Blake's 7 on Blu-ray!

[Marc]

In watching the clip again, I'm wondering if, in any of the interviews they'll mention that Jan Chappell almost didn't appear in the location shoot for the episode "Redemption" because she didn't approve of filming at an active nuclear power station and was quite vocal about it, so she would have been separated from the cast at the beginning and would not have appeared again until the end.
She had it written into her contract after this episode that she would not do any location filming at any nuclear power plants, which is why she stays behind and mans the teleport in subsequent episodes shot in or around nuclear power plant.
Then there's the story about how the cast and crew didn't eat in the nuclear power plant's cafeteria because there were signs posted reading "Danger - Possible Contamination", so they would all go to the local pub to eat.

Wasn't Chappel pregnant at the the time adding to her concerns.

As for the interviews being arhival from the early 90s, guess it must been a cost/rights things because as I've mentioned between there was a lot more update interviews on youtube from proffesionally produce retrospective that covered the first 3 series but didn't have the funding available to do the fourth.

Then again also on youtube can find videos of conventions from the 90s where Darrow and Thomas come out with cigarettes in one hand a drink the the other that wouldn't happen in this day and age

 

[Judge Death]

In watching the clip again, I'm wondering if, in any of the interviews they'll mention that Jan Chappell almost didn't appear in the location shoot for the episode "Redemption" because she didn't approve of filming at an active nuclear power station and was quite vocal about it, so she would have been separated from the cast at the beginning and would not have appeared again until the end.
She had it written into her contract after this episode that she would not do any location filming at any nuclear power plants, which is why she stays behind and mans the teleport in subsequent episodes shot in or around nuclear power plant.
Then there's the story about how the cast and crew didn't eat in the nuclear power plant's cafeteria because there were signs posted reading "Danger - Possible Contamination", so they would all go to the local pub to eat.

Is that the one there explosions went off and the power plant staff said something along the lines of "I hope that was you guys, if it wasn't we're all fucked"

 

[DarrenTR1970]

Is that the one there explosions went off and the power plant staff said something along the lines of "I hope that was you guys, if it wasn't we're all fucked"

Yeah. That's the story Michael Keating tells in the book.
Vere Lorrimer set off the explosion and, according to Keating, one of the staff standing next to him went white as a ghost, and said that it had better been them because if it wasn't, they were all dead men.

 

[DarrenTR1970]

Wasn't Chappel pregnant at the the time adding to her concerns.

I don't know if she was pregnant at the time, however, considering the long gaps between series, it's possible.
I do know that in the book, she says one of the primary reasons for not doing the fourth series is because she had a young son at home and she hated the long hours away from him while filming in the studio and on location.

 

[Judge Death]

I don't know if she was pregnant at the time, however, considering the long gaps between series, it's possible.
I do know that in the book, she says one of the primary reasons for not doing the fourth series is because she had a young son at home and she hated the long hours away from him while filming in the studio and on location.

I think she was pregnant at the time.

As for the fourth season, haven't heard that Animals was going to be her final story before she ducked out I think she made a good call!

 

[JD]

Was security a lot more lax around those kind places in that day and age? I thought most nuclear power plants were high security places that wouldn't want a bunch random TV people getting in the way.

 

[Christopher]

Was security a lot more lax around those kind places in that day and age? I thought most nuclear power plants were high security places that wouldn't want a bunch random TV people getting in the way.

Obviously the production got permission ahead of time. This isn't guerilla filmmaking; they have people whose job it is to scout locations and arrange filming permissions.

 

[DarrenTR1970]

Was security a lot more lax around those kind places in that day and age? I thought most nuclear power plants were high security places that wouldn't want a bunch random TV people getting in the way.

Doctor Who filmed parts of the serial, "The Hand of Fear" there as well.

 

[JD]

I didn't know that about hand of fear.

Obviously the production got permission ahead of time. This isn't guerilla filmmaking; they have people whose job it is to scout locations and arrange filming permissions.

Well that's pretty obvious, I just meant that I'm shocked they would ever allow a TV production to shoot in an active nuclear power plant.
Although they did shoot Star Trek Into Darkness at the Livermore Lawrence Nation Laboratory, so I guess that kind of thing does happen today.

 

[Christopher]

Well that's pretty obvious, I just meant that I'm shocked they would ever allow a TV production to shoot in an active nuclear power plant.

Why not? It's a power plant like any other. The parts of it inhabited by humans aren't exposed to radiation or radioactive material, since power plant designers are not stupid and obviously would design the plants to keep the human-occupied areas well away from those things. Nuclear power is the second-safest energy source in the world, on a par with wind and solar. As the following chart shows, the death rate from coal power plants is literally a thousand times higher: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_power#/media/File:Energy_Production_Death_Rates_per_TWh.png

People are very bad at risk assessment. They fear new, unfamiliar things that aren't really that dangerous, while being blase about everyday things that kill people all the time, like traffic accidents. People's historic fear of nuclear power comes more from that unfamiliarity than from any real threat. Yes, on those very rare cases when a nuclear plant suffers a catastrophic failure, it can be very dangerous, but that's why they're carefully designed to minimize the risk, so on a day-to-day level they're much safer than a coal power plant.

 

[Shawnster]

Was security a lot more lax around those kind places in that day and age? I thought most nuclear power plants were high security places that wouldn't want a bunch random TV people getting in the way.

I take it you have come of age after the events of 9/11.

Yes, it was a different time. People in general did not think in terms of what makes a place a high profile target. The thinking of what constitutes a security risk is viewed differently today.

Christopher is spot on with his defense as to the physical safety and low health risk of filming at a nuclear plant. He's also valid in pointing out that film and production crews shooting on a location like this would have all the proper permits and follow all imposed regulations.

Life is different today. However, it is more lax than immediately after 9/11. It may be possible to get permission to film such scenes today at nuclear power facilities or other "soft targets", as you noted above with the Livermore Lawrence Nation Laboratory. Television production values have also increased so as a filming set might look just like the real deal.

As always, permission can always be granted if the production is willing to pay the right price and follow the rules.

 

[Christopher]

As far as health and safety are concerned, TV and film productions have shot in far more dangerous places. There was an episode of The Middleman where they shot in a decaying, abandoned factory full of asbestos, and the cast and crew were advised not to touch anything.

 

[Skipper]

In my day, movies and TV shows were shot barefoot in the snow! Uphill!

Today's filmmakers don't know what sacrifice is!

 

[Set Harth]

In my day, movies and TV shows were shot barefoot in the snow! Uphill!

Unironically true!!

 

[Skipper]

And now, I'm back, with a new B7 episode, Deliverance!!!

• A space station! Rotating! ...wait, if they have artificial gravity, why do they have a rotating station like '2001'?
• My favorite bad girl! Following dots on a screen!
• Now we're on a shuttle! The pilot informs us that since they're passing close to a certain planet, they're on the right path to their destination! I must say, navigating space is peculiar to the B7 universe.
• But wait! The planet's gravity is pulling them in! Oh no, the pilot passed too close!!! ...what?!?
• Now the shuttle explodes!!!!! My favorite sadist smiles sadistically. Of course she has something to do with it!!!
• And for the first time, we see the planet's inhabitants, who look like some kind of NeanderthBWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWA, sorry, I had to pause the episode. I know everyone there was doing their best, but these primitive-like people were just too ridiculous!
• The Liberator just so happens to be in that area. It's amazing how small the Galaxy is in B7. I have neighbors I don't see for months, but our heroes are always in the right place at the right time!
• Our heroes descend on the planet and immediately split up, like in the best horror movies!
• They find their first victim. They look for identifying marks and find... A wallet? Huh? I have to say, I don't remember the last time I saw a pedestrian wallet in a sci-fi series set in space!
• Our heroes find the survivor, but Jenna is captured by Neanderthals!!! And no one notices anything!!!
• Cally passes the time with some really cool VR headsets! Okay, that's a good techno-futuristic idea, considering the Walkman hadn't come out yet!
  
  
  
  
  
  
• And on the spaceship they realized they were lost Jenna "But wasn't she with you?" "Not with you!!!" Jeez. I know these aren't professional soldiers, but they're pretty smart people. Didn't they learn anything from the time they lost Cally?!?!
• As the rest of the crew go to save Jenna, Blake and Cally check the dead man's wallet and discover that he's a surgeon, or rather... A SPACE SURGEON! Probably deals with space-colds, space-appendicitis and space-migraines. Did Star Trek TOS also put the prefix "space" everywhere???
• Well, the other survivor wakes up, mega info dump. Okay. The guy finds a gun from who knows where and Cally is taken hostage. In the same episode, both women become damsels in distress. The attitude towards women in this series is schizophrenic.
• My favorite female villain with Travis! I love their exchanges. Servalan explains her evil plan, so evil it even shocks Travis. And it seems like a stupid plan, too. If they blow up the shuttle, don't they also risk losing the McGuffin?
• Meanwhile, our heroes on the planet are attacked by Neandarthals BWAWAWAWA (sorry, I can't resist). Avon kills one, but there are so many of them that they are forced to flee.
• Now, a quick pause. How useless are our heroes' weapons? A modern automatic would have massacred the natives. This one seems to be as effective as an 18th-century musket. I can assume that Avon and the others didn't mean to kill them all, but nothing in the episode suggests that. And anyway, it was self-defense.
• However, our heroes take refuge in a bunker where a sort of vestal virgin welcomes them.
  
  
  
  
  
• Now, it's clear someone in the costume department screwed up. Why isn't her dress see-through?!?! When I see B7, I have very specific expectations about how the female alien guest of the week should be dressed!
• Now this woman kneels adoringly at Avon's feet as soon as she sees him, mistaking him for some god from a prophecy. And it won't be the first time. A woman throwing herself on her knees at the feet of a man she's never seen, promising him fidelity and utmost obedience. I must say, the scene makes me a little uncomfortable. Times have truly changed.Now this woman kneels adoringly at Avon's feet as soon as she sees him, mistaking him for some god from a prophecy. And it won't be the first time. A woman throwing herself on her knees at the feet of a man she's never seen, promising him fidelity and utmost obedience. I must say, the scene makes me a little uncomfortable. Times have truly changed.
• Aval and friends immediately know how to use all the controls in a sort of control room. How? HOW?!?!
• We see the Neanderthal village. Is it just me or is there not even a single woman there? Jenna is saved.
• The guy holding Cally hostage finally dies. The Liberator returns to pick up her crewmates.
• The missile carrying the genetic material is being sent! Megatt and her people can die happy!

You know, I was so prepared for the worst that I almost liked the episode in the end! Of course, there are some points I'm not clear on. Why did Servalan make this haphazard plan, not even knowing where Orac physically was? And she also said she didn't know where the lab was (even at the beginning, the pilot said it was a secret). If they simply wanted to prevent the guy from destroying Orac, they could have just killed him. Why all this drama, even losing a doctor (A Space Doctor!!!!)? Maybe I missed something? And are these alien species we encounter really "alien"? Are they lost Earth colonies? Why else would Aval and the others speak their language perfectly and use their equipment?


But I didn't mind the pacing, there wasn't too much padding, in short, an excellent episode for me!

We'll see if the next one holds up!

(And really, how useless are those weapons?!?)

 

[Marc]

Severlan's plan could be summed as "kill surgeon, kill son, wait for Ensor to die, walk in and take Orac unopposed".

but as so often happens, no plan survives first contact with the enemy or in this case, the crew of the Liberator.

B7 doesn't really delve in the aliens origins too much - some of them are descendants from pre-federation colonies.

Others just are (you'll a prime example if you make it to the first episode of the next season) then there's Killer later in Season 2.

 

[Judge Death]

Deliverance has never been a big favourite of mine but does have its moments, and in particular how it treats Blake and Travis.

The whole discussion around Maryatt and his family is really interesting, one of the few occasions where Greif gets to show just a flicker of humanity before deciding killing Blake is all that matters.

Meanwhile just see the dismissive way Blake treats the photo in Maryatt's wallet of his wife and kids.

It's blink and you miss it, but in this episode, for just a heartbeat, Travis is more human than Blake.

Beyond this there's some fun Avon/Vila interactions "you're enjoying this " "probably" and they do make a call back to Time Squad.

Beyond this it's all bobbins! Love how the grimy natives are wearing wedding rings

 

[Christopher]

And now, I'm back, with a new B7 episode, Deliverance!!!

• A space station! Rotating! ...wait, if they have artificial gravity, why do they have a rotating station like '2001'?

For gyroscopic stabilization, I expect, so its axis doesn't drift. Or because it looks better onscreen.

• Now we're on a shuttle! The pilot informs us that since they're passing close to a certain planet, they're on the right path to their destination! I must say, navigating space is peculiar to the B7 universe.

Also, they're reusing the space pod from "Time Squad," which is way too tiny to support a 2-man crew for a journey of a week or more with no rest stops to pull into. I'm sure it was scripted to be bigger, but they couldn't afford to build a new set and miniature. I mean, it has two escape capsules, but the prop is about the same size as the escape pod from Star Wars. (Note, however, that the escape capsules are called "survival modules," while the ones in "Mission to Destiny" were "life rockets." While the term "escape pod" had been previously used in aviation design circles, it was introduced to science fiction by Star Wars less than a year before this, so the term hadn't caught on yet.)

• The Liberator just so happens to be in that area. It's amazing how small the Galaxy is in B7. I have neighbors I don't see for months, but our heroes are always in the right place at the right time!

Yes. On the one hand, I like it that Servalan has her own agendas that don't revolve around the Liberator, but on the other, it requires a literally astronomical degree of coincidence to get our heroes involved in the story.

• Cally passes the time with some really cool VR headsets! Okay, that's a good techno-futuristic idea, considering the Walkman hadn't come out yet!

The device was introduced in the pilot episode; a computer operator was using it when Tel Varon and Maja came to dig into the records of Blake's alleged victims. It's weird that it's depicted as a music player, but only covers the eyes and not the ears.

• And on the spaceship they realized they were lost Jenna "But wasn't she with you?" "Not with you!!!" Jeez. I know these aren't professional soldiers, but they're pretty smart people. Didn't they learn anything from the time they lost Cally?!?!

The startling thing I discovered on my rewatch is that these people are amazingly bad at what they do.

• As the rest of the crew go to save Jenna, Blake and Cally check the dead man's wallet and discover that he's a surgeon, or rather... A SPACE SURGEON! Probably deals with space-colds, space-appendicitis and space-migraines. Did Star Trek TOS also put the prefix "space" everywhere???

Not nearly as much as B7. Just wait until Series B, where the crew visits Spaceland in the first episode and Space City in the second. In space!

• Well, the other survivor wakes up, mega info dump. Okay. The guy finds a gun from who knows where and Cally is taken hostage. In the same episode, both women become damsels in distress. The attitude towards women in this series is schizophrenic.

Yes. The inability of trained warrior Cally to break the hold of a weak, badly injured man is hard to justify, unless it’s because he’s so weak that she can’t bring herself to hurt him. Even so, she should’ve known multiple ways to disarm him harmlessly.

• My favorite female villain with Travis! I love their exchanges. Servalan explains her evil plan, so evil it even shocks Travis. And it seems like a stupid plan, too. If they blow up the shuttle, don't they also risk losing the McGuffin?

No, because Ensor Jr. already told Servalan where Ensor Sr.'s lab was located, so she didn't need him anymore. The whole reason she blew up the Spacemaster (there it is again) was to keep Ensor Jr. from getting there in time to save Ensor Sr.'s life, so that Servalan could just swoop in after he was dead and take Orac. (Although this plan will be forgotten in part 2.)

• Now this woman kneels adoringly at Avon's feet as soon as she sees him, mistaking him for some god from a prophecy. And it won't be the first time. A woman throwing herself on her knees at the feet of a man she's never seen, promising him fidelity and utmost obedience. I must say, the scene makes me a little uncomfortable. Times have truly changed.

They didn't intend us to approve of her acting that way; it was meant to show how superstitious she was. And it was largely about showing that Avon kind of got off on being worshipped, because he's not a nice person.

• Aval and friends immediately know how to use all the controls in a sort of control room. How? HOW?!?!

Also, once he and the others power up the consoles, we hear mission control-type chatter from several voices, even though there isn’t anyone there. I guess it’s supposed to be computer voices, but it sounds too human.

I think the miniature footage of the rocket was recycled from Doctor Who, but I'm not sure from where.

• We see the Neanderthal village. Is it just me or is there not even a single woman there?

Nor a married one...

You know, I was so prepared for the worst that I almost liked the episode in the end! Of course, there are some points I'm not clear on. Why did Servalan make this haphazard plan, not even knowing where Orac physically was?

Again, she did know where Orac was. As she told Travis, "He wouldn't even reveal the location of the laboratory until I'd agreed to all his terms."

And are these alien species we encounter really "alien"? Are they lost Earth colonies? Why else would Aval and the others speak their language perfectly and use their equipment?

English-speaking humanoid aliens were a staple of the sci-fi of the era. People didn't question it. Star Trek didn't introduce the idea of the universal translator until season 2, and then only so they could speak to an energy-cloud alien.

Robert Holmes's "Killer" in Series B establishes that the series is set around 700 years after humanity achieved interstellar travel (so maybe 800-1000 years in our future, possibly more), which doesn't seem like enough time for colonies to be lost. Although a later Robert Holmes story in Series D will establish that a lot of humans don't believe humanity originated on Earth, which seems hard to reconcile. Then again, a lot of people today are ignorant of things that happened just a hundred years ago.

But I didn't mind the pacing, there wasn't too much padding, in short, an excellent episode for me!

Funny -- I didn't care for it because it was nothing but exposition and padding, setting up the finale and then throwing in some complications to delay getting there. The hijacking subplot was especially pointless padding.

 

[David cgc]

Also, once he and the others power up the consoles, we hear mission control-type chatter from several voices, even though there isn’t anyone there. I guess it’s supposed to be computer voices, but it sounds too human.

I thought it was a recording playing back of the last time the Mission Control was used.

 

[Christopher]

I thought it was a recording playing back of the last time the Mission Control was used.

Okay, but why would there have been a recording, and why would it have been played back?