Production GuideObservations: Dorzak
Production GuideThanks to Thomas, Simon Frend, Fergus.
"This morning we heard the most terrifying sound in space, the Universal Plague Warning Signal." We presume they know about the signal from Maya or from other aliens they have encountered. Why do the Crotons use this signal when they are transporting a prisoner? Sahala could explain simply that the prisoner can control minds, but instead conceals any information, which encourages the Alphans to mistrust her.
Sahala appears on the Big Screen. In the reverse angle of Helena, we can just see the corner of the Big Screen - and it's showing the Alpha diagram.
The Croton ship lands on the Alpha launch pad. When the pad descends (middle picture) the boarding tube is standard for connecting to an Eagle passenger module. In the first and last pictures there is a new ribbed section which fits the profile of the Croton ship.
The first stretcher bearer has no commlock in the travel tube. He has one on his belt when he emerges from the tube.
When they enter the travel tube, Helena carries her helmet (the two medics don't carry helmets). It is a yellow helmet with orange neck ring. When they leave the travel tube, a helmet can be seen on the barrel inside the unit. It is a silver helmet with silver neck ring. It wasn't there before, and Helena does not have her helmet any more.
The silver suits of the stretcher bearers are different to Helena's silver suit. They look like the firemen suits seen in other episodes. They have normal spacesuit belts, while Helena's suit has no belt. Helena wears an ID badge, but the medics don't.
In several scenes in this episode, the "LSRO" on Maya's tunic is at a slight angle, while others it is perfectly horizontal. Sometimes Maya changes her tunic mid-scene. Just before Sahala shoots her, the LSRO is straight. When she falls back, it is angled. On the floor it is straight again. Thanks to Richard Totis.
Sahala's staser is a tape recorder microphone. Thanks to Simon Friend.
The other instrument used to revive people from stasis is a silver version of the standard Alphan injection pen, actually a Twinlite tongue depressor and auro-nasal illuminator, made by Eschmann. Thanks to Simon Friend.
Helena scans the frozen Maya, and the camera pulls back. Maya blinks.
As Ed Spencer and Helena discuss Maya, we see through the observation window a blonde nurse sitting at the desk in front of the window. She stands and walks to the operating table, shortly before Helena and Spencer leave to look at Yesta. As they walk to Yesta, we cut to the main medical ward and see the blonde nurse sitting back at the desk.
As Sahala revives Maya from stasis, Maya's hair is different between shots. In close up, there is a curl of hair over her collar bone.
The Croton spaceship on the launch pad has a diameter not larger than an Eagle passenger module. The interior is much larger.
The Croton spaceship is full of Alphan furniture: Clea sits in an Elda chair, there is a Rodica chair by the door, the sofas are Swany, the wall shelves by Dorzak's prison are Bisterfeld + Weiss. The wall arches first appeared in the Sunim temple in A Matter Of Balance, made up the nuclear waste dome corridor in The Bringers Of Wonder part 2 and would appear again in Zoran's chamber in The Immunity Syndrome
The round lamps hanging from the ceiling are from the Artemide catalogue, designed in 1968 and sold until 1979. The design is "Pallade", by Studio Tetrarch (Adelaide Bonati, Silvio Bonatti, Enrico De Munari, Carla Federspiel). The ABS plastic lamp is 40cm in diameter, and 30cm high, and was available in white and red.
How did Clea remove her jammer? It requires a surgical procedure, which would be very difficult to do on yourself. After double crossing Yesta, Clea confesses all to Sahala. Would Sahala trust Clea enough to leave her alone - even if she accepted her genuine remorse - so she could throw herself into space? Perhaps Sahala isn't being totally candid about the end of the story.
Stun guns are normally held in their holsters with a small strap. Unusually this guard didn't use the strap, and his stun gun is almost falling out before Sahala snatches it.
In Sahala's detention room, the guard has a different stun gun with strap attached. It is a lightweight vacuum-formed prop, with a scratch showing the red plastic underneath (when Sahala grabs the gun, it is a wooden prop, with better details for the close-up). The loop of his holster over his belt is breaking apart.
Note the white chalk marks on the floor, marking where Helena and Maya must stand.
Sahala steals a guard's gun, but Alan Carter disarms her and holds the stun gun for the rest of the sequence. The Alphans enter the Croton ship. A rear shot shows the guard's holster is still empty. When Maya and Helena find Dorzak in stasis, the guard stands in the background. In his holster is a new stun gun. Where did the guard's second gun come from? Thanks to Fergus.
Dr. Spencer's mask doesn't cover his nose. A surgical mask must cover the mouth and nose.
Dr Spencer wears a white jacket. It is an Umbro tracksuit top. The double-diamond logo of Umbro, a British sportswear company, is visible. Thanks to Richard Totis.
As he asks Sam "you could jam that message if you had one of these implanted in your head?", Tony gestures with the jammer in his hand, raising it and lowering it. We cut to Sam, replying "Exactly". In this shot, Tony's hand is still raised, with the jammer visible.
Top right, the false ceiling ends and the studio wall can be seen beyond, with some writing ("...ES"). Oddly, in several shots of Medical Center, there is a Pileo floor lamp behind the diagnostic chair, under the hanging computer unit, with the lid folded down.
Maya shows Dorzak her skills at molecular transformation. She starts by sitting in a chair, then stands and transforms. Her transformation is a guinea pig on the chair she was sitting on (moved closer to the side wall). But Dorzak is still looking up, not down to the chair. As filmed, Maya transforms first into a guinea pig, then Dorzak asks "what else?". She stands and transforms into a gorilla. By cutting the gorilla shots, the eyelines and character positions are wrong. See script to screen.
Dorzak does not know how to transform, although when he commands Maya he learns very quickly (within minutes?). Maya is ignorant of the ability to manipulate minds (Mentor did not use it either). These formidable Psychon abilities seem to be easy to acquire, but not widespread among individuals.
When Dorzak commands Maya to teach him molecular transformation, he takes her head in his hands. As he does, we cut to another angle, but the cut makes him take his head twice.
When Helena picks up her case in Medical, the tray has Zova's Golos communicator from The Exiles, Sally Martin's recorder from The Lambda Factor, and operating instruments from Space Warp and other episodes.
When Dorzak surprises Alan and Sahala, he is able to command Alan, but has no control over Sahala. Despite this, he aims his gun at Alan. Sahala could have grabbed the stun gun.
Helena arrives at the Croton ship to operate on Sahala. We then see Tony in Medical inspecting the jammer capsules. Then we are back in the Croton ship as Helena prepares to operate. What took her so long? Why was she so much slower than Spencer, who operates on Tony, with enough time for Tony to rush across the base to the Croton ship immediately after the operation - and arrives just before Helena is about to operate.
Sahala and Clea have a much more elaborate process for reviving someone from stasis than Tony uses. He just uses the lighted instrument on Maya/Dorzak's forehead, then the staser, and she wakes up. The Crotons also touch the first instrument to the temple and chest.
Copyright Martin Willey