Line #118 Recap/BlakesSevenS3E5TheHarvestOfKairos


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_harvest_of_kairos.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:Servalan [[WomenPreferStrongMen meets a manly Man]]. Lucky her.]]
3	[[AC:Written by Ben Steed.\
4	Directed by Gerald Blake.\
5	Airdate: 4 February 1980.]]
6
7	A former Federation officer called Jarvik boasts to Servalan that he can capture the Liberator, whose crew are planning to steal a shipment of valuable crystals from the planet Kairos.
8	----
9	!This episode has the following tropes:
10
11
12	* AbandonedWarehouse: Avon discovers the antique moonlander sitting in an aircraft hanger.
13	* ActionGirl: After Jarvik beats Tarrant in hand-to-hand combat, Dayna takes him on rather than meekly surrender her transporter bracelet. She does a lot better, but eventually Jarvik uses his greater strength to knock her down and then [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere teleports them both up to the Liberator]].
14	* ActuallyPrettyFunny: Jarvik roars with laughter when Tarrant tries to bluff them into surrendering with a tiny clunker of a spacecraft.
15	* AllPlanetsAreEarthlike:
16	** Subverted; Avon sets a condition that Servalan must beam them down to a planet with Earth-like conditions. Servalan sends them down to [[DeathWorld Kairos]].
17	** Averted; the planet Avon retrieves his Sopron rock from requires breathing masks.
18	* AllWebbedUp: Anyone killed by the spider-creature.
19	* AreYouPonderingWhatImPondering: Tarrant asks for Avon's tactical assessment, only to find he's busy arguing with Orac over his rock.
20	* AuthorTract: This is the first of three episodes written by Ben Steed, all of which come across as lectures about how Women need to [[StayInTheKitchen shut up]] and [[WomenPreferStrongMen give in to their desire for Manly Men like Jarvik]]. Includes lots of gratuitous OutOfCharacter moments - suddenly Servalan hunts the Liberator using Non-Manly computers and science, instead of her usual scheming, manipulation and vicious cunning. She seems to want the approval of someone she'd [[BadBoss kill out of hand in other episodes.]] Avon, an equal-opportunity misanthrope, is suddenly a misogynist instead. [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking Oh, and Dayna loses to a guy she'd demolish if someone else wrote it.]] Add in the [[invoked]]SpecialEffectFailure and you're left with an episode that can really only be enjoyed as {{Camp}}.
21	* BadassBoast: Avon claims he's the only Man capable of reprogramming Zen.
22	* BaitAndSwitchComment: Servalan gets a ForcefulKiss from Jarvik. Servalan decides she appreciates his manly audacity and makes him TheDragon.
23	-->'''Servalan:''' But first, there is the question of that degrading and primitive act to which I was subjected in the control room. ''[{{beat}}]'' I should like you to do it again.
24	* BehindTheBlack: Whenever the spiders attack.
25	* BigCreepyCrawlies: The cast are menaced by a GiantSpider-like creature. Unfortunately it's [[invoked]]NightmareRetardant with its slow wobbly walk and big googly eyes.
26	* BrandishmentBluff: Avon creates a crude analogue version of the Sopron rock, and wires it into the lander. When the Liberator scans the lander, Zen informs Servalan that it's an advanced cruiser just like the Liberator, only more powerful. Jarvik urges her to ignore this bluff, but Servalan doesn't want to take the risk and flees.
27	* BreakOutTheMuseumPiece: Servalan seizes the Liberator and has its crew abandoned on Kairos. Their only hope of escape is an unarmed and obsolete Apollo-era landing craft.
28	-->'''Tarrant:''' But there's nothing I can do with this...\
29	'''Avon:''' [[RunOrDie YOU CAN GET IT OFF THE GROUND!]]
30	* {{Camp}}: Captain Shad, which makes you wonder at the enthusiasm [[HoYay with which he obeys the manly Jarvik's orders]].
31	* CantKillYouStillNeedYou: As they've fleeing the Liberator, Servalan orders Dayna shot. Dayna quickly points out that if they kill her, who operates the teleport?
32	* ColdEquation: A Federation transporter with a valuable cargo is too heavy to reach orbit from a DeathWorld, so Servalan orders the captain to leave [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness some of his labourers behind]]. There's a moment of BlackComedy when a guard is [[KickTheDog taunting the labourers]] as he locks them out, [[LaserGuidedKarma only to find the transporter taking off without him as well.]]
33	* CombatByChampion: Invoked by Servalan, who insists that Jarvik prove himself a worthy suitor by defeating Tarrant in a hand-to-hand combat as well as a space battle.
34	* CombatPragmatist: Jarvick tosses his knife at Tarrant's feet, then attacks him [[SchmuckBait when he bends down to pick it up]]. He wins the fight with an ISurrenderSuckers.
35	* ContinuityNod: Programming a condition into Zen that the crew have to be teleported to safety before handing over control was first suggested by Section Leader Klegg to Avon in "[[Recap/BlakesSevenS3E2Powerplay Powerplay]]".
36	* CurseCutShort
37	-->'''Vila:''' Just one pocket full. [[IfIWereARichMan I suppose I could retire to the lakeside of Gardinos]] and be waited on by those cute, little--\
38	'''Tarrant:''' Yes. Well, what you do with your [[DoubleEntendre booty]] is up to you.
39	* ADayInTheLimelight: Ben Steed was told to write an episode focusing on Tarrant, which is why Avon is unusually wrapped up in his own interests rather than snarking with Tarrant over which one of them captains the Liberator.
40	* DecliningPromotion: Jarvik is offered command of the Liberator as a reward for capturing it. However he rejects this, saying he'd have stayed in the military if promotion was all he was after. He prefers to be HotConsort to the [[WeCanRuleTogether ruler of the Federation instead]].
41	* DeathByMaterialism: Anyone stranded on Kairos can't resist picking up a crystal or two in case they're rescued. Unfortunately the spider-creatures [[PhlebotinumMuncher eat Kairopan, and anyone who is carrying it]]. Even if they realize this and throw the crystal away, they'll still have particles of Kairopan on their skin and clothing which the creatures can sense, especially [[HorrorHunger when all the crystals have been devoured and the creatures are starving]].
42	* DeathWorld: The Kairopan crystals can only be harvested for one week after the vernal equinox. No-one has ever survived if they stayed on the planet after one week.
43	* DeflectorShields: Servalan is shocked that the Liberator can fire through its own force wall, and the ship also has the ability to overlap (as opposed to interlock) the force walls for greater protection. Unfortunately only Cally has the skill to do so, and Avon takes her off the bridge just when her skill is needed.
44	* DefrostingIceQueen: Servalan
45	* DirtyCoward: Servalan could have fought or tried fleeing in the Liberator. Because Zen is telling her the spacecraft is marginally stronger and faster, she teleports off the Liberator.
46	* DoABarrelRoll: The Liberator rotates on its longitudinal axis to [[TakeOurWordForIt imply the clever manoeuvres]] our AcePilot is putting the Liberator through with [[invoked]]NoBudget for special effects.
47	* EvenEvilHasStandards: Jarvik rejects Dayna as a hostage when Tarrant calls him on it, and also objects to her being shot purely because Servalan is a SoreLoser.
48	* EvilGloating: Jarvik thinks it's UnsportsmanlikeGloating to do this to a WorthyOpponent, but has no problem if Servalan wants to indulge herself.
49	* ExactWords: Servalan has to put our heroes down on a planet with Earth-conditions. If that planet happens to be swarming with hostile fauna, too bad.
50	* FantasticRacism: Jarvik sacrifices [[MookMobile three Federation cruisers]] just to hide his real plan. He later says that the crews didn't count [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman because he only used mutoids]] (female [[CyberneticsEatYourSoul personality-wiped]] [[JustAMachine cyborgs]]).
51	* FightingFingerprint: Tarrant derides the opening attack formation as unimaginative, but it also tells him that Servalan is the one after them.
52	* {{Foreshadowing}}:
53	** Given her notorious LackOfEmpathy, Jarvik asking Servalan when she last wept over the death of a friend sounds ridiculous, but she does just that in "[[Recap/BlakesSevenS4E9Sand Sand]]".
54	** Vila pipe-dreams about how he'll retire on his share of the loot, but Tarrant reminds him "[[NoChallengeEqualsNoSatisfaction Two weeks of that, and you'd be looking for something to break into]]". Vila himself realises this when offered the chance to escape his life as an outlaw in [[Recap/BlakesSevenS3E6CityAtTheEdgeOfTheWorld the next episode]].
55	* FriendOrFoe: Captain Shad accidentally shoots Jarvik.
56	* [[FunnyBackgroundEvent Funny Foreground Event]]: Avon is poking his rock with a technical implement in the foreground, as the others are busy with tactical {{Technobabble}}. It gives off a [[EducationThroughPyrotechnics small explosion]] and they all turn to him.
57	--> '''Avon:''' [[OutOfCharacterMoment Sorry.]]
58	* TheGeneralissimo: Servalan introduces herself as "[[TheMagnificent President and Supreme Commander of the Terran Federation]]", showing that she's taken over both political and military commands.
59	* GentlemanRanker: Jarvik joined the Federation as an officer, but quit and rejoined as an enlisted man because he hated computers and liked manual labour and fighting.
60	* GoodOldWays: Jarvik waxes lyrical about the supremacy of Humanity over machines, takes pride in manual labour and hand-to-hand combat, and when the most ruthless and powerful Woman in the galaxy argues with him, throws Servalan onto the nearest sofa, grabs her by the throat and gives her a BigShutUp.
61	* GreenRocks: Kairopan, which is a valuable red crystal of unrevealed purpose, and Sopron, which is a green-and-black mineral lifeform that protects itself by projecting itself as the [[ApeShallNotKillApe same species]], yet more powerful, than anything that scans it.
62	* TheGuardsMustBeCrazy: Jarvik's soldiers apparently never bothered to search Avon after taking him prisoner. He still has his rock (which could be used to bash someone's head in) and Orac's key, despite the computer being just as valuable as the Liberator.
63	* GuileHero:
64	** Servalan uses her battle computers to work out what Tarrant will do and lay a trap. Tarrant uses his battle computers to work out what he should do and does the opposite, thereby avoiding the trap.
65	** It isn't the manly Tarrant who saves the day, but Avon with his BrandishmentBluff.
66	* HelpImStuck: A terrifying GiantSpider [[invoked]][[NightmareRetardant wobbles slowly]] towards [[DamselInDistress Dayna]], who's [[BrokenHeel caught in a flimsy strand of spider web]] in the [[FailedASpotCheck middle of an open field in broad daylight]]. Why she doesn't just unlace her boot and jump free is [[DistressBall not revealed]].
67	* HopeSpot: Servalan has the Liberator outnumbered and outmanouvred, but Tarrant is able to outsmart her. Jarvik comes up with a cunning plan and is given three of the most advanced cruisers to carry it out -- the Liberator is able to destroy all three. Our heroes board the freighter only to be ambushed, but then Avon appears and guns down their ambushers. Success! Nope -- everything up to now was just a distraction for the guards hidden in the cargo.
68	* InsultToRocks: Avon thinks even the rock is [[SurroundedByIdiots smarter than his colleagues]].
69	* IntimateOpenShirt: Jarvik spends half the episode with his jumpsuit unzipped, showing Servalan the goods.
70	* IRejectYourReality: When Tarrant tries to bluff them into surrendering, Jarvik pleads with Servalan to believe her own eyes rather than what Zen is telling her. When Zen offers a possible explanation (the Apollo lander is just a holographic projection designed to hide the spacecraft's true nature) she decides to run.
71	* IrrevocableOrder: Avon uses this to enforce a provision to their surrender. When Servalan interrupts, Avon points out that he must finish giving Zen the command or he won't accept it.
72	* ItAmusedMe: Why Servalan sends down Jarvik to fight Tarrant and retrieve the teleport bracelets as a BattleTrophy (she can prevent Zen beaming them up by moving Liberator out of orbit, and there's no shortage of spare bracelets on the ship). However Avon quickly realises that Jarvik's presence means that the Liberator will blast them (all Servalan has to do is target the general area he beamed up from and obliterate it) so Servalan is likely being a ManipulativeBitch as usual, using Jarvik to pinpoint their location without risk to herself.
73	* ItsTheOnlyWayToBeSure: Even though she's marooned our heroes on a DeathWorld, Servalan decides to [[OrbitalBombardment drop a few plasma bolts on top of them]].
74	* JustPlaneWrong: The spacecraft they salvage is an Apollo-era moonlander, apparently used by an early Earth expedition. But such a vehicle wouldn't be able to take off from any planet of Earth-like gravity, and it would leave the landing legs behind. RagnarokProofing is involved too -- even if Avon and Tarrant got the lander working, the fuel would be useless.
75	* KickTheDog: In case you think Servalan's entirely lost her edge...
76	** Captain Shad reports that due to a rich harvest they're carrying too much cargo, and asks permission to dump the excess. Servalan orders him to [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness leave the workers behind instead]].
77	** Tarrant refuses to hand voice command over to Servalan. She threatens to have Dayna executed then-and-there, and makes it clear she'll work through the crew until someone folds.
78	** Tarrant has won and forced Servalan to abandon the Liberator, but as she's leaving she orders Dayna shot.
79	* LargeHam: Jarvik in all his macho glory.
80	* LaserGuidedKarma: A guard is taunting the workers who are going to be left behind on the DeathWorld, when the transporter leaves without him as well.
81	* LiteralistSnarking
82	-->'''Servalan:''' So tell me, Zen, how does one operate this craft?\
83	'''Zen:''' One manipulates the controls, and the craft functions accordingly.\
84	'''Servalan:''' Yes, and I've heard of your impudence. Now perhaps you will tell me ''how'' to manipulate the controls.
85	* LetsFightLikeGentlemen: When Jarvik grabs Dayna as a HostageForMacGuffin, Tarrant reprimands him for hiding behind a Woman and they fight ''mano-a-mano'' instead.
86	* LetsSplitUpGang: Cally suggests they split up into two teams. Avon declares IWorkAlone and walks off in a huff. Amazingly, no-one is eaten by the horrible monsters. However later the others walk off and leave Dayna to untangle herself from a web, and the spider creature attacks her.
87	* LuddWasRight: Jarvik gave up a Federation captaincy to become a manual worker. He even smashes a machine at the end of the following speech:
88	-->"...when was the last time you felt the warmth of the Earth's sun on your naked back? Or lifted your face to the heavens, and laughed with the joy of being alive? How long since you wept at the death of a friend? Doesn't mean a thing to you, does it, Madam President? You've surrounded yourself with machines and weapons, mindless men and heartless mutoids; and when they've done your work, and the machines have done your thinking, what is there left in you that ''feels?!"''
89	* LudicrousPrecision: Zen has 802 possibilities of why Kairos is usually uninhabitable by humans, and says the disguised moonlander has "speed range to Standard by 12.203".
90	* MineralMacGuffin: The Kairopan crystals (though it's actually Avon's rock that plays a more important role plotwise). As usual [[FailureIsTheOnlyOption they don't get any of them]].
91	* NeutralFemale: Cally stands watching as Dayna wrestles with Jarvick. Because of this, he's able to teleport Dayna out of there when the spider creature 'attacks'.
92	* NoGearLevel: Our heroes lose the most powerful ship in the galaxy and their two {{Master Computer}}s.
93	* NotSoDifferentRemark: Used by Jarvik when he's convincing Servalan to listen to him on how to take down Tarrant.
94	-->'''Jarvik:''' You don't know Tarrant, Madam. He's a Man. He thinks and acts like a Man, not like a machine. That's why he's still alive.\
95	'''Servalan:''' And you, being a similar Man, no doubt, in thought and action, [[SarcasmMode will know exactly where he's heading now?]]\
96	'''Jarvik:''' Oh, yes. Right now he's heading for [[TitleDrop the Harvest of Kairos]].
97	* NotWhatItLooksLike
98	** Tarrant catches Avon holding onto Cally and [[ThisIsNoTimeForKnitting asks if they've really got time for that]]. In fairness, their interaction is played for some ShipTease, with Avon speaking to her much more gently than he normally would.
99	** Servalan doesn't look happy when Jarvik teleports up in mid-wrestle with Dayna.
100	* PantomimeAnimal: Brian the Spider's notoriously-slow OminousWalk is due to the operator sitting in it backwards, with the forelegs operated by his feet and the back legs by his hands.
101	* {{Phlegmings}}: The spider has the appropriate drool when menacing Dayna. Justified as it's looking to feed on what she's carrying.
102	* PresentCompanyExcluded: Averted. When Avon describes the Sopron as the most sophisticated lifeform he's encountered, he adds "present company not excepted".
103	* QuitYourWhining: When Tarrant gives Avon a WhatTheHellHero for ignoring their crisis, Avon pointedly comments that Tarrant shouldn't have any problem as he's the best space-warfare commander flying the most powerful spaceship in the galaxy. "Or so you keep telling us."
104	* ARareSentence: Avon smugly listens to Orac admit the Sopron is (by a 'marginal' degree) more rational that it is.
105	* RebelRelaxation: Jarvik slouches insolently on a console [[DissonantSerenity while Servalan rants about his incompetence]].
106	* RefugeInAudacity:
107	** Jarvik is hauled before the President of the Federation after he's heard bad-mouthing her tactics. His response is to announce, "Woman, you're beautiful" and give Servalan a ForcefulKiss. When Servalan orders him sent to the punishment cells, [[PutTheirHeadsTogether he bangs her guards' heads together]], picks up a weapon and points it at Servalan...and then casually puts it aside, saying he's not here to brawl with her minions. It works because Servalan enjoys his manly chutzpah.
108	** Stuck in a primitive spacecraft with no weapons against the most powerful ship in the galaxy, Avon tells Tarrant to call up Servalan and demand her surrender. It works because while Servalan has everything to lose, Avon (while as much interested in self-preservation as she is) has nothing to lose, [[ItsTheOnlyWay as their only other options]] are die in space or die down on the planet.
109	* RightThroughHisPants: Servalan and Jarvik are shown relaxing after sex, but still dressed.
110	* ScreenShake: During the space battle and moonlander launch.
111	* SeriesContinuityError: Tarrant's backstory doesn't match what's said in this episode, though that may be due to the confusion created with the writer's bible (Tarrant was originally to be a Federation deserter called The Captain, played by an older actor). This may also be why Tarrant is portrayed as the captain of the Liberator and Servalan's main target, rather than Avon.
112	* SkewedPriorities: Avon is so obsessed with his rock that he takes Cally off the bridge at a time when her expertise is needed to fight a space battle.
113	-->'''Tarrant:''' That thing has warped your reason, Avon; it has even warped your notorious instinct for looking after Number One.
114	* SmoochOfVictory: Vila and Dayna share a Hug of Victory after destroying a Federation warship.
115	* SpacePirates: Tarrant convinces the others to engage in a bit of piracy. Sure the Federation is the target, but it doesn't bode well for the future ethics of these 'freedom fighters'.
116	* StarfishAliens:
117	-->'''Avon''': This happens to be the most sophisticated lifeform that it has ever been my good fortune to come across. Present company ''not'' excepted.\
118	'''Tarrant''': Life? But it looks like...\
119	'''Avon''': A rock. Yes. Well, when you live on the permanent dark side of a planet, nobody cares too much what you look like.
120	* SuddenlyShouting: Jarvik has seized the ''Liberator'' and left the crew stranded on a DeathWorld where their only means of escape is an obsolete landing module without weaponry.
121	-->'''Avon:''' Once your friend Jarvik teleports that's the last we'll see of the Liberator. A couple of plasma bolts will be the last we'll see of anything.\
122	'''Tarrant:''' [[BreakOutTheMuseumPiece But there's nothing I can do with this...]]\
123	'''Avon:''' [[RunOrDie YOU CAN GET IT OFF THE GROUND!]]
124	* TheSwarm: Unfortunately the prop department [[EconomyCast could only afford to build one of them]].
125	* TakingTheBullet: Albeit an accidental version.
126	* ThisIsSomethingHesGotToDoHimself: Servalan tells Jarvik to take down a team and beat Tarrant and his friends in hand-to-hand combat. Jarvik brags that he'll do the job alone. For some reason our anti-heroes go along with this instead of kicking Jarvik in the head while he's wrestling with Tarrant.
127	* TookALevelInBadass: Tarrant has suddenly become the Federation's most wanted instead of Avon. Makes one wonder if this was was originally written with Blake in mind.
128	* TrojanHorse: Captain Shad and his men are hidden in the crates of Kairopan crystals.
129	* VestigialEmpire: Vila points out that the Federation doesn't really exist any more. Try telling Servalan that.
130	* WeNeedADistraction: Jarvik knew Tarrant would suspect something if it was too easy to seize the cargo, [[BadBoss so he sacrificed the three cruisers]].
131	* WomenPreferStrongMen: Presumably why Servalan puts up with Jarvik [[WhatsUpKingDude aggressively manhandling the President of the Terran Federation]] in her own control room. Though Creator/JacquelinePearce assumed that Servalan was like an UptownGirl enjoying a "bit of rough" for kicks.
132	* WorthyOpponent: Jarvik and Tarrant feel this towards each other. Averted by Avon who cuts short Tarrant's post-mortem praise. "He was just another Federation thug."
133	* WriterOnBoard: Servalan has to act seriously out-of-character in order to explore Ben Steed's themes of LuddWasRight and WomenPreferStrongMen. She's been entirely willing to rely on cunning in the past -- now Servalan is an IceQueen who's [[StrawVulcan overly reliant on battle computers]]. Servalan allows Jarvik to give orders and manhandle her on her own command deck, despite being obsessed with her own authority and ego. She even balks at having Jarvik executed when it looks like his cunning plan has turned out to be a disaster.
134	* WritersCannotDoMath: Tarrant was apparently Jarvik's lieutenant during the last Kairopan harvest, fifteen years ago. Either Tarrant is meant to be [[UnderageCasting considerably older than the actor playing him]] (which doesn't make a lot of sense, given how much emphasis other episodes place on his youth), or he was a ChildSoldier.
135	* YouHaveNoChanceToSurvive: Tarrant bluffing Servalan into fleeing.
136	* YouSaidYouWouldLetThemGo: Servalan captures the Liberator and threatens to execute our heroes one-by-one until they order Zen to transfer command authority to her. Tarrant points out Servalan will likely kill them anyway, and refuses. Avon however concedes, but quickly adds a provision that Servalan must first leave them unharmed on a planet with Earth-like conditions. Unfortunately the nearest planet of that description is a DeathWorld, and Servalan later tries to destroy them with OrbitalBombardment just to be sure.
137	* YouWillBeSpared:
138	** When Jarvik appears to have stuffed up the plan, Servalan balks at having him summarily executed, but does order her guards to arrest him for court-martial.
139	** Servalan takes a shine to Avon's amoral intelligence, and says that if she did shoot the crew one-by-one to enforce Tarrant's compliance, she might consider sparing him.

Context Recap / BlakesSevenS3E5TheHarvestOfKairos