Having just watched "Aftermath" back again, I've had a few more thoughts on the subject of Mellanby as a "good guy."
Hal Mellanby tells Avon that the image amplifier he wears reminds him that "most men see what they only want to see, but the difference in my case is that I know my vision is limited." Mellanby recognises this fact, but one of the things that condemns him as a coward is that he has not done anything about it. Mellanby has failed to address, and take lessons from, his own past. He has had twenty years to think about what happened and the role he played, but he is till carrying two contradictory ideas in his head, and even those two ideas have not been thought through. The result of not confronting these questions is plain to see: His daughter Dayna has become a killer.
But there's worse to come. We know Hal Mellanby is a liar. He has told Dayna that they left earth because he wanted "independence", and he has maintained that lie for twenty years. This suggests that all of Mellanby's statements have to be taken with a pinch of salt. But when you compare and contrast his statements, it reveals an interesting picture. At one point Mellanby says, "Before I left Earth I was taken in by Federation security. They suspected me of supplying weapons to resistance groups. And they were right. Anyway, in persuading me to talk, they were slightly overzealous. They destroyed my optic nerve." His statement, "before I left earth", taken together with his later statement about the revolt, "I had a chance to save Dayna," and then Dayna's statement, "I was born on Earth. My father brought me here when I was a baby," all confirm that the uprising Hal Mellanby lead was indeed on Earth and that when he left, he went straight into hiding. So what does all this tell us?
Here is the likely scenario: Mellanby was an arms dealer. He lead a revolt. He was "taken in by Federation security." He was tortured. He told them what they wanted to know. They let him go. He left Earth. But why would the Federation let him go? When talking of the revolt Hal Mellanby said, "We made an honourable surrender. We were promised fair trial. Instead, the security forces massacred everyone, men, women, and children. That night I watched them all die. My own wife, my friends, everybody." Servalan says: "Everybody but you. Hasn't that ever made you feel guilty, Mellanby?" He replies "Of course it has. I've lived with guilt most of my life. I should have died with them, but I had a chance of saving Dayna. I took it."
We have established that Hal Mellanby was "taken in by Federation security," but this was on a suspected gun running charge, not because he was leading a revolt. We also know that he didn't face a trial of any sort, and that he survived the massacre of his resistance group. Finally we know that he then left the Earth for good. But how come? Did he break out of prison? Unlikely. So what happened?
Mellanby says, "I had a chance of saving Dayna. I took it." But who gave him that chance? Answer (who else?): the Federation. He struck a deal to save himself and Dayna, and sold the rebels out in the process. Mellanby states, "We were promised fair trial", but does that sound likely? I don't think so. First of all you can forget the "we", because Federation security let him go. There was to be no trial planned for him. But if he led the revolt, how could he not stand trial? Public immunity? No, that would reflect badly on the Federation. Therefore the Federation 'allowed' him to escape. But what about the "fair trial" for the others? Did he know what was going to happen to them? I think he knew. Why should the Federation lie? They took him along to the massacre after all. That, I think, is why he asked just for baby Dayna to be saved, and not his wife. A baby is too young to know what was going on. A baby can't condemn.
The Federation fixed him up, repaired his sight, and then forced him to watch the killings, just so that he would have no doubt what he was responsible for. A good way to break a man. Then he was allowed to leave Earth, and go into hiding. Hal Mellanby told Avon that there was a reward of 3 million credits on his head. Why should the Federation release someone, and then put a price out on them? Because that's the way the Federation works. "We'll let you go. And then we'll put out a bounty. Now run and hide." But that isn't all they did. They also let it be known on the rebel grapevine what it was that he had done. As Servalan tells him, "They branded you a coward. Your name was universally despised." But then, what better propaganda is there than a criminal on the run? This may be why Mellanby was so reluctant to leave his hideaway, even after Avon told him the Federation was finished. Hal Mellanby was hiding not just from the Federation, but from the memory of what he had done. Mellanby wasn't only a coward, he was also a self-serving traitor.
Usually at the end of an episode the story's villain dies. In Aftermath (a title with a curious double meaning) the one who dies isn't Chel, who, after all, was just a man trying to save his people from an ancient prophecy. It's Hal Mellanby.
Fiona
The Posthumous Memoirs of Secretary Rontane Ethically sound at http://nyder.r67.net
_________________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com