Discussion Post for 3.03 - Volcano - General

May 25, 2013 10:33

This is the general discussion post for the episode 3.03 "Volcano". Spoilers for the whole series are allowed here.

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Comments 17

emmzzi May 25 2013, 14:55:22 UTC
firstly I do like the costumes in this episode. Vila's tie front pirate shirt is lovely, Cally looks less painfully thin in her suedette (or towelling?) blue, and Tarrant's studded top is fab. Not SO sure about Dayna's see through jacket. Is Vila trying to look more like pirate captain Del and less like Avon? I think so!

I'm afraid after a May Boosh fest Obsidian makes me think of the goth Obsidian Blackbird McNight so I tittered every time they said it. oops.

I also smiled at Vila frequently not noticing how pretty Dayna is.

Servalan is getting painted broader as the weeks go by. Practically Servalan de Ville.

Once again you'd wonder why they don't keep guns trained on the teleport bay during transit. After Cygnus Alpha it seemed like a good idea to me!

It's nice writing, giving the new kids running about time on their own so we can get to see their operating style. Avon/Cally/Vila don't have a lot to do.

I'm not sure what the moral is. Pacifism never works?

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corvuscornix May 25 2013, 22:43:52 UTC
Vila's tie front pirate shirt is lovely
It is one of my favourites! There's something so jaunty about it, it makes me grin just to see it on him.

Servalan is getting painted broader as the weeks go by
Sadly, yes. She's even becoming irrational, classic super-villain style. First she wants to capture the Liberator, don't bother about the planet. Then she lets the Liberator go, for the moment, because the important thing is that neither of them got the planet. Then she doesn't want it destroyed... No, wait! She wants it COMPLETELY destroyed. Madame President, WOULD YOU PLEASE MAKE UP YOUR MIND.

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emmzzi May 27 2013, 11:18:54 UTC
I am perpetually resisting the urge to do armchair diagnosis on her MH issues

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awdureslf May 29 2013, 18:40:18 UTC
Costumes - really? Vila and Cally look like they've just come from either bed or the gym...

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corvuscornix May 25 2013, 23:00:02 UTC
I find this to be such an odd episode! I mean, it rather amused me (and bemused me, too) but there were so many strange bits ( ... )

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anne_arthur May 26 2013, 18:50:08 UTC
The Push Button and Fall Over one - brilliant!

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emmzzi May 27 2013, 11:20:04 UTC
I know! Cally not counting properly is terrible!!

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awdureslf May 29 2013, 18:41:41 UTC
Telepathy - actually Vila answers Cally as though he hasn't even realised it's a telepathic, not out loud protest in the teleport bay.

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anne_arthur May 26 2013, 19:10:46 UTC
My guess is that Servalan thought that the Liberator would come to Obsidian because she had planted the rumours about Blake being there herself - the way she smirks when she says that they are false suggests that to me. And yes, she is incredibly inconsistent - and also very wasteful of men, ships etc., considering that she has lost half her fleet in the war ( ... )

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emmzzi May 27 2013, 11:20:42 UTC
ooh I do like the "Servalan planned it" theory.

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corvuscornix May 31 2013, 22:29:00 UTC
because she had planted the rumours about Blake being there herself
Yes, that works, too... It doesn't explain how she knew that they hadn't found Blake already, but otoh, if we didn't know about S4 it would work as a foreshadowing of her claim in 'Terminal' of having seen his corpse, i.e. perhaps that has already happened. And perhaps she had reason to believe it was the truth.

...But I still think it would have made for a more interesting episode if Tarrant had been framed for it (and if the real traitor would somehow have turned out to be Orac. :-)

I must admit that I had always thought that Avon didn't tell him about the signals because he was wanting to give him a 50/50 chance of getting himself killed
But in that case he'd be doing it to Dayna as well... :-/

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anne_arthur June 9 2013, 23:14:24 UTC
I think he might well be cold-blooded enough not to mind if it meant that Tarrant went too - at least in some moods.

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awdureslf May 29 2013, 18:39:01 UTC
I find the episode vaguely unmemorable. I mix it up with Horizon and/or Countdown. Perhaps it's the time spent underground that does it. It also a bit disjointed in the middle the story feels over by the time the fleet back off, hut there's still Cally and Orac missing ( ... )

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emmzzi May 30 2013, 16:54:00 UTC
I do like Avon's delivery of that command, very nicely done.

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corvuscornix May 31 2013, 22:33:50 UTC
I'm amused by Cally trying to palm him off on the flight deck and his hanging around instead!
She was being surprisingly rude to him! That too is suggestive to me that she may be under the impression (falsely or otherwise) that he's drunk... (Not holding it against him if he was, btw. I'm assuming that they at least try to keep some kind of shift rotation, so for all we know Vila could be having the equivalent of a well-earned evening off... Which might explain why the others seem so annoyed with him, but not actually angry.)

And the question from last ep about zeln needing to be directly addressed is answered.
Yes, seems like Avon got knocked out unnecessarily ... Though I suppose Tarrant may come to treasure the memory before long. :-)

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