Cult TV Episode Guides

[HawkMan]

S3 E2. Powerplay

Aboard Liberator, Dayna and Avon are captured by Federation soldiers led by Captain Del Tarrant. They have been unable to control the Liberator, since Zen will not recognise their commands and remains on a search and recovery mission of the crew. Avon tries to hide his identity so that he won't be forced to turn over control of Zen. After a struggle the two are imprisoned in a cabin. Avon breaks the lock and a guard is found dead outside. Avon learns from Zen that the other Liberator crew are accounted for, but at different locations and Zen is trying to get to them. A second guard is found murdered and Tarrant reveals to Avon that he is the killer. Tarrant is actually a wanted resistance agent posing as a Federation officer. He then helps Avon take back the Liberator. Elsewhere, Vila is injured and stranded on the planet Chenga where local natives help nurse his wounds until a group of hunters called "Hitechs" capture him and take him back to their base. Cally, aboard a Chengan rescue ship, is taken there as well along with Servalan, who brokers a deal with the Chengans to let her go. Vila and Cally are unknowingly taken for organ harvesting, but are teleported aboard Liberator before they can be killed.
Zen has revealed Blake and Jenna have survived the intergalactic war but their whereabouts are unclear so for the meantime Avon is the Liberator leader, Dayna and Tarrant join the team.

 

 

Episode Quotes 

Vila: It's not that I'm I coward or anything, it's just that I have a very low pain threshold. Hardly a threshold at all, actually.

---

---

Avon is trying to pick the lock to their cell]

Dayna: Do you want me to try it?

Avon: Are you any good with locks?

Dayna: No. But then neither are you by the look of it.

Avon: You should never judge by appearances.

Dayna: I don't. I judge by results, and you're not getting any.

Avon: Wrong again. [Opens the door]

---

(Avon and Dayna find a guard with a knife in his back)

Avon: That's a difficult way to commit suicide.

Dayna: Perhaps he was cleaning it and it went off.

---

Tarrant: Oh, don't blame yourself.

Avon: I'll try not to.

Tarrant: I imagine you've been under considerable stress.

Avon: I had hoped for a more inspiring epitaph.

---

Avon: That one is Cally; I shall introduce her more formally when she wakes up. This one is Vila; I should really introduce him now, he's at his best when he's unconscious.

---

Cally (to Vila): Given the choice, would you rather be a load of spare parts down there?

Avon: Or one spare part up here?

 

Edited April 4 by HawkMan

[HawkMan]

S3 E3. Volcano

Avon and Tarrant seek out a base of operations on the volcanic planet Obsidian. Dayna and Tarrant teleport down to contact the pacifist inhabitants. However their leader Hower says none would be willing to help. His son betrays their pacifist ideals by contacting a remnant Federation battle group commanded by none other than Servalan herself. Servalan devises an elaborate plan to capture the Liberator in orbit above the planet with a sneak attack. Meanwhile, Federation soldiers teleport aboard with bracelets stolen from Tarrant and Dayna. They try to take over the ship, but Avon covertly orders Zen to attack the battle group as they close in for capture. The battle group retreats and the soldiers flee back to the planet but steal Orac and kidnap Cally in the process. Meanwhile, Tarrant tries to convince the pacifists to help them or else face slavery under Federation control, but Hower is confident that their threat to self-destruct their own world with a nuclear device will prevent any invasion attempt. Tarrant and Dayna rescue Cally and Orac and return to the Liberator. Servalan's battle fleet has regrouped and attacks Obsidian, but Hower detonates the nuclear device and destroys the planet.

 

Episode Quotes 

Cally: And what about Dayna? Don't you trust her either?

Vila: Dayna's a… different case entirely.

Cally: Well, she's pretty, for one thing.

Vila: Pretty? Yes, I suppose she is. I hadn't really noticed.

Avon: We've seen you not really noticing. Frequently.

---

Mori: I ask the questions. So, this is your magic computer, Orac, isn't it?

Orac: I assume your use of the word magic means that I am incomprehensible to you. While that may well be the case, your use of the word is inappropriate.

Mori: What?

Orac: Your use of the word magic is inappropriate. I am simply the sum of the thousands of data stores which are available to me.

---

(Vila and Cally are unable to contact Avon on the surface)

Vila: Communications blindspot… or maybe he landed in the volcano.

Cally: No, I think he's all right.

Vila: Yes, of course he's all right. There isn't a volcano alive that would dare to swallow Avon.

Cally: Vila, be quiet.

Vila: He's cold enough to put out the fire, anyway.

 

 

Edited April 3 by HawkMan

[HawkMan]

S3 E4. Dawn Of The Gods

Curious about an anomalous black hole that lacks x-ray emissions, Orac takes control of the Liberator and sends the ship into it. Certain they will be killed, the crew tries to stop Orac until Liberator suddenly stops in a dark void. There, Cally's mind is contacted by a mythical being named Thaarn. Vila goes outside to investigate and finds the ship has landed among a graveyard of other spaceships. He is soon attacked by a machine designed to extract the Herculanium alloy of which much of the Liberator's hull is comprised. The rest of the crew head out discovering they are in fact on an artificial planet called Krandor and they are soon taken prisoner by a man called the Caliph and set to work as slaves. Meanwhile, Cally is taken before the mysterious Thaarn who wishes to share rule of the universe with her. Orac is left alone aboard the Liberator and is able to prevent its destruction, while Cally deceives Thaarn and damages the energy control device that was disabling their technology. Avon and Tarrant convince a man named Groff to reverse the gravity field holding the Liberator in place, allowing its escape and ultimately destroying Krandor. However Thaarn also escapes in a spacecraft.

 

Episode Quotes 

 

Tarrant: One day, Avon, I may have to kill you.

Avon (smiles): It has been tried.

---

Vila (Waking up with Avon looking down at him): I'm in Hell... and it's full of Avons.

---

Orac: Fascinating. Fascinating! A thousand years here would be too short.

---

Tarrant: [Holding up his index finger] Groff, what's that?

Groff: A finger?

Tarrant: A finger. And as you can see, it is better designed for pressing buttons than holding writing implements.

 

Edited April 1 by HawkMan

[HawkMan]

S3 E5. The Harvest Of Kairos

Servalan once again tries to ambush and take the Liberator, but Tarrant predicts her tactics and manages to outwit her battle plan. Speaking out against Servalan's incompetence is Jarvik, a subordinate construction worker who believes that as a man who is non-reliant on computerised battle planning, he has better intuition for hunting down someone like Tarrant, who was a former crew mate in the Space Command. Intrigued by the concept, Servalan allows him try. Meanwhile, Tarrant decides to raid a Federation freighter carrying valuable Kairopan crystal, but he heads right into Jarvik's trap and the Liberator is captured. The crew of the Liberator are left marooned on Kairos, a planet where nobody survives after the short crystal harvest season. Most impressed, Servalan offers Jarvik command of the Liberator, but he says he has no interest. Servalan instead offers that he rule the Federation with her, providing he can prove himself worthy against Tarrant man-to-man. He must go to Kairos and retrieve the teleport bracelets of the crewmembers. On Kairos, Avon soon finds an ancient and barely functional space module that offers the only chance at escape. Jarvik arrives, fights Tarrant for the bracelets, and returns to the Liberator victorious. However, Tarrant launches the space capsule and, using a deception mechanism devised by Avon, convinces Zen and Servalan that they have a superior craft and demands their surrender. Jarvik urges that they ignore the computers, but he is killed and Servalan leaves by teleport, allowing the Liberator to be regained uncontested.

 

 

Episode Quotes 

Servalan: Jarvik? Of course. Jarvik. Jarvik, the construction worker. What was it now? Any fool could take the Liberator with three pursuit ships. Well, the Liberator will soon be diffusing itself throughout the galaxy as so many billion split particles. So, regrettably, we shall never know. Thanks to the folly of your president, who with her aides and her technical advisers, her battle computers and her captains, extravagantly disposed herself to use four pursuit ships. And yet any fool could have done it with three. Perhaps this particular fool will tell her how. (pause) Well? Have you nothing to say to Servalan?

Jarvik: Woman, you're beautiful. (grabs and kisses Servalan)

Servalan: Guards! Take this primitive to the punishment cells! Move!

---

Servalan: You say any fool could take The Liberator with three pursuit ships. Could you?

Jarvik: I could take her with one. But, as a man, Tarrant is worthy of honour. Three would not insult him.

Edited April 1 by HawkMan

[HawkMan]

S3 E6. The City At The Edge Of The World

Arriving at the planet Kezarn, Tarrant sends Vila down to meet a contact who would supply them with crystals needed for Liberator's weapons, but once down he is instead captured by a notorious outlaw named "Bayban the Butcher" and his accomplice Kerril. Vila is then taken to the ruins of an ancient city where Bayban forces him to open an impenetrable door to an area that a local native named Norl says "contains this world and the next", but which Bayban believes leads to a vast treasure. Realising they've been set up, the other Liberator crew teleport down to find Vila. Meanwhile, Vila gets the door open and he and Kerill step through, only to be sent to a room on an ancient spaceship via an advanced matter transporter. Eventually they discover the ship had landed on an Eden-like world and the transport machine was built so the inhabitants of Kezarn could one day colonise it. Norl later tells Vila that he fulfilled the prophecy that a "clever" man would help lead the way for his people. Vila declines to leave with Kerril for the new planet and narrowly escapes being killed by an enraged Bayban, who destroys the city in a brutish attempt to break down the door.

 

 

  

Episode Quotes 

Vila: All my life, for as long as I can remember, there's been people like you.

Tarrant: And I thought I was unique.

Vila: You're not even unusual, Tarrant.

---

Avon (on Vila): I don't know how you persuaded him to go, Tarrant.

Tarrant: I appealed to his better nature.

Avon: He hasn't got one. Leave him alone in future.

Tarrant: Or?

Avon: Do you want me to threaten you?

Tarrant: Why not. I haven't had a good laugh in ages.

Avon: Sensible. You could die laughing.

---

Cally: Why are you suddenly so protective towards Vila?

Avon: He's irritating, but he's useful. We can easily replace a pilot, but a talented thief is rare.

---

Cally (on Vila): He was terrified. So terrified he might just get himself killed, because it's easier than going on.

Tarrant: I'll take that risk.

Cally: It isn't yours to take.

---

Vila: I'll get you for this, Tarrant! I'll tear your arm off and beat you to death with the wet end! I'll get you for this!

---

Bayban the Butcher: I may have to get rid of Kerril. Be a pity; she's the best gun hand I ever had, but, ah, she's got no team spirit, you know. And you can't run an outfit like mine without team spirit.

Vila: What outfit is it exactly, if you don't mind me asking?

Bayban the Butcher: Oh, I do mind you asking. I mind very much!

---

Bayban the Butcher: You don't know who I am.

Vila: Absolutely not, no idea. You needn't worry about it, I won't ask any questions.

Bayban the Butcher: A small-time thief, and failed revolutionary, and you don't know who I am?

Vila: Ah. Well, if you put it like that, of course I know who you are. You're -- you're, ah --

Bayban the Butcher: Bayban.

Vila: Bayban, yes.

Bayban the Butcher: Bayban the Beserker. Bayban the Butcher.

Vila: Bayban the Butcher . . . you're Bayban the Butcher! Oh, no.

Bayban the Butcher: That's better.

Vila: You're top of the Federation's Most Wanted list -- after Blake.

Bayban the Butcher: What do you mean, "after Blake"? I was working my way up that list before he crept out of his creche. WORKING my way up. I didn't take any political shortcuts.

Vila: I know, I know. You have a reputation for straightforward mayhem that's second to none. I've been an admirer of yours for, um, well, for as long as I can remember. Well maybe not that long, I mean, uh, you're not that old, are you? But, uh, then again, you did start very young, didn't you? I think I feel sick.

Bayban the Butcher: My mother [Sees the look on Vila's face] Oh yes, I had a mother; truly evil person. My mother used to say "Babe" -- she called me Babe -- "babe", she said, "Live every hour as though it were your last." I'll be back in an hour.

---

Avon: The point is that Vila won't trust you whereas he will trust Cally and me.

Tarrant: Cally yes, but why you?

Avon: Because he knows what I think about him.

Tarrant: You despise him.

Avon: Right. But at least I'm consistent about it.

---

Sherm: You've twenty-five minutes left.

Vila: Who told you that?

Sherm: Bayban:

Vila: I didn't think you could have worked it for yourself... Joke! Just a joke.

---

Vila: I don't believe in suicide, it stunts your growth!

---

Vila: [Sees a corpse decayed to a skeleton] Lost a lot of weight, hasn't he?

---

Avon: [Pointing his gun at Bayban] Bloodthirsty little maniac aren't you? Where's Vila?

Bayban: I don't know what you're talking about.

[Tarrant and Dayna enter]

Tarrant: Hello, Bayban. I heard a rumour you were dead. Funny that, seems to be true.

Bayban: Do I know you?

Tarrant: That's the trouble with celebrities. They never remember the little people.

Avon: Where is Vila?!

Bayban: Who?

Avon: How would you like me to let some fresh air into that rancid little brain of yours?

Bayban: Go ahead, you'll be famous, "The man who killed Bayban."

Cally: [Pointing her gun at Bayban] I'd quite like to be famous too. How about "The woman that killed Bayban"?

Dayna: [Pointing her gun at Bayban] Or better still, "The girl who killed Bayban"?

---

Kerril: If you think what happened in here gives you the right to treat me like some sort of...

Vila: Treat you like some sort of what? I haven't treated you like any sort of anything.

---

Cally: Vila, we thought we'd lost you!

Avon: …but every silver lining has a cloud.

Vila: I'd say you'd got that wrong, except I know you didn't.

---

Kerril: Are you coming with me?

Vila: I can't.

Kerril: Why not? It's a chance to be free, you saw that place, it's beautiful.

Vila: But there's nothing there worth stealing!

---

[Vila has left Kerril]

Vila: I think I've just made the biggest mistake of my life.

Orac: In the light of your previous record, that seems unlikely. I would predict that there are far greater mistakes waiting to be made by someone with your obvious talent for it.

Vila: Shut up, Orac. [Switched Orac Off] Still, it's a comforting thought. Let's hope they've all got good legs!

 

Edited April 1 by HawkMan

[HawkMan]

S3 E7. Children Of Auron

Servalan unleashes a deadly plague upon Cally's home world of Auron in another elaborate scheme to lure the Liberator for capture. Cally receives a psychic distress call from her twin sister, Zelda and the rest of the Liberator crew rush to help stop the deadly disease. At the same time, Servalan wants to use the Aurons' cloning technology to create clones in her likeness. In a side plot, two of Servalan's officers, Deral and Ginka, the latter having been passed over for promotion by the other, compete for Servalan's favour. Ginka then uses the current situation with the Auronar to eliminate his rival, but unfortunately for him he ends up destroying Servalan's babies! With the inevitable consequences.

 

 

 

Episode Quotes 

Cally: Why Earth?

Tarrant: Why not?

Vila: The Himalayas are quite tall at this time of year.

---

Vila: And the Aurons punished you for your defiance, didn't they?

Tarrant: Were you exiled?

Cally: Yes. Why d'you imagine I've never gone back? (Looking at Avon) Affection for him?

---

Tarrant: Democracy. You're outvoted, Avon. Three to two.

Vila: Four to one. I like to stay with the winners whenever possible.

---

Avon: The trouble with the people of Auron is that they all suffer from a superiority complex.

Vila: You should get on with them then.

Avon: Too good to become involved with the rest of humanity.

Cally: That's not true. Just because we happen to be neutral...

Avon: [Interuppting] Neutrality or pacifism: it all boils down to the same gutless inanity.

---

Tarrant: This should snap her out of it.

Vila: That stuff would snap an asteroid out of orbit!

---

Avon: [Over communicator to Vila] Liberator? [No response] Idiot! Wake up!

---

Vila: They stand as much chance as a bubble in a black hole.

 

Edited April 1 by HawkMan

[HawkMan]

S3 E8 RUMOURS OF DEATH 

On Earth, Avon allows himself to be captured and imprisoned for five days – all in an elaborate scheme to get close to the vicious Federation interrogator named Shrinker whom he believes killed his former lover Anna Grant. When the others come to rescue him, Avon abducts Shrinker who reveals that another agent, Bartholomew, who under Servalan's orders infiltrated Avon's criminal network, may be Anna's real killer. The only lead Avon gets regarding the identity of Bartholomew is that only "Chesku" and Servalan would know of his identity. Meanwhile, Servalan's new presidential palace is infiltrated by resistance forces led by Sula, Chesku's wife, who betrays and kills him. Avon tracks down Servalan and finds her imprisoned by the resistance forces. Sula turns out to be Anna, still alive, and Avon concludes that there's only one way she could have escaped.

Episode Quotes 

Shrinker: Why? I don't even ... I never saw him before. What have I ever done to him?

Dayna: You killed someone he loved.

Vila: And there aren't many of them about. Avon's not a very lovable man, in case you hadn't noticed.

Shrinker: Who was it?

(Tarrant, Dayna and Vila begin to circle Shrinker)

Tarrant: Did they give you names when they gave you your orders?

Dayna: And even if they did, could you put a face to the name? One screaming face among so many screaming faces?

Vila: Did they beg, Shrinker? Did they plead? No, Shrinker, please, Shrinker?

Tarrant: Can you remember how they cried, what they cried? Can you separate the voices now?

Dayna: Or is it just one long, satisfying scream?

---

Cally: Stop it! Stop it! All of you! Leave him alone.

Tarrant: He's an animal, Cally.

Cally: Yes, and it's contagious, isn't it?

 

[Avon kneels next to Servalan, who has been beaten and chained to a wall in the basement of her Presidential estate, by the rebels who overthrew her earlier]

Servalan: I might have known you were behind all this.

Avon: You flatter me.

Servalan: Go to hell, Avon.

Avon: Probably.

---

Avon: What's the matter with you, Servalan? I'm offering to set you free.

Tarrant: You're offering to let her go. That's not the same thing.

Avon: What are you talking about?

Tarrant: I'm talking about the President of the Terran Federation, Ruler of the High Council, Lord of the Inner and Outer Worlds, High Admiral of the Galactic Fleets, Lord General of the Six Armies, and Defender of the Earth.

Avon: Get to the point.

Tarrant: The point is, that a few dozen guerrillas walked in, killed her guards, beat her up, and then chained her up. You want to set her free? Convince her that it didn't happen.

---

Avon: [talking to a defeated Servalan] Is that it? Have you finally lost your nerve?

[Avon grabs Servalan by the neck, forcing her to look at him]

Avon: Have you murdered your way to the wall of an underground room?

Servalan: [looking defiantly at Avon] It's an old wall, Avon. It waits. I hope you don't die before you reach it.

Edited April 1 by HawkMan

[HawkMan]

S3 E9. Sarcophagus

The Liberator comes across a derelict alien ship and Avon, Vila and Cally teleport over to investigate. They find the ship has only one deck and contains a corpse and a strange artefact. After Cally accidentally triggers a self-destruct, all three hurry back to the Liberator and bring the artefact with them. The device then unleashes a ghostly presence that stalks the ship. It takes over Cally's mind sending her into unconsciousness, then shuts down both Zen and Orac and drains the ship's power systems. All the while the rest of the crew experience strange poltergeist-like happenings and finally confront the spirit, who assumes Cally's likeness. They then look for a means to destroy the entity before it enslaves them all.

 

 

 

 

 

Episode Quotes 

Tarrant: Ah, Cally - I've been going over that theory of yours about the teleport bracelets boosting each other. As you're aware, it doesn't make sense.

Cally: You have a better one?

Tarrant: There was some kind of power source on that alien ship that you were telepathically receptive to. When the teleport failed, you were able to use that source to get yourself out, and to get Avon and Vila out with you.

Cally (sarcastically): I seem to be more clever than I thought I was!

Tarrant: What I really want to know is why you're being so bashful. (serious) What are you hiding, and why?

Avon: Shut up, Tarrant.

Tarrant (angrily): Did you say something to--

Avon: I said, shut up. I apologise for not realising you are deaf.

---

Tarrant (to Avon): When you found me on the Liberator, it was quite a blow. And every time you look at me it hits you harder, doesn't it? I'm faster than you and I'm sharper. As far as it goes, I've made a success of my life. But you? The only big thing you ever tried to do you failed at. The greatest computer swindle of all time… but you couldn't quite pull it off, could you? If it hadn't been for Blake you'd be rotting on Cygnus Alpha right now. No, you failed, Avon. But I win. Not just at games. At life.

Avon: You also talk too much.

Tarrant: Be thankful I'm restricting myself to talk.

Avon: Well now, that's fascinating. You mean you can do something else?

---

Tarrant: Avon...do you want to forget I said all that?

Avon: It wasn't particularly memorable.

---

Dayna: We need sleep, all of us. Even you need sleep, Tarrant.

Tarrant (sarcastically): And tomorrow, everything will look different.

Avon: If it does, you can assume you're on the wrong ship.

---

Alien/Cally: I thought you were the clever one. You're a fool, like Tarrant! The pain Tarrant is experiencing ... visualise that pain and much more. You're as close to death as you have ever been. Think about human death, Avon, irrevocable...

Avon: I have thought about it, what's keeping you?

Alien/Cally: What did you say?

Avon: You claim you can kill me. You'd better get on with it. Make me die. There's nothing else you can make me do.

 

Edited April 1 by HawkMan

[HawkMan]

S3 E10. Ultraworld

The Liberator comes across a mysterious artificial planet that Cally is drawn to and the rest of the crew chase after her; except for Vila who stays behind with Orac. The others find the world to be one massive computer system ran by a group of aliens called the Ultra who wipe the minds of trespassers and turns them into slave "menials", or processes them for food. Cally and Avon are captured and the Ultra who, impressed with the knowledge the two offer, download their minds into storage cells that Tarrant and Dayna try to get back. Meanwhile, the Ultra force the Liberator to land in a hangar and tap into the computer system. Vila is then encouraged by Orac to recite numerous tongue-twisters and nonsense sayings, all the while, Orac feeds the monologues into the Ultraworld computer—a massive brain at the centre of the complex. The riddles overload the brain's logic systems; the brain shuts down, thus allowing the others to make their escape.

  

Episode Quotes 

Avon: Either it is dead or there is a total radio blackout. I wonder what they have to hide.

Dayna: I'm not keen on finding out.

Tarrant: This time, neither am I.

Avon: Don't you find it interesting?

Dayna: You'll be telling us next 'We can learn a lot from whoever built it'

Avon: Well we certainly have nothing to teach them unless it's how to remain ignorant. What do you think Cally? Shall we stay and observe or shall we scuttle off with our closed minds intact?

---

Tarrant: Touch of conscience?

Avon: More like insanity. You really believe in taking risks, don't you?

Tarrant: Calculated ones.

Avon: Calculated on what? Your fingers?

---

Avon: Wait a minute. Germanium circuitry is clever stuff, but to the best of my knowledge it cannot think for itself nor can it reproduce its own structure.

Ultra 1: You have an astute mind, Avon.

Avon: If you say so.

Ultra 2: There is another process involved: Nucleoplasmic absorption.

Tarrant (sarcastically): Oh, well, that's a relief. I thought it might be something complicated.

Ultra 1 (puzzled): The process is extremely complex.

Avon: Ignore him. That's what passes for "wit" on board our ship.

---

Dayna (after the aliens have offered them their freedom in exchange for recording the "human bonding ceremony"): Tarrant, I think we should accept the offer. Then we can return to the Liberator.

Tarrant: You can't be serious. You don't believe what they say?

Dayna: We have to believe if we hope to survive. Kiss me.

Tarrant (surprised): What?

Dayna: I said, kiss me. (leans closer to Tarrant) Come on. I can't be all that repulsive. (they kiss)

---

Vila: Come out, come out, wherever you are... help... I'm being got at...

---

Avon: Tell me, Orac, how precisely did Vila confuse and distract Ultraworld?

Orac: Quite simple. With a series of random and illogical brain impulses. The planet was programmed to assimilate orderly coherent thought patterns. Anything else confused it.

Vila: Eh?

Avon: You mean Vila spouted nonsense.

Vila: I resent that!

Avon: Oh, I wouldn't if I were you. Orac is saying that a logical, rational intelligence is no match for yours.

 

Edited April 1 by HawkMan

[HawkMan]

S3 E11. Moloch

The crew of the Liberator has followed Servalan's ship to the edge of known space where it suddenly disappears from view. The crew discover it has slipped behind an invisibility screen that hides a planet called Sardos whose inhabitants have advanced matter replication technology. Tarrant and Vila manage to sneak down to the planet by teleporting aboard an incoming freighter piloted by a drunken crew of fugitives. Meanwhile, Servalan has arrived under the invitation of Section Leader Grose, who plans to replicate Servalan's cruiser into a fleet of warships. This would be good news for Servalan, however she quickly learns Grose has shifted loyalties and now serves a mysterious intelligence called "Moloch" which has its own plans for the control and rebuilding of the Federation.

 

Episode Quotes 

Vila: I tell you, she's mad! She's finally gone over the top! Well, that's an interesting viewpoint, Vila. Yes, isn't it? Came from talking to myself. Fascinating. And do you have any other theories about... paranoids?

---

(Tarrant threatens Vila at gunpoint)

Vila: If it comes down to that, Tarrant, there isn't really a lot of point, is there?

---

Doran: Ahh, my problem was always women.

Vila: You like them?

Doran: No.

---

(The Liberator is being attacked by three of Servalan's ships)

Dayna: Do we fight?

Avon: Certainly not, we run.

Edited April 1 by HawkMan

[HawkMan]

S3 E12. Death- Watch

The planets Teal and Vandor are locked in an endless war whose battles are decided periodically by representatives from both worlds fighting to the death in one-on-one combat. Their battleground is a computer-simulated environment on a neutral planet, which is vidcast throughout the galaxy as a popular form of entertainment called Death-Watch. On the Liberator, Vila convinces the others to tune in and watch the latest combat, where Tarrant discovers that one of the fighters is his estranged brother Deeta, a skilled gunman who is fighting on behalf of Teal. When Avon learns that Servalan has been selected as the neutral arbiter, he suspects foul play, and Tarrant tries to warn Deeta. However, Tarrant arrives late; Deeta has already begun the match with his opponent Vinni, who manages to gun him down. Tarrant investigates how Deeta could have been defeated so easily, and Orac determines that Vinni is not a human, but a sophisticated android. To prove this, Tarrant decides to face Vinni in a revenge match over Deeta's death.

Episode Quotes 

 

Avon: Put it on the main screen.

Orac: I must point out that this is a gross misuse and an absurd waste of my capabilities.

Avon: Put it on the main screen.

Orac: I will do it only under protest.

Avon: You can do it any way you like, just so long as you put it on the main screen.

Vila: Couldn't you re-design him as something useful, like a drinks dispenser? Or an empty space! I think he'd look really good as an empty space.

---

Vila (on Servalan): Her idea of chivalry is never to shoot a blind man in the back.

Dayna (pointedly, given that that's exactly what Servalan did to Dayna's father): That's very true, Vila.

Vila: Wonderful. And for my next trick I shall swallow my other foot.

---

Servalan: I don't think of you as an enemy, Avon. I see you as a... future friend.

---

Avon: Tarrant. I presume you have no tedious scruples about cheating and lying.

Tarrant: None at all.

Avon: (smiles) Oh good.

Edited April 1 by HawkMan

[HawkMan]

S3 E13. Terminal

Without explanation, Avon follows a series of secret messages to the artificial planet Terminal—an experiment, abandoned 411 years previously, to study the accelerated evolution of life on Earth. While en route, the Liberator passes through a strange cloud of fluidic particles that, unbeknownst to the crew, begin to eat through the hull. Arriving at Terminal, Avon, who refuses to divulge what is going on, teleports down alone. Tarrant and Cally quickly follow to see what he is up to. Avon soon comes upon an underground base where he is captured by guards, but he later escapes and finds Blake in a medical recovery room on life support. In orbit, Vila and Dayna deal with the Liberator as the ship begins to fall apart. On the planet, Avon eventually discovers Servalan is behind the messages in an elaborate ruse to get her hands on the Liberator. She agrees to hand over Blake for the Liberator, but does not know the ship is doomed.

 

 

 

Episode Quotes 

Tarrant: How do we approve of something we don't know about?

Avon: You could try trusting me.

Tarrant: All right, Avon, we'll try trusting you. Just don't expect us to make a habit of it.

---

Tarrant: Oh, come on, Avon. Look, we've been through a lot together. We've always been at risk; we've always taken chances. But we've survived because we worked as a team. So what is it you have to do that makes this so different?

Avon: This happens to be my problem. None of you are involved.

Dayna: But we are involved. However much you like to pretend you're a loner, you're not really. We depend on each other; I wouldn't be alive now if it wasn't for you, and I'm sure that's true of everybody else. So why not trust us?

Vila: Look, you don't have to give reasons. You don't even have to explain. Whatever it is, we'll back you up.

Cally: Or, if you want one of your own cold, rational explanations, we can't afford to lose you.

Avon (poker-faced): Sentiment breeds weakness. Let it get a hold of you and you are dead.

---

Avon: One last thing. I don't need any of you. I needed the Liberator to bring me here so I had no choice but to bring you along, but this is as far as you go. I don't want you with me, I don't want you following me. Understand this: anyone who does follow me, I'll kill them.

---

(Tarrant and Cally are teleporting down despite Avon's orders)

Vila: What're you going to do if he spots you?

Tarrant: Duck.

---

Blake: It must have been so dull, having no-one to argue with.

Avon: Well now, there were times when your simple-minded certainties might have been refreshing.

Blake: Careful, Avon! Your sentiment is showing.

 

Edited April 1 by HawkMan

[HawkMan]

SERIES 4

S4 E1. Rescue

With the Liberator destroyed, the crew are stranded on the mysterious planet Terminal. The only means of escape lies in Servalan's ship, which she has booby-trapped. Cally is killed in the explosion, the detonation also destroys the underground base and begins triggering chain reactions through the entire planet. Soon, a ship called Scorpio arrives, piloted by a salvage operator named Dorian. With moments before the whole planet explodes, Avon and Tarrant force Dorian at gunpoint to get them off-world. Dorian takes them back to his elaborate underground base on the planet Xenon, where they meet his partner Soolin. Once settled in, Dorian sabotages the team's weapons and then reveals his plans for Orac to help build a working teleport system for his ship. He also holds another dark secret: an immortal connection to a life-draining entity that lurks in the caverns below his base, to which he intends to sacrifice the Liberator crew.

Episode Quotes 

Dayna: Don't you ever get tired of being right?

Avon: Only with the rest of you being wrong.

---

Tarrant: Vila rescued me?

Avon: You were injured trying to rescue Cally. He rescued you. Suddenly I am hip deep in heroes.

---

Avon: Stay here.

Vila: You wouldn't like to leave the gun?

Avon: That's right, I wouldn't.

---

Dorian: The name's Dorian. And in case you hadn't noticed, I just saved your friends' lives.

Avon: You know what they say: no good deed goes unpunished.

---

Tarrant: [as the surface of the planet Terminal is being rocked by earthquakes and volcanic eruptions] All pilot systems are green. Count is two minutes and running. Better strap down tight, I haven't lifted these into orbit too often.

Dayna: How often?

Tarrant: ...once.

Vila: When was that?

Tarrant: ...in about one minute and forty five seconds.

Avon: If we last that long.

---

Dayna: Cheer up, Vila. You've got a lot of very bright associates too.

Vila: Oh yeah? Name six.

---

Avon: [pointing his gun at an unconscious Dorian] Wake up now or sleep for good, the choice is yours.

---

Dorian: You're going to kill me anyway. Sooner or later.

Avon: You would prefer it sooner?

---

Dorian: Everything has its price, Avon. You have to decide whether you want to pay it or not. That's all.

Vila: Well, I don't believe in paying.

Dorian: You mean you're here by choice?

---

Avon: He who trusts can never be betrayed, only mistaken. Cally once told me that that was a saying amongst her people.

Dorian: Cally?

Avon: Cally was murdered. So were most of her people.

---

[Dorian has found Orac to be uncooperative]

Dorian: Who designed it?

Avon: His name was Ensor.

Dorian: I should have known. He was never a gracious man. Orac reflects his personality.

Avon: Orac was the culmination of his life's work. [Avon removes Orac's key] He bequeathed it to an associate of mine who bequeathed it to me.

---

Vila: [Drinking a glass of Dorian's wine] You know, Avon may be right about getting out of here. There's something very suspicious about a man who keeps his booze under lock and key.

---

Vila: I'm going to give up drinking, you know. It'll be pink asteroids next.

 

 

 

Edited April 1 by HawkMan

[HawkMan]

S4 E2. Power

With Dorian dead and Soolin missing, the rest of the crew find themselves trapped in the underground base with the only means of escape, the freighter Scorpio, locked behind an impenetrable security door that Vila cannot open. Matters are complicated further when Vila discovers a "nuclear compression bomb" planted by Dorian and the timer is counting down. If triggered, the bomb will create a short-lived black hole large enough to destroy the base. Meanwhile, on the surface of the planet, Avon is captured by the Hommicks, a native tribe of men who are in the midst of a gender war with the nearly extinct female tribe called the Seska who possess telekinetic powers enhanced by a rare dynamon crystal. Eventually, the last two Seska help disable the bomb, but once the door is opened, one Seska, Pella, tries to take the Scorpio for herself, killing the other in the process. Avon, with help from Orac, uses the dead Seska's crystal to complete Dorian's teleporter and manages to kill the last Seska. Afterward, Soolin come out of hiding and agrees to join Avon's group.

 

 

 

Episode Quotes 

Pella: You must be very clever.

Vila: That's what I keep telling everyone. They even believed me in CF One.

Pella: CF One?

Vila: A sort of academy, when I was a boy. They chose me as technical advisor for the escape.

Pella: Escape? From an academy?

Vila: Perhaps academy was the wrong word.

---

Gunn Sar: What's the tally of challenges?

Cato: Twenty-five dead and one missing, sir.

Gunn Sar: Oh, come on, Cato. Don't quibble. Marquin fell backwards off the cliff.

Cato: Yes, sir.

Gunn Sar: So he's dead. Like, you can't say someone's missing as such. Not when they've taken a dive into a bottomless gorge.

Cato: No, sir.

Gunn Sar: So, it's twenty-six dead.

Cato: The council ruled it was twenty-five, sir, and one missing.

Gunn Sar: [turning to face Avon] Twenty-five men lie dead who tried to stand against me. And one, if he's not still falling, is no more than a greasy spot on the rocks, right?

Avon: Impressive.

Gunn Sar: You killed two men.

Avon: If I'd known we were keeping score, I would have brought more ammunition.

---

Gunn Sar: Pick a weapon.

Avon: I'll have a neutron blaster.

Gunn Sar: No neutron blasters.

Avon: In that case I'll have a glove.

---

Vila: Have you ever seen a nuclear compression charge go off? Everything gets sucked in. It's like a mini black hole. Looks good...from a distance.

---

[Avon aims his gun at Pella's head]

Pella: That always was the easy answer for the man - the Hommik!

Avon: If you didn't want the answer, you shouldn't have asked the question.

---

Avon: [musing to himself] It's a problem, isn't it? You can have war between races, war between cultures, war between planets. But once you have war between the sexes, you eventually run out of people.

Slave: It is beyond my humble capacity to offer an opinion, Master.

Avon: [smiling] Oh, that's very good. You may turn out to be my kind of computer after all.

 

Edited April 2 by HawkMan

[HawkMan]

S4 E3. Traitor

The Federation is expanding once again at an alarming rate, and with the annex of the most recent world Helotrix, Avon decides to go there to find out how the Federation is doing it. He sends Dayna and Tarrant down to spy, and they soon come across a resistance group led by a man named Hunda. It is soon discovered that the Federation is using a swift acting pacification drug, Pylene-50, and the operation is being led by a new security commissioner named Sleer. With Hunda's help, Tarrant and Dayna make contact with Leitz, a Federation officer who has been leaking information to the resistance. Leitz reveals where the drug is being made and a possible antidote, and Tarrant decides to put a stop to it despite Avon's orders not to get involved. However, Leitz is not a traitor after all, but acting under Sleer's orders to set up an ambush. When the trap is sprung, Tarrant and Dayna finally catch a glimpse of the mysterious Commissioner Sleer – who is revealed to be Servalan.

 

 

Episode Quotes 

Soolin: [Discussing Vila] He doesn't have much time for Tarrant does he?

Avon: Ah, well. Tarrant is brave, young, handsome. There are three good reasons for anyone not to like him.

---

Soolin: [Discussing Orac] I thought he was keeping unusually silent.

Avon: Probably sulking. One of the almost human things about Orac is that it does not like to work.

---

Vila: Well, that's it. With those ships out there we can't wait.

Soolin: They might not be looking for us.

Vila: Are you crazy? You said yourself that was a search formation.

Soolin: They haven't picked up Tarrant, so why'd they assume a ship's out here?

Avon: Just a minute. Orac: that message from Space Centre - how was it relayed here?

Orac: Through Terminal Four-Zero-Six.

Avon: The terminal on Helotrix.

Orac: Of course, Avon. That is the nearest terminal to our position.

Avon: That's it. They must have intercepted the transmission.

Soolin: Computer logic, the nearest terminal.

Vila: So Orac's thick - we all know that. Let's move!

---

Servalan: What do you want, Leitz?

Leitz: [as he embraces her from behind, his face in her hair] The presidency.

Servalan: Anything is possible.

Leitz: After all, somebody has to take Practor's place. You could use your influence, I'm sure. And of course you'd know that your secret would be safe with me - Servalan.

Servalan: I'm sure it would. But I don't submit - to blackmail.

Leitz: There's always a first time. And it's better than being executed.

[Servalan turns to face Leitz as they embrace and begin kissing]

Leitz: After all, how many people have you killed to conceal your secret?

[As they kiss, Servalan produces a small crystalline energy weapon and holds it near the back of Leitz's neck]

Servalan: You mean now?

[Servalan kisses Leitz one final time before pressing the weapon against his neck, killing him]

Servalan: Twenty-six. So far.

 

Edited April 2 by HawkMan

[HawkMan]

S4 E4. Stardrive

The crew tries to sneak into a heavily patrolled system to look for fuel. Knowing the Scorpio is too slow, Avon decides to drift alongside an asteroid to avoid detection, but instead collides with it during the risky manoeuvre. While carrying out repair work, the crew witness three Federation ships explode by no apparent cause. Analysing the explosions, it is discovered that the ships were attacked by very fast-moving craft. Orac identifies the ships as "space choppers" which utilise an experimental photon drive developed by a maverick scientist named Dr. Plaxton. Avon decides to use this drive for Scorpio, but to get one, they have to find Plaxton who is working for the "Space Rats" – a gang of crazed delinquents who reside on the planet Casp

 

Episode Quotes 

 

Avon: [To Slave] Don't be sorry. Be quiet.

---

Avon: There are times when even the most cynical must trust in luck!

---

Avon:I'd rather be sure that dying is the best option we have!

---

Vila: [Drunkenly] Fourteen I was, when I was first sent to a penal colony. Ship was hit in the main drive by a meteoroid, bang! Y'know what they did to repair it?Activated the force wall and generated an atmosphere inside the force wall so the repair team could work in a vacuum without spacesuits, 'cause it wasn't a vacuum any more if you see what I mean. Very clever, those old prison hulk skippers.

---

Soolin: [after Avon and Tarrant have left to put Vila's "force wall atmosphere" plan into action] Out of the mouths of drunks ...

Vila: [standing up, instantly sober] Drunk? Who's drunk?

Dayna: You are.

Vila: Show me how to get drunk on plain water and I won't waste time.

Dayna: Well then, why pretend?

Vila: Because, my lovely Dayna and Soolin, no one ever tells someone who's drunk to volunteer.

[Dayna and Soolin laugh]

Vila: I don't like to work in main drive chambers! Especially main drive chambers that are separated from space by one of Slave's force walls.

---

Avon: Well, Orac, what do you think?

Orac: I think you have brought back a most fascinating recording.

Avon: We are looking for conclusions, not critical acclaim.

---

Vila: It's a Space Rat!

Soolin: Friends of yours?

Vila: Friends? Space Rats? There's no such thing as a friend of a Space Rat - they even hate each other!

Tarrant: What else do you know about them?

Vila: They're maniacs, psychopaths! All they live for is sex and violence, booze and speed. And the fellas are just as bad.

---

Vila: Well, perhaps we could hide under here. [Pulls the drape off a Space Chopper, then picks up a small device from its cockpit] Wonder what this thing does?

Bomber: (pointing gun at them) Tell you what this does - gook. It goes bang. And you go splat.

---

[Dr. Plaxton is outside the ship, in a force wall bubble, installing the stardrive as the Scorpio is being engaged by Federation ships]

Vila: Plasma bolt fired.

Soolin: Thirty seconds to impact.

Dr. Plaxton: [over communicator] One more connection to--

[Avon cuts her off, then begins pushing some buttons]

Tarrant: [shocked] What are you doing?

Avon: Programming in the main circuit drive.

Dayna: You can't do that! That main drive will fire as soon as she makes the final connection!

Soolin: Fifteen seconds.

Avon: We can outrun that bolt. She's dead either way.

---

Avon: At least now we can outrun the opposition. That should make you happy.

Dayna: What about Dr. Plaxton?

Avon: Who?

Edited April 2 by HawkMan

[HawkMan]

S4 E5. Animals

Dayna and Tarrant arrive at the planet Bucol II, where Dayna tracks down a former colleague of her father, a genetic scientist named Justin. Once down, she is attacked by strange humanoid beasts until Justin saves her. In orbit, the Scorpio comes under attack by Federation ships and Tarrant is forced to abandon Dayna and flee back to base for repairs. Back on Bucol, Dayna tries to convince Justin into helping synthesise an antidote to the Federation's pacification drug, but is appalled by his former work in creating genetic super-soldiers for the Federation, evidence of which are the beasts he created. Meanwhile, Servalan learns about Justin's secret project on Bucol and goes there to investigate. She manages to capture Dayna and brainwashes her into helping capture her friend.

 

  

Vila: Why do I get all the dirty jobs?

Soolin: Typecasting?

---

Dayna (To Og): Og. I mean no harm, Og. I want to help. I am your friend, Og. I think Justin is also your friend. You're very hungry, aren't you? Very, very hungry.

Og Grrrrrrrr...

 

Edited April 2 by HawkMan

[HawkMan]

S4 E6. Headhunter

Vila and Tarrant arrive at Pharos to pick up Dr. Muller, a brilliant cyberneticist that Avon hopes to recruit to their cause. Once aboard the Scorpio, Muller reacts violently to a mysterious box Tarrant brings back with them. Vila tries to subdue Muller but ends up killing him when he strikes him with a wrench. Muller's body is put into a cryogenic capsule, but soon Scorpio loses power and life support. While the ship is stranded in orbit of Xenon, Tarrant and Vila are rescued by the others, but Muller, who was thought to be dead, has disappeared. It is soon learned that Muller is really an unstoppable android that killed its creator and took his severed head to trick everyone. The robot sneaks down to the base and plans to somehow "merge" with Orac, hoping their combined AI powers will make them invincible. The only solution to stop it may be the contents of the strange box—the android's real head.

 

Episode Quotes 

[Vila and Tarrant are stranded on Scorpio, without life-support]

Avon: Orac?

Orac (urgently): They must be left there!

Avon: To die?

Orac: There is no option. To reopen teleport contact could expose the base to undefined systems influence.

Avon: Oh, you'll have to do better than that, Orac, if you expect me to kill them. (Snaps to Dayna and Soolin) Rescue suits! (To Orac) Restore the teleport to normal function.

Orac (almost pleading): I urge you not to -

Avon (angry): Restore the teleport!

Orac: Very well.

---

Orac: I am obliged to do as you tell me, even though I know it to be wrong.

Avon: Only following orders. That's not very original, Orac.

Orac: There is nothing very original about domination, as you will discover.

---

Orac: Join us, Soolin. We can fulfil your every desire. (Soolin deactivates Orac)

Soolin: You wouldn't know where to start.

---

Orac: A new era, Avon. Mankind is now mastered by the fruits of his lustful creation. Accept slavery, or return to the caves stripped of all but the wheel, the plough and the sword, to compete once again as savages against nature.

---

[Tarrant destroys Muller's android]

Tarrant: Gone to the great cyberneticist in the sky.

Avon: You fool! It's superstitious half-wits like you who hold back every advance we make!

Orac: And arrogance, like yours and Muller's, Avon, which threatens to destroy 

Avon: Shut up!

Orac (sardonically): Yes, master!

 

Edited April 3 by HawkMan

[HawkMan]

S4 E7 Assassin

The Scorpio crew goes to the slaver planet Domo with information that Servalan has hired a notorious assassin named "Cancer" to eliminate them. Almost nothing is known of this killer, not even what he looks like, but only that he has an infallible record. Avon allows himself to be captured as a slave in hopes of intercepting Servalan first, but he is too late as Cancer has already left the planet. With the help of a slave named Nebrox, Avon escapes and tracks down Cancer's ship where he and Tarrant teleport aboard. They find Cancer with a young slave girl named Piri and manage to take him prisoner. Avon then plans to wait for Servalan believing she will arrive to give Cancer his payment, but instead they have fallen for an elaborate trap when the assassin reveals their true identity.

 

Tarrant: Good is he? This 'Cancer'?

Avon: You can imagine how much it pains me to use the word 'infallible'.

Tarrant: Oh, come on. No-one's infallible.

Avon: Alright, then, he's not infallible. It's just that up till now he's never failed.

---

Neebrox: By the way, what's become of our little friend?

Soolin: She's found Cancer's cabin and made herself cozy for the duration.

Neebrox: Ah.

Soolin: Why? Do you fancy a little chat about the good old days on the chain gang?

Neebrox: Oh, it's terrible to think of a poor little thing like that being a slave, don't you think?

Soolin: No more terrible than to think of you as one.

Neebrox: Oh no, no, I'm an old man. She's merely a helpless little child.

Soolin: Well, I expect a little suffering will have helped to make her a better artist. [smiles]

 

 

Edited April 3 by HawkMan

[HawkMan]

S4 E8 Games

A man named Belkov, who enjoys sophisticated games of skill, is running a Feldon crystal extraction operation on Mecron II for Servalan. In reality, he's ripping her off by taking a large cut of the crystal for himself, which has unlimited energy potential and far more valuable than diamond. Servalan suspects Belkov's treachery and threatens to kill him, but not before learning where he has hidden the crystal. In the meantime, Belkov has contacted Avon promising the stolen crystal in exchange for rescuing him. As always, Avon remains suspicious as Belkov is using the rescue plan to instead pin the missing crystal on the Scorpio crew.

 

 

 

Episode Quotes 

Avon: [Discussing Academician Gerron] As well as being a respected geologist and an expert on mining techniques he's also greedy, avaricious and a crook.

Vila: Does he have any faults?

---

Belkov: [showing Servalan a necklace made of feldon crystals, inside a display case] The Mecronian high priests used these as a symbol of their power. Now, there is a legend about the feldon necklaces. A chief once stole one, the gods became angry and struck him down. Of course, the gods' anger was merely an electrical storm, in which a hunk of polished feldon crystals that size would absorb enough energy to blow holes in any number of recalcitrant chiefs.

Servalan: [sarcastically] How fascinating.

Belkov: Yes, but you see, the priests have been cashing in on this piece of luck for generations, so I decided to join them! I said their gods had sent me to collect the crystals. Well, not unnaturally, they were not particularly impressed, well not at first anyway.

Servalan: I can imagine.

Belkov: So I borrowed a necklace. All it needed then was a well-placed remote-controlled laser rifle to ensure that only the chosen one could wear it. After six of them had died in the attempt, they found my survival quite miraculous.

Servalan: Your survival is becoming more miraculous by the moment.

---

Avon: I don't mind playing games, but I do object when the opposition makes up the rules and decides to be the referee as well.

---

Avon: Belkov trusts no one, which is a strength, because that means that no one can betray him. But it is also a weakness, because it means that he is the only one who can defend what is his.

Soolin: So, he makes everything self-protecting, the booby traps, the force fields.

Avon: Exactly, everything automatic and therefore predictable, and therefore vulnerable.

---

Avon: [after ordering Slave to plot a new orbit that blocks Belkov's detectors] If we leave our present orbit, as far as he is concerned, we're pulling out - we're cutting our losses and we're running for it. He'll turn his attention to more important matters and leave his automatics to track us. Once we have that moon between us and the scanner, we can start back down again. Since his automatics won't be able to track us, they will merely inform him of what he thinks he already knows - we have gone.

Soolin: What happens to Tarrant and the others in the meantime?

Avon: Well, during the manoeuvre they are entirely on their own, but once we are back in our new orbit, the teleport system should function quite normally. Oh, it's a calculated risk. But at least you and I can be certain that we can get away when we want to.

[A Federation guard searches Vila and discovers the Mecronian knife Vila had found]

Guard: Four of our men have been killed with a knife like that.

Vila: You don't think - I mean, I'm not the violent type, really I'm not.

Guard: Then why do you carry that?

Vila: I found it.

Guard: Where?

Vila: It was stuck in one of your men.

---

[while fighting with a Federation guard, Tarrant knocks him into a pressure container, which instantly spews out a reddish dust]

Vila: Nasty way to go, all that dust. Very bad for the chest.

---

Avon: Orac, are details of the orbiter contained in Belkov's computer?

Orac: I do not yet have enough data to reach a conclusion.

Avon: If it had the information, could you extract it? [Orac says nothing] Come on, that's a simple enough question!

Orac: [Hesitantly] There may be problems.

Avon: Why?! You've extracted information from Federation computers before, this is just a hotch-potch of three or four of them. You have already stated it is inferior to you.

Orac: It is not a question of superiority, but one of... attitude.

Avon: The logic of its creator.

Orac: Exactly. Let me remind you of ancient Earth mythology. The Delphic Oracle would answer questions truthfully without giving a true answer.

Avon: So what we need is not the right answer, but the right question!

---

Gambit: Control system feedback is through the weapon. The game adjusts to meet and, on the last shot, exceed the proficiency of the players.

Soolin (understanding): You have to outshoot yourself.

Tarrant: Stupid game.

Soolin: Not really. Finally, a game worth playing.

[Vila brainstorms an idea to open a fingerprint lock, and grabs Tarrant by one of his boots]

Tarrant: [taken by surprise] Vila, what are you doing?

Vila: Dust! I need very fine dust! [shaking the dust from Tarrant's boot into his hand, before looking at it] That's probably half the guard you threw in that machine, Tarrant.

---

Dayna (V/O): Avon, if I'm supposed to be using you as a shield, I hope you realise you're moving out of orbit.

Avon: What?! (Shot of Orbiter moving away, disclosing Scorpio) Orac, what the hell is going on? Guidance system control is not functioning.

Orac: The orbiter is preprogrammed. Flight power depends on the distance and intensity of each star the feldon panels are locked into. The successful completion of a game continues the sequence. To regain control, you must complete the coded sequence of star sources.

Vila: What about the feldon crystals?

Avon: Gambit?

Gambit: This game will reveal the entrance.

Soolin: All we have to do is lock on to the right star.

Orac: It is possible that we've just received the right answer to the wrong question.

Avon: I calculate that the next star in the sequence is Cygnus XL. That's a black hole.

Gambit: That is correct.

Avon: Not exactly the entrance we were looking for. (Into bracelet, having deduced that Belkov has outmanoeuvered them) Dayna, we're ready for teleport.

Vila: What about the crystals?

Avon: There aren't any damned crystals. There never were any damned crystals. They're like everything else on this ship: a game. That's why the last one has to be impassable. We have got to get out of here!

---

Tarrant: I'm glad we didn't get too close.

Dayna: But after all that, we go home empty-handed.

Vila: Er, not entirely empty-handed. (He produces Belkov's necklace) Well, I saw it lying about, seemed a pity not to take it. After all, Belkov won't be needing it where he's gone.

Avon: Let me see that.

Vila (pleased with himself): I'd say the last game was mine, wouldn't you?

Avon: I have bad news for you, Vila. (He smashes crystals with his gun butt) It's a fake. (Savagely) End game to Belkov!

 

Edited April 3 by HawkMan

[HawkMan]

S4 E9. Sand

Servalan arrives at the planet Virn—a world covered in strange green sand—to find out what happened to a group of Federation researchers who went missing five years earlier, soon after uncovering a substance with unique energy potential. The Scorpio crew follow her to the planet, curious to find out what she is up to. When Servalan arrives, her ship is disabled and her associate, Investigator Reeve, turns against her. She finds herself alone until encountering Tarrant, who teleported down with Dayna to track her. The two must work together to survive and find shelter in a bunker against the green sand, which seems to be a living, intelligent lifeform. Meanwhile, a strange energy storm cripples Scorpio preventing it from performing a rescue.

 

Episode Quotes 

Reeve: No moonlight. What a pity.

Servalan: I have nothing to gain by tolerating you, Reeve.

Reeve: Oh, you sure of that?

Servalan: I suggest you go back to the fire. The alternative could be frostbite.

Reeve: I don't believe that. A woman like you?

Servalan: There is something you should realise. There are no women like me. I am unique. That makes me rather dangerous. Good night, Investigator. Sweet dreams.

---

[Reeve is sitting on a rock, fiddling with his gun.]

Servalan: Afraid it won't work, Investigator?

Reeve: [Points the gun at her] Afraid it will?

Servalan: You would be able to report, presumably, an excellent reason for killing me?

Reeve: One more casualty on Virn. You did kill the other one, didn't you? You might have had a motive. Something he found out.

Servalan: Reeve, you apparently think this is a new, exciting experience for me. It isn't. I've confronted several maniacs with guns.

---

Tarrant: You're possibly the most unscrupulously venomous woman in the galaxy. Being shut in here with you is rather like being locked in a cage with a panther. A black cat with large golden eyes, and long silver talons.

Servalan: Oh Tarrant, I'm just the girl next door.

Tarrant: If you were the girl next door, I'd move.

Servalan: Where would you move to, Tarrant?

Tarrant: Next door.

---

Avon: Orac, teleport.

Orac: Teleport? I am not programmed. Three squared to the principal.

Dayna: Oh, no.

Orac: I love you.

Vila: Orac!

Orac: My emotions are deeper than the seas of space. One times one is only possible in the ultra-dimensional.

Avon: Turn Orac off.

Orac: I love you.

Avon: Off!

Orac: We will be lovers for a little while, or maybe for a long while, who knows?

Soolin: I do. [Pulls key]

Avon: Presumably the sand up here has compared Vila's wits and stamina with mine and concluded that I am the dominant male. On the herd principle therefore, it decided that Vila was superfluous and it could kill him. You two, of course, would have been allowed to live.

Soolin: Don't say it, Avon.

Avon: I wasn't going to say anything.

---

Avon: [Discussing a plan to rescue Tarrant and escape the hold the plant has on the ship] Where we are now, we are causing massive atmospheric disturbance. Let us get closer. Let us make it worse. Eventually there may be enough of a build-up to create some kind of rain.

Soolin: Or to knock us out of the sky.

Avon: This is not just a rescue mission for poor gallant Tarrant! While the sand remains active, the planet will not let go of us. The instruments are unreliable. We have Virn hanging on our heels. How do you think we are going to get away?

[Dayna and Soolin rush to their positions]

Avon: I take it that means yes.

Dayna: Well, how could we refuse, Avon? You are the dominant male, aren't you?

[Avon smiles]

Edited April 3 by HawkMan

[HawkMan]

S4 E10. Gold

Keiller, an old acquaintance of Avon, informs him of the secret transport of gold from the planet Zerok to the Federation via a passenger liner, the Space Princess. Keiller plans to steal the gold but needs help, and offers Avon and the others a cut of the loot. However, the scheme involves getting the gold off Zerok before it is processed into "black gold"—an atomically altered version that is worthless until it is converted back into normal gold via an encoded computer process. Keiller leads the break-in of the Zerok facility, but the team is ambushed as the guards have been tipped off—a set-up by Servalan. Avon decides to hijack the next black gold shipment from the Princess itself and sell it back to Servalan.

 

Episode Quotes 

Keiller: Seventeen billion. That's what it's worth in direct exchange for cash.

Soolin: That's a lot of cash.

---

Keiller: The mine on Zerok, it's underground.

Dayna: Like most mines.

---

Tarrant: It's all clear. Maybe Vila should be here, to give us his professional opinion.

Keiller: Vila?

Dayna: He's one of us. He stayed on Scorpio.

Soolin: In case of misunderstanding.

Keiller: This Vila, is he, uh...

Avon: He's a thief, and a good one. But we don't need Vila to tell us the obvious, do we? That no one, but no one allows a fortune like that to travel in an unarmed crate with just two plainclothes guards! So what's the snag, Keiller!?

---

[two guards approach Keiller, Soolin, and Avon, and are shot down]

Keiller: I say, you two, that was good shooting.

Avon: [to Soolin] Not bad. [turning towards Keiller] Soolin killed them both.

---

Keiller: Your friend, Vila, he wants no part in this?

Soolin: He doesn't trust you, Keiller. He thinks it's a trap.

Keiller: Suspicious.

Avon: And frequently right.

---

Keiller: [to guard] It's all right, it's only Keiller. [steps aside as Avon enters] But this is Avon.

[Avon shoots the guard]

---

[as Avon and Keiller open a crate containing the processed gold, a small explosion goes off]

Keiller: Avon, get down!

[the explosion flings several small objects into the air, some of which land on Keiller's jacket]

Keiller: [panicking] Avon, quick help me get them off! Quick! Quick! Avon, help me get them off! Get them off! Get them off! [Avon begins reaching with his hand to brush them off] Not with your hands! Not with your hands! Get something and get them off quickly! Quickly!

[Avon retrieves a cloth covering one of the nearby crates and starts brushing the objects off Keiller]

Avon: What are they?

Keiller: [still panicking] Killers! When they're fired they ignite! If they hit you they go right through you, you've got about ten seconds! Am I clear? Am I clear?

Avon: You're clear!

Keiller: [almost sobbing] Make certain! Some of them don't ignite right away!

Avon: [shouting] YOU'RE CLEAR!

---

Servalan: Avon, would you be careful with the gun. My guards have orders to shoot you first. The price of my life would be yours.

Avon: Well, now. The sacrifice might be worthwhile.

 

Edited April 3 by HawkMan

[HawkMan]

S4 E 11 Orbit

A renegade scientist named Egrorian summons Avon to the hostile planet Malodar with an offer Avon cannot refuse. Avon shuttles down with Vila, and meets the scientist and his assistant Pinder. They are given a demonstration of Egrorian's "Tachyon Funnel", a powerful weapon that can destroy anything in the universe by harnessing the power of super-dense stellar matter; all Egrorian wants as trade is Orac. Avon reluctantly considers the deal, but returns later with duplicate Orac; Egrorian hands over the weapon system. Servalan is secretly behind the transfer, and while Avon and Vila shuttle back to Scorpio, Egrorian discovers the traded Orac is a fake. However, he has rigged the shuttle to crash; Avon is faced with jettisoning the weapon as well as Vila in order to reduce the weight of the ship to reach escape velocity.

 

 

 

Episode Quotes 

Vila: This guy's gonna need careful handling. You want someone with tact. I mean, you know me.

Avon: Oh yes, I think so.

Vila: Blunt, always speaking my mind, I'm just the sort to upset him.

Avon: Well, you'll just have to try not to, won't you.

Vila: You should take one of the girls, Avon. Hey, why not? A girl might...you know, interest him. He's probably forgotten what they look like.

Avon: Vila, if I didn't know you better, I would think you were trying to get out of this.

---

Pinder: I'm pleased to make your acquaintance, ma'am.

Vila: [to Avon] I think he's talking to you.

Egrorian: Thank you, Pinder, go back to your place. I fear language doesn't come easily to him. He thinks mostly in symbols.

Vila: Doesn't he have symbols for men and women?

Egrorian: Apparently not.

---

Egrorian: Now, then, Avon. What would you say if I offered you mastery of the galaxy?

Avon: Oh, I would say thank you.

Vila: For a whole galaxy? Oh, come on, Avon, show the man some gratitude.

---

Vila: What's the matter with you?

Avon: I was thinking about Pinder, and the way he said "pleased to make your acquaintance, ma'am".

Vila: Is that worrying you? Listen, if it'll set your mind at rest, I never thought you were a woman.

Avon: He said it as though it were a phrase he had been taught.

Vila: Maybe Egrorian gives him lessons in etiquette as well as judo.

Avon: Or maybe he has been taught that that was the way of addressing a stranger. Servalan, for instance.

Vila: Servalan? She wouldn't do any deals with Egrorian. He's like us, outside the Federation.

Avon: We know how much she would like to get her hands on Orac.

Vila: Not enough to hand us a weapon like the tachyon funnel.

Avon: No. That's why this time, Vila, I think we have to play this one very cagily.

---

Tarrant: Pinder's old?

Vila: Late seventies. Why?

Tarrant: After you'd gone, I got Orac to do us one last service. This is a printout from Central Records, all that's known about Egrorian.

Avon: Interesting reading?

Tarrant: Yeah, very interesting. After he vanished, they started finding the bodies. He was never a simple scientist, Avon.

Vila: What was he?

Tarrant: Power mad from his earliest days. He was at the center of a conspiracy to take over the Federation.

Avon: This is the man who says he wants to spend the rest of his life in the advancement of science.

Tarrant: The other interesting thing is Pinder.

Vila: What about him?

Tarrant: He was a mathematical prodigy, apparently. He was eighteen when he disappeared with Egrorian...ten years ago. Now, I'm not a mathematical prodigy, but it seems to me that makes him twenty-eight.

Egrorian: You really are an excessively cautious person, and so mistrustful.

Avon: That is because Orac has read your security file on Central Records.

Egrorian: Disconnect the funnel, Pinder. Lies! All lies! Base and perfidious slander! I never conspired... I, I swear this is nothing but a tissue of falsehood and calumny designed by my enemies to blacken my reputation. If Servalan has read this, I hope she...

Avon: Why do you mention Servalan?

Egrorian: What? Well, she was the head of Federation when these fabrications were compiled.

Avon: Didn't you hear she was dead?

Egrorian: Ah, yes. But then I was told she had assumed a new identity. One never knows what to believe these days. Anyway, this is, this... this is a load of distortion and rubbish, and when I return to earth, I will hound down those responsible, and...

Vila: Break their arms?

Egrorian: I suggest we get on. The tachyon funnel is disconnected. Place Orac here. Orac, what was the subject of my degree thesis at Belhangria University? Orac, what was the subject of my degree thesis at Belhangria University?

Orac: Your paper e stroke nine on stroke six zero four four was on particle physics and dealt specifically with the properties of rissions. It was marked Beta plus, Egrorian.

Pinder: Only beta plus, Egrorian?

Egrorian: Pinder, you're to be seen and not heard, remember?

Avon: If Orac has a fault, it is a tendency to give more information than is requested.

Vila: Or less information than requested.

Avon: But seldom just the information that is requested.

Orac: That degree was subsequently rescinded for gross misconduct.

Egrorian: That's enough, Orac!

(regarding ejecting weight from a shuttle to make it light enough to reach orbit)

Avon: Not enough! Not nearly enough! Dammit, what weighs seventy kilos?

Orac (just as Vila is leaving): Vila weighs seventy-three kilos, Avon.

Avon: Vila, are you here? I need your help.

---

Avon (In "calm and reasonable" voice): Vila? Vila? Vila? Vila, are you here? I need your help. (Vila is curled up, hiding, in a small compartment) Vila, I know you're here, come out. Vila, I know how they did it, but I need your help. Please help me. (He stubs his toe on something on the deck, pauses to look at object)

Avon (to himself): Plastic. High tensile plastic. Vila? (He tries to kick the object out of the way. It doesn't budge. He drops to his knees, thinking out loud) Couldn't possibly be that heavy. Unless there's something in it, and there isn't. Unless it's very tiny, in which case it wouldn't have...the weight! (He puts the gun away, and shouts) Vila, I really do know how they did it! It's a speck of neutron material, but I need your help to shift it! (He picks up the plastic object he handed to Vila earlier, which is conveniently nearby, and uses it to push the heavy object) Vila, help me! Vila, you have got to help me, come on! (Cut to Vila, still motionless in the compartment)

Avon: Vila! Vila, where are you? (With much difficulty, he pushes the object to the airlock and in. He manipulates the airlock controls and runs to the flight deck of the shuttle)

 

Edited April 3 by HawkMan

[HawkMan]

S4 E12. Warlord

Avon calls a meeting on Xenon between the five most powerful factions resisting the Federation. One of the members, Zukan, the leader of planet Betafarl, is secretly working for Servalan and has sabotaged the base with planted bombs and also unleashed a radioactive virus that will kill any survivors. Once Zukan departs, the bombs detonate, but unbeknownst to him, his daughter Zeeona—who is Tarrant's lover—had stayed behind on the base. Zukan himself is then double-crossed by Servalan who had planted a bomb on his ship and sent it spinning out of control. On Scorpio, Avon and Soolin return to Xenon to save the others but time is running out. Their only hope may be helping Zukan first, who is the only one who knows how to stop the virus.

 

Vila: Avon's idea of diplomacy is to break your legs, then say "Lean on me."

 

Edited April 3 by HawkMan

[HawkMan]

FINAL EPISODE S4 E13 

                 " BLAKE "

   STOP READING TO AVOID MASSIVE SPOILER!!

 

 

Afraid that the Federation knows the location of Xenon base, the Scorpio crew destroy what is left of it. Avon then reveals that he has pondered the finding of a new leader for their resistance that everyone will support and he believes that person is none other than Blake himself. Orac believes he is alive and has tracked him to the formerly lawless world of Gauda Prime. Arriving there, Scorpio is attacked by patrol ships and is forced down. Tarrant stays behind to stabilise the ship and everyone else teleports down to the surface. Meanwhile, Blake who is alive and posing as bounty hunter, rescues Tarrant from the wreck and brings him back to base. There he learns Tarrant is part of Avon's rebel team and implies to Tarrant that he plans to turn them in to the Federation for the bounty. Tarrant manages to get away not realising that Blake is simply testing his loyalty. Tarrant meets Avon and the others and they confront Blake. Before Blake can convince Avon he's still on their side, Avon shoots and kills him. Suddenly, a squad of Federation troops ambush them and shoot everyone down save for Avon. Avon does not surrender, but stands over Blake's body, raises his gun and smiles. The screen goes to final credits with the sound of guns firing. The fate of Orac is unknown.

 

Episode Quotes 

Avon: Nobody is indispensable.
Soolin: You needed a figurehead. He was it. Or am I wrong?
Avon: You are right. But then figureheads aren't too difficult to come by. Any idiot can be one
.Dayna: Heh. On your feet, Vila. This could be your big moment.
Avon: Any idiot within reason, that is.
Tarrant: You going to tell us what we've got planned, Avon?
Vila: We know what we've got planned. Running away is what we've got planned
.Dayna: A strategic withdrawal is what we've got planned.
Vila: There's a difference?
Tarrant: Oh, yes. A strategic withdrawal is running away -- but with dignity.
Vila: So lay in a course and let's get the dignified hell out of here.
Tarrant: That isn't the plan anymore, though, is it Avon?
Avon: I think we can do better.
Vila: Does that mean safer?
Avon: In the end, winning is the only safety.
Vila: It doesn't mean safer. I didn't think it would.
Tarrant: So what does it mean?
Avon: It means I think we can find ourselves another figurehead, someone we can use to unify and expand the Rebel Alliance.
Soolin: Just like that.
Avon: More or less. He is strongly identified with rebels, you see, and very popular with rabbles. They will follow him, and he will fight to the last drop of their blood. [smiles] Idealism is a wonderful thing. All you really need is someone rational to put it to proper use.
Dayna: Someone like you.
Tarrant: So where do we find this useable idealist?
Avon: According to Orac, he is on a frontier planet called Gauda Prime.
Soolin: Gauda Prime?
Tarrant: You know it?
Soolin: Yes, I know it. It's a bad place to be. No self-respecting idealist would be found dead there.
Avon: I imagine that is what HE is trying to avoid: being found dead anywhere.
Tarrant: Look, are you going to stop playing games and tell us who it is, Avon?
Vila: It's Blake, isn't it? You think you've found Blake.

 

Avon: Orac, what proof do we have that Blake is on Gauda Prime?

Orac: That is where his trail ends.

Tarrant: What trail? Explain.

Orac: The chain of cause and effect amounts to a trail, if you can follow it.

Vila: I can't even follow you.

Orac: Everything has an effect on everything else around it. It is not easy to trace one line through the pattern of infinity. But in this case, I have. Blake is on Gauda Prime.

Tarrant: How long have you known?

Avon: [smiles] Long enough.

Dayna: Before Zukan.

Avon: Oh, yes. And the answer to your next question is, yes, I would have left Blake where he was and said nothing if things had gone according to plan.

Tarrant: Oh, I must try and work that into the conversation when we meet him.

Vila: If we meet him.

Soolin: Still not convinced?

Vila: You tell me what a line through the pattern of infinity is, and I'll tell you whether I'm convinced or not.

---

Avon: Orac?

Orac: A formal application was laid before the High Council on Earth within the last thirty days. I could get you the exact date --

Slave: Uh, I don't wish to interrupt, Master --

Orac: Then kindly don't.

Slave: I wasn't talking to you.

Orac: You were attempting to override a superior system. Be silent. [continues] -- the exact date, if you wish. But the importance of the application lies not in its exact date, but in its general requirements.

Tarrant: Which are?

Orac: That the citizens of Gauda Prime put their house in order. Law must be established before the benefits of law can be restored.

Avon: It is the day of the bounty hunter. [cut to close-up of Vila] Thieves, [cut to close-up of Dayna, pan to Soolin] killers, [cut to close-up of Tarrant] mercenaries, [cut to close-up of Avon; he smiles] psychopaths, are as unwelcome now as the farmers once were. [Scorpio's alarm goes off.]

Tarrant: Slave, what's wrong?!

Slave: Well, nothing is actually wrong, sir, yet.

Avon: Explain the alarm, Slave. [Alarm cuts out.]

Slave: I had to get your attention, Master, and I was forbidden to speak unless spoken to.

Avon: All right, you're spoken to. What is it?

Slave: I beg to advise you, Master, that we're approaching the planet Gauda Prime. And Scorpio is under attack! [An explosion rocks the flight deck.]

---

Orac: When we reach the appropriate coordinates, I can simulate the necessary signals to open the silo and allow this flyer to enter.

Dayna: That sounds good.

Vila: No it isn't. Sooner or later, we're going to drop into one of these holes in the ground, and never come out.

Avon: Sooner or later, everyone does that, Vila.

    THE END

Edited April 3 by HawkMan