A:06 Seek-Locate-Destroy: The Federation Brings in the Big Gun

Garry: 00:00:21

Hello and welcome to another episode of Federation Strike, a journey through Blake's 7. My name's Garry. My name's Adam and this is episode six.

Adam: 00:00:30

Yes.

Garry: 00:00:45

Welcome to another episode. And we are safe. Down and safe, I think is the same. Is that the same?

Yeah, down and safe it is for another week of Federation Strike and we are at episode number six and it will be our review of Seek, Locate, Destroy.

Adam: 00:01:06

Sounds very Dalek that, doesn't it? Seek, Locate, Annihilate.

Garry: 00:01:12

It does, yeah.

If you've listened so far to Federation Shrike, then welcome back aboard and it's great to have you along the journey with us as we go through all of the episodes of Blake's 7, starting from the very beginning with series A. We're halfway through. Ish. How many episodes are there in this? Is it 13.

Adam: 00:01:28

13.

Garry: 00:01:29

13, yeah. So we're roughly halfway through now and it's going. I know. It's flown by, isn't it?

Adam: 00:01:35

Yeah, it has, yeah.

Garry: 00:01:37

Flown by, which is very cool. And thank you to those of you that have joined us along the journey. Thank you to those of you that have bought the Blu Rays off the bat. It was crazy.

We mentioned this in the first episode. It was absolutely nuts to. To have about half a dozen comments.

I think over on it was either Blue sky or X where people have said, you know, they thought about getting into Blake's 7 before. Not quite sure on it. Bit Amin and ah, in said, you know, they came across because we'd been podcasting for many years about other stuff.

I was like, all right, okay, if you guys are going to do it, then I'm going to buy the Blu ray, just dive in. So if that's, if that's you and you're also diving in and checking out the Blu Ray, then, then that is freaking awesome.

Or if you're just digging out your old VHS or you're checking, checking Blake's 7 out and following along on some streaming service, then that's also very cool. But mate, I hope you've had a good week and. And you're looking forward to another. Another hour. Ish of some Blake's 7 goodness.

Adam: 00:02:32

Yes, I am. I'm very much looking forward to hearing your thoughts on. On this episode.

And also you mentioned down and safe there, which we were obviously hoping that series two comes out on Blu Ray very soon.

And Matthew Sweet put out a mildly cryptic tweet yesterday, didn't he, saying down and safe and recording some new sci fi interviews or something, which down. It's got to be Blake's 7, right? Because he actually says down and safe in the tweet. So a little bit of a hint there.

I think that is him basically saying, I'm interviewing for the next Blake's 7 release. So not confirmation, but, you know, if you put two and two together, I'm pretty sure that's what he's hinting at. So that's exciting news, isn't it?

That it could be coming, dude. Very well. Sooner rather than later.

Garry: 00:03:19

But that's gotta be it, right? That's gotta be. Yeah, that's gotta be. I'm trying to think of a.

A very popular or quintessential Doctor who thing that he would say after doing an interview for one of the Doctor who Blu Ray collection sets. You know, a Doctor who fan would have got.

Well, you know, whatever he would have said, but, you know, like, I don't know, something to do with the Tardis, you know, materializing in or, you know, something like that, or the time vortex or something. You know, Doctor who fans would get that.

Adam: 00:03:51

So, yeah, they actually say it almost straight away in the episode we're reviewing today. It's one of the first thing Blake says is down and safe, Jenna. And I was like, he said it. It's got to be it.

Garry: 00:04:03

Yeah, it's got to be. So that's obviously, we can't confirm. You know, it's just a. A little nugget of. Of somebody involved in it online.

But I think it's safe to say that series B is on the way.

Adam: 00:04:15

Yes.

Garry: 00:04:15

For old. For old Blakes, Blake, which is great.

Adam: 00:04:19

Should be good timing for us.

Garry: 00:04:20

Indeedy. Yes. Before we kick off with today's or this week's review and this week's episode, just a couple of things, really.

The first one is before I must remember to do this because these guys have been very, very cool, and we've had a lovely chat with Graham over at Cult Edge. If you're a Blake's 7 fan, then make sure you follow these guys over on. I think they're mainly on Blue sky, but also Twitter as well.

If you just do a search for Ult Edge, these guys make some absolutely beautiful Blake seven books and magazines they've picked up. So to my knowledge, and you'll know this more than I do, buddy. To my knowledge, back in the day, There was a Blake's 7 magazine that used to roll.

I'm not sure if it was fortnightly or monthly or something, but they finished, didn't they, at episode. What was the issue number that they stopped on? Was it 23?

Adam: 00:05:13

Oh, something like that. I forget now. I. Yeah, it was hard to Find actually around my way. I think I managed to get a couple of them, but not many. But yeah, it didn't.

It did stop around there. Yeah.

Garry: 00:05:24

Yes, these guys have decided to continue the Blake's 7 magazine and almost like a bit of a weird time jump where it's not a reboot or a reset. I think the first magazine they did was episode issue 24 and they've just announced that the next issue is going to be up for sale.

They've put some tweets out to say it's coming tomorrow at 9am UK time. So that'll be Friday the 3rd, 31st of January. So obviously we're forward in time because we record these episodes in advance.

But if you did manage to pick up one of those magazines, then just make sure you follow Cult Edge and let us know what you thought of that issue. But it does look very cool.

It's got an interview with Sally Novette, it's got stuff about the some a bit of a deep dive into the Blu Ray production stuff and it's going all the way back to look at the first episode of Blake's 7 and a bit of a retrospective on that. And those guys also do these absolutely beautiful production diary books.

Adam: 00:06:22

Yeah, gorgeous.

Garry: 00:06:24

Yes, they've done, I think they've done the first two series A and B so far. Yes, they look absolutely gorgeous. So very, very lovely chaps, especially Graham who we've spoken to over there. So a bit of a plug for those guys.

They've done some really, really cool stuff. Go and check them out. Cult Edge.

Adam: 00:06:41

Absolutely.

Garry: 00:06:42

And yes, and second of all, before we kick off, also make sure if you're, especially if you're a new time listener to Federation Strike, that you are following this podcast. Give us a follow in your favorite podcast app so that way you won't miss a notification when new episodes drop.

We put them out each week as we go through series A every Wednesday. So we'd love to have you along as a regular on the journey. And those of you that have followed us, thank you so much.

And also if you like this podcast and you want to give us a bit of a bit of a love on the.

On the apps that accept reviews and ratings like Apple podcasts, Spotify, the website, podchaser, good pods, those sort of things, we'd absolutely love that. We've had some really nice. Couple of really nice comments already.

So thank you so much to you guys who have rated the podcast and are enjoying the journey.

We're also on the socials, just do a search for Lake7podcast on Twitter or BlueSky, and joining the chat in between episodes every week about plenty of Blake's 7. Goodness. And with that being said, let's dive straight into our review. Dude. So this week, what is it?

Adam: 00:07:45

Yeah. So, episode six, Seek, Locate, Destroy.

Trailer: 00:07:53

Commander, it is good to see you. Your aide said I was to wait. He was obviously mistaken. He doesn't realize the urgency of the matter. These are your orders. Destroy Blake. Depend on it. Trick I learned from you, Travis. I got here first. Take his gun. Kelly.

Know this. Your interrogators caused me much suffering. I should like a reason to kill you. Small movement will be enough. I've got her.

Jenna, bring the ship to teleport range. On our way. Now, Travis, your turn. You get in the chair. Don't feel too badly, Travis. After all, it was an ambush technique you devised.

You're not out of this yet. Blake's ship is moving, coming in very fast. We'll be leaving in about three minutes.

I should use the time to think of an excuse for your failure. You'd better kill me, Blake. Until one of us is dead, there'll never be a time when I won't be right behind you. If not you, then somebody else. Killing you will change nothing. You don't matter enough to kill Travis.

Adam: 00:09:21

A bit of tension there.

Garry: 00:09:22

th of February,: 1978

Written by Terry Nation, directed by Veer Lorimer, overseen by Chris Bosher and Chris Bowsher. Sorry. And Dave Maloney.

And the synopsis for this one is Kali is captured by the Federation when Blake and his crew destroy its communication center and steal the cipher system. Old rival space Commander Travis is ordered to seek, locate and destroy Blake. And he plans to use Cali as bait.

Adam: 00:09:57

Yeah.

Garry: 00:09:59

So episode six, it all goes down on this one.

Adam: 00:10:03

Mm.

Garry: 00:10:03

We have some. We have Blake going back to his original plan.

So the episode before last, that was he planned to go to Kentaro to blow up and destroy the Federation's communication center. But as we.

As we found in the last episode, the Web, they get sidetracked a little bit with the lost and you know, Callie's the exile tribe from Cali's home planet. So that all went down and they couldn't get there. But then when that was all sorted out, Blake was like, right, okay, now we're back on track.

We're off to Kintero and we're going to blow up this communication center. And in the last episode, by the way, I think I pronounced it center. Okay, yeah, apologies for that, but yeah.

So they're on Quintero, Blake's down there with Villa doing their thing. And in the background we now get some insight into the other, the other part of the story.

So so far it's been very focused on Blake and his crew and what Blake is trying to put his kind of larger plan into place essentially to take down the Federation.

So that's all been about that and then the little intricacies of the character progression and the certain relationships between certain characters like Blake and Avon, etc. And, and all that stuff. But this was the first time we now see the events from the other side, from the Federation side.

So now we're seeing those guys who are now fully aware that Blake is causing problems. It's not just a case of he was an under control citizen that broke free, but now he's back to his old ways of causing disruption.

And you can tell now that it kind of links back into the first episode, the way back where those guys who were in charge, the main thing they were concerned about was that Blake's name would start to become sort of infamous and people would use that as inspiration to rebel and so on.

And we come back to that now where the two sort of Federation high ups, you know, Berkel and Rontagne, those two are trying to get across the point that like, we have to deal with Blake because, you know, he's back basically, and he's causing a lot of problems. And then we get introduced to a couple of interesting characters.

From my understanding as a newbie, one of these characters at least is quite important to the storyline as we go through, which is Serval and, and because I've seen her on the promotional stuff all over the place, I was going.

Adam: 00:12:36

To say there's no avoiding it. Yeah, yeah.

Garry: 00:12:38

So for me, who's never seen the show but been aware of it, she's one character that I've seen all the time on all the promo stuff and just clips and trailers in general and so on. And then we get Space Commander Travis.

Yeah, who's a bit of a rogue, a bit of a bit of a gung ho, gets the job done, not in the most humane way, but he gets results nonetheless, which is why Serval and hires him at the sort of disdain of the other Federation high for looters. So I'm a very, a very different episode, this one to the one we've just had.

So we, we mentioned in last week's episode for the Web that That was kind of a creature of the week kind of affair. And it was a bit of an isolated story, not too much in terms of Blake's 7, a lore episode, if you will, but a bit of a distraction.

Now we're back to the big kind of the main story plot being pushed forward with both sides here. So straight out the gate, mate. I will say this was a bloody good watch, this one.

Adam: 00:13:46

Yes, yes. I thought you'd like this one because you've really got into the sort of plot of Blake7 from the beginning.

And I think I was watching this thinking, I hope this is the kind of episode you've been waiting for, because you've liked all the story out, but. And you like the standalone stories, but this is the kind of thing you're interested in. Them going after Blake, Blake going after them.

This character of Travis being introduced, he's got this backstory with Blake. I was just sat there thinking, I mean, I. I'm just out the gun. I love this episode. I think it's great.

But it's also important because it introduces Sir Valent and Travis, who go on to be two very important characters. But yes, mate, go for it. Tell me what you loved. I.

I'm glad you liked it, but I had a feeling this was going to be one you would particularly get into. So give me your thoughts on it before we get into it.

Garry: 00:14:34

So I would say, first of all, I'm absolutely astounded that with episodes like this, that Blake's 7 remained as. I need to say this respectfully, dude. The Blake's 7 remained as small scale and as niche that it did, because this is absolute top level.

Just everything is just fantastic about this episode, in my opinion, like the performances, the. The just the Terry Nation's way of feeding you enough information and giving you enough character progression that you. You just cannot.

I am so itching to watch the next episode.

It's so difficult for me, but because of just wisdom from podcasting and doing all that stuff, I know that if I was to just watch it all now or watch the next episode, by the time we record next week, I would have forgotten all the details. So I need to hold myself back and we. And watch this, like, you know, the night before we record or the morning of or something like that, but I'm so.

It's episodes like this that are like, oh, my God, how. How did Blake's 7 not reach higher heights back in the day? Because surely as a TV critic or a reviewer back then, you.

You would have surely, like, you would have loved this as. Especially as a Sci Fi fan, you would have absolutely loved this and you would have shouted from the rooftops how great the show is.

And so, yeah, just from that point alone, just enjoying the performances and how Terry Nation had just brilliantly introduced these characters. It wasn't just a case of, right, we've. We've hired this guy called Travis. Here he is. Go and kill Blake. Off you go. There was this really cool.

Almost like this guy's a mythical character almost, because the way that Serverland is talking to the, to, to Burkholm. Rontagne.

So Rontagne, he's the representative for the President, so he's very high up and he kind of vocalizes any of the President's concerns, I guess, to, to server land. And then you've got the Senator Burkhol who's also, uh, you know, he's also shared in that, you know, this is a bad idea with Travis.

So you have this whole thing around. You know, why is this guy so bad? You know, what, what's the problem with him? What. Why are these guys quite fearful of her decision to hire him?

And they even try and subtly get around, try to get her to reconsider. You know, they, they don't say, let's tell her outright because she's a strong character.

She's obviously supreme Commander of the Federation, but they try to sort of using their sort of politics and that sort of thing and the way, the way that they put that across, but she's having none of it. And then a bit later on, she's having, she's having a conversation with another guy.

What's the guy she has a conversation with before Travis turns up, I think.

Adam: 00:17:38

Yeah, she's sort of quite flirty with him, isn't she? It might be Eldon, I think, or something. Yeah, I forget now.

Garry: 00:17:45

We're terrible with names.

Adam: 00:17:46

We are bad with names. Listeners. Anyone who hasn't listened to the, the DOT two podcast. We do. We're famous for this. So apologies.

Garry: 00:17:52

Yes. Yeah. And so basically she makes no apologies for this. She's aware of the things that he's done. But what she's.

And what's really clever about this bit of writing is that as, as the person that she knows that they have to deal with, which is Blake. She knows that there's no softly, softly here.

Like she can't just hire the usual guys from the Federation and she can't just send the usual ships after him. This is Blake that we're talking about. She knows how clever he is, how, how, how invested he is in his mission, if you like, his, his moral mission.

So she has to kind of bring out the big guns straight out the gate. There's no messing around. And, and, and the. Travis is the way to do it.

But the way that he was introduced and that conversation that she had and that guy was like, yeah, look, me and the boys, we're, we're not too happy about this, you know, because the, the incident that went down before where I think he just massacred a load.

Adam: 00:18:52

Of people, it sounds like it.

Garry: 00:18:54

Even though they had surrendered, I think he just went on and just killed a load of them. This was an uprising on the planet Oros. He was, he was tasked to, to, to sort that out and ended up just massacring.

Loads of people got told off for it, slap on the wrist. And now he's back in duty and Serverland is, you know, is tasked in with. She, you know, he literally says, you know, these your orders.

She's like, yep, cool, cool. Consider it done sort of thing. So the way that he introduced. Was introduced was that lovely build up, like, why is this guy so feared?

And then you get the little backstory a little bit and then fast forward, you get a proper backstory of his interaction with Blake in the past. There was that great bit of. Great bit of old school television storytelling.

So Veer Lorimer, who directed this, I was sort of hand clapping at that bit. It's a very simple thing to do. They don't do it much in TV anymore. It's where you have one person telling the story and then the other person.

It's almost like both actors are reading from the same script slightly differently, but it fades as a transition from Travis telling the story. And then it transitioned to Blake telling the same story to his crew, but just now from his point of view.

But the story, the lines they were saying were almost the same at that point of transition. And then we go over to. It was so beautifully done. And then.

Adam: 00:20:19

Lovely, isn't it?

Garry: 00:20:20

Yeah. So good. And then Serverland's character, I love her out the gate.

I think she's got that a bit like Jenna on the other side with Blake, another really strong female character. Not taking any nonsense from anybody, male or female, doesn't matter. She knows what she has to do. And then. And then Travis, as we've said, is this.

This kind of ruthless cutthroat, almost like Cannon, isn't he? Yeah. And. And stamps his authority immediately.

So when he goes down to the planet surface to investigate what happened, where they find that Cie is unconscious and they capture her, he's ordering all those guys around, you know, all the technicians, and he's shouting at him and he's getting the job done. So you're fearful. I was really fearful for Blake. I was like, right, if this guy's after you, you know, there's going to be some serious problems.

And Blake sort of held his own that. You heard it in that clip that I played before we started.

And Blake's just not phased by him at all because he's, you know, had a run in with him in the past. He knows how he operates to a degree. So. Yeah, and then there was all these. Mate, it was just. It was all.

It was like I was watching a fantastic film, like a feature. It whiz by for me, dude, I think this was what, 50 minutes? Just shy of.

Adam: 00:21:40

Yeah, just. Just 50 minutes. Yeah.

Garry: 00:21:42

And mate, this. This felt like it was sort of half an hour and done, because glued to it, I felt like it was just half an hour done. I'm like, jesus, that was.

That was great. So, yeah, I'm sure there's going to be.

Adam: 00:21:54

Sorry. I was going to say, I kind of felt this would deliver what you've.

What you've liked about the first kind of episodes and what this was building up to. I kind of felt this was what you needed when you needed it halfway through the series, more or less.

I thought, I would imagine this is what Garry wants from an episode because it's. It's Blake attacking the Federation, it's introducing these new characters. We've got a great backstory.

We have Travis, this character that Blake thought he'd killed but obviously hasn't. And there's obviously, you know, that creates this great tension that Travis is now chasing Blake throughout the galaxy.

I just thought there's so much great stuff in this episode that I would imagine this is gonna land exactly where Garry wants it to. So. I am pleased to hear it. I'm pleased to hear that. It did.

Garry: 00:22:38

Yeah, it did, man. It was a. It was. It was a. Just such a good. Just an intrigue. Like the way it was paced as well was really well done. I mean, I'm all for.

I'm all for, you know, lots of action, of course, but they. The way they did this, it was, you know, even the opening scenes with Blake and Villa as they infiltrate the.

The communications base, even that was really well done. And we got the cheesy little old school, cheapo, no budget robot that's, you know, skimming around and yeah, there are the robot, you know.

Yeah, Even that was just such charm to it, you know, such old British classic charm to which I loved.

Adam: 00:23:21

That poor old droid, mate. He gets. He gets a lot of stick. But you know what? You're absolutely right. I think he's charming.

And I'll tell you what, you could laugh at him when he's wobbling along. You can. I think you can even see the. The rope pulling him. If you look carefully enough, you could laugh at that. But.

But then he opens up this little cannon and a blooming fire flame comes through, a flamethrower shoots out, and you think, whoa, what the hell? You know, don't mess with him.

Garry: 00:23:45

Yeah, he's very cool. But, yeah, even that opening scene where you thought, you know, they're already down to business sort of thing, they teleport down.

Villa then teleports down begrudgingly.

Adam: 00:23:56

Oh, it's so funny. I love Villa.

Garry: 00:23:58

It's so funny, isn't he? Yeah. And then even Gan starts to lose patience, like, come on, Villa.

Adam: 00:24:02

Oh, yeah, come on, Villa.

Garry: 00:24:04

Everyone's just waiting for him to crack on. You know what, mate? Not just this episode, but that's the cool thing that I like about these characters.

You know, they've each got their own unique personality. There's no. There's. There's. There's no sort of dead weight in the cast, if you know what I mean.

I'm sure that the characters that have not got that much screen time thus far will have episodes where they do have more screen time, but.

Adam: 00:24:32

Yes.

Garry: 00:24:32

Yeah, but so far they've. There's no. There's no two characters alike. You know, they've each got their own thing.

And Villa was great in this opening bit because he flipped from. He flips from being a scaredy cat to having this kind of false bravado about him. So, you know, he's. He doesn't want to go down in the first place.

And then Blake's selling, you know, go to this, Open the gate, hack the gate, you know, I'll watch out and do that thing. He's like, oh, God. Goes off to do it. And then when he does do it, Blake's like, oh, you know, well done.

He's like, well, yeah, you know, I've got skills, you know, it's. It's what I do. There's not a lock that I can't pick or break into sort of thing.

And he's got this air of confidence about him out of nowhere, and then at the snap of the fingers, he's terrified again.

Adam: 00:25:20

It makes me Laugh. He's hiding behind the door, isn't he? Blake's like, where's he gone? And he's already managed to find a hiding place. There is.

There's a lovely line from Villa where he. Yeah, he says, there isn't a lock I can't open if I'm scared enough. Which I just thought is brilliant, you know. Terry Nation scripts, mate.

I tell you what, they are littered with these fantastic, you know, bits of dialogue.

And I think, again, not only have you got great characters, but they do get some great lines, you know, And I think that's what I've always said is great about Blake's 7. I mean, there's a bit where Blake is asked if he'll remember what Travis looks like, will he recognize him? And he's like, will I rec.

The man that killed 20 of my friends? Oh, yeah, don't worry, I'll recognize him. And you're like, whoa.

You know, you sort of shudders down the spine, like, whoa, Blake, you know, he's ready to go sort of thing. He's ready to take him on. So there's lovely bits of dialogue throughout Blake's 7. That's. That's one of the things I just love about it.

Garry: 00:26:14

Indeed. Yes. So I love the characters in this. The performances were really good, the way that these newer characters were introduced from the Federation side.

And you get to see a peek behind the curtain, as it were, if you will. If the. The tension between the upper ranks of the Federation as well, it's not all harmonious, you know, they're all agreed with what's going on.

There's tension there between Servalann and the other ones and. And that side of things. And then the action side of things was very cool as well. The shootouts and the. The tension as Gan's trying to rip the.

To rip the equipment out and, oh, the decoder. Yeah, you know, all that stuff. And, yeah, it was just. Yeah, it was very cool. So what was that thing? It was a cipher. What was that?

Adam: 00:27:00

Oh, something. Cipher, yes. Well, cipher machine, I think they refer to it.

Garry: 00:27:03

Yeah. Yeah. So that was all tension.

And then later on, when Travis has set the trap for Blake, you know, he's got Cali imprisoned and he's going to use her as bait. They're aware, aren't they, that Blake has now hacked via Avon. They've hacked into the.

Into the Federation's communications and they're taking shifts to listen to it. And then Travis, very, very cleverly, Cotton's on. He's like, well, no, don't do anything. Let's use it to our advantage. Let's.

We know Blake is going to be listening. Let's lure him into a trap. We'll use Cali as bait. But then it doesn't. Doesn't come off quite for them, but. So, mate, loads to love in this one.

Probably my favorite watch of the series so far. For me, well, in my opinion, the best episode so far. But I'd love to hear your views on it, mate. As a. As a. As the old timer.

Adam: 00:27:51

As the old timer. I mean, I absolutely agree, mate. This is one of the episodes in series one, which I think is right up there as one of the best.

Like you said, it introduces serverland and Travis are two brilliant characters. The script is great. There's loads going on.

There's lots of backstory, there's lots of character building which has been going on throughout every episode leading up to this. It's all sort of still going on in the background with the crew getting to know each other. Yeah, I think it's a great episode, mate, and I. Why.

Why I'm sort of glad that you're not only enjoying it, but you're appreciating Blake7 because I think it is easy to. You know, you talked about it not being. You know, why is. Why wasn't this bigger back in the day? I mean, it definitely had its following.

It got like 10 million viewers, I think, which, you know, they would. Look, programs love to get around that now. But you're right, it didn't.

Maybe it wasn't sort of as well known as, say, Doctor who, but I think it's easy to. For somebody who's watching Blake's 7 for the first time, especially now in this day and age, to dismiss it and laugh at it. Like you.

You could put that. You could put it on and see that robot, you know, the surveillance droid, and think, oh, my God, really? You know, you've.

And you're looking past all of that, which is what you need to do. You know, the gate that they try and break into at the start, I mean, you could probably jump over it, but it. It doesn't bother.

You know, when you're.

When you're enjoying the story and the story is so good and the writing so good and the characters are so good, you can completely overlook sort of like the shortcomings, which I think we're. You know, sometimes people are very quick to pick up on, if you know what I mean, and laugh at rather than actually sitting down.

And this is why I'm so glad that you're enjoying it as much as you are. Is clearly you are really getting into the story.

And bit like with classic dot, two things like wobbly sets, terrible robots, bad effects, whatever, they're not distracting you from what is a really good series. And this is why I think maybe you can appreciate. This is why every time the.

I've brought the conversation around to Blake7 at a BFI event or whatever for the last 10 years, you can now see why I'm so passionate about it. I think because it's. Yeah, it is a great series. And as I said, we're halfway through now and I think this is the per.

Well, just under halfway through the. This is the perfect episode for episode six because we've set the story, we've got to know the characters. We've had a couple of.

A little standalone stories now we're sort of getting into it and there will be more standalone stories. I'm going to just tell you that because I don't want you to think, oh, okay, we're, you know, here we go. We're getting into Federation.

That Federation story arc will go on for a while, but you are going to have into. You are going to have standalone in between because obviously otherwise the series would just wrap up in one series.

You know, I mean, you've got to have explore other things. But yeah, this is a great episode, mate. I absolutely love it. I just think the characters are great. There's lovely.

I talk about lovely little moments in the script. I'll give you another one. And this is a detail in the script rather than dialogue. It's the bit where.

So they've sort of talked about Travis, but we haven't seen him on screen yet. Like you said, we've. They've painted the picture of his character already.

So we've already got this image in our mind of who Travis is before we've even seen him on screen, which is great writing. But then Serverland does this thing where she's like, make sure he waits outside. She's. She's controlling, you know, she's not going to be.

It's like this sort of game, cat and mouse game, isn't it? She knows he's a strong character, but she needs him to know that she's in control.

So she tells the guards to keep him waiting outside, but then he just bursts in anyway. Doesn't he said, there must be some mistake. I was told to wait. Like, how dare you. And it's just.

Again, it's these little moments which create the dynamic between the Characters which I absolutely love in Terry Nation script. So. Yeah, and also Serval and Travis. Mate, not to give too much away, but like you said, you know, they're on the front of the DVD box, Blu ray box.

I mean, we've got a lot more to come from them and trust me, they are too absolutely brilliant characters. Got some good stuff to come from them, I tell you.

Garry: 00:32:00

Yeah. And as somebody who's, who's fresh into it, you can tell that as well.

You can tell that the, they've just got that weight to their character and their, the on screen gravitas that they have.

Adam: 00:32:12

That's what I mean, I'm not giving anything away, I don't think by saying that.

Garry: 00:32:16

No, because what I was going to say is in regards to those two characters in, in something in a different way to what we saw in say, Cygnus Alpha with Brian Blessed's character. Oh yeah, he was, he's obviously a big.

But even now, but back then he was, even then he was a big name actor and, and you know, and, and had a lot of sort of screen presence, you know, not just because he shouted a lot, but you know, he just had that sort of way about him. He's just sort of this big sort of guy. And then the character as well, he sort of embodied that very well.

But there was, you had a feeling, there was just something about it that you felt like this was a one and done thing, like this was a. His character was probably only going to be here for, for one episode, probably.

But when you watch this one with these two characters, you just knew, I just knew like these guys are gonna be around for a while. These are not just sort of throwaway.

Adam: 00:33:12

You know, I mean, to Travis actually his last line, isn't it? I am your death. Blake, like, you just know that he's. We're gonna see him again. He is after Blake. He knows he's out there.

And Serverland says Blake's becoming a bit of a legend, which is why she's so concerned, isn't she? So you know that between the two of them, they are gunning for Blake now. He has to be taken down.

He can't be allowed to keep going around causing all this destruction and becoming like this big martyr for, you know, for the rebels and stuff. So it's, it's all kicking in now. And on top of everything else, you've got these other two very strong Federation characters that are chasing them.

So again, it's, I think it's quite exciting halfway through the series to have that these characters brought in to add that extra element of danger of oh, they're on the run now. They're not just going around, you know, oh, where should we hit next? What planet should we go to next?

They've got these, they've got the Federation and Serval and Travis both gunning for them. So yeah, it's quite exciting, I think.

Garry: 00:34:12

Yes, totally agree. Yeah, they're great, great characters. Straight off the bat, let's talk about just briefly then.

We've mentioned the story side of things which is, although it's a couple of threads running through it, it's reasonably simple to, you know, there's no head scratch in here. It's just the Federation of have now realized that Blake is a.

Is starting to cause some serious problems and so they've appointed Serverland to sort the problem out. She hires Travis, that's that. And then on Blake's side, you've got.

There isn't, there isn't as much flip flopping between those guys as there has been in terms of do we follow Blake? Do we not? Whatever.

There's a couple of little scenes between him and Avon again, which is very cool, where there's this, you know, is Avon fully bought into this yet? Are we still going along the lines of he's in, he's out, that kind of thing? There's that little bit of tension there still, but.

And then there's story time, you know, later when Blake's telling them about Travis and, and his encounter with him and stuff like that. So the only twist to the tale, as you, if you will, is with Kali. So the, the, the mission is a success from Blake's point of view.

Everyone's happy they're back on the Liberator and nobody notices sadly, that no, Callie's.

Adam: 00:35:33

Where's Callie?

Garry: 00:35:34

She's been left behind, bless her.

And, but she holds no grudges when Blake turns up later on, you know, she doesn't give him a slap and like, you know, where have you been, Left me behind sort of thing. She, she's, she's aware she's got a head on her shoulder. She's aware that they didn't purposely leave her behind.

This was, you know, out of their control. But Blake actually, that was one really cool part in the story where when they do realize that Callie's missing, missing.

And this, this goes to show how well Blake's character is written from a relatable human point of view where he doesn't want to leave her behind, like his immediate decision without even thinking about it is, well, we have to go back and get her. Yeah, we can't leave her behind. And of course, it's Avon that's like, what are you doing?

Adam: 00:36:19

Horrified, isn't he? Like, are you mad?

Garry: 00:36:22

Exactly. Yeah, he's. And you kind of guess that was coming as well, right?

Adam: 00:36:27

Even, even Jenna kicks up, though, mate, for, you know, it wasn't just Dave. And so even Jenna says to Blake, you know, come on, like, you, I, you know, I'm all for saving Callie, but, you know, be rational.

Like, use your head. She's probably dead and why should we all get killed? You know, she actually has a bit of a thing to say to Blake as well, doesn't she?

Garry: 00:36:46

Yeah, but yeah, so those two. And you can kind of. You can kind of see their point. As in they were the crew before Cali turned up.

That kind of feeling, you know, Cal is like the new. You know, when you're halfway through a school term and a new person turns up and it takes a little while for that integration.

You know, you've got your little circle of friends and you're all happy and you've been there since day one. And then there's this new person and it takes a little bit of an adjustment. So I think they're still in that phase, really, kind of.

With Callie, I mean, they probably think, well, you know, she's. That she's the newbie.

And also their point of view is, which Blake doesn't care about, is that she's probably dead because they successfully blew up or blew up most of the station. If she was left behind, she's probably dead anyway. But Blake's having, He's having none of it. And I love that about his character.

He's like, no, we have to go back. And much to the annoyance of those guys because. Because of the success of blowing up the.

The station, the Federation have also put, you know, launched a bunch of ships to chase after them, so they have to outrun them as well. So that's the only kind of curveballish sort of thing in there. Was like, how do they sort this out? They clearly can't let Cali die.

Blake's already said that's not going to happen. But they've got. They're being tailed by the ships.

And then you've got Travis thrown in there and it comes to a nice little rescue mission at the end, which you heard in the clip.

So story wise, dude, really simple to understand, but on the surface level, you might think, Christ, there's lots going on in this One compared to the previous episodes, but written in such a way that it's really easy to get your head around.

Adam: 00:38:24

Yeah, I was gonna say, I still think Jenna is not quite. She's. Her and Callie haven't really bonded yet. There's still a little bit of. They're still a bit of unsure of each other, aren't they? So.

And then when Avon finds out that Callie is still alive, when they overhear the communications, Avon's face is a picture. He's like, oh, no. Because I think they'd more or less talked Blake into accepting she's probably dead. But let's. Because Blake says let's.

Well, let's give him a few shots. This one's for Cali. He's kind of accepted it. And then they find out she's still alive.

And Avon's just knows that Blake's gonna immediately turn the ship around and go and get her. And he's like, oh, God, you know, again, it's just brilliant. But also, I love.

Because Travis knows what Blake's character is like as well, so he knows there's no way he's like anyone else would just leave her, but not Blake. Not with his big old heart. He's going to come back and get her. There's no way he will leave her. So again, it's that brilliant.

The characters are so well written and rounded in their personalities that Travis knows that Blake cannot possibly live with himself if he finds out that Count is alive and he's left her to die. So he will come back to get her. So brilliant writing, you know, brilliant storytelling.

Garry: 00:39:36

Yeah, very cool. And I love the location work as well.

Adam: 00:39:39

Like we had all the gas works again. Yeah. I don't know where that was. Probably Southall or somewhere.

Garry: 00:39:44

Fulham.

Adam: 00:39:45

Fulham, is it? There you go.

Garry: 00:39:46

Fulham Gas Works. Yeah. So some.

Adam: 00:39:48

Can you believe they let off explosions in the gas work, Man. I mean, they're proper old school big, you know, proper BBC tech explosions, aren't they? They're not CGI like we get now in a gas works.

That must have been so dangerous.

Garry: 00:40:02

Yeah, it's. It's amazing that the crew and the cast agree to it all. I mean, we had in the previous episode, they were a proper nuclear.

Adam: 00:40:10

Oh, that's right. They're in the nuclear power station. Yeah. Glamorous locations for Blake's 7.

Garry: 00:40:16

And now they're in a gas works and they're setting off because.

Yeah, because the robot, the surveillance robot's got the flamethrower and then they set off all the charges and I know Some of it's in a set, but it's. Yeah, they must have been like, christ, where we're going to be next week, you know, bloody, I don't know, slaughterhouse somewhere.

Adam: 00:40:34

They'll probably be grateful for a quarry, won't they?

Garry: 00:40:37

Oh, yeah. Jealous of all of this. Yeah, yeah. Because the Doctor who crew, they get to go to a lovely Welsh village with a. With a quarry down the road.

Adam: 00:40:46

And don't worry, Blake, seven will get there. It's coming. Those quarries are coming.

Garry: 00:40:51

It's. Yeah. Story wise. Loved it, dude. Yeah, it's very cool. Should we talk about some characters, actually, before we do? Sorry, jumped ahead there. The.

We spoke about the location stuff along with the sets and so on. What did you think of the.

The use of the, you know, when we get down to when Blake and Villa, at the very beginning and they're infiltrating that stuff. Yeah, the communication center. Yeah. Top secret that you've just read.

You just said what I was going to ask, but what did you think to the adaptation of that location work? Making it feel like it was part of a federation sort of complex?

Because I think if somebody had walked in and saw me watching that bit and they were of a certain age, they would have just said, oh, that's a gasworks. Yeah, that's just a factory down the road in London somewhere sort of thing.

But that sign made me laugh because just to go on a bit of a tangent here, it always made me laugh and still does to this day whenever I watch the original Batman series from the 66 with Adam West.

Adam: 00:41:56

And so I love it, love the original.

Garry: 00:41:58

Yeah, yeah. It always makes me laugh that in the Batcave, everything's got a sign and a label.

So whenever they go over to a computer, there's a sign hanging down that says top secret. You know, cryptic, you know, shark, repeller.

Adam: 00:42:13

Gun and all that sort of thing.

Garry: 00:42:14

Yeah, you know, all that stuff. Or a map, it will just say, you know, secret villain hideout, map of Gotham sort of thing. So nothing needs a label, nothing needs a sign.

But it has one. Because I think they were trying to make sure the viewer had a visual cue as to what was going on. And this was the same thing in here.

There was that sign that said top secret and then nothing else. It was like, okay, you know, there's not like the Federation logo on there. There's nothing. It's just top secret.

So when you were watching those bits, did you feel like you were in this sort of hidden away, top secret Federation thing, or did you get pulled out a little bit. Was the immersion not quite there for.

Adam: 00:42:56

Yeah, it's funny actually, you mentioned the. No, no Federation symbol. That's a good point. And picked up. They could have easily put one on the other gate. That would have just added to it.

Yeah, it's very basic. I mean, it doesn't bother me at all, but I. I do get what you're saying.

Like, as I said, if anyone was to walk in on you watching this at the first couple of minutes, they'd probably laugh at the robot. They'd laugh at the top secret gate. They'd be like, oh, dear. You know, they would judge it on the sort of production values rather than actually.

But no, no, no, it's a really good story. But yeah, if you were to just look at it superficially, it is very back to basis, isn't it? It doesn't bother me though, mate.

Doesn't take me out the story. No, it just makes me smile. It's. It's back to that charm, isn't it? You know, I love the Drobo. I think he looks. I think there's.

There's some famous photo shoots of when the cast arrived and saw the robot for the first time. They had some photos taken with it and I think they were just cracking up thinking, oh, what is this? But no, stuff like that doesn't.

Doesn't take me out at all. I think there was some nice direction from Via Lorima. You know, they.

He's tilted the camera on a weird angle when the guards are running up the steps with the gas works and stuff. So he. I think he makes the most of the location. But yeah, it's. It is just a gasworks at the end of the day.

Garry: 00:44:10

Yeah, no Regio. Exactly. Same feeling for me, dude. It was. It. It just made me smile a little bit.

It was like you, that old classic, especially classic TV like this and some other things that had not much money kicking around. It was. You sort of work with what you've got.

Adam: 00:44:26

Yeah. And I mean, I think that's the thing in the back of my head. I know, you know, they didn't have much to work with, so I think again, I'm much more.

It doesn't take me out of the scene because I'm so invested in the dialogue. I mean, there's some lovely. It's a lovely scene, isn't it? You've got this ridiculous robot, you've got this ridiculous A gate with top Secret on it.

But none of that matters because you're listening to Villa saying you know about. There's no lock he can't unpick and all this sort of stuff. And Blake getting crossed because he can't. Well, where's Villa got.

You know, it's all the stuff that's going on in the scene that keeps me entertained. I don't really. Yeah, I don't really get distracted by the other stuff, really. Because of. Because the other stuff is so good.

Garry: 00:45:04

Yeah, Agreed. Before a couple of characters, A couple of things were mentioned in this episode that I'm aware of of Blake's 7, but I'm sure we're going to get on to.

So the Federation Interceptors were mentioned, so they were launched to, you know, try and catch up with the Liberator. And then also the Mutoids.

Adam: 00:45:27

Oh, the mutoids, yeah.

Garry: 00:45:29

Yeah.

So they were mentioned in conversation and I'm assuming based on some other podcasts that I've listened to recently and just picking up on things, the Mutoids are a thing in Blake's 7, I'm guessing.

Adam: 00:45:44

Yes, they are. We will get to meet some mutoids fairly soon. Not quite yet, but we will. We will get to meet them in this series. Some mutoids, yeah.

You'll get to meet one.

Garry: 00:45:54

Yeah. Cool. So they were mentioned for the first time as we went through this.

And let's talk about a couple of characters because there were some standout performances.

Of course, we've spoken about most of them, but the guy who Servaland was talking to in between talking to Burkholt and Rontagne was a guy called Rye, played by Ian Oliver. He was. At first you thought, are these two old flames? Did they?

Adam: 00:46:22

Yeah.

Garry: 00:46:25

Yeah. Possibly not, because I think they just worded it as, you know, are we not old friends or. You know, she was very much.

The other people that were in her office was a very formal thing, but with him, she was like, you know, this. Come and sit down. You know, we don't need to be formal. Let's be informal. So. But he was the guy that. That voiced his opinion from the.

The lower levels as opposed to the higher up Federation dudes. And I liked his character. I'm not sure if we'll see him again, but he was very much quite smiley to begin with.

And then when he realized it was, you know, falling on deaf ears, that this wasn't going to get anywhere because Servaland sort of turns quite quickly as well.

She realizes that, look, I don't care what your concerns are, and I want you to make sure you voice this to the other guys that I'M telling you that this is what's happening and he will be. Not only will he be reinstated, but I'm also appointing him as like Executive Commander or something like that. And that really annoys him.

That pisses him off quite a lot. And he does the whole heel click and stomp off sort of thing. But. Yeah, so Ian Oliver, he was. He was pretty cool, that little scene there.

Adam: 00:47:33

Yeah, nice. A nice little character. Yeah. I think I. I think the other two, Rontan and Berkol, are slightly more.

I don't know, I get more from their characters in terms of. You can just tell that they want that. They're obviously, we can tell that Serval and.

Is a higher power and everyone, you know, she doesn't mince her words and she's not to be messed with, so they have to be a bit careful about how they express their opinions.

But you can tell that Rontagne and Berkol and Rhae have stuff they want to get off their chest, but they've got to be a bit diplomatic about the way they say that to Servaland. And you're right, it's a contrast in. In the way that she reacts to them as characters as well. With.

With Rhae, she's quite pleasant to an extent, but with Rontagne and Berkol, she's very much standing her ground and they. They roll their eyes as they walk away from her, but only when they've got their back to her so she can't see. So you know what they're thinking.

But they're almost. I was going to say scared of her. That's not quite. What. That's not quite right. They're not scared of her, but they just know that, you know, she.

If they voice their opinion in the wrong way, she's going to chew them up. So. But did you. You recognized Ron, I assume, Peter Miles, of course, from. Yeah. Neither. From Genesis of the Daleks. A great actor.

I mean, the problem is, whenever I see him, I just instantly think neither. But, yeah, it's nice to see him pop up in Blake's 7 and John Bryan's as Berkle. I recognize him, but I can't think where from.

I'm sure I've seen him in other stuff. Probably Doctor who, is it? I don't know.

Garry: 00:49:11

John Bryan's. Yeah, he's probably been. I think a lot of actors, there's a lot of crossover between Doctor who and Blake's 7.

Adam: 00:49:18

Yeah. Yeah.

Garry: 00:49:19

But I did the same. Yeah. When Peter Miles came on, I said out loud, I said, oh, Nida. Here we go.

Adam: 00:49:23

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Garry: 00:49:25

But a fairly small part for him, though, and also. And John Bryan. But those two. A nice little double act. Trying.

Adam: 00:49:31

Yeah, good double act. Yeah.

Garry: 00:49:32

Trying to get Serverland's opinion change, but she's having. She's having none of it.

Adam: 00:49:35

She's having absolutely none of it. No.

Garry: 00:49:37

Yeah. There was one guy that was quite funny to me, unintentionally, and his character was called Escon.

It's played by Ian Cullen, and he's one of the Federation guards who lets his. Excuse. The pun, lets his guard down a little bit. So he takes his helmet off and, you know, his thing like that.

And he gets thrown around the room quite spectacularly by Callie and. And then he gets questioned by Travis a bit later. So he. But the reason why I found that quite funny is because the.

I'm not sure if it was the choreography that wasn't quite there or just the performance on the day sort of thing, but there's that. And don't get me wrong, this is not a criticism in any way. It's just an observation.

But it's when you have fight scenes in these old sort of classic TV shows where the timing isn't quite there.

Adam: 00:50:29

Yeah.

Garry: 00:50:30

So you have the actor who's about to receive a punch but knows it's coming, but the other actor isn't quite there yet. So you have this pause for a few seconds where they're like, okay, they're gonna hit me in a second. They're gonna hit me in a second.

And then, you know, the hit comes, and then it's like, oh, didn't expect that hit coming. So the. The choreography was a little bit, you know, well done, you know, for.

It's, you know, for a small, little, tight location like that in that room. But I just found it funny. And that guy, Ian Cullen, bless him, he was. He was selling those hits from. From Cali. So he was quite funny.

Adam: 00:51:03

Yeah. Yeah. Excuse me. I was gonna say Cali does get stuck in. In that fight. I know what you mean about the choreography, but it's great to see her having a.

You know, getting into the action because we. I think Cali is a. We've talked about Jenna being a strong female character. I think Cali is equally as strong. Like she.

When she's lining them all up and telling them not to move. And that guy keeps trying to go for. To something to throw at her, doesn't he? She spots him and goes, oi. Pulls him up on it straight away. I.

I think Callie is not to be messed with, you know, she'll. She'll shoot you. No, no second thoughts. You know, she's not gonna take any nonsense, and I think it's a good. Good one for her. I think she's.

She holds her own in this episode very well. You really feel for it when she realizes she's lost her teleport bracelet, she can't find it. You're like, no, come on. Because you.

That's another bit of nice direction, isn't it? It's very simple as well. You just see the. While she's looking for her bracelet, you see the bomb counting down overlaid on the screen.

I just thought, again, such a simple idea, but it really brings the danger of, you know, the ticking clock. And she's only got seconds to find the bracelet.

And of course she doesn't, which is why she ends up getting, you know, blown up and knocked to the floor. Thankfully survives. But. Yeah, would you agree, mate? Callie is. I know you. I know you like Jenna.

I know, I know you've really taken to the character of Jenna, but I think you got to admit Callie is also a very good, strong, strong character.

Garry: 00:52:28

Oh, defo. Absolutely.

Adam: 00:52:29

Gonna say strong female lead, but I mean, strong. Yeah, strong character.

Garry: 00:52:33

100%. Yeah. She's very cool. Yeah. I really like her character. I'm taking with Jenna, of course, but that's just.

That's just because she's been part of the gang from. From the start, from the get go, if you know what I mean. So she's. I think she's slightly more established.

Adam: 00:52:48

She's got a softer side as well, Jenna, hasn't she? Callie is quite.

Well, we've only just really got to sort of meet Cali, but Callie is a little more cold, I would say a little bit more alien, which is what she's supposed to be. So they are, again, very different characters, aren't they?

That's another thing I love about Blake's 7, and you said it earlier, every character is different. And I often wonder how much they had to work with on the page and how much the actors, you know, develop the characters themselves. Probably a bit 50.

50, I guess. But yeah, there's a nice contrast between her and Callie.

Garry: 00:53:22

Yeah, I was gonna say, if Doctor who fans have not seen this show before you. The. The parallel. Good parallel is probably if Jenna is Sarah Jane Smith, then Callie is probably Leela.

Adam: 00:53:33

Leela, yeah.

Garry: 00:53:34

You know, it's that kind of. She's more. More. More. More cutthroat in her decisions and I think a little bit more eager To. To throw down and get her hands dirty, I think.

But I really like Callie, though, in this episode. Dude, I thought she was. Although she was knocked out for some of it.

And those scenes that she worked, like you mentioned, when she's got them all lined up in the. In the storeroom, she's not taking any nonsense there. And then later on, the plan works out very nicely with her and Blake and she. She has a little.

A little dark side to her. When she tells Travis to get in the chair, you know, it's not just about.

Adam: 00:54:08

Oh, yeah, I know, that's what I mean.

Garry: 00:54:10

Exactly. Yes. Not just about her being rescued. And then she's out the door, she's.

Adam: 00:54:14

Like, no, no, no, no, your turn.

Garry: 00:54:16

Your turn, me laddo.

Adam: 00:54:17

And she saves Blake as well because she notices him winding his little gun up on his hand. Must get one of those rings or whatever it is he's got. But, yeah, she notices. And just in time to save Blake as well.

I love the look that Blake gives Travers, as if, you know, you. Why I order sort of thing like, you know, yeah, you shoot me in the back, would you? This sort of thing, you know.

Garry: 00:54:40

Yeah.

Adam: 00:54:41

There's a great line from Blake in that scene, isn't there, where Travis says, shoot me now, Blake, you know, you may as well shoot me now because I'm not gonna stop, basically, until I've killed you. So you may as well. You've got the upper hand. Do it. And Blake says, does he say, you're not worth killing?

Garry: 00:54:58

You're not important enough?

Adam: 00:54:59

Yeah, which is such a. What, a put down for Travis. It's a. That probably hurt it.

Well, not hurt it more than being killed, but that's, you know, that must have been like, you know, it's like saying, you're not even worth it, mate. But Blake may, I mean, he may go on to regret that. But I think that's the thing.

If it had been Avon, he probably would have just turned around and blown his head off. But Blake, you know, he's got that soft side to him. You know, he wouldn't just kill someone who's like strapped in a chair.

I mean, he would kill someone if they're coming at him with a knife and it's his only choice. But he's not going to just turn around and. And, you know, take Travis out just because he can, if you know what I mean. Blake's just not that.

That sort of person. Is he bit?

Garry: 00:55:41

No.

Adam: 00:55:42

But now, now he's left him and, yeah, he may regret it because Travis is not going to stop.

Garry: 00:55:50

Yeah. It's almost like that Terminator sort of thing, you know, in the first Terminator film where Carl Reese is like, look, he's never going to stop.

He's going to keep coming. And so that. That's a kind of scary thought. You know, you can tell that Travis is absolutely fixated on taking down Blake.

And I'm so looking forward and fascinated into the scrapes that these two are going to get into, because they're clearly not going to kill one or the other in the next episode. I think this is going to be something that goes on for a while. I know you're biting your lips.

Adam: 00:56:25

I am. I'm keeping it zipped. Yeah.

Garry: 00:56:27

I'm just guessing anyway, that there's a bit of a feud that's going to. That's going to transpire over a while rather than sort of a quick thing.

But before we get on to Stephen Greef, actually, who played Travis, just one more character was a guy called Prell.

Adam: 00:56:43

Yeah.

Garry: 00:56:43

By Peter Craze. He was one of the technicians that keeps trying his luck, you know, with Callie looking over him, and she's not impressed by that.

But then he suddenly does manage to distract her, and they overpower her and stuff. And then he aids Travis later on with the investigation of what's happened and. And that stuff. So he was quite cool.

And Peter Cray sadly left us a couple years ago. I've noticed, dude, that a lot of Blake's seven actors have died in the last five years or so.

Adam: 00:57:13

Yeah. Sadly.

Garry: 00:57:14

It's so sad.

And, you know, what's gutting, from my own selfish point of view is that I'll never be able to meet these guys at an upcoming BFI event or, you know, a Comic Con or something like that.

That's so sad to me, because you and I have been fortunate enough to meet pretty much, well, all of, like, you know, the modern Doctor who cast and some people behind the scenes and a large portion of classic Doctor who people that are still with us and, you know, we've been very fortunate enough to go and meet those guys. But for me, I'm never gonna see. I'm never gonna meet, you know, some of these big, big actors.

I'll never meet Steven Grief, Gareth Thomas, you know, Paul Darrow. Paul Darrow. I'll never. That is such a. That really is a sad thing for me as a. As a newcomer to Blake's 7. I don't know.

It's an inevitability, and I know it's. It's A thing that's out of my control. But, mate, yeah, I've just got a little.

A little lump in my throat about that because I know you have met all these guys, haven't you?

Adam: 00:58:11

Yes, and I do. I count myself very lucky to met a mate. And that actually what brought it home to me was when they did the screening at the BFI when the Blu Ray.

Blu Ray was released. And the only people, the only cast members there, I believe, was Jan Chappelle and. And Jenna. I'm sorry, no, it's not a real name.

Garry: 00:58:30

Sally Nevette.

Adam: 00:58:31

Sally Nevette. Sorry. Yeah, and I just thought, yeah, it just made me think, gosh, yeah, they're probably the only two surviving of the, you know, the main.

The original Blake's 7, if you like. But it's. That's the thing, mate. When you watch the extras on this, it's. That's why it's so lovely.

You know, I talked to you about the convention footage that's on the Blu Ray, which I don't think was on the dvd.

I think it's, you know, this is a new thing that they've dug up and cleaned up and put on the Blu Ray and it's wonderful to see the cast on stage together, like Gareth Thomas.

And I don't think Paul Darrow's on there, but I'm sure they'll find some stuff to put on the next, you know, Blu Ray, as in like interviews with Paul and stuff, because he was great. He had such a dry sense of humor, mate. Paul Darrow, always so fun to meet him. And I.

I don't know if he sort of went into Avon though, but he was very funny with his cutting lines when you'd meet him. So, for example, when I. The first time at him, he was.

Sat his table and my uncle, as I walked up to him, my uncle just walked past and gave me £10 to get the autograph. He sort of slid me the money as I went up to the table and Paul Darrow saw that and he was like, I like that. I like how that was done.

Very nice gentleman. And he's like. And he had some signed pictures of Gareth Thomas on his table because Gareth wasn't there.

But Paul had got some pictures and I said, oh, I'll take a Gareth Thomas or Grass. Oh, gosh, you'll love that. I'll be able to have a few more pints down the pub now. And he was just lovely, lovely man. But he.

I got one picture with him and he looks very serious because he said, to me, when we. When we had it taken, look mean. Whenever I posted that picture, people always say, oh, he looks happy. And I'm like, I know. He just.

He was the loveliest, funniest man to meet. But it just. In photos, he'd go into, like, Ava mode and look quite angry and, you know, serious. But he.

Honestly, him and Gareth Thomas, mate, this is probably conversations for another time, but I do consider myself very lucky to have met them. And they do say, never meet heroes.

And trust me, there are people from Doctor who I've met who have I wish I hadn't met because it does ruin my enjoyment of Doctor who because they weren't particularly nice. But I have to say, I was very lucky that all the people from Blake's 7 I met were just as you'd want them to be. In fact, it's.

Now I think about it, I think, gosh, yeah. Imagine if one of them had turned out to be a bit.

You know, because when you're watching a show, if you've met someone and they weren't very nice, every time you see them on screen, you're like, oh, them. So I'm very glad that they were all lovely to meet.

Garry: 01:00:56

Yeah. I said, it's gutting that. I must admit, I did make a slight mistake that I have met Gareth Thomas.

Adam: 01:01:00

You did meet Gareth with me.

Garry: 01:01:02

Yeah, with you. But it was very, very fleeting, very quick. I think you got a picture.

Adam: 01:01:07

It wasn't very well then. I think that was. That was quite, quite. He died quite soon after that, didn't he? A couple of months later.

Garry: 01:01:15

Yeah.

Adam: 01:01:15

2016. Very quiet that day, I have to say. Nothing like when I first met him. But sadly, that was towards the end of his life, I think. Yeah.

Garry: 01:01:23

Yeah. So I think you. You had a picture with him and you had a nice little chat with him and so on.

I just shook his hand and said, you know, it's lovely to meet you. And he signed a photo and. And that was pretty much it. So, yeah, I just wish I'd met him like, you know, in his.

In his prime, I guess you could call it, or in his heyday, or when he was, you know, not quite as. As ill as he was, but. And then the other people, like I said, it's, you know, I wish I'd.

Adam: 01:01:48

Met all Rack, mate. When you watch the convention footage, you'll see Peter Tudnam on stage and he's funny, the guy who voices all rack and Zen also. I just real.

Well, you know, all right's coming. The episode called or I Guess I'm giving away a spoiler there, but you know, there's going to be. All right.

But yeah, he voices Zen and all the other computers in Blake's 7 that become quite important and he's, he just is very funny on stage. I wish I'd met him.

Garry: 01:02:13

Right, let's, let's not put a downer.

Adam: 01:02:16

Yeah, I was going to say we could go, I could, we could talk. I could talk about Blake's own field forever, but we'll do that on another show.

Garry: 01:02:21

Indeed. Yes. Let's talk about two characters that up there with, with the Blake crew in terms of screen presence and performance.

So first of all, Stephen Greif, space commander Travis. What a guy.

Adam: 01:02:36

I know. Brilliant, isn't he?

Garry: 01:02:38

Yeah, I'm sound like I'm describing Ace Rimmer from Red Dwarf there, but literally, what a guy. Yeah, I mean, he's got that.

I have to use some adjectives cleverly here because I don't want to just do him a disservice how well he played this character, but I wouldn't say he had swagger and I wouldn't say he had, you know, that kind of bolshy sort of over the topness. He had this almost quiet confidence about him, like this real. Like he knows exactly what he's capable of.

Like he knows exactly what needs to be done and there's no. What's the word? There's no sort of ambiguity around what he, what he's there to do.

Like serverland knows 100% that the, the reason why she's hiring him specifically, much to the annoyance of the other Federation dudes, is that she knows when it comes down to it, he'll kill Blake. There's, there's none of this, let's take him prisoner, let's get him back into the system with some mind wiping and all that stuff.

She's basically like, look, we just need to take him out. And the person that I know is going to do that without hesitation is going to be Travis.

And, and the way that Steven Greif plays that is exactly as you'd expect him to be. Just bang on, almost heartless, you know, very ruthless, like we've mentioned earlier, a bit of a loose cannon, all those things.

But mate, he was absolutely brilliant.

Adam: 01:04:07

He's a brilliant character and Steven Greef is fantastic as Travis.

Mate, I, I was thinking as well as we've talked through this story, it's just incredible how much backstory you get to his character in this one episode. Like we absolutely get and know who Travis Is, don't we. We get the. All the stuff between him and Blake. We also.

There's a lovely little quiet scene between him and Serval, Anne, where she's asking him about his eye patch. She's like, well, why have you not got that done? I mean, as if, like, you know, that's. Why have you decided to keep it?

We could easily get that fixed, you know, and he's like, would you ever. Would you forget this face? And he's like, you find it unappealing, don't you? And all that.

It's just the fact that he's reveling in this is what Blake did to me. I could get this hand fixed. I could get my face done.

I'm not going to because, you know, he's created this and this is going to be the face he sees when he dies at my hand. I mean, he's. It's all there in the character.

But I thought that was a great scene between him and Serval and when she's sort of asking him about his appearance.

And I like the fact it explains the eyepatch, you know, because again, that's one of the things that if someone's to walk in the room and see it, they may. They may scoff at it. Well, you can see it's got a hole in the eye, you know, looks terrible. But that.

I think that's the whole thing is that it's like. Like a. A temporary sort of eye patch. Whatever's happened there that, you know, it's.

It's meant to be a bit crude and he's purposely left it like that. I mean, yeah, it's probably part of the production values as well.

I'm not trying to excuse it, but, you know, I mean, it all plays into the story that he has decided to keep that look, even though he could have easily had himself patched up better. Actually, that's a wrong. That's a bad choice of words, but you know what I mean. So, yeah, the character, Travis May, brilliant.

Everything is on the page there. His whole character is so rounded and on the page. And Steven Grief has absolutely taken everything that's on the page and gone with it.

I mean, when he goes in that room and starts demanding to see the plans of every single piece of equipment in that room, he's like, something's wrong here. And he works out that there must be more to this straight away. He's so on the ball, you know, and powerful. And again, every.

You can tell everyone's terrified of him because they know he'll probably shoot them dead if they disobey him. Just on, you know. So, yeah, a loose cannon, mate, is a good way to describe Travis.

And a very dangerous person to have on Blake's tail, let's put it that way. So, yeah, brilliant performance for Stephen Grief. A great introductory episode for him as Travis as well.

Garry: 01:06:44

Yes. Yeah. And that was. I was going to pick up on the fact that.

That conversation with him and Serverland where she says, why didn't you get that sorted out? I love the fact that he was just quite sarcastic. Like, what do you expect? Plastic surgery.

Adam: 01:06:57

Yeah.

Garry: 01:06:58

And he essentially says, look, I'm not one of your sort of decorated, you know, higher uppers, highfaluting sort of people. He's kind of relishing in the fact that he's happy to stay at the level he was because of the work that he does.

So although we're talking about how cutthroat and ruthless he is, I think as a character, he kind of enjoys that a little bit. You know, he likes the fact that people are terrified of him. Likes the fact that he can go off but yet still get reinstated into duty.

He's kind of got that year, you know, not. Not that he's above the rules, but, you know, he can bend those a little bit.

And someone's gonna like Serval Anwar, see his value and see what he's capable of and. And still hire him and get him back in service and whatnot. So, so good.

y that's. That passed away in: 2022

p until. So he passed away in: 2022

Adam: 01:08:14

How was it?

Garry: 01:08:15

k that he's done since. Since: 1968

He did some theater work and then his first TV stuff was Boy Meets Girl went on to do Mate, I can't even go through it all, but just absolutely a phenomenal amount of work. He just worked his ass off basically his entire life. So huge respect to Stephen Gree for that. And, yeah, a great performance as Travis. Yeah. Okay.

The other person we got introduced to Bit of a, Bit of a dark character, this one. Serval and so Serval and somebody that I've seen on all the posters.

Any sort of promo work that I've been exposed to over the years, Anything to do with Blake's 7, she seems to be quite an important character. So. Jacqueline Pierce, dude, I know. You've met her, haven't you?

Adam: 01:09:12

Yes, I have, yes.

Actually, I'll try and dig out one of my favorite ever photos ever is my picture with Jacqueline Pierce where my partner who took it just managed to capture it as she turned and laughed. And I'll tell you, mate, it's just, I look at that photo and I just. Oh, I love her so much. Honestly. She was just brilliant.

Garry: 01:09:32

Yeah, she's. She comes across as. She's one of those.

One of those actresses where she's really capable of playing sort of the hard ass cold, you know, that, that kind of. So serverland's very much a. She's. She's made a decision and that's that, you know, like the, even the.

I get the feeling that even if the president was there of the Federation, she would still stand by her guns and, and that's it. And she's not taking any nonsense from anybody. So on screen she's got that down just brilliantly. And she.

That comes across in every scene in this episode and I'm guessing in future episodes. But she strikes me sort of person that off camera, she's absolutely lovely.

Adam: 01:10:16

Oh, she was, mate. She was just so much fun. Oh, darling. She used to say after. Oh, darling. Yeah, she was brilliant.

But Serf Land as a character, mate, I gotta tell you, and I'm gonna be careful not to go into spoiler territory here, but she's. Her performance in this, I would say this introductory episode for her, you definitely get the essence of Servalanne as a character.

But I would say she's just a touch softer than the server land we see in other episodes. She definitely dips into that very, very strong, not to be messed with, Supreme Commander.

I think what you're gonna see coming up, particularly when we move into series two, but also towards the end of this series, what you see coming up from Serverland, you'll see a very, very strong, slightly dark. Well, oh God, it does go very dark actually. But yeah, I just noticed in this one, her character, I'm not saying it's not there, but it's.

It's a slightly softer. Her performance is slightly softer.

From the serverland we see as the series goes on, you still get, you still get the Idea that she's very powerful, they are scared of it. They're not going to mess with her. What she says goes.

But yeah, the way she was playing it, I think she is perhaps finding her feet a little bit because definitely going forward, she really steps up. I think even in perhaps the next episode when we see her, you'll see a slightly different, slightly harder version of Sir Valentine going forward.

But not to say she wasn't good in this. I just. It just struck me that she was quite reasonable and quite pleasant in this.

Whereas I think the next time we see her, she'll be like giving orders and get it done, you know, it's going to be very much like, oh, don't mess with a bit like with Travis. Don't. Don't mess with them because they're a bit unhinged. But she's brilliant, mate. Honestly, I think you'll serve.

Land will become one of your favorite characters.

She is just phenomenal, phenomenal in this series and I think any Blake's 7 fan would agree that Jacqueline Pierce, when she gets into this role, mate, I'm telling you, she's fantastic.

Garry: 01:12:24

Oh, cool. I mean, as an introduction. Introduction to me as a character, I thought she was really cold. And I get what you're saying, though, there was a.

Especially with that scene with. With Ray where she's a little bit softer. And that's what I mean. I still found her to be like, rock solid.

Adam: 01:12:42

Yeah.

Garry: 01:12:42

Sort of cold and stuff. So really looking forward to seeing what her character, Serval and brings to the table and also Travis moving forward. So those two were really cool.

And then just very quickly, before we finish up, Avon's not in it too much in this one.

Adam: 01:12:59

Oh, no. Forgot about Avon, didn't we?

Garry: 01:13:01

Paul Darrow. But again, some. A little bit of spice there with him and Blake still, which I mentioned earlier was really cool.

Sally Nivette's in it again, not as much as the previous episodes, but still. Still good. Love that she's. She's manning the teleport desk.

Adam: 01:13:18

Yeah, she got some nice scenes with Avon, didn't she, when they were repairing the. This. The. Whatever it was, the cipher machine.

Garry: 01:13:24

Yeah.

But one thing I will say, though, is that there is a lovely, lovely moment when they're all sat round and Blake's retelling the story of how him and Travis had crossed paths in the. In. In the past. That was kind of cool. So that was a nice moment in the. In the story where again, I have to give props to.

To Veer Lorimer, the director, because it was a nice little change of pace that was needed before that little finale bit where we'd had quite a lot of action up to that point.

And it was quite intense, mainly because of Travis being on screen and the whole build up to what's going to happen there and Callie being, you know, kidnapped and potentially tortured there. But so that scene where Travis is explaining to Serverland how he crossed paths with Blake and then it cuts to Blake telling those guys.

It was a real slow moment. And Gareth Thomas played that, that scene really well where he's, where he's recounting how he thought he killed Travis and all that stuff.

And so that was. Although some of the cast are not in it a lot, that was a nice scene.

And obviously we spoke early on about Michael Keating and his, you know, his funny moments at the beginning with Blake as filler. That was cool.

So a nice round out to the episode with all the characters, some of them not getting as much screen time, but that's unavoidable really. But to finish on Blake, mate, I thought Gareth Thomas was again consistently, consistently, really, really good regardless of what scene he was in.

He hit the ground running, didn't he, in his first series?

Adam: 01:15:01

He absolutely did, mate.

And actually, as someone who's watched Blake's 7 a lot, obviously I've always liked the character of Blake, but there perhaps, you know, I've always leaned towards Avon and Frank perhaps sort of sided with him sometimes and got a bit frustrated with Blake as a character thinking, oh, for goodness sake, you know, she's dead Blake, you know, sort of agreeing with Avon.

But the watching this again, you know, I really am loving the character of Blake and just everything he stands for and the fact that he has got this big heart under this, you know, slightly bullish character that wants to bring down the Federation. It's such a, it's such a wonderful character that I'm, I've always liked him, don't get me wrong.

But I'm absolutely loving him on this re watch because I'm just really getting into what he's trying to do. And it is so brilliantly played by Gareth Thomas. Yeah, it's a good episode for him. Like you said, it's when he's retelling the story and everything.

Some lovely scenes. Great, great stuff from Gareth Thomas.

Garry: 01:16:03

Indeed, yes. And lastly, Dudley Simpson, more good stuff from him. And had to, had to bring out some of the more action based, suspenseful stuff in this one.

It was, it was good to have the, it was good to have. There was quite a lot of music in this one as well. Yeah, and just more expected goodness from him, like, no complaints at all from Dudder so far.

Adam: 01:16:31

No, love Dudda's music, as I said. I know we mentioned him every week, but I, I just, just love his music and I always think he delivers. He will get a break, I think.

Not next week, but the week after. We'll have an episode directed by Douglas Canfield, who famously didn't get over Dudley.

So Dudley will get a week off then, but we've still got next weeks to enjoy with Dudley and we'll see what we make of the music in Jaw when we get to it in a couple of weeks when Dudley gets a week off. But yeah, really nice stuff from Dudley in this again.

Garry: 01:17:03

Yeah, yeah, agreed. Alrighty, let's put a score on this. Unless you've got anything else you want to mention, but.

Adam: 01:17:08

No, let's whack a score on it, mate.

Garry: 01:17:10

Okay. I think it's me to go first.

Adam: 01:17:12

It is.

Garry: 01:17:12

I'm gonna give this an 8.5.

Adam: 01:17:16

Wow.

Garry: 01:17:18

Yeah, so it's. I just. My enjoyment level for this one was just off, off up into another level compared to the episodes that we've seen so far.

I think I've really enjoyed those ones, don't get me wrong. And I think the, the 7.5s and the 6.5s that we've dished out so far are obviously very much warranted from our point of view.

But yeah, this one seemed to take everything up to another level.

You know, performances, the moving the storyline along, insight into the Federation, just some action scenes, location stuff, some great little charming sci fi from back in the day with the robot and, and the, the little charges that Gan was, you know, double sided, taped onto the, onto the wall and all that stuff. Just the enjoyment part of everything for me was, was up there and shifted it up a gear for me. So yeah, a well deserved 8.5 for me, Bud.

What about you?

Adam: 01:18:15

Good score. Yeah.

I was going to say we've kicked into another gear, I feel, in this episode, which is why I always say to people, you can't just watch the first two and give up. You've got to get to know the characters. It builds up.

We're halfway through the series now and like you said, you know, this is a cracking episode that's brought all the elements together that we've had in the first five episodes. So I'm going to give this an eight. Surprised that I'm actually giving it lower than you, but that's what I wrote and I will stick to my guns.

Unlike earlier podcasts where I was swayed, but I'm giving this an eight. Yeah, no, it's an eight, mate. Absolutely. I, I think it's a very good episode. I really like that this one.

I love the first couple of episodes, which we rated 7.5, but this is just taking up another notch. So it's an 8 from me, an 8 from you.

Garry: 01:19:01

Good stuff. Okay, then, let's wrap it. So 8 from Adam, 8.5 for me. Some decent strongs to end. Let's wrap it there for episode six. Dude.

Adam: 01:19:12

Indeedy.

Garry: 01:19:27

Thank you very much, dear Blake's 7 listener, for coming back and listening to another episode of Federation striker journey through Blake's 7. And thank you very much if you're a new listener.

Also, if this is your first time listening to the podcast, then welcome aboard as we travel through Blake's 7 from the beginning all the way through to the end. Usually we will, we will say we'll just go through the whole lot like we've done with some other tv, but we're doing a seasonal podcast for this one.

So when we get to the end of series A, we'll take a wee break. Hopefully the next Blu Ray will be released at some point this year for series B and then we will pick it back up.

So it's a nice little chunk of time to dive into Blake's 7, especially if you're like me who's never seen the show before. It's a great way to. To follow along and. And dive into all the Blake's 7 goodness. So that was seek, locate and destroy for episode six, our review.

So next week, buddy. What are we reviewing then?

Adam: 01:20:25

Yeah, next week's episode is called Mission to Destiny.

Garry: 01:20:29

Sounds important.

Adam: 01:20:30

That sounds intriguing, doesn't it?

Garry: 01:20:32

Big one. Yeah.

So for next week then, to follow along, make sure that you are digging out your DVDs if you've got them, or even the old VHS copies or the Blu Ray or the streaming services. Whatever you want to watch Blake's 7 on, give it that a watch and you can follow along with our thoughts and reviews.

And on that note, if you are a newcomer, make sure you are following the podcast in whatever your fave podcast app is so you don't miss a notification for new episodes when they land every Wednesday. And you can chat to us over on the the socials we're on X and Bluesky.

Just do a Search for Lakes 7 podcast and follow along with some very cool chat and some really cool other content creators for Blake's 7 and just general fans of the show. Some really nice chat going on on the old Socials. And you can also follow much more geekery by checking out my co host channel over on YouTube.

It's called the Geek's Handbag.

Adam: 01:21:27

Geeks Handbag. Yeah, there's a couple of Blake's 7 videos on there, including a convention video where I went to a Blake's 7 convention somewhere out near Oxford.

I forget now, but it was a great day. A couple of other Blakeson videos on there. But yeah, I'm all under the name the geeks handbag on YouTube indeedy.

Garry: 01:21:44

And Adam's on the Socials as well, under the same name, the Geeks Handbag. So give him a like and a follow and have a chat with him about all things geekret over there.

Until next week for episode seven and our review of Missions of Destiny. My name's Garry.

Adam: 01:21:58

My name's Adam.

Garry: 01:22:00

And thank you very much for listening to Federation a journey through Blake's 7.