This episode, which is, I think, easily the best episode so far of series two, had quite an impact on me as a kid.
.
It started with those disturbing, explosive deaths in the beginning. A field can kill you? Bad news for an over-imaginative kid! Then it played out with the great sequence in said field, where - if you weren't fast enough.... Yikes!
Really well done, I think.
And then there was that ending.
I went to school the next day and some Alpha male Blake's 7 fan schoolmate, made a gang of us re-enact the whole episode in the playground on the school playing field. Old Alpha had to be Blake of course. And, while I like to think i got to play Avon or Vila, maybe even poor Gan, at least, the chances are that I - not being particularly assertive - had to be Jenna, in which case, at least I got to take Servalan prisoner! I honestly either can't remember - or my memory has blotted out my experience of playing Miss Stannis!
But I do remember that the episode was the talk of us geeks and the death of Gan had surprised us in a way that Doctor Who - at least up to that point - never had. Heroes could die! A sobering lesson.
As to the episode itself, watched again - and again - all these years later, it stands up really well, I think.
I like the scene where Gan tries to talk Blake out of abandoning the whole plan in the crypt, but Blake will hear no dissent.
David Jackson is really a clearly talented actor and - what little moments he has had - he has made the most of.
Poor Gan.
Apparently, that crazy, mindblowing book LIBERATION, as well as saying Gan was a veritable JACK THE RIPPER, also claimed that his demise was based on the song BIG BAD JOHN.....
BIG BAD JOHN ~ Jimmy Dean (1961) - YouTube
Lyrics
Every mornin' at the mine you could see him arrive
He stood six-foot-six and weighed two-forty-five
Kinda broad at the shoulder and narrow at the hip
And everybody knew ya didn't give no lip to big John
(Big John, big John)
Big bad John (big John)
Nobody seemed to know where John called home
He just drifted into town and stayed all alone
He didn't say much, kinda quiet and shy
And if you spoke at all, you just said hi to Big John
Somebody said he came from New Orleans
Where he got in a fight over a Cajun Queen
And a crashin' blow from a huge right hand
Sent a Louisiana fellow to the promised land, big John
(Big John, big John)
Big bad John (big John)
Then came the day at the bottom of the mine
When a timber cracked and men started cryin'
Miners were prayin' and hearts beat fast
And everybody thought that they'd breathed their last, 'cept John
Through the dust and the smoke of this man-made hell
Walked a giant of a man that the miners knew well
Grabbed a saggin' timber, gave out with a groan
And like a giant oak tree he just stood there alone, big John
(Big John, big John)
Big bad John (big John)
And with all of his strength he gave a mighty shove
Then a miner yelled out "there's a light up above!"
And twenty men scrambled from a would-be grave
Now there's only one left down there to save, big John
With jacks and timbers they started back down
Then came that rumble way down in the ground
And then smoke and gas belched out of that mine
Everybody knew it was the end of the line for big John
(Big John, big John)
Big bad John (big John)
Now, they never reopened that worthless pit
They just placed a marble stand in front of it
These few words are written on that stand
At the bottom of this mine lies a big, big man
Big John
(Big John, big John)
Big bad John (big John)
(Big John) big bad John
Songwriters: Jimmy Dean
Big Bad John lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
And also that the original idea was that Gan's limiter malfunctions, and his attacks and kills Kasabi's daughter in the crypt, leaving Blake no choice but to kill Gan, thus ripping off the ending of OF MICE AND MEN, with Lennie and George.
Not sure about the veracity of that book's research, but I love that kind of analysis.
Some great lines in this episode too.
"You hesitated!"
"You believed it Blake! Like all the other fools before you!" etc.
Nice to see Avon move to comfort Blake after the truth of control is revealed. You can tell he loves the guy really. Beneath that cold exterior beats a heart of pure marshmallow i.m.o.
I really like the next episode, TRIAL, too, dealing with the repercussions of this one....
