Shadow of The Panther

DVD, The Champions (Shadow of The Panther)

Sharron finally gets a mission to herself and proves she's more than capable without Craig and Richard there to protect and keep her out of the action, whether it's dealing politely, but firmly with the lecherously grinning Raul Prengo, manager of the Kimberly Hotel; errant waiters that think she can be manhandled without consequence; or an American posing as a voodoo god. Now that I think of it, the boys aren't really any help, they come (almost) blundering in to her rescue, forcing her to test her acting abilities to the extreme to avoid discovery, and they even end up being saved by Sharron who rescues herself through use of her powers. Long before 'women's empowerment' Sharron was doing it for herself. Which is part of what makes the episode seem unique when the story was designed as a money saver and takes place on a lot of sets we've seen before (the staircase is cunningly disguised as part of the hotel; the room with shuttered windows that Craig and Richard stay in had been used a few times - for once the usual corridor set isn't in evidence since they needed especially wide ones for the climactic sequence of them being hunted by zombified enemies), it's all indoors, and it all occurs within the hotel, but there's a good sense of brooding evil evoked, and though Sharron never looks weak, seeing the girl of the team dealing with all this weirdness alone, not to mention the overbearing height of David Crayley and his alter ego, Damballah, serves to increase the sense of vulnerability that hangs over her, upping the tension.

Donald Sutherland is one of the best villains the champions come up against, having a sense of humour, a slightly sinister jocularity to him, only enhanced by his bulbous eyes and distinctive voice. Add to that the twist that he is the mysterious 'entertainer' named after some voodoo god, and Sharron's only apparent ally becomes her foe, which helps unsettle. From a production standpoint, the story is only enhanced, with the familiar set landmarks cunningly disguised, much as Crayley was, with garishly bright statues and masks lit with a hidden illumination. You could almost forget what period this was set in amidst all the Haitian paraphernalia, except for the very Sixties shimmery light show projected on a sheet in the middle of the Papa Legba bar where Damballah later shows off his magic tricks, and the appearance of showgirls in a cage. One puzzling thing about the whole story is whether Crayley was a genuine member of the cult of voodoo, or was merely covering his operation using its dark flourishes. It's a surprise to the uninitiated when Damballah takes his great mask off to reveal Crayley underneath, but even when you know who's under there, it's still clever because Crayley goes to the extent of browning up his hands and arms - so effective is his disguise that I always used to think he had a black double performing as Damballah, but in the scene where he removes the mask you see his own hands are actually darkened so it could well have been Sutherland in all those scenes.

The issue of Crayley's association with the dark arts is important because you get the impression he's not a believer. Riley, his co-American associate that runs the 'real' magic of mesmerism coupled with 'ultrasonics and subliminal conditioning' as they call it (the computer operator, basically), always has a twinkle in his eye as if he's in on the joke with Crayley, and when not in front of his audience, Crayley doesn't keep up this pretence of being some great figure - I found it quite amusing that he wearily asks what Prengo wants now, after just finishing his latest control feat and the slimy manager slinks in with information, just because he sounds so eye-rollingly bothered by this annoying little man! Yet how could he turn his stick into a snake, or make people vanish and reappear in the manner that he did unless he was operating under some evil power? Was it all illusion and sleight of hand? Voodoo lends itself to questioning of whether the champions are up to the task, much like when they were confronted by other superior enhanced humans, and much like Superman being vulnerable to magic. Except that's all a bit stupid, and when fantasy goes down this path it's usually all show and glamourising nasty stuff. It seems likely in this case that Crayley was just using what Richard suggested voodoo's place in the culture was: a way of keeping the population quiet, although mesmerism is treated a little more like something in the believable realm, which is no surprise as we've seen hypnosis used by him before, and again in this episode.

All that being said, if Crayley was a fraud, how did he first gain his mesmeric power (which in the Sixties I suppose was more considered a scientific possibility, though now we know that people can't be forced into doing things outside their moral boundaries, like killing in a hypnotised state, unless they were already a killer), over his subjects? Was it supposed to be in the magic show? That seemed to be where the zombification of people took place as they followed Damballah out after the performance, back to his hidden lair through the double-ended lift. And that was where Sharron took it upon herself to join the group. But it wasn't well spelt out as it seemed a bit strange that these great men of science, politicians, and other powerful VIPs, could have their minds overthrown so easily, yet there didn't seem to be any other method which altered them. So it was a little flawed in the story department, but that was all hidden by the moody atmosphere and the way the story is constrained within the walls of the hotel. It doesn't actually answer the question of whether the champions could be susceptible to conditioning of some kind (something similar was tried on Sharron in 'The Experiment,' if I recall), though we'd find out in the final episode of the series that they could be, as Richard is programmed to kill Craig.

The teaser must be one of the shortest ever, as we see the ill-fated scientist, Ralph Charters, whimpering and panicking in his quest to escape some unknown terror, the fear effect heightened with the use of wide angle lens and soft focus, so it sets up the horror quite well, and as I said, sending Sharron into such a thing alone makes her position appear more precarious than usual. It's a shame he couldn't have been more specific in his communication with Nemesis as they might have been more prepared, but then we don't know exactly what he knew, only that something was going on in this place that attracted some of the top men of the world. Then they get turned into zombies, perfect assassins who are in positions of power and can get through any security. Though if you're going to go to all that trouble, why not just invite the most important people and put them under the influence rather than sending their colleagues to kill them? It would look suspicious, but then why did all these VIPs come to this particular hotel anyway? Perhaps it had always been a popular spot and Crayley recognised a kindred spirit in Prengo and set up his operation where he could make inroads. I'm not sure on his ultimate plan, however, as he seemed to want specific people killed, but whether it was for money (like the guy in 'The Fanatics'), a sense of power, or a voodoo-inspired anarchy of killing, it's never clear. It's not even clear if he survived the fear exaggerating nerve gas, though you do see him bonk his head on the table as he falls, so he could conceivably have died.

A couple of things about the episode that bring it down a little are the post-credits sequence and the abrupt ending. The champions wander down some stairs talking about what happened, then make a joke about souvenirs and it's all over. No Tremayne looking askance at how they foiled this latest plot, no witty comeback or bumbling excuses, and no definitive wrap-up on all those people that had been held in thrall. What happened to Raul Prengo, or the 'Girl in Red' as the credits call her - you can just see her running out the door when Crayley falls in the nerve gas room? The post-credits was arguably worse, with a lazy montage of previously seen clips. At least we get one of each (Richard's hole in one from 'The Dark Island,' Craig breaking through a door in a military installation and fighting with soldiers, which is one we haven't seen yet, and Sharron winning at the roulette wheel, taken from 'The Iron Man'), displaying their powers, but it wasn't like they were even the best examples, so that was a poor show, not that it reflects badly on the story, it's just that it could have enhanced the episode rather than taken away from it.

The powers used within the episode were a good selection, helping to make Sharron in particular a formidable opponent for anyone: she uses her hearing to listen in on Prengo giving instructions to his Hawaiian-shirted lackey, then again when the lackey's footsteps give him away, allowing her to wait for him to come round the corner and catch him out, at which he pretends to fiddle about with a plant in front of him. It's no great feat, but it gives Sharron some satisfaction at making him look foolish! When accosted by a large waiter who grabs her arm, she unhands him using her superior strength to crush his arm, leaving him holding it in pain. She also speaks to her colleagues 'telepathically' once the charade is up, letting them know that the sound of drums means she and the others are gathering in the temple for their instructions. She also squeezes Riley's neck until he collapses unconscious, and though captured (someone had to be captured at some point!), by Crayley at gunpoint, she's able to hold her breath longer than any normal woman until he comes back to check the nerve gas has done its work. And then she tears Crayley's mask away, exposing him to the fearful fumes - we don't see her do it, but she must also have broken the bonds strapping her to the chair.

Craig and Richard don't excel for once, providing little more than a distraction for Crayley to keep his mind on, and send his subjects after, though I liked that while Craig is all for charging in and finding out if Sharron's will really is overthrown, Richard is more cautious, saying they should give her time to contact them as it's her case and they don't want to blunder in and mess it up - he might be thinking of 'The Gilded Cage' where he warned Craig not to do that himself, in a round about way! Craig tries to speak to Sharron using the curious earshot telepathy that they do, except she ignores him (though we'd seen before that she can answer back in a split second as in 'The Experiment' when they carried on a conversation between high speed throws and catches - she must have thought any deviation would be spotted). Craig also moves fast enough to dodge the bullets from the waiter who brings them a cuppa, while Richard does his now signature move of grabbing someone near a doorway and hurling them over his shoulder. It's his favourite move, and it works, so why not? In perhaps the most shocking moment, Richard grabs the unsuspecting Sharron when she enters her room, thinking she might be under the influence, throws her to the bed and holds her down. You don't tend to see such violence directed at one of the champions by their fellows (it would be exceeded in the final episode, 'Autokill' when Craig has to batter assassin Richard into unconsciousness), so it's more affecting because of that.

The fascinating quandary Craig and Richard find themselves in is the position of squaring up against the great and good - how do you defeat an opponent you don't want to injure, because they can't beat up these old men, made up of senators and other important folk, so it's a unique situation we hadn't seen them confronted by before. As it happens, they're able to retreat until they find some younger men who could take some punishment without fear of giving them a fatal heart attack, but eventually the oldies catch up and it looks like they're done for. I don't know why they didn't just kick in one of the doors they were near, but they just halfheartedly try to see if they're locked. Before, they did an excellent stunt of hanging off the balcony when the minions broke down their hotel room door, only their fingertips visible as their strength enabled them to hang for as long as it took for the room to be searched. As it is, it's down to Sharron rescuing them for once, as she shoots up the computer machinery playing the drums which somehow kept the subjects under control, waking them from their zombified slumber in the nick of time. The scene where Sharron and all these garishly be-robed old men file out of their disturbing temple, blankly picking up a cruelly curved long sword as they go, was one of the most chillingly effective. It's a shame the budget didn't extend to more detailed costuming than a single cloak each as they did look a bit too bright and cartoonish, yet in some way that makes Craig and Richard's predicament more surreal and worrying. Having powers is all well and good, but if you can't use them on the enemy on moral grounds then you're stuck.

Richard isn't above using his hypnotism (never confirmed whether this was a personal hobby of his before he gained his Tibetan abilities, or something that he found he could do after that), to mind blank the waiter and try to get information out of him, just as he did in 'To Trap A Rat' and 'The Dark Island,' so at least there's consistency across the episodes. Tremayne is usually the main consistency that binds each story to the others as the face of Nemesis, and just as he was the target for assassination in 'The Fanatics' and got a stray beating in 'The Gilded Cage,' it's his face that comes up as a target again amongst Crayley's mesmeric projection show. That must mean he knows Sharron's from Nemesis as each person had a target within the organisation they were from, or a part of, and Sharron does volunteer the information that there are two Nemesis agents in the hotel, in another confusing attempt to send a message (just like Richard's diversionary implication to Craig in 'The Gilded Cage' - you'd think their enhanced brains would be up to deciphering these puzzles!). Tremayne barely features, but he does get off a zinger at Craig and Richard's expense when the former asks when they leave for Haiti, saying he thought they'd have known that already!

Though the decor is accomplished, and all aspects of production work well, there are a fair few questions and oddities that are worth mentioning. One bungled line comes from the doctor who shows the corpse of Charters with whitened hair to Sharron. He says, "I must warn you to be prepared for a shock, Miss M–," and stops short as if he shouldn't say her name. I don't know whether it's a mistake in the soundtrack or the actor fumbling, but it was quite noticeable. When showing Sharron her room, Prengo says the bathroom suite is on the left as she shows him out of the bedroom, but he's gesturing and looking to the right, although this could be a simple issue of him referring to her left. For someone well versed in spy games and all that, Tremayne puts on a very stilted performance when Sharron rings and speaks in code to let him know he needs to put a scrambler on the line! I also don't get why Crayley pretended to be zombified and not recognise Sharron whom he'd been sharing a drink with shortly before. It certainly wasn't going to stop Sharron from investigating, but I suppose it was part of his penchant for misdirection, so she'd never guess he was actually Damballah - as well as the darkened hands, they film it cleverly, with Crayley shown to be smoking mechanically in the bar, then we get Damballah enter for his nightly performance, then when we next look over and see Crayley's table, he's gone, the cigarette left smoking in the ashtray. So you wouldn't associate Crayley with Damballah unless you already know, and Sutherland even did a good job disguising his voice. When the boys are hanging by their fingertips, in one shot you can see Craig's head and they're obviously just crouching down. And lastly, the Asian woman in the bar can also be seen sitting directly behind Craig on the Pan Am flight.

The credits are a mixed bag, as ever, with certain characters awarded a credit, such as the Girl in Red who never speaks, though does have a presence in much of the episode, to the doctor who presents Charter's body, and a waiter. Which waiter isn't specified, but I'd assume it's the one that attacks Craig and Richard as that was the largest role, though there's also the one who gets his arm squeezed, among others, but I think they were the only two that had lines. The girls swinging in the cage don't get a credit, understandably as they were essentially extras, but the various politicians, scientists, the air stewardess that Craig behaves rather ungentlemanly to, aren't included either. Surprisingly, nor is the lackey that follows Sharron (and does get lines), or Prengo's receptionist girlfriend (who also has a few lines), so the equation of who gets in and who doesn't is as impenetrable as ever. But it was a good episode that uses Sharron well, (Alexandra Bastedo a lot more confident than in the early episodes, perhaps because this was one of the last to be filmed), and puts the champions into different situations. It wouldn't be the last time they dealt with the supernatural (if you can call this one dealing with it), something that was always a bit uncomfortable, despite the series starting with that theme, how they received their powers and all, but this one pulls it off acceptably,  and has some fun lines without losing its atmosphere through unbridled levity in the face of danger. Though the title is good it doesn't really have anything to do with the episode, except for the Girl in Red seeming to change into a panther behind the sheet where Damballah stabs her! A loose association then…

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