"I have very positive origins. Inexpressible, maybe. But positive."
TECHNICAL SPECS: First aired Jan.20 1981.
IN THIS ONE... Sapphire and Steel figure out how to turn the grown child back into an infant, resetting the damage it had done.
REVIEW: While the solution to their dilemma is a pretty simple one in the way it's presented - Steel makes the grown kid touch himself - making the past touch the future so it turns into the present is actually fairly elegant, and our heroes spend the entire episode figuring it out logically and procedurally. For example, that the kid can push people/things into their future as well as their past, and the eventual reset where he's a baby again and everything is restored flow naturally from the idea that he couldn't possibly have turned his parents into zygotes, or he just wouldn't have been born. For lack of exposition, things may seem arbitrary to less alert viewers, but the rules of causality are adhered to. This is good news for Silver and for Rothwyn and (ugh) Eldrad. They are all restored.
But from what? Presumably, the parents were pushed beyond the point where they existed. Dust to dust. But what were the origins of Silver to which he returned? They talk about it, and while none of the survivors can imagine Silver or Steel as children, it seems they did have something akin to childhood. Or maybe not. What's that about Steel's "positive origins"? Sounds like a physics or chemistry joke. And Sapphire, though she seemed close to Silver, sure takes her time feeling sad about his absence. And even then, the loss doesn't necessarily mean death. Perhaps a new Silver will evolve from his "constituent parts", whatever those might be. Ironically, it's Steel who seems more upset that Silver's gone, and even gives him a eulogy (he was "useful", aww, sweet). Of course, Steel is fixated on getting the mission done and getting out of there. Silver was his only way out.
Even if one dilemma is resolved, mysteries still abound, and grow more complex. The manifestation of blood inside the capsule's walls is especially distressing, and takes us back to the beginning. Is there in fact a link between the exploitation of animals and the sentient time crystal? Did the existence of animal matter inside the capsule result in some kind of awakening for the creature? We don't know, but Sapphire manages to distract it while Steel struggles with its puppet with her own blood sacrifice. Chekov's knife has been shown again and again, and is finally used, Klingon-style. When Sapphire was using time to fight time, it resulted in a draw - the shifting living room showing moments from all across its history - but blood represents a definite concern and weakness for the creature. Could it be its OTHER component?
ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE VORTEX: The first sound used to show time being reset sounds an awful lot like a TARDIS!
REWATCHABILITY: Medium - Things are moving towards a resolution again, though pacing problems are evident, if only because the cliffhanger happens minutes before the credits finally decide to roll.
IN THIS ONE... Sapphire and Steel figure out how to turn the grown child back into an infant, resetting the damage it had done.
REVIEW: While the solution to their dilemma is a pretty simple one in the way it's presented - Steel makes the grown kid touch himself - making the past touch the future so it turns into the present is actually fairly elegant, and our heroes spend the entire episode figuring it out logically and procedurally. For example, that the kid can push people/things into their future as well as their past, and the eventual reset where he's a baby again and everything is restored flow naturally from the idea that he couldn't possibly have turned his parents into zygotes, or he just wouldn't have been born. For lack of exposition, things may seem arbitrary to less alert viewers, but the rules of causality are adhered to. This is good news for Silver and for Rothwyn and (ugh) Eldrad. They are all restored.
But from what? Presumably, the parents were pushed beyond the point where they existed. Dust to dust. But what were the origins of Silver to which he returned? They talk about it, and while none of the survivors can imagine Silver or Steel as children, it seems they did have something akin to childhood. Or maybe not. What's that about Steel's "positive origins"? Sounds like a physics or chemistry joke. And Sapphire, though she seemed close to Silver, sure takes her time feeling sad about his absence. And even then, the loss doesn't necessarily mean death. Perhaps a new Silver will evolve from his "constituent parts", whatever those might be. Ironically, it's Steel who seems more upset that Silver's gone, and even gives him a eulogy (he was "useful", aww, sweet). Of course, Steel is fixated on getting the mission done and getting out of there. Silver was his only way out.
Even if one dilemma is resolved, mysteries still abound, and grow more complex. The manifestation of blood inside the capsule's walls is especially distressing, and takes us back to the beginning. Is there in fact a link between the exploitation of animals and the sentient time crystal? Did the existence of animal matter inside the capsule result in some kind of awakening for the creature? We don't know, but Sapphire manages to distract it while Steel struggles with its puppet with her own blood sacrifice. Chekov's knife has been shown again and again, and is finally used, Klingon-style. When Sapphire was using time to fight time, it resulted in a draw - the shifting living room showing moments from all across its history - but blood represents a definite concern and weakness for the creature. Could it be its OTHER component?
ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE VORTEX: The first sound used to show time being reset sounds an awful lot like a TARDIS!
REWATCHABILITY: Medium - Things are moving towards a resolution again, though pacing problems are evident, if only because the cliffhanger happens minutes before the credits finally decide to roll.
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