Director............................................................................Val Guest

Guest Stars

Dorzak......................................................................Lee Montague

Sahala........................................................................Jill Townsend

Additional Cast

Yesta....................................................................Kathryn Leigh Scott

Clea...........................................................................Seretta Wilson

Dr. Ed Spencer................................................................Sam Dastor

Ed "Sam" Malcolm.............................................Richard Le Parmentier

Yasko Nugami........................................................Yasuko Nagazumi

1st Security Guard..........................................................Paul Jerricho

2nd Security Guard.............................................................John Judd

3rd Security Guard.......................................................Quentin Pierre

The first thing that struck me about this episode is the fact that the Alphans immediately recognized the "universal plague warning signal". Perhaps they learned about that on the same planet they learned about the "flamon" from The Mark of Archanon? I guess our little Alphans are all grown up, and citizens of the galaxy now.

I also found it interesting to note the difference in Alan Carter's reaction the Sahala's plea for help, and permission to land, versus his reaction to a similar plea from Gwent in The Infernal Machine. He was far more cautious and xenophobic then. Is it because he is a little wiser to the ways of the universe? Getting softer with age? Or because Gwent didn't look like Jill Townsend in an evening gown? Either way, it was nice to see Nick Tate get a bigger part for a change. He does an excellent job with it, and he even gets the girl!

Speaking of whom... Jill Townsend does a great job in this episode. She is very much "in" each scene. She relates well to Alan Carter, and you see her look to him for assurance among the strangers who have wrongfully made her out to be the criminal aboard her own ship. And her reactions to situations, like Tony being rude to her, are very natural. Her performance is slightly undermined by the evening gown, but that's not her doing.

Catherine Schell does her usual excellent job. I love the shy welcoming smile she gives to Sahala right before she gets "stazed". It's also interesting to see her use feminine wiles to get what she wants in this episode. She does manipulate Tony a bit, although, to the credit of Tony Anholt and the script, he does not appear to be doing anything he wouldn't feel comfortable doing anyway.

Tony Anholt does a great job when he interviews Sahala. His anger seems as natural as his regular easy going nature. I love when he tries to cheer up Maya (Dorzak) after her ordeal. It's a nice warm scene made whimsical by virtue that we know it's Dorzak.

I found it interesting that the "organic psycho waves" were incredibly similar in concept to the lambda waves from The Lambda Factor, but no mention was made of them, or for that fact, why not just utilize the terminology already established?

Does every alien race have their equivalent of the Vulcan nerve pinch? Sahala is able to incapacitate a guard by placing several fingers below the ribcage, and Dorzak by virtue of some sort of

super massage technique. Sahala sure looks relaxed after this maneuver!

There is some minor inconsistency concerning how people are revived from stasis. Sahala placed a doohickey to Maya's forehead, temple and chest, before tapping the stazer to her forehead. Clea used the same technique to revive Dorzak in the flashback. Maya didn't even use the stazer/doohickey combination that every one else used. She used a bunch of buttons on the wall panel. Which is fine assuming that it's a back up method incase the batteries fail on the stazer, but how did she know how to do it? I actually worried that Tony would harm Maya by not reviving her correctly. He only placed the doohickey to Maya's forehead followed by the stazer with a twist of a ring towards it's tip. But everything worked out ok.

One small goof with the miniature effects, is that when Sahala's ship docks, the boarding tube changes from it's regular shape to a more generic, corrugated docking collar.

But over all the miniature effects were up to the usual high standards, and the Croton ship was a cool design.

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In Dorzak we see some costumes recycled. First, there is Dorzak's which was worn by the Psychon male (Mentor?) that a feverish Maya turned into in Space Warp.

Then there is Yesta's costume which was worn by Maurna in The Mark of Archanon.

Also quite few props or set pieces turn up in this episode. Koenig's chair from Breakaway is seen on the Croton ship.

Behind Clea we also see the spotted domes from The Exiles ...

and the swirling color display from the Emporium as seen in The Taybor.

I have a sneaking suspicion that swirling light was used to create the jump effect as well.

Portions of the structure of the interior were also recycled from other episodes. The arch around the entry to Dorzak's cell was used before as part of the interior of the waste dome in Bringers of Wonder.

The doorways to the sleep chambers were seen before in AB Chrysalis.

I'm sure there are more things to be found, but these are the ones that jumped right out at me.