Jan was never going to come back, they tried to persuade her to do a few episodes, then one but she said no every time, the most she would agree to do was those few words. She was sorely missed in S4.

Personally, I really dislike S4 and Soolin is so wooden she would be at home in a forest. The beginning of the episode was promising, but the whole Dorian and the creature thing was way off kilter. The tone of the show shifted so much in S4 and not in a good way.

I will stick to the excellent S1 to 3.

Jan Chappell was going to come back for several episodes, then one, then eventually said she’d only record a line or two. The downside of this (apart from her perfunctory off-screen death) is that the first half of the series is written with parts for Cally. The dialogue was shared out amongst the other characters and Soolin brought in to replace her. Without knocking the earlier episodes, you’ll find the series really gains strength in the second half of the run, when the new scenario is bedded down and the scripts are written for the the actual characters they have. Soolin’s name was inspired by Chris Boucher’s wife’s name, Lynda.

It’s been great vicariously coming to the episodes afresh through you HE, and it’s noticeable that the B7 Monthly has already made a dent in that, unfortunately. Ah well, it was good while it lasted.

The new titles were designed by Doug Burd at the BBC. He was mad-keen on flying and sadly died shortly afterwards in an aircraft crash. It was his passion for flying that led to the ‘control panel’ type titles. An early issue of SFX described the planet they’re taking off from as a chocolate meringue!

Anyway, I love the snake-creature in this. Also some great exchanges:
Vila: You wouldn’t like to leave the gun, would you?
Avon: That’s right, I wouldn’t.

and

Vila: You know what it looks like, Avon.
Avon: Shut up, Vila!
Dorian: Avon and Vila…

(Thinking about it, Avon’s line is almost Dad’s Army’s “Don’t tell him, Pike!”)

Vila notices there’s an extra glass on the tray, a nod to Cally and the notion of Seven – just as when Dayna tells Vila he has a lot of clever associates. “Oh yes? Name six.” Six plus himself adds up to seven, of course.

The point about the “cold” start where viewers were expected to know exactly what situation the crew were in was an excellent observation! These days we’re so used to a “Previously On…” montage to remind us of exactly why Gibbs has and his team have unfinished business with whatever that episode was last season that I can’t quite remember because it was last season…. and yet each year we’d return to ongoing dramas and expect to know *just* where we’d parked the characters, or to quickly understand who was doing what where and why if we were new to the show. In this case, many of the viewers might have been helped by the selected repeat run – “Aftermath”, “Powerplay”, “City at the Edge of the World”, “Rumours of Death”, “Sarcophagus”, “Ultraworld”, “Death-Watch” and “Terminal” – which had aired in the usual Monday 7.15pm slot from 1 June to 20 July, after which the slot had been given to the short-lived “Freebie and the Bean” TV-spin-off until the former Liberator crew returned in late September.

Gosh! I do love this blog! You’re bringing back so many happy memories *and* making me see all this old stuff in a new way! 🙂

All the best

Andrew