Author Archives: Jack Knoll

The production of The Forever Beetle was curiously nestled in the middle of Space Precinct’s grandest epics – Deathwatch and The Fire Within. While those two-part spectaculars do what they can to push the Space Precinct envelope, The Forever Beetle is more standard fare with just a few hidden gems tucked into the episode for us to uncover. As we’ve come to expect, there’s Brogan family drama aplenty, a tepid romantic subplot, and the occasional bit of actual police work too. It feels appropriate that this penultimate adventure should have so many of the flawed Space Precinct staples we’ve come to love and hate. The Forever Beetle represents the true core of what it means to be nearing the end of a year-long television assembly line. It’s serviceable. It checks all the boxes. And there are only a few bugs in the system…

I left Part One of The Fire Within feeling like there probably wasn’t another 45-minutes-worth of story to get out of it. Sure, the mystery of Jack Haldane appearing to change sides was engaging, but I didn’t feel like that alone was enough to sustain my interest in the crooked cult of Pyrism. I needed Part Two to come along and bring something bold to the table. I’m pleased to say that it does do something pretty spectacular… but not until the final act. So there’s about a half hour or so of beige corridors and padding to wade through first. If you liked Part One and want more of the same then you’ll be very happy with Part Two. If, like me, you expected something bigger and bolder from a two-part, feature-length Space Precinct adventure, then you’ll have to be patient. So, let’s pick up from where we left off and see if Part Two of The Fire Within has that special spark.

Two-part television serials are usually a win-win situation for both the audience and the producers. In theory, the viewers at home get an extra-long adventure with lots of juicy twists and turns that add up to a richer story, higher stakes, and deeper character development. Meanwhile, the production team can focus their efforts and spend the budget normally set aside for two episodes on creating impressive sets, costumes, and effects that normally wouldn’t be economical for a single installment. And if there was any show where the audience were craving richer stories, and the producers needed to spend the budget more efficiently, it was Space Precinct. Now, of course, last week’s adventure, Deathwatch, was retroactively turned into the first installment of a two-part story, but it was originally shot as a standalone episode that was extended later. The Fire Within is Space Precinct’s first bona fide two-part story, with production on both episodes running back-to-back and the story deliberately paced to span two 45-minute episodes. Today, I’ll be reviewing Part One of The Fire Within in isolation, before I watch Part Two. Let’s see how effective that shocking cliffhanger is when, like the original viewers in 1995/96, I have to wait a whole week to find out what happens next!

It’s the episode so good nobody wanted it to end. I went into Deathwatch well aware of its reputation as one of the strongest episodes of Space Precinct, but I was also wary of the novel way in which this story accidentally became a two-part adventure. If you’re not familiar, Deathwatch was written and filmed as a single installment that just so happened to have a very ambiguous ending. Only when filming was finished was the decision taken to tie up the loose ends by writing an extra episode – Deathwatch Conclusion. This is why Deathwatch is episode 20 in the series’ production order, while Deathwatch Conclusion doesn’t come until number 24. Conclusion was filmed over a month later with a script penned by a different writer. In the Security Hazard tradition, I will be strictly following the production order so that I can chart the development of the series as it went before the cameras. So, at the time of writing this, I haven’t actually seen Deathwatch Conclusion, and have a few other episodes to review before I return to it. But you’ll be pleased to know that I came out of Deathwatch positively excited to see what Deathwatch Conclusion adds. While Deathwatch is certainly a triumph in isolation, my gut reaction is that there’s too much good material in there to leave unexplored. It’s always a good sign when I finish an episode wanting more.

As soon as I learned that Smelter Skelter’s original director, Silvio Narizzano, left the production halfway through shooting the episode, I could think about little else in preparation for writing this review. Juicy behind the scenes drama is an absolute gift when you’re into your nineteenth consecutive week of studying something as formulaic as a television series. Smelter Skelter is a fairly average episode of Space Precinct with nobody trying all that hard to push the envelope in any department. The result is an entertaining but inconsequential bit of television. So, it’s all the more remarkable to learn that this is the one that drove Ted Shackelford to breaking point, left another member of the repertory cast in tears, and saw the end of a prolific director’s career.