LIBERATOR - Ship Of The Week #30 7/16/2015
- Thread starter Admiral2
- Start date
I love Zen and the Liberator-as cheap and wobbly as it is, I still love it.
If they ever get the remake into production (it seems to be development hell with contradictory reports on it's broadcast destination), it would be intersting to see what they did with the design of the Liberator (interior and exteroior).
Don't know if there was every concept art done from the Liberator when they made the radio re-imagining some years back.
Don't know if there was every concept art done from the Liberator when they made the radio re-imagining some years back.
No pictures of that funky bridge? Even better when the crew are in their best 70s fashions.
Always liked the Liberator. It's still one of my favorite spaceships of all time.
Funny thing was that as a kid, I got my hands on a small die-cast version of the Liberator that came as part of a two-pack with a Space: 1999 Eagle. Not even heard of Blake's 7 at the time, I just took it as some kind of random ship and naturally had it "flying" about my house backwards with the bulb end forward...
Funny thing was that as a kid, I got my hands on a small die-cast version of the Liberator that came as part of a two-pack with a Space: 1999 Eagle. Not even heard of Blake's 7 at the time, I just took it as some kind of random ship and naturally had it "flying" about my house backwards with the bulb end forward...
Me too, and frankly now that I know better I think it works better that way. The normal way it looks like a French tickler surrounded by giant hypodermics.
Add me to that list. I got my die cast Liberator while on vacation with my parents somewhere, just on it's own in a package. I never heard of Blake's 7 but the ship looked so bizarre I wanted it. The thing about the die cast, is that the pointy bits are yellow plastic, so I thought they were supposed to be yellow flames from engines. The swooping angle of the fins also reinforced the perception of where the front was. When B7 aired on public tv and I saw the Liberator properly for the first time, I was stunned. What, it's backwards!
I had the die-cast too, no idea where I got it, and yes, I thought the green ball was the front bit. I've never actually seen the Liberator in action. I may be wrong, but I was only aware of the last season being shown here (a couple of times).
Pre-Trek, I distinctly remember once being at a neighbor's house and playing with an old Enterprise toy that shot out plastic discs. Not knowing how it was supposed to fly, I plopped it upside down as though there where wheels atop the nacelles and saucer and SCRAPED it along a rough concrete floor like a Hot Wheels die cast. The owner of the toy as NOT amused. :P
Anyway, I love the Liberator. It's totally dated, and yet made a lot of sense as giant mysterious starships went - and that it was so NOT Trek was a bonus as well. It was odd how nearly everything you needed to do was on that flight deck, which the crew used from flight ops to science lab to armory to conference room to mess hall to quick nap facility. It was standard for British TV at the time, but it *did* bug me how the set was not completely enclosed, and it was blatantly obvious that a whole third of the bridge just didn't exist sometimes.
http://imgur.com/a/ifprg?gallery#0
Then Andromeda did it all over again. But I digress.
Mark
Anyway, I love the Liberator. It's totally dated, and yet made a lot of sense as giant mysterious starships went - and that it was so NOT Trek was a bonus as well. It was odd how nearly everything you needed to do was on that flight deck, which the crew used from flight ops to science lab to armory to conference room to mess hall to quick nap facility. It was standard for British TV at the time, but it *did* bug me how the set was not completely enclosed, and it was blatantly obvious that a whole third of the bridge just didn't exist sometimes.
http://imgur.com/a/ifprg?gallery#0
Then Andromeda did it all over again. But I digress.
Mark
You're in better company than you think.
According to Matt Jefferies, the first time he scratchbuilt a model of Enterprise with some wood dowels and showed it to his higher ups, the first thing they did was flip it so the saucers and nacelles were at the bottom, as they assumed that was "right-side up."
Reportedly, that's also how TV Guide showed a picture of the ship the first time.
Let this be a lesson kids: before you play with the toy, watch the dang TV show.
Pre-Trek, I distinctly remember once being at a neighbor's house and playing with an old Enterprise toy that shot out plastic discs. Not knowing how it was supposed to fly, I plopped it upside down as though there where wheels atop the nacelles and saucer and SCRAPED it along a rough concrete floor like a Hot Wheels die cast. The owner of the toy as NOT amused. :P
Anyway, I love the Liberator. It's totally dated, and yet made a lot of sense as giant mysterious starships went - and that it was so NOT Trek was a bonus as well. It was odd how nearly everything you needed to do was on that flight deck, which the crew used from flight ops to science lab to armory to conference room to mess hall to quick nap facility. It was standard for British TV at the time, but it *did* bug me how the set was not completely enclosed, and it was blatantly obvious that a whole third of the bridge just didn't exist sometimes.
http://imgur.com/a/ifprg?gallery#0
Then Andromeda did it all over again. But I digress.
Mark
And you could tell the scenes that set aboard the Liberator but not on standing sets by the shifting from between video and film as the recording medium.
Was rewatching Time Squad the other day and it's a good example of the how the FX and story didn't match the design of the ship and the first and only time we see the cargo bay.
It was a frustrating mismatch of visual looks at the time, yeah. Same thing in Doctor Who when we went from the console room of the TARDIS to its interior, which happened to look like an abandoned hospital for no reason, but also suddenly on film stock.
I re-watched some B7 clips recently as well, and I only just realized that the main viewer is not actually on the centerline of the bridge - it's on a wall segment to the left of where all the seats are pointing. Directly ahead is nothing special except for the armory on the lower wall.
This is another conceit of working with a set that's missing a whole third of its wall, and built more as though it were a theatrical stage than an actual film set (which British TV did far more often than its North American counterparts)... But it meant that very often everyone on the Liberator bridge were staring directly ahead at a BLANK WALL while flying the ship, even though they were acting as if there were an active viewscreen or something there!
Mark
I re-watched some B7 clips recently as well, and I only just realized that the main viewer is not actually on the centerline of the bridge - it's on a wall segment to the left of where all the seats are pointing. Directly ahead is nothing special except for the armory on the lower wall.
This is another conceit of working with a set that's missing a whole third of its wall, and built more as though it were a theatrical stage than an actual film set (which British TV did far more often than its North American counterparts)... But it meant that very often everyone on the Liberator bridge were staring directly ahead at a BLANK WALL while flying the ship, even though they were acting as if there were an active viewscreen or something there!
Mark
I rather like this sleek Liberator
http://www.starshipmodeler.co/gallery16/pt_060513_liberty.html
O/T
Lander
http://www.starshipmodeler.co/gallery16/dh_021215_lander.html
Bubble ship http://www.starshipmodeler.co/gallery16/pt_051815_bubbles.html
Quest jet
http://www.starshipmodeler.co/gallery16/dg_061515_questjet.html
http://www.starshipmodeler.co/gallery16/pt_060513_liberty.html
O/T
Lander
http://www.starshipmodeler.co/gallery16/dh_021215_lander.html
Bubble ship http://www.starshipmodeler.co/gallery16/pt_051815_bubbles.html
Quest jet
http://www.starshipmodeler.co/gallery16/dg_061515_questjet.html
Very nice, he seems to have made the same error as some here about the orientation of the ship though.
It just feels more normal that way...