The often heard complaint about the women crew members being relegated to teleport duty in S2 made me curious about how many times each character gets the honour of flicking those switches. So, to satisfy my curiosity, I sat down to count. [Excellent reason for watching S1-2 again :-)]
As this is a list of how many times someone is appointed to the duty, I left random occasions out (like Cally hearing Avon call for teleport in Breakdown; she obliges but Vila was on duty). To keep things simple I counted the sending down and back up as one, unless the retrieval is done by a different character.
Behold the result, (with the 'random' occasions - not included in the main figures - between brackets):
- Avon 13 times
- Vila 13
- Cally 12 (+2)
- Jenna 10 (+1)
- Orac 5
- Blake 2 (+1)
- Gan 0 (1)
So the top of the list is shared by Avon and Vila. [And we never hear those gentlemen complain about the task being a waste of their talents :-)]
Cally's count does not include her bringing up Avon in Breakdown and sending back the soldiers in Redemption.
Jenna's count does include her operating the teleport together with Avon in Cygnus Alpha but not her spacing of the crimo.
The overall pattern for S1 and the first third of S2 (up until Horizon) shows Avon as first choice for teleport duty. The only exception is Duel, where Blake chooses Vila [but maybe that's because he thinks it prudent to leave Avon to fume by himself over Vila calling him a machine :-)].
When Avon isn't available (because he's part of the landing party), the job goes to Vila. If Vila is also included in the landing party, Jenna is the third choice for S1 and Cally for S2. It is interesting to note that in Cygnus Alpha the teleport is operated by Avon and Jenna together, although Blake appears to regard Avon as the expert. :-)
Blake seems to consider the job beneath him since he only does it when he has guests to dispatch: Sarkoff and Tyce in Bounty and Del Grant in Countdown. The only other times he deigns to dirty his fingers on the switches are when he spaces Vargas - no time to give the order to someone else :-) - and when he tries to retrieve Jenna in Deliverance.
The only time Gan gets to operate the teleport is in Time Squad, and I consider that a random occasion although I realise that this is debatable :-). It seems to me we have a missed chance here, because by making Gan Chief Teleport Operator the writers could have given him something meaningful to do.
Last changed on 30th of July 2001