lucifer666
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![]() Posted: Post subject: Sapphire and Steel |
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Does anyone remember this classic sci-fi show years ago?
Sapphire & Steel was a British television science-fiction series starring David McCallum as Steel and Joanna Lumley as Sapphire. Produced by ATV, it ran from 1979 to 1982 and was primarily ATV's answer to the BBC's Doctor Who. The series was created by Peter J. Hammond, who conceived the programme after a stay in a haunted castle.
The programme centred on a pair of interdimensional operatives, the titular Sapphire and Steel. Very little was revealed about their purposes or backgrounds in the course of the series but they appeared to be engaged in guarding the order, if not the integrity of Time. In the series, it was explained that Time is like a corridor that surrounds everything, but there are weak spots where Time — implied to be a potentially malignant force — could break into the present and take things. There were also creatures from the beginnings and ends of time that roamed the corridor looking for the same weak spots to break through.
These breaks were most often triggered by the presence of an anachronism, for example a nursery rhyme, a doctored photograph that mixed period and contemporary elements, or a house decorated to replicate a 1930s setting. Investigators would assess the situation and then, if intervention was warranted, Operators were assigned to deal with the problem by a mysterious unseen authority, to be assisted by Specialists if necessary.
The stories were generally quite cryptic, raising more questions than answers, and had an eerie air to them, being as much ghost stories as they were science fiction. The programme had been allocated a minuscule production budget, which led to the use of simple (but very effective) staging and minimal special effects, ultimately contributing to the uneasy atmosphere of the show. The ambiguous nature of the programme extended to its main characters. While Sapphire was portrayed as more affable and "human" than the no-nonsense, grim Steel, it was clear that their prime concern was to deal with the break in Time, sometimes over the safety of the humans caught in the incidents they investigated.
It was heavily implied that Sapphire and Steel were not human, given their abilities and manner. Steel, for example, often had gaps in his knowledge of human culture and even Sapphire's grace was tempered with a cool detachment from the humans they interacted with. In Adventure 5, Steel confirmed that they were alien, "in the extraterrestrial sense," but what this qualification means is not clear. The two also referred to being involved in the mystery of the Mary Celeste, and in one case stated they would be waiting for a ship to surface in seventy-five years. This could mean they were either exceptionally long-lived or some kind of time travel was involved.
Sapphire and Steel, who were Operators, were occasionally assisted by other operatives, including Lead and Silver. There were 127 operatives in total, including 12 transuranic elements, which could not be assigned where life existed. Although they were described as elements, many of the code names were non-elements, such as Sapphire, Steel, Diamond and Jet, the last a past love interest of Steel's. Sapphire also had a flirtatious relationship with Silver, contributing to an air of underlying ------ tension on the occasions that Silver was called upon to assist the duo.
Among Sapphire's abilities was the power to manipulate time in small ways as well as divine the age or historical details of an object by touching it. Her most prominent ability was to "take back time," literally rewinding it in a localised area to see or replay the past. She also exhibited an ability to obtain information about people — their ages and backgrounds as well as psychological insights into their personality — just by being close to them. Sometimes it appeared that she did not discover this information herself but was receiving the information telepathically from some external source. She could also manipulate people's emotions, and project illusions. When she used her powers, her eyes would usually glow blue.
Steel, on the other hand, could freeze himself to absolute zero which gave him the ability to destroy "ghosts", which were in actuality remnants of Time. He apparently possessed immense strength (in Adventure 3 he tied knots in elevator cables to prevent the elevator from being used) and a degree of invulnerability. He exhibited telekinetic abilities, being able to paralyse people with a look, weld metal with his bare hands or undo deadbolts with a gesture.
Other operatives that appeared also had special powers. Silver (played by David Collings), a Specialist who was specified as a Technician, was good with electronics and gadgets, even being able to create small objects out of nothing. Lead (played by Val Pringle), on the other hand, possessed superhuman strength and could act as needed insulation for Steel when he froze himself to extreme temperatures. The operatives could also communicate telepathically with each other, and in Adventure 5 Sapphire granted this ability to a human being, whom she dubbed "Brass" for the duration. Fan fiction has expanded the roll of named operatives to over one hundred, covering almost every element, several allotropes, most gems and semi-precious stones and several compounds.
Each adventure would start with Sapphire and Steel simply showing up, seemingly out of nowhere, although often they were already present when the story started. Usually, they would investigate and mingle with various humans, although it was nearly always the location the humans were in which was of the most interest — an old house which dated back to the 18th century, an abandoned railway station, a 1940s-era motorway café, and so on
It was a fantastic show!!......... incidentally now the writer and creator PJ Hammond is now writing for Dr Who and in particular for its spin off series 'Torchwood' |
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