I thought more about this after reading Lisa's post promising the screen captues for this and Animals.
Yes, okay, there's a lot of things bad about it. Thinking about it, however, I've realised that what bugs me most - that keeps me fretting at the edges of this one - is what it's not, rather than what it is. The possibilities lost to the godawful writing could have been wonderful; taken perhaps over two episodes we could have had:
- a *real* look at a part of Federation politics largely, and Blake and his people getting involved with dissenters in positions of some power; and possibly - had it been written to give the whole thing a possibility of success - far more impact when it crashed;
- the ambiguous murkiness of collaborators/dissenters in the person of Ven Glyn, another possible Anna Grant, albeit with the ambition to be Eminence Grise rather than President: playing a dirty game with Blake for motives that do (or don't?) put him on the side of the more grubby angels;
- a deeper and more profound look at the impact of Blake's mindrape and its hidden, unsuspected, ongoing danger and damage; also what the shattering knowledge that he's still being controlled and abused could do to him, the way it could impact on his relationships with his crew (especially Avon, yes, well, what do you expect from moi?) and perhaps a look at the way he could fight back again - and the way he *must* have been damaged by it as he heads into the biggest fight of his life.
Given the promise of the original ideas, Voice from the Past *should* have been up there with Star One, City and Blake. Instead, it's right down there with Kairos, Dawn and Ultraworld, saved only by the scraps of the political theme that should have been so much more, and (for those of us who like it<g>) the Blake and Avon and even Cally bits.
But, being essentially frivolous, I still like it. Most of it. Some of it ... okay, okay, the bit right up to the asteroid and the appearance of The Bandages That Walk :-)
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