Space Precinct – 14. Takeover

After the extravagance of the previous episode, Two Against The Rock, it’s not too surprising that Takeover is a cheap and cheerful affair. We’re trapped in the station house for the majority of the episode and the guest cast is kept to a minimum. A good bottle episode for any television series relies on an inventive plot… but unfortunately J. Larry Carroll and David Bennett Carren don’t exactly specialise in dreaming up out of the ordinary Space Precinct stories. Takeover is a pretty standard runaround with a twist you can see coming a mile off. Even the attempts at non-linear storytelling are rather predictable.

The script itself, based on Carroll and Carren’s outline, was written by the series’ Executive Story Editor, Philip Morrow, and Executive Story Consultant, Chris Hubbell. Like Two Against The Rock, the decision to write the Takeover teleplay at the executive level was probably necessitated by the episode’s production limitations. Meanwhile, the dependable John Glen is back in the director’s chair this week, trying to add a few moments of brilliance here and there. At the time he was also overseeing the shooting of more material for what was originally Alan Birkinshaw’s episode, Divided We Stand. All this and series’ star Ted Shackelford had just come back from vacation! In short, there was a mad sprint going on behind the scenes to keep the Space Precinct production line moving, and Takeover was designed to be a very average episode that would take the pressure off a little bit. And in being very average, I have to say it succeeds…

The ‘This Episode’ montage doesn’t hide the fact that much of the episode takes place inside the station house. But we do have guns, aliens, a few impressive flying shots, and a whacking great explosion to look forward to.

The title of the episode really does give too much away in my opinion. When you’re going in knowing full well that someone or something is going to be taken over at some point, the viewer has one heck of an advantage towards figuring out the rest of the plot.

The episode opens in Magma Park… the ugliest park I’ve ever seen. Who would want to spend their lunch hour trudging through all that mud? Pushing a pram through it must have been a nightmare for that poor mother. Miles Yorba drops off his takeout container in an overflowing trash can. The Vidphone often seen in the dark alleys of the city looks dreadfully out of place in the middle of this wasteland. The live action green screen elements of this scene were actually filmed on ‘I’ stage at Shepperton Studios (alongside the model unit), two months after the rest of the episode had wrapped. As behind the scenes photos demonstrate, this quick little piece of second unit work was directed by Gerry Anderson himself on 17th January 1995, just four weeks before the episode was due to be broadcast in the United States.

Since it’s called Magma Park, I guess the idea is that it’s sitting on top of an active volcano. I’m sure the overwhelming smell of sulfur makes it a delightful picnic spot.

Yorba narrates the scene as one of the police cruisers opens fire on the red hopper. It’s the first demonstration we’ve ever had of the cruiser’s onboard cannon and I have to say it’s a bit odd. For one thing, I’m sure that cannon could have solved quite a few problems if it had been there for all the chase sequences in earlier episodes. Also, I’m afraid to say that the stop motion animation used to show the gun popping out just isn’t the smoothest.

The mother and her baby flee the scene while Yorba gets to stand around and enjoy another cataclysmic explosion from the special effects department. The close-up of his reaction is filmed on a real set rather than against green screen.

But hold your horses everyone because Space Precinct is having a go at non-linear storytelling! Don’t worry, it’s nothing especially fancy. Yorba has been giving his account of the incident we just witnessed to a police committee, claiming that the attack was unprovoked and unannounced. Officer Haldane jumps to his feet and tells us all that he’s lying. Ooh, drama. The set recycles elements from lots of previous station house rooms including the board room seen in Divided We Stand.

Commissioner Tev instructs Haldane to take a chill pill. In a resourceful cost-cutting exercise, the animatronic head for Tev is a refurbished mask previously used in the Space Police Reloaded test trailer from 1991 as a criminal – a shot of whom originally filled the “impressive alien” slot in the opening titles for the first couple of episodes of Space Precinct. It’s an incredible piece of craftsmanship and technical wizardry for 1994. The computer-operated head, known affectionately by the production team as “Cyril”, could automatically lip-sync to pre-recorded dialogue. The result is not too bad. It’s certainly an improvement on the likes of Morgo from Flash. But, the mask still only has a limited range of expression so Rob Thirtle is having to over-compensate with a lot of hand gestures.

Tev consults Yorba’s original statement and notes that it doesn’t match the testimony he has just given. In the statement, Yorba had said that the driver of the red sports hopper had opened fire with a blaster. Yorba explains that his original statement was false because he had feared for his life while giving it. The Tarn bailiff confirms that Yorba is now telling the truth. Maybe I’m thick, but when I first watched this I didn’t pick up on the fact that the Tarn bailiff was using his third eye to read Yorba’s mind during this hearing. Frankly, I’d forgotten entirely that Tarns could read minds. It’s a trick that’s used remarkably little in a TV series about police work. Maybe this moment could have been made clearer if the bailiff had been seen actually opening his third eye or something, just to draw extra attention to it.

Tev asks Yorba to identify the officers who fired on the hopper. We can all guess who’s in trouble here, but we get a quick flashback to the scene as none other than Brogan and Haldane step out of the cruiser to survey their handiwork.

J’accuse! So, our big, fat mystery of the episode is whether Brogan and Haldane really did kill a man in cold blood. I’m not exactly on the edge of my seat for this one. Brogan and Haldane basically use excessive force every other week and nobody questions it. Sure the circumstances are slightly different here but I’m not exactly eager to set aside 45 minutes of television to tease out those minor details. Plus, we’ve already had an internal affairs investigation just like this one fairly recently when Brogan and Haldane were tricked into shooting someone in Divided We Stand. Then, there’s the fundamental issue that we’re over halfway through the series so Brogan and Haldane are beyond reproach at this point. They’re the heroes, always on the side of good and justice, and only an earthquake-sized twist that would shake up the entire course of the series could convince us otherwise.

A green hopper arrives at the station house. It’s not Brogan, but I’d forgive you for thinking that it was. It’s really silly for the main hero of the show to drive the same car as 50% of the population of Altor.

A shadowy figure in black wanders into a computer room and starts pressing the beautifully back-lit buttons. I don’t blame them. Who can resist a colourful button?

Marvel at the futuristic computer graphics which show stuff happening to stuff.

Meanwhile, Orrin and Romek are serving up our standard-issue comedy subplot for the week. Like I said, this is a very average episode. Today, Orrin is on some kind of fitness frenzy and runs into the room with a skipping rope. He’s not exactly a world-class skipper, but that probably has something to do with Richard James’ head being encased in rubber.

While Orrin is all about the running and the sit-ups and the stretching, Romek’s version of a workout usually involves a beer. As ever, Richard James and Lou Hirsch play the jokes very well together. I can’t really complain too much about their distracting subplots because the two actors are still a pleasure to watch.

Slomo arrives with the officers’ annual physical reports, and according to Orrin there’s something not quite right about it. He wanders off like a lost puppy.

Took comes by, concerned by Orrin’s sudden change in mood. Romek reveals all. He explains that they’ve entered the “Top Cop of the Week” competition, and proudly announces that he falsified Orrin’s record so that it reports he has the body of an 85-year-old Creon. Oh what japes. It’s a bit of a convoluted joke but at least Romek’s laughing.

Dragging us back to the main plot, Brogan and Haldane try to explain what’s been happening. Haldane suspects that Yorba and the Tarn bailiff who read his mind are involved in some kind of conspiracy to discredit them. Brogan finds this laughable and doesn’t understand why Haldane is so paranoid. In fact, he’s pretty chill about being accused of murder. He doesn’t love it, but he’s not letting it ruin his day. Now, if I were Brogan and I definitely knew I hadn’t done the murder I was being accused of, I would probably be on Haldane’s side and question the integrity of the bailiff who’s confirming that I did do it. Instead, Brogan has full confidence that they’ll be absolutely fine because their pals, Officer Castle and Slomo, are about to testify in the hearing too. But never mind all that because there’s a whole other part of this we haven’t heard about yet. Later this week, Brogan and Haldane are due to appear at the trial of Vanus Olvera, yet another Demeter City crime boss. Why is this relevant? It isn’t right now but it will be later. For now, just let the exposition wash over you because that’s all it’s really good for.

Back in the computer room, we’re introduced to a whole new character! Surprise! Joseph Mydell, who had previously played John Kane in The Snake, is back with a beard to play the 88th’s newest officer, Lionel Carson. Did the 88th actually need a new officer? I would argue that Space Precinct‘s regular cast was over-crowded already, but I guess it’s good for the show to shake things up. In this scene, he’s tapping buttons and reciting Hamlet. Joseph Mydell was a busy actor with the Royal Shakespeare Company so it doesn’t take a genius to figure out how Carson gained that particular character trait.

Slomo informs Brogan and Haldane that Vanus Olvera’s defence attorney, Damon Reseda, has arrived to take their deposition. The lads are put out, but it’s really not an exciting plot development.

Carson pops in to summon Slomo. It turns out Slomo is into Shakespeare too and quotes a line from Romeo and Juliet for Carson to identify. It’s a fun little game they’ve got going on. For the writers it’s essentially shorthand to tell the audience these two are the smart alecks of the station. For everyone else, it’s a bit annoying. While Haldane and Brogan quietly mock Carson for his grave tone, the new officer urgently requests Slomo’s help because “the mainframe’s dumping sectors like there’s no tomorrow.” The last time I was dumping sectors the doctor gave me a special cream.

As Carson and Slomo dash away, Officer Castle arrives with a visitor – Cambria Elon from Interplanetary P.D. Haldane is quick to pounce on the young lady. The make-up department have decided that to make Camrbia look alien but still pretty, she should have white hair strands and a deathly pale complexion. It’s certainly a choice. Cambria is played by Maryam d’Abo, an actor best known for playing Kara Milovy in John Glen’s fourth Bond movie, The Living Daylights (1987). Glen and d’Abo loved working together, and she was apparently so excited to work on Space Precinct that she paid for her own airfare to come to Pinewood from her home in the United States. I’d hardly say the part of Cambria was worth getting on a plane for at her own expense, but d’Abo does a good job with it.

Cambria seems to share Castle’s fondness for teasing Jack as they both remark on the whole witness drama from earlier. While d’Abo has been left with a zombie-like complexion, Simone Bendix has been caked with even more make-up than usual – as if they’re compensating for her more natural appearance in last week’s episode, Two Against The Rock.

New characters are essentially being introduced on a conveyor belt this week as another arrives at the front desk. This is the aforementioned lawyer for Olvera, Damon Reseda, played by Clive Merrison. Classic Doctor Who fans will recognise him as either the Deputy Chief Caretaker in the story Paradise Towers (1987) or Jim Callum from Tomb of the Cybermen (1967). For Sherlock Holmes aficionados, Merrison played the part of Holmes on BBC Radio 4 for many years. But, like me, you may also fall into the unlucky category of people who instantly recognise him as Mark Corrigan’s horrible dad from the Christmas episode of Peep Show. As soon as I see Clive Merrison, I’m immediately reminded that “CAULIFLOWER IS TRADITIONAL!”

Haldane takes it upon himself to continue showing Cambria the rest of the station house. You may be thinking that the writers are cooking up a minor romance subplot where Castle gets jealous of Haldane’s interest in another woman. Nope, surprisingly they leave that stone unturned.

We hop back to the computer room and Slomo has plugged himself into the mainframe. The little guy just can’t get enough of plugging himself into things. Carson is pleased by whatever it is Slomo is doing so presumably those dumped sectors are healing up nicely. On the screen, we get a look at a police cruiser maintenance report. The report’s not exactly relevant to the plot, but it does tell us that the 88th has at least 10 cruisers, but perhaps as many as 23 judging by the assigned numbers. The service times on the report also tell us that there are at least 90 minutes in an Altorian hour.

Brace yourself for some scenery chewing. Brogan and Haldane arrive in another grey, nondescript part of the station house to give Reseda their deposition. The client, Olvera, is listening in on the screen. Clive Merrison gives us a pretty ropey American accent while doing everything he possibly can to demonstrate his character’s general nastiness. Rob Youngblood returns fire with a performance one would never mistake for subtle. Haldane takes the opportunity to bait Olvera and describes the cigar-wielding crime boss as grotesque, disgusting, obese, and smelly. Fierce stuff. It drives Reseda and Olvera absolutely batty.

We’ve spent the first ten minutes of the episode lurching from one inconsequential patch of dialogue to another. So, to inject some desperately needed drama, Haldane and Brogan wander into a corridor and find Slomo spinning around in a tizzy because his data banks are crashing. There’s no sense of danger, unless you count Slomo nearly running over Rob Youngblood’s toes as a valid threat.

And then his data banks crash. We fade to black for a commercial break as if that was some sort of terrific cliffhanger.

After the break, Romek loses it with his desk computer because it just lost his report. Took cheers him up with news that Orrin has dropped out of the top cop competition. And that’s the scene. The stakes for this episode could not feel lower.

Took tweaks Romek’s ear for being mean about Orrin. Do I detect some sexual tension there? I hope so. I’m desperate for any form of tension right now.

Slomo and the mainframe have a computer virus. This is visualised very literally on the screen by a colourful splodge attacking the various dumping sectors.

Carson rattles off enough technobabble to convince us that he knows about these things. He says that the virus is polymorphic – which sounds like a fake sci-fi thing but is actually a real term in computing that means the virus can rewrite its own code with each infection so that it’s harder to trace. While the damaged mainframe sectors can be replaced by back-ups, Slomo’s fate is uncertain. Brogan reminds us that Slomo is due to testify in the Internal Affairs hearing this afternoon. Carson promises to twist a few arms with some friends in cyber-dynamics who can help. Brogan suggests breaking said arms if necessary, but even an actor of Ted Shackelford’s calibre can’t make fixing a robot in time for a boring hearing sound quite that important.

Carson wishes the lads luck with their hearing, but Haldane has total faith in Castle to have their backs. Carson seems to be well aware of the history between Jack and Jane so the implication seems to be that the character has been around the station for a while even though we’ve never seen him before. In every broadcast order for the series, Takeover was always the first episode to be screened featuring Officer Carson, so the writers could have taken the opportunity to introduce him properly without worrying about continuity issues. But no, the man’s dropped in like he’s always been there because heaven forbid we should have some opportunity for character development.

On their way back to the hearing, Brogan and Haldane bump into Reseda. Even though the Internal Affairs investigation has nothing to do with his client, Reseda’s eager to see the two officers discredited so they can’t speak against Olvera in the trial later this week. And if you’re starting to figure out that all these suspicious coincidences might be connected, congratulations, you’re a qualified lieutenant of Precinct 88.

The budget for this episode may be slimmer than usual, but it looks like every background artist in the country has been paid to appear in this scene. The tiny set is crammed with people who should all have better things to be doing. Commissioner Tev hopes that everyone in the heaving crowd had a delightful lunch. I hope the station house cafeteria had enough sandwiches to meet the demand.

Tev asks Officer Castle to tell us her version of events leading to the death of Naxus Simi… that’s the guy in the red sports hopper in case you were wondering… or even cared. Simone Bendix rattles off the paragraphs and paragraphs of exposition that she’s committed to memory. There’s a tedious amount of detail in there. Her usual partner, Took, was elsewhere giving evidence for a capital case. Castle was bringing Slomo back to the station after the RSA convention… which I imagine is a delightful event involving lots of robots like Slomo gathering in a hotel conference centre for presentations about the latest developments in just being a robot. Brogan and Haldane were in pursuit of Naxus Simi because he had shot a guard and robbed the First Altorian Trust on Suburb Beta. None of this is useful information for the plot of the episode. For all the difference it would have made, Took could have been visiting her grandmother while Castle and Slomo were coming back from shopping for a new microwave oven. Heck, Naxus Simi could have been throwing peanuts at traffic on the planet Blah-Blah-Blah for all I care. I’ve called it out before, but I can’t stand when Space Precinct writers embellish their scripts with irrelevant detail masquerading as world-building. Use the screen-time for something more important for goodness sake.

At least the special effects department can provide us with something interesting to look at.

Here’s a really nice shot of Demeter from above. I think it’s the first time we’ve had a clear shot of the whole city during the daytime. It’s essentially a much, much smaller version of Manhattan.

Castle is initially quite excited to get in on the action. After all, being Slomo’s taxi service can’t be the most fulfilling job for a police officer. Speaking of Slomo, he’s in his standard configuration for the back seat of the police cruiser – with his body “packed away” in a case because the prop was too cumbersome to fit on the set. Brogan is uncharacteristically rude to Castle and tells her to back off. Slomo advises her to follow regulation and stick around. But what the heck is Brogan’s deal?

It’s time for our chase sequence for the week, and this time we’re flying through the industrial waterways of the city. The red and white submarine was built by model maker Chris Trice and dubbed the ‘Starsky & Hutch Submarine’ because of its colourful resemblance to that particular show’s star car. While Naxus Simi’s hopper dodges the giant cargo ship trundling along the canal, Brogan, Haldane, Castle, and Slomo are forced to pull up and fly over the building that’s in their way.

Brogan continues to be a right piece of work as he orders Haldane to ready the cannons. When Castle objects he yells, “That’s right, Castle, you don’t think!” Yikes. Someone’s cranky.

Castle can’t believe her ears. How very dare he.

Magma Park looks as unsightly as ever. Don’t get me wrong, the model set is great, I just can’t believe Demeter citizens drive out there to visit the place like it’s a treasured landmark. Brogan’s ready with his cannons and Naxus Simi sticks his head out the window, glaring straight at the camera. The live action set for the standard green hopper has been hastily slapped with red paint for its appearance here. Castle tries to get her cruiser in the line of fire, but Brogan’s an absolute monster…

… and opens fire. We get to enjoy that lovely explosion all over again from a different angle.

“That was murder,” Slomo reminds us all. Gee, they sure do teach you a lot at those RSA conventions, don’t they?

Back in the room, everyone’s quite stirred up by Castle’s tale. It’s the juiciest bit of drama we’ve had for a while. Surely Jane wouldn’t lie about her closest colleagues?

Tev restores some order and asks Castle to confirm that Naxus Simi did not fire first. There’s a long dramatic pause as we finally get some major tension going in this episode. Castle confirms that Brogan and Haldane fired first.

Clive Merrison breaks the fourth wall and glances at the camera because he’s obviously the baddie.

Then, we get another quick flashback to explain why Castle’s original statement was given under duress. We find Castle on the firing range, a room last seen in Protect and Survive. She’s confronted by Brogan with a gun pointed at her head. Cor, he’s a right scumbag this week, isn’t he?!

Back in the present, Brogan is dumbfounded by the accusation. Castle starts to tear up and reiterates that the attack on Naxus Simi was cold-blooded murder, echoing the words said by Yorba at the beginning of the episode. The Tarn bailiff confirms she’s telling the truth.

More fuss. Random members of the crowd get up and leave as if that’s that. Reseda fixes Brogan and Haldane with a smug grin because he just can’t stop milking it.

Everyone else takes that as their cue to leave too. Haldane and Brogan confront Castle in the corridor. She’s adamant that the two lads are wrong’uns and that the truth is finally out. Simone Bendix tries ever so hard to play it for real and I think it works. By the nature of television formats it may still be obvious that our heroes will eventually be proven innocent, but Castle’s testimony has raised the stakes just enough to make the audience believe it won’t be an easy task.

After the commercial break, we briefly switch back to the Romek subplot. Fredo hands over a letter which claims to be a notice of Orrin’s resignation from the police force due to ill health. Is Richard James being written out of the show?! They wouldn’t dare!

Captain Podly finally makes a proper appearance in the episode. Up until now he’s been quietly watching things unfold and it’s been a bit odd not to have his opinion on things. Up in his office, he watches back a recording of the hearing with Brogan and Haldane. They’ve cottoned on remarkably quickly to the fact that Yorba and Castle used exactly the same language in their testimony to describe the killing.

Brogan points out that Slomo’s sudden virus infection could have been an act of sabotage to prevent their only 100% unimpeachable witness from speaking in their favour. Podly spits the same argument back at them, citing that Brogan and Haldane could just have easily wanted to prevent Slomo from speaking against them. Brogan appreciates the fair reasoning – a character trait of his that I always admire. The more hot-headed Haldane isn’t quite so won over by the logic.

Podly is forced to take Brogan and Haldane off duty pending the outcome of the investigation. At this point in the series, that particular move has lost all shock value. Brogan and Haldane are getting suspended or removed from cases more often than they change their socks.

It turns out the new “Jerome Willis is Captain Podly” shot that was added to the opening titles last week is lifted from this scene. The captain unofficially orders Brogan and Haldane to figure out exactly what the truth is in this situation. But who can they trust?

Here’s a weird moment. Outside Podly’s office, Commissioner Tev hides behind a door and listens in on Brogan and Haldane’s conversation. It makes Tev look a bit like the potential bad guy here. I’m not sure why because it’s not a thread that’s picked up anywhere else in the episode. If we’re supposed to question Tev’s motives, we’ll need a bit more to go on than a spot of eavesdropping.

Meanwhile, Carson has acquired a tatty old box from the 1970s. Oh wait, sorry, it’s actually the latest piece of tech loaded up with self-repair software to fix Slomo.

Carson starts spouting Much Ado About Nothing and the lads look at him like a pair of toddlers being force-fed broccoli.

Slomo springs to life with a selection of horrible noises. Carson insists that’s a good thing and the repairs will just take a little time.

Brogan requests that the repairs be kept a secret, and Carson agrees while pointedly reminding the officers that Slomo’s memory can’t be altered – which is a clever little way of checking whether he should trust them or not.

Out in the corridor, Brogan and Haldane run into a couple of officers who give them the stink eye. I’d like to imagine this rivalry has nothing to do with the investigation and instead regards an old sandwich that Haldane left in the fridge. In the elevator, Brogan and Haldane come up with a plan… and catch up on the plot for the benefit of audience members at home who’ve lost interest. Haldane just can’t figure out how Castle can be making the Tarn bailiff think she’s telling the truth when they know she’s lying. Brogan’s only “rational” explanation is that Castle’s memory has been altered. I guess in the whacky world of Space Precinct that does qualify as a rational explanation but c’mon, it does sound a bit silly. So, Brogan’s going to investigate his crackpot theory further while Haldane is tasked with talking to Reseda and figuring out whether they’re deliberately being discredited for the benefit of the Olvera trial.

Took and Castle chat over coffee. For dramatic effect, the break room is rather dark today. Castle is convinced that her testimony was all true, but she also doesn’t see how it could possibly stack up against all those past occasions when Brogan and Haldane were top notch blokes. So yeah, I guess we really are heading down the mind alteration path.

In yet another nondescript section of corridor, Cambria approaches Haldane and pulls him aside for a chat. She practically scoffs at the idea of Haldane murdering anyone and believes that Yorba and Castle have indeed had their memories altered. Cambria claims to have seen their symptoms before in the Delphi system. Well, thank goodness we have an expert on memory alteration right here. That’s ruddy convenient isn’t it? Alas, Cambria doesn’t know how to prove any of this so, instead, she plans to have Haldane tell her the true version of the story so she can use it to convince Castle. Oh go on then, we might as well get our money’s worth out of the model shots one more time…

In the Haldane version of the story, Naxus Simi is armed and firing his great big gun straight at the police cruisers. Castle can’t defend herself because she doesn’t have anyone flying with her to arm the cannons, leaving Brogan and Haldane with no option but to take the shot. Why can’t Castle arm her own cannons? I guess the button’s too far away on the other side of the dashboard. What a bother.

Time for the big twist. Cambria has an extra long fingernail on each index finger. That’s not the twist. This is the twist. She can use her special fingernails to alter someone’s memory just by touching them. Actually, her fingernails might have nothing to do with it. They’re just kinda there. Look, the real twist is that Cambria’s the baddie! I know, right?! The random stranger in the station house that everyone, especially Haldane and Castle, just trusted because they seemed nice turned out to be the villain! What’s that? J. Larry Carroll and David Bennett Carren already did that in their plot for Double Duty? And again in The Snake? Well don’t worry. They’re very unlikely to try the same trick again… because those writers left the series after this episode.

So, now we get the fourth version of the story, and this time Brogan has pulled a gun on Haldane and forces him to arm the cannons. Really stretching the imagination here but I guess Haldane’s dumb enough to believe it, let’s be honest.

Kapow! The big bang never gets old.

Ted Shackelford gobbles up the scenery with an extra helping of ham. He gives us his most obscene evil grin and chuckles away with despicable delight. I think it’s very fitting that Haldane’s memory of events plays out like a cheesy, poorly acted B-movie. He’s never been one for subtlety.

Cambria tells the hypnotised Haldane that memories are funny things that can play tricks on you, and that new memories can appear at almost any time. I think that’s meant to be profound. It isn’t.

Elsewhere, we’re treated to a thrilling new model shot of the police cruiser service bay. We see one cruiser being carried away on a rail. In a way it’s quite similar to the Eagle hangar on Moonbase Alpha that’s seen in Space: 1999. There’s even a police bike visible in the background that we’ve never seen in action. It’s the same bike model which was originally seen as the pizza delivery bike in Double Duty, now modified with a DCPD paint job. At last! Vivid Imaginations finally had some justification for including a random police bike in their Space Precinct toy range.

Brogan’s chatting with his personal medical advisor – Sally Brogan! Yes, Nancy Paul is back after missing last week’s episode entirely. Unfortunately, nobody’s told her that it’s a good idea to look at the camera during a video call.

Sally is confident that Castle has been hypnotised but she’ll need to ask around for further answers. Oh I bet the other doctors will love telling Sally all about how seriously the concept of hypnosis is backed up by medical science. They’ll be falling over laughing at just how much research there is proving that hypnosis has a real, empirical impact on the brain. Patrick’s going to call Sally back to get the info later. After all, if she calls him first then all that glorious, factual science she’s inevitably going to gather will get spoiled and the episode will end too early.

So many scenes set in random station house corridors and generic rooms today. A vacant Haldane (more vacant than normal, anyway), escorts Reseda to meet with Cambria. It would seem that the two of them know each other. Cambria reveals that she’s successfully hypnotised Haldane so he’s not even aware of his surroundings.

Reseda takes the opportunity to smack Haldane across the face. “Fulfilling my fantasy,” he remarks. Clive Merrison might as well be a milkmaid because he squeezes every drop from that horrible udder of a line.

Cambria claims to have heard from Olvera that the grand plan has changed. Oh yeah, remember how Brogan and Haldane immediately suspected that Olvera might be trying to discredit them before his trial? Yeah that was all true. Obviously. Why else would they bring it up in the first place? Anyway, to Reseda’s surprise, the new plan involves framing Brogan and Haldane for another murder. But whose?

Cambria reaches for Haldane’s holster in a move that feels just a little bit kinky.

Bravo, Clive. Has anyone ever looked quite so surprised at being shot in the chest?

With Cambria Elon instated as the episode’s main baddie, it’s nice that things are being taken up a notch. Sure, it’s remarkably silly for the episode to throw another murder into the mix – but it’s fun, so why not?

After the commercial break, Reseda is carried out of the room looking so pale you’d think he’d been dead in there for days. The two medics carrying the stretcher are actors wearing what the Space Precinct team dubbed as “jellyheads”. Surprisingly, we haven’t talked much about jellyheads in these reviews because they’ve mostly been confined to the background of shots. However, in this scene they walk straight past the camera. So, what is a jellyhead? Essentially they’re just alien masks without full-blown animatronic eye mechanisms or holes cut for the actor’s real mouths to move. Background artists could throw them on quickly like a balaclava without needing prosthetic make-up stuck to their faces. The only drawback was that the eyes and mouths remained in a fixed position. That’s fine for background action, but more noticeable in moments like this when a character needs to walk past camera and navigate a particularly tight section of corridor. Suddenly their lack of expression or spatial awareness becomes more obvious.

Haldane regales us with what he thinks is the real version of events. He explains to Podly and Fredo that Brogan was arguing with Reseda and suddenly decided to shoot him.

At the other end of the corridor, Brogan’s listening in. Podly orders that the whole station be sealed off so that nobody can come in or out. The hunt is on for Patrick Brogan… but not an actual hunt because Podly orders that no deadly force be used… so it’s more like a game of hide-and-seek.

The individual docking bays for the police cruisers are being sealed off behind big heavy doors. I’m so, so glad the model shots are giving us something interesting to look at in this particular episode because I’d be so bored otherwise.

Romek bumps into Orrin during the search for Brogan. Romek wants to come clean about the practical joke which caused Orrin to hand in his notice, but Orrin’s not in the mood to chat about this episode’s trivial subplot right now. He’s rather tightly wound today.

Another expressionless jellyhead has snuck into the foreground as Fredo orders more officers to join the search.

This guy walks in front of the camera and he’s not even wearing the proper uniform. They’re really desperate to make the station house look busy this week, aren’t they?

Took and Castle take each other by surprise by bumping into one another. However, they quickly realise that neither of them is Brogan so there’s no harm done. It’s just a little attempt to build some tension.

Fredo reminds everyone involved that Brogan must be considered armed and dangerous. From the deepest, darkest shadows, Brogan is listening in. Hopefully he can stay hidden long enough to come up with a terrific plan of action that will tie up this whole mess once and for all…

… or Romek and Orrin can track him down immediately and diffuse all the tension straight away. Yup. I guess that’ll have to do.

When Orrin reports the good news, Podly goes downstairs to investigate. He orders Haldane to stay put so that we can retain some sense of anticipation.

Cambria seizes the opportunity to mess around inside Haldane’s big empty head with her magic fingers.

We’re treated to this glorious moment that’s being falsely implanted in Haldane’s memories. Captain Podly unleashes his grimmest tone as he orders Haldane to find and kill Brogan. The director, John Glen, gets up close and personal with some big, bulbous camera lenses to really sell the surreal, dreamlike quality of the scene. It’s a highlight of the episode for me!

Haldane doesn’t love this nasty, new memory. But, alas, he’s totally convinced by it. Another point to Cambria. Oh, and I like her uniform by the way. So that’s two points to Cambria.

Brogan’s inevitable escape from capture is a relatively simple affair. He tricks Orrin and Romek into stunning each other. He’s very nice about it though. Brogan double checks that the weapons are set to stun first and then apologises as he steps over their bodies. It’s not exactly tense, but it’s fitting for Brogan’s character.

When the elevator arrives at its destination, Podly and Fredo find the dazed officers lying on the floor together. Scandalous.

Lou Hirsch has some fun by standing up and immediately falling back down at the end of the scene. With these little improvised bits and pieces, Lou does seem to be finding ways of enjoying the Space Precinct experience after all.

Brogan enters a maintenance area. Keeping track of all the generic little corridors in the station house is a nightmare, but this particular bit of set was previously seen as the access door to Docking Bay 6 in the episode Enforcer. It’s probably appeared in several other places but the station house sets make me yawn just from looking at them, so forgive me if I don’t track every single configuration.

Speaking of Enforcer, Brogan presumably uses his knowledge of the ventilation system from that episode to try the same trick again. He drops down into the computer room where poor Slomo is sitting in the darkness gurgling to himself. It’s clear that Slomo isn’t quite up to chatting yet.

Patrick calls up Sally again. Nancy Paul still isn’t being told to look at the camera and it’s really bugging me.

Because Fredo’s so terrific he immediately detects Brogan’s transmission and alerts Captain Podly. Podly summons Castle and Took to go and catch Brogan since Orrin and Romek failed so spectacularly last time. It feels like we’re going through the motions a bit here. As we cut back and forth between the hunters and the hunted, none of this business seems to carry much weight. While background artists dash around frantically, trying to create a sense of excitement, I’m actually losing all sense of escalation in the drama. Everyone’s been on high alert for the last few minutes and that level hasn’t really changed despite Brogan evading capture, getting captured, and escaping captured again. With the station house as vast and laden with generic corridors as it is, it’s difficult to grapple with the scale of the task that both sides are dealing with. Then there’s the fact that we just know Brogan isn’t going to endanger any lives, so seeing the rest of the cops hunting for him just inherently lacks tension.

Sally’s been doing her homework and explains to her husband that hypnosis can be reversed by exposing the victim to true facts they cannot deny so that their original memories re-assert themselves. Well that’s lucky isn’t it? Imagine if the only cure for hypnosis was an eight-hour bout of brain surgery. Telling Haldane a couple of true facts about himself is a much more achievable goal with only ten minutes of the episode left.

Meanwhile, Slomo is starting to form some coherent words, so Brogan takes a lot more interest in talking to him than saying goodbye to his wife.

Podly, Castle, and Took march down yet another flippin’ corridor only to find nothing at the end of it. Brogan has hooked up some coat hangers to an electrical panel to trick his colleagues into believing the transmission is coming from there. During his trek through the ventilation system I guess he picked up some coat hangers along the way. Sure, why not?

Slomo’s still recovering, but Brogan’s not feeling particularly patient at the moment. He urges the lil’ robot to access his memory bank, recall the Naxus Simi incident, and then plug himself into the mainframe. Slomo is not too keen on that last part since he contracted a nasty virus the last time he hooked up to the mainframe. Brogan assures him that Carson got rid of the virus. Hey, where the heck is Carson, anyway? Did he just naff off to get coffee while the search for Brogan was going on?

At last, we get to a decent standoff. Haldane vs. Brogan. The big showdown. Haldane is still convinced that Brogan’s been doing all the killing and is now ready to follow the implanted orders from not-Podly to shoot his partner. Rob Youngblood does a nice job at playing a version of Haldane that’s hypnotised but still very much himself. Likewise Ted Shackelford is great at being outraged by his colleague’s behaviour but still shows compassion towards his friend.

As Brogan tries to jog Haldane’s memory, we get a very simple but effective vision of Cambria fading into view. I wish this episode did more surreal mind-bending things like this rather than the endless shots of corridors.

Don’t worry Rob. The episode’s almost over.

We’re coming up to a moment that vaguely resembles some action. Brogan is trying to remind his colleague that Podly would never give an order to kill, but Slomo distracts him before the hypnosis can be broken. So, Brogan resorts to some old fashioned physical aggression and swipes Haldane’s gun away from him. And now it’s time for Slomo to start wrapping up the show for us…

The video record of the Naxus Simi incident plays out on the big screen in the main hall. Yes, we’re going to have to watch it one more time.

Slomo’s video record somehow features multiple camera angles that he couldn’t have possibly seen from his seat in the back of Castle’s cruiser. But anyway, Naxus Simi did indeed have a gun and everyone is wondering why the heck Castle lied about it. Brogan slinks into the room unnoticed by anyone else, even though they’ve all been looking for him for ages and ages now and would definitely have spotted him.

Before Castle’s head explodes from guilt, Brogan reassuringly steps in to explain everything with that fatherly warmth and authority we all admire. He flags that Cambria is the villain of the piece who implanted the false memories into Castle, Haldane, and presumably Yorba. Speaking of Haldane, he’s missing all of this so hopefully there’s a little monitor or something up in the computer room for him to watch all this unfold.

For the sake of the budget, the Interplanetary Police Department fly the exact same police cruisers as the DCPD. Phew.

Cambria has a surprise waiting for her in the back seat. Haldane has his memory back and he’s not too pleased that his mind has been messed around with. After all, Sylvain tried to do something very similar in The Power. Women obviously look at Jack Haldane and see someone who’s brain is easily manipulated… can’t think why.

Cambria tries to stroke Haldane with her magic finger. That long fingernail isn’t quite such a tempting prospect anymore.

So Haldane stuns her. The stun setting on those guns has proven quite useful today. It’s a shame they didn’t have that in the thirteen prior episodes when shooting suspects to death was the only available option.

Later, Commissioner Tev is talking us through the findings of the investigation. Olvera is arrested for arranging the whole scheme to discredit Brogan and Haldane. Cambria is already locked away and Maryam d’Abo makes an interesting acting choice to squish her face up to the mesh as hard as possible. Uh-huh.

Sally Brogan has come to hear the conclusion of Patrick’s hearing because she’d rather not go home to their horrible children. Tev throws out the hypnosis-induced false testimonies given by the others in favour of Slomo’s video recording of the events leading to Naxus Simi’s shooting. Big question – why didn’t they watch the Slomo recording at the very start and have the whole investigation over with before lunch? Well anyway, Brogan and Haldane are off the hook and everyone is free to laugh about the whole thing now. Sally’s over the moon that she did something to help with the main plot for once, even if it was the absolute bare minimum.

Because Haldane’s been hypnotised and busy flirting with another woman for much of the episode, we haven’t had time for an update on Castle and Haldane’s will-they-won’t-they thing. After all the memory loss tomfoolery, Jane pokes fun at Jack for supposedly forgetting all about their upcoming date… and the previous one. Poor Jack really can’t tell whether she’s joking or not, and I have to say it’s not normally like Jane to play a prank with quite such commitment. So, perhaps Jane is telling the truth. Or, maybe just maybe, Jane thinks she’s telling the truth but it’s her memory that’s playing tricks on her. Of course, it’s actually more likely that she’s just messing with him. Still, it’s a nice spin on will-they-won’t-they because it turns into a have-they-haven’t-they scenario. It’s a clever way for the writers to advance the relationship without actually needing to advance it yet.

Now we just need to finish up whatever this whole thing was with Orrin and Romek. Wracked with guilt, Romek hands over the 100 credits that he won in the top cop contest and apologises for the prank. I wasn’t even aware that Romek had actually won the whole contest but there ya go. Orrin cracks up and reveals that he knew the whole time that Romek was playing a trick because Slomo had to verify the false physical report. Slomo can’t lie – which I guess is the overarching message of the whole episode – so Orrin was immediately clued up on Romek’s game. It looks like everyone, including Took and Fredo, was in on it too. As for Orrin’s resignation, Romek has some unkind suggestions for what he can do with it. Overall, it’s been a typical Orrin and Romek comedy subplot, and in a regular episode it might have been a nice relief to cut back to the station house every so often to see it unfold. But because we’ve been trapped in the station house for the whole episode, we’ve spent a little bit too much time with the characters and their misunderstanding has felt unnecessarily dragged out as a result.

Haldane is back to his old self… eating hot dogs with extra ketchup out of a VCR in the cruiser. Never change, Jack.

The two buddies smile and laugh as Haldane remembers the look on Camrbia’s face when he stunned her. If this were a teen movie, Brogan and Haldane would swear at this point to never let a no-good girl come between them ever again.

Fredo calls in with a report that a suspect in a blue sports hopper has robbed the First Altorian Trust. Same bank? Same type of car? Will the special effects department get to recycle the same shots all over again?

This would normally be the perfect opportunity for Brogan to give us his classic line, “I love this job.” But he doesn’t. Instead, the duo both say, “Time to rock and roll!” It’s not as good, but I admire the sentiment. Brogan and Haldane are off on another adventure… or rather the same adventure all over again. Anyway, it’s a big triumphant end to the episode and the music swells as the police cruiser hurtles towards the city. Huzzah!

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Unfortunately, the concept of a bottle episode just doesn’t work all that well for Space Precinct. The show thrives on showing us a variety of alien settings and weird characters from Demeter City. That’s the whole gimmick. The station house struggles to provide that same level of excitement for an extended period. A bottle episode typically only has one setting, one set of characters, and one plot to play with – so it’s important that we like all of those aspects. I’m happy enough with the characters, and the plot itself is perfectly acceptable, if slightly unoriginal, Space Precinct fare. But the station house is a bit of a lousy setting because the set design is so horrendously bland. There just isn’t enough to do up there for 45 minutes. It’s a good base of operations, but the repetitive corridors and boring empty rooms don’t provide much fuel for the drama.

Now, Two Against The Rock demonstrated that you can be stuck with a limited number of characters in one setting and still have plenty of drama – but the stakes have to be ramped up really, really high to compensate for the limitations. And Takeover just doesn’t have an exciting enough premise for me. Everyone hanging around at the station house because there’s a hearing going on just doesn’t hit the spot. The story picks up when the crew enter into the search for Brogan, but even that feels lacking because the threat is so manufactured. We know Brogan isn’t going to do any harm and we know that none of his colleagues really want to hurt him either. To raise the stakes, I think Haldane feeling forced to hunt down his best friend should have been a much bigger story element rather than a tacked on part of the climax. Two Against The Rock proved that the characters do have enough depth to achieve such dramatic swings, but for some reason Takeover only dips its toe into those depths. Given the cheap and cheerful circumstances of its production, Takeover could have been a lot worse. But I’m left feeling that a more creative writing team might have taken the opportunity to do something more… well… memorable.