Archaeological Adventuress: Bernice is keen to meet Antonio,
Peter's much discussed but never seen (in more ways than one) boyfriend. What
has Bernice's life come to when it has resorted to her working as nothing more
than a glorified delivery girl? No wonder she seeks out her own mystery to
solve on the way back. She can't resist a distress signal. Having been a deity
herself she can tell you it is not all it is cracked up to be. The
responsibility of having to pull a religion out of her bag for Bel and Lud is
one that requires a great deal of consideration - does anybody have the right
to hand somebody something as identifying as a belied system. Ruth makes a good
point though. If they don't do it and somebody else with no scruples is put in
the same situation they could well take advantage of it an turn themselves into
a deity. If she was told that she was going to die then the only thing she
would want would be to hold her son and tell hi she loves him. Sometimes, just
sometimes the universe is a stranger place than even Bernice can imagine.
Jumping Jack Flash: Still something of a mystery, I have to
admit that he has almost unnoticeably become one of the regulars that I rely
upon to provide a good time these days. I can't wait until we get to learn
Jack's back story because I am sure there is a great deal of worth to be learnt
but for the time being he forms a part of the hugely entertaining trio of
Benny/Ruth/Jack that seems to be the heart of the series now.
Sparkling Dialogue: 'You have to help us remember God.'
'They're asking me to go out there in the dust, do some
digging and make up a religion for them...in a day!'
Great Ideas: Christmas is called Advent on Legion and seems
to involve an awful lot of drinking. The ancient people who once flourished on
are now lost to the myths of legends. As their technology advanced they turned
from their old beliefs angering the spurned deity who paid them back with
devastation. Fires raged until nothing was left on the plant but dust. At least
Bernice comments that legends like this are tenapenny...because it is exactly
what I was thinking! Once they landed and were assaulted by dust I couldn't
help but wonder if this was going to play about with similar ideas to the
Blakes' 7 episode Sand. Lud and Bel are an intriguing mystery, a pair of
perfect humanoids living in Eden who woke up after the Dome cracked to find a
world that was perfectly suited to their survival. The whole notion of Paranormal
Planets, a reality TV show that hops from world to world, Most Haunted
style, and catering for the thrill seekers that believe in the great beyond is
terrifying (that such self delusion should stretch far into the future). The
public are crying out for a new series after their cancellation (thanks to a
fake ectoplasm incident which we don't learn any more details about) and Vonna
Byzantium (the name alone deserves a health hazard) is on the lookout for
fresh, exciting material. I doubt they will find it on Nemeqit. The seven
characteristics of life are movement, respiration, sensitivity, growth,
excretion, nutrition and another 'r' word which eludes Benny for the time
being. Nemeqit is dying, a 2000 year old death and it is using its last breath
to keep Bel and Lud alive. Nemeqit was their mother, the dome acting as the egg
with two baby planets gestating inside until it cracked open and let them out.
Their skin was cracking because they weren't big enough to hold them. They were
planets, after all.
Isn't it Odd: Maybe I'm becoming a bit of a curmudgeon in my
old age (does 33 constitute old age?) but I didn't find the gag about Brax
naming the ship the 'Iverfield' at all amusing. It felt like it was trying
to be cute. The baby planets and reality TV ideas feel like they belong in
completely different stories and fail to gel when they are brought together in
the second half of A Handful of Dust, one failing to have any impact on the
other. It feels like the writer was under running and added the Paranormal
Planets nonsense to pad the story out a bit. It jars horribly with the
highbrow tone of the rest of the piece.
Standout Scene: The reveal of what Bel and Lud are is
actually rather lovely, living planets. It's the long, unmemorable trek to get
there that is the problem. I certainly never guessed what they were, that's for
sure.
Result: I'm not sure what to make of A Handful of Dust. The
keyword that seemed to leap out at me was 'adequate' and it was a story that I
failed to feel any great passion towards. The trouble with the Bernice
Summerfield range is that there have been so many stories now that unless you
are creating something massively original it is difficult not to compare the
adventures to similar ones in the past. There have been plenty of mysteries on
alien planets and this isn't one of the more intriguing ones. I couldn't work
out what was missing, the story seemed to be angling for something cerebral with
its themes of religion and mythology but there didn't seem to be any great
stakes involved in solving the riddle of Bel and Lud beyond not leaving any
loose ends. None of the characters seemed personally involved with what was
going on. The Paranormal Planets angle is amusing for a minute or two
but I didn't find the character of Vonna Byzantium especially funny and the
whole reality TV angle would be utilised with far more skill in the first story
of the Missing Persons box set. Even the realisation wasn't as gripping as I
have come to expect from this range. The direction was sufficient but I felt it
could have been spookier given the ideas (a haunted/dead planet) and an injection of
pace would really have helped move things along. Ruth and Jack are present but
for all we learn about them they are not essential to the story, this would
have played out just as efficiently with Bernice travelling to Nemeqit alone.
Balancing all of these negatives (or adequacies) was a strong cast who make the
most of the material they are given (my pal Peter Sheward is really sweet as
Lud). I want to be kinder to a story that is trying to make you think but it is
a piece that seems torn between offering something intellectual and something
amusing and falls a little short in both areas. Year Zero proved that this
range can jettison the humour and really make you think but A Handful of
Dust doesn't have anywhere near the same focus or shrewdness. Not one of my
favourites: 5/10
2 comments:
Hello
I'm a Dr Who fan and I'm thinking in giving a try to Blake 7 series, I've seen you have been reviewing it too, does it worth a try?
thanks
It's creaky, dated ad frequently embarrassing. It is also dark, twisted and full of great characters. The dialogue is frequently astonishing and there are plenty of surprises on the way. If you can forgive it for the way TV was made at the time then it is a very rewarding experience.
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