Starcat and Scary Cat Can Has Been Assigned (Part Three)

Starcat and Scary Cat review Sapphire & Steel: Assignment Three

The pre-titles sequence is interesting and sets this story apart from Assignments One and Two right from the outset because while they had mystery and ghost story setups respectively, this one puts its science fiction, time-travel element out there even before Sapphire and Steel show up, with Rothwyn's narrated exposition. This engaged Starcat's interest right from the start.

Once they do appear, it seems Sapphire and Steel have had more of a briefing than previously, judging by the discussion they have of their mission. They remain separate from the guest characters throughout parts 1, 2 and 3 so for the most part only have each other to talk to.

The scene where Rothwyn gets overwhelmed with images of abbatoirs, butchers, etc. when handling noms makes The Two Doctors look subtle by comparison (Starcat would like to make it clear that this is not a compliment). What is quite subtle is the way the items that move all have animal components - some early foreshadowing of the eventual resolution going on there. We didn't see any socks moving around, but maybe that would have been too blatant.

At the end of part 1 Steel is attacked by a birdy, which looks quite good because it is on film, and is shot quite well by the director. The birdy is very very realistic except for the fact that it is a baddy. Mr Purple Cat, our expert on birdys, says that it should have been a gull instead of a swan if it was a bad birdy.

In part 2 a tiny manny is turned into a big manny and he becomes the baddy for most of the middle of the story.

In part 3 Silver arrives to help Sapphire and Steel. Silver is played by David Collings and he is practically perfect in the role, a great addition to the cast. Because Sapphire has been vanished at this point he only interacts with Steel to begin with, and the story begins to liven up after dragging a bit in part 2.

Once Silver arrived Big Gay Longcat joined us to watch the rest because he likes David Collings from other things (most recently Doctor Who's Revenge of the Cybermannys). He thought Silver was like a suave Vila, with his breaking them into the capsule and then acting cowardly at the thought of facing what's in there with them. His reaction to Steel's "you want to stay in here - alone?" is also very like something silly Vila might do.

Scary Cat wasn't enjoying Assignment Three nearly as much as the first two Assignments to begin with, but it really gets going in its second half. At the end of part 4 Silver gets disappeared by the big tiny manny before Sapphire and Steel can defeat it in part 5 and bring him back. In fact the cliffhanger at the end of part 5 is Silver scaring Sapphire and Steel because they don't know he's back, which doesn't work very well because the viewers do know it.

At the end Sapphire, Silver and Steel meet Rothwyn and Eldred who are mannys from the future. They are useless mannys because they come from a horrible, bleak, dystopian future where there are no animals - not even cats! - so they have nothing to do except use their thumbs to travel in time.

Sapphire, Silver and Steel turn their backs on Eldred and Rothwyn because they are not nice in thinking there is nothing wrong with there being no cats in the future. They are sent backforward to live without cats as punishment and that wraps up the plot.

Then there is a final twist as Silver reveals there was a mouse in the capsule, meaning the mouse must have been a time traveller too, so if there are mouses in the future then there is hope that there will be cats too! If mouses can invent time machines then cats definitely can.

Starcat and Scary Cat were divided on this story. It is Starcat's favourite so far, he liked the science fiction story and Silver. It is Scary Cat's least favourite of the first three Assignments, since it is not as scary as the other two and the first three parts are not as engaging as the rest.