All Under Control

 DVD, BUGS S1 (All Under Control)

A different prospect on offer in this, the third episode, I don't think we were in London (or Generic Modernist City), once, it was all on location in and around the airport and the surrounding countryside (Stapleford from the satnav map, I believe). That in itself marks it out significantly from most other episodes as they didn't tend to show naturalistic settings of fields, grass, trees and rustic architecture, as far from the series' general remit of steel and glass structures as you can get. The way the episode begins, too, suggests a much more British eccentric attitude to the genre, much closer to 'The Avengers' than any we'd see this season - in all probability, the writer for this one (Duncan Gould), was taking his inspiration directly from that old series, to the extent that when you're watching 'aviation enthusiast' Kirkby flying his model at the same time as Langford's plane is seemingly taken control of, you quickly assume he's the one in control, which would be exactly the kind of plot you'd get in 'The Avengers.' Fortunately, it's not quite that simplistic, the real work is being done by computer and it's mere coincidence or misdirection to see the model. But the title at least is most apt in an episode which is all about control: Elverson's personal mission to make people realise his Navcom autopilot system needs to replace humans (strained by his belief that they'll listen if he takes over their planes and proves what he can do, although ironically he's in control!); Airport Security Head Nigel Todd demands constant dominion to the extent of butting heads with his boss, Langford; Kirkby would love to be in the seat of control, to fly planes…

It's also about loss of control as we see Wyman's base motivation, greed for money, is what has controlled Elverson and he's not above murder when anyone gets in his way, as Elverson and Todd both discovered (shooting an old man in the back - doesn't get much lower than that). He was a suspicious character right from the start, but it's difficult to know what I first thought since I've seen it so many times. They laid it on a bit thick to make Todd seem suspicious with his hostile attitude to these outside security consultants being brought in, and his relish at taking on the task of meeting the blackmailer, Icarus (at least he was given a bit of background when he talks about being in the army), but there weren't many suspects in the picture so trying to create some ambiguity may have been a pointless task. Todd's really only there to provide something for the team to butt up against (when he appears with his forces and the hangar shutter rolls back it reminded me of Jabba's Palace in 'Return of The Jedi' and the curtain pulling back, though Todd wasn't the type to laugh), for Beckett to remind us he has a temper (he manages to stay professional, with only a warning, "Don't push me," to Todd), and to give Ed a chance to show his skills, leaping up onto an awning and clambering in through a window when they need to break into the airport at night after Todd's demanded they leave. I'd have liked to see how the team were recruited, what made Langford call them in, do they advertise, or share a mutual friend (someone like Roland Blatty perhaps). Such details aren't really pertinent to the story, but they are to those of us interested in how the business works and the lives they have outside of their job.

The natural environment we see so much of, with picturesque windmill houses and low-beamed cottages (Kirkby's was very comfortable!), provides a refreshing style for the series, but as I said before, it must have been because the visuals hadn't been entirely established this early on. There's also a majority of the story happening during the day, which isn't always the case (more evident in Season 2, as I recall, when darkness added to the sci-fi direction they went in - may also have had something to do with the time of year they filmed in, as there'd be more hours of dark than daylight), and you can see they pulled out all the stops to show the money on screen - not only do we get a lot of scenes in a real airport and surrounding airfields, the full complement of fire engines being activated in readiness (in both day and night scenes), but they film aboard a real plane, too. The episode may not have the excitement of the first two instalments, but it does succeed in creating a more psychological drama - when Ros is trapped aboard a plane controlled by Icarus, you really feel for her, and as the nightmarish event unfolds the tension mounts: first she merely can't get off in time, then the plane begins moving of its own accord until it's heading out onto the runway - Ed gets to play daredevil again, leaping from a moving fire engine onto the wing of the plane in an attempt to open the escape hatch from the outside, then has to jump off to avoid being sucked into the powerful jet engine as it starts up, and then Ros is going up, up and away.

The strength of the episode is in its displacement of the characters from their quickly established positions of, well, control: Ed's the pilot, but he's stuck on the ground, Ros is the computer expert, but is the one faced with all the critical dials and levers of a cockpit - instead of Ed being able to talk her down, which would have been an easier solution, and something anyone in the control tower could have done, they turn it around so Ros has to 'talk Ed down,' while she controls her own panic, she has to calm Ed into making the correct adjustments on Elverson's computers, while he is terrified he's going to do something wrong, with Ros' life in the balance. It's an excellent demonstration of what the series could achieve simply by putting one of our heroes in danger. Ed's concerns over operating a computer could also be seen as a generation's trouble accepting this new development in society - 'I wouldn't even know how to turn the thing on,' has been the frequent refrain from older people as a way of saying they wouldn't know where to even begin to understand the concepts of a computer and its interface. I don't get the sense most people feel that way any more which shows how deeply embedded into modern life computers have become, to the extent that it's somewhat worrying to think how much depends on them, but 'BUGS' was always going to be pro-technology, that's the direction it's coming from, and Ed as a technophobe was perfectly placed in this story for the maximum drama.

Beckett is the one who almost feels redundant across the course of the episode so they throw him a bone and give him the action man task of driving very fast across country, up hill and down dale, as if he's learnt a thing or two from the way Ros handled his Jeep in 'Out of The Hive.' In keeping with tradition, the villain's own self-confidence is his undoing, piling into a flatbed which eats into the top of his car. It might have been more effective not to show the bloodied corpse of Wyman and instead leave it to the imagination, because by the look of the impact it could have taken his head clean off! I wouldn't say the guest characters are among the greatest of the series, Susan Kyd's Langford especially unreal as head of the airport. Phillip Joseph's Todd is perhaps overly stuffy and Tom Chadbon's Wyman seems undeveloped - why did he do what he did? What made him such a killer? He has a certain something in his eye that is worrying, but we don't go into it. I enjoyed spotting Chadbon in a minor scene of 'Casino Royale' as some kind of banker - probably wouldn't particularly have recognised him when that film came out except that I was heavily into 'BUGS' at the time, having watched the series a lot for a couple of years before that! Edward Jewesbury wasn't bad as Elverson, though perhaps it is harder to believe this elderly gentleman with a white beard and cardigan would be this software genius, but then it does throw the stereotypes of teenage coders of the 80s on its head. His windmill lair was lovely and all he needed was a white cat to stroke as he sat before his bank of screens - instead he strokes a white mouse!

Elverson suited the environment they were in, a mixture of traditional and modern (he gives Beckett a copy of his program on floppy disk!), but I wonder if too much time was given over to trying to keep the audience guessing on the identity of the villain. It's not an episode full of stunts, there are none of the staple explosions (I'm surprised Wyman's car didn't explode on impact at the end!), and I'm not sure they were entirely certain what to do with all the characters - sure, the tasks were parcelled out, but it almost felt like three was a crowd, not something seen in the first two episodes. I like that they're assigning bright colours to each member of the team with Ros wearing blue (complimenting her yellow car, seen briefly), Ed in red and Beckett in green. It was all part of the desire (later seen in such things as 'Smallville' and previously seen in such as 'Star Trek'), to differentiate characters simply and cleanly and to provide brightness and positivity through the outfits worn). It's good to see Ed in his element as he's clearly a bit of an enthusiast when it comes to flying - although he jokes about Kirkby being more suited to Ros, I wonder if he would have got on better with the guy as they'd be able to go on endlessly about different models, while Ros had to (forgive me), wing it a bit, pretending to be a journalist - she even says later in the episode that to her a plane is just a flying pub, which sums up her attitude perfectly.

They use the plane itself to great effect, early on showing what it's like for a full set of passengers to be inside when the plane's taken over - you have to feel sorry for one little girl who clearly isn't acting when she cries in pure terror, but it was all to great effect, I just hope she didn't grow up with a fear of air travel! Beckett and Ed suggest that 'somebody doesn't like us,' and 'what's new?' so I wondered if this meant the team have been operating more than we've seen. Their jobs usually seem to take place in a short time frame of a couple of days, judging from what we can see, otherwise it would appear premature to make such a statement if they've only dealt with the enemies they had so far. It was also a little hard to buy Ros' assertion that anyone with a modem and a little patience could send a message to infiltrate an airport's network and bring it up on every screen in the place, but this can be put down to less people knowing the facts of such technology back in 1995, and also that it probably was more possible to hack into things then because internet security wasn't as strong. Otherwise it's a fairly tight story which I couldn't nitpick much about, although there is some slight mishap with continuity in the chase at the end: Wyman points a gun out of his window in one shot, then there's we see him pick up the gun from the glove compartment, then he fires it! But it's only noticeable if you're looking out for it and is common practice to insert scenes where they work best rather than necessarily in the correct order in the scene, particularly in a fast moment of action.

The episode uses the characters well over all, each of them working together or on their own at various points and it was a well shot episode, too, as evidenced by the number of images taken from this to be used in the opening titles (still love how dynamic that is, with all the great clips and the electrical gadgets looking alive as they come together to form the logo - inspired design). In keeping with the style of the series, there's not a lot to delve into and discuss, it's mostly straightforward action, there aren't going to be deep moral issues or, at least at this stage, much to discuss in terms of the series' continuity as each story largely stands alone. But it remains entertaining and this one shows they were willing to put their money where their mouth was and give us some big things, the likes of which you'd expect in a film more than TV of the time, and it's clear from the assured direction and the easygoing atmosphere between the main cast, that at this early part of the season they had it, yes, all under control.

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