From the VHS release:
Docholli's been traced to Freedom City, a gambler's paradise, and Blake's convinced he knows the location of Star One. Trouble is so is Servalan and she's got there before them. Then Vila and Avon wander off to do a spot of gambling on their own...
Docholli's been traced to Freedom City, a gambler's paradise, and Blake's convinced he knows the location of Star One. Trouble is so is Servalan and she's got there before them. Then Vila and Avon wander off to do a spot of gambling on their own...
I'll be honest. I wanted to hate this episode. It had all the hallmarks of being terrible. And to be fair, parts of it were terrible; however, parts of it succeeded despite it being a terrible premise. There were quite a few moving parts in this one so hold on and let's see what we have to work with.
We we start right out of the gate with a drunk Docholli in disguise in a dingy bar in Freedom City. He is accosted by a gimpy little man who apparently is mad that Docholli, who is pretending to be Kline, saved his life and put his leg back together. What. A. Jerk. All of that wasn't enough for Douchey McLimps-a-lot though. Kline wasn't able to fix his leg completely and by George he deserves a thrashing for that. How exactly Sir Fallsdown is planning to deliver said whupping is sadly never know as Travis shows up and does what Travis does best. He shoots him. Sadly, it's all half measures for poor Lanky One Leg and he just gets injured instead of dead.
It seems that Travis was onboard a ship with Docholli that suffered an explosion. Thus the need for Docholli, Kline, to be piecing legs back together. Travis saved his life and is now hanging around as his "bodyguard".
We we start right out of the gate with a drunk Docholli in disguise in a dingy bar in Freedom City. He is accosted by a gimpy little man who apparently is mad that Docholli, who is pretending to be Kline, saved his life and put his leg back together. What. A. Jerk. All of that wasn't enough for Douchey McLimps-a-lot though. Kline wasn't able to fix his leg completely and by George he deserves a thrashing for that. How exactly Sir Fallsdown is planning to deliver said whupping is sadly never know as Travis shows up and does what Travis does best. He shoots him. Sadly, it's all half measures for poor Lanky One Leg and he just gets injured instead of dead.
It seems that Travis was onboard a ship with Docholli that suffered an explosion. Thus the need for Docholli, Kline, to be piecing legs back together. Travis saved his life and is now hanging around as his "bodyguard".
But he gets to rock a sweet hat.
The Liberator arrives at Freedom City and Blake is preparing to teleport down with Cally and Jenna while Avon and Vila are staying onboard to man the ship. That's right folks, Blake is letting the ladies out of the kitchen. Of course it's only to accompany him to a casino as arm candy while he searches for Docholli. The plan is to find him and hopefully by extension find Star One.
Of course as soon as they are out of the way Avon and Vila start conspiring to teleport down to gamble. And this is where things get stupid. Vila would certainly do this. Avon would not. And he definitely wouldn't scheme with Vila. The mother of all absurdities is when Orac shrinks himself so that they can smuggle him in to rig the games. Thank the lord the writers forgot about that in later episodes.
Of course, Blakes 7 isn't Blakes 7 without Servelan. Which means she is on Freedom City also looking for Docholli. How everyone and their brother discovered simultaneously his location has got to be some of the laziest writing. Sheesh.
Of course as soon as they are out of the way Avon and Vila start conspiring to teleport down to gamble. And this is where things get stupid. Vila would certainly do this. Avon would not. And he definitely wouldn't scheme with Vila. The mother of all absurdities is when Orac shrinks himself so that they can smuggle him in to rig the games. Thank the lord the writers forgot about that in later episodes.
Of course, Blakes 7 isn't Blakes 7 without Servelan. Which means she is on Freedom City also looking for Docholli. How everyone and their brother discovered simultaneously his location has got to be some of the laziest writing. Sheesh.
At least she looks good in red.
Servelan, who is just itching for an excuse to take over Freedom City makes a deal with Krantor, head of FC, to find her both Travis and Docholli. What follows is a lengthy match of Out Guess the Other. It reaches absurd heights but works surprisingly well. As I said, I wanted to hate it but it wound up surprising me. And it was nice to see that Servelan isn't a fool. She's always described as devious but our heroes always win somehow. Here, she has no true equal.
Krantor. Not Servelans equal. But dang is he fabulous.
Travis gets himself captured and delivered to Servelan who promptly places a grenade in his arm. The idea being that she'll let him go whereupon he'll go straight to Docholli to get it fixed. When Docholli removes the arm boom goes the dynamite. Problem solved. Of course Krantor is busy scheming to capture Docholli to find out why he is so important. Meanwhile Docholli is sleeping off a massive drinking binge and doesn't have a clue that any of this is going on.
Chenie, not Dick, the bartender is trying to help smuggle Docholli off world before Krantor catches him. Blake suspects that she's hiding him and has Jenna and Cally stage a cat fight as a distraction. The dialogue between the two is hilarious.
CALLY: What did you call me?
JENNA:A cheap little space tramp.
CALLY:You slut!
JENNA:Ten credit touch!
Of course they get thrown out but not before Blake gets a line on Docholli. Meanwhile Avon and Vila are winning big. Too big. Krantor catches them on the way out the door and invited Vila to have a drink with him. Vila being a fool and drunk, a winning combination, agrees. When he returns he is visibly drugged and agrees to play the Klute in speed chess. The rules are simple. If you beat or draw the Klute, who looks like a serial killer combined with a chess nerd, you win obscene amounts of money. If you lose they electrocute you through the use of poor special effects. Luckily they still have Orac who guides them through this this saving Vila's life and ending the absurdity that is this side story.
Chenie, not Dick, the bartender is trying to help smuggle Docholli off world before Krantor catches him. Blake suspects that she's hiding him and has Jenna and Cally stage a cat fight as a distraction. The dialogue between the two is hilarious.
CALLY: What did you call me?
JENNA:A cheap little space tramp.
CALLY:You slut!
JENNA:Ten credit touch!
Of course they get thrown out but not before Blake gets a line on Docholli. Meanwhile Avon and Vila are winning big. Too big. Krantor catches them on the way out the door and invited Vila to have a drink with him. Vila being a fool and drunk, a winning combination, agrees. When he returns he is visibly drugged and agrees to play the Klute in speed chess. The rules are simple. If you beat or draw the Klute, who looks like a serial killer combined with a chess nerd, you win obscene amounts of money. If you lose they electrocute you through the use of poor special effects. Luckily they still have Orac who guides them through this this saving Vila's life and ending the absurdity that is this side story.
Even we think this is ridiculous.
Everything comes to a head in the hangar bay where Krantors man is lying in wait for Docholli. But then he gets ambushed by Travis. Who gets ambushed by Blake. Who finally gets to ask Docholli where Star One is. Who doesn't know. Yeah. What a let down. But he does know a guy and points Blake in the right direction. Blake then does what he always does and leaves Travis alive because of reasons. They teleport back to Liberator where Blake comments that Avon and Vilabare too quiet. Credits.
Final Thoughts:
I said it before but I'll say it again. In a lot of ways this episode was absurd and I wanted to hate it. It felt a little poorly written, a little gaudy and almost like a noir parody in places. But it was just so much fun. Except for the Avon/Vila fiasco. That just didn't work well at all. But they had to give them something to do since they had traded places with Cally and Jenna. It was nice to see them more involved even if this episode was a little light on action. I still feel like they have much more that they could contribute but baby steps. And seeing Servelan in all her devious cunning, unimpeded by those pesky rebels, was neat. Poor Krantor was completely overmatched in the wits department.
One thing that I appreciate but feel that they didn't quite pull off was Freedom City itself. Not so much the excess and degeneracy. That worked out well. No, how much they tried to play it up as being independent. I know that they try to show that the Federation is growing but doesn't quite have the galaxy under its boot yet but I don't feel that they ever express it as well as they'd like. To me the Federation always seems like an unstoppable juggernaut that will ruthlessly crush anyone they come across. The isolated independent worlds always seem to me like they should have been smashed and not thought about again. The fact that they haven't been absorbed just doesn't ring true to me.
Rating: 3 out of 5.
Memorable Quote:
Servelan about Krantor: He is a despicable animal. When the Federation finally cleans out this cesspit, I shall have that vulpine degenerate eviscerated with a small and very blunt knife.
Krantor about Servelan: One of these days, Toise, I am going to have Supreme Commander high-and-mighty Servalan ravaged until she does not know what month she's in. I'll have her screaming for death. I --
Coffee of the Day:
I'm really digging this Joe's Tall, Dark and Handsome. Although I have been informed as to the irony of that as I am neither tall, dark not overly handsome. Well, my wife might disagree with that last part. But what can I say, I work out. Anyway, drink Joe's. It's delicious.
I said it before but I'll say it again. In a lot of ways this episode was absurd and I wanted to hate it. It felt a little poorly written, a little gaudy and almost like a noir parody in places. But it was just so much fun. Except for the Avon/Vila fiasco. That just didn't work well at all. But they had to give them something to do since they had traded places with Cally and Jenna. It was nice to see them more involved even if this episode was a little light on action. I still feel like they have much more that they could contribute but baby steps. And seeing Servelan in all her devious cunning, unimpeded by those pesky rebels, was neat. Poor Krantor was completely overmatched in the wits department.
One thing that I appreciate but feel that they didn't quite pull off was Freedom City itself. Not so much the excess and degeneracy. That worked out well. No, how much they tried to play it up as being independent. I know that they try to show that the Federation is growing but doesn't quite have the galaxy under its boot yet but I don't feel that they ever express it as well as they'd like. To me the Federation always seems like an unstoppable juggernaut that will ruthlessly crush anyone they come across. The isolated independent worlds always seem to me like they should have been smashed and not thought about again. The fact that they haven't been absorbed just doesn't ring true to me.
Rating: 3 out of 5.
Memorable Quote:
Servelan about Krantor: He is a despicable animal. When the Federation finally cleans out this cesspit, I shall have that vulpine degenerate eviscerated with a small and very blunt knife.
Krantor about Servelan: One of these days, Toise, I am going to have Supreme Commander high-and-mighty Servalan ravaged until she does not know what month she's in. I'll have her screaming for death. I --
Coffee of the Day:
I'm really digging this Joe's Tall, Dark and Handsome. Although I have been informed as to the irony of that as I am neither tall, dark not overly handsome. Well, my wife might disagree with that last part. But what can I say, I work out. Anyway, drink Joe's. It's delicious.