The Airzone Solution
Encyclopedia
The Airzone Solution is a 1993 British
science-fiction film, produced and released direct-to-video
by BBV
. It was written by Nicholas Briggs
and directed by Bill Baggs.
, a series of independently made Doctor Who
-style productions, complete with cast members from Doctor Who playing similar characters. For Airzone Solution, BBV gathered four of the five surviving actors who had played the Doctor
— Colin Baker
, Jon Pertwee
, Peter Davison
and Sylvester McCoy
— as the leads in a modern day environmental thriller about pollution. Also appearing in a supporting role is Alan Cumming
, along with Doctor Who alumni Nicola Bryant
and Michael Wisher
.
The film was shot on videotape on a very low budget, as was the case with the previous Stranger videos.
The writer of the film, Nicholas Briggs, who also plays a small role, went on to work on the revived Doctor Who series in 2005, providing voice-overs for both the Daleks and Cybermen.
Investigative filmmaker Al Dunbar (Davison) has been working with Anthony Stanwick (McCoy), the head of one radical environmental group on a Michael Moore
-style exposé documentary on AirZone. But when Dunbar's mentor, the mysterious Oliver Threthewey (Pertwee) says the documentary is useless without more direct proof of AirZone's intentions, Dunbar and Stanwick hatch a plan to infiltrate AirZone's headquarters and hack into their computer mainframe. Stanwick has been aided in this by Rachel (Heather Tracy), an AirZone employee who is acting as his "mole" within the organisation.
Meanwhile, Arnie Davies (Baker), a popular local television meteorologist, is getting ready to go on the air, although he still has time to flirt with the make-up lady and with his girlfriend, journalist Ellie Brown (played by Nicola Bryant
, who had co-starred with Baker in both Doctor Who and The Stranger
series).
Dunbar successfully infiltrates AirZone's offices, but sets off an alarm soon after hacking into the computer. Fleeing from the guards, Dunbar finds himself in a lab where Rachel — now a prisoner of AirZone — is being injected with a green fluid. He helps her to escape, but is killed in the process.
At the moment Dunbar dies, both Arnie and Stanwick experience a vision of his death; for Arnie, this occurs in the middle of a broadcast and he faints on the air. Later, after a recuperating evening with Ellie, Arnie feels better and gets ready to go to work — only to be shocked at seeing an apparition of Dunbar standing in his hallway. Dunbar urges Arnie to investigate AirZone.
Arnie continues to experience visions of Dunbar at work, and is unnerved when he learns that Dunbar had died the night before. After further disturbing displays both during his weather broadcast and again at home, Ellie suggests they investigate Dunbar's home. Ellie is not sure what to make of it when Arnie, relaying instructions from Dunbar, is able to guide her to a hiding place where Dunbar kept his spare key. Inside, Ellie and Arnie view Dunbar's incomplete documentary but must leave when a detective, carrying a warrant to seize any AirZone property, arrives.
Soon, Arnie finds himself meeting Stanwick and is reassured that his visions of Dunbar are not the result of insanity, as Stanwick also sees the apparition (as does, apparently, Threthewey). Together, Stanwick and Arnie locate Rachel, who is experiencing extreme physical distress as the result of whatever chemical or drug was being pumped into her body at AirZone. Before they can get her to hospital, she is abducted by a group of masked men. For Arnie, this sparks an obsession with finding the truth about AirZone, and during his next weather report, he takes a tangent to reveal to viewers that AirZone's pollution-filtering plants are in fact increasing the pollution in the atmosphere.
Meanwhile, Ellie is given the biggest assignments of her career: first interviewing the Environment Secretary
(played by Michael Wisher
) and then covering the public unveiling of AirZone's pollution reduction plan by the head of the company, Robin Archer (Bernadette Gepheart). But she is frustrated when Arnie interrupts the former in order to give Stanwick face-time with the minister, an act that riles MacNamara (Cummings), a mysterious figure who works on behalf of Archer.
At the press conference, attended by industry representatives from across Britain, Archer unveils AirZone's optimistic plan to reduce pollution, but her sermon is cut short by Arnie (who has been sneaked in by the now-convinced Ellie) brandishing a gun, who demands Archer reveal the truth about why people living near the plants have been dying and disappearing. She refuses, but Stanwick arrives, with Rachel in hand (having recovered her with the unexpected help of MacNamara). Rachel, and many other Britons, have been subject to genetic experiments, forcing them to grow gill-like appendages to their necks. The AirZone Solution is not to reduce pollution, but to instead increase it and instead create a new race of humans able to breathe the polluted air. With AirZone's scheme revealed to the public, it collapses. MacNamara actually works for MI5
and apparently had been working against Archer from inside AirZone (and appears to have been behind Rachel's earlier abduction), and leaves saying the AirZone was a good idea, but a bad concept. Out of nowhere, Threthewey appears and says that Al Dunbar would have been proud of the work done by Arnie, Ellie, and Stanwick.
The origin of the Dunbar apparition, and why it appeared to Arnie and Stanwick, is left unexplained.
Cinema of the United Kingdom
The United Kingdom has had a major influence on modern cinema. The first moving pictures developed on celluloid film were made in Hyde Park, London in 1889 by William Friese Greene, a British inventor, who patented the process in 1890. It is generally regarded that the British film industry...
science-fiction film, produced and released direct-to-video
Direct-to-video
Direct-to-video is a term used to describe a film that has been released to the public on home video formats without being released in film theaters or broadcast on television...
by BBV
BBV
BBV is a video and audio production company specialising in science fiction drama, known for its links with the British science fiction television series Doctor Who...
. It was written by Nicholas Briggs
Nicholas Briggs
Nicholas Briggs is a British actor and writer, predominantly associated with the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who and its various spin-offs, particularly as the voice of the Daleks. Briggs sometimes uses the pseudonym Arthur Wallis...
and directed by Bill Baggs.
Overview
This film was a departure from BBV's previous productions of The StrangerThe Stranger (video series)
The Stranger is a series of direct-to-video science-fiction dramas produced by BBV and starring Colin Baker. They are now available on DVD.The series began in 1991 with Summoned by Shadows, co-produced with the BBC Film Club...
, a series of independently made Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
-style productions, complete with cast members from Doctor Who playing similar characters. For Airzone Solution, BBV gathered four of the five surviving actors who had played the Doctor
Doctor (Doctor Who)
The Doctor is the central character in the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who, and has also featured in two cinema feature films, a vast range of spin-off novels, audio dramas and comic strips connected to the series....
— Colin Baker
Colin Baker
Colin Baker is a British actor who is known for playing Paul Merroney in The Brothers from 1974 to 1976 and as the sixth incarnation of the Doctor in the long-running science fiction television series Doctor Who, from 1984 to 1986.- Background:Colin Baker was born in London, but moved north to...
, Jon Pertwee
Jon Pertwee
John Devon Roland Pertwee , was an English actor. Pertwee is best known for his role in the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who, in which he played the third incarnation of the Doctor from 1970 to 1974, and as the title character in the series Worzel Gummidge...
, Peter Davison
Peter Davison
Peter Davison is a British actor, best known for his roles as Tristan Farnon in the television version of James Herriot's All Creatures Great and Small and the fifth incarnation of the Doctor in Doctor Who, which he played from 1982 to 1984.-Early life:Davison was born Peter Moffett in Streatham,...
and Sylvester McCoy
Sylvester McCoy
Sylvester McCoy is a Scottish actor. As a comic act and busker he appeared regularly on stage and on BBC Children's television in the 1970s and 80s, but is best known for playing the seventh incarnation of the Doctor in the long-running science fiction television series Doctor Who from 1987 to...
— as the leads in a modern day environmental thriller about pollution. Also appearing in a supporting role is Alan Cumming
Alan Cumming
Alan Cumming, OBE is a Scottish stage, television and film actor, singer, writer, director, producer and author. His roles have included the Emcee in Cabaret, Boris Grishenko in GoldenEye, Kurt Wagner/Nightcrawler in X2: X-Men United, Mr. Elton in Emma, and Fegan Floop in the Spy Kids trilogy...
, along with Doctor Who alumni Nicola Bryant
Nicola Bryant
-External links:** at shillpages.com/dw *...
and Michael Wisher
Michael Wisher
Michael Wisher was a British actor.He is probably best remembered for having played Davros, the wheelchair-using scientific mastermind and creator of the Daleks, in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who...
.
The film was shot on videotape on a very low budget, as was the case with the previous Stranger videos.
The writer of the film, Nicholas Briggs, who also plays a small role, went on to work on the revived Doctor Who series in 2005, providing voice-overs for both the Daleks and Cybermen.
Plot summary
The Airzone Solution takes place in a future Britain where pollution has reached a point where the populace must often wear filtration masks when they venture outside. AirZone, a powerful corporation, signs a lucrative deal with the government to deal with the problem. The public is told that AirZone plans to build giant filtration plants to clean the atmosphere, but environmentalists are skeptical, especially when people begin dying and disappearing around AirZone facilities.Investigative filmmaker Al Dunbar (Davison) has been working with Anthony Stanwick (McCoy), the head of one radical environmental group on a Michael Moore
Michael Moore
Michael Francis Moore is an American filmmaker, author, social critic and activist. He is the director and producer of Fahrenheit 9/11, which is the highest-grossing documentary of all time. His films Bowling for Columbine and Sicko also place in the top ten highest-grossing documentaries...
-style exposé documentary on AirZone. But when Dunbar's mentor, the mysterious Oliver Threthewey (Pertwee) says the documentary is useless without more direct proof of AirZone's intentions, Dunbar and Stanwick hatch a plan to infiltrate AirZone's headquarters and hack into their computer mainframe. Stanwick has been aided in this by Rachel (Heather Tracy), an AirZone employee who is acting as his "mole" within the organisation.
Meanwhile, Arnie Davies (Baker), a popular local television meteorologist, is getting ready to go on the air, although he still has time to flirt with the make-up lady and with his girlfriend, journalist Ellie Brown (played by Nicola Bryant
Nicola Bryant
-External links:** at shillpages.com/dw *...
, who had co-starred with Baker in both Doctor Who and The Stranger
The Stranger (video series)
The Stranger is a series of direct-to-video science-fiction dramas produced by BBV and starring Colin Baker. They are now available on DVD.The series began in 1991 with Summoned by Shadows, co-produced with the BBC Film Club...
series).
Dunbar successfully infiltrates AirZone's offices, but sets off an alarm soon after hacking into the computer. Fleeing from the guards, Dunbar finds himself in a lab where Rachel — now a prisoner of AirZone — is being injected with a green fluid. He helps her to escape, but is killed in the process.
At the moment Dunbar dies, both Arnie and Stanwick experience a vision of his death; for Arnie, this occurs in the middle of a broadcast and he faints on the air. Later, after a recuperating evening with Ellie, Arnie feels better and gets ready to go to work — only to be shocked at seeing an apparition of Dunbar standing in his hallway. Dunbar urges Arnie to investigate AirZone.
Arnie continues to experience visions of Dunbar at work, and is unnerved when he learns that Dunbar had died the night before. After further disturbing displays both during his weather broadcast and again at home, Ellie suggests they investigate Dunbar's home. Ellie is not sure what to make of it when Arnie, relaying instructions from Dunbar, is able to guide her to a hiding place where Dunbar kept his spare key. Inside, Ellie and Arnie view Dunbar's incomplete documentary but must leave when a detective, carrying a warrant to seize any AirZone property, arrives.
Soon, Arnie finds himself meeting Stanwick and is reassured that his visions of Dunbar are not the result of insanity, as Stanwick also sees the apparition (as does, apparently, Threthewey). Together, Stanwick and Arnie locate Rachel, who is experiencing extreme physical distress as the result of whatever chemical or drug was being pumped into her body at AirZone. Before they can get her to hospital, she is abducted by a group of masked men. For Arnie, this sparks an obsession with finding the truth about AirZone, and during his next weather report, he takes a tangent to reveal to viewers that AirZone's pollution-filtering plants are in fact increasing the pollution in the atmosphere.
Meanwhile, Ellie is given the biggest assignments of her career: first interviewing the Environment Secretary
Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is a UK cabinet-level position in charge of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, and the successor to the positions of Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport...
(played by Michael Wisher
Michael Wisher
Michael Wisher was a British actor.He is probably best remembered for having played Davros, the wheelchair-using scientific mastermind and creator of the Daleks, in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who...
) and then covering the public unveiling of AirZone's pollution reduction plan by the head of the company, Robin Archer (Bernadette Gepheart). But she is frustrated when Arnie interrupts the former in order to give Stanwick face-time with the minister, an act that riles MacNamara (Cummings), a mysterious figure who works on behalf of Archer.
At the press conference, attended by industry representatives from across Britain, Archer unveils AirZone's optimistic plan to reduce pollution, but her sermon is cut short by Arnie (who has been sneaked in by the now-convinced Ellie) brandishing a gun, who demands Archer reveal the truth about why people living near the plants have been dying and disappearing. She refuses, but Stanwick arrives, with Rachel in hand (having recovered her with the unexpected help of MacNamara). Rachel, and many other Britons, have been subject to genetic experiments, forcing them to grow gill-like appendages to their necks. The AirZone Solution is not to reduce pollution, but to instead increase it and instead create a new race of humans able to breathe the polluted air. With AirZone's scheme revealed to the public, it collapses. MacNamara actually works for MI5
MI5
The Security Service, commonly known as MI5 , is the United Kingdom's internal counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its core intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service focused on foreign threats, Government Communications Headquarters and the Defence...
and apparently had been working against Archer from inside AirZone (and appears to have been behind Rachel's earlier abduction), and leaves saying the AirZone was a good idea, but a bad concept. Out of nowhere, Threthewey appears and says that Al Dunbar would have been proud of the work done by Arnie, Ellie, and Stanwick.
The origin of the Dunbar apparition, and why it appeared to Arnie and Stanwick, is left unexplained.
Cast
- Colin BakerColin BakerColin Baker is a British actor who is known for playing Paul Merroney in The Brothers from 1974 to 1976 and as the sixth incarnation of the Doctor in the long-running science fiction television series Doctor Who, from 1984 to 1986.- Background:Colin Baker was born in London, but moved north to...
— Arnie Davies - Peter DavisonPeter DavisonPeter Davison is a British actor, best known for his roles as Tristan Farnon in the television version of James Herriot's All Creatures Great and Small and the fifth incarnation of the Doctor in Doctor Who, which he played from 1982 to 1984.-Early life:Davison was born Peter Moffett in Streatham,...
— Al Dunbar - Jon PertweeJon PertweeJohn Devon Roland Pertwee , was an English actor. Pertwee is best known for his role in the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who, in which he played the third incarnation of the Doctor from 1970 to 1974, and as the title character in the series Worzel Gummidge...
— Oliver Threthewey - Sylvester McCoySylvester McCoySylvester McCoy is a Scottish actor. As a comic act and busker he appeared regularly on stage and on BBC Children's television in the 1970s and 80s, but is best known for playing the seventh incarnation of the Doctor in the long-running science fiction television series Doctor Who from 1987 to...
— Anthony Stanwick - Nicola BryantNicola Bryant-External links:** at shillpages.com/dw *...
— Elenya "Ellie" Brown - Alan CummingAlan CummingAlan Cumming, OBE is a Scottish stage, television and film actor, singer, writer, director, producer and author. His roles have included the Emcee in Cabaret, Boris Grishenko in GoldenEye, Kurt Wagner/Nightcrawler in X2: X-Men United, Mr. Elton in Emma, and Fegan Floop in the Spy Kids trilogy...
— MacNamara - Heather Tracy — Rachel
- Michael WisherMichael WisherMichael Wisher was a British actor.He is probably best remembered for having played Davros, the wheelchair-using scientific mastermind and creator of the Daleks, in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who...
— Richard Allenby - Bernadette Gepheart — Robin Archer
- Nicholas BriggsNicholas BriggsNicholas Briggs is a British actor and writer, predominantly associated with the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who and its various spin-offs, particularly as the voice of the Daleks. Briggs sometimes uses the pseudonym Arthur Wallis...
— Sam Flint - Emma Hill — Polly
- Quentin Rayner — Quentin
- Gary RussellGary RussellGary James Russell is a freelance writer and former child actor. As a writer, he is best known for his work in connection with the television series Doctor Who and its spin-offs in other media...
— Detective