A:08: Duel: Blake and Travis Go Head-to-Head!

Garry: 00:00:21

Hello and welcome to another episode of Federation A journey through Blake's 7. My name's Garry.

Adam: 00:00:27

My name's Adam.

Garry: 00:00:28

And welcome to episode eight.

Adam: 00:00:30

Yeah.

Garry: 00:00:44

Dudley Simpson's music.

Adam: 00:00:46

I never get bored of that theme.

Garry: 00:00:48

Doing the business in the theme unfortunately was turfed out in the streets.

Adam: 00:00:53

Yeah.

Garry: 00:00:54

For this episode, which we'll come on to, I'm sure. Yeah.

Adam: 00:00:57

Poor old Dudley.

Garry: 00:00:58

Poor old Dudley. No Dudley Simpson music. In this, this week's episode review, you've.

Adam: 00:01:04

Just reminded me I forgot to, ah. I meant to watch the end credits to see who did the music and I completely forgot. I don't know if you have that information to hand.

Garry: 00:01:13

Adam. Adam.

Adam: 00:01:14

Oh, how unprofessional. I remember thinking all the way through the episode as well, must remember to see who did the music. And then of course it ended and switched it off.

Garry: 00:01:24

You switch it off? Yeah, yeah.

Because on if you look, on if you do some research and I'm sure there are some people who have dived into this and have got the names and, and all that stuff. I'm pretty sure the guys over at Cult Edge, Colt Edge, you know those guys that do all the cool books and stuff.

Pretty sure they've got at least one name. Etc. But yeah, the, the end credits are fairly minimal anyway.

Adam: 00:01:49

Dude, they are.

Garry: 00:01:51

When you get to.

I don't even know if I'm seeing the full, the full credits here, but you get obviously the main cast and then you get created by Terry Nation, etc, etc, and you get some production credits. But I don't think there's a. I don't think there's a name. I'm pretty sure they used stock music. Library music.

Adam: 00:02:15

It's quite possible. Yeah.

Garry: 00:02:17

Yeah. Because I.

Because I remember looking through the credits thinking, right, because it says title music by Dudley Simpson, but it doesn't say anything about incidental music or anything like that. It just says after it goes through the cast. I've actually got it here actually, because I knew we would talk about this bit.

Yeah, it goes through the cast, cameraman, recordist, you know, all that stuff. And when it gets to anything to do with sound, it's got studio sound, Tony, Tony Miller, special sound.

Richard Yeoman Clark mentioned those guys before in the first episode. And then it just jumps straight to the other the credits that come after, like costume designer, that sort of thing.

So there isn't actually a name associated with it, bud. For this one.

Adam: 00:03:01

No.

And I'll tell you what makes me think it's stock as well is because it kind of just fades out like it doesn't feel like it's composed specifically for any scene, if you know what I mean. Whereas Dudley's is always sort of synced to the actual scene and the action and stops when the scene stops.

This music just seems to fade in a fade out. So that does make me think maybe it was stock music. But yeah.

Anyway, I'll get your thoughts on whether you liked the stock music as we jump into the review.

Garry: 00:03:29

But indeed, yeah. So wow, we're into the techie stuff immediately.

Adam: 00:03:34

Yeah.

Garry: 00:03:34

Before we even get into it. Yeah. Welcome aboard everybody to Federation Strike. Forgot the name of the podcast then. Federation Strike.

Adam: 00:03:43

Oh, we're on top form today and.

Garry: 00:03:46

If you are a new time listener, a newbie, then welcome aboard. It's awesome to have you here listening as we go through all of the episodes of Blake's 7.

And we're into our first, we're into the nuts and bolts, the weeds of the first series, Series A. And, and we've got some cool, got some cool bonus eps and, and whatnot that's going to pop on after we've reviewed the Last episode, episode 13.

Those of you that have listened to us from the beginning, thank you very much again for joining us. It's great to have you here as well and you can follow us and subscribe in.

Whatever podcast app you're listening to this on now, or whatever app you prefer, just hit the follow button. You won't miss an episode notification.

When they go out every Wednesday morning here in the UK and our friends internationally, etc, we'll get them whatever, whatever time you wake up in the morning and you can follow us on the socials as well. Lots of Blake's 7 chat happening over there. Very, very cool community around Blake's 7 which we've, we've dived into and some wonderful folks there.

So thank you very much. For those of you that have followed, you can do it on bluesky or X.

There are links in the show notes for that or just do a Search for Lake 7 podcast, you'll find us on there and chat lots of Blake's 7. One thing I wanted to pick out from somebody on Blue sky actually buddy was the username is Siren Shane.

Adam: 00:05:04

Hello Siren Shane.

Garry: 00:05:06

Yep. And they said you probably notice.

Adam, I didn't know it but said I'm not sure if anyone mentioned this to you guys, but the Original VHS of Blake's 7 was the first four episodes edited together to make one feature length video. Unfortunately to make it fit onto one VHS it was edited down and they lost quite a few minutes there.

And the way back they actually cut out nearly half an hour's worth of stuff. So I think across of all the. All the four episodes, they lost nearly 80 minutes worth of footage, which is. It's just crazy. I did not know that.

Adam: 00:05:40

You probably. I did.

Well, actually, I did know that, but I'd forgotten that I have those VHS somewhere because one of them came with a really cool little postcard of the Liberator, which I think. Think I've still got somewhere.

The VHS's are in my sister's garage, rotting away, I'm afraid, because Blake's 7 was issued quite a few times on VHS, mate. They. I think I've got those original movie versions where they've sort of put them together.

Then they started issuing them as episodes with two or three episodes on each tape. And then they. Then they issued them again, I think, saying they were now uncut because originally they'd cut them or something. I can't remember.

It went on forever. And then Woolworths, mate, and these are my favorites. And actually I do want to get these out of storage because I loved the covers.

Woolworths had their own exclusive. They were like shiny foil covers for the first. Was it just the first series or. It might be the first two.

And they were gorgeous, those covers, mate, but it was really hard to get them. And obviously the spine builds up the word Blake7, so you don't want to be missing one of those. You don't want to put in a regular cover.

You know, you have to go to Woolworths and try and get those limited exclusive covers to make up the spine saying Blake's 7. And yeah, it was quite hard. I did manage to get them all and of course now I've got them on. On DVD and Blu Ray. So. How many dips is that?

That's quite a lot of.

Garry: 00:07:09

That's a few.

Adam: 00:07:10

That's not just double dipping, is it? That's crazy. But, yeah, that's how much I like the Showmate.

I have to have every time it come out and every time they have a selling point of, oh, it's been remastered, it's uncut, it's this. It's got extras. You're like, oh, I must have it.

Garry: 00:07:23

So, yeah, sounds cool. Yeah. I'm looking at. As you were talking about that, I found a couple of images on.

On the goog of those old VHS tapes and those Woolworths ones here, look. They look awesome.

Adam: 00:07:34

They were great actually, those covers.

Garry: 00:07:35

Yeah, back in the day.

Adam: 00:07:38

I need to go and dig them out of my sister's garage, actually. I need to Get. She's probably throwing them away. I've got so much rubbish in there.

She's always saying, like, if you don't come and sort this stuff out, it's just going in the skip. I'm like, oh, God. Oh, no. I know. Well, yeah, I know. I need to get in there quick.

Garry: 00:07:53

And I think it's one of the few podcasts where we say the word VHS and the stores like Woolworths and our listenership probably will know what we mean by that.

Adam: 00:08:04

Yes.

Garry: 00:08:04

Yeah. So those of you that are too young to know or international listeners, Woolworths was a.

Was a department kind of store here in the UK back in the 80s and mid-90s and they sold everything, basically everything from vinyl records to suites to dishcloths and. And all sorts. But they had quite a few cool ranges of vinyl and music. I remember that.

Adam: 00:08:28

Yeah, they did, mate. Honestly, I could. I can see myself swooping in. I can picture it right now. All the shells of all the. All the VHS's and.

Yeah, the music, vinyls and dishcloths, like you said, just about everything you can think of.

Garry: 00:08:41

Yeah, yeah.

Adam: 00:08:43

They need to come back. They need to come back to our high street. They were great.

Garry: 00:08:46

They were. So thank you very much, Simon Shane, for the tidbit of trivia. And then there's. Yeah, we've.

We've been chatting to a few different people or, you know, various random things about Blake's 7 and whatnot and. And actually mentioning the. The Coltedge guys. They've recently released their second episode of the Blake's 7 magazine, so you can.

Yes, I'll stick a link in the show notes to that as well, actually. That looks very, very cool. I've been meaning to pick up the first magazine, but. So I'll get round to that. But the. The second one looks very cool.

I think he's got an interview with. An interview with Sally Navet, I believe. Yeah, it looks very cool. So those guys at Cult Edge, they're so very, very.

Every now and then you'll find a company that goes back and does really nice books or magazines about old school stuff and it's. You can tell it's a complete passion project and they do look very cool.

Adam: 00:09:40

So, yeah, they're putting in the work, mate. Every time I look at their stuff, I want every single thing on their website. I'm just like, oh, my God. Because they are fans, that's the thing.

They like a lot of projects. They put in the effort because they have a real passion for the show.

Because, you know, Blake's 7 has a real good fan base, but it's probably not the biggest fan base. It's not like Doctor who, it's not as well known, but. But we'll keep spreading the word, mate. And yeah, and it'll get bigger, but yeah, it's.

Their stuff is just gorgeous. And I did see a lot of people getting that magazine at the weekend and gonna have to. Gonna have to get that at some point for sure.

Garry: 00:10:20

Looks lovely.

Adam: 00:10:21

Yeah.

Garry: 00:10:21

So be a link in the show notes if you want to go and check that out. Blake's 7 fans and. Right, let's get down to it.

Adam: 00:10:29

Let's do it.

Garry: 00:10:30

The episode review for this week, bud, is.

Adam: 00:10:33

So we're on episode eight. Can you believe it? You're already on episode eight, mate. And it is Duel.

Trailer: 00:10:40

We understand that men will kill for their beliefs. Since each of you wishes to destroy the other, we are going to give you the chance. A duel? Is that what you're suggesting?

A fight to the death. But this way there will be a limit to the deaths and we will ensure that the losers share has an opportunity to get away.

Don't you find that rational? No. When I've killed Blake, I simply hunt down the others.

There will be no destruction within our influence. But we cannot control your actions beyond this planet. I don't think I want to kill for your entertainment. You have no choice. We could agree not to fight. Could we?

If you trusted one another. There is another matter. A lesson you must learn about death. I think we both know enough about that already.

You both know how to kill. But here you must take a life. There will be no machines to make the act unreal. You must touch the life you take. Shall we get on with it? How anxious he is to reach the forest. Once there, you can only return when it is over. Weapons Tools for survival.

Garry: 00:12:08

Episode eight then, bud.

Adam: 00:12:11

Travis can't wait to get in there. He's like. He's desperate. Kill, kill. He's desperate for a good old ruckus, isn't he?

Garry: 00:12:18

February: 1978

It was written by Terry Nation, directed by Douglas Camfield, hence no Dudders. Script editor Chris Bowsher and produced by Dave Maloney. It was obviously series A. And the synopsis from the old vhs. Yeah, whatever VHS that was.

Now that you've said that there's a thousand multiple. But the synopsis is Travis has tracked down Blake and trapped the liberator.

But a power draining force filled from a Mysterious dead planet forces the two men into single hand to hand combat, a duel to the death. So a good old fashioned fisticuffs between Travis and Blake on this one. The story is mega, mega simple.

Yeah, I think it's probably one of the most simple stories we've had thus far in series A where it's similar to the web at the beginning where they're on route to somewhere else, they're, they're out running the Federation ships, which is good, but they've noticed that their power cells are really low because they've been at full power. They are outrunning the ships but they just can't sustain that.

So they find this planet, it's pretty desolate and they want to just chill there in orbit for a while, recharge the old batteries and away they go again. But Travis is on the case, he can see that they've wound down, they've scanned the ship, they know that their power cells are nearly depleted.

And so he puts in a plan, doesn't he, to ambush and just essentially obliterate them.

What unbeknownst to both of them that on the planet's surface there is a, there are two, two women who are, who are fully aware of what's going on there. I guess psychic powers have been a thing for thousands of years on this planet.

This planet apparently has had a big history of war that's taken place and these guys have got some pretty powerful mind, mind bending powers and they bring trouble, Travis and Blake down to the surface and of like, look, you two are, you two are like kids basically.

So if you're hell bent on, on death and all that stuff, you know, we've been there, done that, but you know, we'll give you the chance to, you know, to sort of play this out and whoever wins, you know that you'll be on your way. Whoever loses will give your ship a bit of a head start so that they can, they can do the off.

And I think subtly it's trying to get the point across that because they throw a little bit of a curveball where they bring Jenna down and they also bring one of the mutoids down. She doesn't even have a name.

Adam: 00:15:15

No, she's just mutoid.

Garry: 00:15:17

Just mutoid, Yep.

And I think it's meant to highlight the difference and the opposite end of the spectrum of Blake being very protective of his crew and of his, of his teammate in this case Jenna, want anything to happen to her. And the sort of cold hearted, ruthless nature of Travis where not only Is he not bothered at all about casualties on his end?

As long as Blake's destroyed, then that's fine. He's got a job to do.

But even this quote unquote lifeless organism, this vampire style character that we have with the mutoids, he has no feeling for them either. So I think it just highlights the opposite ends of the spectrum with that stuff. And. Yeah.

So a reasonably simple story to get your head around this one, dude. It's another departure from Blake's overall mission, I guess, to take down the Federation. That's. It's a little detour like we had with the web. So.

Yeah, yeah. As a long timer. When was the last time you watched this episode and what are your feelings on it?

Adam: 00:16:21

I probably watched it last year. I mean, I just regularly go back and, and watch either random episodes or I just start watching Blake's 7 from the beginning again.

I've done that quite a lot. So this is an episode I've seen quite a few times.

And I asked you last, I said to you last week that I was intrigued to hear your thoughts on this one because it's known as a bit of a fan favorite in series one, I think. And I think that's mainly because, you know, you get Travis and Blake, Blake having this sort of combat.

But I, it's one that I, although I find it an enjoyable episode and I, I love the concept, like I said, it's a very simple concept. I love the sort of message if you like, of like, you know, not killing.

And if you do kill, you need to learn, you know, there's going to be no weapons, that you're going to do it with your own bare hand sort of thing.

You know, it's, it's putting a sort of a message in there about, you know, thinking about why, you know, want to kill someone and obviously showing the contrast between Blake and Travis who is all just for wanting to have to murder someone, and Blake who is only doing it out of necessity. So I love the concept and I like the idea of these two powerful beings and I think they're great characters as well.

You know, this is one of the things I love about this sort of era of television is you get these sort of mad old crones and this powerful being and somehow they, they're brilliant together. And I, you know, I love all that sort of stuff, but it's, but, but the reason I'm sort of.

Well, the thing I'm getting to is like when I say it's a bit of a fan favorite, I, I wouldn't put it up there as one of my favorites. And the reason for this is, love the concept, love the characters, the acting's great. It's all good. It's a good episode. Excuse me, but the.

For me, it really lags in the middle once. Like, I love the first 20 minutes. Like the, you know, the battle between the Liberator and Travis and all that build up is brilliant.

And then it goes all a bit crazy and the beings take them down to the forest. Get to the forest, mate. That's where the episode for me starts to get a bit ploddy.

Garry: 00:18:23

Right?

Adam: 00:18:24

Yeah. And. And then the ending, you. You kind of know.

Well, maybe you don't, but you, you know, you kind of get the feeling, well, you know, Blake's not gonna die. And maybe if you're watching, this was the first time, like, you. You think Travis might die, but then he doesn't.

So it's a little bit of a reset at the end, which I think, although I wouldn't have wanted Travis to die, it does leave you feeling a little bit like. Like what was the point of that episode? Like, they put them on a forest, throw each other around a bit, and then just as it's.

They're about to kill one other, it stops and they get put back on spaceship and off they go. And it ends with Travis once again saying, run, Blake, I'm gonna get you.

And it just feels a little bit like, what was the point of that, really, apart from to put home a good moral message, if you like? You know, it just. I don't know, I find it a little unsatisfying. And as I said, I do like the episode, mate. Don't get me wrong, I think it's good.

Just don't think it's as good as it could be. And that surprised him because Douglas Canfield is such a good director. And I don't see his. I don't see his usual flare in this story.

Like when I'm watching a Doctor who that he's directed, I can almost tell it's him because he does lots of low angle shots and all this sort of thing. The forest scenes don't have any tension at all for me. I don't know if they do for you. You tell me in a minute.

But I don't know, it just feels like this is. There's not enough tension. Like when they're down on the forest trying to hide from each other and.

And you've got all that the trees and even the crew of the Liberators say at One point. I'm bored. I'm off to bed. I don't know. The middle section of this episode, mate, I think sags quite a bit.

And as I said that with a director like Douglas Catherine in charge, I'm surprised the scene set in the forest, wherever that's meant to be, don't have a bit more edge of your seat tension. Stuff of, oh my God, if, you know, maybe Travis is behind that tree or something like that. It's just very much plodding around.

Oh, let's go and see up this tree and have a look out. And I don't know, it. It just loses me a bit in the middle, I think. But overall I like it. I just, I wouldn't put it up there as one of my favorites.

It's certainly one I'm. I'm very happy to watch over and over again. But I wouldn't say it's as good. I think it's. It's not as good as it could be, I think. Over to you, mate.

What do you think of this one?

Garry: 00:20:33

Okay, dude, so you're not a huge fan of this one then?

I would say that I don't feel like it's the strongest episode for sure that we've seen, that I've seen thus far, but I would say that it's got some interesting elements to it. And one what two things that I particularly do like about the episode is. The first one is that there are some.

I like the, the mysteriousness of the two. The two women who are on this planet.

Adam: 00:21:02

Yeah.

Garry: 00:21:02

That we know nothing about. I love the fact that we don't get told the name of the planet.

And when I say things like this, by the way, I'm always conscious of the fact that there's probably a portion of Blake's 7 fandom who have dived into all of this stuff and have read all the books about it and I've got the behind the scenes production diaries and all that stuff and they probably do know the name of these planets and whatnot. But from a, from a reasonably casual viewers perspective, we don't get told the name of the planet. I don't think so anyway.

And we don't get told what type of exact power these two, these two women have. We. We just get told that the planet's just been ravaged by war for thousands of years and then there was some kind of radiation sort of aftermath.

Adam: 00:21:52

Terry Nation loves his radiation mate.

Garry: 00:21:54

Oh, he does, yeah, of course. And. And then we have somebody called the. One of the. The. The older woman is Jiroch Yeah, yeah, she's. She's the keeper of the power.

And then we have Cinefar, who is the guardian of the power. So between the two of them, they've got slightly opposing views. You can tell that they've got very different personalities.

And Jiroc just wants to set everybody free, you know, all of the everything. And then Cinefile is like, no, no, no. You know, you and I have got this power.

We need to sort of, you know, responsively, sort of disperse this power. No, we can't just. So anyway, there's, there's different personalities there.

But I really do like the fact that we don't have to be handheld with everything. We can come away from that episode thinking, actually, I wonder what that was about. What was the history of that planet there?

And you know, are there any more people? Is it just them too? You know, is it. Is it like a sort of sith kind of thing from Star Wars? Is it always to the rule of two sort of thing?

Is it like that? So I really do love that mysterious side of things and I think, I think I'm guilty of this sometimes.

And fandom in general, with science fiction in particular, is that we really want to deep dive into everything, especially if we love something. And I'm really loving Blake's 7 so far and I really do want to. I've already got a list of books that are on my Amazon list.

I'm going to order and some other bits. So once I've watched this first series, I'm going to dive in a bit more and have a look and. And all that stuff.

So I think as a fandom we do want to deep dive and stuff like that. So I think it's very cool that we don't know all the details about these guys. So that was cool.

And the other thing that I liked about this episode was it wasn't. I mentioned earlier it was a bit of a detour for Blake and it wasn't about him making his next move against the Federation.

I like the vulnerability of Blake because.

And the crew because up to this point I feel like, because they're on the Liberator, the Liberators has afforded them some very cool stuff in their advantage. So the ship itself is mega powerful in terms of it can go like super fast and it can maintain that speed and all that stuff. It's got the.

It's got the self healing technology on board which we spoke about in the last episode.

Adam: 00:24:18

Yeah.

Garry: 00:24:19

And it's got the teleportation stuff and all this. So they've got a very, very cool asset, you know, as the crew.

And I don't think if they, if they were to hijack a different ship, say the London, you know, from Spacefall or whatever, things would be very, very different for them. They would have been captured by now easily and all that stuff.

So I like the fact that in this episode, they, they can't just run forever at top speed. They have to stop, recharge, they're under attack.

They're on the ropes, essentially, because Travis is very cleverly got this strategy of, you know, I won't fire yet. I'll let these other two ships drain their power and weaken the Liberator and then when it's ready to go, you know, it's. It's done.

So they are against. They're on the ropes definitely. And there's a bit of tension there between Blake and Avon again, which, which is very cool.

So I love the vulnerability, mate. I love the fact that they're not. They're not these, these characters. They're the good guys, of course.

Adam: 00:25:21

They're not invincible.

Garry: 00:25:23

Yeah. They're not these characters that can just go into a situation and just know that everything's going to be 100% cool. There is some.

There is a bit of that. So I love that, I love that about the, the episode.

The thing that I wasn't too keen on, and I think I'm on the same page as you as this bud, is when they teleport down to the planet and then they bump into Cinefar and Jirok. There was a. There's a bit of. A little bit of hostility there and tensions are a bit high.

You know, Travis, just as always, just wants to get rid of Blake and he's got a nice little smile on his face when they're talking about a duel because I think Travis is overly confident at that point that if there was a duel, he'll, he'll. He'll win and kill Blake. Blake's remaining fairly cool and all that stuff. So that was all cool.

But like you when they go down to the forest and they have that on location stuff that gets a little bit like, you know, we're just up in a tree for a while.

Adam: 00:26:16

There's a great line from Avon, isn't he, when he says to, you know, let me know if something happens. Apart from what does he say? Something about Blake and Travis up a tree. Unless they start throwing nuts at each other. I'm going to bed or something.

I thought it was a great line, but it does. He does kind of sum it up that nothing's really happening.

Garry: 00:26:32

Do you know what, mate? That. I think that was a. That was potentially. I mean, I'm in two minds about what I'm about to say.

That was potentially a mistake, I think, in the writing, because especially Villa, who literally falls asleep. Yeah, he does that kind. And then you've got Avon saying things like that. He's impatient. He just, you know, whatever.

And even the moments where they're all sat around, they're sat around and they're watching the screen to see what's going on, you can tell they're all bored out of their minds. So I think that's. That's.

That doesn't help the viewer because you're kind of being drawn into that same mindset as, like, oh, come on, something's got to happen soon. You know, this is getting a bit plotty. The other side of me thinks, well, I'm only saying that side of it because of hindsight.

I'm, you know, 100 sure that when Terry Nation was writing this script, he didn't foresee that the. The. All the elements in the forest and the actual duel wouldn't quite come. You wouldn't be executed that well. You know, he thought.

He probably thought that there was a bit more tension, suspense and a bit more action that was going to happen when you saw it on screen. And so you wouldn't feel quite as, you know, as it's plotting a little bit. So, I mean, two minds about that.

But, yeah, overall, dude, I liked, you know, some elements of it. I thought it was pretty cool. But, yeah, it does lose. It loses itself. Lose itself a little bit in that middle section towards the end as well.

Adam: 00:28:05

Yeah, I know exactly what you mean about that writing that makes it kind of like. I think the episode starts off so exciting with that, you know, battle between Blake and Travis.

And what I was thinking is, as well, how well they managed to hold the tension in those first 20 minutes because, you know, the lack of budget, if you. If you watch. It does show in the sense that we don't see any model shots of the spaceships really battling each other.

We do see the Liberator go right up to one of the Federation pursuit ships, but we don't see, you know, like, when they're firing each other, there's actually no intercuts of any model shots there. So we're relying completely on the actors to sell it to us that they're under attack. So if you know what I mean.

So you've Got like the, you know, the guys. Liberator rocking back and forth and there's a couple of explosions.

Then we cut to Travis on his ship, but you don't see any sort of space battle going on, which is what you'd probably expect. I think even in. If this is in Doctor who, there'd be at least a couple of model shots showing the spaceships battling.

So it's, you know, again, it's to. For the beginning to be so good, I think is really down to the. The direction and the. And the cast who are absolutely selling that battle.

Because I love the first 20 minutes, mate, I thought there's some really good tension building up and we will come on to the music because I think the music plays a big part of that in that particular scene. So then it is a shame that, yeah, when we.

When that all cuts and it goes a little bit crazy, it does stop and have, you know, we have a little bit of exposition. That's fine.

But then when we get to the forest and, you know, Blake and Travis are there to kill each other, it should really kick in and, you know, it's gone down a gear, but it should really kick up back up to another gear, which it doesn't do, which is a shame, really, because it was really sort of rocking and rolling. I think this episode up until that point, and especially when Jenna gets put down.

So I was thinking, you know, ah, okay, episodes got a bit slow, but Jenna's here now and she's with Blake. This is, you know, this is going to ramp up another notch, but it doesn't really. And I think she's quite poorly served in that.

Even though she gets to have a bit of a fight with the mutoid. It's really weak. She gets knocked out almost straight away. I just. This is what I meant when I say missed opportunity. It's like you.

You've got Jenna and a mutoid there and Blake and Travis, but like Avon says, nothing's really happening. They're just sitting up trees. And I just think, God, you know, you've got four great characters there. Do something with them.

So, yeah, it's a shame, really, because I do think it was really strong up until that point as an episode.

Garry: 00:30:41

Agreed.

Adam: 00:30:42

Yeah. Great concept as well. And I love the bit where Jurak tries to. She's a scamp, isn't she? When she tries to help Travis.

I mean, when Blake certainly just lands on the planet in the forest and he almost gets killed straight away because Shira, I don't know what she does to him. But there's this really strange cut, isn't there, where Blake's, like, holding his head. She. She tries to cheat, basically, and help Travis to win.

And then Cinefar sort of tells her off. I did like that little scene. I thought it's quite funny. She's like, you, you know, lead them to it or whatever.

Garry: 00:31:13

But, yeah, that was cool. That was. That's what I mentioned earlier about the. The slightly different personalities between even those two characters.

Adam: 00:31:21

Yeah.

Garry: 00:31:22

So I think in the thing I've got in my head with this one is that I think they were relying on the conversations happening between these three pairs of people. So when you've got Blake and Jenna, there's not too much going on there because we've already had an introduction to Jenna.

We've seen her every episode, and there's a couple of episodes where she's in it quite a lot and we know what she's capable of, etc. And we know that her and Blake get on rather well. So that one's fairly trivial, I think.

I think it's the other two pairings that I presume that when they were putting this together that they wanted to focus on that. So this kind of weird. It's not even a relationship, this weird acquaintance between Travis and the mutoid, that was a thing.

Driving to try and get Travis, I guess, to open up a little bit and realize that although this person is a. Is a mutoid, they're still a living thing. That's what they were trying to get across to him, I think, and. But he was having none of it.

And the conversations between the two of those became very, very superficial. It was just, she needs blood serum.

Adam: 00:32:40

Yeah.

Garry: 00:32:40

To survive. And. And he's like. Well, you know, whatever. He's like, if you end up, you know, dying on this planet, then whatever. He.

He sees the mutoids as just sort of worker ants, basically. Yeah. So he's there. He's the top guy. He knows the. The thing. He's the one that's capable of. Of taking out Blake.

And, you know, because of his experience and what he does, obviously for a living, he's the strategy guy as well. He knows all the stuff and they're just there to make that happen for him.

And if they don't survive, then, yeah, there's a thousand other of you that I can use sort of thing. So I think that was. I believe that was the thing that they were trying to get across with us with Travis and the mutoid.

And then the other pairing was obviously Jirok and Cinefar, those two slightly opposing views on what should happen. And I loved the cheekiness of Jirok when she does that, when she. When she sabotages Blake's mind and he's gone nuts and he can't fight back.

And I must say, the. The editing on this was not fantastic in a couple of places. That scene where.

Where she is affecting Blake's mind at the beginning before she teleports Travis in behind him and is ready to kill before Cinnifar sort of interrupts that. That went on what felt like for ages. And I don't know about you, mate, but they whacked the volume up really high.

Adam: 00:34:09

I don't like that effect. I don't know, something about it makes me. I don't know, it's almost like. Not like a strobe light. But, yeah, it's an annoying effect. You're right.

It does go on too long. It makes me wince every time I watch it.

Garry: 00:34:22

Yeah, yeah. I mean, I guess that's the intended effect. You're meant to feel like, Blake, that. You know, you're. You're being driven, you're cracking up, and.

Adam: 00:34:30

It does the job.

Garry: 00:34:31

Yeah, it does the job. But I felt like it just went on just a tad too long. So I was thinking. I felt like a right grumpy old man. John, turn this bloody racket off. We get it.

We get it.

You know, and then it was a bit later on in the episode where there was another similar effect to that, you know, towards the end, before Cinefar pulls them out of the forest back. Yeah, yeah. That goes on for a while as well. That. That visual camera effect and.

And that screeching sort of noise and the fast cuts and stuff like that. So, yeah, they were cool. But I just thought, crikey, you know, the editor's like, you know, he's fallen asleep. He's falling asleep.

So Douglas Camfield's, like, nudging him like this bit off.

Adam: 00:35:15

I am wondering now you've said that because I. As I said, Douglas Canfield was. Was one of. I think, one of the best directors around this time.

I always love seeing his name come up because I always think, right, we're in for a good. We're in for a good episode if his name's attached to it.

So maybe it could be more down to the editing than his direction, because there is nothing wrong with the direction. It just doesn't have his usual flair about it to me. But I am now.

Now you've said that wondering if perhaps it's more down to the direction and the fact that, yeah, like you said, the story is quite simple and maybe he didn't have that. That much to work with. Can I just talk about Cinefara and Girot, by the way, they are my favor in this episode. I. Because this is what I mean.

I love this era of television where we get characters like this and they are so polar opposite, you know, and Shira's, like you said, this kind of cheeky old granny in a way, compared to Cinefar, who's this all powerful being who's very calm as well. I think Isla Blair is fantastic. Well, and Patsy Smart, they're just. They. That's so good at creating or bringing these characters to life.

I do want to address the peanuts in the room is Le Blair's outfit, which is quite revealing. I wonder if it's an old Axon outfit, actually looking at it last night, that white and yellow. We can't ignore it. Like, you can't.

You just can't help it, you know, it's no good trying to look away. You can't. They are there for all to see.

Garry: 00:36:43

I just want to. The peanuts in the room.

Adam: 00:36:46

Oh, forgive me for saying that, but, you know, I mean. But the reason I'm bringing this up is not to be.

Is not to be all Sid James about it, but actually because I was really pleased to hear Isla Blair say in the making of that she was very comfortable with that outfit. She really embraced it. But Patsy Smart, who played Yurok, was horrified and told her, you know, cover yourself up.

So I don't know that they got on that well on set because if you watch the little interview of Isla Bet, she does specifically say that. That, you know, she had no problem with the outfit. She actually really liked it and didn't mind the fact that it was quite revealing.

But yeah, apparently Patsy Smart was not impressed and told her she should. I can't remember the exact phrasing, but, you know, basically cover yourself up and have a bit more. I think she. She was.

Maybe the age difference there. Maybe Patsy Smart was a bit more. I was going to say prudish, but, you know, she just didn't approve of the. Of what was on display, if you like. But.

But that's what I mean. They were obviously very different actors.

Very different off screen as well, as they are very different on screen, but obviously I would imagine nothing like their characters. But just love that contrast between the two.

Garry: 00:38:07

Yeah, No, I agree, dude. Yeah. And I think Patsy Smart had this real.

You know, we've said this a few times with the previous episodes where the directors and Terry Nation, etc. And the producers and so on.

When they've got extras in or supporting cast members, they've seemed to have a knack of really explaining what's going on with the story. And so you felt like, and you do feel like that the supporting actors have absolutely got the memo with what's required for the part.

And I would say it's. So far, it's been a great run of that. Every episode where we've had supporting cast members.

I've always thought, I think you and I picked up on it a few times already, that, that the support.

They're really into it because we're on episode eight now in our review, and I can confidently say that after reviewing eight stories of classic Doctor who, not all of those stories. Could we say that every supporting cast member is into it as much as they are here.

Adam: 00:39:10

That's a good point. Yeah.

Garry: 00:39:11

There's the handful of people that we would say, well, that person was in it as a supporting cast member. But, you know, they were okay. But, you know, they were just. It's.

It's either a paycheck and nothing more or they just didn't quite get it as much as some other actors in that story. So I felt like that, especially with these two. Dude, I thought it was a real.

So with Patsy Smart, she had this way of being really cheeky and, you know, you know, anyone might relate to this, but sometimes your grandparents have just got that way of saying things that anyone else that would say it would be like, you can't say that or, you know, they're just being cheeky, whatever. But nobody else would get away with it. But they do because they're your grandparents.

Adam: 00:39:57

Yes.

Garry: 00:39:57

And they were a certain age. You know, she's really got that vibe about her where she's.

She's seen it all, been there, done that, and, you know, no one's going to tell her any different. She's just, you know, I say what I want. She's got this brashness and cheeky. It's so cool. And. And then the, the opposite with.

With Ida Blair playing Cinefar is. Is a really good contrast to that because you. On paper, you would probably have written it the other way around.

Like the younger person being the cheekier, you know, less experienced, you know, etc, you know, expand on that. And the older person being the voice of reason.

But the way that they flip that and Cinefar being Again, it goes back to that mysterious thing where we don't know how old they are, you know, are they immortal? Are they whatever, we don't know. But.

But she's the younger voice of reason and she maintains control and she is quietly confident in what she's doing and saying. And so, yeah, I agree with you, man. The. Those two were a highlight for sure.

Adam: 00:40:59

And it's funny, isn't it, because like you said, you. You get that they come across as powerful. That's the thing.

You do get the sense that although, you know, it's just a TV show, they do really sell it to you that they've stopped those two spaceships mid flight and brought it. You know what I mean? They have a screen presence to both of them in very different ways. You made a great point about the actors as well, mate.

Like you said, as much as we like classic Doctor who, there are times where we've said, well, that actor obviously just turned up for the paycheck. You know, they weren't. They weren't exactly giving in their all.

I can't think of any actor in any episode we've watched up to now, and I'm sure there will be some, but, you know, I honestly can't think of anyone that hasn't been, you know, good or at least trying or. Or seems like they're not into it or, you know, I don't know, this is. Maybe that is why.

Another reason why I love the show so much is because I just feel like everybody's really into it, you know, maybe it's because it was a new sci fi show and they were excited to be, you know, brought on board and be part of the cast. I don't know, but I think you're right. I think everyone is, you know, firing on all cylinders at this point. Yeah.

Garry: 00:42:08

I'd like to talk about a couple of things to do with the Federation just quickly. And one of them relates to a supporting actor, actually.

So the first one is, it was cool, very cool to see up close and a bit more, in a bit more detail, the Federation pursuit ships.

Adam: 00:42:23

Yeah, I think it's the first time we've seen one on screen, isn't it? We've seen them as little dots on the scanner, but we've never seen. That's the first time we've seen the actual ship. Right.

Garry: 00:42:30

Yes. They look amazing.

Adam: 00:42:32

Yeah, they're great.

Garry: 00:42:33

They look cool. Yeah.

I've heard over the years of being aware of Blake's 7, of course, and I think you might have mentioned it to me a Couple of times in the pub over the years. But Blake's 7 comes under fire a little bit for its Blue Peter esque creativeness with some of the ship models.

Adam: 00:42:51

Yeah.

Garry: 00:42:52

But I have to say, mate, so far I think the model work has been really like so cool in the way that none of it's really generic. It doesn't feel like generic sci fi. You can tell that the, the design. On whether it's the Liberator, which is gorgeous by the way.

Going to say that forever, I think.

Adam: 00:43:12

Yeah.

Garry: 00:43:12

But the, these, these Federation pursuit ships, there's a purpose to the design. There's a reason why they, they look the way they do and the way that the color is used and yeah, so they look very cool. Dude.

It's, it was really cool to see those.

Adam: 00:43:26

Yeah. I think maybe it's something I've taken for granted a bit because I wouldn't say it's an urban myth.

Like, you know, with Doctor who it's always oh, the Wobbly walls. With like seven all the terrible sets and spaceships. There definitely is some, you know, that are better than others.

But yeah, re watching this, mate, I think I've taken some of the beautiful model work for granted. I mean I've always said the Liberator is my favorite ship. It is the most beautiful model spaceship. I love it. So I would never include that.

But yeah, the pursuit ships, mate, they're great as well. And the London was a cool spaceship. You know that there is some really nice work going into it. Again, you can tell the efforts gone in.

I do think maybe as the series goes on, perhaps time restraints, I don't know. We'll see. Maybe they're better than the urban myth suggests and better than my memory suggests. I'm not sure.

We may see some, we may see some washing up, liquid bottles come in. I don't know. We'll see. But so far, mate, they are, they're really nice model. Model work, isn't it in this series? Yeah.

Garry: 00:44:29

Yes. Yeah. And then the other thing, Federation side was the first proper look at the mutoids. So they've been mentioned a couple of times before.

So they first mentioned them back in Cygnus Alpha and then in Seek, Locate, Destroy, but just very in passing. Yeah, not, you know, they didn't talk about them. It was just referencing those guys with, you know, to do with something else.

And it was, it was really cool that we didn't get like a full blown episode about them. I'm not saying that that would be a bad thing, but it was cool. That we didn't need these guys to be, you know, tons of exposition and all that stuff.

What we got was just a little bit of explanation as to what they are via a conversation which turns out to be a character called Kira. Who was her. That was her name. You know, she's on the trip with. On the ship with Travis, etc.

And that was one of the only sort of little bits, wasn't it, where her, her original identity comes out a little bit because Travis is. And they're talking about that a little bit.

And I think that was kind of what we alluded to earlier where we thought, you know, is Travis gonna soften a little bit here?

Adam: 00:45:50

Oh, yeah, but no chance. No.

Garry: 00:45:52

Yeah, but no chance.

Adam: 00:45:53

As much as a machine as they are, I think deep down.

Garry: 00:45:56

Yeah. Yeah. So. So we find out through that initial conversation at least between her and, and Travis was the, the, the, the.

A mutoid essentially go through a modification where your original identity is erased and blah, blah, blah. And. But they can't sustain their own blood serum, so they have to, they have to take that, of course.

So that's where I think she, she says something like, you know, we're often.

I think she basically says that their nickname or some sort of humans refer to them as vampires because, you know, refers obviously to the age old vampirism thing. So I love the fact that we got that stuff told to us via a little conversation with, with Travis.

We didn't need to have a big, an episode called the Mutoids or, you know, all that stuff. It was, it was just giving us quite subtly and quite succinctly there, which was cool.

And one thing that was terrifying though later on is that when Kira is low on serum and she goes towards Jenna.

Adam: 00:47:06

Yeah.

Garry: 00:47:07

This, this giant needle comes out of her wrist. And I was like, oh my God. Because I'm. I'm no good with blood at all.

Adam: 00:47:14

I'm no good with needles.

Garry: 00:47:16

Yeah. So I thought, oh my God, is this going to be a scene where obviously it'd be fake? You know, the needle would push back into the, into the uniform.

It wouldn't go. But I still thought, oh no, this is going to be pretty, pretty horrific to watch this. But it didn't come to fruition.

But a bit earlier on you saw her open up her chest compartment and she puts a little, a little canister of serum and stuff like that. And so that was all kind of cool, dude. So what's your. I know the mutoids are a big thing within Blake's 7.

So what are Your views on this first introduction and when you very first watched Blake's 7, I don't think. Remember back that far, were you. Did you think that they was. This was like a cool science fiction part of the show.

Adam: 00:47:56

Yeah, I mean, I agree with you. I love the low key sort of introduction of the mutoids, who've been, you know, they've been mentioned.

So you sort of build up an image in your head and then when you get to see them, I can't remember if I very much doubt that's what I was picturing because they're quite humanoid, aren't they? But they've got this funny thing on their head which I think works quite well.

I think that this is, again, this is one of those things that probably quite easy for someone to walk in a room when you're watching it and laugh at. But for me, I really like the design.

I think it's unusual and I do love this concept as well that they have to put in these serum things in their chest. I think that's a really nice idea. In fact, I'm going to start doing that when we go down the pub.

I'm just going to open up my chest and put a pint in there to keep me going. So, yeah, I think they're.

I think they're a really interesting concept, the mutoids, and I think they're a quite a nice, almost simplistic and again, probably down to the budget, but I think it works very well because you just get that they're a little bit. They're not sort of human. You know, you get that they're a bit different.

And again, I think the actress Cara Royal, who plays the mutoid, you know, when we use that phrase, she got the memo. I think she's great as a mutoid because some people could have thought, oh, I've got to be very, you know, robotic or I've got to be very static or.

I don't know. She's got a really nice balance of being unnerving and not quite, you know, she's not quite human, not quite there, not quite sure what they are.

You know, it's a very nice balance in her performance that you just get that they are different. And she almost looks a bit hurt by some of Travis's comments as well, doesn't she? And that. And that's very nicely underplayed by her as well.

You know, when, like you said, Travis is very dismissive and he's kind of repulsed by her need for blood and stuff like that. And so again, her reactions to him, I think, are really good. So, yeah, it's a lovely performance in Caravoyle in this.

Garry: 00:49:55

Yes, agreed. And it was. It plays nicely into, as you said, with Travis's kind of dismissive nature of.

Of the mutoids, it's almost like he prefers to work with mutoids rather than humans because he just appreciates the kind of, you know, get on with a task, no emotion injected into anything and. And just cracking on. So.

Adam: 00:50:18

Yeah, because they're like a machine to him. They can't answer back. He. He can treat them like dirt, can't he? Basically, yeah.

And if anything happens to them, he doesn't care, you know, they mean nothing to him. Do they? Do you like the design of the mutoid, mate? Just out of interest, do you like. As I said, it's very simple. But do you like the look of them?

The sort of pale face with a funny. I don't. What would you call that hat?

Garry: 00:50:42

Just a plastic sort of headpiece, isn't it?

Adam: 00:50:44

Yeah, yeah. I don't know what it looks like, but it's like a big pepper.

Garry: 00:50:50

It looks better in studio than it does on location.

Adam: 00:50:54

Yeah.

Garry: 00:50:55

But I think you can sort of tailor the lighting a little bit more. Having said that, I think it just does suffer.

I think some of the Blake seven sets, especially on the Liberator and on Travis's ship, etc, I think they do suffer a little bit with that old school BBC set lighting where they just turn the lights on.

Adam: 00:51:15

Yeah.

Garry: 00:51:16

And they're either on or they're off. It's just.

Adam: 00:51:18

That's right.

Garry: 00:51:18

You know, it's just very well lit or it's not. You know, there's no. There's not much middle ground.

But having said that, I do still think they look a little bit better on set just because you can control that environment a bit more. Whereas on location you can see it. Yeah. You can see the fakeness of it a little bit more, I think. But yeah, it's not too bad.

Adam: 00:51:41

The design. A very mild spoiler here.

The design of the metoids does change just a little bit in later seasons and I don't know, we'll see when we get there, but I think I prefer this look. Okay, but we'll see what you think when we get there. Yeah.

Garry: 00:51:57

Okay. Talking to Travis, actually, I thought that Steven Grief had a. Had another very good episode here.

It is often Steven Grief actually said this was his favorite episode of this series.

Adam: 00:52:10

All right. I'm not surprised.

Garry: 00:52:12

Yeah. So he gets. He gets quite A lot of dialogue and quite a bit to do.

And he really goes in on some scenes with this kind of maniacal, you know, slightly unhinged, trigger happy sort of bad guy. You know, he's. He's really playing it up in some scenes. And he's great to watch. He really, like you are.

You are properly fearful for Blake and the crew because it's not like. It's not like there's any moral dilemmas with Travis. There's no. There's no.

Even though there's a little bit of history with him and Blake, it wasn't like they were best buds back in the academy. And you know, when it's. When it's Travis's opportunity to kill Blake, is he gonna have a. An attack of conscience?

And he's like, oh, I can't do this to my old war buddy, or I can't do this to my old friend. There's none of that. It's just literally the Terminator situation, isn't it? He's just gonna keep going until he's taken him out.

So I love the fact that, that Steven Kreef really, really understands that. And there's no let up. It's just like, yep, my sole mission is to take you out.

And so, yeah, it does create that kind of creepy, scary sort of relentless onslaught, which is good. And he plays that really well.

Adam: 00:53:29

Oh, yeah. I think he's brilliant as Travis. I love the character and I love the way Steven Greif plays him. Um, he's just. It's almost. I wouldn't say comical.

I don't mean it like that. I don't find him funny because like I said, he is quite frightening, you know, but it's.

I find it quite funny how he just wants to just get on with it. And he's. He's so rude to people that. That's what I mean when I say he's quite funny.

The way he talks, he's like, oh, you know, you almost expect him to say, oh, shut up, you old crone. Let's get on with this. He just is uncontrollable. And yeah, I love him as Travis. I think he's. He's brilliant. He's such a good foil for Blake as well.

You know, I know he said it a couple of times now that, you know, run, Blake, I'm coming for you. And. But you do feel like he's a good.

He's a good baddie to have on Blake's back on Blake's case, if you like, because he's like you said, he's not going to stop until one of them is dead. You know, he's going to keep. He's going to chase Blake through, you know, the universe till the end of time. So he's brilliant.

I love, I love Stephen Grief as Travis.

Garry: 00:54:35

Yeah, no, he's very cool. Gareth Thomas was. Was not too bad in this one. I don't think it's his best performance though, I will be honest. He was still cool.

You can still see that he's very much Blake in terms of being more warm hearted, more protective of his crew, which is the antithesis to. To Travis etc. But yeah, I just felt there wasn't that much range going on in this one. You know, there was, you know, he didn't really.

There was no shouty, there was no sort of downtrodden sad scenes.

It was just fairly, fairly mid, I would say as we go through the episode, the only times you see him sort of step outside that a little bit is when he's getting tortured mentally by Jirok and yeah, some other bits, but otherwise not too bad. Still Blake, of course, but yeah, not. Not his best one for me.

Adam: 00:55:29

Yeah, no, I, I hear you. It's. I wouldn't say. I wouldn't say he's going through the motions, but yeah, it's.

I would have liked to have seen a bit more tension from him when he's hiding from Travis. And I don't feel he's that scared, if you know what I mean.

Like he's got Travis, he's trapped on the planet with Travis who just wants to kill him right there and then. So I would have liked to have seen a bit more tension from Gareth Thomas as Blake. That may be down to the direction, I don't know.

But yeah, like you, mate. Not. I'm not criticizing his performance because I love him as Blake, but I get what you mean. It's. It's not a standout.

Like, I can't think of any standout moment. Like, you know, when we've said about him and Avon, for example, when there's that good scenes between them and tension and.

Can't really think of anything like that from this one. But still, still good though. Still love, love Blake.

Garry: 00:56:15

Yeah. I think the only one scene I can think of that was where he did sort of step up a gear, I guess if you want to call it that is when the.

At the beginning, when the Liberator is getting sort of that barrage of. Of yeah, that's missiles and so on, he's like, you know, he's having to time it right to, you know, make the most of the remaining power they've got.

So that, that was pretty cool, that scene. But I think, yeah, it goes back to what we said at the beginning.

Once they go down to the, the forest, you know, it gets a little bit mid for that performance for me. And talking of Avon, Paul Darrow not in it a great deal, but he, it's a.

I love this flip flopping between him and Blake and being on board with what Blake's doing. There was that brilliant scene where Blake is talking to. Because the, I think it's, it might have been Cinefar or Duke, one of the two.

They've basically said, look, you know, all the people on board your ships, they can see what, you know, we'll, I'll beam this towards the ship and they can on board the ship so they can see what's going on. So the, the crew on the Liberator can see all the conversations happening.

And there's a scene where Blake says to Travis, I think, you know, the only, you know, the main difference is my crew are with me by choice. And then it cuts to the Liberator and Avon's like, really? Yeah, he's got that, you know, speak for yourself.

Adam: 00:57:39

Forgotten about that.

Garry: 00:57:41

Yeah. So again we've, we flopped back over to Avon having this. Is he on board with Blake's mission? Well, I don't really know. It doesn't sound like choice.

Adam: 00:57:50

Yeah, yeah.

Garry: 00:57:51

And, and he's just getting impatient as well with certain things. You can tell that Avon's. He's, not, he's not Blake's biggest fan, but when the chips are down, he does sort of muck in and save.

He has saved Blake, you know, obviously. And he does, he does muck in. So I was going to say I'd love to see Avon make a decision ultimately.

And you're probably thinking, God, I can't say anything. I'd love to see Avon make a decision at some point to say, yep, I've done this for a while now and I'm fully on board.

And I think what's making me lean into that, that direction or him to say, you know, I'm out. You know, I'm fed up with Blake, fed up with being always put in danger, blah, blah, blah, I'm out.

But the thing in my head that's making me lean towards the former is that they're having a conversation between them. I think it's gan Villa and Avon. And Villa says something like, you know, regardless of what Happens, it's never going to be over.

Like, we will always be pursued by the Federation. You know, this is our life now, basically. We'll always be on the run sort of thing.

And so that makes me think that Avon's like, well, actually, if that's the case, safety in numbers, you know, got a cool ship, blah, blah, blah. So you're probably biting your tongue. Massive.

Adam: 00:59:09

I am a bit, yeah.

Garry: 00:59:11

You know, because, you know, 100% what goes on with. With Avon in future series. But, yeah, I do love Paul Darrow still. I do still think that when he is on screen, he. He steals it a bit. He's very good.

Adam: 00:59:23

I was gonna say, what I love about Paul Darrow is how he's so cool and so good in his performance that he can literally hardly be in an episode, walk in, say a line, walk out and almost steal the show. It's like, he's that good. Yeah. I mean, I am biting my lip a bit, I'm not gonna say.

But one thing I do have to ask myself at this point in the series is, is Avon staying because he wants to be part of the crew, or is he staying because he can't bear to leave the Liberator? You know, is he just.

Does he just one day hope that he'll get his hands on it and it'll all be his and somehow the rest of the crew will have got themselves killed and he can just fly off in it? You know what I mean? I. I just always think in the back of my mind, Avon is still looking out for number one. I think he likes the crew, but he.

He is still looking out for number one, I feel.

Garry: 01:00:09

Yeah. And I think he's, at times, he still has that look down his nose thing with some of the crew as well.

Adam: 01:00:17

Yeah, there was a bit of tension between him and Villa, wasn't there? Which is slightly odd. I mean, it was almost like the tension we normally get between Avon and Blake, but this time it was Villa saying, you sure?

He was basically saying, avon's a machine. And Avon just straight up says, no, I know exactly what you mean. You know, he's like. Doesn't sort of pussyfoot around what Villa's getting at.

He says, no, I know what you're getting at. You know, so there's a little bit of tension. Yeah. Between those two.

Garry: 01:00:43

Yeah. And also, Blake asks Jenna for an update on the power situation. She tells Blake what's going on.

And then Avon chips in and just says, look, what Jenna's telling you is, you know, purely academic. What he was getting at was, you know, she can give you numbers and stats all day long. I'm telling you that we're done for.

Adam: 01:01:06

Yeah.

Garry: 01:01:06

You know, he sort of chips in and just says, look, you guys can talk numbers all day, but I'm going to tell you now, unless we do something, it's game over. So that's what I mean. I love his impatience sometimes.

And we, we see that with Zen, you know, when he's trying to get an answer out of Zen and it's not quite going his way and he's getting wound up and, you know, so I do really love the fact that we've still got this sitting on the fence thing with Avon. Even, even at episode eight, you know, we're half, we're over halfway through and we're still having this, this flip flop. So.

Yeah, from an overall story arc with his character, I'm loving it. He's very cool.

Adam: 01:01:43

It's funny, isn't it? Even in just the way he says Zen's name is very aggressive, isn't it? Zen? It always calls him like a dog, doesn't he?

Garry: 01:01:51

Yeah.

Adam: 01:01:51

You know, he's very, he's very matter of fact Avon. And yeah, I love that about his character.

Garry: 01:01:57

Yeah. We should talk about just quickly before we get to Jenna, because she was the other character that was down on the planet surface with, with Blake.

Gan did go down initially with those two. And I would say.

Adam: 01:02:12

Exactly.

Garry: 01:02:13

I was gonna say with Gan and Villa. Those two kind of had a quiet episode again.

Adam: 01:02:18

Again. Yeah, yeah.

Garry: 01:02:20

So Gan was there as, as just a bit of backup as they were investigating the. The planet initially. He gets spooked a little bit. He sees Cinefar and Durach, doesn't he?

And they disappear and thinks he's losing his mind and whatnot. And then that's it, really. That's. Yeah, he's back up on the ship and he's just watching what's going on with the rest of them and.

And then Filler very comically wants to sit this one out. He's like, I'm good. And Blake's like, fine. You can, you can be the one to teleport us down and do all that.

And that little kind of telling off from Blake was very cool with Villa. He's like, do try and stay alert.

Adam: 01:03:00

Oh, he's got his shoes on the concert.

Garry: 01:03:02

Yeah. Because Blake can sense already that Villa is bored out of his mind. Plus doesn't want to be there.

Adam: 01:03:11

Yeah.

Garry: 01:03:11

So he knows that the combination of those two things results in him not being on the ball. So he's like, look, stay on the ball. You know, we're going to need you sort of thing when they're almost going to be. When they're in trouble. He's.

He's using the teleporter bracelet, isn't he's like Villa, you know, and he's asleep. He cuts back to liberating. He's having a little nap.

And so, yeah, although Villa wasn't in it very much like Gan, he was, as always, this very funny, comical. He's the comic relief, isn't he? For sure.

Adam: 01:03:41

Yeah. They're sort of becoming, in the last couple episodes, Gan and Villa are becoming just background characters that they get the odd nice moment. They.

I think as the series goes on, their potential is realized. They definitely get more. They definitely tap into, you know, how good the characters can be. But at this point, yeah, they're not getting a lot to do.

But it. When they are on screen, they give us some lovely moments, especially Michael Keating as Villa. But I'm pleased to say they do.

The writers, especially when other writers come in, definitely pick up on. On Michael Keaton's talents and Villa as a character.

And he does get more to do, I'm pleased to say, but at the minute he's just getting like the odd nice moment. But yeah, they. They don't get a lot to do, those two. As I said, I'd forgotten about the fact that Gan even went to the planet, to be honest.

So, yeah, they get lost in the story a bit again. It's just, I think, because this is the third week running, I think pretty much that that's happened. It's becoming a bit noticeable now.

You know, we need to. They need a sort of. They need to get more to do in the next couple of episodes.

Garry: 01:04:47

Indeed, yes. Lastly, then, let's talk about Jenna, because she does. She does play a slightly bigger role than.

Than the other guys, but unfortunately the bits that she's in are in sort of the. More if we're talking about peaks and troughs of an episode, she's in the trophy. Yeah, part of the episode, unfortunately.

So there's a nice, nice couple of little conversations between her and Blake when they're. When they're up in the tree and. And. And she.

It's a couple of nice little stunt work, I guess, with her and Blake, you know, when he goes to rescue her and she's like, look up, look up.

Adam: 01:05:21

Oh, yeah, that thing falls to that trap here.

Garry: 01:05:23

The trap, yeah. And there's a little bit of you feel like, are they going to get into a big fight scene? I think that was quite disappointing as well. From.

It was from an action point of view. There's like literally a 22nd little scuffle.

Adam: 01:05:34

Yeah.

Garry: 01:05:35

With, with Blake and Travis and that's it really. And there's a little run around between, between Kira and Jenna and that's again, that's. That's your lot, really. So, yeah, I mean, Jenna's.

She's in it a bit more, but not. She's definitely not as good as something like the web. She was very cool in that.

Adam: 01:05:54

I just, when I was watching this, mate, just knowing that you've really taken to Jenna as a character and I mean, I really like her as well. But I'm thinking because you're new to this, you know, you're warming to Jenna as a character.

And I thought when I was watching this, when she gets teleported down, well, when she gets taken down to be with Blake, I was thinking you in your head, you're going to be thinking, aha, here we go. Blake and Jenna together, they're, you know, they're great together. You know, it's all going to kick off now and this is going to be good.

I was thinking that's probably what's going through your mind. But as I said, nothing really happens. The fight between Jenna and the mutoid is over in a flash.

She just gets tied up and I just feel like, God, you've got such a good character here with Jenna and put together with Blake. There was a lot of potential there and none of it is really realized. And I have to come back to what Avon says.

They just sit up a tree and have a natter, you know, there's no sort of hiding or looking around the corner of the tree and trying to be, you know, keep out of sight. There's just no tension to it.

And I feel sorry for Sally Kavett as Jenna because I just think there was a lot they could have done in that sort of second half of this story with Jake and. Sorry, with Blake and Jenna and Travis and the butoid, you know, good.

There's, there's good stuff to be had there, but it doesn't translate on screen, sadly. And I think that is. We have got to put that down to the script, mate.

I mean, I said about Douglas Canfield's direction, but he can only work like the actors with what's on the page.

And let's face it, in that second half of the episode, there is not really a lot on the page, they're just wandering around a forest, seeing up a tree. So I've got to put that at the foot of Terry Nation in this. In this instance, not down to the actors or the direction.

Garry: 01:07:35

Yeah, no, I agree.

Adam: 01:07:36

Yeah.

Garry: 01:07:37

100%. And just before we move on to a score, we mentioned at the very beginning episode, but the absence of Dudley Simpson's music was notable.

Adam: 01:07:46

Yeah.

Garry: 01:07:47

And they. I'm 99% sure now that we've looked into it a bit, it was library or stock music, I think. So it was okay, I guess. You know, it served the purpose.

You know, it did. Did the job, I guess. But it was definitely noticeable because we've really enjoyed for the most part, Dudley Simpson.

Adam: 01:08:06

Well, we love him, don't we?

Garry: 01:08:07

Yeah. And it's been really nice to hear him own the, you know, the entire Blake's 7 thing as his own thing.

You know, I said thing a lot there, but you know what I mean. It's with. With Doctor who, he just. He dipped in and out and did a bunch of episodes.

We didn't hear from him for a while and then one story here and then not for a while again. And he was in sort of a little grab bag of, you know, other talented composers, but he didn't own Doctor who.

He was just, you know, contributed to a bunch of stories where with.

And I'm saying that as an oversimplification, he obviously did more than Doctor who and Blake's 7, but with Blake's 7, he felt like it was his baby to a degree. He did the. The entire thing, the theme, the incidental music, all that. So when we get to this episode where it's. It's. There's none of that. It's.

It definitely did make a difference, I must admit. It was. It. There wasn't that. It didn't aid in any of the suspense or the action or the.

The slightly creepy parts when we first land on the planet and stuff like that. You know, when they see like the statue, the big statue that looks pretty creepy and.

And Blake notices the thousands of war graves and stuff like that. And it's all very suspenseful. It's like an old hammer horror film, that bit, you know, with the lightning strikes and it's all that stuff.

I think Dudley would have done some fantastic suspenseful music in those areas and. Yeah, and that stuff. So, yeah, it's. It's notable. So. Yeah, it's a shame, isn't it?

Adam: 01:09:32

Yeah. I mean, I'm slightly torn on this because I absolutely agree with you. I think it would have been better with Dudley's music.

I think it's a shame that, you know, that Douglas Canfield and Dudley Simpson fell out or. And then. And then, obviously, you know, anytime Douglas Canfield directs an episode, he refuses to use Dudley Simpson's music.

It feels a little petty, you know, But I don't know. I don't know why they fell out. So maybe it was a big falling out, but. So it. But.

But I am conflicted because, honest, in a sense, it does give the episode a different feel. And I do love, you know, the bit of the battle. There's this weird bit of music. It's like. And it really builds and I actually quite like it.

So I think the music works fine. And I kind of like the fact, just now and again we get some different music.

But on the flip side of that, I can't help but agree with you in thinking, but if Dudley had scored it, he would have given it a better score because you can tell it's stock, in a way, because it fades out. And they keep using the sort of same bits of music over again, don't they? So I don't know, mate. For me, the music worked fine. I quite liked it.

But I agree with you, if Dudley had done. Probably would have been better because it would have been scored to the episode, rather than trying to make some music fit over it.

Garry: 01:10:52

Yeah. Yes. Nailed it there.

Adam: 01:10:55

Yeah.

Garry: 01:10:56

Yeah. All right, let's put a score on this, then. I think it's you to go first.

Adam: 01:11:02

It is. Unfortunately, I'm finding this hard to score because I think the. I think the. The actors are great in it.

I think the performances are so good that, once again, it really lifts what is a very simplistic storyline. To me, it really lifts the episode, but it does fall flat. And I couldn't help but feel a little bit.

I wouldn't say disappointed at the end, but just a bit at the end.

It doesn't have that sort of big sucker punch at the end, which is with an episode like Jewel where you've got Blake and Travis together, I think you need some sort of payoff rather than, for want of a better phrase, a bit of a reset. And just before I give my score, mate, I just wanted to quickly ask you, how did you feel with the ending?

Like, it is a bit of a reset button, isn't it? They just get put back. I mean, we know we don't want to see Avon or Travis get killed off because they're too good.

We don't want to see either of them die. So I don't quite know how you could end it, but did you feel a little bit let down by the end? Just before I give him a score?

Garry: 01:12:04

I guess kind of let down that it was a bit of a reset button, but more so confused as to why she ended it. Because between her and Jiroc, they were very much in agreement on that side of things. Anyway.

Adam: 01:12:16

Yeah.

Garry: 01:12:17

That they were going to hold this duel and all the rules were set out and so on. So I guess she would just. I don't know, she was. She kind of bought into Blake's his sort of good heart ness, I guess. And.

And you know, I guess the contrast between him and Travis was the thing that wanted them to put them in the Jewel in the first place. This kind of lust for death and killing and so on and this thing.

So I think as they got through it, they probably thought Cinefar at least, you know, saw something in Blake that was like, okay, you know, if this guy dies, it probably would be, you know, a tragic thing. That's the way I took it. But I don't know if I'm 100% reading that right. But the ending itself, yeah. Just felt. It felt a little bit rushed as well.

Because I was thinking, okay, we're kind of like 46 minutes now, 45ish sort of minutes, and they're still just on, you know, in the forest doing stuff. How are they going to wrap this up? Is it going to be a to be continued thing into next week or the next episode? Whatever.

But yeah, the fact that it was just, you know, snap of the fingers, teleport them back, you're going off, you've lost. See you later.

Adam: 01:13:29

Off you go. So onward. Yeah, off you go. Yeah, yeah. I think that's the thing. There is a. I think Terry Nation had a message he wanted to put across in the script.

And I don't mean this in a modern day way of putting messages in. I just mean, you know, there's a. There's a moral thread going through the story about killing being bad and why doesn't Blake kill Travis?

Because he's the better person and he says, I would have enjoyed it, you know, so he sort of say, so there is a bit of a takeaway in terms of what we're supposed to have learned from this episode, which I think I get.

And I like the fact it's not like television nowadays where it's completely sledgehammered into your face and, you know, it's there for you to make it your own mind. It's fairly Subtle, but it's definitely in there. But it does make for. Yeah. A slightly unsatisfying episode overall, I think. So I'm gonna give it.

I wanted to give it a seven, but I just feel because the second half is not quite there, I'm gonna have to knock it down to a 6.5. But I'm really torn between those two scores, mate. I. I almost feel like it deserves a 7 because of the performances.

So I'm gonna ask you what you're gonna score it and then I'm gonna give my score. So I'm not going first. I'm backing out of it, as usual.

Garry: 01:14:39

Yeah. I'm gonna give this a six.

Adam: 01:14:41

A six.

Garry: 01:14:42

Yeah. Because I felt like the story wasn't really that strong.

Adam: 01:14:47

Yeah.

Garry: 01:14:48

And. But I am gonna give. I'm not gonna knock too many points off for that, but the bulk of that score is for the performances. Yeah, it's. Yeah, yeah.

So bit ploddy, this one. A little bit mid, a little bit. A little bit slow once we get down into the crux of the story. And then the ending's a bit.

A little bit rushed and whatnot, but some great stuff in it, they must admit. Some, some cool stuff, just not quite there in terms of some of the cool episodes that we have seen so far.

Adam: 01:15:17

Yeah. And I think that's where I'm at, mate, is I'm giving. I will give it a 6.5 then, which is what.

I was going to score it, but I was reaching for a seven because like you said, the performances are so good and it, you know, I just in my head think it is 6.5 low and it's definitely not a bad episode. It's a good episode. It's just not quite there, is it? So I'll give it a 6.5. I just wonder.

It'd be interesting to hear the feedback from listeners on this because as I said, I do believe this is quite a well liked episode in season one. And I've never quite. Well, I do understand why, but I've never quite agreed with why, if you see what I mean.

So be interested to hear if people feel we've been a bit down on it or. And to get listeners feedback how much they enjoy this one because I think it's quite well liked, this. This story.

Garry: 01:16:05

Yeah, no, I see that. Yeah.

Adam: 01:16:07

I can imagine people shouting at us, saying, what are you talking about? It's a classic.

Garry: 01:16:11

Yeah. Okay then. So for episode eight, the story duel, it's a 6.5 from Adam, a 6 from me.

I think on that note, bud, we'll, we'll wrap it there for episode eight.

Adam: 01:16:24

All righty.

Garry: 01:16:38

Thank you very much for listening to another episode of Federation Strike. That was episode eight and our review of the story Duel, which We gave a 6 and a 6.5.

Probably not our fave of the story of the episode, sorry, the series so far we've rated a couple of them, some point 5s, a couple of eights in there and yeah, so fairly middle of the road, but a little bit more than that, but just not quite enough to grasp the. The 7, 8 and above for that one. So next week we will be reviewing episode nine, which is Project Avalon.

So get that watched and follow along with our views and thoughts and see if your review score matches ours as well. So we're looking forward to that next week. Until then, make sure you are following or subscribing to the podcast in your fave podcast app of choice.

Just hit the follow button or the subscribe button, whatever it is on your app so you won't miss an episode notification when they drop every Wednesday morning. And you can follow along on the socials as well. We're on Bluesky and Twitter.

Just do a search or Lake 7 podcast and come and chat with some other cool Blake's 7 fans in the community and about these episodes or anything to do with Blake's 7. It's very cool.

And if you're liking the podcast and you want to give us a rating or a review, you can do that in something like Apple podcasts or on podchaser.com or a rating in Spotify, something like that. That'd be very, very cool if you enjoy it. And thank you so much to those of you that have left a rating or a review.

Also, if you want more geekery, make sure you check out my co host channel over on YouTube. It's called the Geek's Handbag.

Adam: 01:18:14

The Geek's Handbag, yes. Go check out my channel also on all the socials, Instagram, Twitter, all that lot under the name the Geek's Handbag Indeedy.

Garry: 01:18:24

And we will be back next week. So until then, my name's Garry.

Adam: 01:18:28

My name's Adam.

Garry: 01:18:29

And thank you very much for listening to another episode of Federation Strike, a journey through Blake's 7.