Space Fall: Does Blake's Mutiny End in Success?

Garry: 00:00:21

Hello and welcome to Federation Strike, a journey through Blake 7 and our second episode to kick off this brand new podcast.

Well, if you're listening in: 2025

Adam: 00:00:50

Yeah.

Garry: 00:00:55

So last week it was a good kickoff to the podcast. We went through the first episode of Blake 7, which was the Way back.

And as a bit of a recap, Adam was a little bit gladly surprised that I was very complimentary about the show thus far. He was like, I'm so, I'm so happy that you like it and so, so glad that, you know, you're into Blake as a character and, and all that stuff. So. Yes.

So the, the way back was, was for me a really good foundational episode for, for the show as a whole and, and for Blake as a character. It was really cool to not have to spend loads of episodes and all, you know, loads of time to get into all of the exposition side of things.

It was not 100% of it all was explained, but you got exactly what you needed to know in order to kick the show off. So that was really cool. And then fast forward to now.

We are at the second episode where Blake has exited on the ship the London with the other characters that he met up in the holding cells, so Jenna and Villa, and is on his way to Cygnus Alpha to serve out his remaining years as a prisoner, albeit falsely framed, etc. And meets up with another key character which I assume is going to play a big part moving forward, which is Avon, who's the, the computer.

The computer whiz, the genius dude. Kur. Avon. So. And they devise a plan to, to take over the ship, free themselves and. And all the rest of it.

So, mate, yeah, last week was really good and I'm excited to, to get into the second episode.

Adam: 00:02:48

Yeah, I mean, I, I mean we won't say this every week, but just, just to recap, Garry's never seen this show before. I'm a lifelong fan. Flan.

Garry: 00:02:56

He's a flan of Blake 7.

Adam: 00:02:57

I'm a flan of Blake 7. I watched it a million times over the years. I just love it.

So, yes, when you enjoyed the first episode, that was a bit of a sigh of relief because, you know, I've tried to get you into the series for many years now. And I think you've attempted it and you've never really got past about midway through the episode we're reviewing today.

So to hear that you really got into the first episode was just. Yeah, great to hear because I thought, right, okay, we're, we're into it now.

Garry: 00:03:25

Yes, that's the, that's the cool dynamic about this show is that anyone that's listened to our other podcast, the long running Doctor who, the Big Blue Box, that's. That's a different dynamic because we've both.

Although Adam, again is a lifelong fan of that show, I've got a lot more time and experience with that, so our thoughts are a bit more even. Whereas this one, as he said, I'm a complete noob. Like, I've.

And when I got to the end of episode two, the one that we're doing today, I was like, wow, this is actually the furthest I've got into Blake 7.

Because when I had sort of dipped my toe in the water a few a couple of years ago, I'd watched all of the first episode and I think I watched about 25 minutes of episode two. Something. Something pulled me away from the episode. I don't know if it was a work meeting or something on the phone or the door.

I can't remember what it was exactly, but something. I had to turn the TV off and I sadly never went back to it. So by the time I got to the end of this, I was like, this is completely fresh now.

So from about two thirds of the way, the remaining of episode two is all brand new and fresh. Everything else we review from this point will also be fresh. So, yeah, I think. On that note, dude, tee us up. What's. What's for this week?

Adam: 00:04:39

Okay, so yes, it's episode two and it's called Space Fall.

Trailer: 00:04:45

What happened? Slight disagreement with Reika and then the hatch closed. We're on our way. What course have you served?

Trailer: 00:04:55

Name it. We're free.

Trailer: 00:05:00

We've got a ship and we can go anywhere we like. Follow the London to Cygnus Alpha. Then we can free the rest of the prisoners.

Trailer: 00:05:14

With a ship like this and a full crew, then we can start fighting back.

Garry: 00:05:16

Oh, Dudley Simpson's music.

Adam: 00:05:28

I know, it's great, isn't it?

Garry: 00:05:29

January: 1978

You'd know that name if you're a Doctor who fan and overseen by Chris Belsher. I'm 99% sure, because I think you told me this, but I think Terry Nation wrote all of series one, right?

Adam: 00:05:53

He does, yeah.

Garry: 00:05:53

He does, yeah. Which is cool. And. And the synopsis again, which is pulled off the original VHS release. Short and sweet, this one.

As the prison transporter plunges away from Earth, an abandoned ship pulls up alongside. For Blake and his newly formed band of convicts and thieves, it is their only hope of escape. And yeah, dude, episode two is one of those.

It's one of those stories where you. It's kind of. I said about episode one last week, where it was a really good foundational story to kind of kick the show off and that sort of thing.

But with episode two, there was almost that sense of. Of that teeing up the rest of the series as well for me.

Because you went from this very, very different setting where you've got, you know, a slightly wider array of sets, slightly larger sets, you know, more, More space to do things in.

In the way back, because you had the outside area, you had the tunnels with the dissidents, you had the various quarters where people live, the courtroom, you know, all these different things that set up that story. With this one, we're transformed completely to a different setting now. So they're on the ship London, which is a. A very great but obvious name.

And it's very confined. Right. So you've got.

Yeah, sort of the main holding area where they sort of buckle up for takeoff and landing, I guess, and then you've got the recreational area and then you've got some other couple of little rooms, but that's it. Like the computer room and then the pilots, pilot's room and so on, and that's it.

So it's a very, very different vibe, but very close to the other episode.

The reason I say that is because if you look at some other classic TV shows, you often find that as you group certain episodes together, especially in terms of filming blocks and all that stuff, you often find that they're very similar.

So in terms of, like, classic who, if it was a four parter, for example, you will typically have a bunch of stuff all very close together if you're out on location or if you're, you know, running down corridors and sets and stuff like that. Whereas this is completely different, like the, the.

The contrast between what they're up to and the challenge or the goal of what they want to do is very, very different in terms of just one episode apart. And, and I think this one, I could be wrong, but I'm sure I read that this Was actually filmed first, this episode.

Adam: 00:08:33

Okay.

Garry: 00:08:33

Yeah, yeah. This was in terms of, you know, getting all the cast in and cameras rolling and everything like that.

This was the very first episode to be filmed, albeit went out second in the running order in terms of the narrative and so on. So I had this really cool. I'm going to follow on from. From last time, dude, and say that I really, really enjoyed this one.

Adam: 00:08:54

Ah, great.

Garry: 00:08:55

Really enjoyed it. Had a. And what I mean by it tees up the rest of the.

The series for me is that it takes those kind of base elements from the last time and then just introduces a few more characters, introduces the. The ship, which they don't. They don't name in this one.

But I'm assuming that that's what Blake and his crew uses for the foreseeable because it's a very famous ship, apparently Amongst the older Blake 7 fandom.

Adam: 00:09:24

Yeah.

Garry: 00:09:25

And so we've got some new characters and it felt like a bit more. I think even though the runtime was quite similar, this was around 50 minutes the way back was. Yeah, around about 50 minutes as well.

It felt like a longer episode to me.

It almost felt like I was watching a kind of feature film, like a futuristic kind of James bondi sort of Mutiny, Sabotage kind of film that you'd see back in the day. Yeah. And. Yeah, it just.

And after I finished watching it, I was like, right, okay, this feels more like what we can expect for the series moving forward. That was just what was planted in my brain after I finished watching it. It was like, okay, we've hoped.

We've had the whole thing where we know what Blake's situation is. We know he's been framed. But now that these other characters are in the mix and they've got their own.

Although it seems like they're gonna follow Blake initially at least they've got their own motives and their own kind of things they want to do. So. Dude, still really liking this, mate. And I think I like this more than the first episode.

Adam: 00:10:37

Wow, that. That surprises me. Yeah, that does surprise you, mate, because I. I think it's a. I think it's a very good second episode.

I think it's a good follow up to the first part, the Way Back, because like you said, it, you know, picks up straight away from where we left off. So it does almost feel like a, you know, complete two parter. You could have easily put them together and made one big feature length opener.

But I'm glad they didn't do that because I think, like you said, it is very much its own thing. It's very contained. It's all on that spaceship.

And I think what is great about this episode, and for me, this is one of the things which I think is a running theme is Blake in Blake 7 is the performances from the cast in this, from not just our main characters, but also like, you know, the rest of the cast, like the background characters, even the people who have only got one or two lines. Everybody is great in this, you know, particularly Reika, who is just such a nasty piece of work.

And the contrast between him and Leyland, his chief, who's. Who's also got. He sort of seems to have morals. He's not as corrupt.

You know, you almost feel like he's shouldn't be in the Federation, like he hasn't made the grade in. In terms of nastiness and corruption, but he's. That seems quite, you know, like an honest kind of guy.

So you've got that great contrast between the two of them because Leyland's his boss and Rake is sort of like, you know, a bit going a bit rogue and stuff. And there's a. There's a real edge to him because he starts off as quite a.

You know, he's laying down the rules and he's just telling them how it's going to. And there's a great line about. And as for the. The other rules, you'll. You'll know what they are when you break them.

There's again, there's some great lines in this. But then he suddenly snaps at Blake, doesn't he?

When he gets to be alone with him in that first scene, he's like suddenly shouts and you see this different side of Raker and. And then all the stuff he does later when he starts shooting the prisoners and stuff. So there's a.

There's a tension in this episode and a lot of it is created by the brilliant performances of the cast. Because I think it was interesting you said that, you know, when you watched this originally, you switched off around the 25 minute mark.

Because I do think it's a great episode. I do think it does take a good almost 20 minutes to really kick in. You know, there's quite a lot of stuff at the beginning where I wouldn't say it's.

It's slow pace, but it's, you know, there's a lot of talking and setting up what they're going to do and they go and find the computer room. Then they come back before we actually get into them trying to escape.

So there's some great things being set up in those 20 minutes, but it doesn't make for the most exciting sort of 20 minutes of television.

But then I think when they all start coming together, like the fact that there's this mysterious spaceship that's been in a battle that's just sort of hovering there and they're going to try and get on there and Drake is so desperate to get his hands on that spaceship whilst also wanting to, well, have his way with Jenna, which is very uncomfortable, whilst he's also trying to kill off all the prisoners and absolutely delighting in that. You know, there's a lot going on once this, once the story gets into it. And in the middle of all this you've got Blake trying to sort of get a.

A team together to escape, you know, and it all comes together brilliantly, doesn't it, how they, you know, Leyland and Raiker sort of decide to go aboard the Liberator. Like I said, it's not been named yet, but that's what it is.

And then something starts happening to their crew, which again is another mysterious element thrown into the story. So then they send Blake across and then they end up stealing the Liberator.

I just think the way it's plotted out from being trying to escape to actually the way they end up escaping is, is really well done because it's, it's, it's not straightforward, you know, I don't know that you necessarily, if you're watching this for the first time, like you would have been, don't know if you'd have necessarily seen that coming if, you know, I mean, you probably assume they're going to take over the London, crash on the planet, find a spaceship and steal it, you know, I mean, it's a really nice way of introducing the Liberator and, and for Blake and his team to getting on to liberate and stuff like that. So I do think it's a really good episode, mate.

Yeah, I think it takes a little bit, it's a bit of a slow burner to begin with, but I think it's a, a good one, a really good sort of second episode for the series. And it's nice the way that the characters are being introduced slowly.

Like you said, we get to meet Avon in this episode, we've got Gan, there's a few other characters come in, you know, so we're slowly building it up. And again, I guess as someone who's watching this for the first time, you're probably trying to work out who actually ends up being Blake's seven.

Like, you're probably at this point, are you trying to sort each. Because there's a character thrown in who, spoilers. Gets killed by some shaving foam.

Garry: 00:15:27

Nova.

Adam: 00:15:28

Yeah, Nova. So, yeah. So at one point you may have been thinking he might have been joining Blake, but sadly, no, he's. It wasn't to be for him.

But yeah, there's other characters being thrown in the mix. There are some characters that are still on that spaceship on their way to Cygnus Alpha. Could they. Could some of them be joining Blake?

You know, so it's. I'm almost envious.

Envious of you watching this for the first time because, like, it's all there and I'm wondering, like, what you're thinking at this point. Like, you, you know, is he. Who is the Blake 7 who's going to join Blake, who's going to survive long enough to get on that Lib flight deck?

You know, it's quite exciting, really, but I'm glad you enjoyed it. I'm really glad you enjoyed the second part, mate. Yeah. Because that's two episodes in now and you've enjoyed both and.

Yeah, that's a really good start. So. Happy about that.

Garry: 00:16:19

Yeah, no, I think it's. Overall, I think it's two things for me, bud, as to why I'm enjoying it quite a lot. Well, a lot.

Is that the first one, as you just picked up on it, is that the way that the. The. This particular episode is put together by Terry Nation? It could have been very linear. It could have just been a case of white.

They, they, yeah, they overrun the London, they take it to Cygnus Alpha and then they escape and off you go. And then it could have been very linear in the way that Blake builds his crew as well. It's like, right, I'll have you, you, you and you.

This is the crew, you know, smile for a photo and then we're off into episode three. You know, it could have been that, but the fact that.

That Terry Nation has put a little twist in there and separated some characters up for the time being and, you know, and it's only three of them at the moment who have boarded the Liberator and they're off and you think, oh, they're going to make their escape, you know, because you've got Avon, who's not really. You can tell that he's not 100% bought into this whole thing that Blake wants to do.

And really, you're not, as a viewer, for me, as a first timer at the end of the episode, I wasn't even sure what Blake wanted to do. Did he want to, you know, get back to his previous life? I don't think so. That's not sort of the vibe he was going for.

Did he want to go back and take vengeance on the people that framed him? I don't know.

So the fact that then at the end he turns round and says, you know, we're going to follow the London to Cygnus Alpha and we're going to rescue all the prisoners, that for me was like, oh, wow. That, like, I did not see that coming. First of all, I thought that Avon was just going to be like, look, just drop me off.

Just drop me off somewhere, because you lot can do what you want. I'm after, like, hacking into the system again to try and get. Try and get those sweet Federation credits and stuff. And then for Jenna, similar thing.

I thought, you know, these are all like.

Because in the previous episode when we had Villa and Jenna, you know, in the holding cells with Blake, you got the feeling that, like, you know, they're kind of. They've got something in common in.

In that, you know, they've broke the law and that, you know, there are thieves or smugglers, whatever you want to call it, but that's as far as it goes. Like at the drop of a hat, you know, they'd save their own skin and they'd be off doing their own thing and. And all the rest of it.

So it was cool that at the end, the way that Terry Nation had broke that down into. Well, actually, you know, you can see that Jenna kind of sees Blake very early on as a bit of a leader. Like, you know, she.

I guess she feels like she doesn't really have much going on at the minute. It's either this or back to her life of doing whatever she was, or off to Cygnus Alpha as a prisoner, whatever. Yeah, and the same with Avon.

It was like, yeah, kind of. Kind of thought that he was going to tell them all to do one, you know, once they'd got aboard the Liberator.

And I think he even says something like that, you know, like, drop me off or whatever. But then even Blake says to him at the end, you know, you know, now that we've got a ship and we.

If we get a full crew, you know, we'll be able to fight back. And Avon's face is, you know, like, yeah, let's do it. Let's. Let's do it. And so.

And also the little twist where you feel like, like, Those guys have taken over the London. But then Raker does the whole thing where he's going to start executing other prisoners every 30 seconds.

And then Blake has no choice but to hand himself in. And you think, oh, no, the plan's gone to pot, you know, and they are going to be cuffed back up and. And taken to Cygnus Alpha and that's that.

They're done for. But then the twist with the Liberator turning up and. Oh, dude. Yeah. So it was.

That was the thing where I say, like, I really enjoyed this episode is because it wasn't just an A to B, you know, here are all the things that slot nicely into place. There were these little twists and these little obstacles for them, and that's the first thing.

And then the second thing overall that made me really enjoy it was it's just got that lovely, beautiful charm the old British science fiction has from this time period. Dude, I don't need to say it with Doctor who. We've said it many, many times over on the big Blue box with a lot of classic who that.

It just has that, you know, don't really care that it didn't have a lot of money. You know, it just.

The fact that there was people like Chris Boucher and Terry Nation and the other people that were working on it and Dudley Simpson, you know, and the. And the. Even the supporting cast, you can just tell that they're doing their own.

They've got like, they're paving their own destiny with this show, if that makes sense.

They're not beholden to, you know, tons and tons of law, you know, with things, and they're not, you know, the show isn't buckled under its own pressure, you know, it's just carving out its own story and its own lovable way and it's. I just get that really nice.

I don't know how to explain it fully, but I get that lovely kind of Sunday afternoon from my childhood cup of tea, you know, I don't know, it's just got that beautiful charm about it, that old British science fiction. Do you know what I mean, dude?

Adam: 00:21:48

Absolutely, yeah. I mean, I was thinking when, you know, when you first see the spaceship set and stuff, and it is.

It looks like something straight out of Doctor who, doesn't it?

They've obviously sort of raided the BBC prop department for all those, you know,'70s machines of all the buttons and whirling tape machines and stuff. And. Yeah, it is, it's. They've absolutely made the best with what they've got. You Know, and it does. It has a real charm to it. The sets are basic.

There's no two ways about it. But to me, that sort of stuff has never, never bothered me. It's never bothered me with Doctor who.

And it certainly doesn't bother me of Blake 7, because series one in particular, we've talked about the budget. We know it was really low. It does look cheap at times, but my word, do they get every penny out of the budget they had?

I mean, you know, as we go forward, we'll have planets and more spaceships and. And. And stuff. But it. Yeah, they really. They really tried hard with this.

And Roger Murray Leach, who designed the Liberator set, which I think is gorgeous, I love. It's one of those sets I would just love to walk on.

You know, I used to sort, when I was watching this as a kid, just always wanted to just go on the set of the Liberator and see Zen in front of me and all this sort of thing. And Roger Murray Leach, who designed it, said, you know, the props people weren't very kind to the set. You know, when it.

When they'd finished, they'd just sort of throw it around, box it up and then unbox it the following week. And it would get smashed to bits because, you know, again, it was sort of not cheaply made, but it wasn't.

You know, again, the budget didn't allow for it to be particularly sturdy. So you'll notice that the set gets really bashed even throughout this first series.

And he said it was heartbreaking for him because he, you know, when he first saw it unveiled, he was like, oh, you know, I'm really proud of this. This is great. And there was a bit of conflict between him and one of the other departments at the BBC, down to the fact that he had designed it.

I think, you know, like the BBC back there, they'd have departments that would be assigned certain things. And I think Roger Murray Leach was part of a different department.

He was supposed to design the outside of the spaceship and another department was supposed to design the inside. But the people who designed the inside didn't do a very good job.

So they went with Roger Murray Leach's drawings and that caused a bit of friction within departments. And, you know, there's all this stuff, politics going on within the BBC behind the scenes, but it. I love the set. I think it's absolutely gorgeous.

Garry: 00:24:08

For the Liberator, you mean for the Liberator, Yeah.

Adam: 00:24:10

Beautiful set. And obviously we will see that quite a bit over the course of the series, you know, I think they've. They've probably spent a bit of money on it.

So they do try and get some. Some use out of it.

I just want to quickly go back to the scene you're talking about as well, when Blake, you know, they've sort of got the upper hand. They've got control of the computer. But then Raker starts killing off, you know, the. The prisoners. And that's a.

A great scene for many reasons, because one, you get the friction between Avon and Blake and you see the complete contrast in their characters. Blake has got a big heart, you know, again, this is why he's going back to Cygnus Alpha. Like, he's going there to rescue people. Avon, he's.

He's not interested in that. He's just all about his own survival. You know, he thinks Blake's mad. And again, we get that when, you know, Avon's like, this is our only chance.

Blake, what are you doing? Like, let them die. We think of yourself, you know, Avon would never have opened that door. So I love.

You're already starting to see this relationship between Avon and Blake where there's.

And again, I don't want to say too much or jump too far ahead, because for me, this is, again, one of the great things about the series is this contrast of these two characters. But I think that's a great scene because Blake, you know, there's no way he's going to let those prisoners die.

And then it's quite a subtle little thing.

Raker, after they've come out and he knows they've come out, shoots one anyway, shoots one of the prisoners anyway, because he's just a really nasty person, isn't he? So, again, it's just a great scene and it's just. It's really, you know, the characters are so well fleshed out.

You know, they're proper, rounded characters, aren't they?

You absolutely get that Reika is this nasty piece of work, you absolutely get that Blake is this freedom fighter and he's got a real big heart and he wants to do the best he can for everybody. And you also get that Avon is this really intelligent person, but he's also quite selfish and he will always look out for number one.

He's not a bad person, he's not nasty, and he will work with other people, but when it comes down to the wire, he, you know, his survival is what's important, and anyone else can die in the process. So they're already sort of setting up these great characteristics which will carry the show forward.

But I thought that scene in particular was great, that it showed, you know, the, the. The dynamic, I think that between Blake and Avon.

And then just to sort of finish this off, you get them when they've been captured and there's just the three of them, Blake, Jenna and Avon.

There's a lovely little conversation between the three, which again, I think is a bit of a template for the show going forward where there's a bit of humor, like Avon is really knocked off that Blake opened that door, isn't he? He's like, well, you fool, you know, we could have been away, but you had to open the door.

And there's some good banter between the three of them, even though it's quite a serious moment, if you know what I mean. So again, it just shows the great dynamic of the crew already starting to build from episode two.

Garry: 00:27:17

Yes. Yeah, agreed. And you talk about the dynamic between. Between Blake and Avon and also some Jenna with her contributions thrown in there as well.

Going back to the genius dude of Terry Nation and his is writing. We also get some tasty dynamic, as you mentioned briefly earlier, between the. The ship's commander, Leyland and Raker. Yeah.

So there's kind of three of them. Right. The top dudes. You've got Leyland, Raker and then Arctiks.

And Artyx is the, the pilot that's just, you know, he's a little bit wet behind the ears. He's not really got much experience and he's training to. To better himself to. To, you know, to. To get a promotion and whatnot.

And I think he has a little joke with Leyland at the beginning. He's like, you know, I don't want to spend my rest, my days, you know, pilot in a bucket like this. And he pauses and stuff. And there's a little.

So that's kind of expected. But it. What's really cool about the up the.

The opposing team, if you like, is yes, you've got the core dynamic as you're setting up the team with Blake, but there's also this sub story with. With Leyland and Reika where you find out that. I think it's a converse.

A conversation between Jenna Villa and Blake early on that she lets them know that the prisoners on the ship, on the. On board the ship London, are kind of expendable because regardless of if the prisoners survive the journey or not, these guys still get paid.

Adam: 00:28:48

Yeah.

Garry: 00:28:49

So they're getting paid for the journey, not for the cargo, which is the prisoners. And, and so because of that You've got this different layering, I guess, of the motives between Leyland and Raker.

So Leyland just wants to get the ship from A to B safely.

And you can see that he's genuinely concerned about, like, asteroid activity and these other warring ships that we see later on adjacent to their journey and stuff. And he's very cautious about what's going on. And then at the.

At the back of his mind, I think all the time, he certainly doesn't want to see any prisoners be killed or murdered or. Or anything like that. You can tell he's not that type of guy.

But then on the other end of the spectrum, you've got Raker, who you said is a real sort of nasty. Just, you know, nasty piece of work and is literally looking out for his own pay pocket, basically.

So when they come across the Liberator, his first instinct is not about the safety of anyone else on the ship. He's just thinking about the credits. He's like, yes, this is a great salvage opportunity. You know, this is worth, you know, a lot of money.

Let's do it. And. And that's what I mean about the kind of character that Leyland and the dynamic between them. Because although Leyland isn't quite as.

He hasn't kind of crossed the line as much in terms of like, murdering prisoners and.

And all that stuff, like Raker, but he's still got that kind of, you know, at the end of the day, this is just a, you know, a very basic, you know, prisoner transport, basically. If we can make a few extra credits, then. Cool. Yeah. And he kind of goes along with Raker's sort of recommendations, shall we say, that they.

They bought the Liberator and salvage it and all the rest of it. So again, that's one of those things where we didn't need to see that to progress the story.

The only thing that we kind of needed between those two and. And that sort of thing is really the scene where Raker starts killing the prisoners to get Blake to. To stop his kind of siege of the computer room.

I guess other than that, you didn't really need to see all that stuff between them in. In. And they could have just dedicated more time. Screen time to Blake and what those guys were up to and stuff like that.

So the fact that Terry Nation put aside that additional screen time to build that. That time to see the tension between those two, because Artix is kind of on the periphery most of the time. He's.

Yeah, he's not really in it as much as those Two. So in order to build the time, because you do form an emotional connection between those characters.

One being of sort of hope and like, willing, you know, for Blake and his team to. To. To take over and escape and everything. And then on the emotional side with Reika is like, hate. It's like you. You really.

He was Leslie Schofield, who played that character, played it in such a way that it's just bang on and like, you want to hate that character. You want to see his comeuppance. You want to see him, you know, come to a. An untimely end because he's been such a nasty bugger.

Adam: 00:32:01

Yeah.

Garry: 00:32:02

So it's. We'll probably gush over Terry Nation's work. And don't get me wrong, it's not all of it is. Is perfect and not all of it is. Is great.

But just from these first two episodes, for me, especially this one, the character building and seeing the relationships between various characters and the dynamics has just been genius work. It's been really cool.

Adam: 00:32:23

They're three very different characters, aren't they? And again, we, you know, we will give. We will give Terry Nation credit for this because he's written very. You know, they.

They each are tonally very different and they work incredibly well in the story. But also the actors themselves, the phrase that you often use is they. They absolutely get the memo of what their character is.

So it's a great dynamic between the characters and the actors who are playing them.

And it really does help, you know, in terms of making this a very watchable episode, because if you'd got actors that were just going through the motions a bit would not have the same emotional punch. You know, this. And this is again, one of the things I always tell people with Blake 7 is, you know, you.

Sometimes the story may be a bit weak or the sets may look terrible or whatever, but more often than not, you've got quality actors in this series and quality characters. And for me, what I love about Blakeson the most is the characters that we meet throughout all four series. This, you know, it's brilliant.

Some of the stuff we've got coming up, and it's hard for me to sort of hold back and not say too much, but. But these guys, absolute great. I do love the scene where Leyland pulls Raker to one side after he's killed all the prisoners and stuff.

And he's, you know, gives him a bit of a ticking off, doesn't he? But he also acknowledges that he gave him that he's in trouble as well. He's like, everything will be in the report.

Like, I'm not gonna throw myself under the bus. Or actually, kind of the opposite. He's like, I've, I've.

You know, I'm in it as deep as you are because I gave you permission to do that, but you took it too far. And it'll all be in the report and they'll decide who was in the wrong, you know. But that's, again, it's a great scene, isn't it?

Him just sort of pulling Reika to one side, giving him a bit of a here bashing. And Reika doesn't seem too bothered, does he's like, oh, whatever.

He just, you know, he's gonna get his comeuppance and, and boy, does he like, you know. He does, he does. You're waiting for that moment, aren't you? He's such a nasty character.

You are waiting for him to get his comeuppance, which he, he duly does towards the end of the episode.

Garry: 00:34:22

He does. Yeah.

Adam: 00:34:23

Yeah.

Garry: 00:34:24

It's a great scene as well, because there's a little. There was a little part of me that thought he's gonna.

He's gonna turn around and he's gonna make it back to the London before the Liberator buggers off and he's gonna have that annoying thing where he's gonna turn up later and, you know, throw a spanner in the works to another one of Blake's plans or something like that.

Adam: 00:34:44

Yeah.

Garry: 00:34:44

But, you know, it was short and sweet. You know, we see. And Leslie Schofield did play that very, very well.

Adam: 00:34:51

He's brilliant.

Garry: 00:34:52

Really good. And just coming off the back of another big sci fi. So he was in Star wars. Right. But he was only a tiny, tiny little part.

But he was used to, like, you know, futuristic sets and, you know, the sci fi future and stuff. So he, he just slots very nicely into the cast. You know, he, like you said, you know, it's a bit of a saying.

We've got, you know, he got the memo 100%. You know, when.

I'm assuming that when, when Pennant Roberts was going through some of the script and when they were going through some rehearsal work, Leslie Schofield was just like, dude, I've got this. Yeah, just don't worry, you know, I've got this. And you can see that on screen. He's relishing in some of those.

Adam: 00:35:36

Relishing.

Garry: 00:35:36

That's a good scenes. Yeah. So at the beginning I kind of thought, you know, he's a kind of paint by Numbers kind of character. He's like the number two to Lalon.

Lalon's got stuff to do, wants to go and have a nap, you know, do whatever captains do or commanders do, and then he'll just hand over like doing the bulk of the. That stuff to Raker.

So when he goes into the, the room where they're all sat still with the seat belts on and everything and he's given them that little speech, I thought, you know, is it, you know, the typical kind of. What's the guy in Star Trek? Is it Next Generation? Is it Riker?

Adam: 00:36:12

I don't know because I don't. I have not watched Next Generation.

Garry: 00:36:14

Whoever.

Adam: 00:36:15

The original series. Original series. Only Star Trek.

Garry: 00:36:19

So Spock then, I guess.

Adam: 00:36:20

Yeah.

Garry: 00:36:21

You know, you thought he'd be like the typical number two, but dude, that sec. That moment where everyone's cleared off and Blake still sat there restrict, you know, restrained, and then he yells at him and screams at him.

Adam: 00:36:34

He's menacing, isn't he?

Garry: 00:36:36

From that point on, I was like, this is gonna be good. I can, you know, this guy is. He's not just your average, you know, he's going to be a nasty player. So Leslie Schofield, big, big round of applause.

Because just when you think he couldn't get any kind of more ruthless. I know he's mentioned it a few times, but the scene where he starts executing prisoners and stuff and he doesn't.

He does it with almost a smile on his face.

Adam: 00:37:02

Yeah.

Garry: 00:37:03

You know, when he, they ask him to put through the video feed so Blake can see what's going on and he's just looking at his watch, no remorse, like, no, you know, I don't want. The feeling I got was that he's not saying to Blake and the rest of the crew and to Leyland and so on, I'm doing this because you forced me to do it.

The look on his face and the way that he spoke about it was like, I'm kind of doing this because it's actually kind of cool, you know, I don't mind killing people.

Adam: 00:37:33

Yeah.

Garry: 00:37:34

And his little smile on his face. So, yeah, we normally speak about characters towards the end, but Leslie Schofield, what a banger.

Adam: 00:37:40

Yeah, brilliant.

And there's a great line actually when he, he's almost taughting Blake when, when, when they come out of the room, he's like, all you needed was guts, Blake. And then Blake says, I'll settle for yours. And I thought, oh, what a great line.

You know, that's again, there's so Many great lines in Blake 7 like that. But yeah, he's brilliant in this. And like you said it just the characterization, he really goes for it. Superb work from Leslie Scaffold.

He's a face you recognize as well, isn't he? From back in the day. As soon as you see him, you think, oh, I know that actor. And you can't sort of place him from stuff like that.

You said as soon as you say Star wars, like, oh, yeah, him, yeah. So even though he's in it for like seconds, maybe a minute at the most, you know. But yeah, great performance from him.

Garry: 00:38:25

Very cool. Yes, there was also.

So, yeah, the, the character Leland was also interesting, the commander, because he was, as you've mentioned, he kind of gets pulled in a couple of different directions a couple of times in the story where, as I mentioned, he doesn't. You get the feeling he's not really the kind of guy that's like up for killing people in general, even if they're prisoners.

He doesn't, doesn't strike me as that kind of character. He's got kind of a moral compass that's kind of not pointing directly due north.

But, you know, he's kind of got a bit of a, you know, a conscious there. And he doesn't just want to execute people like Reika.

And he does try his best to get everything back on track, you know, after the ship's being beaten up a little bit by the asteroid strike and you know, this thing going on with Raker and Blake's Mutiny and all that stuff. He's under a lot of pressure and stuff. But again, I thought the guy that played him, Glen Owen, another good performance. It was an exp.

I'm not sure if we're going to see him again. You're probably biting your tongue, biting your lip there.

But I'm assuming that we might see him again because he was, he's quite a well known actor as well from back in the day. So I imagine they might use him again.

But one thing I do want to get onto talking of seeing people again is I think you asked me earlier about, I wonder if, you know, did Garry work out who is going to be on board Blake's crew to form Blake's seven and all that stuff. And so we do get a bit of a split up, right? So we get the whole Blake, Jenna and Avon, they go off as one team.

You know, they send Blake, does a bit of a recce, goes down the trunk space with all the cables to find the computer room, sends Avon down There later, after he convinces him to do it, of course, he takes the guard out, hijacks the computer, and then Blake and Jenna join him. They're kind of one team. And then Blake puts a character called Gan Olag.

Gan in charge to go and find the armory, get some weapons so they can overpower the guards, and then they can tie this whole thing up in a nice little package. So Villa goes off with Gan and a few other people, the other prisoners, but that. They have a little bit of a kerfuffle, don't they?

So, yeah, Villa, played by Michael Keating, he's. He's not the. He's not the brightest star in the sky, let's put it that way, with certain things. And you can see that Gan's like the big guy.

He's the muscle, you know, he's going to overpower a couple of people. They kind of get there, you know, the guards are like, okay. But then he tells the guards to drop the weapons.

Villa drops his weapons because he gets confused. They then get recaptured. They stay captured. And so at the end, when Blake, Jenner and Avon go off in the Liberator, those guys stay behind.

Now, I think I'm gonna hazard a guess here and say that at least two of those people rejoin Blake later on at some point. I don't know if that's right or not.

Adam: 00:41:33

Well, my lips are sealed.

Garry: 00:41:34

Your lips are sealed? Yeah, because they were two very cool characters. So David Jackson, who played Gan, was very cool. Love his massive eye roll.

When they get recaptured, he just turns to him, he's like, villa.

Adam: 00:41:48

Oh, Villa.

Garry: 00:41:49

Yeah, the eye roll, brilliant.

And then Villa, that kind of cheeky chappie, not his IQ isn't, you know, up there with the best of them, but you can tell he's kind of, you know, he wants to muck in with the crowd, really, you know, and all that stuff. So he's kind of cool.

So my guess is that out of everybody, all the prisoners and so on that were captured or whatever, obviously Nova, who tried to join the team but got killed by the. That foam that's in the outer hull of the ship.

Adam: 00:42:17

Yeah.

Garry: 00:42:17

You know, he gets killed by, you know, the. The bubble bath. Unfortunately, he's obviously not going to be here, but I would say that Villa and Gan.

And maybe that's obvious, maybe a lot of people would watch it and go, well, yeah, of course, Garry. But for me, I just thought. I don't know, because Terry Nation has thrown a couple of curveballs already, but I would say Villa and Gan, dude.

Adam: 00:42:39

Obviously, I'm not gonna deny or confirm, but I will say, I think, yeah, again, there's a nice little dynamic between Gan and Villa, because again, they're very different characters, aren't they, against this big sort of strong guy? I do love the. Again, gets a great line when they. They want the prisoner to open the door and they refuse. And Gan sort of says, we only need the hand.

And he just sort of slowly opens the prisoner's hand, doesn't he? Great scene, Villa, bless him, he's a bit of a coward, but he's. He's a fun character, isn't he?

And again, he's totally different to any of the other characters in it, so he brings his own sort of dynamic to it. So, yeah, fun characters, whether they survive or not, I cannot say. But, I mean, that's the other thing with Blake 7, mate. No one is safe.

Like, anything could happen in this show.

One thing I will say without giving away any spoilers, is this show, throughout its four series, is not afraid to take risks and change dynamics and change characters and all sorts. So, yeah, it's. It's never predictable, let's put it that way. Or at least more often it's not predictable than it is.

So, yeah, I won't say any more, mate, but I think they're good in this episode. I mean, they don't get a great deal to do, but what they do do, I think adds a lot to the. To the story.

Garry: 00:43:58

Yes. No, I agree. Yeah. So obviously Villa and they weren't in it as much as. As Jenna and Avon with Blake, but still entertaining, though.

Even if they did fail in the. In the mission, it was kind of cool to see them do that. And they.

I wouldn't say the performances were quite up there with Sally Kavett and Paul Darrow and so on, but that's only because they didn't really have as much screen time and whatnot. And the. The few scenes that they were in, especially in the beginning, the opening 15, 20 minutes, Villa's in it a lot more and he's kind of cool.

Michael Keating. But they did have good performances. Dude.

Adam: 00:44:38

I.

I do like the bit where Villa's sort of introducing Avon because he, again, he kind of sets up the character just with a few lines, you know, sort of saying that Avon's this, you know, this great. It could have been this great thief or whatever.

And he's saying, you know, there's only one better than him, the person that caught him and all this, you know, it's all there in the dialogue in the. In those few scenes. And again, you immediately get that Avon is a bit of a loner.

He doesn't want a really do anything, you know, that involves other people. Doesn't he say something about when they say what went wrong or something? He says, I relied on other people. So you, again, just.

In a few lines of dialogue, you just get Avon's character. You know, he's been let down, and so he's. He feels he's better off on his own.

So, yeah, that's a nice scene at the start when they first get to meet him. I think Paul Darrell's performance is. Is pretty good in this. He's. He's slightly holding back. I feel we're going to get to see a lot more from him.

But in terms of his character progression. But yeah, in this, he's quite reserved, but I think that's on purpose. He's purposely trying to keep himself, you know, in the background.

And in terms of his character, Avon, he doesn't really want to get involved in all this, you know, kerfuffle that Blake's organizing. He's not interested. He'll do his own thing. He'll make some money.

And it's only really when we get that lovely scene between him and Blake where Blake points out that, you know, they're gonna kill you. You know, if you go through with this plan that you've got, they're gonna kill you. So you may as well have a go with me.

You know, you've got a better chance. And again, you can see Avon weighing it up, like he doesn't really want to get involved with Blake and all this lot.

But if it's a better chance of survival, I'll take it. So he does. So you do get some nice stuff from Paul Darrow in this. And he gets to have a good old scrap, doesn't he?

In the computer room, has a good old punch up where he. Where he has a go at that guy. So I like Paul Darrow in this, but, yeah, I get what you mean. He's, I think, not the actor, but the character.

Avon is purposely sort of trying to keep in the shadows, but sort of is forced out really, into getting mixed up with this band of rebels. And you could sort of see it, like you said, in the eye rolling of, oh, go, go on then. Because otherwise he knows he's. He's done for, really.

Garry: 00:46:53

Yes. Yeah, I did like Avon as a character. I loved his kind of not wanting to be swept up with the momentum of Blake's plan. And everything.

He's kind of got his foot on the brake a little bit to begin with, which shows his strength, really, in his personality. He's not just another. He's not just another yes man that you could include in something like this.

You know, with a lot of shows where it's like a band of villains, like, you know, like Firefly or. Or, you know, those. Those kind of shows where you've got a group of people, there's always a couple of them that just say yes to everything.

You know, they just go with the plan. They always, you know, never challenge anything. Whereas Avon, I love that he's like, well, no, not going to do that.

You know, or, I don't want to do that. Or I think you're crazy for doing that. So I love that. That. Not massive standoff with Blake, but as you've said a few times, dude, and you know that.

That very opposing thought process sometimes between Blake and Avon. I love that they started that off immediately with the interaction with those two. Like, Avon's just not putting up with any nonsense from anyone.

And even though some people have bought into Blake's plan and they're willing to follow him, that doesn't mean that he has to do the same thing. I love.

Adam: 00:48:16

Yeah, yeah. Well, that's. Yeah, it's good that you've picked up on that, because I think that's. That's quite integral going forward.

It'll be interesting to see how much you think you can trust Avon as a character, you know, like. Because he's, like you said, he is his own man, isn't he? And is that going to work in a dynamic of working with these people? We'll. We'll see.

I mean, that. That's not giving. That probably sounds like we're giving away more than I am. It's not.

I'm just really intrigued to sort of see how much you trust Avon as a character going forward, you know, because. Because part of me feels like if he. If he could have gotten that Liberator first, he'd have been gone.

I feel like, you know, if he had been first on that flight deck, he'd have been out of there. But we'll see. Things might change. There is a lot of progression in Blake 7. A lot. And again, that's why I love it.

Can I just quickly talk about the end of the episode a bit, mate? Because there is. There's a couple of issues I have with it. It doesn't detract from my enjoyment of the episode. It's more slight Confusion.

Whereas I feel like almost like Terry Nation just needed to add a few bits into the script to perhaps explain it a bit better. Because we. When they finally get on board the Liberator, Blake, Jenna and Avon, there's this funny thing, this, like.

I think they call it a defense mechanism which projects images into their minds of, like, Jenna's mom and Avon's brother. And this presumably is what's killed the crew of the London before Blake and his team get on there.

But Blake manages to shoot it and destroy it so that, you know, they're not killed. But I'm not sure what that thing is. And again, I've seen this episode a few times over years.

I think it's implied that it's something that was left over from the battle that the Liberator has been in. So it's this thing that's managed to get on board the ship, but then Abel says it was defense mechanism.

So is it part of the Liberator's defense mechanism? For me, it's a little bit of a. It's thrown in there at the end of the episode. I think it's a really interesting idea, but it's not really explained.

And I feel like Terry Nation kind of glosses over it with a quick, I don't know, probably a defense mechanism. Let's move on. I don't quite get what that thing is or if it's part of the Liberator defense or something that's got on board the Liberator.

I'm not sure.

Garry: 00:50:39

Yeah, when I researched this episode, the only thing that I could find about that, it's just labeled the security device.

Adam: 00:50:46

Oh, okay.

Garry: 00:50:47

The security device aboard the Liberator. So I think it's part of the Liberator's computer system.

And it's a very fancy way, very effective way of basically causing people to go mad, like, go insane.

Adam: 00:51:02

But how does it determine who's good or bad then? Because it's. Presumably it's. If it's. Because that's what I don't get.

If it's a security device, surely it's trying to work out if those people should be on the Liberator. So I don't really get it as a concept. Like it's showing these images of Jenna's mum, Avon's brother, and sending people mad.

So really it's just killing anyone that comes on the Liberator. So is that. Maybe that is its purpose. Maybe it's just. I don't know. But how do the crew get. I don't know.

It just isn't quite clear to me what that thing is supposed to be or what its purpose is in terms of defending the Liberator, if you like.

Garry: 00:51:38

Gotcha. Yeah. It's an interesting one. I'm hoping we'll see some more. Some more stuff from the Liberator in terms of it's.

It's AI brain or whatever it's got on its systems and stuff like that. So that's going to be cool.

But for this particular episode, I'm not 100 sure exactly how it would determine who's an intruder, who's not, and that kind of thing, but it was. It was a cool. It was a cool way that they. They did that because it took away. Because they could have done this in a way where Blake had some kind of.

Because he's the star of the show. They could have done this thing where he's just, you know, he's the strong one. You know, he's the.

But the fact that the computer tried to show him his family in danger and peril, he sees immediately through it because he was told in the last episode that his family was killed.

Adam: 00:52:33

Yeah.

Garry: 00:52:34

So his family are not even alive. So he knows it's a trick. He knows it's a. It's a ruse and quickly gets through it. Whereas you can see the effect it has on Jenna.

She was ready to, you know, to off herself, you know, because of this invasion and stuff like that. So, yeah, it was a cool scene, dude. It was a cool thing that they popped in right at the end.

Adam: 00:52:55

I think that's the thing. Yeah. I was gonna say it doesn't bug me as such. I think it's just that it is a cool concept that I feel is not quite 100% realized on screen.

If not, I mean, like, I do like this idea that there's this defense mechanism on the Liberator to sort of suss people out who come in, but I'm not sure. Again, I think it's just down to perhaps Terry's. You know, I guess they're down to his writing, really.

I feel like he had this idea, but he didn't quite know how to expl. So it just gets glossed over the other thing. And I think this slightly bugs me, and this is more down to the direction than the writing actually is.

When Blake is trying to shut the Liberator door, and you've got Raker coming down the tube, and he shoots Blake in the shoulder. So Blake's on the floor, and then we get this shot of Raker firing And I mean, there's no way he could have missed Blake.

So I don't get quite what's happened there, because the next thing we see is Blake just walking onto the Liberator and they say, I don't know what happened. He's like, I had an argument with Raker or something. But again, I think this is down to the direction.

It is implied that Raker has just shot Blake and he's so close to him, he's right in front of him, aiming right at him. There's absolutely no way he could have missed. So I'm assuming in the script it probably said the Liberator door shut just as he fired or something.

I think. I think that's what we're supposed to assume, but the direction doesn't really show that.

And I think in some ways it might have been better to have actually cut that shot of him shooting because it's just misleading and it, you know, he doesn't shoot Blake. So that, to me is a slightly. It's either down to the editing or the direction that, that, that particular scene doesn't work, I don't think.

But I assume that's what's meant to have happened, right? The doors. I think the door is supposed to have shut as he's fired, I assume.

Garry: 00:54:41

I think so, yeah. I think. Well, the way that I took that scene was Raker is unsteady on his feet because the. The boarding tube that they call it, that he's.

He's like being sort of blown around a little bit by the ship's movement and. And all the rest of it. So I. The way I took that scene was like, he's not. He's not, like, he's not aiming 100% and he's not on.

On target because he's having to sort of maneuver around and bounce around a little bit on this thing. And at first I thought that Blake was shocked in the shoulder.

I thought we were going to see like, you know, hole in his shoulder, certainly in his clothes or some kind of scuff mark where he's been grazed by something or whatever. But he seems okay. But, yeah, it's. I. I can see what you're saying, dude. It's like Rake is like firing off at him and nothing's really happening. So.

But yeah, I just took it as he's unsteady on his feet and he's been, you know, he's being boshed around a little bit. So he's not aiming correctly, I hear on the.

Adam: 00:55:44

I think it's on the commentary or on the making of or something. They talk about that tube, saying what nightmare it was in studio. It was as wobbly as it looks on screen.

They really struggled to walk down it, I think. And it just, I think as. As they were filming, it just got saggier and saggier. I think they really struggled with that tube.

It looks quite good though. It doesn't it, in the actual episode. Like it's. It's obviously on film because you can tell that it looks slightly different.

So it's obviously shot on film, but I like all that stuff. But then going across the tube, I also do like the shot and it's a blink if you'll miss it.

It's when Reika flies out of the tube and it's obviously an actor on wires. So they must have actually built that blooming. That part of the ship.

I mean they must have built this sort of fairly big set to have the actor fly off across the studio on wires because you can actually see the wires.

Although I felt like they might have actually got rid of them on the Blu ray because I swear on the DVD you could see them a lot clearer than, than I could when I watched this yesterday. But that might be my mind playing tricks of me, my memory playing tricks of me.

But yeah, there's definitely a shot of a real actor spinning away from the side of a spaceship on wires and it's about a second long. And I think, God, they went to all the effort for that one second shot.

And obviously on the new Blu ray they've replaced certain shots in that scene with, with new CGI and stuff. But for me, doesn't need it. I think, I think it looks great as it is. You get, you get the. Again, you did, you know exactly what's happened.

The, you know, Raker has flown out the ship and blown up in space. You know, he's met his end and it's a fitting end for such a nasty character.

But yeah, there's new CGI on that bit on the Blu ray, but I, I think it looks fine as it is.

Garry: 00:57:29

Dude, I must be. I think I'm in a different camp to you on this one. I think. I thought that was just a model of a person.

Adam: 00:57:39

Well, it cuts to a model mate. So there's like a one second clip which is a. I'm pretty sure I'm right in saying this. It. Because you can see the wires.

It's like a person spinning for like a second and then it cuts to a model of like a person who blows up, but it's very quickly cut. That's what I'm saying. They went to all the effort for like a shot that's in it for like a second.

I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure because you can sort of see it's a real person because of the way they're moving and the wires. And then it cuts to like a, a figure, you know, like a model of a person who explodes in space. But it's very quickly done.

Garry: 00:58:13

Yeah, yeah, no, I read you, dude. Yeah, you are absolutely bang on. Correct. Yeah, it's a model after that initial.

Yeah, but no, it is very cool though, the, the boarding tube, because it, it, it must have been. I can't imagine it had been super cheap to build that. No, not mega expensive either.

But you know, there were still some pounds thrown into that to do it. And they do make reasonable use of it, especially that scene with Raiker following them down and so on.

Adam: 00:58:42

But I'll tell you what did throw me as well.

And again, considering how many times I've watched Blake 7, I'm surprised that again, my memory has played tricks on me because the very first shot of the Liberator, when we see it, you know, when that, when Leland and Reika say, well, what is it? What's. Let's get a picture of on screen. And then we actually see the Liberator for the first time.

There is a beautiful shot of the Liberator model which we see many times throughout this series, you know, and it's always the same shot. And it's absolutely stunningly beautiful shot of the model. And I always thought that's what we saw, but it isn't.

It's a different picture of the liberated. It didn't quite look as good.

So I was a bit surprised when I first saw that because I always wait for that moment because I think the Liberator is one of. Well, no, it is to me the most beautiful ship in the galaxy. You'd probably say the Millennium Falcon, but I think the Liberator is just beautiful.

And I love the fact it flies the opposite way to what you imagine. Used to drive me mad as a kid. I used to think, well, why is it flying backwards? But it's a beautiful shot.

So that you, when you see this shot of the model, mate, you'll know, you'll be like, oh, that's the shot you're talking about. Because it is absolutely stunning. The lighting. They've obviously got a full size model of the Liberator and shot it with a star Backdrop.

It looks fantastic. They do use it a lot during the series and they use some other shots which really aren't anywhere near as good.

But obviously in the new Blu Ray, they've replaced that very first shot, the Liberator, with a new CGI model, which looks fine, Looks good. I just. Yeah, I. To me, I just always love the original model shots. But what do you think?

I just want to quickly ask you what you think of the Liberators. Maybe I'll save this until we actually see the shot that I'm talking about, because I was thinking it was in this episode.

It's clearly not, but just your first impressions of the ship itself. It's a beautiful design, isn't it? It's an unusual design as well.

Garry: 01:00:42

Yeah, it's great.

I think for listener who didn't pick up on this on the previous episode or we've forgotten, I'm watching these episodes without any special effects added, like the newer stuff on the Blu Ray. I'm watching them as they went out originally with the. The older effects and stuff.

But I did go back after I watched this one and looked at the CG stuff for the Liberator in its first appearance and. And some of the other bits. And although that CG is lovely and stuff, you know, they've done a great job with making it look more modern, etc.

I do have a lot of love for that old model work from that time, from that era. And it's a beautiful design, dude. Like in terms of science fiction and just its uniqueness and just how cool it looks. It's a. It's a great design.

I love it.

Adam: 01:01:33

Wait. Wait till you see the shot I'm talking about. And it must be in the next episode because I. Again, my memory is playing tricks with me.

I was sure it was the first shot we saw of it, but it's not. There is a shot coming up. Oh, it's just like. I don't know. You know what I mean? It just. Every time I see it, I'm like.

My heart just like falls in love with that spaceship. It's. You'll know it. It's got to be coming. It's got to be in the next episode. Maybe it wasn't ready by the time they filmed this, but.

Yeah, we'll talk about it when it comes up, mate. But it's a beautiful spaceship and I always try and work out where the flight deck. You know, I try and piece.

Well, where is the flight deck on that spaceship? Like, is it. Is that big glowing ball at the back, an engine. What is that?

You know, I love trying to work out what part of the Liberator they're on and where they are and stuff like that.

Garry: 01:02:20

Yeah, I thought the same. I thought, yeah, that big glowing green sphere at the back. I thought exactly the same. I was like, is that the. Is that the. The engine bay?

Is that where the power's coming from? Or is that a giant, like compute. Is that the computer's brain? Is that, you know, the. Whatever. So. But as a designer, it's really, really cool.

Great looking old sci fi ship. Love it. Yeah.

Adam: 01:02:43

Yeah. And we will see more of it next week and we also get introduced to something else next week, which again, I thought was in this episode.

So we'll talk about that as well. So there's more stuff to come from the Liberator. Yeah, yeah.

Garry: 01:02:55

And just quickly, before we move on to just a closing, couple of things for me, dude, I don't want to take anything away from the model design for the London ship either because although that's very.

It doesn't have the flair and the character that the Liberator has, that's still a very solid sort of old school ship that had to be built by people and designed and stuff. So that was. I thought that was kind of cool as well.

It's kind of got that expected look, you know, it's basically a, you know, a cargo freighter kind of feel to it and stuff. But that was still cool though. Yeah, yeah.

Adam: 01:03:27

I like, I like the London. I think it's. It's kind of iconic.

I think a lot of Blake 7 fans love it because it's, you know, it's in the first couple of episodes and it plays quite an important part. Yeah, it's. In some ways it's a basic design, but there is definitely something about it. I like the London. I.

Blake7 comes under a lot of flack for, you know, it's shoddy model work and stuff. But actually, I think, yeah, some of it's not great as the series goes on, but there is also some really lovely design work going on. We haven't.

You haven't seen the Federation ships yet, mate. And I think again, they're great, they're iconic. Again, a really weird design. So not sure when we'll see those.

Maybe in a couple of episodes, but see what you think of them when you see them. But there's some. There's some lovely model work goes on in this and again, it's. I think it's a very. It's the same Team behind Classic.

Who I believe, like, what's his name? Who's the model guy? Matt Irvine. And I think it's Paul Scoons. Or it might be Ian Scoons. Yes, that's. Yes. Yeah. So, yeah.

So lovely work from those guys coming up.

Garry: 01:04:36

Indeedy. Yeah, it's very cool. We should probably talk about Gareth Thomas.

Adam: 01:04:41

Yes, actually, we should. Yeah.

Garry: 01:04:43

That's Blake. We. Because he. His performance was very much a continuation from episode one, which you'd expect anyway, because it follows on directly from.

From the previous one. But what I liked about his performance in this one was that he's kind of changed direction just a little bit.

So in the first episode, for me, it was about him getting his head back together because he had this huge bombshell dropped on him that he's been living a lie, basically, and things have been hidden from him and he's had his memory wiped and he's been under suppressants and. And all that stuff. He's free of that now, so he sees exactly what needs to be done. But I felt in this one it was more about trying to show him as a.

As a leader early on and not just in a kind of opposite to Avon, where you could tell that if Blake hadn't have put this plan together and wasn't so insistent on trying to take over the ship and so on, Avon probably would have had a go at it at some point, but it would have been for his own means.

Adam: 01:05:54

Yeah.

Garry: 01:05:54

You know, whereas Blake, you can tell very early that he's, as the title suggests, the name of the show, of course.

But you can tell that he's very much right, okay, I'm not sitting around for a minute, like, you know, the ship's taken off, he's had his little telling off from Reika, he's had his restraints taken off straight out the gate. He's like, right, how do we take over the ship? Because, you know, we can't. We can't go to Cygnus Alpha as prisoners. That's not going to happen.

You know, there's. There's. There's good work to be done, you know, in the galaxy sort of thing. So I love that. And he's like, straight to action.

It's like, right, you know, who's with me? Right, you are. Cool. Right? You're gonna do that. You're going to do that. You're with me. This is the plan. Blah, blah, blah.

So I love the fact that his performance is consistent as a character, but it's got a very different. A different twist on what his. What his motives are now compared to the first episode. So another good one for me, dude. From Gareth Thomas.

Adam: 01:06:56

Absolutely, mate. Yeah. We're starting to see the character that the Federation tried to raise, aren't we? This.

This leader of people and this person that is gonna, you know, strike into action and get things done and he's going to take risks. And also that he's very flawed as a leader because he has this big heart that will often, you know, let him down in terms of making hard decisions.

So he's, you know, he's. Yeah, it's. It's a great performance from Gareth Thomas. He is a very likable character, Blake.

You know, he has his moments where he's ordering people around and, and being quite brass. Brash. But then he has moments like nice, funny moments, like when he says to Jenna, you know, can you fly the ship?

And she's like, well, you know, given time, I might be able to work out. He said, yeah, you've got two minutes and get on with it. You know, he is. He is the leader. I think he's the leader that they need.

And yeah, I, I just thought it was.

Gareth Thomas, like I said to you last week, is great casting because he manages to convey all these different sides to Blake, of which there are many. You know, the leader, the slightly flawed personality and, and. And the very big heart, you know, who actually wants to do the right thing.

And that's the other thing I think as well that will be interest interesting as the series goes on, is that you'll see that Blake is always trying to do the right thing. And I think that's why you love him. But he doesn't always succeed, you know, and there's reasons for that.

But yeah, a lovely performance in Gareth Thomas.

Garry: 01:08:32

And I know we've mentioned her a few times already, but Jenna, Sally Cavett, I think she was really good in this as well, because she was up against it as the only. The only female in the crew and aboard the ship. And they do. Even though this is back in the 70s, they do play on that just a little bit.

Adam: 01:08:49

Yeah, they do, actually. Yeah.

Garry: 01:08:50

You know, you've got this thing where not from Blake's point of view, he never questions her gender in a way that could impact if she's good or bad or whatever. Because of that, he just sees her as one of the team now, which is very cool.

But from the other side of things, especially Rhaenka, they play on this thing where Rhaenka's got this kind of uneasiness.

The Scenes are a bit uneasy when it's those couple of moments where he's with her because you can tell that he's, you know, I don't want to go too deep into that stuff. You know, I'm not sure how. How Terry Nation envisaged that would have happened if Blake hadn't have set this plan up.

But you can tell that Reika would have been a bit sleazy there, you know, and a little bit, you know, untoward. And.

And there's, you know, there's a couple of scenes as well where she's like, you know, Blake says something out loud like, you know, I want to, you know, to a time when man can. Can live free and this kind of thing. And so it's kind of an unintentional kind of male driven script in a couple of little places.

Plus, you've got this little bit with Rhaenka, and I think. I think Sally plays that very, very well. It doesn't. It doesn't throw her. She's not, you know, you know, downhearted by any of it.

She's just, you know, sticking to the plan, sticking with Blake, at least at this point. And she does that really well. So I like her, dude. I like Sally Kavett in this, in her performance, and I like Jenna as a character as well. She's.

She's cool.

Adam: 01:10:27

Yeah, definitely, mate, because those, Those scenes with Raker, they.

They are a little uncomfortable because there's no, you know, there's no gray area, you know, exactly what his intentions are, especially the second time round when he's managed to get Blake and that to come out and he's all. He's like, he's so full of himself that he thinks, right now I'm gonna have some from, you know, my time with Jenna.

And thankfully, Leyland is like, no, no, no. Pulls him up on it. No, no, you're not, you know, not. You've gone too far. But Sally Cavett as Jenna absolutely holds her own.

I mean, you know, she doesn't take any nonsense from Reika. Like when. When he's sort of being a bit sleazy towards her, she basically. She whispers something in his ear. Basically.

We can imagine what she's saying to him. And then he gives her a slap, which is horrible. But, yeah, you know, she holds her own. She's not frightened of him.

She's like, you know, you come at me, you're going to get it. And to be honest with you, mate, I think she had to give Raker a couple of slaps. If he had tried it, I don't think.

You know, I mean, she is a strong character. So, yeah, it's a nice performance from her and I think she listened to some of the interviews with her. I think she.

She really liked this character that she was given. Again, without giving too much away.

I think as the series goes on, she would have liked it to progress more towards what her character was outlined to be. But, yeah, she's. She's certainly a good, good character. I like her as well.

Garry: 01:11:54

She is good. Yes. The last thing, just very quickly, I'm really liking Dudley Simpson's incidental music again.

Adam: 01:12:03

Me too. Love it.

Garry: 01:12:04

Thought it was really good in the last episode. And this one, it's got that. Yeah, it's.

It's nice to see Dudley, like I mentioned in the last episode, like, really owning and having responsibility for all the music and everything on this. And you can tell that he's, you know, he's. He's sort of taken the bull by the horns, if you like, and.

And has really come up with something that's of its time, of course, but also sounds quite experimental in a couple of places. You know, it's just really cool. Score it again.

We're probably going to overuse this, as we've done for many years on the other podcast, but he got the memo in terms of, you know, we need various different things here for, like, we need tension, we need action, you know, we need a bit of despair in there, and then we need some kind of, like, joyous, triumphant stuff when things are going right and, you know, so, yeah, it's just very, very cool score from him.

Adam: 01:13:03

It is great, mate. And I mean, we. We love Dudley's work on. On classic Doctor who.

And when we first talked about doing a Blake 7 podcast, one of the things that was in the back of my mind that I thought, even if Garry doesn't get into it or turns around and says he doesn't like it, one thing I'm pretty sure is that he'll love Dudley's music in it. I kept thinking, if nothing else, if he thinks it looks terrible or he can't get into the show, if nothing else, he'll.

He'll appreciate Dudley's music in it. So, yeah, I'm the same, mate. I love it. There are a couple of little. So Dudley uses a lot of wind instruments and stuff, I think.

I don't know, but his music's always got this lovely, like you said, feel to it of the, you know, the time. But every now and again, there's this, like. These little synthesizer things come in that I absolutely love. You know, like the.

Some of the stuff in the theme tune, but also in the instrumental music, these little synthesizer sort of keynotes come in and they're really lovely. I assume they're. Dudley. I'm trying to think now if someone else was sort of brought in to add in some other stuff as well. I don't think so.

I just think I'm confusing that with something else. Maybe Doctor who or something.

But I love all these little, like you said, slightly experimental things that are coming in from Dudley as well, you know, so it's quintessentially typical Doug Douglas. But Dudley. Sorry, but. But it's also. Yeah, like you said, he's. He's going for it a little bit and he's. Yeah, he's coming up some really lovely stuff.

He always get confused with Douglas. Douglas and Dudley. Dudley Simpson. Come on.

Garry: 01:14:37

Yeah, old Dudders.

Adam: 01:14:40

Yeah.

Garry: 01:14:41

Okay, dude. If there's anything else you want to mention, that's. Then fire away. Otherwise, we'll put a score on Space Fall.

Adam: 01:14:47

Let's put a score on it.

Garry: 01:14:49

You can go first. But I went first last week.

Adam: 01:14:51

All right.

Garry: 01:14:52

Last time.

Adam: 01:14:53

I'm gonna give this a seven. For me. It's. It's up there with the first episode. It's. It's. It's up there with the way back, which I gave a 7.5.

I think I'm only really sort of taking it down to seven, which is still, by the way, in my view, seven out of ten is still a really good episode. Once you start getting up to eight, that's when you're getting into an absolute belter. So people sometimes think seven sounds low to me.

That is a good score. I think it's a really good second episode. A really good story, progresses really, really nicely. So I'm going to give it a seven.

It's not quite up there with the first episode for me, and I think mainly because I think the first sort of 20 minutes, it's a little bit bloody. And also there's a couple of things at the end that I mentioned with the computer and Blake being shot, which kind of feel a little bit rushed or.

Or not quite. They don't quite work. So there's a couple of things in there. But it is a cracking episode, actually. I'm gonna give it that 0.5.

You know, I'll tell you why. No, I am. I'll tell you why. Because the performances in it are brilliant, aren't they? The cast are brilliant. So Maybe it is on par with episode one.

I'm gonna give it 7.5, mate. Go on.

Garry: 01:16:08

Ah, dude. So we're in agreement once again.

Adam: 01:16:12

Oh, cool. Okay.

Garry: 01:16:13

Yeah. Also a 7.5.

Adam: 01:16:15

Yeah, it's gotta be.

Garry: 01:16:16

Yeah, I enjoyed it just as much, dude, as. As the previous episode, but for different reasons. I'm. It's just really cool that we've.

We've progressed to a completely different style of Blake, you know, now that he's got his head sorted out and we're in a different setting and everything, but we're literally only two episodes in and, you know, a lot's happened. Yeah, true two episodes and stuff.

And this one was a little bit more action based, a little bit more sort of espionage and mutiny and that kind of thing, all the cool stuff. So, yeah, I thought it was a good thing. Don't get me wrong. We're not gonna gush over it and not say any of its faults as we go through Blake 7.

There are a couple of little niggly bits in it for me that were a bit. A little bit ploddy here and there, you know, a little bit.

Not massively, but, you know, there was a few scenes where it's like, I don't know, just getting from, you know, a conversation into another conversation took a little while. And I felt like the, the, the process of.

Of the mutiny bit of taking over the ship lasted quite a long time, but then, you know, when you balance it out, when you get to the end of the episode. And I also thought the. The scene at the end when they get onto the Liberator happened quite quickly as well.

Adam: 01:17:31

Yeah, I felt that could have come in a bit sooner, I would agree. Yeah.

Garry: 01:17:34

A little bit rushed in that respect.

But, you know, these are like, you know, at this point in the show for me, in these episodes, they're kind of minor little, little, little niggles for me, but I'm still. This is a good episode for me. 7.5, I think, is a good. Yeah, solid score for these, so. Wowzers. 7.5 all round.

Adam: 01:17:54

Good stuff.

Garry: 01:17:55

Yes. Alrighty, let's close this one out then, dude. For our review of episode two, Space Fall.

Adam: 01:18:03

Alrighty.

Garry: 01:18:19

Thank you very much for coming back and listening to the second episode of Federation Strike, A Journey Through Blake 7. And that was our review of Spacefall. 7.5s each for this one. Dude. Next time we're off to Cygnus Alpha.

Adam: 01:18:36

Yeah, we. We thought we were trying to get away from it, but we're going there. Will we. Will they escape? Though, or will they just get thrown in prison?

Let's, let's see.

Garry: 01:18:44

Let's see. Yes. So we'll be back next week for our third. So we hope you've enjoyed this initial dump of the first couple of episodes of the podcast.

We'll be back next week for that review of Cygnus Alpha and our episode three. In the meantime, make sure you are liking and following and subscribing to this podcast on whatever app you're listening to this on.

It'd be great to have you along on this journey as we dive into every episode of Blake 7 and you can also follow us for some updates. Another little bit over on the socials, it's going to be on X or Twitter. You can find us on there. Just do a Search for Lake 7 podcast.

We're also on Blue sky as well under the same name. So under those two platforms, Lake 7 Podcast, you can follow along and we'll chat to you guys as we go through this journey as well.

Don't forget to check out our other podcast, the Doctor who, the Big Blue Box podcast. That's been going for many years. If you've not listened to that yet, we do a very similar format but for everything to do with Doctor who.

So just do a search for the Big Blue Box podcast. You'll find that. And Adam and I have dived through pretty much everything to do with Doctor who over there, so.

And lastly, talking of my co host, don't forget to remember to check out his podcast. It's called the Geek's Handbag.

Adam: 01:20:05

Yeah, the Geek Sandbag. It's. I'm on YouTube. Got a YouTube channel, lots of Doctor who stuff. The Geek's Handbag, indeed.

Garry: 01:20:13

Yes. Right. With all that being said, my name's Garry.

Adam: 01:20:18

My name's Adam.

Garry: 01:20:19

And we will see you next time on Federation Strike, a journey through Blake 7.

Adam: 01:20:34

SA.