TV Review - Blake's 7: S1E08 Duel

After the blatant rejected Avengers/The Saint/The Baron script of "Mission to Destiny" Terry Nation's solution to writer's block extended to thieving from stories he didn't even write with "Duel". While an American series from the days when the things didn't have the best reputation in dear old Blighty, Star Trek had debuted on the BBC in 1970 and rapidly became just as much of a cult hit as it had in America; when B7 began it was due for the big screen treatment as Star Wars had suddenly made sci-fi very big but the series was probably already being endlessly repeated. Of course, most people can only remember about a dozen episodes but "Duel" quite shamelessly rips off the famous "Arena" - which was of course based on a forties short story, though I personally think it's highly unlikely Tel ever read a book.

So you've got mano a mano combat on an alien world, watched by all-powerful aliens but around it there's actually some decent garnish. Firstly this is actually Travis' only episode without Servalan; he has a near-miss in Season 2 but this is it. This doesn't really make much difference to the character and he's given a Mutoid foil to bounce lines off instead, though at least he gets to spend the episode not getting told off. The Mutoids were seen in "Seek-Locate-Destroy" but this gives them a more thorough exploration - though what exactly they're for is a bit of a mystery. They don't have emotions or human needs but they do need a serum that's hard to find (and judging by the episode at a faster and more constant rate than a person needs food and water) and when you consider the Federation has and will continue to have an inexhaustible supply of loyal brainwashed troopers you wonder what the Hell it's all about. I mean, presumably processing Keira took funds and effort. Maybe they just wanted someone Travis could talk to without taking their helmet off? Dunno.

This is also about the only episode Blake and Travis really go at each other. Often they meet when one's already disarmed or Travis goes straight for his gun-arm or is being held at gunpoint by someone else so they don't actually get to properly tussle all that often. Unusually for B7 the fight scenes actually have some zip in them. Blake is partnered down on the planet by Jenna, reaffirming what seems to be their genuine friendship with some smart exchanges, though Jenna's flirty side from the earliest episodes is long gone; Chris Boucher (who was really beginning to influence episodes at this point) was strongly against relationships between the crew and Terry was hardly the sexiest of writers anyway, so that's probably the reason.

The large amount of location shooting makes this one of the better-looking episodes of the first season and thanks to the imagination of the veteran Douglas Camfield it's the best-directed since "The Way Back". However, while it's a good episode for Blake, Jenna, Travis and that Mutoid it's not so good for everyone else. The other four crew members watching from the viewscreen would in theory make for some good Greek chorus fun (the idea is revisited with better results in Season 3's "Death-Watch") but the problem here is the characters are still somewhat undeveloped. Only Avon's vague disinterest really sticks in the mind. Vila (who Nation will never really got the hang of writing for), Gan and Cally largely just deliver clunking exposition and it's probably for the best they're not used much. The problem for them is that before the whole duel business there's a running space battle with Travis' trio of pursuit ships (three being established as enough to give the Liberator cause to run and thus always used to avoid pricey battles and allow maximum stock footage reuse) and it's Vila, Gan and Cally who don't really have any jobs on the bridge, so they dip out there too. Gan at least gets to teleport down to the surface early on but it's very much as third wheel.

Sinofar and Giroc - on a very dodgy set compared to the location footage, presumably there wasn't money to ship them out of the studio - are a bit airy fairy silly sci-fi for B7, or at least B7 up to this point. Largely the show would either make a point of avoiding totally knobbing Star Trek or totally knob Star Trek in a way that made the B7 universe look altogether more realistic or at least hard-edged (cf. the Federation being an oppressive dictatorship) but they're basically a straight lift of the repeated Trek trope of all-powerful bored aliens who enjoy mucking around with man for shits and giggles before disappearing with minimal consequences. Watch the stuff they do and remember it every time in the next 44 episodes someone claims something's impossible - you met a couple of god-ghosts who transported four people out of two different ships down to a dead planet and brought a Mutoid back to life, guys, it's entirely possible the teleport isn't working properly.

So overall "Duel" is another move away from the hard edges seen early in the series and once again could be rewritten quite easily for something else. But it's still surprisingly good fun, generally looking good, moving along nicely and featuring some decent acting. The episode isn't the smartest or most multi-layered the show would come up with and even with the presence of Travis doesn't really contribute anything to the ongoing plot but it's enjoyable and won't hurt anyone's brain cells.