WARSHIP, THE NOVELISATION BY PETER ANGHELIDES

Review by Jackie Emery

In the beginning was the script, and the script was fantastic

I can’t praise the audio drama Warship highly enough. Everything about it is outstanding: the direction, the actors’ performances, the sound design and music – but it all started with Peter Anghelides’ script. Now Peter has turned his script into a novel, and I was curious to find out whether Warship reads as well as it sounds.

The novelisation of Warship has the same structure as the audio, moving briskly from scene to scene, each ending with a cliff-hanger. The chapters are short, with some pun-ful titles (Fight or Flightdeck, Down and Unsafe, All Mine are just three examples). There’s a staccato element to the writing style, with short punchy sentences, especially during the action scenes. However, those are balanced by some lovely detailed descriptions of the locations – the surface and interior of Megiddo, the alien spacecraft, Liberator’s observation deck etc.

In the audio, we have the actors’ performances and the soundscapes to build up the pictures in our heads as we listen. Here we have descriptions of the action and are told the expressions on the characters’ faces – for example, Blake stroked his chin in a gesture Cally found both familiar and reassuring and Avon placed his hands so that he was leaning on either side of Orac’s casing…which looked, improbably, as though Avon was literally pressing the computer for an answer. Occasionally I thought, “Hmm, that’s not the way I pictured so-and-so saying that line,” but everyone’s entitled to their own interpretation – that’s the beauty of audio drama.

Each chapter was written from the narrative viewpoint of a different character, and that way we are able to get inside the heads of each one in turn, to experience with them their thoughts and feelings. It was seamlessly done, and felt absolutely natural. I initially thought that there would be no real suspense in reading the book, as the plot and pretty much every line of dialogue were already known, but I was pleased to discover that being inside the characters’ heads did add a certain element of suspense. As a reader, I knew what was going to happen, but they didn’t.

I have a couple of comments – not exactly criticisms, but observations. At the start of the book, there is a list of Dramatis Personae which provides a detailed introduction and history of each character, which struck me as a bit odd. As Warship is set between Series B and C, those buying it will surely be familiar with the characters. In the book, Peter seems to acknowledge this; there are no descriptions of what the people look like, nor are there detailed descriptions of familiar locations, such as the flight deck or teleport area. However, I now understand that the inclusion of this Dramatis Personae is intended to provide a ‘stepping on point’ for those who are new to Blakes 7, or who are re-discovering it after a long absence.

I also couldn’t help but notice that during one of the scenes between Blake and Cally, a reference is made to Kodyn and the Archangel Project. At first I thought that was a bit sneaky - but then decided I actually rather liked it. If this means that Big Finish are creating their own B7 canon and continuity within their productions, as long as they stay true to the original characters and story lines, I’m all in favour.

There has been some dissent on the forum about Warship being published only in eBook form, and I have to nail my colours to the same mast. I understand that there were budgetary reasons for this decision, but even if it wasn’t financially viable for Big Finish to release Warship as a handsome hardback, it would have been nice if they could have produced a slim paperback version. Perhaps even something along the lines of those Target Doctor Who novels, that according to Peter, had provided his early enthusiasm for writing tie-in fiction and inspired his novelisation of Warship.

Those comments aside, this version of Warship was a very good read and I definitely recommend it as a worthy addition to anyone’s B7 library.

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