B07: Killer: Robert Holmes Brings Dark Sci-Fi to Blake's 7

Garry: 00:00:17

Hello and welcome to Federation Strike A Journey Through Blake's 7. My name's Garry.

Adam: 00:00:22

My name's Adam

Garry: 00:00:23

And welcome to episode seven of our second season for our review of the episode Killer.

Yes, this is the seventh episode in our second season of Blake's 7. As we go through the entire thing we're obviously at series B at this point and last week we reviewed the episode trial. So thank you very much.

If you listen to that, last week and this week we're on to a fairly isolated story. I would say this one it's got obviously Federation stuff mentioned and Federation staff and location etc.

But no big, no, no big hitters from the Federation in this one. No is a more sort of self contained story which we'll come on to in a moment. Have you been bud since the last time we recorded?

Yes, this is the seventh episode in our second season of Blake's 7. As we go through the entire thing we're obviously at series B at this point and last week we reviewed the episode trial. So thank you very much.

If you listen to that, last week and this week we're on to a fairly isolated story. I would say this one it's got obviously Federation stuff mentioned and Federation staff and location etc.

But no big, no, no big hitters from the Federation in this one. No is a more sort of self contained story which we'll come on to in a moment. Have you been bud since the last time we recorded?

Adam: 00:01:28

Yes, I've been good, thanks.

I was just saying to you before we press record that after watching the EP I started to watch a little bit of the Jacqueline Pierce tribute documentary on the new Blu ray and what I saw and then he literally watched the first minute or two and was just gorgeous. I just, I really wanted to watch the whole thing.

The reason I didn't is I'm saving the special features to when we do like a wrap up of season B or talk about the Blu Ray set or whatever. But yeah, I mean those documentaries that they've put on these new sets I think are worth buying the sets for alone.

If you've sort of already bought Blake's 7 like me and Double Dipped and Triple Dipped and goodness knows what else and you're thinking oh, do I need to buy it again on Blu Ray? That there is some lovely special features that they've put on these sets. So it's nice to see, see him taking some care with them.

But yeah, I stopped myself mate.

What I watched was great but I thought now I'm going to save this for when we're, when we're done with the episodes and then hit all these special features like the interview with Brian Croucher and all that sort of thing.

Garry: 00:02:32

Nice.

Adam: 00:02:33

So yeah, but see I've been good and yeah, I got to watch, watch the episode as it was without the added effects and I did flick through afterwards to see what they changed and I know you always ask me so I'm just going to tell you the new model effects on this were really good. I think they've definitely, they definitely fit in better. They don't feel as jar.

I think on season one they were a little bit rushed and they looked fine but they were A bit jarring. I think they looked a bit too clean, a bit too cgi. A lot of people said, even though they're models.

Whereas I have to say on this set, what I've seen so far, they definitely blend in better with the actual episodes. And this for me was a prime example, mate. You know, they've replaced the shot of the dome city. I think in the original. It's like a glass painting.

You know, they used to actually paint and put a piece of glass in front of the camera to film it and all that sort of stuff. This one, they've put a nice model shot of this dome building and yeah, a few other little bits. Few liberator shots changed as well.

So, yeah, a few more little updated effects in this episode compared to the last couple. And they looked good, I thought. But naturally I watched it as it was, you know, the original effects to begin with, as I always do. Purist.

Garry: 00:03:51

Nice. Yeah, yeah, same. I did the. The purest version and then went back afterwards and. And checked out some of the updated features and yeah, you bang on.

It's. They've. It's. It's a. More seamless. Not that the other episodes were poor in that respect or anything, but the, The.

The model shots and everything were lit and shot particularly well in this one.

Adam: 00:04:19

I feel like they've graded the effects better in this one to fit in. Mate.

You, you know more about this sort of technical stuff than maybe it feels like they've had a bit more time to color grade them and they just don't feel. Whereas in season one, they looked nice, they just felt a little bit almost too modern, too good to go with what, you know, the rest of the episode.

These feel like they match more the sort of style of the, the film and the effects of the time, really, but at the same time updating them very nicely.

Garry: 00:04:48

Yes, agree. Yeah, you actually. Yeah, that's a great way to describe it actually. The, the.

The visual effects and some of the models were shot so well and cleanly that almost got to that point, didn't it, where it felt a little bit out of place almost, but still looked very good, very cool. But yeah, you're right, I think. And I think Chris Thompson, the. The guy who heads up the.

This, this realm of this stuff with the visual effects and him and his. Him and his buddies with the model work and stuff, I think he said that they had a little bit more time and money on this one, on this second series.

So that's obviously coming through on screen, isn't it?

Adam: 00:05:30

Definitely.

Garry: 00:05:31

Yeah, looks a bit more coherent, I would say.

Adam: 00:05:34

I mean, I did say when we started doing this podcast that I insisted that you watch the originals first. Even if you go on, because I, because I want you to see, you know, the, how it was.

I want you to see what they had to work with and what they managed to achieve on the small budget that they had back in the day. And then.

Yeah, so that's why I said to you, I really hope you watch it with the, at least the old effects first and then watch it with the new ones, which is what you've been doing, I think. But because, you know, the glass shots. A prime example, isn't it? It looks so of its time, but it's, it's, it's great really.

It's got a real charm to it that it's just, it looks like, almost looks like a hand drawn or hand painted slide that's been put on the, in front of the camera. But it's. Yeah, it has to be seen to be believed, I guess.

Garry: 00:06:20

Yes. No, I agree.

Yeah, I did go back and watch the, the visual effects bits as I normally do and yeah, there's a couple of nice, a couple of nice shots of the Liberator as always. There was the teleport effects are, are nice and look very nice. Consistent with this, this series so far.

And yeah, it looks again a bit like last week though there wasn't a huge amount of visual effects going on. They didn't have to do much in this one.

Adam: 00:06:50

I noticed as well.

I think people have pointed out in the past that the shot of the Liberator at the end, which is a beautiful model shot, actually, I'm talking about the original model shot people have pointed out. You can see it's taken from another episode, which I can't remember, which I'm sure there's listeners out there will know.

So you can tell it's from that episode because you can just make out the. I think it's the London spaceship at the side of the Liberator. And of course it shouldn't be there.

You know, it's like it's one of those things once you see it, you notice it every time. So it's a bit of a mistake, I guess.

But because it's the same sort of color as the Liberator, it does almost blend in as the shot is moving around the model. So, you know, back in the day probably no one would have been able to spot it on the television, I guess.

But with our new, you know, remastered picture, it's quite clear. And I thought, oh, yeah, there's that shot that people talk about because you can see the ship at the side of it. I think I've got that right. Anyway.

Garry: 00:07:48

Yeah, interesting.

Adam: 00:07:51

So obviously they've replaced that with a cd. Well, a new model shot on the new effects. Yeah.

Garry: 00:07:58

Nice. Good spot, dude. Indeed. Almost drunkenly ordered the Blake's 7 DVD set. What, the other night. Yeah.

Adam: 00:08:12

You're not one for drinking. What I know. Were you letting loose because I think your wife was away for the week. So were you having a bit of it? Right.

Got, you know, got the man cave going and a few beers rocking.

Garry: 00:08:25

I can neither confirm nor deny that was the reason why I had a few Guinness that night. But, yeah, I was. I was just doing some searching around for Blake's 7.

Even though I said I wouldn't do it when Adam and I spoke after we recorded last week.

Or said it's so dangerous hopping on ebay these days because there's quite a few good fan made Blake seven props and whatnot that you can get hold of some really nice Liberator models and the teleport bracelets and all that stuff. We were saying it's very dangerous, but, you know, couple of Guinness down, I was like, yeah, let me have a quick look, see what's going on.

And I just happened to come across The. The. The DVD sets for Blake's 7. I think you and I spoke about them very briefly in our last season for series A. Yeah.

And I don't know, they've just got a real nice kind of simplicity to them. They've just got a really lovely design. And not to take anything away from. From Lee Binding's artwork that he's done for these new Blu Ray sets.

They look very nice, you know, very really, really cool. Love them. But yeah, those Blu Ray sets, I don't know, they just got a very nice simplicity to them.

Adam: 00:09:40

Yeah.

Garry: 00:09:41

You know, it's just got the logo in the middle with that sort of beigey silvery color and some, you know, a few little line. Little sci fi lines knocking around. I don't know, just something about it. I didn't order them ultimately, but I was thinking about it, mate.

I did come close, I thought you.

Adam: 00:09:56

Were going to say, because one of them. I think it was series B or C, One of them came with a little Corgi Liberator, you know, model. Well, figure.

I don't know what you'd call it in a die cast in a dome with Blake's 7 written across the front of the dome. I mean, you could open it and take the Corgi ship out if you wanted to. And that was really cool.

I remember going crackers when I got my hands on that, back in whatever year that would have been back in the day. And of course, the dilemma then was, oh, do I open it? Because it's sealed.

Like, the only way you can get the Liberator out of this sort of dome is to. The plastic dome is to cut it out. And I never did. So mine's still sealed. I mean, nowadays, of course, I'd buy two, but I did it Series three.

Yeah, it was Series three. Yeah. So, I mean, some people just sell that. That as it is.

I don't know what sort of money they go for, probably silly money, but that's a nice thing to have. I've still got mine sealed.

Garry: 00:10:59

Oh, nice.

Adam: 00:11:00

You know, but. But sometimes I look at it and I really want to take the Liberator out, but I'm like, no, because it would ruin the lovely plastic box.

And it is nice because it's got Blake's 7 printed across, you know, the dome. It is a nice thing. But. Yeah, is there any of those. Are you on ebay now? Get off it.

Garry: 00:11:15

I'm not on ebay now. No, I was. I just did a quick Google search as you were talking about it.

Adam: 00:11:22

Yeah.

Garry: 00:11:24

But, yeah, I'll have to be careful nipping on ebay or. Or anything at any time, it seems, because I'm still on the. Look at.

Adam and I had a good old chat after we recorded and we were saying that there's also some. Some Blake's 7 annuals kicking around that are great.

Adam: 00:11:45

Yeah, I've got. I think there's only three annuals, I think, and I've managed to get all three over the years. They are lovely. They're like the Dot two annuals.

They've got all that.

So sort of classic seventies, early eighties, you know, artwork in it and some of them have a few pictures in photographs and they are really nice, those annuals. You definitely. If you can find them for a good price, I would 100% recommend picking those up if you can get them for a good price.

Garry: 00:12:12

£12.

Adam: 00:12:13

There you go.

Garry: 00:12:15

On Amazon, of all places.

Adam: 00:12:16

Really? Okay.

Garry: 00:12:18

Used copy, of course. But looks. Looks all right.

Adam: 00:12:21

What year is it? 79.

Garry: 00:12:23

1979, The first one, it looks like.

Adam: 00:12:25

Yeah, Great stuff. Careful, though. Wait a minute. Careful, because. Well, there may be spoilers if you get the later years. I'm just thinking, don't.

Yeah, don't get the annuals yet. Hold off, hold off.

Garry: 00:12:40

Right.

Adam: 00:12:40

Because I just suddenly Realized that there'll be spoilers in them, wouldn't there? And then when you opening them up and seeing things.

Garry: 00:12:46

This is true. Yeah, we don't want that. Yeah, good advice.

Adam: 00:12:51

Just stick with the Liberator 150 pound Corgi toy for now.

Garry: 00:12:58

Anyway. I think what I'll do is I'll set up a little sort of mental trigger so when I go to do that next time I'll mess it.

I'll WhatsApp you and say mate, I'm on there. You can be like, no, get off, get off. Save your money.

Adam: 00:13:13

Yeah, they are good though. I would recommend getting them.

If you can buy them and, and resist actually opening them for however many years it's going to take us to get to the end then by all means. But £12 is a good price, isn't it? I mean that's, that's not bad. Yeah.

Garry: 00:13:28

Might pick up the first one at least the 79 one.

Adam: 00:13:30

You should be safe with that. You should be safe with that one.

Garry: 00:13:33

The only bit of money I have spent on Blake's 7 is pre ordered the series. See of course Blu Ray set. Of course.

Adam: 00:13:41

Yeah.

Garry: 00:13:42

Shadow dropped that, didn't they? No big announcement. Just, just here's the thing. Go, go and order it.

Adam: 00:13:49

Yeah. Which I'm again can't wait for that. Even though I've seen it, you know, I can't wait to see the artwork and hopefully they'll do a new trailer.

Garry: 00:13:56

And yeah, one of the, one of the people on our team over at the Doctor who stuff over at Big Blue Box, she, she said that she had ordered series three and I jokingly said, I think he means serious C. And then she asked you, didn't she, why they, why some of them are labeled as series ABC etc and others. It's called 1, 2, 3. Because the new Blu Ray sets are, and even the old DVD sets, it's 1, 2 and 3 etc.

Adam: 00:14:26

Yeah. So yeah, I don't know where the ABC comes from.

I know it's a thing, I know that that's how they're referred to but whenever it's had a commercial release I think it's always been numbered. It would probably sound a bit weird I guess. We had a chat with Russell Minton, didn't we? The lovely Russell Minton who, who works on these sets.

He's a producer and we asked him, didn't we, did they ever consider for these Blu Ray sets changing it to series A, B C to fit in.

And he said and you'll have to remind me he said, yes, they did consider it, but they felt, especially in the us, because this is the first time it's been released, I think. I don't think it ever got released on DVD here. Might be wrong, but it's definitely the first time it's been released on Blu ray here.

And you mean the us, because you're in the us. Yeah, I think he said it.

They just felt it would confuse people, so they thought they'd stick with series one, two, three, but I don't know where that comes from. I'd love it if one of our listeners knows why over the years, Blake's 7 is referred to with, you know, numbers, letters rather than numbers.

I'd love to know.

Garry: 00:15:33

Yeah. So there's probably fans listening now, like, got their hands up, like. I know, I know what it is.

Adam: 00:15:38

Yeah.

Garry: 00:15:38

I don't know 100%, but I know that back in the day when the BBC used to sort of label different series, their kind of internal way of the sort of naming convention when if, like, for employees of the production team at the BBC, they used to use letters instead of numbers. So maybe it's something to do with that. Maybe that's.

Adam: 00:16:06

I've always felt it must be something along those lines, mate. I always thought it must be a production thing that the fans have sort of know about and latched on to. And so we, you know, we.

We want to get it correct, so there must be a reason like that. So, yeah, somebody must know.

Garry: 00:16:22

But when we spoke to Russell, who's the executive producer on these Blu Ray sets. Yeah, yeah, you're right. He did say that they had a chat about that and they said, should we go with the.

With the old letters and stuff, but I think it was for more. So just to stop any kind of potential discussions or problems or barrier to entry for newcomers and everything like that.

It was just far simpler just to go with numbers.

Adam: 00:16:48

So that's your mission at the next BFI event for Blake's 7, when they do the series, see all three, that's your mission, is to go up to Russell Minton and, you know, ply him with a few drinks and get him to come on and be interviewed, because he's such a lovely guy, listeners. And we did say to him we'd love to interview him, but he's also quite shy and he doesn't. He doesn't.

He's so interested to talk to, but he's like, no, no, I'd be rubbish. I wouldn't be interested. Like, no, you'd be great. And we tried to get him to come on, but he's. We haven't. We haven't coaxed him round yet. But that's.

Your mission, mate, is to get Russell Minan on. Because we'd love to have a chat with him on the podcast.

Garry: 00:17:30

Yeah, he's a. He's a tough nut to crack on interviews and getting him on the pocket, which is fair enough. He's.

Adam: 00:17:36

That's absolutely.

Garry: 00:17:37

I think he's. He's more of a doer rather than a shout about it.

Adam: 00:17:42

Yeah, he's got better things to do than exactly. To waffle on with Us too, we understand, but he does a great job with these sets, I gotta tell you, and. Lovely guy, but.

Yeah, Matt, have a word of him at the series cfi. Have a word.

Garry: 00:17:57

I will do.

Adam: 00:17:58

And ask him. What.

Garry: 00:17:59

What's this all about, hey? What's all this malarkey?

Adam: 00:18:04

Come on, what's this ABC malarkey? Yeah.

Garry: 00:18:08

Alrighty. I think we should crack on with our review, mate. We've waffled for long enough.

Adam: 00:18:12

Yep.

Garry: 00:18:13

What we got?

Adam: 00:18:14

So, this week? Yeah, Episode seven. I can't believe we're on episode seven already. And it's called Killer.

Trailer: 00:18:20

This is the one I've just fished out of the evacuation area, sir. Well, you said this place was full of psychotics. You wait till you hear this one. What exactly is that supposed to mean? I told him I teleported here.

He didn't believe me. Well, Gambrill's like that, I'm afraid. Lacks faith. Defined as the capacity to believe what you know isn't true. Read this. What is it?

Service history of that ship you've got in the landing bay. I sent you a warning about it earlier. Where'd this come from? Central Registry. 700 Years old. Mm. And just who are you?

Well, according to the Federation, I'm a political criminal. You may have heard of me. My name is Blake. Yes. Then we're absent minded scientists, you see.

In fact, we've forgotten your name already, haven't we, Gambrill? Whose name, sir? Dr. Belfry, they're now bringing out the body. Body? I'll get down there now.

Garry: 00:19:30

Yes, the episode Killer. Last week you were a bit like scratching your head on this one. Did you recognize it immediately when you. When you started watching it?

Because you were like, I know the title, I know of it. But you were like, I honestly can't remember anything about it. Did it all come flooding back within like 30 seconds?

Adam: 00:19:48

Yeah. Oh, almost straight away. I just. The title just didn't align with the episode in my Head. I was just thinking Killer, what's that one then?

But yeah, as soon as I saw Tynus and all that, I was like, oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, got it. It's the one with the virus. And yes, straight away it came back to me.

Garry: 00:20:06

February: 1979

It was written by the wonderful Robert Holmes, directed by Veer Lorimer and overseen by Chris Boucher. And the synopsis from the old VHS release is the destination is the planet Phosphorus. The mission is to crack the Federation's new transmission code.

Then Blake and his crew discover a centuries old spaceship and a deadly plague. Suddenly the fight is on again, but this time it's for the survival of the universe. High stakes indeed.

Yeah, yeah, so I mentioned earlier that this was a, a nice isolated little story for Blake. It's very, very light on Blake versus the Federation. It's, it's got the usual, I say the usual.

It's got something that we're familiar with over quite a few episodes now up to this point where it's, it's one of those things where they want to strike at something important to do with the Federation. So it's not necessarily Blake sort of face to face up against Travis or Serverland, anything like that.

They want to take down the, the Federation or decode, they want to steal the translator crystal so they can decode all of the Federation transmissions. It's going to help them obviously, big time. So that should be the mission.

So it starts with, with Avon and Villa going down undercover to meet up with one of Avon's old, old buddies.

Adam: 00:22:07

Yeah.

Garry: 00:22:07

Who he thinks is going to do him a solid. And then it all just goes to, to beep, doesn't it? Quite quickly after that. So it's one of those stories that's got.

Well, first of all I found it a really good, reasonably dark story from Robert Holmes which is kind of known for. Yeah, which is great. And then, yeah, you've got this sort of multi threaded story.

You've got these very two, two very opposing story threads going on, but at the same time they're, they're related.

So you've got Avon and Villa who are on the mission to, to grab one of the translator crystals and then you've got Blake really strangely working hand in hand with the Federation scientists to, to, to see what this, this random ship is about and the, the partly deceased human who's not quite dead and the. The virus and stuff. So yeah, bit of a multi thread or a dual threaded story, but kind of works in the end.

About you, dude, what are your thoughts on this one?

Adam: 00:23:12

Yeah, yeah, I should have remembered this by the title. I don't always attach the titles with the episodes, if you know what I mean. Like Killer. It's quite a sort of ambiguous one word title, isn't it?

So, yeah, as soon as it started I was like, ah, yes, I do like this episode and I have watched it quite a few times, so I should have remembered it. Yeah, I think it's a good one. I think it's a good strong script from Robert Holmes. This is first script for Blake's 7, I think, isn't it? I think yes.

Yeah, because he does a couple and it's. Yeah, it's got a lot of the Robert Holmes hallmarks, you know, some cracking dialogue.

Like you said, two quite engaging stories, I think that kind of work side by side. I think when I think of this episode, if you'd have said to me last week killer and I'd sort of placed in my head which one it was.

The thing that always sticks in my mind about it is the fact that Avon goes to call in Odette with Tiness. That's the bit that I always think of when it comes to this episode because I just love that dynamic.

You kind of know straight from the get go that Tiness is gonna double cross him. I just don't get the feeling he was ever gonna help Avon. So that's the bit I remember liking about this episode.

But watching it again last night, there's a, you know, a lot more going on the whole stuff with the plague. And I found the bit with the, you know, decaying corpse on the bed quite creepy because you can, you kind of know that that thing's gonna come alive.

You know, you can kind of see that the eyelashes are moving and it's not dead and all that. So yeah, I thought it's a pretty strong script, mate. And I loved, I loved having Avon and Villa together.

I thought they worked brilliantly on screen together, those two.

Villa seems, Villa seems very, I don't know if I'd say relaxed because he does start to get very jittery towards the end of the episode because everything's kicking off. But at the start he's kind of just plodding around with Avon Fion, you know, throwing in a few digs at him and smiling.

He seems to be having quite a good time in the first half of this episode. So, yeah, I thought that relationship was great to see on screen.

And then the other half of it with Blake trying to save the people from the virus was an interesting dilemma, Especially the end bit when Avon's kind of furious that he's even contemplating putting out a warning, isn't he? When he's like, but you could. Sir, Valen's on her way. You could kill her right now, and it'd all be over. And Blake can't bring himself to do it.

So great dilemma at the end of the episode as well. So, overall, mate, I like this one. It's not up there as one of my absolute favorites, but I think it's. I think it's a strong script.

And, yeah, overall, a good episode.

Garry: 00:25:51

I agree.

Adam: 00:25:52

Cool.

Garry: 00:25:53

A good episode, this one. And I particularly liked the tag team. The Avon and Villa tag team. Yeah. This is where he'll be. Well, how do you know? He's the base commander.

This is the command center. Has a certain logic, wouldn't you say? Well, he might be on holiday.

Adam: 00:26:20

I like it when he says. I like it when he says, oh, yes, they always told me I even had a friend or something like that they would meet with me one day.

I find that interesting as well, because we. We assume that Avon doesn't really have many friends, or at least he doesn't keep that many people close to him, does he?

And in this sense, he's not really a friend, this guy. He's just someone that, you know, Avon's calling a debt, you know, calling in a debt. So even that's not really a friendship, but it's a.

It's a good, interesting relationship, and nice to have a little bit of tiny bit of backstory with this guy that, you know, obviously used to work with Avon, help Avon. I don't know what they did commit crimes with Avon, who knows? But Avon's got some dirt on him either way.

And that in itself is quite interesting, isn't it? If there's one person you don't want to have dirt on you, it's Avon.

Garry: 00:27:13

That's it. Yeah. And Avon's got his number. He knows exactly. He knows because Avon sounds like. Could have reported this guy back in the day, but didn't.

And so he's calling in a favor, basically, like, you know, you owe me from. From back then. If it wasn't for me, you'd be. I think he says, you'd be in a.

In a prison, rotting away in prison or something like that if it wasn't for me. So he's calling in a favor, but this guy's a. None of it. And you kind of suspect that he's.

He's thrown them under the bus, right, because he writes down on the bit of paper and hands it to his mate, goes off. And then we find out later that I think, yeah, when Villa uses the, like the. The child remains or something, you can see the.

The pen marks through the paper, which was genius. But he was like, oh, no, it shows Avon. And that's it. It's job done.

Adam: 00:28:10

It's the way he crumbles that paper, mate.

Garry: 00:28:12

You're like, oh, yeah, reported him to serverland. Cheeky bugger. Yeah, but that whole thread, though, that's. That. That story thread was very cool because it had that you knew something was coming.

You knew something was going to go south with all this, because the guy was. It was. What was the guy's name? Tinus.

Adam: 00:28:39

Tyus.

Garry: 00:28:39

Yeah, Tinus. Yeah. Played by Ronald Lacy. I recognize that guy. I'm sure he's been in a couple of things.

Adam: 00:28:44

Oh, he's been in loads. Yeah, he's got. He's got that very distinctive face, hasn't he? He was in Rage of the Lost Ark, I think.

Garry: 00:28:51

Oh, yeah, yeah, I recognize him for sure. But yeah, you just knew that he was. He knew that whatever Avon has on him is enough to take him out, basically. He knows his career is done and.

And that's it. If he allows Avon to spill the beans. So you, you know that something's coming.

Whether he's going to betray him up front, whether he's going to lure him into a trap or just, you know, play the waiting game as he's reported it to Servaland, waiting for those, those guys to turn up, etc. You just don't know when it's going to happen. So he sort of reluctantly plays along. You know, he.

He agrees with them at face value, gives him a bit of lip service, like, yeah, the crystal this, blah, blah, blah, I'll set up a distraction, you know, we'll set off a fire and you guys can do your thing. So he goes along with it because he doesn't want to give the game up. But as the viewer, you're like, something's going to happen here soon.

And lo and behold, it's Villa of the two of them that finds this out, does a bit of detective work. So I thought that was brilliant, that it was a filler that actually saves the day to a degree for those two.

Adam: 00:30:01

Yeah, I love that bit as well. When he's like, yeah, he uses the remains of whatever it is that's been crumpled up on the desk to see the message underneath. Again, I didn't.

Well, I say I didn't see it coming. I've seen this episode many times, but you know what I mean, it's one of those things that I don't remember thinking, oh, that was obvious.

Or, you know, it was quite a nice little plot. Just you kind of know that Avon's gonna find out at some point. But I thought that was a really nice way to do it.

Garry: 00:30:26

Yeah, and, yeah, like I said, the, the bant between those two on, on this you can see that Avon's kind of fighting the urge to really. He really wants to punch filler, I think, square in the chops at least two or three times throughout this one. And you can see he's fighting the urge.

There's a lot of eye rolling going on and a lot of sort of like long exhales because he's like, what are you talking about now? Like, just shut up, like, and let me go on with it. Because the only sort of contribution that Villa's got really, he's.

He gets assigned as just lookout, really, doesn't he? While there's not much lock picking going on, there's no, like, he's not really needed for his skills per se.

While Avon is cracking on like trying to sabotage the computers or he's trying to, you know, he just basically says to Villa, look, go and look out in the corridor. Like, that's your job, your lookout sort of thing. So understandably, Villa's bored, I think.

So he's got, yeah, he's a bit more chatty than usual with these funny one liners.

Adam: 00:31:39

And see, I was surprised that Villa wasn't the one opening the, you know, I know it's just like a sewage pipe that they, they're filming at. But there's a bit where Avon gets a gadget out to sort of get into the pipe. I was thinking, oh, I thought Villa would be doing that.

We'd give him something to do because a one's going to be cracking the main computer to get the crystal layer. So that gives him something to do.

So I'm surprised they didn't sort of in the script say, oh, that's probably more Villa's thing to be get, you know, to give him something to do in the script. But like you said, it doesn't really matter because he gets some great, great lines in it anyway. But you know about a meme when Avon sort of.

He's got this funny little gadget out and he's. He's not really doing anything, but supposedly sort of trying to break into the. Into the complex, isn't he?

Garry: 00:32:22

Mm. Yeah. You would have thought Villa would have had slightly more to do, but, yeah, he's just glorified. Look up.

Adam: 00:32:31

I'm thinking. No, that's what I'm thinking, that that's. Why did they, you know, why did Avon take Villa down? It must have been to help him get into the complex.

So maybe in my mind, I think that's maybe just stuff we didn't see on screen because they kind of. They kind of. Once they get through the sewage pipe, they kind of just bound into Tynus Room, don't they?

And Avon does, you know, Paul Darry does his. Brilliant. He always is really sharp with his movements, isn't he?

The way he comes in and holds the gun there and, you know, you can tell he's loving live Paul Darrow filming this. So, yeah, so they do just sort of burst in and I'm assuming they've had to get through some security doors with Villa to get to that point.

We just don't see it.

Garry: 00:33:08

Yeah. Yes. Interestingly enough, Gan was. Was. Had a filmed scene in this.

Adam: 00:33:18

Yeah.

Garry: 00:33:21

So due to continuity and the timeline, etc, this was the second episode that they recorded.

Adam: 00:33:29

Yeah.

Garry: 00:33:30

Even though it's the seventh episode, they filmed this one second. And Gan was filmed operating the teleport, so they obviously had to cut it out. So. Yeah. Although Gan is. Is. Is gone and lost to the space dust, etc.

He makes a spiritual. He's got a spiritual part in this.

Adam: 00:33:54

See, I was unaware of this until I read it this morning that they, like you said, they filmed this episode second. And so that sounds like that scene was filmed. I've never. I guess it was on the cutting room floor. I've never seen it as an outtake or anything.

I was completely unaware of this. And that's interesting because he obviously didn't feature very much in the episode at all if that's the only scene they had to cut out.

Garry: 00:34:18

Yeah.

Adam: 00:34:18

So that's really interesting, I think.

Garry: 00:34:21

Yeah, it would have been sidelined, I think.

Adam: 00:34:24

A bit like Jenna.

Garry: 00:34:27

Yeah.

Adam: 00:34:27

But Callie in particular, she obviously gets the scene at the start where she feels she senses something, life on the. On the spaceship. So she gets that scene.

And then I think she was given, like the afternoon off because I. I don't think until she pops up at the end again, I don't think she's in the episode at All. Is she. I don't think she makes.

Garry: 00:34:50

No, she's not anything. No. I think. I think Jan Chapel had not recently had. Had had a baby. Right.

Adam: 00:34:57

Oh, possibly. Yeah.

Garry: 00:34:59

So, yeah, I think she was probably very, very thankful to have the day off.

Adam: 00:35:04

Yeah.

Garry: 00:35:05

Or the week off. However long it took to film this. But. But yeah, it's an interesting bit. Interesting because I think initially, like when they were mapping out the.

The stories and narratively, like how it runs through the stories, move through the series. I think this was meant to be quite early on, but yeah, they made a decision later on anyway to. To move this story after Pressure Point. So.

Adam: 00:35:33

I'm wondering why they moved it and I'm also thinking because I think Cali teleports them down. Does she. So did she re film that little scene for them to insert it? I don't know. It's a curious one. This I'm not quite sure about.

We need that book, don't we? We need the cult. What are they called?

Garry: 00:35:52

Edge.

Adam: 00:35:53

We need that cult. Edge book to fill in the gaps of what went on behind the scenes here.

Because it apart, if I didn't know, you know, if I hadn't known that this was the second episode filmed, there isn't really anything else in it that I would have spotted to let you know, to raise my suspicions. Nothing else seems out of place in it all.

Garry: 00:36:12

Yeah, same. It's just that. Just one of those quirky little production things, isn't it? That you would never have known. You. You never have just sort of.

You never thought. That's weird. That's weird that Callie's suddenly working the teleport machine.

Like it's just all fits nicely just by the, you know, the magic of edits and stuff. But anyway, so, yeah, obviously if this is your first episode, listening to Federation Strike and just stick your fingers in your ears for a moment.

But yeah, now that Gan is no longer with us, even though there's only a small amount of time where the whole crew are on the Liberator together, it definitely feels. You can. You can definitely.

Even though it's just Gan who didn't have the biggest part in the last few stories, it definitely feels trimmer, doesn't it? A slimmer just overall, yeah, it does.

Adam: 00:37:15

But I do feel like other characters are still getting, like we keep saying, like Jenna and Callie getting very little to do. I mean, Jenna gets a few good scenes with Blake where they have a bit of a chat on the Liberator and Blake seems very. I wouldn't even Say, subdued.

But he's very calm, isn't he, in this episode? He seems very relaxed. Even though there's a deadly virus spreading, he's kind of. He's very much in control in this episode, isn't he? Doesn't.

He's not sort of flapping around desperate to, you know, take out the Federation or anything. He's just concentrating on helping Dr. What's his name? Belfry. That's it.

Garry: 00:37:54

Yep.

Adam: 00:37:55

So, yeah, it's. Yeah, a relaxed one for Blake.

Garry: 00:38:02

Yeah, let's talk about Blake, actually, because he's like the other thread of the story. So on the. Actually, before that, it's. I. I did find it a bit. A bit of a. What's the word? A bit of Sod's Law. Is it? Sod's Law? I think so.

So throughout the entire story, Avon is trying to engineer the best way to get this crystal. Because Villa's point of view is that let's just take it, let's just steal it, you know, teleport to the Liberator and off we go. Lovely.

And Avon has to very clearly explain to him, he's like, look, if we steal it, they'll know it's been stolen and they'll just reset the code.

Adam: 00:38:50

Yeah.

Garry: 00:38:51

You know, they'll reset the, the, the transmission. They'll recode them into a different thing and this will be useless. And so he's like, oh, fine, whatever.

And then they go through all that to try and do it in the right way. They. They do a bit of reconnaissance work on it and then they do the distraction with the fire and Avon wants to. To do it the right way still.

And in the end it just turns out that in the disarray, we're going to take it anyway.

Adam: 00:39:18

Yeah, yeah.

Garry: 00:39:19

So Avon. Avon gets to do his little thing. But, yeah, I just. It was just a.

After all that planning and plotting and doing all that, it came down to just, oh, there's no one here anyway. Yeah, let's just be wiped out by the plague. So they. So they just take it and bugger off anyway. And so that, that was the thread with.

With those guys, which was kind of satisfying, I guess. They. It was mission accomplished in the end. They. They got back to Liberator with this crystal and so on.

But the other thread with Blake and so on, I found that quite interesting, you know, because. For two reasons, really.

Number one, what you said that Blake's in enemy territory for most of this, and I know that there's some discussion on the Liberator with, with Jenna early on where they're trying to find out what this, what this ship is doing. You know, from this sector. They, this is part of, there's this area of the, of the galaxy that's never been explored.

61Signe and it's like, yeah, this Wanderer craft went missing in that region like nearly a thousand years ago. And you know, they're trying to figure out what's going on so they're investigating that. But then ultimately Blake's like right, I'm going down.

And there's actually a really nice little scene, isn't there, with, with him and Jenna because she's really worried about what's going to happen. And he snaps at Aries like look, I have teleported before. I've, you know, been down before.

And she's like look, it's, she's like, I just want to make sure that you're okay sort of thing. And he's like, oh. He's like don't worry. He sort of brings it down a bit. He's like, don't worry, a little smile and stuff like that.

So there's that bit there. But then the, the bulk of the story. I found it so interesting that that was the first one that he's so chill, like he's in enemy territory.

Adam: 00:41:22

And.

Garry: 00:41:22

He's directly conversing and smiling and you know, you know, they've all got their detector hats on with these Federation scientists. That's the other thing I found so fascinating was like the belfry is just instant dismissal of the situation.

They're like, yeah, you know, who are you? So you know, who are you? You know, you're not one of us. Like, what's going on? He's like, well on paper I'm the sort of wanted criminal Blake.

And the guy's like, oh well, we're just scientists really. So like, yeah, that's out there above our pay grade to sort of be worrying about that stuff.

But you know, if you want to chip in what you got, what info you got and then that's it. Literally within five seconds. Like, Blake's not a threat. So. And they're just scientists.

They're not bothered with all the politics of, of the high end Federation and all that stuff. They're just like, yeah, whatever, not phased one bit.

And then that kind of reflects on Blake and he's just so relaxed and just put his feet up for a little bit and he's chatting. So I found that part of it so interesting. It was a really good bit of Robert Holmes writing that bit.

Adam: 00:42:31

It makes a nice change, doesn't it? I mean, that's what I felt when I was watching this episode, that it does have a different tone. It's not the right word.

You know, it does feel like a different episode to the rest. Whilst certainly fitting in with the world building of Blake's 7. You know, it's taken a little bit of a sidestep, I think, and I like that.

It's kind of a.

It's kind of realistic, isn't it, that there are people within, you know, the controlled Federation planets, that some of them are all for the Federation and some of them are just, you know, going along with it because they don't have a choice, but they're actually good people, you know, it's very true to life in that sense, isn't it?

So I like the fact that we do get to meet people that, you know, might not be on the same side, but actually underneath they're not really against us either. And then Blake can work and try and help them. And Blake, in his big heart mate, I mean, that's the thing.

He, you know, I think even, even Jenna says it to him, doesn't she? Like, you know, he says to Jenna, sorry, they're still human or they're still people or something like that.

He's can't bring himself to, you know, not help. I do wonder why he didn't take Orak with him.

I mean, I know Orak's heavy, but, you know, take him with you, save some time, keep going back and forth.

Has, I was thinking the other day, actually, has Orac left the Liberator yet and they haven't taken him with them to any of these situations yet, have they?

Garry: 00:43:56

No, not so far, no.

Adam: 00:43:58

Okay.

Garry: 00:43:59

Nope.

Adam: 00:43:59

Yeah, I mean, that might sound a strange thing to ask, but it's just because. And this could be my memory playing tricks of me, I don't know.

But I'm pretty sure as the series goes on, you know, that Orak becomes quite a regular. They take him with him quite a lot. You know, they're always taking him out for a walk, so. But it.

Maybe it's not as frequent as I'm thinking, if you know what I mean. Yeah, I'm sure he becomes a more prominent part of the sort of crew in that sense.

But yeah, I was just thinking Blake could have taken all right with him and probably solved it pretty quick, but there you go. I guess that would have made the episode a lot shorter if he had.

Garry: 00:44:38

Yeah, I think, mind you, he's not Pocket sized, is he? Orac?

Adam: 00:44:44

No. And you'll know why I said that like that when. When we get to a certain episode.

Garry: 00:44:51

Right, right, gotcha. But at the moment, at least at this point, it's just funny you said.

Adam: 00:44:57

That because it's not what you're thinking, but it does tie in with something that's coming up. Okay, Interesting.

Garry: 00:45:04

Yeah. So in this story, at least Blake can't put all rack in his. In his shirt pocket.

Adam: 00:45:10

No.

Garry: 00:45:11

And. And do that stuff. So, yeah, it might be a bit cumbersome to. To get him around and they've not made a little trolley for him yet or anything.

They can't wheel him about or anything. So. Yeah. Anyway, can I just say, while we're.

Adam: 00:45:24

Talking about Aurach, mate, I know he only gets a few scenes, but he's still such a great little character, isn't it? All right. Everything's a bother to him, isn't he? It's as if he thinks he's so busy and everything's an inconvenience.

You know, everything Blake asks him, he like tuts and oh, in a minute and all this sort of thing. I just freaking love Orak. I mean, I love Zen as well. Zen's like the opposite Mr. Cool, isn't he? Confirm.

Aurak's always so uptight, you know, I love it. He's sort of having to go at Blake and Blake's rolling his eyes and all that stuff. There is a cut. There is a strange shot of Orak.

It almost feels like not. Not a director's edit, but maybe in the actual edit in the episode, I don't know.

There's a shot where it just of Aurak, but it's nothing to do with the scene that's actually playing out. It's as if, you know, in the old days they used to just hit a button to flick between cameras and they would almost record it as live.

I don't know if you spotted it, mate. It's a shot where it just cuts to Aurak. And I'm thinking, Aurak's not saying or doing anything. It's Blake that's talking. Why are we.

Why have we got this weird shot of Orack? And then it cuts back to that shot when Orack is saying something. So I don't know if that's just a mistake. They just thought, no one will notice.

We'll just leave that in. Did you not notice it now? Maybe it's because it's something I've spotted over the years watching it. I don't know.

Garry: 00:46:43

No, I know, yeah. I know what you mean. But I'm not sure if it was intentional or not.

Adam: 00:46:48

It might be.

Garry: 00:46:52

Old Orac.

Adam: 00:46:53

He's brilliant, isn't he?

Garry: 00:46:55

Bless him. Yeah, he's. Yeah. I think him and. Him and Blake had this good back and forth at times.

And it's really funny when Avon's in the mix as well with that, because both of them, both Blake and Avon, when they're trying to get. It happens with Zen as well, you know, when they're trying to just get a straight answer. And I think sometimes they're. I think they. The questions.

The type of questions that they want to ask either Orac or Zen, they tend to ask the question as if they're asking a fellow human. Yeah, they sort of humanize the question and they're often met with either now, robot sarcasm or like this bluntness that's like. Oh, God, yes. Yeah.

And that's. Yeah, that's been a really funny sort of undertone, hasn't it, with these. With both Zen and Orac, when the.

When the crew are trying to get information out of them and answers, they end up going round in circles for. For five minutes, trying to get the context correct and what they actually want.

Adam: 00:48:08

And even though it's a different. Even though it's now Peter Tudnam voicing, you know, not the. The actor who played. Oh, what was he called in the first. In the last episode, series A.

You know, the guy who invented Dorak. Ensor, was it? Yeah.

Garry: 00:48:24

Oh, him. Yeah.

Adam: 00:48:26

They've still managed to maintain the same character, haven't they? They sort of tetchity. Old but quite lovable character that Ensor was, is Orac. You know, Derek Farr. Yeah.

Garry: 00:48:40

Is Ensor. And the voice of Orac before. Yeah, yeah.

Adam: 00:48:43

He's still got that same sort of character, isn't it? If you think how much we liked his character on screen of him sort of pottering around, getting a bit touchy, but he was also very lovable.

You know, that's. That's all rack, isn't it? It's exactly what he's like.

Garry: 00:48:55

Yeah, exactly that. Yeah. What did you think to the. The story that echoes the story plots overall? I guess that kind of echoed what we've seen before.

So, you know, the Avon and Villa's main mission to. To grab the crystal, the translator crystal, in terms of that as a story plot, it was really, really similar to that of seek, locate, destroy.

Adam: 00:49:29

Yeah.

Garry: 00:49:30

You know, when they're after the cipher machine, which does a very similar thing.

Adam: 00:49:35

Yes, yeah.

Garry: 00:49:36

And it was the. So, because I thought I.

As I was watching through it, I thought there's probably going to be a twist of some sort here that's going to be like, you know, the, the crystals are decoy or it's a. It's a red herring sort of thing. They're going to play on this thing where, you know, like we had previously with.

In the episode Trial, where they've been lured into this. This feeling that they can take down Central Command for. For. For the Federation. And they get there and it's the empty room.

Yeah, I thought that with this translator crystal thing that the plot in this story, that they would. They would play on that a little bit and Avon would. Would get it and then it would just be a. Yeah, just a red herring or something.

But it turns out it just. It's pretty straightforward. It's, you know, there, there is no weirdness about it. There's no decoys or anything like that.

It literally is just the thing that's going to allow them to decode all of the stuff. But I found it. Once I got to the end of story, I was like, huh, this feels very. Yeah, see, Locate, destroy esque. Then if you picked up on that.

Adam: 00:50:49

Yeah, it did feel a bit familiar to that. I think even the location made it feel a bit familiar to that. I don't know if it's the same location, but, you know, this power plant, it just.

Yeah, it did have a feel of it that reminded me of. See the cake destroy. Almost expected to see the, you know, the, the surveillance robot, whatever he's called. Yeah. Pop up. Shame he didn't.

But yeah, no, it definitely had the similarity to that, I think. Thankfully, it's got more to it in the sense of you got the sort of power struggle between Avon and Tynus and also the stuff going on with Blake.

So it doesn't. It's not too. It's not treading water too much, I don't think. But yeah, it is a little bit the same, I suppose. I did think.

I did think that as well, mate, to be honest. Yeah.

Garry: 00:51:36

Yeah, a little bit. Just some just observation and not bad thing. Just. Just an observation.

I felt like I'm wondering if we'll get another episode in this series that's sort of like that as well. Because the, the.

The type of attacks that Blake has initiated on the Federation thus far, that I've noticed anyway, throughout not just this series, but series A as well, is that it's either like an undercover, you know, we're going to go, gonna Infiltrate this base or something, grab this thing and get out undetected or it's going to be a quite a bold statement. We're gonna, we're gonna attack the Federation in this style sort of thing. Quite full on. So, yeah, I'm just wondering if we're going to get any more.

You obviously know the answer to this already, but for me, as a newcomer, a brand newbie who's already noticed a, you know, not an exact repeat of. Of previous episodes, but the themes of. Of Blake trying to take down the Federation in whatever shape or form.

Yeah, I've already noticed a couple of very, very similar things going on. So I'm just wondering if. Because what we got now, seven, it's got six episodes left to one, if there's room to do any more of that stuff.

I hope they don't do that too often.

Adam: 00:53:05

Yeah, I mean, yeah, we'll see where it goes. I think this is the thing.

You've got the overarching story of Blake wanting to take down the Federation or whatever, but how many ways, different ways can you do that, I suppose is what we're saying. And that's why, I guess you get episodes which are more self contained rather than dealing with, you know, the overarching plot.

So coming back to what you saying about me not remembering this episode, if you remember at the end of last week's episode trial, I was really excited to see where we went from there because you've got that, you know, got Travis going off on one. I can't remember if he takes Overland hostage or if they start working together or can't quite remember how that resolves itself after that episode.

And I thought it continued in this one, which it doesn't, you know, that we're gonna pick that up in another episode, obviously, so. So yeah, in that sense you've got to have these little breakaways, I think.

Otherwise it is just every week Blake doing the same thing and probably succeeding or failing to a certain degree, you know, so it's kind of nice in a way that they aren't mixing it up.

I don't think you've got a choice really, you know, if you are going to continue making Blake seven, you know, if you're not just going to do one series where it starts with Blake and it ends with Blake winning, you know, you've got to start branching out and doing other things and then returning to those themes so they don't feel too repetitive, if you like. And yeah, we'll see how successfully they do that. I'm not going to sort of spoil anything, but. Yeah, we'll see how that works out.

But you know, you know what I'm saying, man, they gotta.

If they want to do more series of Blake's 7, if they don't want to end it yet, they got to think of ways to keep keeping it fresh and have these little sidesteps with other stories and then back to the main arc. Otherwise it's just the main arc every week sort of thing. Yeah, I think, Yeah, I think they've done a good job so far of doing that.

Garry: 00:55:00

Yeah, I agree. Yes. One thing that was cool, that did bring.

Bring a bit of a distraction to that main plot, which you've mentioned already, obviously, which is the, the title of the episode in its truest form. I guess this killer virus that's landed. That's landed amongst it all.

And that's what I mentioned earlier about this Robert Holmes story being a little bit darker than. Because Robert Holmes, those of you that are classic Doctor who fans will know that Robert Holmes was. Was famous for.

For being involved in the more darker episodes.

Adam: 00:55:41

Yes.

Garry: 00:55:41

Of classic Doctor who. And so that translates a little bit over to Blake's 7, where the, the stuff with, with Villa and Avon, that's not really that bad.

You know, that's, you know, that's just referencing like an old event between the two of them. It's the old. Now I mentioned it, it's the old. Right.

In the very first episode, Space Fall Back in series A, the crime that Avon's getting banged up for, I think is the fraud case that him and Tynus were involved in.

Adam: 00:56:16

Yeah, it could be. Yeah. I don't think it's specified, but you could, you could read into that.

Garry: 00:56:21

Yeah. It's not explicitly says like this is the thing, but it's kind of implied, isn't it?

Adam: 00:56:27

Yeah.

Garry: 00:56:28

And there's probably some more information kicking around. There's probably listeners who are like, yeah, it is that, because, you know, in this book or this thing somewhere.

But so you've got that stuff going on which is not particularly dark. That's just more sort of your average sort of drama sci fi stuff going on, but the stuff with the, with the virus and the, and the body that's.

That's rescued out of the ship, that is quite dark because not only is it reasonably creepy, the way that they've translated the, the story from Robert Holmes to screen, where you've got this body that's just all looking crispy and a little bit decomposed and a bit nasty, you know, that's. That's quite an unsettling sight.

But then the thought of the virus is spread so fast, it's essentially wiped out everybody on the base, to the point where, much to Avon's annoyance, Blake has to. He's. He's had to leave, like a warning beacon, basically, to warn people that, you know, bad, bad, bad, you know, don't go down sort of thing.

Adam: 00:57:38

Yeah, yeah.

Garry: 00:57:39

So that. That whole thing, that part of the story I found quite dark where it's. It. The thing that was quite unsettling about it was the.

The rate at which that virus spread and infected everybody, because at first they thought it was just an isolated thing with the two scientists that came in to rescue the doctor who was doing the autopsy, but then they. The other doctor. Is it Gambrill?

Adam: 00:58:11

Yeah, it's Gambrill, yeah, Gambrill, Yeah, he.

Garry: 00:58:14

Was very cool, played by Colin Farrell. He. He basically radios in and says, look. Beeps going down.

And then another scientist is like, we've had to lock down the entire wing because, you know, a bunch of my guys are coming down with it. And then Blake's like, look, this is airborne. Like, this is bad. And he's like, no, it's not airborne. We would have known about it by now.

But it is, and the whole thing. And that's when I thought to myself, but Gambrill's been infected, clearly, and he came in and he was around Belfry, who ended up being infected.

Does that mean that Blake's infected?

Adam: 00:58:54

Well, that's one thing I've never really understood because I've always had the same thought, like, why does it take so long for Gambrill to, you know, get the virus? Like, I mean, he really goes through it with his death scene, by the way. I've got to give him points for that.

But, yeah, I've always thought the same thing. And I wondered, you know, after you've said it now, so. Because I used to think, did I miss something?

I missed a plot point here, because, yeah, he's in the room at the same time as the other two guys who straight away die, get the virus. So why does it take Gamble so long? And also, yeah, like you said, he's in the room with Belfry and Blake, so how come Blake doesn't get it?

I mean, I don't know. Again, I always assumed I'd sort of missed something when watching it, but, yeah, watching it again last night still doesn't quite make sense to me.

It sounds like the same for you. So I'm not sure if That's a bit of a plot hole.

Garry: 00:59:47

Yeah.

Because they also make this discovery, don't they, after they've run some tests that this virus is acute to people who have been involved in space travel. So that definitely includes Blake.

Adam: 01:00:04

Yeah.

Garry: 01:00:05

And the crew. So I think in reality, my thought was Blake's going to bring this back to the Liberator.

Because even if Blake hadn't caught it, there's a bit where Villa or Avon or both of them, I can't remember, out in the corridor where Gambrill bites it. And they're out in the corridor with all these guards running around. So they surely would have got it as well.

So I'm thinking in the next episode, are we just going to find the crew, like, all isolated, trying to get rid of this virus? I don't know. It probably won't. But. Yeah.

That my initial thought was this is bad news for the Liberator because at least one of them, either Blake, Avon or Villa, has got this.

Adam: 01:00:49

Yeah.

Garry: 01:00:50

So now, you know, is the Liberator gonna be. I don't know.

Adam: 01:00:54

I don't know what to say because I don't. I don't want to. I don't want to say yes or no. But. Yeah, I'll just.

I'll just say that it is something that confused me every time I've watched this as well. Because, I mean, as Orac as he came up with a cure. No, because they're just telling people to avoid the planet to stop it spreading. Yes.

I also, by the way, while I remember, I also find that an interesting concept that an alien race has used this to contain humans because they're scared of them. I also think that's quite a. You know, it's a way of containing people to the planet or something Blake says, doesn't he?

So it's just a kind of an interesting extra layer, an extra aspect to, you know, they. The actual main story, if you like. But. Yeah, I don't know, mate. I don't know if I've. We've missed something there. If. If there is repercussions.

I'm not going to say too much because obviously I want you to go into next episode fresh, but I don't know.

Garry: 01:01:51

He does.

Adam: 01:01:54

I think I'm just gonna have to say, mate, it. I. I think it's a plot point.

Garry: 01:01:58

The plot holds it.

Adam: 01:02:00

I think it is. Yeah.

Garry: 01:02:01

No, I can tell in his voice he's not. He's trying to get me off the path. I read you. I'll say no more, but all right.

Adam: 01:02:08

I'll say no more, we'll move on.

Garry: 01:02:10

It did feel like a bit of a plot hole because the other thing also that sort of compounds the issue is that when. When Belfry is relaying the cure to the crew on the Liberator, he croaks it halfway through to read.

Adam: 01:02:29

I find that scene. I think it's a really good scene that, isn't it? He goes, I've forgotten how to read. It's just. It's a very simple thing, but it's horrible.

It really brings it home of, oh, you know, this is such a decapitating disease, isn't it? It's such a horrible thing to have.

Garry: 01:02:45

Yeah.

Adam: 01:02:45

Not decapitating. So what's the word?

Garry: 01:02:47

I mean, debilitating.

Adam: 01:02:48

Yeah, that's the one. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's just a really effective way of showing how horrible it is in a very simple way.

Garry: 01:02:56

Yes. Yeah.

But that compounds the issue, though, because if Blake has brought it back or those guys have brought it back, they don't know the cure because he croaked it halfway through telling them what the cure was.

Adam: 01:03:07

Yes, that's right. Yeah.

Garry: 01:03:08

Plot hole city, this dude.

Adam: 01:03:11

Well, we'll see.

Garry: 01:03:12

We'll see.

Adam: 01:03:13

We'll talk about it next week.

Next episode, actually, well, just before we move off the main story, mate, I saw on a review of IMDb two people comparing this to a Red Dwarf episode. Now, I obviously have only seen bits and bobs of Red Dwarf. You are the Red Dwarf aficionado. You love it. Do you know what they're talking about?

Like, did you watch this and think, oh, yeah, Red Dwarf did this storyline many years later or something? Or not. Do you know what? It's just meant nothing to me. I was like, I don't know.

ylines. I mean, Maybe back in: 1970

Maybe it was a bit more, you know, original then because, you know, nowadays we're so used to viruses and stuff, aren't we? But back then, maybe it's a bit more original, but I can't think what Red Dwarf would have taken from this to copy. I don't know.

But people have mentioned it on IMDb.

Garry: 01:04:22

Yeah. So there was. There could be referring to an episode quite late on, well, about middle of the road in. In Red Dwarf, because we've.

We've had a couple of. Is it Epidemic? That's the only one that springs to mind.

Adam: 01:04:41

So it does sound familiar.

Garry: 01:04:43

So series seven of Red Dwarf is called Epidemic, and it's essentially they. They find this abandoned ship in the middle of space in this ice planetoid thing, and inside there they find a frozen. A frozen body. And then the.

That body has got like this kind of.

It's kind of a weird, like wacky Red Dwarf thing, but it's basically some kind of intelligence virus and they can infect people with this instant virus, beaming this virus into people and stuff. It's not exactly the same, but it does have a close. If that's the episode that they refer to, that's the only one I can think of.

Adam: 01:05:35

It does sound to me like that reviewer may have been clutching at straws a bit.

Then I just thought I'd ask you because I know you love Red Dwarf and I thought maybe you were watching it thinking this is just like that episode, blah, blah, blah. But maybe. Yeah, maybe that reviewer was. Don't know.

Garry: 01:05:49

Yeah.

Adam: 01:05:49

Reading into it a little. Maybe.

Garry: 01:05:52

I think so. I mean, don't get wrong. There are similarities there for sure, but it's. I wouldn't say it's exactly the same.

Adam: 01:06:01

Okay, fair enough.

Garry: 01:06:02

Yeah. Yeah. Interesting shout, though, because one of the things that.

And Doctor who has is guilty of this quite a few times across its entire run as well, and. And whatnot. There's been lots of Doctor who episodes that are very similar to the Alien films and. And other things. I think one of our.

One of our reviews that we got on a Doctor who episode a couple of years back, I can't remember who it was, they basically said that great sci fi pilfers from other great sci fi. It's. One of our reviewers put it quite eloquently and I think that's the case with sci fi in general.

I think it just shares a lot of tropes and a lot of common ground with this sort of thing. It's more in the execution that the differences come.

Adam: 01:06:53

Oh, definitely. I mean, you look at Brain of Morbius, you know, it's a kind of a Frankenstein meets whatever. And I've always loved that story.

I don't sit there and think, oh, this is a total ripoff. You know, like they've taken elements and. And made a great story out of it. So. Yeah.

Garry: 01:07:08

Yeah.

So I'm sure there's probably other science fiction films and whatnot that we've never even heard of, let alone seen that have got this very similar storyline to it.

Adam: 01:07:19

Yeah.

Garry: 01:07:21

Okay. What else have we got in this episode that's worthy of chat?

Adam: 01:07:24

So I wrote down outfits Because I just thought some of the outfits in this are outrageous. I mean, the Michelin men pop up at one point and they were actually Michelin outfits, it turns out.

I just assumed maybe they'd copied them, but no, apparently they are. I don't know how they ended up being in Blake's 7, but.

Yeah, so we've got the Michelin men, but also the things that Avon and the other guys have to wear, they look so uncomfortable and so impractical. I think some of the outfits in this, you know, they're just ridiculously big over. Wow. What? Not overcoat. What would you even call it?

Great big shoulders. And it looks like a really uncomfortable material. And headbands going on. It just. I don't know.

The outfits are a little bit distracting, I think, in this one.

Garry: 01:08:15

Yeah, you talk about the dark brown.

Adam: 01:08:18

Yeah, those. Even Paul Darrow struggles to carry that off.

Garry: 01:08:22

Yeah, you read my mind, mate. I just about to say that even.

Even Paul Darrow, who's worn some really fetching leather suits and other outfits, I think is struggling to make this look good.

Adam: 01:08:34

Yeah, yeah.

Garry: 01:08:37

But it's interesting, though. It's. It's. It provides another talking point, doesn't it? And another kind of visual cue that makes you think, oh, this is Blake's 7.

Adam: 01:08:48

Yeah, I guess so. Yeah. I always. I actually wish the rigid men outfits were in it a bit more. They're only in one. One scene, aren't they?

Maybe they were a bit awkward to move in. Maybe as soon as they move, they fell over. I don't know. But yeah, I mean, it's. It's eye catching. It. It's of its time. It's.

Yeah, it's interesting, but just as I said, not very practical, I guess.

Garry: 01:09:11

No, not really. It's okay if you're like. If you're. If you're the sort of character that's like Tynus, he's just at a desk all day.

Adam: 01:09:24

Actually, funnily enough, he does. He does actually carry it off, actually. He's the one person I think kind of suits that. He's got like the.

Do you remember monkey at that gold headband on. And Tinus has got one, isn't he? He's obviously a fan of Monkey. Monkey magic. But he kind of carries off that look, I've gotta say.

Garry: 01:09:43

Yeah, yeah. Not too bad, actually. I think. Yeah. Was his one slightly slimmer or was it the same as the other one?

Adam: 01:09:50

Well, it feels like it, yeah. I don't know if it just was a better fit. I don't know. He kind of carries off just before we wrap up, mate. Did you. You know, did you.

What do you think of his performance? Do you think he was good as Tynus? And because the two. Well, the three sort of the supporting cast people that stick out for me, I thought.

I thought he's good as Tynus because he's got that look, isn't he? That actor's just got one of those faces that, like you said, you recognize him straight away.

He often popped up playing sort of slightly slimy, evil characters a lot of the time. So I think he was good. And I think Paul daneman As Belfry, Dr. Belfry was good. I think he worked well with Gareth Thomas and Gambrilll, obviously.

Colin Farrell.

I think those guys kind of stood out as being good supporting cast members that seem to be having fun playing the part, but also seem to be taking it quite seriously.

Garry: 01:10:40

Yeah, those three are actually really good. And I. Although I thought that. That Belfry, played by Paul Damon, I. I felt like he was a tad cheesy in places.

Adam: 01:10:55

Yeah.

Garry: 01:10:57

But not. Not in a terrible way that I thought, oh, this is a bad performance or anything. I just thought he was a little bit too grinny, sort of smiley in.

In quite a few places. But that's not to say that I didn't enjoy his performance. I did. I thought he was really good.

Adam: 01:11:16

Can I just say, it's funny you say that, mate, because I. I kind of felt the same because I did think he was good in it, but. And I thought maybe I'd imagine this, but you've kind of said it as well now, so maybe I didn't.

I felt like he was more serious in some scenes than others. And I'm now thinking, is it when, you know, is it when Blake appears?

He does seem a little bit more, like you said, smiley and not quite as taking it as seriously as he was in other scenes. I don't know. I didn't know if it was my imagination. But, yeah, I. I think he's good overall.

But there are some bits where he feels like almost as if he's in a rehearsal if he's not quite in the zone.

Garry: 01:11:50

Yes. Yeah, no, I got that. I got that too. Yep. Still good, though.

Adam: 01:11:56

Yeah, still good. Still liked him.

Garry: 01:11:58

Still good. Yeah. And. And I completely agree. He's. He's him. And who else was it? So Paul. Paul Damon, Ronald Lacy, like you said. And. And Gambrill. Gambrill.

Colin Farrell. Yeah, it's really good. Supporting cast members, actually.

Adam: 01:12:19

Not the Colin Farrell, but not the Farrell. Not Penguin Colin Farrell different from Colin Farrell?

Garry: 01:12:25

No. Interesting fact, those of you that are big Lord of the Rings fans, Paul Damon played Belfry. He played Bilbo Baggins. If you've.

If you're a fan of the old BBC radio dramatization of the Lord of the Rings. Sorry, the Hobbit. Sorry, not Lord of Rings, the Hobbit. Radio series. I'm a sucker for radio series and radio dramas.

Adam: 01:12:50

Yeah.

Garry: 01:12:51

And the old BBC dramatizations of Lord of the Rings and the Hobbits are fantastic. And I've only just realized that Paul Damon played Bilbo Baggins in. In the Hobbit, the old BBC radio drama.

Adam: 01:13:06

There you go. He's got a good voice, actually. He has got a good voice. I can imagine him doing audio.

Garry: 01:13:12

Yeah, I agree. Alrighty, let's stick a score on this, bud. Which sounds to go first. Think it might be you.

Adam: 01:13:20

I think it is me. I'm sort of between a 7 and a 7.5. I think I enjoyed it about the same as last week, so I'll give it a 7.5, I think.

Garry: 01:13:32

Seven by five. Okay. I'll go slightly small. I'll go. I'll go seven.

Adam: 01:13:36

A seven. Yeah, that's fair. Yeah. Between the two.

Garry: 01:13:39

Yeah, I think it's a good watch. I think it's got some great. Some great moments between characters. I don't think it's sort of groundbreaking in its plots and. And that kind of thing.

And it wasn't terribly directed as well. I think Via Lorima does an okay job of. Of capturing the moment. Slightly better than.

Than the director that we've had on the last couple of episodes, which was. Who was it?

Adam: 01:14:08

George Spencer Foster?

Garry: 01:14:10

Yeah, we. We had a slight complaint, didn't we, that his stuff was very static.

Adam: 01:14:15

Yeah.

Garry: 01:14:16

So this wasn't crazy, but I think it had slightly more. I don't know, it was just framed slightly better, I think, on this one by Vera Lorima.

Adam: 01:14:26

Now, I'd agree with that because there's some nice shots of, like, Avon Villa when Villa's sort of behind him in the doorway and stuff like. There were some nicely framed shots in this, I noticed.

Garry: 01:14:35

Yes. Yeah. But I can't really attribute anything stand out to give it like zero point fives or bump it up a bit.

So, yeah, good solid watch for a seven and you're a 7.5. Yeah. Okie dokie. So on those scores, I think that's a good time to wrap this up. And our review of the episode. Killer.

Adam: 01:14:57

Killer.

Garry: 01:15:12

Thank you very much, Dear listener. For checking out another episode of Federation Strike, just journey through Blake's 7. That was our review of Killer for episode seven.

We'll be back next week to review the next story in series B, which is.

Adam: 01:15:28

Is it called Plague? The Plague? No. What's it called?

Garry: 01:15:33

Hostage.

Adam: 01:15:34

Oh, Hostage.

Garry: 01:15:35

Hostage, yeah. Do you remember this one or is this one you're gonna have to.

Adam: 01:15:39

Oh, no, I. No, I. This one I remember straight away. Okay, yes, I can hear a certain line of dialogue in my head from this one on repeat.

So this is going to be an interesting one. Yeah.

Garry: 01:15:53

Okay. Nice one. So, yes, we'll be back next week for that one.

In the meantime, if you want to get notified of when that and all the future episodes drop from this podcast, then make sure you're following or subscribing to it in your preferred podcast app of choice. You can obviously check out all of the back catalog, all of our reviews of series A and.

And just keep up to date with our seasonal podcast as we review each series of Blake's 7 in its entirety. You can also chat to us over on the socials. We're on Bluesky X.

Just do a search for at Blake7podcast or hit the link in the show notes and come and chat all things Blake's 7 over on there, along with some really other cool Blake's 7 fans and content creators and so on. Very, very cool. Chat over there and let us know what you think about the series A, B, C versus 1, 2, 3, Etc.

If you know the reason for that, then let us know. And yeah, we'll, we'll chat about that stuff and bring it up on a future episode. Also, don't forget to check out my co host channel over on YouTube.

It is of course the Geeks Handbag.

Adam: 01:17:00

Yeah, the Geeks Handbag and Moss on all the socials under the same name. The Geeks Handbag.

Garry: 01:17:05

Go and check out, go and grab a cup of tea, settle down and watch all of Adam's videos. Tons of very cool geekery stuff over there and, and let him know what you think of his cool videos.

So like you said, the same name, the Geek's Handbag. But it's been very cool to chat through another episode of Blake's 7, mate. I can't wait till next week.

Adam: 01:17:25

Yeah, I'm loving it, mate, honestly loving the journey indeed.

Garry: 01:17:29

So until then, take care of yourselves and we'll see you next time on Federation Strike, a journey through Blake's 7. Sam.