User Reviews

For the first 20 to 25 minutes, the storyline was chugging along nicely and, while it was never in any danger of becoming a "Blake's 7" classic, it looked as if it was going to be a decent enough episode. The last 20 minutes, however, are pretty dire. Peter Byrne, who starred in "Dixon of Dock Green" for the entire series, is very good as Justin but I found his love for Dayna a little disturbing as she was probably a little girl the last time that he saw her on Sarran. Even if that hadn't occurred to me, I don't think that it would have come across as an interesting or effective romance as, while Byrne and Josette Simon perform well together in the earlier scenes where they debate the morality of creating the animals, there was no romantic chemistry between them in the later ones.

Glynis Barber is once again wasted. While they have less screen time than usual, Paul Darrow, Michael Keating and Steven Pacey get some good lines. It was also nice to see Kevin Stoney again. He previously played Councillor Joban in "Hostage", another Allan Prior episode. As with "Rescue", the main plot owes a great deal to that of a late 19th Century novel. The idea of basing an episode on "The Island of Doctor Moreau" isn't a bad one – particularly since creating a race to use for the dirty jobs seems right up the Federation's alley – and it's executed rather well, even if the animal costumes are unintentionally funny. It's certainly much better than "Sliders"' take on it, "The Slide of Paradise".

Blake's 7 was a groundbreaking triumph but is horribly dated now. Tv shows made by the BBC from the 60s to 90s followed the same production template; shot as live after one days rehearsal with nearly static cameras, no overdubs and minimal editing. Form and function without any artistic flair; camera 1, camera 2 and cut. Post production involved inserting stock footage. Slide em, dice em. Stack em and rack em. And on the double.

So Animals suffers as a result. What it isn't is the nadir of the series, there are worse episodes. What it is is a really clever script ripping off Dr Moreau and transposing through A Clockwork Orange. Dayna is first coerced through manipulation into falling in love, then brainwashed through aversion therapy into hating the same paramour, then ultimately brainwashed back again resulting in her mental collapse in the finale.

With more time and effort on the production, stronger direction and better acting (Josette Simon is truly awful in the role, she's acting in a different story altogether at first, clearly staying true to her character in the series but not the script of this episode) it would be a weighty and devastating story but because of the breakneck speed of the production process it becomes a throwaway mess.