Synopsis:
Let's start off by calling a spade a spade. This is a good episode but it's a ripoff of Star Trek's Arena. Blake and his merry band of rebels are exploring an abandoned planet complete ruined statues. Their play time gets cut short when they are attacked by Travis and his squadron of pursuit ships.
We see Travis on his own flight deck speaking with his crew of Mutoids. Mutoids are humans who have been modified. The extent of their modifications is a little ambiguous but we do learn they they've been adapted to live on a plasma serum. In layman's terms they drink blood. Yep. The Federation created Vampires.
Travis comments that the constant patrols have forced the Liberator into this galaxy. Yeah. Space Command Training must be real lax. Not this sector, this solar system or even this quadrant. This galaxy. This begs the question, if they were being pursued so closely and constantly then why did they stop for some sightseeing? Nonetheless he's trapped the Liberator. Outnumbered and running low on energy they decide to ram Travis' ship.
Suddenly everything freezes. Blake and Travis are transported back down to the surface of the planet by a witch and a chick who never learned about bras. They have been watching the battle and decided to intervene.
The duo are implied to be the last survivors of a race that wiped itself out. Somehow they have tremendous powers that are never explained as being psionic, technological, or supernatural in origins.
Travis and Blake are given the worst prop machetes ever and told to go fight it out. Giroc, the old witch, proves to be the trickster of the two and sets Blake up so Travis can finish him off.
Sinofar, the younger one, wipes their memories and resets the contest. This time they decide to up the stakes. Jenna is brought down to help Blake and a Mutoid is brought to help Travis.
After much maneuvering, trap setting, witty comments and some truly dreadful fight scene choreography Blake overcomes Travis and refuses to kill him. Of course somewhere in all that Jenna gets captured by the Vampire.
Blake requests that his ship be given a head start. He mentions that he didn't kill Travis because he would have enjoyed it too much. I think that's a little out of character for this show but hey, they had to keep Travis around as a nemises. The rebels escape while we listen to Travis posture and blame everyone but himself for losing.
Final Thoughts:
The show was enjoyable. It's not the strongest episode but it was fun. As usual the fight scenes were just awful. But they seem to be learning how to work within their special effects budget. As a ripoff it wasn't the most original story but maybe we should just call it an homage.
Jenna finally gets some action scenes but they could have played her strengths up a little more instead of being captured. Everyone else takes a back seat, even Avon. Cally shows some of her skill as a guerrilla fighter through her comments as they watch the events unfold.
Overall it was definitely worth a rewatch. Next up we have Project Avalon. Servelan returns and we get to see how widespread the rebellion is.
Rating: 3.5 out 5
Memorable Quote:
Avon: I have never understood why it should be necessary to become irrational in order to prove that you care, or, indeed, why it should be necessary to prove it at all.
Coffee of the Day:
The beauty of the Keurig system is the ability to sample different brews easily. Today I went with Starbucks French Roast. Talk about bold! Almost had to drink it with a spoon. It. Was. Awesome!
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