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Episode 3

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Published on:

29th Jan 2025

A:03 Cygnus Alpha: Religion, Control and Brian Blessed Shouting

Teleporting in—welcome to Federation Strike: A Journey Through Blake's 7!

Join us for our review of Episode 3 "Cygnus Alpha." This episode takes a darker turn, exploring themes of control and suppression as Blake and his crew confront a menacing religious group led by the charismatic Vargas, played by the legendary Brian Blessed.

As Blake attempts to rescue prisoners from a harsh penal planet, we witness the tension between him and Avon, who is more interested in riches than rebellion. Jenna's character shines as she navigates the conflict between loyalty to Blake and the temptations presented by Avon.

With a blend of humour and action, "Cygnus Alpha" continues to build on the dynamic character relationships and overarching narrative. Let's touch down on this strange and unexpected planet as we further our journey into Blake's 7.

We're teleporting out for now! Thanks for listening and don't forget to follow and subscribe on your preferred podcast app so you never miss an episode.

You can also join the conversation and stay updated by following us on Twitter/X and Bluesky, we'd love to hear your thoughts and theories!

Join us next time as we continue our journey through the universe of Blake’s 7.

Transcript
Gary:

Hello and welcome to Federation Strike, a Journey through Blake 7.

Gary:

My name is Gary.

Gary:

My name's Adam and welcome to episode three in our review of Cygnus Alpha.

Adam:

Yeah.

Gary:

Welcome back to another episode of Federation Strike.

Gary:

We hope you have enjoyed the last couple of episodes that dropped together for our introductory day of launching a new podcast.

Gary:

And it was been so far at least it's been great fun to dive into the world of Blake 7 and giving you our thoughts from a seasoned professional, lifelong Blake 7 fan, which is Adam versus my own thoughts from a fresh completely first timer, a newbie into the world of Blake 7 and going through every episode.

Gary:

This week it's the turn of Series A, Episode 3, Cygnus Alpha.

Adam:

Yes, we finally get to Cygnus Alpha, mate.

Gary:

Indeedy.

Gary:

So we're off.

Gary:

We, we're off the, the domed suppressant prison place if you like from the first episode.

Gary:

We're off the penal ship London and now we're aboard the Liberator and on and off the planet surface of Cygnus Alpha.

Gary:

So mate, it's been very cool to go through each episode like this and have this dynamic of going through it from a different point of view.

Gary:

Some people have said on the socials and I must say that we've done a bit of a build up on social networks, mainly X or Twitter and Bluesky and we've had loads of people that have followed us on both of those.

Gary:

So first of all, a big thank you to all of you that followed us in the run up to launching those first couple of episodes.

Gary:

We're now a week ahead and we're recording these ones before they go out.

Gary:

But you guys have been awesome and you've all agreed that how cool this is where because I also put a post out on Reddit as well.

Gary:

There's a Blake 7 community over on Reddit and I said, you know, I hope it's okay to post a bit of a plug.

Gary:

We've got a new Blake 7 podcast coming out.

Gary:

It's called this and here's the is the Twitter and blue sky stuff and there was a few comments and I that said this is perfect timing because I've wanted to do a Blake 7 rewatch for ages now and or they've said something like I've just picked up the Blu ray set and I'm about to start watching it.

Gary:

And the thing is I follow a couple of Blake 7 podcasts but the problem is none of them finish the show.

Gary:

So.

Gary:

And I replied obviously and said, you know, a big thank you and A bit of reassurance.

Gary:

I said that my co host and I, you know, we're.

Gary:

We're in for the long haul because, you know, we.

Gary:

We run a Doctor who podcast that's been going for just over 11 years now, or just shy of 11 years.

Adam:

Yeah.

Gary:

And we've reviewed pretty much all the Doctor who, so we're not ones for kind of dipping our toe in and.

Gary:

And.

Gary:

And legging it.

Gary:

So.

Gary:

But a lot of people have said the same thing.

Gary:

The dynamic of, you know, a newbie.

Gary:

And even a couple of people have said, like, oh, it's so.

Gary:

I'm so envious of you watching Blake 7 Fresh.

Gary:

If only I could rewind time and, you know, and experience it all for the first time, it'd be amazing.

Gary:

So.

Gary:

And also, thank you very much to some of you that have picked up the Blu Ray set off the back of us starting this podcast like you haven't even listened to.

Gary:

We're recording this on Tuesday, 21st January, and the episodes don't even go live until tomorrow, which will be the 22nd.

Gary:

So you guys have not even listened to this podcast yet, and there's been half a dozen of you that have said, I've been wanting to get into Blake 7 for years.

Gary:

Never really sort of been into it.

Gary:

Just found out that you guys are doing this podcast.

Gary:

I've ordered the set, and there's been, you know, six or seven people that have done that who have bought the set off the back of us announcing this podcast.

Gary:

So so far, dude, the.

Gary:

The Blake 7 community has been absolutely lovely and just very welcoming and very, very cool and nice.

Gary:

So it's a lovely little place, mate.

Adam:

Yeah.

Adam:

I was gonna say, for as someone who's very passionate about the show, someone who loves Blake 7 and constantly tries to get people to watch it and hope that they see what I see in the show, you can imagine me that seeing the comments we've had so far, like you said, even before the, you know, the first two episodes have gone out is really.

Adam:

Yeah.

Adam:

Heartwarming for me.

Adam:

It's great to see people saying, you know, people who know us from the.

Adam:

From the Blue box podcast who know, you know, what we're like and, you know, no, I.

Adam:

Dynamic are saying, you know, I'll give it a go.

Adam:

If you guys are giving it a go, I'll jump on board and I'll watch along with you.

Adam:

And I love the thought of that, that somebody could be experiencing Blake Sims first time, but also being able to listen and, you know, it makes you feel like you're watching it with us, I hope.

Adam:

Anyway, so we'll all go through on this journey together.

Adam:

So, yeah, I'm really excited about that and I think there's a lot of people as well that have joined us who, bit like myself, love this show and are very excited to hear probably more what you think of it because again, a bit like me.

Adam:

I'm so interested every time we record to hear what you think of each episode because, you know, I kind of know them off by heart really.

Adam:

Although I'm even now though, I think last week you mentioned something I didn't know.

Adam:

So even me who considers myself, you know, a lifelong fan and think I, I know it all.

Adam:

There's so much that to still learn as we go through this podcast.

Adam:

But for me, yeah, the, the bit I'm most intrigued by is seeing how much you get into it, what you think of it as the show builds.

Adam:

And it's almost like I'm almost having to hold myself back a little bit because I, I said to you the other day, I'm already so excited for series two and I'm like, hot ad you know, rein it back a bit, mate.

Adam:

You know, let's get through series one first.

Adam:

Let' because it's just because I know what's to come and I know sort of where this show goes and there's so much, I'm excited for you to see that I'm almost, you know, now we're up and running, I'm just almost like a horse that's bolted.

Adam:

That's like, yeah, let's go.

Adam:

But yeah, it's just, it's great to be on this journey and I love the fact that people are, we've got not only fans of the show but also people who are going to follow along with us with you as first time watchers and, and seeing what they think of it as well.

Adam:

So, yeah, it's, it's great.

Adam:

I'm just loving it's early days for us, but I'm just, I'm loving this already.

Gary:

Yes, agreed.

Gary:

Agreed, buddy.

Gary:

And for me, as a brand new Blake 7 fan, I must say that I like you.

Gary:

It's a bit like you, you mentioned the, the horse has bolted.

Gary:

You just want to crack on and you, you're super keen to, to get into it and so on.

Gary:

I must admit that I think I mentioned this on, on the big Blue Box episode that went out this week on, on Monday the 20th, Tuesday, the 21st, that your, your love for the show and your excitement for it is very infectious, which I think.

Gary:

I think is why we've had this quite a lot with Doctor who over on the.

Gary:

On the big blue box over the years, is that we have.

Gary:

We've had endless comments where somebody has said something along lines of, I wasn't really into that story before, but after listening to your review, I'm up for it and I'm gonna go and watch it and.

Gary:

Or they'll say something like, I've never seen an episode before that story of Doctor who.

Gary:

Wasn't really fussed about it.

Gary:

Not really my era.

Gary:

Or not really my doctor, I heard your episode and now I love that era.

Gary:

Or I love that stuff.

Gary:

So when somebody loves something and they're into it, it can be very infectious.

Gary:

And I must say, over the last week that we've been recording these episodes and the last two or three weeks where we've been, you know, sorting out all of the episode marketing material and artwork and all the synopsis for the show and all that stuff, it really has sort of propelled me into the world of Blake 7 and to the point where, you know, I'm researching, are there any Blake 7 books that are worth picking up?

Gary:

And, you know what we're going to do when the podcast is done?

Gary:

Are we.

Gary:

Are we going to do some big finish stuff or what's going to.

Gary:

Are there any Blake 7 conventions still going?

Gary:

Because I wouldn't mind going to one of those.

Gary:

And so, yes, mate, I'm with you 100%.

Gary:

On.

Gary:

On.

Gary:

Really just super keen to.

Gary:

To explore the universe that.

Gary:

That Terry Nation has created and so on.

Gary:

So it's good times, mate.

Adam:

It's interesting you said about being, you know, people being envious of you, like, sort of discovering this and watching it for the first time.

Adam:

Because without jumping ahead to our review, there was a scene today in Cygnus Alpha where I thought, I'll just say what the scene was.

Adam:

Just it was where Avon sort of pulls a gun on Blake and Jenna and there's like a sort of 32nd.

Adam:

Because people watching that for the first time would have been thinking, is Avon turned?

Adam:

Is he actually a bad guy?

Adam:

And I was thinking, God, imagine what you would think watching that for the first time.

Adam:

Like, are you starting to see Avon might not be the character you think is?

Adam:

And obviously we'll get into this in review, but there's so many little bits like that, that.

Adam:

And this is why I'm watching it again before we record.

Adam:

So every episode, even though I've probably seen this show, goodness knows how many Times every week before we record, I will watch that episode.

Adam:

Because when you're watching an episode to review, you do watch it through different eyes and you also concentrate more on an episode.

Adam:

So even stories or episodes that I watched a lot that I probably think I know like the back of my hand, it's different when you come to review it.

Adam:

So whatever the episode is, doesn't matter how many times I've seen it before, I will always watch it before we record the podcast to make notes.

Adam:

And also you pick up on things like that.

Adam:

Like I said, you know, I kind of know that scene, so it means nothing to me.

Adam:

But watching it today, I was thinking, can't wait to hear what you thought of that.

Adam:

And also the other stuff that Avon does on this episode.

Adam:

So again, it's.

Adam:

It is almost even for me, that's in the show countless times.

Adam:

It is almost like watching it through fresh eyes because I'm sort of watching it through your eyes as well now, mate.

Adam:

Does that make sense?

Adam:

And I think that, again, is.

Adam:

Is building to my excitement of, like, talking to you about these episodes.

Adam:

It's not just a case of, oh, yeah, I like this one.

Adam:

This is a good one.

Adam:

You know, I'm now thinking, oh, yeah, but I didn't notice that bit before.

Adam:

I wonder what Gary thinks of that.

Adam:

And, yeah, and again, especially as we're in early days of the first series when a lot of stuff is being set up and the show is obviously finding its feet in the first series, like any show, there's a lot of things that you pick up on when you watch it as a reviewer rather than just sticking it on for the hundredth time, if you know what I mean, in the background.

Adam:

And because it's like a comfort watch.

Adam:

So, yeah, it's.

Adam:

It's interesting.

Adam:

There's, I think even this episode, I think there's quite a few bits that I'm looking forward to hearing your thoughts on, like what you make of it and where you think it's going and all that sort of thing.

Gary:

Absolutely.

Gary:

Dude.

Gary:

It's the.

Gary:

The third episode is very different.

Gary:

Yeah, come on to it in a second.

Gary:

It's very different to the first two that.

Gary:

That have just come before it.

Gary:

So actually, before we'll crack on with our review now, but before we do that, if this is your first time, probably is the first time that you're.

Gary:

You're listening to a Federation strike.

Gary:

If you've given us the pleasure of listening to the first two episodes, make sure you're hitting the follow button in Whatever podcast app you are listening to this podcast on.

Gary:

That way, as we go through the season and new episodes land, you'll get a notification when the new episode drops so that you won't miss out on our latest Reviews of everything Blake 7.

Gary:

At the moment, the plan is to launch these on.

Gary:

As I said, you.

Gary:

You would have listened to the first two.

Gary:

If you're listening to this one now.

Gary:

They would have gone out on Wednesday.

Gary:

The 22nd will probably just roll with that.

Gary:

They'll probably go out every Wednesday morning.

Gary:

So, yeah, whatever podcast app you.

Gary:

You.

Gary:

You subscribe to your podcasts on, give us a follow and you can also chat with us in between episodes.

Gary:

We are on Twitter and Bluesky under the name Lake7podcast.

Gary:

There's links to that in the show notes and just give us a search for.

Gary:

For us over there and you can.

Gary:

Yeah, we're, as I said, a really, really welcoming, friendly, lovely bunch of Blake 7 fans have already jumped on board and that's growing every day.

Gary:

So we should have a really nice community to chat about these reviews and Blake 7 in general.

Gary:

So make sure you go and do all those things as well.

Gary:

So, dude, for episode three, then, hit us up on the review episode.

Adam:

Yeah.

Adam:

So episode three, here we are.

Adam:

We're off to Cygnus Alpha.

Brian Blessed:

I am the supreme power here.

Brian Blessed:

My word is law.

Brian Blessed:

My followers obey without question.

Brian Blessed:

They worship me.

Brian Blessed:

Or fear you.

Brian Blessed:

The two are inseparable.

Brian Blessed:

Why you?

Brian Blessed:

I am directly descended by the true unchosen line.

Brian Blessed:

Mine is the power by right.

Brian Blessed:

But this planet was uninhabited until the Federation brought the first batch of 50 criminals here.

Brian Blessed:

Is that the noble line from which you stem?

Brian Blessed:

My ancestors came here on that first shipment.

Brian Blessed:

They had nothing.

Brian Blessed:

The Federation gave them.

Brian Blessed:

No tools, no supplies.

Brian Blessed:

So they worked together.

Brian Blessed:

They worked hard and made a community.

Brian Blessed:

There were children born here.

Brian Blessed:

They were settlers trying to build a new world on a new planet.

Brian Blessed:

Later, more Federation prisoners came.

Brian Blessed:

There were disagreements.

Brian Blessed:

The community began to break up.

Brian Blessed:

They fought and killed.

Brian Blessed:

All they had achieved was being destroyed.

Brian Blessed:

And it was my great, great grandfather, father who found a way to unite them.

Brian Blessed:

He gave them a religion, brought them together in the love and fear of God.

Brian Blessed:

That is the line I stem from.

Brian Blessed:

That is what gives me the right to roll.

Adam:

Oh, blimey.

Adam:

Brian.

Gary:

Brian Blessed.

Gary:

Absolutely.

Gary:

Earning his salary.

Adam:

Turn the mic down.

Adam:

Yeah, he would have made a good Davros, didn't he?

Adam:

And with that power, could have really gone for it.

Gary:

Yeah, what a.

Gary:

What a scene as well.

Gary:

So episode three, Cygnus Alpha, was first released or broadcast.

Gary:

th January:

Gary:

It was written by Terry Nation as he did with all the.

Gary:

All these first episodes.

Gary:

It was directed by Veer Lorimer and overseen by Chris Boucher and David Maloney as the producer.

Gary:

And the synopsis.

Gary:

These are great, these old VHS release synopsis by so commandeering an alien spaceship, Blake, Jenna and Avon make for Cygnus Alpha on a rescue mission.

Gary:

What they discover is a threatening religious group whose divine ruler has cast the curse of Cygnus upon all the prisoners.

Gary:

Dare Blake's challenge.

Gary:

Dare Blake Challenge he who must be obeyed in a society with a currency of human souls.

Gary:

So when I first read the synopsis for this dude, before I watched the episode, yeah, initially I thought, wow, this sounds very, very different to the first, the first two episodes that we've reviewed of Blake 7 and almost a case of wow, this, this sounds like the more mystical, magical kind of stories that you get in classic couple, you know, where it kind of drifts in and out of sort of pure science fiction and deals more with very sort of religious aspects or all that kind of thing.

Gary:

And as I was watching through the episode, I was like, yep, this is very, very different to the first two.

Gary:

So we'll, we'll let you know listener, as we go along the next for the review in the next 45 minutes or so.

Gary:

If we thought that was a good or bad thing compared to the first two.

Gary:

But dude, what are your thoughts out the gate on.

Gary:

Is this.

Gary:

As a long time fan, is this one of your.

Gary:

Because we've really liked the first two episodes so far.

Gary:

Well, I did anyway.

Gary:

But is this one that you've.

Gary:

You enjoy going back to watch when you do do a rewatch or is it a.

Gary:

Yeah, you take it or leave it.

Adam:

It's.

Adam:

It's an episode.

Adam:

I think it's a good episode.

Adam:

It's not one of the ones I reach for and I think the reason for that is it's kind of just again, it's kind of taking the story forward in terms of the overall story of Blake 7, you know, it's just moving the story on.

Adam:

They're exploring the Liberator.

Adam:

Blake's going down to rescue as many prisoners as he can.

Adam:

Obviously he doesn't manage to get many to come back with him.

Adam:

So we then get two more crew for the Liberator.

Adam:

But yeah, it's kind of just putting a couple of more pieces of the puzzle in place.

Adam:

But in terms of its overall story, although I enjoy it, I don't Think it's as strong as the first two episodes.

Adam:

It's interesting that you say it has a different feel, because when I knew that we were going to be starting this Blake 7 journey, I remember thinking that.

Adam:

And I remember thinking.

Adam:

Because I didn't know what your reaction was going to be to the first two episodes.

Adam:

And knowing that this.

Adam:

This kind of, to me, I would say, leans more into that sort of classic Doctor who feel it.

Adam:

You know, we're on a planet, there's mysterious priests, you know, there's the sets.

Adam:

Just everything.

Adam:

Dudley's music.

Adam:

Just everything about episode three, to me, feels almost like an episode of Doctor who without the Doctor in it, in terms of just the production, I mean, not necessarily the actual story.

Adam:

So I was thinking, knowing how much you like classic Doctor who, I was wondering if perhaps this might be the episode where if you're not too sure about the first two, you might get into it now, knowing that you've enjoyed the first two as much as you have.

Adam:

I'm now thinking this might have been the episode where you thought, nah, that's a shame.

Adam:

I like the first two, but this one, not as good.

Adam:

So it's interesting.

Adam:

Again, my sort of perception of trying to guess where the show would hopefully appeal to you.

Adam:

I was gonna.

Adam:

I was thinking it might have been episode three.

Adam:

Now I'm thinking maybe not.

Adam:

But for myself, mate, I think it's a.

Adam:

A good episode.

Adam:

I like the performances in it.

Adam:

I.

Adam:

I do like, you know, the setup.

Adam:

We get introduced to Zen as the.

Adam:

As the Liberator computer.

Adam:

The Liberator, I think, is named for the first time we see the guns.

Adam:

There's this strange scene where they take the guns out of this rack and you're only allowed to take one, otherwise they're scorching hot.

Adam:

Which I don't think we see again.

Adam:

But that was a bit of an odd idea that, you know, so there's stuff going on.

Adam:

I think the most interesting thing for me in this episode is what's going on with Avon and.

Adam:

And the.

Adam:

And the sort of tension between him and Blake.

Adam:

The fact that Avon is so keen to.

Adam:

To dump Blake, he just.

Adam:

Avon just wants to get out of there.

Adam:

They find these jewels, he's ready to go, and he almost convinces Jenna to go with him.

Adam:

He's like, we've got this spaceship, we've got the jewels, let's get out of here.

Adam:

So I find that the most sort of interesting bit of the episode, really, because the rest of it is just kind of Blake going down to.

Adam:

To Rescue Villa and Gan.

Adam:

As it turns out, we get a good, good old Fisty Cuffs at the end, which makes for quite a fun sort of last sort of 10 minutes.

Adam:

Yeah, it's a bit of a mixed bag for me, this one.

Adam:

I think it's a good episode, wouldn't say it's the best, but I think it does continue the story nicely in terms of putting in a few more pieces to the puzzle.

Adam:

But I'm intrigued to know what did you think of this one?

Adam:

Having enjoyed the first two as much as you did, how does Cygnus Alpha fair as a third episode?

Gary:

So I think for me it's slightly different for me because I, I'm just enjoying being on the ride at this time.

Gary:

So for me as a newbie, this is just a nice continuation into the character progression.

Adam:

Oh, good.

Gary:

Yeah, so it was.

Gary:

And also it was a story of two halves for me as well because you have everything that's going on down at the planet surface with the, with the prisoners that are.

Gary:

And you get to see as well, kind of the ruthlessness of the Federation at this point as well.

Gary:

It's like your, it's like your second insight into how ruthless they are.

Gary:

So the first insight for me was back in the way back where we have the massacre of the, of the group in the underground shelter at the beginning.

Gary:

That was the first time.

Gary:

And also like, you know, you know that the bigger picture with, you can see with the Federation at the moment where the.

Gary:

The sort of suppressant drugs and the mind washing and the memory wipes and everything, that seems to be just an overall thing.

Gary:

But a specific thing would be the massacre of the dissidents in the way back.

Gary:

And then the second thing that you realize when you get to this episode is that the prisoners are not transported to this kind of giant complex, this giant prison complex on Cygnus Alpha.

Gary:

Because in my head, right in episode two, when we were on the London and we were being, you know, we were on our way to Cygnus Alpha, I had visions of when we finally got to Cygnus Alpha, there would be like this big kind of huge penal colony.

Gary:

This huge, massive planet sized prison.

Adam:

Yeah.

Gary:

That the prisoners.

Gary:

But it turns out that that's.

Gary:

It's the opposite, that the Federation just shipped the prisoners off to this planet and you fend for yourself.

Gary:

It's like there is no giant prison.

Gary:

The planet is the prison, but there is no building or complex, is there?

Gary:

It's just a desolate sort of wasteland almost.

Adam:

They're just sort of Dumped, aren't they?

Gary:

They're just dumped on this.

Gary:

Yeah, exactly, yeah.

Gary:

So that's.

Gary:

That's the punishment.

Gary:

You know, you are.

Gary:

You're dumped on this planet and you survive or you die.

Gary:

It's simple as that.

Gary:

And then because of that, because this has been happening for.

Gary:

For decades now, the prisoners that are dumped there and the ones that survive, they form to this kind of social structure and this religious group in order to sort of maintain some sort of, you know, organization within the prisoners on.

Gary:

On who stay there and survive.

Gary:

They've got this kind of religious structure in place so that people can fall in line.

Gary:

There's, you know, all this stuff going on.

Gary:

So it's fascinating from that point of view, because it's the complete opposite of what I thought we were going to get on Cygnus Alpha, which is cool.

Gary:

And then the other half of the story is this sort of in between, will they, won't they, with Jenna and Avon.

Adam:

Yeah.

Gary:

So Blake is mega keen to.

Gary:

Basically, Blake sees the bigger picture.

Gary:

He's like, look.

Gary:

And effectively what he's saying is, look, we have to get a crew together.

Gary:

We cannot achieve the things that I want to achieve with just three people on this massive ship.

Gary:

We need a proper crew who are on board, both physically on board the Liberator and figuratively, who have sort of bought into my kind of grander plan, if you like, to take down the Federation, at least in the long term.

Gary:

And so he's absolutely keen on getting down to Cygnus Alpha and rescuing those prisoners so that he can teleport them back up, form a crew, and then they're in a better position to challenge, you know, the Federation.

Gary:

So that's cool.

Gary:

And then on the other side of the coin, you've got Avon, who, like you said, is just ready to just cut, cut loose.

Gary:

And especially when he finds the jewels and the treasure and all those riches on.

Gary:

On the Liberator later on, he's like, well, this is like a sign.

Adam:

Yeah.

Gary:

You know, this is like the sign to get the hell out of here.

Gary:

We've got everything we need.

Adam:

Let's go.

Gary:

Yeah.

Gary:

And.

Gary:

And then you've got Jenna, who's somewhere in the middle.

Gary:

She's.

Gary:

She's kind of formed a bit of an affection for Blake.

Gary:

She's.

Gary:

You can feel that she's bought into his sort of.

Gary:

His kind of moral sense of wanting to.

Gary:

To save people from.

Gary:

From.

Gary:

It's a bit like Luke Skywalker in the Empire, right?

Gary:

It's a bit like, you know, and.

Gary:

And Avon's a, you know, he just like, now, screw this, because, again, I was.

Gary:

I didn't expect this.

Gary:

So at the end of Space Fall, there's a little bit of friendly bant between Avon and Blake.

Gary:

You know, there's a.

Gary:

You can tell that they're not best friends, but there's a little bit of.

Gary:

A little bit of common.

Gary:

Common ground in terms of, okay, we've escaped the London ship.

Gary:

We've escaped the, you know, the grip of the Federation for now at least.

Gary:

And you feel.

Gary:

You get the feeling that he's kind of on board to follow Blake, at least initially.

Adam:

Yeah.

Gary:

And there's a bit of.

Gary:

A.

Gary:

Bit of a grin exchanged here and there, and everything's cool.

Gary:

And we get to this episode and it seems like Avon's not really into it now.

Gary:

He's more like he's ready just to ditch Blake.

Adam:

Yeah.

Gary:

He's like, you know, he said he would be back in four hours.

Gary:

He's not coming back.

Gary:

We've got everything we need.

Gary:

Let's just get the heck out of here.

Gary:

And Jenna's like, nope.

Gary:

She gives him right up until the last.

Gary:

She's.

Gary:

Doesn't she?

Adam:

She's having a fight, don't they?

Adam:

She's like.

Adam:

He's like, he's ready to come up.

Adam:

I was like, no, get off the controls.

Adam:

Leave him.

Adam:

Let's go.

Gary:

Yeah, and she even counts down as well.

Gary:

She's like, we've got six minutes.

Adam:

Yeah.

Gary:

You know, grace period before.

Gary:

Before we do anything.

Gary:

But like I said, she's in the middle because initially she's like, no way.

Gary:

Like, we're here with Blake.

Gary:

We need to help Blake, you know, all the rest of it.

Gary:

And then even when he comes back and they teleport him back up, she legs over to him, gives him a big hug.

Gary:

So you can tell that she's kind.

Adam:

Of bit of affection there.

Gary:

Yeah.

Gary:

But then again, you know, he's teleported back down to the planet for the second time.

Gary:

She goes off, she finds a nice fancy wardrobe somewhere on the Liberator and all these riches and jewelry and everything, all this treasure.

Gary:

And then Avon gets in her head a little bit.

Gary:

He's like, look, we don't need him.

Gary:

We don't need him.

Gary:

We don't need anyone.

Gary:

You know, with all this, there's this.

Gary:

Is this just a sample of the treasure on board?

Gary:

It's.

Gary:

It feels a little bit like in some respects, at this point in the show, at least for me, it feels a little bit like it's a.

Gary:

A pirate Story.

Gary:

It feels like the Liberator used to belong.

Gary:

And I could be wildly wrong.

Gary:

And it's probably you and long sound Blake7 fans are going to absolutely piss yourself laughing when I say this, but it feels like there's a.

Gary:

That this was liberated.

Gary:

Was a pirate ship back in the day.

Gary:

It was, it was owned and run by.

Gary:

By not like, you know, peg legged, you know, eye patch wearing or.

Gary:

But I mean like space pirates.

Gary:

And so yeah, I could be wildly.

Adam:

Wrong, but I'm biting my lip, mate.

Adam:

There's.

Adam:

This is the thing.

Adam:

There's stuff I just want to say, but I mustn't.

Adam:

I mustn't say a word.

Gary:

Yeah.

Adam:

But no, I'm just gonna say nothing.

Adam:

Yeah.

Gary:

So anyway, that's my thoughts on.

Gary:

And then when we get.

Gary:

When we dive deeper into this religious group that is on the surface, you can see that it's all a bit of a ruse.

Gary:

You know, this whole virus thing that they've developed.

Adam:

Yeah.

Gary:

To falsely keep people there and, and all that stuff.

Gary:

And you can tell that it's more about a power grab than anything else.

Gary:

You know the top dude where we heard in the clip there, played by.

Gary:

Played by Brian Blessed.

Gary:

Yeah.

Gary:

You know, his character Vargas, in reality, he just wants to sort of, you know, bring this religion to other worlds and control them as well and control those people when he comes to an unmucky end.

Gary:

So, yeah, my thoughts on the episode as a whole dude, is it's.

Gary:

I thought it was a good watch.

Gary:

I really enjoyed the, the split storytelling in this one between Blake trying to do his thing down on the planet surface with this, with this religious cult and.

Gary:

And back on the ship, you know, this kind of two in and throwing.

Gary:

Do we wait for him?

Gary:

Do we.

Gary:

Do we scarper and all that stuff?

Gary:

So, yeah, I thought it was.

Gary:

Thought it was a good watch.

Adam:

Do you know, I almost.

Adam:

I almost sigh like a relief when you say you enjoy because.

Adam:

Because, you know, I'm.

Adam:

I'm sort of, to an extent sort of desperate for you to like this show.

Adam:

I feel like I'm sort of walking on a tightrope thinking, oh God, are we gonna get to an episode where he's like, no, I can't.

Adam:

This is.

Adam:

No, no.

Adam:

So style three for three.

Adam:

You've liked all three episodes of series one, which I am delighted about, mate.

Adam:

What I was going to say, actually, kudos to Terry Nation, actually, as, you know, the stuff you were just saying there just makes me realize actually that he, he could often be criticized for, you know, his writing in terms of.

Adam:

He often threw in the same sort of tropes.

Adam:

It could be a bit predictable.

Adam:

He had some sort of fascination with radiation, you know, so Terry Nation was associ often sort of recycling scripts he'd done before.

Adam:

So I'm gonna.

Adam:

Gonna throw Terry some compliments here and.

Adam:

And just listen to what you saying is sort of in for, you know, reinforce this really.

Adam:

Like you said, if you were plotting this out, you would think the obvious thing would be to have this sort of prison, like you said, this, you know, that they're dumped off on.

Adam:

That's what you're expecting.

Adam:

So he actually goes quite small scale.

Adam:

Now, again, the budget might have dictated that, I don't know.

Adam:

But again, it goes in a different direction to what you're expecting.

Adam:

Cygnus Alpha, like you said, is nothing like.

Adam:

I think it's built up to be what you are expecting to see in terms of the world that they are dumped in.

Adam:

But also the writing is good because the characters follow through.

Adam:

You know, it would.

Adam:

Again, it would have been so easy.

Adam:

For once we've got Avon and Blake and Jenna together, they become the good guys.

Adam:

They work as a team.

Adam:

It could have really gone down that very predictable route, couldn't it?

Adam:

They get the Liberator.

Adam:

We've got all these good.

Adam:

You know, they may have been criminals, but they all.

Adam:

They're all good guys.

Adam:

That doesn't happen.

Adam:

They're on the Liberator.

Adam:

Their characters remain consistent.

Adam:

Blake, now that he knows who he was before all the suppressants, go straight back to being, you know, wanting to bring down the Federation and get a team together to do that, he goes straight back to being the character he was.

Adam:

Avon again, consistently, he's looking out for number one.

Adam:

You know, it.

Adam:

When he was on that spaceship, Blake had to talk him into helping him to escape.

Adam:

It was also to benefit each other.

Adam:

But at the end of the day, Avon is.

Adam:

Once he's escaped and, you know, that is done, he's ready to go.

Adam:

You know, he's ready to.

Adam:

He will always be looking out for number one.

Adam:

And that's.

Adam:

That's the thing you're gonna have to watch Avon to see, you know, how far does he take this?

Adam:

Is he gonna at some point become Blake's best mate and are they going to work together to bring down the Federation, or is this friction going to build and will Avon shoot Blake in the back or, you know, again, it's just an unpredictability to Avon's character that is consistent from the first episode where we from the second episode where we first sort of got to see him.

Adam:

And with Jenna, you know, like you said, she's that nice sort of balance between the two.

Adam:

You know, you've got Blake and Avon who are very, very different characters.

Adam:

Jenna in the middle, who's kind of like the.

Adam:

Well, not sort of, would you say pacifier, but she's sort of keeping everything ticking over, you know, like, come on, guys.

Adam:

Yeah, and.

Adam:

But there is an obvious bias towards Blake.

Adam:

You can tell that Jenna, I don't know if she's sort of got a bit of a thing for Blake, I'm not sure.

Adam:

But you feel there's definitely.

Adam:

She cares very much for Blake.

Adam:

You can tell that she will help him any way she can.

Adam:

You know, whatever Blake wants to do next in his plan to bring down the Federation, Jenna will be by his side.

Adam:

But it's very interesting that Avon almost manages to.

Adam:

Well, he actually does to an extent, doesn't he?

Adam:

Manages to sort of convince her to, you know, to see reason like Jenna, Come on, what's the chances of him coming back?

Adam:

Do you want to sit here like a dead duck or do you want to get out of here, be rich in one of the best spaceships in the galaxy.

Adam:

We could rule our own planet.

Adam:

Let's do it.

Adam:

You know, so again, the unpredictability of the character, the way that they are fully formed, you know, they're not just one dimensional characters, they're all very different.

Adam:

And again, it's the unpredictability that I just love about all of them really.

Adam:

But especially Avon, you just don't know what he's going to do next.

Adam:

And I'm curious, when you did get to that scene, mate, and you saw him pull a gun on Blake, you know, when they turn around and he's pointing at him, did you think Avon a turn just for a second, did you think, oh, Avon's going to take over the ship?

Gary:

I did, yeah.

Gary:

I didn't, I didn't think he was going to take over the ship.

Gary:

I thought he was just going to say, you guys do what you want, just drop me off somewhere, you can have the ship, whatever.

Gary:

I just want to, you know, get gone kind of thing.

Gary:

You know what that's, that's the cool thing for me watching it as a, again as a, as a newbie, is that I, it would be very, like you said, it would be very easy for these characters to, to sort of fall in line to, and start to behave as you would expect them to.

Gary:

Because I think TV back in the day, you know, like in the 70s and the 80s and so on.

Gary:

It was very much the eras of kind of the.

Gary:

The.

Gary:

The group mentality and, you know, the.

Gary:

The good guys band together sort of thing.

Gary:

I know this is very early on, but if you fast forward a little bit to the 80s and so on, the majority of TV, especially children's TV as well, it was very much, you know, thinking about things like, I don't know, Knight Rider, the 18.

Gary:

When you fast forward in time a little bit.

Gary:

Yeah, that's all about.

Gary:

The good guys are in it to win it, you know, and then all of like the buddy cop movies from the late 70s and early 80s.

Gary:

And so it would have been really easy, just like you said, for these guys to fall in line and when they get the liberator, to then be like, oh, yeah, we're now the best friends, the good guys and the.

Gary:

The goodies.

Gary:

But Avon very much defies that logic, which is what I love about the suspensefulness of it.

Gary:

Because when he pulls the gun, you're like, oh, crap, is this gonna go, you know, this, this adventure and this team up's over?

Gary:

Gonna.

Gary:

It's gonna be over pretty early.

Gary:

But then he has a little smile on his face and stuff.

Gary:

But then you think, oh, Avon, yeah, you little prankster, you.

Gary:

And then we get to the middle of the episode and he's very serious.

Gary:

He's like, I'm leaving him.

Gary:

Like, basically, Blake's on his own.

Gary:

I'm out of here.

Adam:

I do wonder if Avon was a little bit.

Adam:

If there was a bit of.

Adam:

He was testing the water in that scene.

Adam:

I wonder if he just thought, I'll pull a gun and just see what reaction I get.

Adam:

And then Blake and Jenna kind of just.

Adam:

Well, they don't laugh it off, but they just sort of don't.

Adam:

They sort of go, whatever.

Adam:

You know, they just move away, don't they?

Adam:

They don't play into his.

Adam:

I think he wanted them to react scared, but they don't give him the satisfaction of looking, of giving him the upper hand.

Adam:

And I think that's Avon testing the water a bit just to see.

Adam:

Wonder what they'd do if I pull this gun on them.

Adam:

And I think they know that he's done that to see what their reaction is.

Adam:

But I do love the bit where Blake first teleports down when they're trying to work out the teleport.

Adam:

There's a look in Avon's eye that you almost think he wants this to go wrong, doesn't he?

Adam:

When Blake says, go on.

Adam:

There's only one way we're going to find out whether this thing works.

Adam:

Avon's like, yeah, yeah, get in there, Blake.

Adam:

Let's.

Adam:

Let me press a few buttons.

Adam:

And I hope nothing goes wrong.

Adam:

You can sort of almost see in his face of if it does.

Adam:

You know what?

Adam:

I don't care, because I can't.

Adam:

Blake's kind of annoyed me now.

Adam:

I've got the, you know, I've got the spaceship.

Adam:

So.

Adam:

So I, I think.

Adam:

I don't think he dislikes Blake.

Adam:

I think he's just irritated by him because he knows that the longer he stays with Blake, the more Blake's going to try and get him to be part of his rebellious plan against the Federation.

Adam:

And I think everyone's just like, oh, I'm not interested in that.

Adam:

He's not interested in helping prisoners escape.

Adam:

He's not interested in.

Adam:

In bringing down the Federation.

Adam:

He just wants to be rich and have a quiet life and, you know, and so.

Adam:

Yeah, but I do love that scene.

Adam:

Just.

Adam:

It's just the look in Paul Darrow's eyes, isn't it, that he's like, yeah, I could just press this other button and you'd be gone, you know, So I love all that.

Adam:

I don't know what you're making of anyone so far.

Adam:

We're only three episodes in, but I think he's a very interesting character in terms of the dynamic between him and Blake.

Adam:

And I'm just fascinated to see where you think that relationship and that dynamic is going, even at this early stage.

Adam:

I wonder if you're, you know, what you're thinking is going to happen.

Gary:

I really.

Gary:

I do like Avon.

Gary:

The reason why I like him is because I think Paul Darrow is really good.

Gary:

He's very good as, as playing this character, but in terms of how the character's written, I'm liking the uncertainty of it.

Gary:

It's.

Gary:

It's like.

Gary:

It's like we're being kept on our toes, you know, we're not just falling into a pattern, like, like I've said, you know, with some other shows and stuff, it's not conforming to the sort of the usual pattern that you would see with this type of thing.

Gary:

So I.

Gary:

I love that because I'm thinking to myself, right, when I watch the next episode, Time Squad, I'm.

Gary:

I'm already thinking, is, is Avon going to try and jump ship again?

Gary:

Is he going to, like, under.

Gary:

Is he going to try and underhand Blake in some way and all the rest of it?

Gary:

So I'm already thinking, you know, is.

Gary:

I'm thinking to myself, is Avon going to settle down?

Gary:

Is he going to.

Gary:

Is he going to come to the realization that actually, you know, since.

Gary:

Since we've been with Blake, things haven't been that bad, you know, and actually, Blake does have a good point, you know, and it's.

Gary:

It does mirror Star Wars a little bit in that way that initially, especially if you listen to the old Star wars radio dramas from back in the day by.

Gary:

What's his name, Brian Daly, I think, or Brian Sibley, one of the two.

Gary:

The scenes that fill in around Luke Skywalker at the beginning where his mate Biggs has gone off to the Academy, and he's like, you know.

Gary:

Yeah.

Gary:

And Biggs comes back to visit him and he's like, look, we're going to jump ship and we're going to join the Rebellion.

Gary:

And Luke's like, why know what you're doing?

Gary:

Sort of thing.

Gary:

And he's like, look, Tatooine won't be, you know, free of the.

Gary:

The Empire's grasp.

Gary:

You'll feel it at some point, so you've got to fight.

Gary:

So I'm wondering if, like, Avon's going to come to the same realization where he thinks, like, Blake's actually right.

Gary:

Even if I was to jump ship and go and have a nice Kushti life somewhere, the Federation's going to catch up to me at some point, you know, or the Federation's, you know, there's going to ruin the party at some point.

Gary:

So is it.

Gary:

Is it worth actually mucking in with Blake and.

Gary:

And having a go at these guys and stuff like that?

Gary:

So I'm thinking that Avon's either going to go down that route or he's going to continue to be like, I'm always going to have a foot out the door, you know, I'm going to.

Gary:

Going to muck in a little bit.

Gary:

I'm going to nod and smile and do the right thing, but at the.

Gary:

The earliest opportunity, I'm out of here again, you know, so.

Gary:

So that's.

Gary:

That's what my mind's ticking over with, dude.

Gary:

I've got all this stuff going around in my head around this character.

Gary:

And like I said, Paul Darrow plays him very well.

Gary:

He's got this kind of.

Gary:

I wouldn't say arrogance, but he's got this real confidence about him when he needs it.

Adam:

Yeah.

Gary:

You know, when he's really kicking off at Jenner, he's like, look, basically rich.

Adam:

Or do you want to be dead?

Gary:

Exactly, yeah.

Gary:

Yeah, he's really got the sales pitch down early on, like, you know, so, yeah, I love the character, dude.

Gary:

And it's one of those cool things in the episode where you were kind of flip flopping between Blake being captured by Vargas and.

Gary:

And that, all that stuff kicking off and then you flip back to.

Gary:

To those guys on the Liberator.

Gary:

And also the cool thing, dude, about this episode is that we get to find out a little bit more about the Liberator, right?

Adam:

Yeah, it's a bit like when you explore the tardis to me, you.

Adam:

You get to see a little bit more.

Adam:

And we will get to see a little bit more as well.

Adam:

But yeah, it's nice to explore the ship they're on.

Adam:

It's a fascinating ship, isn't it?

Adam:

And I've always said it's the most beautiful ship in the galaxy.

Adam:

I love the design of the Liberator.

Adam:

So, yeah, I love the fact we get to explore it a little bit in this episode.

Gary:

Yeah, Defo.

Gary:

It's almost like the Liberator is a.

Gary:

And rightly so.

Gary:

It should be a character in its own right within.

Gary:

Within the show.

Gary:

And I'm getting that vibe a lot more, especially in this episode, because in the previous one, when they got the Liberator at the end of.

Gary:

Of space for, it was almost like it was just this nameless ship.

Gary:

Because they didn't call it the Liberator at that point.

Gary:

No, it was this nameless, soulless ship.

Gary:

You know, it was just there as a bit of a carcass and I just boarded it and that was that.

Gary:

In this episode, we get to see.

Gary:

We get to find out the name of the AI computer on board the Liberator, which is Zen.

Adam:

Zen, yeah.

Gary:

And Zen seems to have a little bit of a personality of his own, which is cool.

Gary:

And you can see the.

Gary:

You can see the tension still between Zen and Avon.

Gary:

You know, he's got that kind of Rimmer from Red Dwarf.

Gary:

You know, if anyone's a fan of Red Dwarf, this relationship that Rimmer has with Holly, like, there's loads of lines in Red Dwarf where Rimmer's like, just get on and do it.

Gary:

You jumped up, Filofax.

Gary:

You know, he got this kind of impatient.

Gary:

And Avon seems to have this very similar vibe with Zen at this point in the show anyway, where he's like, look, it's just a machine.

Adam:

It has no feelings.

Gary:

Exactly, yeah.

Gary:

Like, it's not above us.

Gary:

You know, we, we are, we.

Gary:

We've got the ship, we control the ship.

Gary:

It does what we tell it to do.

Gary:

And he gets frustrated when he doesn't answer a couple of questions that they ask it.

Gary:

So you can see, because Avon, I think, is like the.

Gary:

The computer wizard.

Gary:

Right.

Gary:

That's the whole reason why he's here in the first place, because of his knowledge of computers and all that jazz.

Adam:

He says he's going to reprogram it, doesn't he?

Adam:

When he's getting fed up with you, he says, I may have to reprogram that machine.

Gary:

Yeah.

Gary:

So that's cool, the vibe between those two.

Gary:

So we get to find out some cool stuff.

Gary:

But we get the ship's name, of course, which is cool.

Gary:

The AI computer.

Gary:

And also all these cool little things that are helping the crew do what they need to do.

Gary:

So the teleport bracelets.

Adam:

Yeah.

Gary:

And which I assume, by the way, forms a pretty big part of the show, because when I was doing some research with you about what to call this podcast and.

Gary:

And all that stuff, and I did a bunch of research on Blake 7's stuff that came up time and time again was teleport.

Adam:

Yeah.

Gary:

So I'm assuming that the teleport nature of getting on and off the ship to various planets or other ships and so on is going to be a reasonably big part of the show.

Gary:

I could be wrong, but I feel like that's the.

Gary:

That's the thing.

Gary:

So we get those.

Gary:

Then we get these cool sort of little mini hair dryer.

Adam:

Hold the guns.

Gary:

Weapons.

Gary:

The guns.

Gary:

Yeah.

Adam:

So what do they call it?

Adam:

So he says it's something about it being.

Adam:

It's a bit elaborate for a toothpick or something.

Gary:

A toothpick?

Gary:

Yeah.

Adam:

Which they thought was quite.

Gary:

Yeah.

Gary:

So they're kind of cool.

Gary:

So I love that aspect.

Gary:

You know, with a lot of sci fi shows, sometimes the thing is just as cool as the human characters.

Gary:

So in this case it's, you know, whether it's.

Gary:

I don't know, like, we've mentioned Knight Rider.

Gary:

So Kit was always the cool thing.

Adam:

Yeah.

Gary:

In the show it wasn't just about Michael Knight and.

Gary:

And all that stuff and things like that.

Gary:

So the Liberator is that cool thing in the show at this point, as well as the human character.

Gary:

So that was cool, dude.

Gary:

To get a bit of a springboard into what the ship's all about.

Gary:

And it's beautiful.

Gary:

It's a beautiful ship.

Adam:

Oh, it's.

Adam:

The design is gorgeous.

Adam:

And I mean, I love the fact, you see that Zen wasn't even in this episode that much.

Adam:

But you've Instantly got a character there, you know, whether it be Peter Tudman providing the voice or the writing, whatever.

Adam:

It's even in those short few scenes, just the interaction between him and Avon is funny, but you know, that Xen is powerful.

Adam:

You know, again, it's just a.

Adam:

It's just a screen on a.

Adam:

You know, on a set from the 70s, but it's got a character and a personality that has come through.

Adam:

So you've instantly picked up on something to do with Zen, haven't you?

Adam:

You've instantly picked up on, you know, it's quite a fun thing to have in the show.

Adam:

And it's another element that Terry Nation has.

Adam:

Has thrown in there.

Adam:

As for the teleport bracelets, mate, you know what?

Adam:

Again, this.

Adam:

I was saying earlier how many times I've watched this over the years and I'm still seeing new things.

Adam:

I guess it's because I'm really paying attention this time in terms of, like, for making notes and reviewing.

Adam:

But they were.

Adam:

There's a little discussion which has kind of gone over my head when I've watched this in the past, where they talk about.

Adam:

And it's.

Adam:

And it's not too much techno gabble, it's just quite interesting.

Adam:

They talk about what makes the teleport bracelets work.

Adam:

And Avon says he was.

Adam:

I think they said they were trying to.

Adam:

There's a company name mentioned or something like, oh, yes, I was working on that back then when I tried to, you know, get into the computer system.

Adam:

And they talk about this something that's in the bracelets that makes them work.

Adam:

That actually is the sort of, you know, the key ingredient to teleporting.

Adam:

You know, moving one object to, you know, to another place.

Adam:

And again, it's just gone over my head to an hour.

Adam:

And I thought, that's a really cool little thing.

Adam:

Because they explain it like, yeah, they were trying to work on it, where one object would move, but it wouldn't always be there, or when it turned up at the other end, it'd be dead.

Adam:

They hadn't quite figured it out or got it right.

Adam:

So these teleport bases just very quickly are explained in that short little scene of how they actually work.

Adam:

So you get the idea they put the bracelet on, but they have to be wearing the bracelet to be actually teleported.

Adam:

You know, if the bracelet comes off or whatever, that it's got to be connected to them to.

Adam:

To work.

Adam:

And although I can't remember what the first episode was, I saw a Blake 7 because I was really young I think I must have been about five years old because I know that it was in my parents first house.

Adam:

I know that's when I was watching Blake 7 because I was fascinated by the teleport bracelets.

Adam:

And I can remember, don't know if it was my mum's or my dad's, had this little brown leather bracelet that I used to wear and I can absolutely picture myself now, mate, in my parents bedroom in our first house wearing this bracelet.

Adam:

So I must have been about five years old.

Adam:

So again, when I try and think about what it is about these shows that drew me in at such a young age and why I've loved them for so long, you know, it's little things like that.

Adam:

Something like with Doctor who, the TARDIS shrinking in the.

Adam:

Is one of my first memories.

Adam:

Something about the TARDIS fascinated me and the fact it was bigger on the Inside with Blake 7, it's things like teleport bracelets and Zen and all these little things that just come together to make the show quite unique in a way.

Adam:

I know we get sort of in Star Trek they, they do the same sort of thing where they break down the molecules and you know, transport stuff.

Adam:

Yeah, okay, but you know what I mean, it's stuff like the bracelet though, because as I said as a kid, I just loved, you know, I wanted a teleport bracelet and the closest I could find was this little bracelet that my parents had that I used to wear, you know, I mean, but it's stuff like that, that as a kid you.

Adam:

A bit like with Doctor who now you want a sonic screwdriver.

Adam:

You know, it's, it's, it's just something that connects you to the show and just finally, I know anybody who, who has watched Blake 7 over the years will love that first shot, mate.

Adam:

You know, when we see the rack of teleport bracelets and there's loads of them, so it's become a bit of a sort of running gag.

Adam:

You'll notice over the very, very quickly those bracelets go down in numbers.

Adam:

I think the next time we see the rack, there's about six in there.

Adam:

Matt Irvine always says, yeah, you know, trying to blooming keep those, that rack full because people, actors would go home forgetting they'd got them on.

Adam:

People would steal them, they'd get broken, you know, I mean, Brian, blessed crushes too.

Adam:

Just in this episode alone, or maybe three, he said, you know, the amount of bracelets we lost.

Adam:

By the end of the series, we had about three.

Adam:

And we're trying to share around and he said, you know, we have to sort of keep making up cheap knockoff versions of them out of, you know, Sellotape rolls and stuff, just, you know, hoping no one would notice because they just, just went missing.

Adam:

So.

Adam:

Fans of the show always love that first shot, mate, because it's just like, it's pretty much the only time you see a full rack of those gorgeous teleport bracelets, you'll notice it.

Adam:

I think even in, in about three or four episodes time, you'll notice that half of them have gone missing.

Adam:

So keep an eye out for that.

Adam:

But, yeah, but anyway, I love, just love the teleport bracelet.

Adam:

So I do now own one.

Adam:

All these years later, I've.

Adam:

I've got one, but it took a long time.

Gary:

Now they're cool, aren't they?

Gary:

They're a cool.

Gary:

Because in.

Gary:

Even in like the most human part of a science fiction show where you've got all the, you know, you know, at its essence, the show is this human sort of struggle.

Gary:

You know, you've got the.

Gary:

What's it called, the sort of dictatorship of the Federation and all that stuff going on, and then you've got this very human aspect of wanting to fight back and so on.

Gary:

But alongside that, it is a science fiction show.

Gary:

So you do need these cool, sort of techie, geeky sort of things going on as well, because, you know, that's the, that's the kind of viewership that they're after, I guess, that they were after back at, you know, back in the day.

Gary:

And the, the teleport bracelets are very cool, I think, what you're referring to.

Gary:

So the, the, the way that they explain that little setup with the scene with Avon thinking that maybe something's going to go wrong.

Gary:

So when they test it out on Blake and I think he's got that little kind of this could go wrong.

Gary:

So sort of thing I think they're talking about.

Gary:

Avon and coincidentally, Blake were working independently on the same wider project of turning a special alloy called aquitar.

Adam:

That's it, Akratar.

Gary:

Yeah, yeah.

Gary:

Into.

Gary:

Into this sort of malleable alloy that enables you to be your molecules, to be, you know, transcended in from one point in space to another and stuff like that.

Gary:

And, and they kind of set it up as in, like, this could fail.

Gary:

This could be the last time that we see Blake.

Gary:

And, and that's what I think prompted the whole Avon with that sort of semi grin on his face, like, this could go horribly wrong.

Gary:

I hope not.

Gary:

Hope not.

Gary:

But, yeah, the bracelets are gone.

Gary:

What's also cool is that they double up on like a Star Trek esque kind of communicator as well.

Gary:

Yeah, you know, the sort of.

Gary:

You look, you bring your wrist up and you touch something and it's the.

Gary:

Yeah, so it's a very cool little tool.

Gary:

And I can see what you mean about.

Gary:

Now that you've said that.

Gary:

I can just imagine Blake, seven fans laughing as the show went on, looking at the teleport bracelets.

Gary:

There's only been like three in there.

Adam:

Yeah.

Gary:

And there should be like 20 or something.

Gary:

But yeah, that's funny.

Adam:

We just love that shot, mate.

Adam:

We all just like, ah, look at them all.

Adam:

Yeah, before they all, before they all got stolen or dropped or broken.

Adam:

Yeah.

Gary:

Oh, so actually let's move on a little bit.

Gary:

So the, yeah, so the stuff aboard the Liberator, the sort of push and pull flip flopping thing between those guys and, and Jenna being stuck in the middle almost.

Gary:

Although she does have a little bit of a cutthroat bit about her as well.

Gary:

At some point she does jump on board with Avon.

Gary:

She's like, yeah, cool.

Gary:

With the condition that she'll give Blake the amount of time that he said he needed.

Gary:

So that was.

Gary:

So that was cool.

Gary:

But let's talk about stuff that happened down on the planet surface then.

Adam:

Could I just.

Adam:

Before you go to that, can I just.

Adam:

Just because it ties in what you just said about Jenna, just to quickly wrap up on that whole thing with her and Avon.

Adam:

Again, a scene that's kind of gone over my head a little bit before now.

Adam:

But there's a, there's a, a line that she comes out with which I've never really picked up on before, or at least I've never taken it the way that I think it was intended.

Adam:

Which is when she turns to Avon and says, could you ever kill someone face to face?

Adam:

Now, I've always just assumed she's just saying, you know, as you do, just chat, have you ever killed anyone?

Adam:

But actually today when I was watching, I think she's almost letting Avon know, don't underestimate me.

Adam:

Like, I could might kill you.

Adam:

I might decide I want all this jewel to myself.

Adam:

Do you know?

Adam:

I mean, it was, it was the way she said it that I actually thought, yeah, I think she's giving over because he sort of pulls her face a bit like, oh, all right then.

Adam:

You know, I think it's just her letting him know I'm not a pushover, mate.

Adam:

Like if I do decide to to dump Blake.

Adam:

Don't think, you know, I'll be next or whatever because I'm quite prepared to stick up for myself.

Adam:

I don't know.

Adam:

Just wondered if you picked up on that line.

Adam:

Yes, I've never noticed it before, to be honest with you.

Gary:

No, I did.

Gary:

Yeah.

Gary:

It shows a sort of out of character, show of strength for the female character.

Gary:

And what I mean by out of character in general is because back in the 70s there wasn't quite as much of a push for sort of strong female characters.

Gary:

And I'm sorry to bring this up again and it'll probably come up a few more times as we go through these seasons, but I think we have characters like Princess Leia to thank for this sort of thing where.

Gary:

So as we mentioned, you know, Star wars had landed the year before Blake 7 launched.

Adam:

Yeah.

Gary:

And so, you know, that's the strength of a main female lead would have trickled down throughout the, the kind of the, the writer's sphere, if you like.

Gary:

Whoever was writing science fiction after seeing mainstream strong female characters would have definitely picked up on that.

Adam:

Yeah.

Gary:

And, and so Jenna, you can see that.

Gary:

Yes.

Gary:

You know, we haven't got equality back at this point in the 70s, it was still very male dominated industry in terms of behind the scenes and in front of the camera.

Gary:

However, you can see that Terry Nation and, and Chris Belshaw are very much, I'm assuming anyway, they were very much like, well, Jenna's not a pushover.

Gary:

Absolutely not.

Gary:

So yes, we'll, we can have the character fall in line.

Gary:

I don't mean fall in line, but we can have a sort of agree with Blake when, when needed and, and, and show some affection a little bit there and follow him and so on.

Gary:

But make no mistake, as you said, she's not a pushover.

Gary:

She is a strong, a strong female character.

Gary:

And what I love about her character actually just before we move on is that that was apparent right from the get go at the end of the way back when Blake gets taken to the prison cells, the holding cells, and we meet Jenna and, and Villa for the first time.

Gary:

She is not messing around.

Adam:

Yeah.

Gary:

You know, she's not some sort of damsel in distress or she's any, anything but, you know, she's a, she's a strong one.

Gary:

So.

Gary:

Yeah, I totally see what you're saying, dude.

Gary:

And that line was good.

Adam:

I think she's just keeping Avon in his place there, you know, like, don't.

Adam:

Yeah, don't underestimate me.

Gary:

Defo.

Gary:

Okay, so moving on to let's close out with what was happening on the planet surface then, which was.

Gary:

Yeah.

Gary:

So as mentioned, a complete, you know, a completely unexpected thing for me.

Gary:

I thought, as I mentioned earlier, I was.

Gary:

Imagine a big planet sized.

Gary:

I was expecting something like, what is it in Harry Potter, you know, the prison that they send wizards to?

Gary:

Like this huge, massive place that's, you know, dedicated just for those guys.

Gary:

Comment what it's called, but I don't.

Adam:

Know, I'm not a Potter fan.

Gary:

I was expecting that, mate.

Gary:

And then.

Gary:

Yeah, so just having the.

Gary:

This desolate wasteland with.

Gary:

With.

Gary:

With people just mucking around and trying to survive and stuff.

Gary:

And then as the clip I played to you with Vargas giving that big speech to Blake where he basically.

Gary:

Because Blake kind of knows already what, what the.

Gary:

He's.

Gary:

He's got his number.

Gary:

So.

Gary:

So Blake knows that there really isn't this, you know, this Cygnus God, you know, that they're all.

Gary:

They're all praying.

Gary:

So he knows that it's.

Gary:

He can see through it.

Gary:

And then the guy basically says to Varga, says to him, look, my great great grandfather or whatever started this religion.

Gary:

He started it as a way of keeping people in some kind of structure.

Gary:

And Blake, you know, because he knew, because he basically said, look, what are you talking about?

Gary:

You know, the first people on this planet were when the Federation sent the first prisoners, you know, however many years ago.

Gary:

So he's like, oh yeah, oh yeah.

Gary:

Oh no, no, no, no, no.

Gary:

What I meant was, you know, why my great great grandfather started all this.

Gary:

So we have this.

Gary:

We have this sort of religious group, this religious following that have been kept in line.

Gary:

And we find out later on that Vargas is just a bit of a bad.

Gary:

A bad seed, a bad egg.

Gary:

Because it's.

Gary:

It's very clear that it's not about the people in the religious group at all.

Gary:

It's about him maintaining control.

Gary:

And he does that via fear, basically.

Gary:

He keeps.

Adam:

Yeah.

Gary:

You know, he scares people into thinking that they've contracted this virus of some sort, the Cygnus virus.

Gary:

And without his medicine, without his sort of thing that they have to give now for the rest of their lives, they'll just die.

Gary:

So that's how he's.

Gary:

He's got them to fall in line.

Gary:

So a real darkness to the episode with that stuff.

Adam:

Yeah.

Adam:

Like seven often has this little dark undercurrent going through it.

Adam:

I think you'll notice that as we go on.

Gary:

Dude, defo.

Gary:

Like we mentioned this, I mentioned this at the.

Gary:

Our review of.

Gary:

Of the Way Back where I was like, it's, it's a much darker show than something like Doctor who or.

Gary:

Yeah, some of the other sci fi stuff that was on around there.

Gary:

So that was a real dark moment for this one where, you know, this.

Gary:

We've gone from one suppressive overlord or over seeing people to another.

Gary:

Basically we've come from Blake being suppressed by the Federation and the Federation, you know, keeping the planet and the city in line with all the suppressant drugs and everything.

Gary:

All we've done is just shifted location and now we've got another person who is also keeping a bunch of people suppressed and, and controlled and so on.

Gary:

So that seems to be Terry Nation's kind of push for at least this first series, at least in my opinion, is that it's all about control, control and suppression and, and all this stuff.

Gary:

So.

Gary:

And mate, we'll say it probably a bunch of times, but frickin hell.

Gary:

Like Terry Nation was on one when he put, when he conceived this show and put it together this first series at least.

Gary:

Like, I'm just loving the fact that.

Gary:

How do I put it, dude?

Gary:

How do I say this?

Gary:

Like, to me, the work that he did on Doctor who with the Daleks and everything seemed to be very, seem to be very aimed at the kids.

Gary:

Part of Doctor who might get a lot of backlash for that, I'm not sure.

Gary:

It does have some.

Adam:

I know you mean.

Adam:

Yeah, what you're getting at.

Gary:

Yeah, it does have the, it does have some maturity there.

Gary:

The whole Daleks thing with the, the Khaled's and you know, being turned into, you know, these thoughtless or, sorry, these emotionless creatures and so on.

Gary:

So there is some darkness and maturity there.

Gary:

But for Blake 7, it's like he really, he just really understood exactly what he was trying to, the story he was trying to tell and didn't hold back in a lot of ways.

Gary:

So although a lot of it is not on the nose, you know, you don't see people being whipped and, and, and, and all that sort of thing.

Adam:

Well, not yet.

Gary:

Well, not yet.

Gary:

But you know, what I'm trying to say, like the theme, so the theme in the way back was the Federation doing that to the citizens of, of the, of the domed city that they were in.

Gary:

When we go on to the next episode, Space Fall, it's about the guy, Raker, who is using, you know, violence and fear and stuff like that to keep the prisoners in line.

Gary:

You know that scene where he starts to execute them.

Adam:

Yeah.

Gary:

You know, so that's another character who's using his influence and his force to control people.

Gary:

And now we fast forward to episode three.

Gary:

We've got another character doing exactly the same thing.

Gary:

So you can see that Terry Nation's theme running through this first series was absolute control, and what will it take for somebody to uprise and take that control away and.

Gary:

And.

Gary:

And do that?

Gary:

So, mate, freaking, like, from a storytelling point of view, I'm absolutely loving that.

Adam:

Part of it, because I think that's the thing a lot of people often say when I say about Blake 7, I'll say, oh, no, it's too dark.

Adam:

I can't get into it.

Adam:

I think, yeah, it does have dark elements.

Adam:

You know, there are storylines that.

Adam:

That do go, you know, down a dark route, but there's also a lot of humor in it and great dialogue.

Adam:

And I think you'll agree, mate, even though you're only three eps in great characters.

Adam:

And that's what I always say to people.

Adam:

The thing I love about Blake 7 is the characters, and we haven't even met some yet.

Adam:

You've got some great characters coming up who will be series regulars, you know, so, yeah, I absolutely get what you're saying.

Adam:

Terry Nation, I think with this, he's got.

Adam:

He kind of knows where he's going with it.

Adam:

I'd love to know how much he plotted out for this first series, because I think series one is really good.

Adam:

Not to jump ahead, but it very much is.

Adam:

Each episode is kind of giving us something new until we get to the end of it, and then we're in a place where, you know, again, not to give too much away, but it seems to me like it's quite well plotted out in terms of introducing the characters, building up Blake's seven, building up his crew, and all the other things that he throws in, which obviously I'm not going to talk about yet.

Adam:

So it seems to me like it's quite well plotted out series one.

Adam:

You know, a bit like with Doctor who, when we have a story arc and you think, oh, okay, they sort of put little bits in each episode for us to pick up on.

Adam:

I get that impression with series one, but having heard what Terry Nation was like in terms of delivering scripts, and again, he sometimes gets accused of being a bit lazy, I think more with Doctor who than anything else, you know, oh, yeah, he delivered a script.

Adam:

It was half finished.

Adam:

You know, Terrence Dix had to sort of step in and bring it up to scratch or whatever.

Adam:

I'm.

Adam:

I'm just.

Adam:

I'm not saying that's what happened?

Adam:

Maybe it wasn't Terrence Dix, but you know what?

Adam:

You get the.

Adam:

You get what?

Adam:

The point I'm trying to make.

Adam:

So with Blake 7, it seems to me like he had a very sort of firm idea, and it seemed to me that, like, he had ideas for what he wanted in each episode so that it all comes together by the time you get to the end of series one, if you see what I mean.

Adam:

But I would love to know if that is actually the case or whether, knowing what I've heard about Terry Nation as a writer, whether he was kind of just, for want of a better phrase, making it up as he went along, but it all kind of works, you know, I just would love to know how much of what's coming up he actually purposely plotted and decided he was going to do.

Adam:

And I'll probably talk about this when we get to the end of episode.

Adam:

End of series one, because I guess it makes sense, but.

Adam:

Yeah, it does.

Adam:

Even just watch his early episodes, it's just everything's building.

Adam:

The tension between the characters, you know, the chemistry between them, the characters that have been introduced, the people that are being selected to survive, who are joining Blake.

Adam:

The computer.

Adam:

We get introduced to the computer on board the spaceship in episode three.

Adam:

You know, I mean, he's just slowly adding bits to the.

Adam:

To the painting, if you like, just slowly building it up.

Adam:

And I think it really does flourish as the series goes on.

Adam:

So.

Adam:

But I'll talk about more of that, obviously, when we get to the end of it, but I'd love to know how much he actually plotted this out and how much it just.

Adam:

Not even luck, but how much it just kind of all came together by the end of it.

Gary:

Yeah.

Gary:

To be a fly on the wall back in those early writing days and putting that all together, because thematically, what I'm seeing so far as a.

Gary:

As a fresh one, as a freshman on Blake 7 is that it's consistently.

Gary:

It's got a consistent theme running through it.

Gary:

So I can see that Terry Nation or a combination of Terry Nation.

Gary:

But perhaps David Maloney was the producer on his first series.

Gary:

Perhaps, you know, it's a team effort.

Gary:

Maybe.

Gary:

I'm not sure.

Gary:

But, yeah, there's definitely a running theme so far.

Gary:

And the characters that you mentioned, as well as we go through the series, it's like a setup.

Gary:

You know, we're introduced to these characters who are either joining Blake's crew or people that they're up against.

Gary:

A couple of characters I do want to pick up on, which were which seem to be a pretty funny tag team at the moment is Gan and Villa.

Gary:

Yeah, so, yeah, so, yeah, so.

Gary:

So Villa, Michael Keating, he absolutely got the memo right on this type of character.

Gary:

He's got this very humorous, save your own skin, doesn't want to get his hands dirty.

Gary:

It's a little bit of a scaredy cat kind of character.

Gary:

It's very funny.

Gary:

Then you've got Gan who's like the big, you know, he's not like this big towering, you know, he's not like.

Gary:

But he's clearly the muscle, right?

Gary:

And he's clearly the, the, the, the physically strong guy of, of, of the group, right?

Adam:

Yeah.

Gary:

So he kind of leads the, the group off into the, into the, the wasteland and gets, he gets a little kiss, gets a little kiss from Kara.

Adam:

Yeah.

Gary:

And she's like the priestess, isn't she?

Gary:

Of, of this little religious group and, and then they get taken care, they get captured.

Gary:

But, but those two characters play off very nicely together.

Gary:

So even right up to the point where they had that big scrap, you know, the big fight scene at the end, which is very cool with the, the other religious people.

Adam:

And you said about Villa keeping his hands clean.

Adam:

But yeah, there's a scene where he's, he's sort of stabbed someone in order to save Blake.

Adam:

And he's just stood there looking shocked, isn't he?

Adam:

Stood there with a bloodied knife as if, like, oh my God, what have I just done?

Adam:

I mean, I'm assuming Villa's never killed anyone.

Adam:

And it's almost, you know, again, it's just, it just shows the side to his character.

Adam:

Like he's not a killer.

Adam:

He's, for want of a better word, a coward.

Adam:

But he's had to step up to the plate, you know, because Blake's gonna get murdered otherwise.

Adam:

So.

Adam:

Yeah, he does when he has to.

Adam:

He's, he, he does get stuck into Z Villa.

Gary:

He did at the end.

Gary:

Yeah, that fight scene, he's, he's very reluctant.

Gary:

Like I think it's, it was one of those scenes again where it was almost like Blake had to step in and, and get everybody's head on.

Gary:

Right?

Gary:

Because I think they were just like accepting their fate almost.

Adam:

They almost turn on him, don't they?

Adam:

They're like, this is your fault.

Adam:

You know, we're not going to get the drugs now.

Adam:

They're almost like again, sort of selfishly just like blaming Blake, like, no, thanks for coming to rescue us.

Adam:

Just what are you doing here?

Adam:

You know, you've ruined everything.

Gary:

Yeah, you're absolutely right.

Gary:

It's.

Gary:

They'd almost accepted the fact that they were going to die there.

Adam:

Yeah.

Gary:

And if they weren't going to die there, they would die very shortly afterwards if they left because they'd bought into this whole disease thing that they had supposedly contracted.

Gary:

And so Blake almost steps in.

Gary:

He's like.

Gary:

And you can totally see his point as well because you almost want to shout the same thing at the tv.

Gary:

It's, you know, it's almost like, what are you lot doing?

Gary:

You have the opportunity to get the heck out of here and you just sat around, you know, feeling sorry for yourselves.

Gary:

You've accepted your fate and Blake gives them, you know, he rolls him up a little bit, which is cool.

Gary:

And.

Gary:

But Gan's character was.

Gary:

I wonder if there was more screen time on.

Gary:

On Cygnus.

Gary:

On Cygnus Elf, if there would have been any more progression with him and that Kara character.

Gary:

Because I never understood why she kisses him.

Adam:

No, I don't either, to be fair.

Gary:

Seems kind of weird.

Gary:

I'm on one hand, I think is she doing it because she just wants to put his defenses down straight away, you know, or is there any sort of immediate, you know, seems unlikely, but is there like an immediate attraction there, or.

Gary:

I'm not really sure, but it felt to me like she kissed him because she wanted him to just be a complete ease and, you know, not.

Gary:

You know what I mean?

Adam:

Yeah, now you mentioned it, it does feel like that was a story thread that didn't go anywhere.

Adam:

Like an idea, but then it didn't have any sort of payoff because it's almost like he's the chosen one, isn't it?

Adam:

You almost feel like, oh, is he going to be.

Adam:

Not to bring Star wars into this game, but is he going to be like 3 PO when he's taken by the Ewoks and put in the chair because they think he's a God?

Adam:

You know, you sort of get the impression that she, for some reason she singled out Gan and that that's gonna, you know, go somewhere like he's gonna marry her and then, I don't know.

Adam:

But yeah, it's.

Adam:

It's a funny bit that makes.

Adam:

Nothing happens with it.

Adam:

I don't know, it's a shame about Cara as well, because again, you feel like, I mean, Pamela Salem, great actress, you know, Doctor who, found to recognize her.

Adam:

She's been in Doctor who a few times.

Adam:

Robots are deaf.

Adam:

And remembers the Dalek.

Adam:

She's a great actor, but she again, doesn't really get anything to do as Cara.

Adam:

So I feel that.

Adam:

I agree with you.

Adam:

I feel there was more sort of planned or.

Adam:

I don't know if stuff was edited out, but it does feel like car is a bit wasted and the stuff again goes nowhere.

Adam:

But it could just be like you said, maybe she just took a shine to it.

Adam:

Maybe there wasn't more to it.

Adam:

Maybe Gan's like, hey up, I'm gonna be, you know, me and Cara.

Adam:

But never actually happens.

Adam:

She gets a spear.

Adam:

She gets speared.

Adam:

Don't you.

Adam:

So she's a goner.

Gary:

Exactly.

Gary:

That's what I was going to say.

Gary:

She.

Gary:

She warned him.

Gary:

She.

Gary:

Even though she's not on their side, so to speak, he's about to get a spear to the face or something and she.

Gary:

She warns him.

Adam:

Yeah.

Gary:

So.

Gary:

And saves his life.

Gary:

And then, you know, ultimately, accidentally, she gets speared and dies.

Gary:

So I wonder if they're.

Gary:

If there was more screen time, whether there was something there, because she clearly.

Gary:

Yeah, it's got an affection for him at some point.

Gary:

It's just that the.

Gary:

That was never fleshed out.

Gary:

So I'm just guessing if that was a, you know, something.

Gary:

Something that would have developed.

Gary:

Not sure, but.

Adam:

No, I'm not sure.

Adam:

This is when.

Adam:

It's times like this when I wish.

Adam:

There are 2 Blake 7 books that have just been released.

Adam:

They're unofficial production diary books, which I would love to get.

Adam:

They.

Adam:

Although they're unofficial, they're meant to be brilliant.

Adam:

They go into lots of detail.

Adam:

They're quite expensive.

Adam:

One day I will get my hands on them.

Adam:

Anybody listening who's got them?

Adam:

I'm sure you'd.

Adam:

You know, I've just heard that these books are like Blake seven's fans.

Adam:

You know, they're like, go.

Adam:

You know, a dream book.

Adam:

Because it probably goes into all of this detail.

Adam:

So if anyone's got those books and they mention any of that in terms of what was cut or if there is anything to do with that storyline, I would be interested because I'm sure there is more going on.

Adam:

I mean, there's a lot going on in this episode anyway, isn't there?

Adam:

But you do feel like there's a few strands like that that were thrown in, but sort of go nowhere.

Gary:

Yeah.

Gary:

Yes.

Gary:

But game was.

Gary:

Was good in this, though.

Gary:

You can see for a big guy who's just visually, I think, meant to be the.

Gary:

The big strong one, the muscle, like the little John, you know, of the group, he's got a big heart, it seems.

Gary:

Yeah.

Gary:

Because it doesn't take much for him to realize what Blake's saying to him.

Gary:

At first, he resists, and then Blake's like, no, no, no, no.

Gary:

You know, don't worry.

Gary:

We can.

Gary:

I've got these bracelets, snap of the fingers, we're out of here sort of thing, and, you know, we can.

Gary:

We can do the thing.

Gary:

He's like, ah, go on, and it's worth a try.

Gary:

Yeah, let's.

Gary:

Let's.

Gary:

I'm up for it.

Gary:

So.

Gary:

And then conversely, you've got Villa, who's just like.

Gary:

He doesn't even want to leave the little bit where they boot him off of the ship, you know, before they go to the wasteland.

Gary:

He's just happy just to chill there, even though there's nothing there.

Gary:

He's just.

Gary:

He doesn't want to leave.

Gary:

And.

Gary:

And, yeah, it's just.

Gary:

He's just so funny to me right now.

Gary:

And.

Gary:

But what's cool about him, though, is, like you said, you absolutely nailed it when the time comes.

Gary:

He did get his.

Gary:

He did muck in and.

Gary:

And get stuck into that fight scene, which is good.

Adam:

I can't say too much, mate, but all I can say is there's a lot of fun stuff to come with Villa as a character.

Adam:

He.

Adam:

He's great in this, but he's.

Adam:

He really blossoms.

Adam:

Yeah, but you've already kind of got the character that he is.

Adam:

But it.

Adam:

It does as the series goes on, mate, he's brilliant.

Adam:

Yeah.

Gary:

Yeah.

Gary:

That book you're talking about, by the way, I think it's called Maximum Power An Auton guide to Blake 7 the unauthorized guide to all 64 episodes.

Gary:

Is that it?

Adam:

No, no, that's not it, mate.

Adam:

No, that's not it.

Gary:

It's 150 quid.

Adam:

No, no, no.

Adam:

The book I'm on about is about 50 quid.

Adam:

No, I think it's just called the Blake 7 production diary.

Adam:

And it's.

Adam:

As I said, it's an unofficial.

Adam:

I think some fans of the show put it together, but it looks fantastic.

Adam:

And I.

Adam:

I've had my eye on it for a while.

Adam:

I cannot think of the.

Adam:

The website that you can get it from, but it.

Adam:

Yeah, it just looks incredible.

Gary:

Okay.

Gary:

There is a book called Blake seven A Critical Guide to Series one to Four.

Gary:

I don't know.

Gary:

Anyway, there's, like, one thing I will say, though, if you're a Blake 7 author, you're making some beans, because I'm every single.

Gary:

With the bar.

Gary:

A few of them.

Gary:

Most of the books that I've researched that I want to pick up they're not cheap.

Adam:

No, they're not.

Adam:

No.

Adam:

That's what I mean is none of them are cheap.

Adam:

But, yeah.

Adam:

Now, these are big, glossy, big glossy hardbacks, and I've seen a few people post pictures of them because I think they're printed on demand, maybe, or something like that.

Gary:

Yeah, dude, this is a big hardback, glossy book.

Adam:

It.

Adam:

No, it's not.

Adam:

Trust me, it's not that one.

Adam:

Okay, I'll look.

Adam:

I'll look into it.

Adam:

I'll let you know.

Adam:

Because as I said, I.

Adam:

I've.

Adam:

I follow the company on Twitter and they're always posting about it.

Adam:

And Series B has just come out as the next.

Adam:

They've just finished doing Series B as the new, you know, the next book.

Adam:

And they're big old chunky books.

Adam:

They put a lot of work into it.

Adam:

They look like, yeah, I'm gonna have to get them at some point, but they're about 50 or 60 quid.

Adam:

They're not cheap.

Adam:

I did ask Santa for it, but he obviously didn't get the memo this year.

Adam:

But I will get them at some point.

Gary:

They look great, dude, I found them.

Adam:

Have you got it?

Adam:

What's the company called?

Adam:

Because it's driving me mad.

Gary:

I think it's called Cult Edge.

Adam:

That's it.

Gary:

Yes.

Adam:

I knew as soon as you said it.

Adam:

Yeah.

Adam:

Colt Edge.

Gary:

Yep.

Gary:

And these look great.

Adam:

I watched an unboxing of one on.

Adam:

On YouTube and I was literally drooling.

Adam:

I was like, I want it, but they're not cheaper.

Adam:

But, yeah, I will treat myself at some point.

Gary:

Oh, mate, that looks cool.

Adam:

Yeah, hold on.

Gary:

There's a.

Gary:

There's a Blake 7 magazine.

Adam:

Yes.

Adam:

They bring you back the magazine as well.

Adam:

This is what I mean.

Adam:

These guys sound amazing.

Adam:

Yeah, they've really.

Adam:

They're obviously fans, you know, proper sort of fans that just want to bring all this stuff back.

Adam:

And, yes, I may have to get that magazine as well.

Adam:

That's what I mean.

Adam:

This is the thing now, mate.

Adam:

Now you've got.

Adam:

Now you've got the Blake 7 bug.

Adam:

You're going to be wanting all this stuff just like me.

Adam:

And it's bad enough being a Doctor who fan trying to collect it all.

Adam:

So, yeah, that's it.

Adam:

You're in the deep end now, mate.

Adam:

Straight away.

Gary:

Oh, dude, this is on.

Gary:

This is.

Gary:

This is unthinkable.

Adam:

I know, because don't torture yourself.

Adam:

I do it all the time.

Adam:

I open the web page, I'm like, oh, should I just put it on the credit card, shall I?

Adam:

And I'm like, no, I mustn't.

Gary:

You mustn't?

Adam:

I will at some point.

Adam:

I'm gonna get it.

Gary:

But, dude, this is not good because the Blake 7 magazine by these guys is already issue 24.

Adam:

Is it?

Gary:

So that means we'll have to spend loads of money now to go and get the other 23 episodes.

Adam:

Oh, they might have just been.

Adam:

Hang on.

Adam:

I.

Adam:

I might be wrong saying this.

Adam:

It could just be that because originally we used to have a Blake Silver magazine.

Adam:

It might have been that it stopped at issue 23 back in the 90s and they are now bringing it back.

Adam:

Oh, yeah.

Adam:

I might be wrong saying that, but.

Gary:

Yeah, no, mate, no, you're right.

Gary:

So B7 magazine, issue 24, a brand new issue, 41 years after the last one.

Adam:

There you go.

Adam:

41 years.

Gary:

Crikey.

Adam:

Oh, mate, I didn't realize I was so old.

Gary:

Do you feel old now?

Adam:

Oh, yeah, that's.

Adam:

That's brought it home.

Gary:

Oh, dude.

Gary:

This production diary, though, Series A.

Gary:

Oh, hardcover.

Gary:

This looks bloody gorgeous.

Adam:

They were gonna.

Adam:

They did say it was going to go out of print.

Adam:

They were like, with, you know, it's been available and I think money goes towards charity as well.

Adam:

I think it's a charity book.

Adam:

And they were like, yeah, we've, you know, series B production diaries coming out, so we'll be retiring series A, so if you want to get it, get it now.

Adam:

And there were so many people like me were like, no, no, I can't afford it yet.

Adam:

Please, please don't put it out of print.

Adam:

That they said, all right, then we'll just leave it on the website and you can, you know, but at some point it may go.

Adam:

So, yeah, my advice would be, if you want it, get it sooner rather than later.

Adam:

Yeah.

Gary:

Crikey, Moses.

Adam:

I know.

Adam:

Oh, I'll have to send you the unboxing video, mate.

Adam:

Honestly.

Adam:

Yeah.

Gary:

Anyway, can't think about that now.

Adam:

Right.

Adam:

No, no, Back to.

Adam:

Back to Cygnus Alpha.

Gary:

Back to Cygnus Alpha.

Adam:

Yeah.

Gary:

Yeah.

Gary:

So Gan, really cool in this villa.

Gary:

Really cool, but for different reason.

Gary:

Cara, quite quiet, only in it for a few scenes, but can see that she's kind of very much bought into the whole religious thing.

Gary:

Yeah, she's very much following Vargas and.

Gary:

And that guy.

Gary:

Just before we move on to Vargas to close out, actually, no, we need to speak about Blake very quickly.

Gary:

But we also see another appearance of Leland and Arctics, the remaining crew of the London, at the beginning.

Gary:

So they make a return appearance at the beginning.

Gary:

Just absolutely fed up.

Gary:

You can see that Leland's just had it.

Adam:

Yeah.

Adam:

He's deflated, isn't he?

Gary:

Yeah.

Gary:

He's like, you know, we went through this whole thing with the mutiny months ago.

Gary:

It's been eight months since then, and.

Gary:

And now we're finally here.

Gary:

And then Arctix is like, ah, right, lovely.

Gary:

Wouldn't mind stretching the old legs now that we've landed.

Gary:

Leland's like, not a chance, mate.

Gary:

I want the prisoners off in 20 minutes and we blast off in half an hour sort of thing.

Gary:

He's like, what?

Gary:

He's like, yeah.

Gary:

And you can just see.

Gary:

Just.

Gary:

Do you know what it's like when you go on holiday somewhere or you're on a night out and all you want to do is snap your fingers and be in your own bed?

Gary:

You don't want to have to travel back home.

Gary:

You don't want to have to do all that rubbish.

Gary:

You just want to be back in your own bed.

Gary:

That's exactly what Leland's like at this point.

Gary:

He's fed up.

Gary:

He's like, I just want to go home.

Gary:

So pretty cool that they brought him back just for that opening bit, because it does provide a nice bit of continuation from the.

Gary:

The previous episode.

Gary:

So that's cool.

Adam:

It does.

Adam:

Even Artics is a bit narky, isn't he?

Adam:

They're both, like you said, they're both fed up.

Adam:

I.

Adam:

I wonder if they filmed.

Adam:

Because they're only in that tiny bit, the beginning.

Adam:

And it's.

Adam:

It's weird because you said last week on the last episode, oh, I wonder if we'll see Leyland again.

Adam:

Maybe he's a recurring character.

Adam:

And I.

Adam:

And I was thinking, no, I don't think we do.

Adam:

And then he popped up within the first sort of minute of this, and, oh, yeah, he's back.

Adam:

But they are literally only in the start.

Adam:

And I.

Adam:

I'm gonna guess that they filmed that at the same time as the other stuff.

Adam:

I don't think they would have brought them back just for that little scene at the start, because it's a bit like a recap, isn't it?

Adam:

We get like, he files the report and then we get a little recap.

Adam:

And I'm assuming that for the benefit of viewers that maybe hadn't watched the first two but had heard that, oh, Blake, seven's a good show.

Adam:

Should give it a watch.

Adam:

It's.

Adam:

I don't know.

Adam:

I feel that's for the viewers to just bring them up to speed of where we are.

Adam:

But it's nicely done because they play the Report while showing the sort of new images and stuff.

Adam:

It's, it's quite nicely done.

Adam:

The recap, I have to say, you don't sit there and think, oh, this is Fiddler, isn't it?

Adam:

Come on, get on with the story.

Adam:

It's actually does play quite nicely into the, the intro of the episode, I thought.

Gary:

Yes.

Gary:

Yeah, it was cool.

Gary:

Yeah.

Gary:

And you're right, it's Arctics is a little bit me.

Adam:

Stroppy.

Gary:

He's stroppy because he wants a promotion.

Adam:

He said that he's not getting one.

Gary:

Yeah.

Gary:

Beginning of Starfle, he said to Leland, he's like, look, I don't want to be on this bucket anymore.

Gary:

Yeah, I want a promotion.

Gary:

And now he's fast forward here.

Gary:

He's like, well, I guess this is going to scupper my chances of promotion.

Gary:

He's like, ah, you're a young guy, you'll.

Gary:

You'll get over it sort of thing.

Adam:

You'll bounce back.

Gary:

Anyway, so those two are a nice little continuity thing to, to branch the, the two episodes.

Gary:

So just very quickly then.

Gary:

Gareth Thomas as our, as our lead character, Blake, very much consistent dude from the first two episodes, especially the last one from space for very, very much in the zone now, has got a really solid plan in his head, knows exactly what he wants to do, but it's just frustrated that he doesn't have the manpower to do it.

Gary:

So, you know, this is the whole reason why he said to Avon in the last episode, we're going to follow the London to Cygnus Alpha, rescue the prisoners, because he knows then he can put a crew together, but like Jack Sparrow, you know, going to put it together and, and, and that's why he's gone off to do that.

Gary:

Much to the chagrin of, of Avon of course.

Gary:

But, but yeah, some great scenes, nice little bits of humor from him with Avon, you know, that kind of do they like each other?

Gary:

Do they hate each other?

Gary:

You know, sort of exchange little grins and bants and stuff.

Gary:

And then a bit like the last one, last episode as well.

Gary:

Some action in this one.

Gary:

You know, a bit of capture and evade, bit of a fight scene.

Gary:

And we see a nice bit of range as well from Gareth Thomas in this one.

Gary:

He's got that kind of shoutiness when he needs to and that intensity when he needs to, when he's trying to get the prisoners to, you know, sort their heads out and get back in the game.

Gary:

And.

Gary:

But also this quiet kind of, you know, I don't want to poke the hornet's nest.

Gary:

You know, when he's tied up and Vargas is laying out his plans of what he now wants to do.

Gary:

Yeah, he doesn't want to poke the bear, so he's like, oh, yeah, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.

Gary:

You know, I just want to tell you.

Gary:

Just want to tell you that I.

Gary:

I was.

Gary:

Anyway, I thought the Gareth Thomas had a.

Gary:

Another good one.

Adam:

Yeah, I love Gareth Thomas, mate.

Adam:

I think he's.

Adam:

He's great as Blake and I think Blake's a great character because he.

Adam:

He just wants to get stuck in there and he goes in all guns blazing and then normally falls down and gets beaten up and he gets stuck into the.

Adam:

The fights.

Adam:

And he's got a big heart.

Adam:

You know, he's.

Adam:

He's just a very rounded character, Blake, like you said, when you said range, you know, you feel, you know, you gotta love Blake.

Adam:

He tries so hard and quite often gets knocked down pretty quick.

Adam:

And yeah, Gareth Thomas just plays all of that beautifully.

Adam:

So, yeah, good old Gareth.

Gary:

Oh, old gt.

Adam:

Yeah.

Gary:

And then lastly, let's finish with Brian Blessed then quickly as Vargas.

Gary:

Interesting thing, this.

Gary:

So years later, when Brian Blessed was in an interview about his previous roles and so on and got onto the subject of Blake 7 and he said that he.

Gary:

He said he mishandled this role.

Adam:

Oh, really?

Gary:

Yeah, he said that.

Gary:

Looking back on it, he.

Gary:

He feels like he played it too loud and shouty.

Adam:

He always plays it too loud to shout it.

Adam:

And I love Brian Blessed, by the way, but that is his thing.

Gary:

Well, this is the thing, I think, because that was just his go to mode.

Gary:

You know, whenever there was any kind of intensity needed or any time he needed to stamp his authority, he just went really shouty.

Gary:

But I think what he was getting at is he could have played that a different way, but still come across as intimidating and controlling.

Gary:

He didn't have to continuously shout his lines when he wanted to be, you know, in that.

Gary:

In that mode sort of thing.

Gary:

So interesting that he thought that years later.

Gary:

But, yeah, I think a lot of.

Gary:

For me, at least, I thought it was a great performance because he's, you know, exactly where you stand.

Gary:

Like every scene that he's in, you know exactly what this character is capable of and you know, exactly what he's really planning to do.

Gary:

Like at the earliest opportunity, he's on the ship, he's taken over the ship and he's off to other worlds and.

Gary:

And doing all this stuff and there's no messing around.

Gary:

So, yes, although it's Typical Brian Blessed.

Gary:

Typical Shouty and all that sort of stuff.

Gary:

For this particular role, I actually didn't mind that.

Gary:

I thought it was.

Gary:

I thought it was cool.

Adam:

Yeah, I think he's been a bit hard on himself there, because if you cast Brian Blessed, you know what you're getting and you expect it.

Adam:

You expect him to.

Adam:

To shout.

Adam:

So.

Adam:

And I, I'm.

Adam:

When I'm watching the scenes with him in, I think he bubbles up quite nicely.

Adam:

Like, he starts off a bit quiet and then he's getting a bit.

Adam:

And you're like, here he goes, you know, it's what I want from Brian Blessed, you know, I don't care if it's seen as bit over the top or tune of scenery.

Adam:

That is what I expect when I see Brian Blessed enter the scene.

Adam:

Because I don't know about you, mate, but obviously you wouldn't have known he was in this we.

Adam:

And he turns up quite late in the episode, about nearly half an hour in, I think.

Adam:

Were you surprised when Brian Blessed just walks in the room?

Adam:

Were you like, oh, what's he doing in this?

Adam:

Like, you know, and then.

Adam:

And as I said, you know what's coming, don't you?

Adam:

As soon as you see Brian Blessed on the screen, you know, at some point we're gonna.

Adam:

You're gonna have to turn the volume down on your tv.

Adam:

So, yeah, I think he's been a bit hard on himself there.

Adam:

I.

Adam:

I would have been disappointed if he hadn't been shouty, let me put it that way.

Gary:

Yes.

Gary:

Yeah.

Gary:

No, I completely agree.

Gary:

And I think that's why I wasn't too.

Gary:

Why I wasn't too bothered about, you know, Brian Blessed saying that.

Gary:

Because, yeah, I think we have to remember that actors mature as people as well, you know, over time and so on.

Gary:

So their view and.

Gary:

And everything changes on roles that they did back in the day.

Gary:

You often hear that with actors.

Gary:

So it's like one extreme to the other.

Gary:

It's always like, yeah, I was, you know, you know, I never get sick of fans telling me, you know, how cool that show was that I was in and all that stuff.

Gary:

And then you got the other end of the spectrum where they're like, oh, I just want to be disassociated with that show.

Gary:

And, you know, so you can see why he might have thought that years later.

Gary:

But, you know, as a little time capsule looking at that stuff now and in that episode, I didn't mind it.

Gary:

I thought he was.

Gary:

I thought he was cool.

Gary:

Is there.

Gary:

Is there anything in this episode that you.

Gary:

You're not too keen on anything that.

Gary:

Because we've been very complimentary about this.

Gary:

And yeah, Blake 7 in general so far is.

Gary:

I don't want to be accused of, you know, overseeing or overlooking, you know, not that I'm too bothered about that, but because I'm genuinely enjoying it all.

Gary:

Very, very much so.

Gary:

But is there anything that you.

Gary:

You're not too keen on?

Adam:

No, there.

Adam:

There really isn't, actually.

Adam:

And again, I don't want to be biased because I love this show and one thing with me and you, it doesn't matter what program it is.

Adam:

Doctor who, Blake seven, we always will give our honest opinion.

Adam:

There are going to be episodes that, you know, I will be a lot more critical of that, I don't think work or whatever.

Adam:

But no, in this one, I do think it's a good third episode.

Adam:

I.

Adam:

We are watching it with the original effects when.

Adam:

Although we're watching the Blu Ray, we are watching it with the original model shots.

Adam:

And I was quite surprised.

Adam:

We're not surprised.

Adam:

But I was, when I was watching it before recording, thinking, this episode looks really nice, actually.

Adam:

Like the.

Adam:

The planet.

Adam:

They've put like this half sun in the background of a lot of the shots of Signal self.

Adam:

I thought, that looks lovely.

Adam:

You know, for the time, there's a shot of the London going over a planet which is obviously on a wheel that's being, you know, wound round and round.

Adam:

But, you know, I thought this is.

Adam:

Overall, the production on this looks.

Adam:

Looks pretty good.

Adam:

We haven't mentioned Peter Childs who played Arco.

Adam:

It's.

Adam:

He's.

Adam:

Peter Charles was a great actor.

Adam:

He appeared in loads of shows back in the 70s and 80s.

Adam:

And I always think of him as Rycott in Minder.

Adam:

So he's not in it that much.

Adam:

He's like a side character in this.

Adam:

But I just wanted to give him a little mention because I like him as an actor.

Adam:

He is one of those that.

Adam:

I think, again, when you cast him, you know, he will deliver a good performance, whether it be a big role or.

Adam:

Or not.

Adam:

But the only other thing I wanted to mention, mate, and it does tie into.

Adam:

Was there anything I didn't like about the episode?

Adam:

It's not that I didn't like it, but there is a bit of an anomaly at the end of this story when Vargas gets teleported onto Liberator.

Adam:

Now, they must have at some point realized because the Liberator, we never ever see two Liberate, two teleportation booths, you know, there as far as we know, there's only that one.

Adam:

But they must have realized somewhere in production that the.

Adam:

The way the ending was written, that Vargas gets teleported and then Blake immediately gets teleported and so does Villa and Gan.

Adam:

If you watch it, you think, hang on, what's happened?

Adam:

I mean, it.

Adam:

It.

Adam:

I think most people just.

Adam:

You wouldn't even notice it, but you suddenly realize that Vargas has walked away from one teleporter and then Blake's in another.

Adam:

So you're then like, are there two teleport rooms in.

Adam:

In the Liberator?

Adam:

Not a big deal, mate.

Adam:

It's just that we.

Adam:

I don't think we ever see this again.

Adam:

And I'm sure it's just that at some point in production, they were trying to work out how to film this ending.

Adam:

Well, how do we get Blake?

Adam:

And so they've turned up just after him.

Adam:

But I don't know.

Adam:

It's a.

Adam:

It's just a little production thing.

Adam:

And again, it might be in that book that we want to buy.

Adam:

Just a little production anomaly that I think we don't see again.

Adam:

And I would be intrigued to know how that came about.

Adam:

Like, they must have thought, how are we going to shoot this?

Adam:

Because it doesn't really.

Adam:

Well, it does make sense in the script, but it throws up a few issues in terms of the production of it, of actually filming it.

Adam:

So, yeah, that's.

Adam:

It's just one of those little odd things that, again, Blake 7 fans will pick up on and say that that's weird, isn't it?

Adam:

We saw.

Adam:

We saw another teleport room there, but we never see it again.

Adam:

And I'm sure it's just because they have to get the characters into the right place at the right time to film the ending for Vargas to be.

Adam:

Then, well, he gets teleported into space and blows up, doesn't he?

Adam:

Meets a right cracking ending.

Adam:

So.

Adam:

But I don't know, it's.

Adam:

Again, it's not something I dislike about the episode.

Adam:

It's just one of those little things that, you know, one of those geeky little spots that it's like, oh, there's that.

Adam:

There's that bit where we see another room and it's not in it again.

Adam:

So.

Adam:

Yeah, but no, there's nothing really about it I don't like, mate.

Adam:

I think it's a good.

Adam:

I think it's a good episode overall.

Gary:

Good watch.

Adam:

Yeah.

Gary:

Yeah, Sames, sames.

Gary:

I can't really think of anything, you know, major.

Gary:

That's.

Gary:

That's.

Adam:

I know we Always mention music last.

Adam:

And I will say some lovely stuff from Dudley.

Adam:

And this again, there's this little synth.

Adam:

I don't know if Dudley has found a new synthesizer in the back of the BBC cupboard, but there's this lovely little synth and it sounds very similar to the one that's in the theme tune.

Adam:

You know, at the end when it goes.

Adam:

It's like.

Adam:

But he plays a few little bits on this synth in this, which I just absolutely love.

Adam:

I wish there was a Blake 7 soundtrack, mate.

Adam:

There's so many lovely little music scores in Blake 7 that I would just love.

Gary:

Sames.

Adam:

Yeah.

Gary:

Yeah.

Gary:

That's a shame that the.

Gary:

The.

Gary:

The soundtrack is not on any of the streaming services.

Adam:

Yeah.

Gary:

Only thing, I can't find it on Apple Music or Spotify anywhere, really.

Adam:

They released the same as a seven inch single.

Adam:

Oh.

Adam:

Back in the day.

Adam:

But it was a slightly.

Adam:

You know, they said that annoying thing when people just want the scene that's on the show.

Adam:

But no, they have to go and re record it and add in a load of new stuff because they think it's like, you know, the theme is probably like 40 seconds.

Adam:

They're like, well, we need to re record it and make it at least two minutes long.

Adam:

So it's a bit of a.

Adam:

I wouldn't say Frankenstein version of the theme.

Adam:

It's a bit.

Adam:

It's not quite the same, but it did have the Federation march on side B, which I don't think you've heard yet.

Gary:

Not yet.

Adam:

Which is a cracking piece of music by Dudley.

Adam:

But I think that's the only thing that ever came out music wise, is that 7 inch single.

Adam:

And again, it's.

Adam:

Yeah, it's not even the proper theme.

Adam:

It sort of is and isn't.

Adam:

If, you know, I mean, they've added bits in and.

Gary:

Right.

Adam:

Just give us the version that's on the show.

Gary:

Yeah, it would be cool because I've got some lovely music.

Gary:

Daddy's is on form.

Adam:

He's on top form, mate.

Adam:

Honestly, throughout this whole show.

Adam:

He's on top form.

Gary:

Some great stuff.

Gary:

Yeah, it's a shame that.

Gary:

Yeah.

Gary:

I'm also surprised that the.

Gary:

All the incidental music as a soundtrack has not been released anywhere at all.

Gary:

It's kind of weird.

Adam:

But maybe they will now.

Adam:

It's getting a bit of.

Gary:

Yeah.

Adam:

You know, new publicity.

Adam:

Maybe they will.

Gary:

Mabes.

Gary:

And then just very lastly a few seconds, the Federation catch.

Gary:

Catch up to them by the time they're leaving Cygnus Alpha.

Gary:

Right.

Gary:

So that was a.

Gary:

That was a really Cool little thing around, you know, all the, the prisoners that he did manage to save, they're now on board the ship and.

Gary:

And Blake has that nice line, sort of closing line at the end with Avon, his, I think maybe Jenna as well, where he's like, now that we've got some crew, we can start to really fight back and.

Gary:

But they saved that fight for another day.

Gary:

So the Federation ships have found them, but the Liberators just.

Gary:

Yeah, we're out of here.

Gary:

See you later.

Gary:

They managed to.

Gary:

To get away pretty swiftly, so that was cool as a nice little way to close out the.

Gary:

Close out the episode, I thought.

Adam:

Yeah.

Adam:

Because I think like you said, there's been a nice little.

Adam:

These first three episodes almost sort of run into each other.

Adam:

You could watch them all as one sort of long story.

Gary:

Yeah.

Adam:

And that's not to say the rest of the series isn't like that because there is ongoing threads and new characters introduced.

Adam:

But I think from now, from this point onwards, you know, they're on the Liberator, he's got a bit of a crew together.

Adam:

He's ready to start fighting back against the Federation.

Adam:

And not only that, the Federation now know that they've escaped.

Adam:

They know that Blake is back out there, you know, which.

Adam:

So they are going to be after him.

Adam:

They've got a price on their head now because, you know, what was he called, the guy who filed the report?

Gary:

Leland.

Adam:

Leland, sorry, yeah, he's obviously filed that report.

Adam:

He's told them that Blake has escaped with a couple of other people, Avon Jenner.

Adam:

So the Federation are now after them.

Adam:

So I think, yeah, those first three episodes, they've set it up very nicely.

Adam:

We're now in the Liberator with, you know, Blake's got a bit of a crew and he's ready to, to go.

Adam:

So I'm not saying the next few episodes are standalone, but I think like, yeah, we're ready to sort of rock and roll now with.

Adam:

We're getting, we're getting into it, if you see what I mean.

Gary:

Yeah.

Gary:

And that was a cool, a cool little line as well from Leland as well that I picked up on where another reason why he's just fed up and he's out of it, doesn't want any more to do with.

Gary:

It was after he filed that report and Arctics is a little bit miffed because he knows it's going to scupper his promotion opportunities.

Gary:

He, afterwards he says to him, he's like, so do you reckon they'll go after him?

Gary:

And Leland's like, oh, yeah, you know, they'll.

Gary:

They'll have to go after him, but they probably won't need to.

Gary:

He's like, oh, why is that?

Gary:

He's like, because Blake will go after them.

Adam:

Oh yeah, I know a great line.

Adam:

Yes.

Gary:

Yeah, that's very cool.

Gary:

So that's kind of one of those lines where he's mirroring exactly what you're thinking as the viewer.

Gary:

You know, Blake's on this mission to take him down and Leland sort of Cotton's onto that very quickly.

Gary:

And so, yeah, just great stuff, man.

Gary:

Let's get on to a score.

Adam:

Okay.

Gary:

I think it's me to go first.

Adam:

It is.

Gary:

I'm gonna give this another 7.5, dude.

Adam:

Wow.

Adam:

Another 7.5?

Gary:

Yeah.

Gary:

I thought this was another good watch.

Gary:

Like I'm really.

Gary:

Like you said, actually you make a great point.

Gary:

These first three episodes, you could watch them in a, in a single, you know, like over the years if we, when we reviewed classic Doctor who and we've got those three and four parters and we're like, well, some of them are a bit of a slog, you know, which is why we break them up sometimes and we watch 2 and 2 and.

Gary:

Or whatever the complete opposite.

Gary:

For me, with these first three episodes of Blake 7, I could happily watch these three back to back in one sitting and thoroughly enjoy all of these.

Gary:

So, yeah, another 7.5.

Gary:

A good solid watch for me.

Gary:

Dude, what about you?

Adam:

That's music to my ears, mate.

Adam:

I'm gonna give this a seven, a very strong seven.

Adam:

I think it's a good episode, but I, I guess this time I'm knocking off the 0.5 because I think I enjoy the first two more, but I enjoy this one a lot.

Adam:

Just not quite as much, I don't reckon.

Adam:

So I'll give it a 7.

Gary:

Okay.

Gary:

Yeah.

Gary:

So for me, the 7.5 is all the cool sci fi bits that are sort of subtly introduced into this nice A and B storyline, if you like.

Gary:

So the naming of the Liberator, the cool computer with Zen, the bracelets, the weapons, all of that cool stuff.

Gary:

And then you've got this very human story going on and two in and throwing with Avon and Jenna.

Gary:

And so it's.

Gary:

Yeah, it just all comes together really nicely and it's a, it's a good watch.

Gary:

So.

Adam:

Damn it, dude, you've talked me into giving it a 0.5 again.

Adam:

I did this last week.

Adam:

No, but you're right, because it's got.

Adam:

No, I'm going to give it a 0.5.

Adam:

Because it has.

Adam:

It's got some good stuff in it.

Gary:

Adam always does this.

Adam:

I'm trying to be critical with it, but I'm just like, no, it was good.

Adam:

No, I'm going to go.

Adam:

I'm going to do it.

Adam:

That's my final answer.

Adam:

7.5.

Gary:

Wow.

Gary:

So 7.5 is clearly.

Adam:

I can't have you giving it a higher score than me.

Adam:

I will.

Adam:

I promise I will stick to my scores.

Adam:

But you're right, it's good stuff, isn't it?

Gary:

It's very cool.

Adam:

Yeah.

Gary:

Yeah.

Gary:

Oh, mate.

Gary:

So far, you and.

Gary:

And the Blake 7 community have got me on a hook.

Gary:

I'm like, I feel like a worm on a hook.

Gary:

Just.

Adam:

Let's hope you don't wriggle off, though.

Adam:

We want you to stay with it.

Adam:

I'm trying to think if there's anything coming up that might damage this, and there may well be, but we'll see.

Adam:

Hopefully not.

Gary:

Yeah, hopefully.

Adam:

It's been a cracking start indeed.

Gary:

Okay, next week, dude, what's our review episode?

Adam:

So next week.

Adam:

Yeah, it's an episode called Time Squad.

Adam:

Time Squad?

Adam:

That mean.

Gary:

What could that be about, we wonder?

Adam:

Well, I do know, but.

Adam:

Yeah, yeah.

Gary:

Okay.

Gary:

So next week, Time Squad, we look very forward.

Gary:

Look forward very much.

Gary:

Sorry.

Gary:

To cracking on with more Blake 7.

Gary:

But until then, we are gonna have to leave it there.

Gary:

So let's wrap it there, dude, for episode three.

Gary:

Thank you so much, dear Blake 7 listener, for coming back and checking out another episode of Federation Strike.

Gary:

That was episode three and our review of Cygnus Alpha and 7.5s all around once again seem to be.

Adam:

I'm so easily led.

Adam:

I must be on suppressants.

Adam:

I think you've been brainwashed.

Adam:

But now I do.

Adam:

It's great.

Adam:

I love it.

Gary:

Yeah, No, I agree, dude.

Gary:

It's.

Gary:

It's been very cool so far.

Gary:

And as Adam said, next week we'll be reviewing episode four of series A, which will be Time Squad.

Gary:

So very much looking forward to that.

Gary:

I'm just.

Gary:

So.

Gary:

I text Adam the other night and basically said, look, I'm so itching to watch the next one.

Gary:

I just want to crack on, but I have to restrain myself a little.

Adam:

Bit because it's like a treat, isn't it?

Adam:

I look forward to it.

Adam:

I'm like, oh, yeah, I got two episodes of Blake this week.

Gary:

Yes.

Gary:

Yeah.

Adam:

To look forward to.

Gary:

Yeah.

Gary:

If I just binge watch the whole thing.

Gary:

By the time we get round to recording, I'd forgotten, like, little details and stuff.

Gary:

So I'm pacing myself as we go through, which is good.

Adam:

And I think that's helping your enjoyment, mate, as well, I think.

Adam:

I know you said you could watch all three in one go, but I think watching two a week is a really nice way of doing it.

Gary:

So, yeah, pace yourself indeedy.

Gary:

Yes.

Gary:

So in the meantime, in between episodes, you can chat to us over on the socials.

Gary:

We are on Twitter and bluesky.

Gary:

Just do a search for Lake 7 podcast or check the link in the show notes.

Gary:

Come over there, give us a follow and chat.

Gary:

Plenty of Blake 7 in between episodes.

Gary:

And of course, make sure you are following on your preferred podcast app of choice so you don't miss notification for when the new episodes drop.

Gary:

As we get through series A or 1, what should we call it moving forward, by the way?

Gary:

Do you want to call it Series A or Series one?

Gary:

What's your preferred?

Adam:

I like Series A.

Gary:

Let's do that.

Adam:

Yeah, let's say Series A.

Gary:

All right, then.

Gary:

Yeah.

Gary:

So as we go through Series A, we'd love to have you on board.

Gary:

So hit that follow button and chat to us on the socials.

Gary:

Righty.

Gary:

Oh, dude.

Gary:

Until next time.

Gary:

Much.

Gary:

My name's Gary.

Adam:

And my name's Adam.

Gary:

And thank you very much for checking out Federation Strike a journey through Blake 7 SA.

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About the Podcast

Federation Strike: A Journey Through Blake's 7
From Liberator to legend: Exploring Blake's 7 and its legacy.
Embark on an epic journey into the galaxy of Blake's 7 with Federation Strike: A Journey Through Blake's 7! This brand-new show pairs the perspectives of a devoted lifelong fan and a curious newcomer experiencing the series for the very first time. Together, they explore every episode of this iconic sci-fi classic, blending fresh impressions with seasoned insights.

Each week, your hosts—experienced podcasters Garry and Adam, the team behind the long-running acclaimed Doctor Who podcast The Big Blue Box Podcast—dive deep into episode reviews, share fascinating behind-the-scenes trivia, and unpack the stories that shaped Blake's 7. Whether revisiting the show or discovering it yourself, you’ll find a perfect balance of nostalgia and new perspectives.

From the rebellion’s most daring missions to the Federation’s darkest secrets, Federation Strike: A Journey Through Blake's 7 delivers lively discussion, in-depth analysis, and plenty of surprises. Tune in and join us as we explore this timeless adventure one story at a time.

About your hosts

Garry Aylott

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Garry is a senior designer with 15+ years of experience, currently Head of Design at Captivate. His love of pop culture is infectious, as heard in his podcasts about Star Wars, Doctor Who, classic British sci-fi, and more. You’ll find him travelling, gaming, and appreciating a bloody good cup of tea.

Adam Charlton

Profile picture for Adam Charlton
Meet Adam Charlton, aka The Geeks Handbag-a lifelong devotee of British sci-fi, with a particular love for Doctor Who and Blake’s 7. Adam has been sharing his passion via his YouTube channel, The Geeks Handbag, since 2010 and podcasting for The Big Blue Box Podcast since 2011. Now tackling a brand-new Blake’s 7 podcast, Adam’s love for classic sci-fi is undeniable, if it’s classic sci-fi with a side of charm, Adam’s your man.