Animals. Series D, Episode 5. First broadcast on Monday 26 October 1981.
Pete is ready for a nice sit-down in Servalan’s Comfortable Chair of Maximum Persuasion, Nathan is cleaning out the bilge tanks with half a glass of wine and a comedy oboe, Mark’s trying to spark romance between an insurrectionist shaman and Sweetums the Muppet, and Peter is howling out his rage by saying ‘rarrrrr!’ with perfect diction.
Will there be fierce agreement, or will the fur fly as we discuss Animals?
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55:20
Space Pillows (Stardrive)
Stardrive. Series D, Episode 4. First broadcast on Monday 19 October 1981.
Brendan’s Vin Diesel impersonation has knackered Scorpio even more than usual, and James is avoiding repairs by pretending he’s had too much Red Bull. Conrad has found a solution by studying slow motion footage of a biker’s helmet, but it will only work if we can disguise the fact that Mark refuses to go on location. It’s Stardrive.
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57:57
Is It an Emu? (Traitor)
Traitor. Series D, Episode 3. First broadcast on Monday 12 October 1981.
We’re on the planet Helotrix this week, enjoying our successful subjugation of a compliant populace consisting largely of teachers and hairdressers. The occupation is ably enforced by the supremely competent Si and his régime of casually deployed neutron strikes, while Nathan reminisces pompously about past imperial glories, and Pete conducts a surprising clandestine affair with that remarkable new police commissioner Sleer. (And somewhere, in the basement, Simon is devising a galactically...
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57:50
Frisky but Appalling (Power)
Power. Series D, Episode 2. First broadcast on Monday 5 October 1981.
This week on Maximum Power, we discuss episode 2 of Series D — Ben Steed’s normal amount of Power.
There’s also a war between the sexes this week, and while Una and Zoë are deploying their wit, tactical skill and powers of telekinesis, Nathan is embroidering a lovely throw rug, while James is rigging up a boxy plastic gaming PC in the basement. Still, there’s enough time for us to get together to ask the big questions: Is this Ben Steed’s worst script or his second worst script? Does Nathan...
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49:35
We’ve Gone Neon (Rescue)
Rescue. Series D, Episode 1. First broadcast on Monday 28 September 1981.
And we’re back with the first episode of Maximum Power for a whole new decade (of the third century of the second calendar). It’s Rescue.
When a handsome stranger arrives on the planet Terminal and rescues the stranded Nathan, Pete, Peter, Si and Simon, it soon becomes apparent that he’s not the the dishy bleached-blond hero they had all been hoping for — but a depraved old man whose beauty regimen involves botox, red wine and turning twinks into cheap Doctor Who monsters. Will the boys escape...