Rewatching Blake's 7

[Candlelight]

C02: POWERPLAY

Nation does a good job knitting three storylines together. Dayna takes a backseat this episode as Tarrant's turn for introductions. An opportunist like Avon, Tarrant sees the opportunity to use the Liberator to escape his removes the Federation death squad one at a time rather than shoot them all in one go. Michael Sheard is great to watch as always, despite simply playing a thug in this episode. Vila's storyline has an obvious outcome but Michael Keating plays the guillible fool well. Cally does little for the second time this season, and Servalan seems to only appear for the sake of it. The new crew are good, although one must wonder why the (in universe) automated search for Jenna and Blake was called off.

 

[Candlelight]

C03: VOLCANO

A slow story with lots of on screen bloopers. Cally gives the incorrect number of Federation intruders, her bracelet falls off when she's about to teleport, Tarrant's weapon is disconnected in a couple of shots, despite destroying several pursuit ships the original eight are seen pulling away etc. Another situation where others have control of the Liberator and allow it to slip from their grasp. Michael Gough is awesome as always but his character is lacking any oomf, as is pretty much anyone else in the episode. Servalan's new ship looks like a humpback whale. The one interesting thing I find from the whole episode is Servalan's comment that without Blake the Liberator is no threat to the Federation - and she's right.

 

[Starkers]

I got the impression that the mine field beyond Star One had been in place for some time, possibly even centuries.

I really like Power Play. Although Avon’s been a prisoner on his own ship before, it still feels like unfamiliar territory, and the addition of Tarrant spices things up. The only misstep is the final confrontation which isn’t well handled, and whilst Dayna convinces with a gun, she doesn’t look like she could really snap Mr Bronson’s neck. The B story following Vila and Cally is interesting, like you say Cally gets short shrift but though contrived it is a good way to get them both together and back to the Liberator. The actions of the people of Chenga disturbed me greatly as a child.

Volcano is only interesting for pairing Tarrant and Dayna for the first time, and they will continue to make for a good partnership right to the end. The pacifist civilisation is interesting but pretty horrible when you think about it.

As for the Liberator being no threat, I believe what Servalan says is that it isn’t an immediate threat without Blake, it’s still on her to do list though!

 

[Candlelight]

I got the impression that the mine field beyond Star One had been in place for some time, possibly even centuries.

It's funny how they give that impression and yet, according to Pressure Point and Gambit, Star One has only been there 30 years, and the crew rotated fairly regularly (I say rotated, the existing crew are likely killed to maintain the secret). Dureena must have arrived fairly recently as that bloke was fond of her.

My point - how was the minefield controlled before Star One? From Control on Earth?

 

[Guy Gardener]

Billions of Trillions of mines.

Surrounding the entire milky way.

That's impossible.

Especially for the tech that we have seen.

Look how difficult it was to mine the wormhole in DS9.

 

[Candlelight]

It wasn't the entire galaxy; Orac said "various sections".

 

[Guy Gardener]

We saw how well that worked out for the French in either World War.

I suppose circumnavigating the minefield would alert the Federation fleet to the Andromdeans existence, but it would seem that they knew where it was that that could have arranged to intersect the Milky ways boundary where it wasn't.

 

[Candlelight]

C04: DAWN OF THE GODS

Not a bad little stand alone, even if the main baddie is barely used or seen. Avon trying to get into a space suit as they're flying into the black hole is odd, though not as bad as Tarrant's line about they should all die together. Orac is on form in this episode, wanting to explore the black hole rather than worry about their own safety. The footage of the crew avoiding the shopping trolley with teeth is daft. The new standing set of the crew quarters is reused again in this episode as the medical unit. Nice to see the old defense mechanism from Space Fall, although with such a good continuity nod I would've thought Crandor being in the 12th Sector might've also generated a mention of the System. Interesting FX shot at the end; Crandor's destruction is an unused FX shot of the Liberator exploding - was it supposed to be used in the unseen version of Star One? Or a really early unused shot from Orac/Redemption? One of the few episodes where the teleport isn't used at all.

C05: THE HARVEST OF KAIROS

Despite the poor production values of the beasts and the bizarre choice for the ship on Kairos (a 1000 year old Lunar lander?), this is one of my favourite episodes of the third series. Jarvik is cool, calm and oh-so-chauvinist, and more importantly not the standard one-dimensional lackey Servalan hires each week. Avon's subplot with the Sophron is brilliant, highlighting ever so slightly his personal agenda and it's great to see his appreciation for something new. Jarvik and Tarrant's fight is painful to watch, though the Jarvik/Dayna is awesome just for that pelvis thrust attack move. The shots of Servalan aboard the Liberator for the first time is worth the price of admission alone. Still, they really need to move away from the "Liberator falls into enemy hands" storyline as you know it'll all go pear shape at the end, and this episode has a shockingly bad way of doing it.

 

[Candlelight]

C06: THE CITY AT THE EDGE OF THE WORLD

Vila's episode is filled with great lines from Michael Keating but Colin Baker - while great casting at the time - just comes across as the sixth Doctor, and it's very hard to shake. Tarrant's arrogance has been growing all season and it comes to a head this episode which almost sees Vila and Cally dead. The starship carrying the other Stargate- I mean terminus arrives at the other planet all too easily timed for my liking. Kerril goes from vicious Bayban footsoldier to Doctor Who companion when she changes her outfit.

 

[Starkers]

ORAC I see no cause for alarm. From the design and construction patterns it would appear that the defence zones have been built up very gradually over a long period of time. My conclusion is that they are merely precautionary rather than a response to some specific threat.
JENNA Well if there's no threat why bother with precautions?
ORAC If the resources are available to eliminate even the vaguest threat, it would seem logical to do so.
VILA I'd agree with that. What do you call a vague threat?
ORAC A contact, er, sometime in the past, either a communication or a physical contact.
VILA A physical contact?
ORAC A scoutship, perhaps.
VILA A scoutship, perhaps! Like that one down on the surface now, perhaps! ]

Just because the mine field is controlled by Star One currently, it doesn’t mean it always was. And Vila’s making a bit of a leap to connect Orac’s vague notion of a scoutship in the past with what’s on the planet.

Dawn of the Gods is a bit meh, it’s not terrible, and it has its moments (Avon’s battle for the suit, Vila’s “I’m in hell and it’s full of Avons” line, Tarrant’s clever description of Orac) but I don’t find it that memorable.

Harvest of Kairos though, stupid though it is, I absolutely love. “Woman, you are beautiful!” Jarvik is both terrible and brilliant at the same time, though I’m not sure about suggesting that even Servalan secretly wants to be dominated, I think it does devalue her a little.

City at the Edge of the World is another favourite of mine which isn’t surprising given Vila’s always been my favourite character. Personally I think Colin was better suited to the role of Bayban than he ever was to that of the Doctor, and he and Keating bounce off each other well. Know what you mean about Keril though, she gives up the day job far too quickly, though it is good to see Vila score with a pretty girl.

I don’t think the ship’s arrival on Vila World is that fortuitous? I thought it’d been their ages but had malfunctioned meaning people thought they couldn’t get out even though they could as Vila and Keril did?

Tarrant is a git, which makes him interesting at least, and the spiky dynamic between him and Avon is good to watch, if only because unlike with Blake he doesn’t respect Tarrant, although the flipside is that Avon probably likes Tarrant more from the perspective that at least he’s as mercenary as he is. Avon’s comment that Vila is far more useful than Tarrant’s good as well: although Vila’s usefulness is sometimes outweighed quite literally by his weight of course

Gotta love that last exchange between Vila and Orac as well

 

[Candlelight]

I don’t think the ship’s arrival on Vila World is that fortuitous? I thought it’d been their ages but had malfunctioned meaning people thought they couldn’t get out even though they could as Vila and Keril did?

It's a bit of a dodgy scene; Vila concludes the ship has landed as they're still alive as air is seeping through the force field - wouldn't that mean it would work both ways, that air would be sucked out if they were still in space? The guy that got through beforehand didn't survive.

Avon’s comment that Vila is far more useful than Tarrant’s good as well: although Vila’s usefulness is sometimes outweighed quite literally by his weight of course

I see what you did there.

 

[Candlelight]

I also forgot to mention the strange audio edit when Tarrant confronts Avon in the crew quarters in The Harvest of Kairos; when he says the word 'astute' Avon is mouthing something else. Always tried to work out what it was originally.

 

[Marc]

C06: THE CITY AT THE EDGE OF THE WORLD

Vila's episode is filled with great lines from Michael Keating but Colin Baker - while great casting at the time - just comes across as the sixth Doctor, and it's very hard to shake. Tarrant's arrogance has been growing all season and it comes to a head this episode which almost sees Vila and Cally dead. The starship carrying the other Stargate- I mean terminus arrives at the other planet all too easily timed for my liking. Kerril goes from vicious Bayban footsoldier to Doctor Who companion when she changes her outfit.

Some have suggested Paul Darrow's overacting in "Timelash" was a thanks for Colin Baker's overacting in City At The Edge Of The World.

 

[Candlelight]

Never spotted this from Space Fall before; the console Jenna uses on the flight deck to seal the hatch and get them underway is actually the main teleport controller!

At this point the teleport hadn't been introduced so they probably just relocated the prop to the new set in the following episode.

 

[Starkers]

Or the Liberator just has a lot of standardised consoles

 

[auntiehill]

Apparently, every species in the universe understands the meaning of a red or blue lever.

 

[Candlelight]

Well I was wondering about the levers; in the first couple of episodes Avon just presses a button on the console to trigger a teleport, but in subsequent episodes they start using the red and blue levers. Now does this mean the teleport only has a limit of 10 people per teleport? I remember watching an episode of series 2 or 3 in which they used three levers for three people.

Can't remember how many teleported in Mission to Destiny.

 

[Starkers]

Half a dozen maybe? Not sure...That might be the most we've seen teleported in one go.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Maybe there were more teleport stations, but not as close to the bridge?

It is a VERY big ship.

Dozens of teleport stations times half a dozen bodies.

(Although when it was broken, Avon did seem worried enough to shoot the teleport's guts to speed up autorepairs.)

 

[Candlelight]

Just checked; they teleported seven.

How appropriate.

Though had Blake been more successful on Cygnus Alpha they likely would've taken up more.