A:09: Project Avalon: More Disappointment for Travis!

Garry: 00:00:21

Hello and welcome to Federation Strike A Journey through Blake's 7. My name is Garry. My name is Adam and welcome to episode nine.

Adam: 00:00:29

Yeah.

Garry: 00:00:46

Welcome back to another episode of Federation Strike. We hope you are keeping well and that you have managed to listen to our last episode or two as we are getting through the series. Now.

Episode eight was last week, our review of Duel. Hope you enjoyed that one.

A bit of a, bit of a middle midpoint in the series, I would say for that episode we, we went into it with, with open arms and an enthusiasm and while it wasn't a terrible watch, I think we did highlight a few things that made it a, a bit of a mid series plot in some aspects.

Adam: 00:01:23

I'm looking forward to the feedback on that one because, yeah, I feel like people really like the episode so it'd be interesting to see what they think of our thoughts on it and whether we're in the wrong and what did we miss. But yeah, it was, it was good, but bit ploddy.

Garry: 00:01:39

Yeah, a little bit. Still, still a good watch. Still, still very, very much enjoying watching through Blake's 7 as a newbie.

Those of you that are new to Federation Strike, the dynamic is myself as a fresh new fan to Blake's 7 are watching all these episodes for the first time versus my co host Adam, who is a lifelong lover of Blake's 7, who's watched them all. I don't know, definitely in double figures, I would say.

Adam: 00:02:06

Must be, yeah.

Garry: 00:02:07

Over the years.

And he's the guy that when you're, you've met your, your mates at a comic convention or you down the pub talking about this stuff, he's the guy that's like, yep, I've got the bracelet. Yeah, teleport bracelet. I've got one.

Adam: 00:02:24

Got it.

Garry: 00:02:25

Got one on the shelf, mate. What's that? Every single version on VHS, DVD and now Blu Ray, etc. Got a mate. Yeah. So he's that guy.

Adam: 00:02:35

It's funny, I was looking at teleport bracelets only yesterday on, on ebay. I mean, I have got, I have got one, but, but they do like people do 3D printed one now and I was thinking that's it because I haven't got.

Oh no, nearly said a spoiler. No, it's not really a spoiler. There's. There's another teleport bracelet later, much, much later, a different version.

And I thought, oh, I haven't got one of those and it's, it's deadly. But I didn't, I did resist buying it because, yeah, you're right, I have got one and it is the best one from the original series. So.

Garry: 00:03:07

Yeah, nice. There's a couple of. A couple of people selling some cool. I assume they're at home. 3D printed models of the Liberator on ebay.

Adam: 00:03:18

Wow. How much are they? Just out of interest.

Garry: 00:03:21

Not too bad. I mean they're not very big. About the size of a. I don't know. I don't know what to say in terms of. I don't know.

They're probably about 7, 8 inches long on a little stand that are kind of cool. I've seen a few of them that just come in all white and you can paint it yourself and. Yeah, and put all the weathering on and do all that stuff.

They're kind of cool. I think they're about 20, 30 quid, those smaller ones, mate.

Adam: 00:03:50

Back in the day, a company called Comet Miniatures produced a. An official model kit for the Liberator. And it was. It was a good little size, you know, a good. A good sort of size model. And they are like.

If you can find one now, they go for hundreds of pounds because they are so hard to find. But back in the day, obviously you could go in your local model shop and get them and I, I bought one and I'm so bad at making models, mate.

It looked like it had been destroyed by a federation fleet. So bad was my, my model making and painting more than anything that half of it had melted because I was using this glue. Comment what the glue was.

But using this glue that was just sort of melting the plastic rather than actually fixing it. Maybe I was using too much anyway. Disastrous. Right. So I go back and I bought another one, you know, a second model. And same thing happened.

It was just, you know, I wish I still had it to show you. Like, I've never been very good at making models. But it looked like. Yeah, it looked like it had been crushed and war battled.

But I wish I still had it because, I mean even in. In that form it might be. You know, I would just love to have a model of the Liberator, a good one. But I may still have the box somewhere. I think.

I think that was the only thing salvageable. That was the thing.

It was so badly put together by myself that I think the only thing that was actually good in the end was the box which I think I kept. And it may still have a little piece of it in there somewhere. But mate, those mod kits, honestly, if.

Do a search later on Google, just see if you can find some images of it. They were. It was a really good Model. I think it was Comet miniatures. Someone might want to correct me.

Garry: 00:05:40

That rings a bell, actually.

Adam: 00:05:42

Yes. Yeah.

Garry: 00:05:45

I can imagine. Yeah. I did a search the other night for Liberator models and I'm pretty sure Comets Comet Miniatures was. Was in there. They look quite pricey, though.

Adam: 00:05:54

Oh, it will be. Yeah. I can't remember how much they were back in the day. I think they were like. Because I think they were about 20 pounds back in the day.

I don't know, actually. I don't know where I'm pulling that figure from. Just. But yeah, they weren't, you know, at the time. They were quite expensive as a, as a.

So, you know, for a kid to buy. But yeah, I was going to say compared to what you'd pay for it now, small change, really small fry. But yeah, I'd love, I'd love to get hold of one.

But yeah, the price would be ridiculous, I think.

Garry: 00:06:24

Yeah, I'm guessing the same, mate. I remember. I don't remember the exact price, of course, but remember thinking, wow, that's. That's.

If you've got one of those intact, then the value's probably gone up quite a lot from what you paid for it back in the day. But all worth it for though, as it's such a lovely ship, such a.

Adam: 00:06:45

Great design and oh, it's so beautiful, isn't it? Yeah. Yeah.

Garry: 00:06:49

Yep. Yeah. Righty O. Before we crack on with our review of this week's episode, it's great to have you all here.

As I said, if you are a newcomer to Federation Strike, then welcome aboard. And it'd be great if you hit the follow or the subscribe button in whatever podcast app you're listening to this on now.

That way you won't miss a notification when our new episodes go out every single Wednesday morning. You can get your.

You can follow us along and it's been really cool actually to see some comments on Blue sky and Twitter of people who have said, I'm really enjoying watching through the series with you guys.

So we've had a bunch of people who have dug their DVDs back out or they've just purchased a Blu Ray set, whatever it might be, and they're watching the. The episodes as our review goes out. So that's very cool.

So it really feels like there's a whole bunch of fans who are on the journey with us, if that makes sense. Our, our journey for. For me as a.

With fresh eyes in coming into Blake's 7 and and you buddy, sort of re examining the stuff that you've Watched many times, so it's very, very cool. So we'd love to have you on, on board as we go through the rest of series. So make sure you follow in the. In your podcast app.

And as I said, we're on Blue sky and Twitter. Just do a search or @blake7 podcast, give us a follow in there and we. We chat Blake7 and other bits and bobs throughout the week.

So come and come and get involved over there.

Adam: 00:08:14

Indeed.

Garry: 00:08:15

And without further ado, what's our review for this week, buddy?

Adam: 00:08:19

Yeah. So here we are, Series one, Episode nine, Project Avalon.

Trailer: 00:08:24

I think you should know that there's been considerable criticism of your handling of the Blake affair. What? Well, so far your operation has been very costly and there have been no worthwhile results. That's not entirely just.

There have been two occasions where I could have destroyed Blake. It was only the administration's insistence that the Liberator be captured undamaged. Ah, Travis. Didn't work. Was very clever, but it didn't work.

How did you stop it? Does it matter? All I want to do is finish what I started. I'm gonna take Avalon out of here. I don't think so. That would not be very clever.

He wouldn't do it. What have I got to lose? It's not a pleasant death, Blake. So I gather. But it would have its compensations. I'd share it with you.

You and the Supreme Commander. Are you quite sure? I wouldn't do it? The Supreme Commander, yes.

Adam: 00:09:36

They finally get to see each other. Well, first time on screen anyway.

Garry: 00:09:41

On screen, yeah. That's such a cool scene. We'll get onto that obviously, in a moment. But yeah, the.

th of February: 1978

Bryant, overseen by Chris Boucher and David Maloney. The synopsis for this one is Travis engineers another deadly plan to destroy Blake and capture the Liberator.

Even Serverland believes that it cannot fail. And when Blake carries out a rescue, he. He wonders why it's been allowed to succeed. So a little bit of a.

An interesting story inclusion in the series because the last. The last episode duel was one of those kind of detours for Blake, wasn't it?

Where it wasn't one of the main Law episodes, I guess you could call, was a bit like the Web, where it was a bit of a detour. Nothing really happening against the Federation on those ones.

And it was more of one of those unique isolated little stories where they, you know, they, they get this thing done.

I mean, I guess with, with Duel, the only thing you could say is there was a couple of conversations between Blake and Travis but for the most part it wasn't, it wasn't moving the story forward as in Blake's plan to take down the Federation. Whereas this one, we are back in full swing with Blake and the crew ready to, ready to get business done.

And they are doing that by rescuing a rebel leader who's on the, who is on an ice planet and they need to rescue her. And unfortunately the sneaky bugger Travis is, is there already.

Adam: 00:11:39

Oh yes, yes.

Garry: 00:11:40

He's got some insider knowledge and someone gives him the, the whereabouts of Avalon. She gets captured and Blake comes away empty handed. They form a bit of a rescue mission.

But unbeknownst to them, Travis is, is, is doing a bit of a, a bit of an Emperor Palpatine where he's, he's, he's dabbling in some weird stuff, some cloning and robotics and some other bits and bobs. And they rescue the wrong Avalon as you do, as they do.

So she, she's there as a plant to use this kind of little biological weapon that the Federation has come up with that doesn't go to plan.

Blake goes back to the ship, gets the real Avalon, much to the disappointment of Travis and Sir Valen because Travis is already feeling the pressure a little bit.

Adam: 00:12:32

Oh yeah.

Garry: 00:12:33

Serverland has turned up to say basically you're not, you're not delivering the goods.

Adam: 00:12:38

Get this one right. She's, you know.

Garry: 00:12:40

Yeah. And this doesn't go to plan either. And so Blake saves the day with a little help from, from Avon earlier on, as usual.

So it's a kind of a cool story this one, but it's a bit of a espionage. What's going on? Is, is, is Avalon this important to risk lives? Blake thinks that she is.

And, and, and we have some cool, some cool action scenes in this one as well.

Yeah, the, it's, it's kind of like a mix of like a classic, really cool old James Bond film, this one because you have the, the, the espionage kind of stuff going on. You've got the action scenes, you've got a little bit of, you know, like in some old James Bond film.

It was always cool as a kid to see like what gadgets are going to be used. Oh yeah, you know, from Q and, and all that stuff. In this one we had some cool stuff with this, this little, this little bomb thing that.

The federation.

Adam: 00:13:46

The ping pong ball. The deadly ping pong ball.

Garry: 00:13:49

Yeah, the squash ball, whatever it is. And. And they use it to. They test it out on that poor guy. Comes to his own time with death. Yep.

And then we've got the big machine, the mind transference machine that Avalon is in when Travis goes to interrogate. We think it's an interrogation machine and. But it's not.

We know later on that he's built an Android copy of Avalon and he's transferred her personality and memories and stuff into it. So it also has that cool science fictiony, cool gadget kind of stuff going on as well. So it was a good. Watch this one, dude.

What are your thoughts out the gate on it?

Adam: 00:14:29

Yeah, yeah, I think it's a good little. Good little story, this one. Like I said, it's quite simple in a way if you think about it.

It's just Travis plotting one of his deadly schemes to get Blake. And once again, it ends with him saying, oh, if it takes all my life, I'll get you, Blake. I just love it.

I hadn't realized that he sort of does that pretty much at the end of every episode so far in this series, but I'm kind of loving that. Yeah, I like this one. I think it. It's a bit of a slow burner in the first half, you know, when they're in the cave.

But I think when the episode kicks in, it's pretty good. And there's some nice little moments in it, some nice lines in it and some good action in it.

It's got a bit of everything, some good concepts, like you said, some good ideas. Yeah, I like this one.

I wouldn't say it's like up there as one of my all time favorites or anything like that, but I certainly enjoy watching this one and I like the. I like this character of Avalon. I wish we got to know a bit more about her in this story.

I mean, we get the sort of basics that she's a resistance leader, she seems quite important and, you know, and Blake's obviously keen to remember rescue her.

But I think the highlights for me are Travis again, I think if he's in an episode, he does tend to, I wouldn't say steal it for me, but he does make the episode so enjoyable. Travis as a character, I absolutely love the ending when he's sort of strutting around like a peacock, thinking his plan has all come together.

And then the mutoid says, blake is demanding to see you and he's like demanding to see me and he's like, what the. What's going on? And then the alarm starts going and it just crumbles around his ears in the last few minutes. I love that end scene. I just love it.

And it. Not just because it's good, but I almost find it comical in a sense. I have a big grin on my, on my face that, that Travis is.

So you just, you just see the disapproval on Serverland's face that his plan has completely failed, you know, and Blake's so calm but sort of smug about it, and it just, you know, really rubbing Travis's face in it. It's. Yeah, it's. It's a fun little episode, this one. I think Project Avalon was, as I said, with some nice ideas. So I, I don't think it's amazing.

As I said, I'm not gonna sort of gush over it too much and I'm gonna put out there as one of the all time classics, but I do think it's a fun little episode with some, with some good moments.

Garry: 00:16:56

Agreed. Yes. For me, dude, I think the performances are. What's the most enjoyable about this one.

Although, as I said, it's got that coolness factor to it with some of the things and some cool action scenes and whatnot. For me, it's, it's seeing the, the, the tension build between Paul. Not Paul Darrow, sorry, Stephen Grief and Jacqueline Pierce.

They're playing that really well. Because if we rewind to what was the episode where we see those guys for the first time? Episode four, what was it called, you.

Adam: 00:17:36

Know, when she basically seek, locate, destroy. It's the first time we see Server line Travis.

Garry: 00:17:42

That's right. Yeah. So in, in that episode that was very much. You had Serverland being. Look at me.

You know, I'm going against the better judgment of the, of the, the, the upper management, essentially of the Federation, the President. And you know, I know what I'm doing. You know, I got full confidence in space Commander Travis and he's going to get the job done.

Although you guys don't like how he gets the job done. This is what's needed. It's all going to be cool. And then he turns up and he's like, yep, I am as badass as you say I am.

And good decision by you, Serverland, to hire me because I'm, I'm going to get everything done. Fast forward to now and it's like, you haven't quite got it done, have you, yet? You know, you think you're getting it done.

But, you know, Blake's still out there.

And I like the fact that they reintroduced this element of while Blake is alive and still being a nuisance to the Federation, other people are now beginning to uprise and make. Make their own plans, which is what Avalon's doing.

Adam: 00:18:46

Yes.

Garry: 00:18:47

Which is very cool. So I love the tension now between those two. No longer is it a case of, we've probably got this wrapped up in a neat little bow.

Blake will be dead within a week. Now it's a case of we can't catch him and when we do catch him, you know, we can't kill him. He's always got the upper hand, it seems. So, yeah.

I love that. That part of it. And those performances were very cool between those two. And then the performances are very cool.

It goes up a gear when Blake's on the scene, especially that end, that final few minutes where. Where Blake is so in control. He knows exactly what. Because he's on it, isn't he?

You know, when they rescue Avalon or they think they've rescued Avalon.

Adam: 00:19:31

Yeah, he's.

Garry: 00:19:32

He. He knows he's got it going on upstairs. Everyone else is like, that was a close one. You know, mission accomplished, let's get the hell out of here.

And he's like, something's not right. You know, this. The escape was too easy. The weapons are not at full power, blah, blah, blah. So he's on it and then when he goes back to the ship, he.

Yeah, he. He knows exactly what they've done. He's unraveled their plan when he's got a counter plan and he's. And he does it. So. And that was such a great scene.

So, yeah, the performances are very cool, but I particularly liked Stephen Grief again in this one.

Adam: 00:20:09

He's superb, isn't he? I love it when we've got him and. And Jacqueline Pierce on screen together. They are. There's such a good pairing, aren't they? Because she.

She's put her neck. Serverland has put her neck on the line with Travis.

You know, that was made quite clear in the episode we was talking about, Seek, Locate, Destroy, where people are questioning her for, you know, hiring Travis to. To do this. So she thought this is going to be a breeze.

And here we are and he's had a few failed attempts and she is so unimpressed and she's quite the diva. I was saying about.

I don't know if you remember, mate, but when we reviewed Secret Cake Destroyer, I said the character Serval, and was just slightly different. In the way it was sort of written and portrayed by Jacqueline Pierce. I think we.

We start to see the server line that we're gonna see more of as the series goes forward, where she comes in, drops her coat on the floor for the mutant mutants. Mutoid, sorry to pick up, you know, this sort of devilish behavior. The fact that she's very calm and collective, but very powerful.

She's almost like a headmistress that you've terrified of, isn't she, when they walk in the room. So again, we're starting to see the serverland that you'll. You'll grow to love, I'm sure.

This very powerful character with Travis by her side, who's like this. Again, a very, very powerful character, but a much more unhinged, a much more wild card, you know, completely different to Sir Valon.

He's almost like a bull terrier on a lead that she's sort of let off in a way to, you know, to do. To do his thing. And now she's got to sort of rein him in a bit and, And. And tell him to focus and. Yeah, so it's. It's great. But they. They do.

When they're on screen together, they do really lift, you know, lift the episode up to another level. I think they're just so good to watch. I think these two. I just love it when they're together. And.

Yeah, whenever there's an episode they're in, I always look forward to it because it is because of the performances and those moments that I look forward to.

Garry: 00:22:15

Yeah. And I can only imagine the next conversation that we'll witness between these two in whatever episode coming up they're in together.

Adam: 00:22:23

I'm trying to think when there's a.

Garry: 00:22:24

Yeah, I'd imagine he's in for it now, mate. He's a doghouse now.

Adam: 00:22:28

What's he gonna do? Because if he fails again, she's gonna. She's gonna go mad. Right. But, yeah, I think that.

That isn't giving anything away, actually, because I think it will go in a slightly different direction to what you're expecting. I think it's. It's very interesting the next time we see them, I think. Yeah, yeah. Again, this is what I love about Terry Nation.

He does tend to do that, doesn't he? I think we've. We've both picked up on this as we've been reviewing series one that he.

Terry Nation is very good at sort of throwing curveballs in and. And going in a different direction to what you might imagine or what you're expecting. Which again, is what I love about his writing. Really?

Garry: 00:23:07

Yeah, yeah. No, I agree, man. It's very cool. And I like the layering as well. That's something he's also good at, especially in this, this series.

But what I mean is it's not just a case of you go from 0 to 100 with some things. There's, there's some more layering to it, and that's with serverland.

So, as I mentioned, when we saw her first, the first time in Secret Destroy, she was very, very confident about him. And she, she, she knows what Travis is capable of. She knows that he has the potential to take Blake out.

She, she knows that otherwise she wouldn't have hired him in the first place. And at that point, she's fully backing him on a, on a personal level and also a professional level.

Adam: 00:23:54

Yeah.

Garry: 00:23:55

Whereas you fast forward to now, and I think she even says it, she says those words to him.

She's like, professionally, you know, you need to sort of step your game up because there's been a lot of criticism and about how much money you're spending to get this done. No results, etc. And then she says, but, you know, personally, not professionally, don't worry, I'm here with you, you know, it's all good.

So there's not just a case of I had confidence in you, now I don't, or I've been told off, and so, you know, we can't play this, this game anymore of, you know, hunting down Blake, he escapes, rinse and repeat.

She's like, look, I can keep these people off your back, you know, the president, whoever else in the Federation, I can, I can hold them back, safeguard you a bit so you can carry on and try and do this. But I've got to be honest with you, it's, you know, I'm not gonna be able to do that forever.

Essentially, that aside, she has a little smile on her face, like, you know, I'm here with you to sort it out sort of thing.

Adam: 00:24:59

Yeah. And I was cool. I think there's something about Travis that serval and likes.

I, I don't think she's the kind of character that likes that many people, to be honest with you. But there is something about Travis, isn't there?

I'm not, I don't think she, don't think she fancies him because she's already said that she finds his eye patch in that repulsive. She can't understand why he hasn't had all that done and sorted out. And he explained very well, why he didn't.

But maybe she's, you know, sort of intrigued by Travis and she likes the fact that he is quite a strong personality. There is something in him that she. I don't know, I was going to say respects, maybe, I don't know. But there is a.

She wouldn't put her neck on the line for many people, but she obviously trusts Travis enough to do that.

So I like, again, that I think that builds into their relationship or, you know, whatever you want to call it between the two of them, that there is something between the two of them, whether it's a mutual respect or whatever, that they kind of have each other's back, or at least she has Travis's back in this sense because I think she's confident he is the right man for the job.

But I don't know how, if it goes any further than that, if, you know, I mean, I think it is just that she, she thinks if anyone's going to get Blake, it's Travis. And maybe that's because of the backstory and the history that Travis and Blake have. You know, they go back quite a long way.

That to me plays into the fun of all the scenes we have with Blake and Travis together. There's this sort of one upmanship of, oh, I'll get you next time, Blake.

You know, it really makes the episodes enjoyable when you've got that going on between the two of them. You know, that's why I said when. Even though Travis has probably said for the third or fourth, fifth time, I'll get you, Blake.

You know, it's quite fun. I think it's like, yes, go on, Travis, you can do it. Go on, have another go.

Garry: 00:26:47

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it was, I think we mentioned it in secret Destroy, actually, where there's a, an element of.

That's quite scary about Travis's determination with Blake because he's not put off by, by anything.

And it's almost got that Terminator like effect where the, where the crew of the Liberator are all saying to themselves, we're going to be on the run forever. Like, we're never going to be safe and settled anywhere. Now that we've chosen this life, the Federation will keep coming after us forever.

And I think by extension Travis is part of that in this kind of personal. He's been hired to do a job, obviously, and reinstated back into active service via serverland. But you can tell there's also this personal vendetta.

Adam: 00:27:42

Yeah.

Garry: 00:27:42

Because of their history. And so that provides quite a scary thought where they can never rest. Blake and the crew.

They can never just find a planet that's got a beach, few pina coladas, chill out for a bit, you know, that can never happen. They need to constantly keep moving. So that was a. I love that Terry Nation weaved that in there where Travis is just never put off. Even in defeat.

He's like, yep, don't worry, I'll still have him. Like you said, I'll get you next time.

Adam: 00:28:13

Yeah.

Garry: 00:28:14

And so that's what makes the.

That's what also added to the tension, I think, between Travis and Silverland in this episode, where you can tell that his determination to get Blake has not wavered. He's still cracking on, which is why he's surprised to hear from Serverland that his tactics and his results have caused a bit of a stir.

He's like, just let you know that the people in charge who'd sign the checks, they are. There's some criticism about you. And he's like, oh, really?

Adam: 00:28:46

He looks, doesn't he, surprise.

Garry: 00:28:48

Like, huh. Because you told me last time that I had unlimited resources almost, and we were good to go.

So she was like, no, what I said before is no longer true because other people are involved. And. Yeah. So it all adds to that whole thing with the. With the Federation starting to appear a little bit desperate now.

Adam: 00:29:08

Oh, yeah. I think that they're definitely cracks appearing in the Federation and a lot of it's down to Blake.

So Serverland is quite keen for him to be taken down asap. Really. So if Travis doesn't do it soon, I think she's going to start to get a bit frayed with him.

Garry: 00:29:25

Yeah. Which you can see already. That's what I mean. You can see that. Because I think up to this point, me, as a new viewer to Blake's 7, I.

I've had this feeling that the. That the Federation is akin to, like the Empire in the original Star wars films, where it's just this massive, huge, powerful thing and.

And Blake is just a small sort of dot on the landscape, if that makes sense. And he's. He can't obviously go to war with the Federation. It's just him and his crew, it's just one ship.

But the Federation's always been viewed as this big, powerful thing that can't be defeated.

So when you see things like this happening, these conversations between Servland and Travis, and you can start to see, like you said, the cracks are starting to show a little bit. They're starting to get a little bit. A little bit desperate because they can't seem to. They can't seem to easily get rid of Blake.

He's proving a much bigger problem than what they anticipated. And I think Serval and was just a bit potentially overconfident in that episode where we see those other two characters who she has a chat with.

Beginning of Seek, Locate, Destroy. One of them was Peter. My Peter Niles. Was it Peter Miles was Ron Taine.

Adam: 00:30:49

Yeah.

Garry: 00:30:49

And. And I think it was. Yes. No, it wasn't. Escon. That was the guy, I think. Was it Berkle? Yeah. John Bryan's. Yeah.

So when she's having a chat with those two, I think she's a little bit overconfident and a little bit like, yeah, don't worry, you know, you don't approve of his methods, but I know he'll get the job done.

Adam: 00:31:09

So she's underestimated Blake, I think.

Garry: 00:31:12

Yeah. So you'll have your. Your evening hot chocolate and a nice bath. Safe and sound. That Blake will be killed by this time, you know, so. Yeah.

So that whole thing, like you said, where Terry Nation throws in a little bit of a curveball and leads you down a path where you didn't think the story was going to go, we're ultimately here. So, yeah, great writing, dude, as always, from. For this series, at least, from Terry Nation. Very cool.

Adam: 00:31:37

Yeah. I gotta say. I mean, I just love Blake's grin on his face when he turns up at the end. It's just wonderful that he.

He's got Travis exactly where he wants him. I love that end scene, but we'll come on to it.

But just while we're talking about the writing, mate, one of the things we've said last couple episodes is that a lot of characters, you know, because Terry Nation has written himself into a corner, for want of a better word, by having seven characters every week. He's got to try and find something for them to do. I think in this episode, not the best ex example of that, but he does.

He has at least thought about each character. So Villa gets to open the doors, Avon gets to reprogram the. The Avalon clone. You know, Blake goes down.

He's got the stuff with Travis, Jenna's with it. So he's. He has thought about the characters. I. I suppose Jenna and Gan, I mean, they get a few bits to do. They're not totally left out.

You know, they're probably the two that sort of suffer the most in this episode in terms of things to do. But even they get their own moments, I think, you know, Callie is Very much looking after the Liberator.

And, you know, she's still new to it, so she's quite unsure of herself, but she's doing her best to sort of, you know, fly off. When the Federation troops come, pursuit ships come, you know, so they. Everybody really gets their own thing to do.

Gang gets to have a bit of a scrap with the Avalon clone. So I think where in the last couple of episodes we've sort of said, I think Terry's struggling to write for everyone.

I think he's had a good go at it in this one. They. Not all of them get the. A lot to do, but they all get something to do. And he taps into their strengths as characters.

Like, as I said with Avon, with the, you know, computer programming, but particularly Villa, who. And this is what I love. He was like this in the other episode where he was kind of forced to go down and unlock a gate.

He really doesn't want to go, especially as the planet is so cold. He's like, I'm turning this suit up to maximum and sort of burns himself and.

But when he gets down there and he's sort of getting into opening all the doors, he's. He starts getting into it, doesn't he? I think that's the thing with Villa. He has to be coaxed into sort of leaving his comfort zone. But once he's.

Once he's down there, he seems to be enjoying himself. Like, even quips at one point, this would take a genius to open this door. And can you do it? Of course I can.

You know, he seems to be lightened up a bit. So I think, yeah, once he's. Once he's talked into these things, he quite enjoys himself, does Villa.

Garry: 00:33:58

He does, yeah. Just about to mention that scene as you were talking about him.

It's so funny because he's so reluctant, like you said, he needs to be prodded and poked him forever, isn't he?

Adam: 00:34:08

Like, Callie and Avon are like, come on, Villa, for goodness sake.

Garry: 00:34:12

Yeah. I love the fact that Avon pulls the trigger a little bit early as he's like mid sorting himself out.

Adam: 00:34:18

He gets so impatient. He does it so quick.

Garry: 00:34:21

Doesn't he go, yeah. And massive grin on Avon's face because Cal is looking at him, like, bored out of. And he's like, I'm. I'm done now. Let's just get rid of him.

But that scene when only two ways to open that door, lots of explosives or a genius, whatever. He's like, well, you can open it. Yeah. Little grin on his face.

Adam: 00:34:40

Yeah.

Garry: 00:34:41

I Just love that. Like you said, where initially he's just happy to just sit it all out up on the Liberator, you know, nice and warm.

Adam: 00:34:50

Yeah.

Garry: 00:34:51

Observing what's going on, his hands dirty. And then when he gets forced to do it, he's like, oh, God's sake. But then when he's there, he does muck in, doesn't he? Does.

Adam: 00:35:00

He does.

Garry: 00:35:01

He does get going. He just. It's that humorous having to get there first, which is very funny to me.

Adam: 00:35:11

One of the things I love about Blaze ever made is that there's always a good couple of quippy lines. You know, Avon. I'll always come out of a couple of lines. Even in sort of an episode that maybe is. Is not as good as some.

You know, there'll always be little moments and we say that often about classic Doctor who, don't we, that, you know, even in a, in. In not such a good episode. Tom Baker, for example, will often come out with a moment or a line that. That makes it memorable or worth watching.

And in Blake's 7, there's loads of great little one liners. And, you know, for example, in this one with Villas, Villas being told he's got to go down and he says, I've got a weak chest.

Navon's like, well, the rest of you isn't very impressive. It's just these, these little cutting lines that get thrown in, especially from Avon, I have to say, does get some belters. They just.

Yeah, they're just lovely little moments that you bring a smile to your face in an episode when you know, if you're starting to sort of drift off a little bit or it's losing, you know, there'll be a little moment like that to bring you back in. And, you know, there's a.

That's the charm of Blake's 7, I think, is these little bits of writing that Terry throws in and other writers as we go on that make it such a great series and the characters so likable. I think that's the other thing. It. All these little one liners, they just sum up the characters brilliantly.

Garry: 00:36:24

Mm. Yes. Yeah. Jenna had a good one as well.

Adam: 00:36:29

Yes. Yeah. Terry likes pairing Blake and Jenna together, doesn't he? But they do make for a good team, I think.

Garry: 00:36:35

I don't know if this is accurate or. Or real or not, but over on one of the Blake seven wikis, which has got a fairly decent amount of.

Of stuff on it when I was researching this episode, apparently this is. Again, I don't know if it's true. But apparently it was meant to be Cali that went down to the planet surface with Blake.

Adam: 00:36:55

Oh, right.

Garry: 00:36:56

And Sally Navet complained a little bit that she wasn't given much to do in this episode. So off the back of that complaint it was switched and she goes down with Blake.

Now, I don't know how much truth there is in that, because I feel like Jenna does. Has had more to do than most crew members up to this point. She has. She had a really good. She had a really good story with Time Squad.

She did quite a lot there. She was. She was in duel a lot. She went down to the planet surface with Blake in duel, last week's episode. And. Yeah, so I feel like she's.

She's done a decent amount of time. Certainly more than, say, Gan or. Or Villa.

Adam: 00:37:44

Yes.

Garry: 00:37:45

Or even Avon, arguably. I think Avon's only ever been down to the planet surface, what, a couple of times. The Web.

Adam: 00:37:54

He gets asked if he wants to go down in this and he's like, no, I'll stay. I'll stay on the ship. Thanks very much. He's not bothered, is he?

Garry: 00:38:01

I think Cygnus Alpha and the Web, he puts on a fancy tracksuit and company's Blake, but yeah. So I don't know if there's much truth in that or not, to be honest with you.

Adam: 00:38:13

I suspect it is true, mate.

I think Jenna and Sally Cavett in the first sort of half of this series were probably given a lot more to do than they do get in perhaps the second half. And I think without sort of going into spoiler territory, I think Sally Kavett felt like her character had a lot more to give in in certain stories.

I think she's spoken quite openly about that, that she, you know, when she was cast and given the, you know, her character, what her character was going to be, I think she felt like they sort of didn't tap into it enough. So I wouldn't be surprised, mate. I think she. She liked to get stuck in. In the episodes and she is, you're right, she's great in this.

You know, all the shoot off at the end, she's really getting into the action and covering Blake's back while they escape and stuff, so she gets some good stuff to do. But maybe I can absolutely see Cali doing that. That's the problem, you see, because Jenna and Callie are two very, very strong characters.

They're very, very different characters as well. But, yeah, I guess you could have either one of them down there doing the shootout. So I suspect that is probably true.

Garry: 00:39:23

Okay.

Adam: 00:39:24

Yeah, I think. I think Sally Kavett wanted to get a bit more meat on the bones in terms of the script along a lot of episodes.

Garry: 00:39:33

Okay, yeah, that does make sense then. Yeah. So it could have been a Blake and Callie initial team up before Villa turns up, but. Yeah, well, Jenna. But she did have a good story. Jenna, she.

Once again, she's. She's not too fussed about having a good scrap. Really good. Really good couple of scenes where she's having some.

I mean, she's a terrible shot, but she's having a good shootout with a lot of the guards. I think some of that was the. They survived that because as Blake finds out later on, that the weapons were all reduced in their power capacity.

And they were. It's almost like. It's almost like the Federation were, like, set phases on stun, but not quite.

They were still firing live rounds, as it were, quote unquote. But the power level was reduced quite a lot. And so. And so they.

They managed to escape a little bit, but Jenna does, you know, throw down while Blake and Villa are doing their thing. She's. She's holding them off. And then there's also. Because that's a cool scene with her and. And Shefner when he's got, like, the old school.

It looks like M16 rifle and he's. He's proper going for it with that. And. And she's doing that stuff. And.

And then before that, there's those nice little scenes that you see with her as well, where. Where she sees little attitude moments between Zen and Avon or whatever. Just like a little roll of the eyes from her and.

Yeah, you know, she knows she's got the cruise number by now. She knows how it works, but. So I feel like Sally Novette had a good. Another good one alongside Gareth Thomas.

Adam: 00:41:16

Yeah, I mean, she works great with Gareth, I think. I really like those two together. I think she was the right choice, to be fair, in this particular story, to go down with Blake.

I think they make a good team in this story. But she does get a couple of nice little moments. Well, one or two little moments with Cali when she sort of.

I feel like they're starting to bond a bit now because I think the relationship's been a little bit frosty between those two characters since. Since Cali was brought on board the Liberator. I'm not sure Jenna approved to begin with, but they seem to be getting on all right now.

Like, Jenna said something about, oh, I think I've taught you quite well. Or something, you know, to do with flying the Liberator.

So there was a couple of little looks between the two of them and I feel like the frostiness is starting to. To melt between the two of them and then perhaps they're actually going to get on a bit better now. So I think that.

I can't remember if it is genuinely, I, I'd like to see a bit more between sort of Jenna and Cali in terms of their, you know, relationship getting better as they were a bit frosty to each other at the start. You know, no surprise Callie did try and knock them all out on stay on the Liberator.

So, I mean, you know, you can, you can understand them being a bit wary of her.

Garry: 00:42:28

Yeah, yeah, for sure. Yeah. Gan didn't do too much. He had a decent, a decent little fight scene towards the end with the, the Android, the robots version of, of Avalon.

That was a. It was cool that he couldn't quite figure out why his strength was outmatched by, by somebody a lot smaller than him.

Could see that on his face as he's trying to restrain her and she's, you know, almost breaking his arm sort of thing and throwing him around. And so that was cool.

But before that, just the usual little bits and bobs between him and Avon that we've seen in the last couple of episodes where, where he's just either agreeing or disagreeing with Avon. Nothing too in depth in terms of conversations.

But talking of Avon, there was a great scene where he had to take control, where they were in orbit ready to teleport the guys back up. But then on the scanners they find out that the pursuit ships are there from the Federation. So he has to make a decision.

It's like, we stay here and we fight with these ships. We're probably going to lose. Or we break orbit, we bugger off out of their range, go round the planet and we come back later on to pick them up.

And Gant, you know, he's like, I don't know about this, it's.

Adam: 00:43:40

Yeah, whatever.

Garry: 00:43:41

And Callie's like, what should we do? We can't leave them down there. And he's like, well, if you've got no, you know, if you've got any better ideas.

And they just look at him like, okay, yeah, we'll do this. So he has to sort of get into gear and sort of be Blake's replacement. I guess as much as, as the.

This is going to sound very weird, but as much as Avon as a character would hate people saying that, that he's some kind of Blake replacement. He feels like he's very much his own man, of course, but he has to step into those shoes a little bit, otherwise they're done for.

Adam: 00:44:13

Yeah.

Garry: 00:44:14

So he was very.

I love those, I love Paul Darrow's range, you know, with those things where he can be very sarcastic and very off putting to a degree where Blake's trying to be very serious in some moments in previous episodes and whatnot. And he's just got this kind of grin on his face.

Like at the end of the day, Blake, I don't actually care enough to sort of buy into what you're dealing with right now. I'm just telling you that this thing's not working or that's not working or whatever. And he's got a bit of a smile on his face. He's not really.

He's not invested 100%, I don't feel in the overall plan that Blake's up to.

Adam: 00:44:51

No, he's happy to chip in and help, but he's not too bothered. I do love it when, when they come back into orbit and teleport Blake up and Avon says what the hell happened? And Blake's furious.

He's like, I was about to say that to you. And I was like, oh, here we go. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Garry: 00:45:07

A little bit of a TIFF number 364 or whatever between these two. But yeah, but yeah, so. And then fast forward to now where Avon has to take control a little bit. He's.

He's the only, not the only one, but he's rightfully the only one in that moment who can make a bit of a tough decision. I think if it was, if he wasn't there, then the Liberator probably would have been captured at that point.

Adam: 00:45:33

I mean, no offense to Gan. Yeah, probably if it had been Gan in charge with the Liberator probably be in flames.

That probably look like my model I was talking about earlier in Pieces in the Sky. Gan does get. I mean he is getting a bit lost, isn't he? I think that's the thing we it.

He's good in the scene that he gets, you know, where he's like you said, when he does the little fight scene and you know, fights in, in Dr. And Blake's 7 and this era television, they can look very staged at times. This one isn't too bad. I think this, this little scene is quite good.

You know, Michael Bryant does a bit of the old handheld camera. It look, I don't know if it would have been back then but yeah, he gives it, you know, the fight scene isn't too bad and I think Gan does that well.

But yeah, that is really the only thing he gets to do. I think the thing is with Gan and Villa, I think those are the two characters that are getting the least screen time.

But with Villa, even though he's got limited screen time, he always has good scenes. So the limited scenes he's in are normally good. He's normally got a good one liner or a good scene.

With Gan, he often is just sort of in the background and it's a shame he's getting. He's the character, I feel that's getting the rawest deal in terms of scripts at the minute. That will change, I think, a little bit.

I think maybe even, even in the next episode we'll get to see Gan get some more to do. So his time is perhaps coming. But at the moment he's the one that's getting a bit lost in the story, I feel as a character.

But it's still great, you know, I still, still like it. We still bring something to the, to the show, no doubt about it.

Garry: 00:47:05

Yeah, no, I agree. Yeah, he's. And I'm hoping we get an episode coming up where he does feature a bit more. Yes, you obviously know 100%.

But I'm hoping that we get a bit more of a Gan focused episode coming up because although however cool it is to see Jenna doing her badass, you know, sci fi female, strong character stuff, I love all that. Same for Kelly. It would be cool to see Gan have a bit more to say and do. Yeah, coming up.

But yeah, I think going back to some of the crew scenes, just quickly there was. What did you think to Cali overall in this one? Because she was kind of sidelined a little bit.

Adam: 00:47:53

Yeah.

Garry: 00:47:53

You know, along with, with Avon. But still, still very nice. And she's got that.

I feel like she softened very quickly since she's joined the, the crew because when we first were introduced to her back in, what was it?

Adam: 00:48:14

Time Squad was Time Squad.

Garry: 00:48:16

Yes, Time Squad. Back in episode four, she was very, very harsh and standoffish.

Adam: 00:48:22

Yeah.

Garry: 00:48:23

And very, to be honest with you, as a viewer, a little bit unsure as to whether she could be trusted or not to begin with. And she was a little bit. Yeah, just a bit standoffish. But now she's very, what we know, like five, six episodes later, she's, she softened a lot.

You know, she's got a nice little grin for people now. She actually smiles at people and, and she's got no hesitation to. To help Blake. It was a. I think she proved herself quite a lot when she was.

When she was kidnapped by Travis, you know, when. When she.

Adam: 00:49:01

Yes, I know, yeah.

Garry: 00:49:01

You know, when they rescued her.

Adam: 00:49:03

Yeah, yeah.

Garry: 00:49:04

And all that stuff. So she was willing to, in secret, locate and destroy. She was willing to. To sort of, you know, sacrifice herself, I guess, essentially, so that.

So that Blake can carry on and do the stuff. So I like her, but, yeah, I just didn't really see that much of her, unfortunately, in this one.

Adam: 00:49:23

You're right, mate.

Actually, when I think of the Callie we met in Times Squad, who was very feisty, you know, Blake were having a bit of a ruckus and to the Cali we saw in this episode last night, Project Avalon. Yeah, very different, actually. I hadn't really sort of thought too much about that. Yeah, she's definitely softened.

She's very comfortable on the Liberator. She's smiley. Yeah, the character has changed quite a bit, actually.

Garry: 00:49:48

Yeah. She's got her feet under the table.

Adam: 00:49:51

Yeah.

And I guess I haven't really noticed it that much because, like you said, she hasn't been in it that much, so it hasn't stuck me as a massive diversion from the character we met in Times Squad. But you're right, she is quite different. Yeah. Like you said, she's got her feet under the. Under the console. Quite comfortable.

Garry: 00:50:06

Yeah. Pair of slippers on, no doubt. Cup of tea.

Adam: 00:50:10

I think she likes Avon as well. She gives him a really nice little grin, I think, whereas the other people get a bit frustrated with Avon and. And whatever.

She almost seems to find him comical, doesn't she? That he's such a. So cantankerous. She just sort of. See, like you said, she just sat back smiling as if. Oh, Avon. Yeah, yeah.

Garry: 00:50:28

Before we finish up in terms of character stuff and we move on to Gareth Thomas, just a couple of characters we'd like to talk about. The first one being the character of Chevner played by David Bailey. We. You and I know him from. From classic Doctor who, of course.

Adam: 00:50:46

Yeah.

Garry: 00:50:47

Playing a very interesting character in. Is it Androids Are Death?

Adam: 00:50:51

No, robots are death.

Garry: 00:50:52

Sorry. Robots are deaf. Sorry.

Adam: 00:50:54

And he's the guy who goes mad, isn't he, in the silver face. Silver painted face. Fantastic.

Garry: 00:51:00

That brings back memories of talking about that one. Yeah. But he was. He was a lot more muted in this episode, I think, in that. In Robots of Death, he's very. He's hamming up quite a lot.

You know, his vocal range is a Lot wider, he's a lot louder. You know, he's really giving it the beans. Whereas in this one he does play the kind of, you know, downtrodden, things have gone to pot.

Not very trusty, you know, he's got that much in terms of an actor, but much better range than I gave him credit for. I just know, I just knew him from, I think Zed Cars and Doctor who and being very different on screen.

But in this one he's, yeah, he's just, it's almost, almost at the point where you want him to talk a little bit more.

It's like I was, I was expecting him to come out with a lot more information about, about Avalon and what she's been up to and what the bigger plan is for, for those guys and all that stuff. But he's really tight lipped. I, I get that at the beginning, you know, when the rest of them have been killed and massacred.

Yeah, Blake turns up with, with Jenna and he's alive, but you know, he even tries to kill him. It's only because the fact that he's so weak and he couldn't pull it off, but he would have shot them otherwise.

But I think it takes just a little while to gain their trust. And then he mucks in with the rest of them and tries to rescue, unbeknownst to them, the incorrect Avalon.

But he obviously meets his demise in the episode. But yeah, he was a cool character. I like the fact that we've got somebody from the other side of the fence, if that makes sense.

You've got, yeah, Blake's crew and then you've got this other band of rebels who are kind of aligned with what Blake wants to do as well. It's like a fight back against the Federation.

So you've got another, another rebel, but they don't seem to communicate loads that we see on screen at least, you know, he's a bit tight lipped and quiet, so. But I like his character though. The idea of that is very cool.

Adam: 00:53:14

Did you ever, at any point when it got towards the end of the episode, did you ever suspect him to be the traitor or did you think, no, that's the dub, you know, that's a doppelganger. It's going to be Avalon, isn't it? Like, did you figure that out pretty quick or did you think it was him?

Garry: 00:53:28

Do you know what, I was going to ask you that when we come onto a little bit, but I honestly thought he was the traitor just because David Bailey's facial expression and the way he acted, that was superb. That. That little scene where they're back on the Liberator and stuff.

The camera zooms in on him quite slowly, just for a few seconds, but his face is telling a much a very different story as to what's going on in that moment. So I initially thought he doesn't look like something's. He's not happy about something here or something's not right.

And I think that was the nice little curveball that we've spoken about, you know, in a few times in these episodes, where I think it led the viewer down a path where it was like, okay, Chevner's the traitor overall, after all. And it's not until you see him, you know, he's been attacked and he dies that you think, oh, that was a clever move.

That was a good move by Terry Nation and Michael E. Bryant. It's like they throw you the, you know, the free. You know, as ducks watching it.

They throw you some bread and you're like, oh, cool, we know what's going on now. And then literally seconds later, it's like, no, it's not actually, Chevner. So, yeah, I didn't see that coming. I thought, you know, I.

I fell for it hook, line and sinker, mate.

Adam: 00:54:49

Yeah, I mean, I think that's the thing. You are. That's what you're supposed to think. And I think that does work really well. I. I don't think it's him that gives it away, actually.

I think it's. I think my first hint of something's not right is because of Avalon and the way that. Julia Viddler, I think. So you say her name. She's.

She's obviously. And this is difficult. I can appreciate as an actor, you've been told to act just slightly different because you're now an Android Avalon.

But you don't want to do it too obvious because that will give the game away. But she's got to do something to differentiate that she's Something sort of not right.

So I do appreciate that not giving the game away is difficult, but I think when they break her out of the prison cell at the end, you. You do pick up from her performance that something is not right. I. I think I.

When I first watched this, I think I thought she'd been brainwashed or something. It's only when Avon takes the. I love that scene when he takes the bit of a side of her head off.

And there's this very basic special effect, which I love, by the way. It's. It's so bad that I love it. And he says the line is the best robotic engineering I've ever seen.

And I mean, you just can't help but laugh at that because it looks so ropey on. On the screen. But it, you know, I mean that with love and affection because I always, I always smile at that moment. I think it's brilliant.

But yeah, I think it's Avalon that actually gives the game away for me. Not. Not Jevner. I just sort of picked up.

I seem to remember that something was not right with her in the beginning and started to think things could be her.

Garry: 00:56:22

Yeah, I know what you mean, dude. I think what the. The bit that does stick in your mind is a little bit weird, is that she keeps asking for a tunic.

Adam: 00:56:31

That's it.

Garry: 00:56:31

That's that what you mean?

Adam: 00:56:32

Yeah, yeah, yeah. You think? What's she obsessed with that for? Yeah, yeah.

Garry: 00:56:36

But that was, that was the other side of the coin, I guess. Like, if it's not Chevner, then it has to be her.

But she's cool, you know, the whole reason why Blake wanted to rescue her is because she's one of the good guys, you know, so you wouldn't immediately think there's a problem. The other thing that's in hindsight, which is beautiful, of course, thinking back, the episode is that when Travis is interrogating her or.

Or warming her up to be interrogated. Should I say she's in that machine? Yeah, you never, you never see anything as a follow up to that.

So she just disappears off screen for a good sort of 25 minutes or so. And then she comes back and then you thought, okay, what's going on here? Because she's not been interrogated and nothing really happened there.

So what did happen to her? She's, you know, did she just be staying a cell and that's it or what's happened? So there was a length of time where nothing happened.

You didn't see her. She was just mentioned on screen in a couple of conversations. So there was that to consider as well.

It's like as she is the only thing that's happened to her, she's been locked up or has something else happened to her? And it's when you hear Blake start talking about, we've been. We've escaped too easily and the weapons are not at full power and stuff like that.

You think, all right, so, yeah, it's this really cool sort of process of elimination as the viewer.

For me, as a newbie, it was fantastic to go through that last 15 minutes of the episode where it's like, okay, up here at the top level, you've got Blake realizing something's up and then you whittle it down. It's like, okay, well, it can only be Chevner or Avalon who's the problem.

And then it cuts to another scene and you see Chevner's face and you think, oh, it's probably him. So you go down another. So it's really cool that they led you down this path. Ultimately, to be a bit of a red herring.

But you took great stuff, though, like I said.

Adam: 00:58:32

You're talking about that machine as well, that. That thing that Paul Avalon's in, that blinking light. I don't think I could have handled that as an actor that.

I mean, even watching on screen, it makes me. Puts me on edge. That flickering red light. I mean, gosh. But yeah, that. It does make them.

But it does add to the fact that it's sort of a horrible, tortured. Whatever that thing is. It's quite horrible. We've seen it a few times, haven't we? I think Blake was in it in the very first episode.

You know, when they're doing the flashback shots, he's kind of in it being. Having his mind manipulated and stuff, isn't he? So they get some good use out that prop. But yeah, that flickering light, mate, it drives.

Drives me mad. I couldn't have acted under that, I don't think.

Garry: 00:59:13

Agreed. Yeah. When I was watching it, I was thinking, crikey, not for myself, but you.

Adam: 00:59:18

Could see they're almost looking away, aren't they? And I don't blame them.

Garry: 00:59:22

Yeah. You could see Julie Vidler laying there and she's doing her best to be unfazed by it.

But I don't think anyone could be that, you know, completely immune to it because it's the ticking sound as well. The bulbs right above her face. Yeah, that sound. So that must have been fairly uncomfortable after a few minutes, I would have thought.

Adam: 00:59:41

Not to mention the fact she's hardly wearing anything. She's just got these two straps across her. Yeah. You know, fair dues to Judy Vidler for, you know, for going through all that.

Garry: 00:59:53

Agreed. Yeah, definitely. You and I would have cracked sooner.

Adam: 00:59:58

Oh, straight away.

Garry: 01:00:00

Yeah. And yeah, you mentioned the actual. The robot cut away from the side of the head and sort of superimposed over the top of the actress's face.

And it's a bit ropey. But I've. As if you're a new listener to this podcast. Just to give you a heads up. I'm watching these episodes with.

Without the new fancy special effects the first time round. So I'm watching the original as broadcast and. But I've not gone.

What I have done is once I've watched them, we reviewed the episode, I've gone back afterwards and had a little skim through the episode to see what the new effects look like on certain things. Did they replace the effect for this in the newer ones, do you know?

Adam: 01:00:40

Yeah, they did, yeah. They've kept it. Yeah. It's weird because at first it. I've only watched it the once and from.

From what I remember, mate, they haven't done that much to it. I think they've tried to keep it in with the. You know, it still looks a little bit basic, but I think that's intentional, if you know what I mean.

They haven't tried to go too mad by replacing it.

I should have gone back and re watched it last night, actually, because I was curious to remind myself what they'd done with the new effects on that one. But I don't think they've done too much with it, but they've definitely put in some new effects at that point. Yeah, gotcha.

But they haven't gone overboard.

Garry: 01:01:16

Okay. Yeah. So, yeah, we've spoken about. So I was going to move on to Julie Bid, actually, but you. You brought her up and we spoke about that, so perfect.

Nice one. So I think really just Gareth Thomas in terms of characters.

And I will say that if there's one thing I've noticed about Gareth Thomas, which you could apply to most characters, I think throughout the series is definitely consistency. There's never been a doubt in my mind where we've spoken about curveballs, right.

And the director and the writer leading you down a certain path, both narratively and visually. And, you know, things have a habit of changing a little bit and not going up where you expected them to go. But with.

Especially with Gareth Thomas, there's never a doubt that he's on the mission all the time. And the only reason why he's doing these things, much to the.

The anger of Avon or whoever, he's doing it because he sees the greater good that needs to be done. He can see the bigger picture. Whereas I think the, the.

The tunnel vision, I guess, is the best way to describe it that Avon has at times and Villa certainly is that, you know, we'll just. We'll. We'll do one last thing and then we're off. But they don't.

And now they're starting to come round a little bit because they say things like, you know, we'll never be safe. They'll always chase us, all this kind of thing.

Adam: 01:02:44

Yeah.

Garry: 01:02:45

So whereas Blake does see it, and he's seen it from. From the beginning, from Space four when they've escaped. You know, he sees the fact that the Federation is this big, you know, just the.

The big bad machine, you know, essentially, that's suppressing everybody and. And is up to no good. So he. He's always on the mission, is the best way to put it. And. And that's never. That's. I've never doubted that.

I've never watched any of these episodes so far and thought Gareth Thomas wasn't really into it at that point, or, you know, I thought, oh, he's not really. Yeah, I've seen, you know, more intense scenes with him, but on this one, he's not really into it as much. I've never thought that with him.

And this is another example of that where just very quickly, three things for me on this one. The first one is just, like I said, he's just on it from the beginning, like, no hesitation, like, we need to go and rescue Avalon. That's it.

Yeah, no compromise. That's it. We need to go and do it. The second thing is the.

Is the detective side of things with him when they get back on the Liberator, and he's like, you know, you all think that this is a success and we're done, but I'm telling you, something isn't right. You know, we need to consider something. It's, you know, we. All the rest of it.

And then the third thing is just that complete sense of control of everybody in that final scene with him and Travis and Serverland, just. That knows exactly what Travis is now up to. He knows what his plan was. He's completely obliterated the plan.

And now he's in control and he just doesn't raise his voice, doesn't do anything, doesn't draw a weapon. He just knows exactly what to do. Because they've reprogrammed the robot, haven't they?

Adam: 01:04:34

Yes. Done it.

Garry: 01:04:36

Yeah, yeah. And so he's got, you know, this robot's essentially now defunct. He can just do. They can just do basic things and he uses that to his advantage.

So for those reasons, dude, I thought Gareth Thomas. And it goes back to what I said at the very beginning when you asked me my thoughts on this one. The majority of my enjoyment were the performances.

Adam: 01:04:54

Yeah.

Garry: 01:04:55

And Gareth Thomas absolutely had another great, consistent one. So, yeah, great watch for me, for For Gareth Thomas.

Adam: 01:05:02

Yeah. I love his delivery at the end as well, when he says, it could be a word, it could be a movement, it could be. And they're like, what, What.

What's he done? You know? Yeah, yeah. Gareth Thomas is great, man. I I' like you said, I don't.

I never feel like he's phoning in a performance or isn't into it because I. I've heard him in interviews when he's defended Blake's 7.

You know, like I think I said to you before, when fellow theater actors were giving him a hard time for being in this shoddy television sci fi. And he used to say, you know, he used to defend it and say, I think it's a great program.

You know, he got a bit of stick from fellow actors back in the day for, for being in this and not being in the theater and doing proper acting, as they would call it. So I always felt like Gareth himself liked the character. And, and so I never feel like he's. He's phoning it in and yeah, it's.

It's a great performance. I just love the smile on his face when he's like, he's. Smug's not the right word. But he's pleased with himself.

You know, the very end when Travis and Silverland come in and he's just stood there next to the Android and he's like, hello, Travis. And he's really pleased with himself, isn't he? That. And he's like, you didn't expect to see me here, did you?

And look what I brought back, your little squash ball. Your little deadly squash ball. So, yeah, it's, it's, it's a. He's great. I love, love Gareth Thomas. It's another great performance from him.

Garry: 01:06:18

Yeah, yeah, Very cool. And yeah, I love that final scene. Very clever, Travis.

Adam: 01:06:25

Yes.

Garry: 01:06:25

Yeah. Just so calm and quietly confident. Very cool.

Adam: 01:06:29

It's almost like every week that he meets Travis, there's. There. It's almost like, who's going to win this week? There's like a game between the two. Him. Isn't it? Like he's happy that he's beat him once again?

Garry: 01:06:40

Yeah. A couple of bits of trivia that I found interesting about this episode. Dude, let me hit you with some knowledge.

Adam: 01:06:46

Go on.

Garry: 01:06:47

You probably know this already.

And listener, by the way, if you, if you are hearing this thinking actually that's not true, or you knew this or you want to have a chat about it, then do, do find us on the old Twitter and blue sky at blake7 podcast and, and we'll have a chat about this stuff. I found it this stuff fascinating. But the. The cave scenes were filmed in Wookiee Hole and it's very clear that Michael E.

Bryant loves these caves because there was a couple of other Dr. WHO serials that he filmed there. One of them Revenge of the Cybermen. So he loves once he likes a location.

Seems like he likes to revisit that a few times. And the Julie Julia Vidler who played Avalon, she has a guest role in this episode obviously, but she had auditioned for the role of Jenna.

Adam: 01:07:37

Oh, I didn't know that in the run up.

Garry: 01:07:40

Yeah, she had been seen. But yeah. So I think Sally Nevette is obviously. Yeah. Chef's Kiss. Brilliant as that character. That's interesting.

Adam: 01:07:51

See, I am learning something on this podcast, mate. I don't know it all.

Garry: 01:07:56

And then the other one I was going to mention, I've already said, which is selling of it having a little bit of a whinge about not being much her character much to do. So they switched it round between her and Callie to. To go down and do that stuff.

But one of the things that actually I'm not too keen on doing and I've seen when I've researched this episode, I've seen some other people pick up on these things and you and I have never done this for Doctor who other than just in a comical way now and then. But I've seen a lot of people say that. Things like there's.

When Jenna's having a shootout in the corridor with some of the Federation guards, one of the guards ducks out the way and in the next scene he's dead on the floor. But then in the following scene is ankles twitching even though he's supposed to be dead and. And all that stuff. And.

And when all the guards are chasing and they fall out of the doorway, the doorway wobbles around and I did.

Adam: 01:09:01

Notice the door wobble.

Garry: 01:09:02

Yeah.

Adam: 01:09:03

But you know.

Garry: 01:09:04

Yeah, those things just. I guess, you know, for everybody listening from this point on. We love those things.

Adam: 01:09:11

I was gonna say. Yeah. You know, I've never noticed them nearly knock the door over as they're running through, but I noticed it last night and I thought, yeah, it's.

That's what I love.

Garry: 01:09:18

Yeah. There's a few scenes where like the boom mic is in shot for like a second or two in. In certain things Listener. We love those things.

That's what makes these old British sci fi shows what they are exactly. Charm. It's that no budget but just getting on with it and telling A good story and all that stuff.

So I just wanted to pick up on those things as a way of an example of. We just don't care. We don't give a shit, you know, if the set's wobbling around or some, you know, the mics in frame, whatever it might be.

Those things. We're not going to comment on those. So if at some point you're like, guys, there's loads of, like, these little things in the episode.

If it's anything to do with that, then, you know, whatever.

Adam: 01:10:01

Talking of charm, mate, the security robot was back. Oh, yeah, I love him. He's got his big old flame from his. Thank goodness Avon managed to teleport them just in time.

Because that flame, you people can laugh at the security robot, but, man, if you got that flame coming at you, that looks. It does look pretty vicious, that flamethrower, doesn't it?

I can just imagine like someone off just on the other side of the camera, you know, with a flamethrower, trying to create that effect. Brilliant.

Garry: 01:10:27

So good. Yeah. And one of.

One of our friends over on Blue sky noted that when we were going through the first episode, Tufty McTavish, one of the guys who follows his over, follows on Blue sky, and we've exchanged a couple of messages there. Yeah.

He noted that he thought it was cool that as I was watching Blake's 7 a couple of times, I've shouted out something at the screen and I did that when we were watching this episode. Towards the end, I shouted out, surveillance robot. The surveillance robot's back. It's really cool. It's. And you know what, mate?

To give Blake seven and the production crew their credit, I will say this. There's not a wobble or anything in sight. They have properly laid the tracks under the gravel in those caves and that thing glides along like butter.

Adam: 01:11:25

Yeah.

Garry: 01:11:27

Whereas in Doctor who, if that was a Dalek in that thing, it would be wobbling all over the place and shaking around and things would be falling off of it and it would make a right racket and all that stuff. So props to the Blake seven guys who have learned from that stuff.

It's clear you could tell that that robot was on a truck, like almost like a dolly that they put cameras on.

Adam: 01:11:48

Yeah.

Garry: 01:11:50

And it glided around there beautifully. So, yeah, well done. The.

The production unit manager, Sheila Reese, and the production assistant, Victor Mallet, just to name, drop a few names here, and some other people who did all of that stuff on set and on location, you know, just beautiful stuff.

Adam: 01:12:14

Yeah, very cool. Because I also. He looks good in the cave because he's got his little lights on. I thought actually he looks a lot better with his little lights on.

And yeah, I mean, I think in is it see click 8 destroy when we first see him. I forget now, but you can see the rope pulling him along in that. So they've obviously, yeah. Improve the technique. And like you said, he's.

He's gliding like a good end in this one. So I was just pleased to see him back. I love that robot.

Just before we wrap up, mate, I just want to mention the mutoid, Glynis Barber, because obviously she's gone on to be very well known actress, so to see her as the mutoid and she does get stuck in when she strangles that guy. And, uh, you know, I think she's about to have a little bit of blood serum from them.

But yeah, mate, from Remember Dempsey and Make Peace and you know, Stone many things. And I don't know if this is a spoiler, but I don't know if you've seen images or pictures. I don't know.

But obviously it's not the last time we will see Linus barber in Blake's 7. That's all I'll say. But yeah, just interesting to see her as the mutoid.

In fact, on the DVD commentary for this, I think Sally Kavett and Jacqueline Pierce, I think it is a sort of arguing over. I think one of them is. Is adamant that it's Glynis Barber. And the other one saying, no, no, that's not Glynis Barber. And they're like, yes, it is.

And they pretty much go all the way through, right. And then they say, right, well, let's have a look at the end credits then. Let's see who's right.

And obviously her name comes up and they're like, oh, my gosh, it is Glynis Barber. Because she. She looks very young and she obviously got that thing on her head. So she looks quite different.

But yeah, it's nice to see her making an early appearance in Blake's 7.

Garry: 01:13:55

Yeah, she was good, actually. I love the.

The sort of on location stunt work for that as well, because that she had to drop down quite a high drop there to get the excuse, the pun to get the drop on him on that guy. And there's a bit of a scuffle and stuff. So, yeah, the stunt work on that location stuff was very cool.

Adam: 01:14:16

I could be wrong. I think. I think Stuart Fell might have been dropping in on himself. I'm not Sure.

I got a feeling Stuart Fell did the jump as the mutoid and then also played the character falling down, you know, with Glenis Barber replacing him on the ground. But I could be wrong about that. I'm not sure. I've just got a feeling. They mentioned that in the. In the commentary. Yeah.

Because Stuart Fell did a lot of that. I think it's Stuart Fell. Yeah. Did a lot of the stunts.

Garry: 01:14:37

Yeah. Yeah, you're probably right, mate. And. But no, Glennis Barber was. She. She was good. She.

She got the collective memo along with the other mutoid actresses, you know, to play that a certain way. And so, yeah, that was kind of cool.

Adam: 01:14:52

Yeah.

Garry: 01:14:52

Yeah. Alrighty, we've got Dudley back as well. Back in the seat.

Adam: 01:14:59

Yeah.

Garry: 01:15:00

Funnily enough. And a bit ironic. Probably not his best episode. For me, though. No music.

Adam: 01:15:07

No, I'd agree with you.

Garry: 01:15:08

Yeah, not too bad, but just nothing too memorable. Nothing too. I didn't come away thinking, crikey, Dudley was. He had his Weetabix that day. I just thought, yeah, it's kind of cool, like, low level.

Adam: 01:15:20

I. I did feel the same, mate, because I loved that. His music. And like you said, absolutely nothing wrong with it in this episode.

It just wasn't anything that stood out to me, if for one of a better phrase, was a little bit going through the motions this week for Dudley. Maybe he was sulking from being, you know, dropped last week and he's like, I can't be bothered now this. I think it's more likely he was just.

Yeah, just. I don't know. But, yeah, it's fine. It's. It's still good music, but it didn't blow my socks off this week for Dudley.

I felt there were a couple of scenes it could have done with a bit of music, actually. Don't know if you felt that. There's a couple of scenes where they were sort of in the. You know, where they had infiltrated the building.

And I felt like we need some tension music here to sort of build this up a bit. But we didn't get it. And then. But when they start fighting days, like Dudley's, like, finished his sandwich. Oh, yes.

Right, let's get some music on this. You know, it kicks in, but.

Garry: 01:16:13

Yeah, yeah, No, I agree. Yep. I thought in my head now of. Of Terry Nation or David Maloney, like, Dudley, you. You're back now, mate. You know, no hard feelings.

And he's like, whatever.

Adam: 01:16:30

Yeah. Snapping his, you know, violin boat.

Garry: 01:16:35

Yeah. And they look at each other and roll their eyes like, oh, he's like.

Adam: 01:16:39

He'S been messing with all these dials on the, on the recording equipment. Putting it back to his, his settings.

Garry: 01:16:46

Yeah, well, bless him anyway. If you've got no other. No other notes on this, bud, we'll. We'll get to some scores.

Adam: 01:16:53

Yeah, let's score it.

Garry: 01:16:54

It's me to go first, I believe this week and I am going to give this a 7 out of 10. I'm giving the majority of that score to the performances. I thought they were so good this week.

Story wise, kind of cool, kind of an old school sort of James bondi feel to this mixed in with some sci fi and whatnot. So. And a couple of curveballs.

So the usual coolness that I'm loving so far from Terry Nation on this stuff, but story wise, not the best this year is so far, but some great performances nonetheless. What about you?

Adam: 01:17:28

Yeah, I'm very much on the same page, mate. I'm giving it a 7 as well. I just think it's a, it's a good, solid episode with some nice moments, some good ideas.

Just love seeing Travis Servalan and Blake together. Yeah, it's just a good little episode. I think this one.

Garry: 01:17:46

Yes, perfectly articulated, dude. Nice one. Okay, that's gonna, that's gonna do it there. For our episode nine and review of Project Avalon next week, bud. What we got?

Adam: 01:18:00

Next week we'll be moving on to episode 10, which is called Breakdown. Breakdown.

Garry: 01:18:06

No spoilers.

Adam: 01:18:07

That's where the Liberator just breaks down in space and they have to go and find a spaceship garage and. No. What could it be? Yeah, yeah, Okie dokie.

Garry: 01:18:16

So with that being said, let's wrap it there, bud, for episode nine.

Adam: 01:18:20

Alrighty.

Garry: 01:18:38

Thank you very much for listening to another episode of Federation Striker, journey through Blake's 7. And that was episode nine and our review of Project Project Avalon and sevens all round for the great performances in this one.

As Adam said, next week we are continuing through series A and we're going to be at episode 10, which is called Breakdown.

So if you want to watch along along the same time as us and, and have your thoughts along with ours and think, actually, yeah, you guys, you were bang on with that one.

Or you might think, guys, this is atrocious and you've completely missed, missed the point of this episode, whatever your thought might be, it's just good to have you here listening to us as we go through our Journey through Blake's 7. A new journey for me and a repeat journey for my co host Adam.

In the meantime, before the next episode drops, make sure you are following or subscribing on your fave podcast app, whatever you're listening to this one on. If you've listened to us from the beginning, eight, nine weeks ago now, then thank you very much for sticking with us.

If you're a new timer, a newbie, then thank you very much for checking us out and giving us a shot as we go through series A. And you could also chat with us about Blake's 7 on the socials. We're on Twitter and Bluesky.

Just do a search for Lake 7 podcast, give us a follow on there and we can chat all things geeky where it concerns Blake's 7. And talking of geeky, you button forget to check out my co host YouTube channel. It's called the Geek's Handbag.

Adam: 01:20:08

The Geek Sandbag. Yeah, go check out my YouTube channel. Also on all the socials, Instagram, Twitter, X, whatever it's called. What's the other one? Facebook.

Garry: 01:20:17

Yeah, that one.

Adam: 01:20:18

All of that lot under the Geeks hammer.

Garry: 01:20:20

Yes. Loads of very cool geek stuff over there on Adam's channel.

Get a cup of tea, get comfy and yeah, years worth of very cool geek content over at the Geeks Handbag. Until next week, my name's Garry. My name's Adam and we will see you next time on Federation Strike a journey through Blake's 7.