It started out awesome but tailed off quite badly. Too many cast changes and that annoying "Slave" nonsense in series 4 [down]
Have to agree with you about Slave. It wouldn't have been too difficult to build a better scenario to revive Zen and the Liberator than the knock off Slave, complete with transporter!
But I think the actors were generally superb and the story lines remained gritty. It was the gritty story lines that made the series worth seeing.
The tension between Avon and Tarrent was so much more interesting than Blake/Avon.
One of the more fascinating aspects, and which Paul Darrow pulled off brilliantly, was the way Avon degenerated mentally over the 4 series.. It really was just a matter of time before he got himself and everyone else killed.
It was unfortunate really that Steven Pacey was up against Darrow. Both were equally strong and talented actors, but Avon was already established as the bitter compromised fool, so Tarrent could never really blossom into the psychopath Pacey had created.
I recall reading a review of the series, just before it ended which went something like: A group of futuristic thugs and criminals get outstandingly lucky and stumble upon two of the most advanced and useful pieces of equivalent ever devised. Then, believing themselves unworthy of such fortune, spend 4 series desperately looking for ways to give away their loot and kill themselves in the process.
As an Actors, Darrow and Pacey never seemed to get further opportunities parts so complex, which is really sad.
I recall when Christopher Ecclestone was playing Dr Who, thinking that perhaps they might follow him up with someone equally talented. Paul Darrow came to mind but Pacey would have done the part credit as well.
Sadly, the producers opted for the populist option and re-started the clown theme.
