Day 84: Air Lock

First things first, this episode was found a couple of years ago, completely out of the blue. My recollection of discovering this news was to fall out of my chair in the middle of a study period and to walk around for the rest of the day with a massive smile on my face. Which is odd, because this story isn't really that well regarded, indeed due to being missing from the archives for several years, it was just a story that most people had never seen before. But upon watching it, it becomes apparent that it's actually not that bad. The story isn't that spectacular, yes, but the direction is absolutely phenomenal. It was previously mentioned that Derek Martinus showed promise in the brief pieces of surviving footage for this story, and seeing him do a full episode is spectacular. He has a fondness for crane shots, showing off the alien spaceships well by bringing to light their alienness. We are able to truly witness alien structures, as opposed to just seeing the same shot of three people over and over again.

One other thing that Martinus brings is the way he directs a monologue from Maaga, which chooses to, as it becomes more and more horrific, as she describes the destruction of the planet, keep a never ending close up on her unblinking face, bringing to light her despicable nature, as the audience slowly turns towards the notion that she might not have the best intentions for the people around her. We also, in another scene, witness her killing one of her fellow crewmembers, who was obviously in some distress at the time, and she chooses to blame it on the Rills, the other species occupying this doomed planet. And this is cruel because the Rills are peaceful, and she probably knows this, or is unwilling to ask, instead choosing to make things easier for herself, to help her maintain order so that her crewmembers know that they have nowhere to turn to, and that she is their only hope. Fear is something which brings us all together, but there are those who only use it to further their own goals. We must stand up against these people, and realise that whilst there are some things to fear, sometimes it's better to open up negotiations with the monsters and find out about why they are here, instead of jumping to conclusions.