With friends like Avon, who needs enemies? ;-)

A glorious episode - great acting by Michael Keating, especially when he was cowering in terror of Avon finding him and chucking him out the airlock. When Orac said, "Vila weighs (whatever it was)" I went cold; and knowing that this was only a couple of episodes from the end of the series left me wondering whether Avon might just do it this time.

Mind you, I thought that Egrorian (sp?) was over-acted, but Pinder was a cutey - didn't you just want to pat him on the head all through the episode?!

And Servalan's tirade at the end, followed by "I will kill you for this" was a classic.

When Scorpio goes into stationary orbit it really becomes stationary. (Shot of ship is freeze frame.)

The dome on this planet looks familiar. What other episodes & shows has it appeared on?

Since he has been on this planet for 10 years how does Egrorian know that Avon & company use a ship called Scorpio?
Also, at what point did this become common knowledge?

Egrorian says, "You wouldn't have traversed 3 star systems..." & later, on the ship, Avon says "We've come quite a long way." Given how far Liberator used to travel, not really.
Also is the 3 star systems line to indicate that Egrorian now knows where Xenon base is? (Unlikely, or he would have told Servalan.)

Egrorian destroys a planet & Avon just believes him? Shouldn't he have Scorpio check it out first? Also how did they see the planet exploding? Light would take years to get that far.

Since he has been on this planet for 10 years how does Egrorian know about Orac?

When shown the Federation document, Egrorian says that Servalan was head of the Federation then. Servalan only became head of the Federation during the Galactic War over a year ago. (If the TV seasons are anything to go by Servalan was President for just a year.)

So this Ubergenius thinks that by asking Orac to tell him what paper he wrote years earlier he can deduce that it is indeed Orac?

They really should have worn their teleport bracelets, just in case.

When Servalan is asking Egrorian to abandon Pinder, Pinder appears & should be visible to both via peripheral vision.

The Cold Equations is a famous SF story where the weight of a young girl stowed away on a spaceship threatens to throw the ship off course unless she is jettisoned. Clearly the inspiration for the 'extra mass on the shuttle throws it off course' part of the story.

Amazing that Orac didn't fall off the console when Avon pulled the nose of the shuttle up.

Of course, since Orac can interface with any computer that uses Ensor's computer modifications Orac could have downloaded any research that Egrorian did on the tachyon funnel & Avon & co. could construct a new one. For some reason, Avon doesn't consider this.

Earlier Egrorian said that a microsecond of radiation aged Pinder 50 years. However Egrorian is exposed to it for several seconds and seems to age less. Also his hair turns white & his beard grows long.
If this hair growth symbolizes the passage of time, then why didn't Egrorian starve to death first?

Since they figured that Servalan was on the planet, why not lie in wait for her ship to leave the planet, then destroy it?

A scene was cut from this episode showing Vila crying when Avon stalks him.

Did Robert Holmes ream Martin Cuzzlewit before writing this? Egrorian has Tom Pinch's hairdo & Pinder reminds me of Mr Chuffy. Egrorian could also be a student of Ensor.

I just saw this episode for the first time yesterday and it really bothered me. For all Avon's cold-bloodness, he's always retained a certain loyalty to his comrades. That he'd really go about sacrificing Vila to save himself just rubs me wrong (and the only original crewmember left, at that!).

Avon and Vila have long been my favorite characters, but this casts a light on Avon I didn't want to see.

Yes, I recently watched this and even with Avon's temperament it is difficult to believe even HE would act like that to a long standing crew member - even Vila whom he has despised, though never one gathered to the extent he wanted to kill him!?

Let's hope they still have the original cut footage for the DVD. Of course, by time they get around to releasing the fourth season, the Federation may already be in charge.

Just watched this again and it is unpalaetable what Avon would have done to Vila. Only goes to show his comradeship was superficial and he WOULD have used any excuse to get rid of Vila (seemingly). After this episode it is difficult to see how they could have co-existed in theshort time frame up to the 'Blake' episode.