Tarrant a lot more.
Orac says that Auron has been kept free of all disease for more than three decades, but earlier Pilot Four-Zero said the isolationism only dated from the Andromedan war and the break-up of the Federation, so they can't even be consistent within this ep.
I don't blame Vila for trying to protect himself from the plague by wearing a helmet (and it's funny) but an air supply as well would have been useful. Of course he's not stupid enough to fall for Servalan's offer of a governorship--surely not even the biggest optimist in the galaxy would swallow that one--and he handles it well with his very Orac-sounding "Orac can only assess veracity in person" and the disarming Dayna. :-)
Why does Ginka lie about Deral replacing Servie's genetic material with his? I know he's pissed off with Deral, but that was not a good move, when Servalan might--and did--find out he was lying. I also think the crew was very brutal and short-sighted returning Deral to Servalan when he had helped them and might have helped them more. And dude, Servalan has a quick staff turnover.
Aaaaugh, one of the worst and wince-worthy tinkly bits to end with. Why did the writers think these crap endings were a good idea? [stabs]