Stardrive

Written by:
Jim Follett
Directed by: David Sullivan Proudfoot
Episode Length: 49'01
Original UK Transmission Date: 19/10/1981
Original UK Ratings: 8.8m
Original UK Chart Position: 65

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Starring: Paul Darrow (Avon), Michael Keating (Vila), Josette Simon (Dayna), Steven Pacey (Tarrant), Glynis Barber (Soolin) and Peter Tuddenham (Orac/Slave).

Guest-Starring: Barbara Shelley (Dr. Plaxton), Damien Thomas (Altan), Peter Sands (Bomber) and Leonard Kavanagh (Napier).

Crew: Terry Forrestal/Neil Dickson (Stunt Co-ordinators), Rosemary Crowson (Production Manager), Frank Pendlebury (Production Associate), Joan Marine/Rena Butterwick (Production Assistants), Christopher Moss (Assistant Floor Manager), Fintan Sheehan (Film Cameraman), John Tellick/Mike Savage (Film Recordists), Sheila S. Tomlinson (Film Editor), Sam Upton (Videotape Editor), Jim Francis/Andy Lazell (Visual Effects Designers), Robin Lobb (Video Effects), Doug Burd (Graphic Designer), Francis Smith (Properties Buyer), Terry Brett (Technical Manager), Dave White (Senior Cameraman), Nigel Finnis (Vision Mixer), Warwick Fielding (Studio Lighting), Malcolm Johnson (Studio Sound), Elizabeth Parker (Special Sound), Nicholas Rocker (Costume Designer), Suzanne Jansen (Make-Up Artist), Dudley Simpson (Music), Terry Nation (Series Deviser), Chris Boucher (Script Editor), Nigel Curzon/Roger Cann (Designers) and Vere Lorrimer (Producer).

Story: The Scorpio is attempting to enter the Federation area of Altern Five in order to obtain some Celcium Ore to make fuel crystals. Attempting to land on a two billion ton asteroid to pass undetected through the system, the ship's drive is damaged.
They contact Dr. Plaxton, a Federation researcher working in star drives on the planet Casper in Sector Five. Her photonic space drive will allow the Scorpio to travel at standard by 15, and she agrees to install it only if they take her with her, and away from the Space Rats that are terrorising her research facility. They do so, though find themselves under attack from three Federation pursuit ships on course 03007. In order to escape, Avon programs the star drive to engage as soon as Plaxton has installed it - killing her in the process.

Scorpio: Scorpio has a crew room with vision screen, which is unseen yet verbally described.

Vila: Vila claims he attended penal colony with a couple of Space Rats, who were "based on an ancient Earth sect of unbelievable viciousness." He also pretends to be drunk in order to get out of work, and to covertly suggest what activity the others should engage in.

Viewpoint:
"Maybe next time you'll listen to reason, if there is a next time, which seems unlikely."

Stardrive starts with some awful exposition, Avon telling the crew what they already knew anyway. When Red Dwarf's writers were running short of ideas, they took the crew out of their large ship and into a small, claustrophobic craft. Sadly, it never quite worked, the repetition and bleakness of the sets boring, and the intended tension dissipating with the over familiar characters. The parallel is obvious. In many ways too, this doesn't even feel like Blake's 7, the Avon/Vila sniping totally devoid of genuine edge, and Tarrant virtually neutered. Where's the drive, the cynicism, the passion?

Written by the same man behind the atrocious Dawn of the Gods, this one has James Follett credited as "Jim" - was the name changed to protect the guilty? Orac is now so much of a lazy writer's device that he has to explain a very obvious viewscreen problem to Avon. Compare this to Redemption, where he's worked out a similar Orac/Viewscreen problem hours before everyone else. Here Soolin (and what exactly is the point of Soolin?) has to do it for him. One interesting (though unlikely) characterisation is Avon and Tarrant banding together in using Vila and Dayna as scapegoats.

The Space Rats ("Don't need a bath� sweats regular") are just too ludicrous to generate any drama, forcing this towards children's programming. It's too light, too silly and Dudley Simpson's music is awful this week. Spit aficionados might like to check out 35'54m in, where Damien Thomas accidentally gobs all over the floor, and Barbara Shelley tries her hardest not to be phased by it. And since when did the Hell's Angels ride pathetic three-wheel buggies? This episode always sticks out in my mind for the final where Avon oversees the death of Plaxton without any moral compunction. Sadly, however, the previous 46 minutes just aren't good enough.

Before the inevitable lowly rating, let's cheer ourselves up with an impressive Avon innuendo from this episode: "I want a close up of his helmet."