This week on Star Maidens, in a script penned by John Lucarotti (who wrote several fine episodes of the original Doctor Who in the 1960s), Liz (Liza Harrow) and her (male) assistant Rudy are held hostage by Octavia pending the release of Shem and Adam on Earth. Fulvia (Judy Geeson) is unhappy when a deal can't be reached with the fugitives from Medusa and Earth's Dr. Evans, but Octavia terminates the mission and decides it is time to return home. "What can you expect of a planet ruled by men?" She asks rhetorically.
Which means that Liz and Rudy get their first (involuntary) peek at the advanced world of Medusa. Once there, the Earthlings are separated and Liz is treated like royalty while Rudy is relegated to the barracks in the men's quarters. "You mustn't concern yourself over a mere male," Fulvia suggests to Liz. "To love a man is to give him power over you. And he will only abuse that."
Rudy finds that the men's quarters are pretty rudimentary, and that the servants spend most of their time playing an extra-terrestrial variation of Chess. "The rules are simple," explains Octavia without cracking the slightest hint of a smile, "The Queen is never captured." Rudy also learns that men once ruled on Medusa, during an epoch that Fulvia refers to as the planet's Dark Ages. Back then, there was nothing "but wars, violence and greed." Since women took over the planet, Medusa has - by contrast - seen centuries of peace and progress.
While Rudy and Liz learn the ways of Medusa, on Earth Shem and Adam state their conditions for returning home. Shem wants a full pardon from Octavia and his old job back (aim high, brother!), while Adam wants no less than equal rights and equal opportunities, a request which Octavia finds "rebellious."
Hoping to reunite with Adam, her former domestic, on Earth, Fulvia steals the Nemesis and plots a trajectory back to Earth, but a Proton Storm is directly on her course, somewhere between "Jupiter and Uranus" (snicker, snicker...). The storm is raging at "destruction point," but Fulvia decides they'll just have to "ride it" (more snickering...).
From Earth, Shem helps Fulvia safely navigate the deadly proton storm, but when Fulvia lands on Earth, Adam still can't bring himself to forgive his mistress, and runs off into the wood like - in the words of my Kathryn - a "three year old."
As opposed to the last episode of Star Maidens I watched ("Nightmare Cannon"), this one isn't overtly high camp, and is played rather seriously. I've noticed that matters seem to pick up dramatically on Medusa, whereas most of the stuff occurring on Earth just seems ridiculous. For instance, why is Dr. Evans - an egghead - negotiating with alien leaders? Wouldn't the British government like to be in on that action? Kathryn was more concerned with technical aspects of the episode: during a scene involving Evans gazing into a scanner/communication device, he, Shem and Adam all seemed to be looking in different places. Oopsy.
Which means that Liz and Rudy get their first (involuntary) peek at the advanced world of Medusa. Once there, the Earthlings are separated and Liz is treated like royalty while Rudy is relegated to the barracks in the men's quarters. "You mustn't concern yourself over a mere male," Fulvia suggests to Liz. "To love a man is to give him power over you. And he will only abuse that."
Rudy finds that the men's quarters are pretty rudimentary, and that the servants spend most of their time playing an extra-terrestrial variation of Chess. "The rules are simple," explains Octavia without cracking the slightest hint of a smile, "The Queen is never captured." Rudy also learns that men once ruled on Medusa, during an epoch that Fulvia refers to as the planet's Dark Ages. Back then, there was nothing "but wars, violence and greed." Since women took over the planet, Medusa has - by contrast - seen centuries of peace and progress.
While Rudy and Liz learn the ways of Medusa, on Earth Shem and Adam state their conditions for returning home. Shem wants a full pardon from Octavia and his old job back (aim high, brother!), while Adam wants no less than equal rights and equal opportunities, a request which Octavia finds "rebellious."
Hoping to reunite with Adam, her former domestic, on Earth, Fulvia steals the Nemesis and plots a trajectory back to Earth, but a Proton Storm is directly on her course, somewhere between "Jupiter and Uranus" (snicker, snicker...). The storm is raging at "destruction point," but Fulvia decides they'll just have to "ride it" (more snickering...).
From Earth, Shem helps Fulvia safely navigate the deadly proton storm, but when Fulvia lands on Earth, Adam still can't bring himself to forgive his mistress, and runs off into the wood like - in the words of my Kathryn - a "three year old."
As opposed to the last episode of Star Maidens I watched ("Nightmare Cannon"), this one isn't overtly high camp, and is played rather seriously. I've noticed that matters seem to pick up dramatically on Medusa, whereas most of the stuff occurring on Earth just seems ridiculous. For instance, why is Dr. Evans - an egghead - negotiating with alien leaders? Wouldn't the British government like to be in on that action? Kathryn was more concerned with technical aspects of the episode: during a scene involving Evans gazing into a scanner/communication device, he, Shem and Adam all seemed to be looking in different places. Oopsy.
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