A:10: Breakdown: Has Gan Reached his Limit?!

Garry: 00:00:21

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

Adam: 00:00:26

My name's Adam.

Garry: 00:00:27

And welcome to episode 10.

Adam: 00:00:29

Yeah.

Garry: 00:00:42

Thank you very much for listening to another episode of Federation Strike. It's great to have you here as either a newcomer or somebody who's been with us since the beginning. Welcome. Welcome back, everybody.

I hope you checked out last week, episode nine, where we went through Project Avalon, which is an interesting story and it was one of those very cool performance based stories that we loved. Not so much the nuts and bolts of the story itself, it was not too bad.

But we were big fans of the performances and those characters who work so well together, Travis and Sir Valan and all that stuff and the tensions that are building around all of that and some of the tensions that are ongoing between Blake and Avon and. And all that stuff. It's now sort of rocketing through the series as we get through it now.

And this episode, I think, in some respects is no different. We have some tension still happening between a couple of characters which we'll get on to. But. But it's.

We're almost to the finish line now for series A. This is episode 10. So we've got three to go after this and before we. We crack on with the usual stuff.

Did you, did you think that at this point we would be. Or I would be into Blake's 7 as much as I am, or were you dreading us even getting to we would get to this point?

Adam: 00:02:08

It's funny you say that, because I actually was thinking that very thought last night because I obviously were watching the Blu ray, but we're watching with the original effects and as I put the disc back in the case, looked and thought, wow, we're already on. So next week we're on to the last disc in the box set or that it's got three episodes on, but we're actually on to the final disc of the box set.

And I thought, wow, how did we get here so quick? But then I started thinking that I thought, imagine if we'd got this far and you weren't enjoying it because we would still review it.

We made a commitment to do Blake's 7. So whether you enjoyed it or you weren't getting into it, we were gonna do the whole of series one and give our opinion on it.

And I was thinking, gosh, how different it could have been. Imagine if you were a sort of two or three episodes in and you're like, dude, I'm really, I'm struggling with this.

Like, you know, how different the podcast could have been. And. And we pride ourselves on always giving an honest opinion. You know, we're never sort of swayed or try and sit on the fence.

Unless there's an episode that we genuinely do feel a bit on the fence about. We always give our honest opinion. When we've done our Doctor who podcast, and we were going to be exactly like that on this one.

So I knew that if you weren't into the series, you would say so, and so I expected you to maybe take a couple of episodes to get into it. I think I was surprised by the fact you almost instantly enjoyed the first couple of episodes.

And that almost made me give out a big sigh of relief because I'm like, here we are on episode 10. Just knowing how much you're enjoying it up to this point is such a good place to be going forward.

You know, I mean, I can just relax now because even though I know there will be episodes coming up, you know, and as we go on to series two and three, four, abc, whatever you call there will be episodes where I think we're going to be saying, not sure about that one. You know, the fact that you're enjoying it.

I just know that there'll be character moments and things even in those episodes that perhaps aren't as good that I think, well, that'll be enough to carry you through. There's. In other words, we're not going to get to the end of series one, I don't think. And you be thinking, oh, I need a break.

I'm dreading series two. Like, I'm dreading reviewing it. I feel like I'm pretty confident now and I don't want to jinx things.

I feel like when we get to end of series one, I think you're going to be, like, not desperate, but I think you're going to be really looking forward to doing series two, which we'll be waiting for the Blu Ray to come out, I guess. So. May not be for a few months, but I'm fairly confident we're going to get that this year.

Garry: 00:04:53

Fingers crossed.

Adam: 00:04:53

Nothing's been announced. I just think they're working on it.

We've seen a few little hints on Twitter from the people involved, so I feel like it's coming this year and hopefully we'll be able to review series two, because I feel like you're going to be itching to get onto it, actually, by the time we get to the end of series one. That's what I'm hoping, but we're certainly on the way there at the minute. Yeah.

Garry: 00:05:11

Yeah, well, I'm like that with.

The reason why I bring it up is because to anyone that's listening to the show that's, that's just joined us or have not listened to those early couple of episodes, especially the beginning of, of episode one, it was the, the dynamic of this podcast is, as you've probably guessed by now, it's, Adam is a lifelong fan. I'm a newbie coming into Blake's 7.

So the opinions are somebody who's, you know, going through all this fresh as if it was being broadcast for the first time. And.

But because Adam and I have known each other for many years and we've spoken about Blake's 7 on and off, he's always said to me, just stick with it. You know, start watching it, stick with it. I'm sure you'll love it.

But there's always that bit of trepidation when you're going through these things because you love something so much. In your case, it's you, you're desperate for other people to love it.

You know, that's just how it works, you know, when you love something, you want everyone else to, to enjoy it. And I could tell in your voice in those first few episodes, you're like, oh, Garry, what, What do you think, mate?

Hopefully you're gonna like this one and things like that. But I must admit, after we've recorded our review episodes, I'm itching to, to get the next one on.

But I have to restrain myself a little bit because I know that if I just binge watch the lot and then when we come around to record the following week, I would have forgotten some key moments and some conversations and stuff. So I'm almost watching it in the way that the show makers intended it to begin with this kind of weekly serial.

Although we're doing this twice a week, it's two a week, so it's almost the same. It's almost that space in between where you sort of reflect on what you've just watched and spoken about, etc.

So yeah, rest assured, dude, and listeners, I'm absolutely in love with Blake's 7 and it's very, very cool. And the same applies to future box sets as well.

Like you said, we've not had anything announced, but I'm really hoping that we do get follow, follow up Blu Ray set so we can come back with season two and onwards and, and go through the show. So, yeah, no, no complaints, dude. It's all, it's all, it's all great. And like you said, you're confident enough now. I Think to, to say that stuff?

Adam: 00:07:26

Well, I was going to say it's, it's more than I could have hoped for because I thought, I thought there's a good chance you'll like it when you get into it, is what I kept thinking. Because that, that is what I always say to people.

I know a few friends have watch the first episode, oh, it's a bit bleak and then they don't go back to it.

I'm thinking, no, no, the thing with Blake's 7, I've always said about it and we'll talk about, I'll talk about this more when we do like the Series 1 wrap up or whatever, but just, just to briefly sort of finish this up.

I've always said to people it is about getting to know the characters because when you get to know them, you watch episodes for those little moments from those characters. And that's, that's one of the things that makes this series great.

You can't just watch the first episode or even the first two and, and think, no, this isn't for me. You have to get to know all this world building that's going on.

You know, Serverland and Travis don't come into it till sort of episode six or whatever it is. You know, you see, you have to.

When I say stick with it, it's not because those first couple of episodes aren't good, it's just that I think a lot of people watch them and don't get it or switch off and you know, you have to get, to get into a series, you have to get to know the characters. So that was why I was pleased that you enjoyed the first episode as much as you did. And I think that really kicked off.

Um, you know, a good way for you to kick off reviewing Blake's 7 is if you enjoy the first one. I think, yeah, you're onto a good, good start because I think that's the one sometimes people struggle with because of the. It is a bit bleak.

It's not the cheeriest of episode but it's a great episode in my opinion. But yeah, it can be a bit off putting, I think for new time viewers. So we're rocking and rolling, as they.

Garry: 00:08:57

Say, we are cooking on gas. And yeah, that first one's bleak. Bleak.

Adam: 00:09:02

You're definitely benefiting from watching it. Like you said, we're doing two a week and having that gap, I think builds a bit of excitement and momentum because you are enjoying it so far.

Even I, as someone who has watched these episodes many, many times, I now look forward to watching them Because I'm sat there all the time thinking, I wonder what Garry thinks of that. I wonder what he's going to say about that. You know, wonder if he's going to like this week's.

So it's given me a whole sort of new life of watching them because I've, I've seen Blake's 7 so many times. You know, it's. But even I look forward to watching an episode every week.

So I think it's this momentum that we've managed to build up by watching two a week. It's great.

Garry: 00:09:50

It's very cool, dude. I'm loving it, really. And thank you very much to our community of, of Blake's 7 fans who have followed us on the socials thus far.

It's been very cool to chat to you guys and you guys have, have been. You've had some lovely things to say. So thank you very.

If you've taken the time to, to reply on Twitter or bluesky, then thank you very much and you can join in the conversation if you just do a search for Lake 7 podcast on either of those channels. Give us a follow and, and, and chat Blake7 in between the episodes as they go out every week. And like I said, thank you very much.

They're such a very cool community around, around Blake's 7. That's, that's not as widespread as something like Star wars or Doctor who, but it's a bit more niche, I guess.

And, but there's so many and of people that love the show and unlike things like I could be wrong, I might get a few people at me and say, you know, Garry, you've not witnessed, you know, the true power of negative Blake's 7 yet, but I've yet to see it.

But unlike those franchise and franchises like Star wars and you and I have been involved in Doctor who for many years, the fandom there can be very, very fickle and lots of echo chambers and quite negative and it's, it can become quite a ruthless place to be with those things with Blake's 7. I've not witnessed that yet, I say yet, I hope not.

But yeah, it's just very cool now and then just to spend half an hour diving through mainly blue sky, but Twitter as well and, and chatting to some other Blake's 7 fans. It's all been very cool. So we're a happy bunch, I think is the safe, safe way to say it, dude.

You and I on the podcast and Blake's 7 the community and also with things that we see that just amazing, like people that contribute to sort of making sure Blake's 7 stays alive so The Cult Edge guys with their picking up the. The old Blake's 7 magazines and the production diary books and, you know, those guys do us absolutely amazing job. They don't have to do that.

You know, they're not being paid by anybody.

You know, they're doing that off their own back for the love of the show, and I love things like that and, and looking through ebay and all the people that are doing all their 3D printed models of the Liberator and the bracelets. Yeah, the bracelets, all that stuff. So it's such a cool. I'm in a happy little bubble within Blake's 7.

So that I think that's one of the contributing factors why. Why I'm into it so much. It's just all. I sounded like the Lego Movie. You know, everything is awesome, but I truly, I'm feeling that way at the moment.

It's been very cool. So we should. We should probably stop gushing over this stuff and. And get on with the review.

But before we do, as I said, make sure you follow us on the socials. There's some great conversations and. And all that stuff happening over there on. On Twitter and Bluesky Lake 7 podcast.

And make sure you're following us on the podcast apps as well, especially if you're a newcomer. Make sure you give that.

Give us a like or sorry, a follow or subscribe, depending what app you're listening to, so you don't miss a notification when a new episode lands. It's every Wednesday at the moment, and we'd love to have you along for the rest of the journey as. As we go through Blake's 7 and all the things.

So, Bud, with all that out of the way, what we reviewing this week?

Adam: 00:13:08

Yeah, so like you said, we're on to episode 10, and this week it's called Breakdown.

Trailer: 00:13:14

I don't think you realize what you're suggesting. I'm offering you my services and among other things, the secret of matter transmission. You are offering me classified Federation material.

This is an independent, neutral, scientific foundation. Suppose I tell you that the material does not belong to the Federation, that we are not Federation personnel, and that that is not a Federation ship.

Then who does it belong to? Us.

Trailer: 00:13:45

Who are you?

Trailer: 00:13:46

Before I tell you that I should like your guarantee that the others will be allowed to leave unmolested. Why should I give you that? You and your foundation stand to make a fortune.

I am merely asking for your guarantee that you will maintain your neutrality and protect your investment. All right. You have my personal guarantee. Now, who are you? I can only apologize I. I'm afraid there's absolutely nothing I can do for your friends now.

It was naive of me to expect you to keep your word. That is a little unfair. It's just that it's out of my hands. Look, Avon, it is against all the rules and it's a risk I really shouldn't take.

But I am prepared to let you stay here. What about the pursuit ships? When your friends detect them, they will presumably run or fight.

They will have no other choice, in which case they may escape. Or more probably, they will be destroyed. Either way, the Federation need never know that you're here on the station.

You can work here in peace and safety. Well, what do you say? I shall need to go back to the Liberator to collect a few things.

Trailer: 00:15:09

Good.

Trailer: 00:15:11

You made the right decision.

Trailer: 00:15:13

Pursuit Leader to all crews. Force standby.

Garry: 00:15:17

Some fantastic little scenes like that in this one, bud. What you come on to.

March: 1978

And the synopsis from the VHS release is the implant in Gann's brain was designed to limit aggressive impulses, but when it malfunctions, he is in urgent need of neurosurgery. But will the doctors at space station research xk72 aid a wanted criminal?

So, dude, this was another one of those episodes where we've gone through the series and we've. As we've mentioned a few times now, we flip flopped between the.

The main crux of the series narrative, which is Serval, and hiring Travis to take down Blake because Blake wants to take down the Federation. We've got this kind of cat and mouse thing going on with those guys. This one's one of those departure episodes.

It's nothing really too heavy going on in terms of the Federation. They don't get alerted until later on in the episode. So the, the. The main thing is to save Gan.

So it was the episode back with his limiter malfunctioned before, didn't it? Yeah, it was an earlier episode back in the series where it didn't go quite as nuts in as it did in this episode.

But yeah, he definitely has a weird sort of thing going on. Was it the Web or Time Squad? I can't remember back. It was one of the earlier episodes. Fast forward to now. And he's really in a bad way. So the, the.

The limiter that's in his head has malfunctioned and the only way to save him is to find somewhere within the vicinity of the galaxy that they can find a neurosurgeon or similar. And Xen is trying to direct them off to planets that are, you know, too far away. Gan won't last that long.

But they find this little space station which is neutral ground, so it's not aligned with the Federation, it's not aligned with anyone else. It's just this independent research station, which is perfect. But obviously one of the guys on board has other views, shall we say.

Yeah, about Blake and his crew and. And all that stuff and what's going on wider sort of politically within. Within the. The galaxy at that point.

So a nice little departure story and a good. A good outing for Gan, mostly just because we said over the last few episodes that those guys feel a little bit sidelined in the last few episodes.

So it's good to see one of the other crew having a bit more to do. Not necessarily out and about. There's no fancy location stuff, but. So it is all kind of performance based as. As these things are.

But yeah, Gan is the focus of the story and. But somebody else steals the show, as usual, which I'll come on to, bud, which you probably guess, but yeah.

So what are your thoughts then, as somebody who's seen this for many times revisiting this story, what did you think overall to break Breakdown?

Adam: 00:18:38

Well, some.

Somebody on IMDb mate, has described this as the most boring Blake's 7 episode ever, which I ferociously disagree with, because although I don't think it's a fan favorite, I actually really like this episode. I like the fact that after a couple of weeks of getting nothing to do, we go back to this thing of Gan having a limiter and we explore that.

And I think that's good because I think when we reviewed the other episode where they talked about Limiter, which, like you, I'm struggling to remember now, was it Time Squad, I can't think now or the Web? Anyway, you know, I think I said it was. It seemed like a bit of a throwaway idea.

Like I wasn't sure why he'd suddenly got this limiter because we hadn't heard about it before. So I think it's nice that they've gone back and now it's malfunctioning, which creates.

I mean, the episode just kicks straight in with the action straight away again, like knocking people out left, right and center. He's. He's almost going a bit Bruce Banner, you know, he's turning into the Hulk Going mad. So there's. It's a great start to the intro to the episode.

Then he's restraint and then we get a bit of world building. We're on this spaceship that's neutral, so we're. We're still, you know, the Federation is still lurking in the background of the story.

But like you said, it's more about this, this other part of the story. So I think there's some great stuff going on here.

We've got Avon getting so fed up with Blake risking his life, never mind the rest of the crew by going through this. I thought it was a black hole, but it's not. It's.

Whatever it is, this swirly thing that he's decided he's had enough and he sees if there's a way he could, you know, escape the Liberator and go and work with these guys on the XK72. So that creates some great tension.

And for me, although I think some people might describe this for a bit, where there's a filler episode, I think there's much more to it than that. I think there's some great tension that builds throughout the episode with Gan being so. Such a loose canon.

Like when he's doing that thing with his hand when he's restrained, you know, you think. You just know he's going to escape again. And which he does. He convinces C to let him go. And so that all kicks off again and Avon's.

Zen's playing up and Avon's trying to disconnect him and, well, actually disconnects himself, doesn't he? But there's just loads going on. I think this is a good episode. I enjoy it.

Not putting up there as one of the all time best, but I think it's a good, fun episode with some good action. So good tension. The cast all get stuff to do.

You feel like the cast are all working together, the crew are all working together to save Gan and Avon and is off and all sorts. So for me, there's plenty going on in this and I like it. I certainly wouldn't describe it as the most boring episode of Blake Salmon episode.

I think it's a good one. So, yeah, I like this one, mate. As I said, I don't want to gush over it too much because it's not the best, but it's. I think it's a good one.

Garry: 00:21:42

Yeah, I'd agree with that. I don't think. Is it the most exciting episode we've seen thus far? No. But is it a boring watch? Absolutely not. I Don't think it's boring at all.

I think it relies. It relies more on the character building and the wider view of what's going on. That. That's the appeal for me.

You know, we spoke about, when we gave our scores for Project Avalon.

Sorry, the scores for Duel, we were saying that the story itself gets really ploddy as we get midway through the story where they get teleported down to the, the forest and the light location stuff. We were saying that in there. In terms of the story, I would class that one as a, you know, as a. And I, I really don't.

I don't want to use the words filler or anything like that because for me personally, and I truly, this is my true opinion, I don't think any episode has been filler, but I think there are some points in that episode where it's just a little bit.

You know, scenes could have been half the time they were, and, and things could have moved on and they could have included some extra stuff and, you know, hindsight's amazing and, you know, all that stuff.

But, but with this episode, I can, I can kind of see why somebody would say that, that it's a boring episode, etc, but I feel like they're kind of missing the point a little bit of what the episode is trying to get across. It's, it's not trying to be. It's not trying to be a physically exciting watch. There's no breaking into the, the space station, you know, SK72.

It's not this, you know, they come across as neutral, but really they're, you know, you know, aligned with the Federation and there's a big shootout between them and Blake's crew and, and all this stuff, it's.

It's more about understanding that even though there are neutral parties that could go either way with Blake, where they could help him, or they could, you know, rat them out to the, to the Federation, etc, which does happen, of course. It's understanding that stuff and understanding the, the point in which everybody has a break.

Everybody has that point where they just think, I'm just done. You know, I've tried to do this. I don't agree with that. And these things have not gone in. And I'm referring to Avon, of course.

You know, it gets, it's understanding the progression between the, the him and Blake and their opposing views on things and the breaking point that Avon's got to where he, he genuinely feels like Blake has gone a step too far by endangering the crew and making these stupid Decisions and. Etc in his point of view at least.

And so then as we go through the story, him realizing that actually it does come back to what somebody mentioned a few episodes ago, where they'll never be safe because the, the guy on the station, Kane, who is the neuro physician, of course contacts the Federation, tells them that Blake is, is there and all the rest of it. So Avon then knows immediately is like, even in a neutral situation, there's still a problem. Yeah, there's still a threat and there's still this.

Even though that the captain of the station, Farron, even though he says to him, look, you have my word, you know, you can stay here, it's fine, you know, there's no problem. Avon clicks, doesn't he? He's like, I shouldn't have been so naive.

Even though Farron didn't wrap them out or grass them up, he's still aware of there's a, there's a problem there. And then he reverts back to, you know, I was better off with Blake ultimately.

Adam: 00:25:39

Yes.

Garry: 00:25:41

So yeah, it's, it's that kind of thing. It's that storytelling and that pushing through of the narrative and understanding what's going on. It's a little bit like.

It's not an exact comparison comparison or analogy, but it's a little bit like some of the moments in the Star wars films, especially in the prequel Star wars films, where people used to complain about the political side of things. You know, when some people were just like, all I want to see is like lightsabers and pew, pew, pew and, and all that stuff.

I'm not really into the political side of things. It's that stuff that is the core world building and the character progression and the, the context and the rationale for doing things.

It's exactly the same here with Blake. I think the point of this episode is to get across to people like, look, these are the things that are happening.

And this is exactly why you're seeing Blake and these people doing the things that they're doing.

Adam: 00:26:35

Yeah.

Garry: 00:26:35

You know, so for me, dude, that was the appeal of the episode, the performances once again, but just that I was happy to watch this and not expect any sort of shootouts or space battles or, or anything going on. It was kind of cool.

We got a Brucie bonus that we've got the, that we've got the, the gravity whirlpool that throws a bit of a spanner in the works for them. And, and the thing with Gan, who is, we know he's, you know, he's cracking up. But he comes across to Callie as all well. And he kicks off again.

And so there are these little cool little bits that go on in there. But I was happy to not have that stuff. I was just happy to have, you know, the conversations come to light about the stuff that's going on.

So, boring episode. Absolutely not.

Adam: 00:27:21

Yeah. And I think maybe it's easy to say it's boring because a lot of it is set on the Liberator. You know, it's quite.

I don't know if it was like the budget episode or whatever. A lot of it utilizes the Liberator set, but I'm. I'm quite happy with that. It's a bit like in Doctor who, when we get to explore the tardis.

I always love it when we get to see a bit more of the TARDIS or the Liberator, you know, even if it's just those hexagonal corridors. I just love, love seeing more of the Liberator. So I'm quite happy for the episode to be mainly set on that.

And I think the cast do a great job of selling the fact that they're in danger. There is a tension throughout the episode when really they're just stood on a soundstage.

You know, it's all down to the performances of the cast to bring this story to life, pretty much.

You know, even the stuff with Gan, I think he's quite unnerving when his hand is twitching and he's, you know, he's confined by that thing and you just know he's going to break out somehow or get out of it, you know. So, again, I think credit to the cast.

It's interesting that you mentioned Jewel as well, because it was in the back of my head the whole time I was enjoying this episode. I was thinking, Jewel is a fan favorite. People like Jewel as an episode. And I'm thinking. I kept thinking, they're going to be.

Listeners are going to be thinking, how can you enjoy this, you know, more than Jewel, or as much as Jewel? What I would say is I think the concept and the storyline of jewelry is brilliant, but like you said, for me, it just gets a bit ploddy.

Whereas, I don't know, the storyline may not be as strong in Breakdown, but I just find it. There's more going on. I find it a more entertaining watch.

I feel the tension a bit more in this episode and I think Via Lorimer does a great job directing it as well.

There's some really good shots, you know, like, we get a good shot of Gan in that machine, but it's sort of from his feet upwards and it just creates this sort of claustrophobia of him being trapped and, you know, all the stuff of the Liberator when they're, you know, when it starts going through the whirlpool or whatever it is, I think there's a good direction going on which keeps. Keeps the episode moving along. And then Julian Glover pops up and I love Julian Glover. So that adds another sort of point onto the.

To the score as well, because I think he's great and he plays the character very Julian Gloverish. Like he's.

He's really good, I think, as Kane, especially when he works out who the crew are and he just sits there taking his time, waiting for the Federation. I think he's great in it, so I know we'll come on to him, but this is what I mean, mate.

Jewel is a great episode, a good concept, but I don't know, something about Breakdown. I just find it a more entertaining watch overall, which I think a lot of listeners will probably be screaming at me right now. And I get it.

I do get why they like Jaws so much and. And perhaps prefer it to this one, but it's just personal taste. I just. Just think this is quite a cool little episode.

Garry: 00:30:16

Yes. Yeah, I imagine, Yeah. A couple of listeners like, guys, what are you doing? What are you talking about? But I mean, it's kind of.

It does play into the whole.

There's, of course, with anything that you watch, whether it's a film or a TV series, whatever, there's always that level of subjectivity where what's cool for you might not be cool for somebody else and. And all that, but there are some. Typically, with this sort of thing, there are.

Fandom does lean into sort of certain episodes that gain traction and, you know, and start to do that. So. So, yeah, like you, bud, I can completely see why it would be a case of Duel. Would be, I think maybe because there's some.

Some larger things at play in that one. Even though it's a. A reasonably isolated story, you do have this kind of face off between Blake and Travis and. Yeah. Which is a big appeal for.

For this first series to see. To see how that progresses. That, like I said, that cat and mouse thing where Travis is after him.

And even when they're put in situations that are completely out of their control, like with Duel, when they, you know, with those dudes that take them down to the. To the Planet and. And Cinefar, essentially just.

Adam: 00:31:35

I was gonna say you're calling him dudes, but yeah, Cinefar and Gila on it. No, sorry, not Gila.

Garry: 00:31:44

Xerox. Yeah. Our memories are. Listener. You will get to realize this, that our memories are absolutely shocking.

Adam: 00:31:51

Yeah. He's got no excuse. He's seen these episodes a million times on terrible. With names.

Garry: 00:31:56

We are. Yeah.

Anyway, so they were put in that kind of situation, but you still had that sort of two in and throwing between the two of them you had Travis's just utter determination to take Blake down. It seems at this point, with or without the backing of the Federation, he just wants to. To take him out.

And then you've got Blake who's the more sort of calm headed, you know, can see the bigger picture, doesn't want to get drawn into this endless battle with Travis and just would rather just bugger off and do his thing and you know, and keep. Keep Travis guessing and stuff. So even in that situation. Yeah, I can totally see that.

But with stories like this we can't, you couldn't progress and have further stories and further storylines about Gan without doing this stuff first, you know, because we've been, we've been shown things about the limiter in his head and it's been referenced a couple of times already and all that stuff. It would be a bit of a sort of, you know, when you get to the end of something you're like, what did happen with Gan's limiter?

You know, it's like, what, what? Because they alluded to something was going to happen with it and it malfunctioned a little bit before and.

But they kind of just left it, you know, so it's cool that they've gone and they've gone in and like I said at the beginning, given somebody else a little bit of screen time which we've not seen thus far to explore.

Adam: 00:33:20

He needed it, didn't he? I mean Gal has been just. He's had nothing to do for about three episodes. So.

Yeah, I think that's the other reason I enjoyed this one mate, is because it was so nice.

Although he gets to lie down for a lot of the episode, he's still giving a great performance and it's just nice to have this limiter singing explored a bit more. And it's such a simple idea that it's, it's, you know, it's got this little something.

It's got this little burn mark on it which is causing it to go wrong, which is making him go crazy.

You know, it's such a simple idea, but it works in, in the way it plays into the narrative of the storyline, of him, you know, knocking people out, wrecking the Liberator and as the Federation are on their way and all this sort of stuff, it just all comes together in terms of the sort of thread of the. The actual story, I think. But yeah, it's nice for Gan to get something to do at last, even if it is just lying down and, and twitching.

Garry: 00:34:17

Yeah, yeah. And normally, save the trivia for the end, but Julian Glover's married to Ida Blair who played Cinefar.

Adam: 00:34:26

Is he?

Garry: 00:34:27

Yeah.

Adam: 00:34:28

Did not. Gosh, man, I thought I was an expert on this stuff and I know nothing. I did not know that. Wow, that's cool.

Garry: 00:34:35

t or not, they got married in: 1968

Adam: 00:34:38

Ah.

Garry: 00:34:40

And he's still going strong, you know. Julian Glover, he's 89.

Adam: 00:34:43

Great. He's great. I've met him at LFCC. I really like Julian Glover. He was, he was really nice when I met him.

Garry: 00:34:48

Yeah, he's. I've met him. Wasn't LFCC something else years ago? He was doing a Star wars thing.

Adam: 00:34:56

All right. Yeah.

Garry: 00:34:57

And yeah, he was such a cool guy. But in terms of tv, he was working up until a couple of years ago in Willow.

But then in terms of films, he's just finished filming something that's in post production and there's a. Something. A project that's ongoing at the moment, which is in pre production, which he's going to star in. So he's still, he's still going.

Adam: 00:35:19

Oh, his CV must be huge. I mean, so much, so much. I mean, obviously my favorite Gillian Glover thing, it's. It's not James Bond.

I mean, I like him in that, but obviously it's a scar off in City of Death. I mean, I can't even seeing him turn up in this. I can't help but think, ah, it's Scaro, you know. But yeah, he's great and he's. Yeah, he's done loads.

Garry: 00:35:42

He has. Yeah. And. And his performance. We'll get onto his performance in a second because I've got a little theory on something.

Adam: 00:35:52

Oh.

Garry: 00:35:53

And. But overall he was very good. We'll get onto that in a moment. But story wise, dude, in just terms of wrapping up the story, it's. It was a.

I think probably that's the bit that potentially is the boring takeaway that some people might have with it. Like you said, a lot of it is on the Liberator.

Adam: 00:36:12

Yes.

Garry: 00:36:13

Only a couple of little bits are on XK72. There's oh, that design. By the way, I am going to gush over the model design again in Blake's 7.

Personally, I don't see what other people have said about this show. It could be coming. There could be a model coming that's like, okay, I can see why.

But up to this point, dude, the, the, the old school original model work for some of these ships has just been fantastic, man.

Adam: 00:36:45

Mm.

Garry: 00:36:46

Very, very cool. And the space station is no different. It's got, it's got the expected look that you would see. That you would expect to see. Sorry.

For something like a space station, it's got, it's. They haven't pushed the boat out and done some weird, crazy looking design.

It's as you would expect it to look, but it just looks so well placed and at home within this universe. It just looks bang on, you know?

Adam: 00:37:12

Yeah. I mean, I may have to eat my words when it comes to models, cuz I haven't.

Like you, I haven't seen a bad one yet or certainly not one that I think looks, you know, even if you, like you said, the design looks good. Even if you can sort of see it's a bit patched together. I mean, the Liberator we have, we, we could gush over all day. It's gorgeous.

The pursuit ships I absolutely love. Even though it's just the camera zooming towards them to make it look like. I don't care. They look great.

And yeah, xk72 has a little bit of a fairy washing up liquid bottle look about it. But I like it, you know. No, I mean there's. They're charming, mate. And they are. They're not as.

So far I'll agree with you, they're not as shoddy as perhaps reputation would have.

Garry: 00:37:58

No, I agree. So I think story wise, that would be maybe the reason. I think the other reason, it's probably because we've got. At this point, we've.

When we've got these episodes that are not kind of Blake vs Federation based where it's a bit more of a detour. There is potentially that kind of rinse and repeat thing happening a little bit.

So, you know, with Villa complaining about going the long way round at the end of the web.

Adam: 00:38:29

Yeah.

Garry: 00:38:30

Because Blake had to get from somewhere to somewhere. But there was some kind of obstacle that the Liberator couldn't quite, you know, sort itself out and you know, it was the asteroid problem, I think.

Was it the asteroid problem? Yeah. And. And then with the web, of course, the actual physical web, you know, causing a problem. For the ship, they couldn't leave.

And then for this episode it's about Blake having to get somewhere. But then they throw in the gravity whirlpool, you know, and that's an obstacle for the Liberator to try and get through.

So potentially there's that kind of, you know, we've, we've been here before a couple of times already in terms of the story beats. So I can, I can totally see why people would say it's, you know, potentially a boring episode. But story wise, dude, I thought it was not too bad.

Just fairly sort of run of the mill sort of stuff. We need to save Gan, we need to get here. Let's do that. But now there's a bit of a problem, as you'd expect.

Adam: 00:39:34

I am looking forward to watching this with the new effects actually. Although I will always favor the originals. This is one episode where I can see where they would put in, you know like the, the swirly thing.

What is it? I can't remember it.

Garry: 00:39:49

Gravity whirlpool.

Adam: 00:39:51

That's the one that sounds like a washing machine. You know, if you send the new XK72 gravity whirlpool, it's, it's a cracker.

But yeah, when, you know, I can imagine they've updated that on the new one. I'll probably give this a watch with the new effects. Actually I should have done last night, but I started watching the Michael E.

Bryant interview instead. But yeah, there's a couple of bits in this which I think they would have, would have put new bits on and including the model shots.

So I'll be interested to see what they've done with that. I'll tell you what mate. You know I mentioned Vera Lorima just before we, just before we move on, you know, I said about the direction being good.

There's a couple of shots in this where if you freeze frame it or even if you just eagle eyed where you see the sides of the Liberator set, I mean, you know the, there's a, there's a cracking zoom in shot of the whole set right from the front of it. But if you pause it, you can actually see the whole outside of the set.

You can actually see the curtain hanging above it if you, if you freeze frame it.

But, but what actually made me notice first of all was the, when Gan is having the fight, the camera actually, yeah, we're like, yeah, you see the side of the, the set and I think you can even see someone's legs on the left hand side. I've never noticed this before, but it, but the reason I mention it is not to nitpick. I, I don't care.

I love, I kind of love all this stuff, but it just made me appreciate how tight that set is on that side because there's a bit where they sort of zoom into Blake speaking and having just seen the side of that set and someone's legs, I'm thinking, gosh, if that shot wasn't as tight as it is, we would be seeing the side of the set right now. So although it looks like quite a big set, the Liberator, obviously one side of it which is where the cameras are, there is nothing.

And yeah, it was just surprising for me to see, you know, that that made it onto screen, I guess, timing thing and it is so quick. I doubt anyone even noticed at the time.

Certainly viewers wouldn't have noticed but with modern day technology and you know, it being cleaned up as well as it has been the picture and, and being able to freeze frame this stuff. I was loving seeing bits of the Liberator Anson before. Sorry.

Garry: 00:42:06

Yeah, I noticed it when the fight scene when Gan's kicking off on the.

Adam: 00:42:11

That's it.

Garry: 00:42:12

And there's a bit where him and Blake having a bit of a scuffle and the camera's obviously down low and it's looking up for a few seconds and you can see the top sort of structure of the set and then the lighting at the top as well.

Adam: 00:42:27

Yeah, yeah, but it's only on screen.

Garry: 00:42:29

For like a couple of seconds but it's like blink or miss it. But I did notice that. I was like, oh, they're getting a bit going offset a tad.

But I guess if you, if you, if you weren't looking for it then you wouldn't, you know, you wouldn't notice it unless like us, when you're sort of looking at it from a review perspective, then you might do.

Adam: 00:42:48

Yeah, well, I've certainly never noticed it before and it just, it just made me think of, I can't remember what director it was that got told off. It's one of the Doctor who, Peter Davidson stories.

He got told off for shooting underneath this sort of gallery and you could see the studio lights very clearly and I remember him getting a ticking off about that for the fact that he was, you know, showing the set and I just thought, yeah, it's, you know, with this it's much worse. You can actually see the sides of the Liberator. But yeah, I don't know, just went under the radar I guess.

But that said, great Direction from Via Lorima, I thought on this, actually.

Garry: 00:43:22

Very cool. Yeah, because it's there. It's kind of directing in two halves, if you like.

One half of the direction is probably making sure the tension is building up because that's what happens when, especially when Kane and the other Doctor arrive on the Liberator to operate on Gan.

It's then a race against the clock because they're aware that the Federation have been alerted, they're on their way, they know exactly how long they're going to be. So. And then you've got this stalling effect that Kane, you know, he doesn't want to operate on him. He sees these guys as criminals, essentially.

So he stalls and the other guys get annoyed with him and the tension starts to build up. So you've got that stuff. And then obviously the fight scenes, we just mentioned little scraps with Gan.

But then on the other side of it, you've got those more calmer episodes where it's just a conversation between a couple of people. And so you need to make sure that the.

That it's being put across to the viewer crystal clear what's being said between a couple of people or a few people. And so I'd imagine the. That Via Lorimer had a bit of. A bit of fun trying to figure out how they were going to do those things.

Because essentially, if you don't figure it out beforehand, you end up with, and we've mentioned it a few times on classic Doctor who, you end up with this very static looking story that's. That's put to screen where there's not much going on in the way of camera angles. It's all very like, let's place a camera here and that's it.

You know, we're just going to film this bit and then we're going to cut and move on. And it's quite static. So, yeah, good direction, dude.

Adam: 00:44:57

Yeah. Because fight sequences around this time can be very hit and miss, can't they? And I think actually as a, you know, the fight sequences in this.

Well, not really fights, are they? But the bit where Gan's going crazy at the start, I think is very well done.

I think the bit where he grabs poor old Jenna almost makes me jump, even though I know it's coming. And the bit where he gets Callie again, you know, it's going to come. And maybe that's why I'm on edge, because, you know, again, it's got.

Almost got a hammer horror feel to it. It's like a real jumpy moment. Scary Moment.

So, yeah, I think the direction is really good and I think the fight sequences are good for the time as well. Like you said, if they hadn't been planned properly, it could have looked pretty ropey. But they don't. They look good, I think.

Don't know if it's handheld camera, would they have had that back then? But it looks. Feels like it, doesn't it?

Garry: 00:45:42

It does feel like it. Maybe they did, potentially. Yeah. Film cameraman was Ken Willicombe back in the day. So fair. So props to him.

Adam: 00:45:54

Yeah.

Garry: 00:45:55

Along along with the. Along with the director. You know, it's very. It's easy. Like I said, it's very, very easy. Especially back in the day when cameras weren't as nimble.

Adam: 00:46:04

No.

Garry: 00:46:05

You know, and as easy to. To manipulate in. Even in close sets like this.

Yeah, it would have been very, very difficult to try and create a sense of fluidity on the screen and action and so on. So, yeah, massive thumbs up for. For wrangling those big cameras.

Adam: 00:46:25

Can't. You can almost see it. The bit in the story I thought you'd like is the bit with Avon. I thought when he.

When he's had enough of Blake and he says, I'm finished. And then he asks, is it Villa? I can't remember. Who does he ask? He says, why do you stay with Blake? You know, he's kind of sussing them out and.

And I thought that might be the bit of the story you liked, because I think this is sort of building a while that Bayone's. I don't know.

We were sort of questioning why he's still there, because he's clearly not happy and he's a bit rankled with them following Blake like sheep. And he's always the one to sort of huff and go along with it, but you don't get the feeling he's that happy on the Liberator.

So I thought that might be the bit of the story you enjoyed. I don't know. You tell me. But the fact that he's finally almost ready to leave and make this bargain with these guys on this XK72. But then he.

He does the right thing. When he realizes there they're gonna get probably killed, he goes back and he does do the right thing in the end. But did you.

Did you like that part of the story, mate? Were you. Were you thinking Avon was off? Or did you think, no, he won't do it, mate.

Garry: 00:47:32

That was my favorite part of the story?

Adam: 00:47:34

I thought so, yeah.

Garry: 00:47:36

Yeah, it's been so. It's Been amazing to watch from Space Fall. It's been amazing to watch those two characters having this will they, won't they thing going on.

Will he stick around? Will he, will he finally buy into Blake's plan and accept the fact that he is a part of the crew and all the rest of it, or is he gonna jump ship?

Is he, is he still got. Is he on the fence? Is it all this to in and throwing and questioning his, his thing?

Because the, the way that he's been written and sometimes I think it's very easy. You and I were talking about this before we recorded. I think it's very, very easy to throw all of the acclaim over to Terry Nation.

And I'm for the bulk of it, it is.

But I'm wondering who came up with so much just genius writing for, for Avon and Paul Darrow to say, okay, as we go through the series, we need to have this, you know, is he gonna go, is he gonna stay thing. And the fact that they dedicated time to that in every episode, for the most part, it's just been so good.

And for me as a newcomer, it's one of the things that as I've latched onto, as I've gone through the series, it's been almost an anchor narrative point.

Not just the sort of the Blake versus Federation thing and not just Serval and Travis after Blake and that stuff, which are all very cool, but this thing with Avon and Blake has been so good and almost like soap opera esque kind of thing in a way.

It's almost like the, you know, when you're watching a soap and you have like this thing with characters who have, you know, someone's murdered, like EastEnders. I don't watch it.

But, you know, anyone from the UK will, will know these sort of big storylines over the years where somebody's been murdered and then you have this, you know, someone's in on it. And then as you go through the months, it's like, will they shop them, you know, will they grass them up? Are they going to get found all this stuff?

And it keeps the viewers coming back because it's this ongoing, not the central storyline, but it's that thing like what's going on with those two. So these two characters are very much that.

And so when we got to this point and you saw, you saw Avon essentially get to the end of his tether because he feels like in his head he's making rational decisions for the safety of the crew. Now, even if you don't agree with those decisions, you can't argue with the fact that he is doing that.

He is basically saying, look, we need to, you know, he's one of the first ones to say, look, this is a, a potential suicide mission or this is not going to work, or this is crazy, or you're endangering everybody, Blake, with this sort of thing.

Even though it wouldn't make for very good tv, you know, if every time they listen to Avon they just thought, oh yeah, cool, you know, we'll bugger off. You can't deny that he's generally making decisions or he's trying to get a decision over to Blake that's going to be beneficial to everybody.

Blake normally shoots him down. He's like, nope, we're doing this.

Adam: 00:50:50

Yeah.

Garry: 00:50:50

So you can see the frustration that's built up in him and you can see the almost confusion at times as to why other crew members just are following Blake blindly. You can see he's like, why you'd, you know, we're, we're very, very close to being destroyed completely by the Federation.

Why are you still following Blake's orders knowing that, you know, do you have no self preservation? Do you not want to survive? Do you not want to escape and all the rest of it? And it's.

I'll tell you what, mate, it's another episode where Paul Darrow has just completely stolen it for me. And those two scenes where, that I played in the clip where he's talking to Farron and I think Farron's got a bit of a crush on him, you know.

Adam: 00:51:39

Do you reckon?

Garry: 00:51:40

Yeah, yeah, totally. Because there's no, there's no reason why somebody like Avon should be on board because he wasn't.

If you think about what Avon's bargaining chip was, he basically said, look, something.

Adam: 00:51:53

About matter transmission, isn't it?

Garry: 00:51:55

Yeah, essentially he's gonna, you know, the teleport thing, he's basically gonna say, look, I know about this stuff. But when he says that to Farron, Farron's not really blown away. He's not like, oh my God, this is like the thing that we need.

This is like the one thing that's gonna bring whatever. He's just like, okay. Really? Yeah, okay. You know, he's not really bowled over too much. You know, he's kind of semi impressed.

He's like, okay, this would be cool, but do you know what I mean? He's not really, he's not sort of thing like we're gonna put everything else on hold.

This is the thing that's gonna bring us money or fame or whatever it might be or research, whatever it is.

It's not until the scene later on, the second bit in the clip that you heard where he's like, look, even after everything that's happened, I'm still willing to let you stay. And there's no talk about any. There's no bargaining at that point in the conversation. He's just like, you know, I think so. I.

You know, I think there's a little bit of a. A bit of a crush on Farron's crush. Yeah, I think.

Adam: 00:52:58

Sorry, pick up on that. Oh, sorry, go.

Garry: 00:53:01

Yeah, just lastly, before you get onto that, so. And Avon's 180 at the end is also just a great watch.

You know, I mentioned earlier in this review, I was like, you know, Avon comes to the conclusion that, yes, he has the. The ability right now to jump ship, stay on the space station, see a Blake, best of luck, blah, blah, blah.

Adam: 00:53:26

Yeah.

Garry: 00:53:26

But he comes to the realization that they're never safe. There will always be somebody like Kane who doesn't agree with the rebellion, or whatever you want to call it, the uprising.

Things that are going on, they will buy into this kind of brainwashing that the Federation has put out there, that this. So he realizes there'll always be someone like that. So he's better off with Blake, essentially, at this point, anyway, so.

It was an amazing performance from Paul Darrow. I love those scenes.

Adam: 00:53:58

He's very unique. Paul Darrow, isn't it? Isn't he?

Because his delivery and the way he plays the character is so, I don't know, unique that he just brings that character to life. I mean, I love Avon same as you May. I think he's fantastic. He definitely made the right choice by not staying. I mean, the.

There's a bizarre scene, I think it's a bit out the blue, actually, where Kane at the end bashes someone's head in with the telephone, which sort of comes a bit out of nowhere for me. I don't know if you found that odd. It's almost as if they just saw. Let's ramp up a bit more violence in this episode.

Bash him over the head with the phone, would you? And. And then he stares at his hands, just almost as if to say, what have I done before? The spaceship is blown to pieces?

But did you find that scene a bit ott, mate? Because I did. With him. Bashing. Who is it?

Garry: 00:54:50

He's Farron. It's the.

Adam: 00:54:52

Isn't it? Yeah.

Garry: 00:54:54

Do you know what? When I first. At first glance at that scene. Yeah, exactly. That I thought, wow, this is. He's gone a bit overboard, you know.

But then when I, after I watched it and I went through my notes and, and reflected on it a little bit, you actually saw that coming. Anyway, I think regardless if Blake had turned up or not or whatever, those two just, they just don't get on.

Adam: 00:55:23

So, yeah, I guess there's a tension, yeah, exactly, yeah.

Garry: 00:55:25

So at the very beginning, Kane has got this attitude of like, look, you might be in charge, mate, but you don't. You know, I know what I'm doing.

Even if I don't have your title and your status on this, on this research station, I know exactly what I'm doing, I know what needs to be done. You can shout at me if you want to, you know, you can pull rank, whatever. I'm going to do my own thing.

So Farron's very much like, you can't be doing this stuff. You know, it has to go through the correct channels, X, Y and Z. So there was that tension that built up and then it just came to blows.

You know, I think just the, the fact that probably from Kane's point of view, probably everything that went on, on the Liberator and then the Lib, the Federation ships turning up and everything, he's probably on a bit of a high. He's probably thinking like, you know, everything's going to kick off, it's going to be great. Blake's going to be destroyed.

You know, I'll be, I'll be noted by the Federation as somebody who saved, you know, the galaxy and all that stuff. And so he's probably on a high. And then when Farron really gets under his skin and they start coming to blows again, he just loses it.

So, yeah, at first glance, when I, when I got to the end of the episode, I was, I was a bit of sort of, you know, high eyebrows. It's like, whoa, Kane's, Kane's had enough.

Adam: 00:56:40

He lost it.

Garry: 00:56:41

Yeah, but when I thought about it afterwards, like, actually, you know, those two are either going to kill one or the other one, or they were going to leave at some point, so. But it was a bit OTT at the time.

Adam: 00:56:51

I kind of see what you mean. I mean, I do think that's. That does make sense because Kane tries to be like that with Blake, doesn't he? Like, I'm in control here. He's very calm.

You know, you do this and I. And I won't perform the thing.

And then Blake completely turns it around on him, doesn't he, by saying you've got 20 minutes or I break both your hands and then your career's over, basically. And Kane just looks at him like, oh, my God, he can't. There's no way around that.

You know, he's completely lost control in five seconds of Blake saying that. I love that scene. I just thought this, you know, really strong moment from Blake, just putting him in his place. Get on with it.

You've got 20 minutes or else. No ifs, no buts. And, yeah, that would have rankled Kane. So that could play into it another slightly.

Garry: 00:57:40

Before we go on, dude.

Adam: 00:57:41

Oh, go on.

Garry: 00:57:41

Before we go on. That was actually a really dark moment from Blink, because any other situation, the threat would have been, you do this or we kill you.

Simple as that. But the. Because he knows that he's a surgeon, and the only thing that enables him to do his job is his hands. He says, I'll break your hands.

So you'll have to live with the fact that you can't do what you love doing. So I found that a real. A real dark little moment from Blake, and that was.

I think that was a threat that kind of ticked over in Kane's mind a little bit and turned the scales. But. Sorry, dude, go on.

Adam: 00:58:17

No, absolutely. And I love that line, mate. You're right to, you know, to dwell on it. It's. It's just a great moment from Blake.

And, yeah, I always wait for that line, to be honest with you, because I just love. Love that. But no, I was going to say the.

The other slightly out of character moment for me, although I like it, it strikes me that it was probably written for someone else. And they've jiggled it around. In the script is the bit where Villa comes in with a gun and tells Kane to get on with it.

Suddenly Villa's got this backbone. And I thought, I feel like that would have. Would have been in the script for Avon or Blake or even Callie or Jenna. But it doesn't seem.

It seems out of character for Villa to come in with a gun and start, you know, laying down the law. And I do wonder if Michael Keaton was saying, look, I haven't really got much going on, you know.

You know, like they used to do back in the day when they would rehearse things and they would work through the script. And like you said a couple of episodes ago about. It was supposed to be Cali that beamed down with Jenna, but then they changed in the script.

Sorry, Cali. That went down with Blake, but they changed it to Jenna in the Script, you know, things were being worked on all the time, and I.

I just wondered if that bit with Villa was. Was changed because it seems that a character for me, for Villa, who's.

Who's like this nervous, you know, sort of almost comedic character to suddenly be pointing a gun at Kane and telling him to get on with it, because nothing leads up to that. You know, I don't think Villa would have got involved, even though he wants to save Gan. I think he would have.

It's more like Villa to have gone to Callie or Jenna and said, get in there of a gun and tell him to get on with it. You know, it just seemed out of character for me. That's that little scene.

Although I liked seeing Villa step up to the plate, but I felt that was probably someone else in the script in an earlier version.

Garry: 01:00:08

Yeah, now that makes sense, dude. I think part of that is the. The episode was.

And again, this is down to my research, just what I found online, but the episode was really heavily rewritten.

Adam: 01:00:23

Was it?

Garry: 01:00:24

And essentially the.

So the first half of it was apparently, as you see on screen, based on the original script, but when they rewrote it, the space station played a much smaller part. So in the original stuff, you saw the Liberator having to go through some kind of gas cloud or fluid cloud or whatever. And then the.

There was a life form that appeared on the Liberator that only Gan can see. And then this life form ended up taking on Gan's form.

And then Blake and Gan then team up and force it into the teleport chamber and teleport it off the ship. And so the them, those guys going to the space station was a much smaller part of the.

Of the story, basically just arriving on the space station, performing on Gan, and then the Liberator buggering off before the Federation turned up.

So I would imagine, dude, that some point things like that happening, like you mentioned with Villa, which appear a little bit out of the blue as you're going through the story, is because there was a big rewrite to everything.

Adam: 01:01:36

Yeah.

Garry: 01:01:36

And so, you know, you have this kind of overlap a little bit where it's like, this is the original script, but we want to do this. But because we've done that, there might not be something that makes sense, or we need to fill in gaps here and there.

And so Villa kind of steps into one of those gaps, if that makes sense.

Adam: 01:01:53

Yeah, I definitely can see that.

Garry: 01:01:55

Yeah, that's probably why it appears a little bit out of left field, you know, because it's a big rewrite. But that scene with Villa, it's, it, it. You're absolutely right, dude.

It's kind of little bit like, I don't know, it doesn't seem like, like Villa, he's normally the one that's like, I'll sit this out, you know, where are the tea and biscuits? You know, I'll see you guys later sort of thing.

So having said that, there was a little bit of a fist pump moment though, when he does do that, because you get the feeling that he's like, he's. He's got Gand back.

They've all got Gans back because there's a few scenes where Avon again is saying, you know, this is not going to work and blah, blah, blah. And I think Jenna even says, look, we have to do it. We've got to do this, otherwise Gan's dead. And then Avon doesn't really respond.

He just walks off. And. And then Callie's obviously in the mix as well. She's looking after him and she even buys into his little ruse and, and that sort of thing.

So you kind of get the feeling at this point that. And Avon wasn't into it at this point that all the crew have got Gan's back. We'd like. We've got to do it regardless of whatever.

So, yeah, some great little scenes like that, but just. Yeah, I know what you mean. A little bit out of left field.

Adam: 01:03:05

Yeah. And actually we haven't talked much about Jenna and Cali, but I'll just.

I won't dwell too much on them, but I think I said it earlier that I think everybody get some good moments and stuff to do in this story. Even if it's just Cali looking after Gan. She's. I like the bit that she's kind of repulsed by the fact he's being restrained. She.

She says something about my people. What she say? Disapprove of that. You know, using that. Barbaric. No, we find it barbaric. I think she says, doesn't she, those restraints.

So, you know, just a nice little moment. Jenna's very much in control, keeping the Liberator afloat. Especially when Zen has a STR and swishes himself off.

Which again, I loved all that and love the anger from Avon that he's like, one day I'm going to find out who programmed that machine. He's. He's desperate to. To unplug Zen. So I loved all that stuff going on. So as I said, don't want to go on too much about them.

But I thought Jenna, once again we've said how much we like her as a character. Love seeing her taking control of the Liberator and flying it and keeping them safe and all, doing all the stuff that she does in it.

Cali, not so much to do, but she does get some great moments.

And you know, I think as I said, it all comes together to make something interesting for all the crew to be, to be doing in this, even if it's just looking after Gan.

And just lastly, mate, I know we've talked a lot about Gan, but I do think David Jackson does a great job of, of being, for want of a better word, in pain.

He, you know, when he's, when he's like hitting the side of his head and there's bits where he's like just falling against the wall when he escapes for the first time. And I feel like, I do feel sorry for Gan.

I feel like he's actually in a lot of pain and I think David Jackson does a, a good job of that without going too over the top because I do really feel for, for Gan in this story, to be honest. I do wonder if. Do you think they should have removed the limiter? They said that it was impossible to remove, didn't they? And I think thought.

I remember sort of like maybe not the first time I watched this, but I remember thinking, you know, at some point when I watched this, ah, wouldn't it have been easier just to have got rid of that storyline now? Because you're not, probably not going to do the same thing twice. So just get rid of the limiter and then that storyline's done. But they don't.

They leave it in, which I always thought was a. I thought it was an odd choice, but now I think actually maybe it was the right choice because it's.

You could have, you could go back and reuse it, I guess at some point. But do you think they should have removed the limiter?

Garry: 01:05:41

Yeah, no, I don't think so, no.

Adam: 01:05:47

You're like me.

Yeah, I was thinking they should have, but the more I've thought about it over time, I'm thinking no, I think it's more interesting having it gives Ganna a bit more of a character having this limiter in him still there, doesn't it?

Garry: 01:05:58

So I think so, yeah.

I think it, it plays into the old sci fi thing as well where you have these, you know, like with Travis, that he hasn't had his half of his face sorted out, that kind of thing. And you know, with some characters they have this physical addition to their character or it's an ailment or. Or something. It.

It provides that cool sci fi ness to his character, which is more interesting than just, I will take it out and he's healed and done and. Yeah, all the rest of itself. Yeah, like you. It applies some interesting scope moving forward.

Adam: 01:06:35

Yeah, I've definitely come around to that. That way of thinking.

I think when I've watched this previously, I've kind of thought, well, why have a story about the limiter if you're just gonna, you know, a bit like that reset thing. Why have a story about it if you're just gonna repair it and it's still there? Why not just get rid of it?

But actually, it does make more sense to leave, I guess because it does add a. Like you said with Travis with the eye patch, you know, it's still there if you need to use it. Or it adds a bit of character to Gan, gives him some.

Makes him a bit different that he's got this limiter. So. Yeah, I agree with you, actually, the more I think about it, it's good they left it.

Garry: 01:07:09

Yeah, I think so. And David Jackson had a good one. He was.

Adam: 01:07:12

Yeah.

Garry: 01:07:13

Done the whole writhing in pain and. And also the. The cuteness factor that comes out when he appeals to Cali to. Really.

Adam: 01:07:21

Yeah.

Garry: 01:07:22

You know, he's all sweet and charming.

Adam: 01:07:23

And he's like, please. Yeah, it's really. It's a nice performance.

Garry: 01:07:28

Yeah. But when he. When she's not around and he's got that kind of evil face on. Oh, yeah, yeah.

Adam: 01:07:34

When he's strangling her that. You know, when I said Hammer Horror earlier, he's got like this vague sort of vacant grin that he's sort of staring into. That. That's.

I thought that was quite good. You know what I mean? In a horrific way. It's a really unsettling scene, isn't it, that. I thought he played that really well. That's.

I would imagine that's down to the director telling him. I don't know, I just thought that was a good, Good moment.

Garry: 01:07:58

Yeah, yeah, it was. Another couple of good characters in this. Raynor, played by Christian Roberts. He was the assistant to Kane. He was.

He was more than just your average extra or additional cast member. You know, he was. He actually had a strong opinion about the views of the Federation and challenging Kane on those things. You know, he. His.

His motive essentially was to save a man's life. And the fact that Kane wanted to almost use Gan's life as a.

As a Mechanism to get the Federation involved in order to store them so they, you know, they could be captured or destroyed, whatever. It was quite evil from that respect. It was sort of good old fashioned.

You know, my, my motive and my view for doing something outweighs all of you because I feel it's the right thing to do from Kane's point of view. And you had Reno challenging that and, and a couple of heated conversations as well between the two of them which showed the tension.

I think that was an important theme that was in this story.

And you know, whoever was doing the, the filling the gaps or doing the rewrites or wrangling the script to put these things across deserves a, you know, huge praise. Of course, Terry Nation did probably the groundwork, but as you were.

And I were saying probably Dave Maloney and Chris Bowsher and so on, I think those guys deserve just as much, if not more credit because the, the themes that you see from just those intricate little character moments is the tension between them which is really shines.

So we've seen it from the beginning, obviously with Blake and Avon, but then with very early on a little something between Jenna and Callie and then some other episodes you see tension between Travis and one of the mutoids and then now Cervalan and Travis. There's tension there.

And then when you fast forward to this bit, you've got tension between Cain and Farron and now between Khaine and Raynor and that sort of thing. So all of these sort of tensions that are there between these key characters are.

They just start to boil up and up and up and up and, and I think that's. Those are the little things that are kind of a step behind the main narrative that really make this show so good for me.

Which is why a couple of episodes I've scored it based mainly on performances more than story and that sort of thing in some cases.

So yeah, that the, the, the interactions between Reno and Kane and, and Farron and Kane was very good, but Christian Roberts was, was very good as a side character. He got the memo.

Adam: 01:10:43

Yeah, I mean it's, it's interesting as well because when he first comes on board he's. You might be forgiven for saying he's a bit of a. Oh yeah, because he says, oh, it's a. Full of pretty girls and all that.

And you think, oh, who's this guy? But then once he realizes what Kane's doing, he's. Yeah, he steps up, doesn't he? And he's like, if you're not going to do this, then I.

I'm not going to stand here and let. And the character suddenly kicks into gear. But yeah, he is good by the end of it.

I think it's just his initial first few lines, perhaps a bit of their time.

Garry: 01:11:14

A bit creepy. Yeah, yeah.

Adam: 01:11:16

A bit cringe.

Garry: 01:11:17

Yeah, yeah. And it was absolutely TV of its time. You know, we're not here to criticize that in a modern day way of thinking or viewing. It's.

It's just there to be. To be viewed, isn't it? Of its. Of its time. Absolutely.

Adam: 01:11:30

Yeah. I got wash you, mate. Before we wrap up. Did you think that there were two little scenes where. Because we've talked about how.

How good the car started and they are. They're great. But there's two scenes where I felt like in the first one, I felt like Avon was. Paul Darrow was really trying hard not to corpse.

And it's when he's talking to Blake and I've never noticed this before, but he really looks like he's holding back. Laugh. I'm trying to think what the line is. I thought I'd written it down. He's like, all right, I'll give it a go or something like that.

And it just looks like he's got this smile. And I don't know if that's Avon or if that's Paul Darrow trying not to laugh. But there's also a bit where Gareth Thomas.

I feel like he's trying not to laugh. When Callie comes in and says she's just been beaten up by Gan and he's like, are you all right? And he's sort of almost got this like chuckle.

And again, I feel like he's trying not to cope. So I don't know if the crew were just having too much of a good time making this, but did you pick up on that, mate? Or am I just imagining that? That.

But just both those times I felt like they were both trying not to corpse. Try not to laugh.

Garry: 01:12:36

Yes. Yeah. You could see that. Paul Darrow.

There was a couple of times where I think if the camera had stayed on or if they hadn't edited out, he probably would have cracked up.

Adam: 01:12:45

It looked like he was gonna crack up. Yeah. Like laughing. I mean, not bashing someone with a phone cracker. I mean, laughing.

Garry: 01:12:52

Yeah. No, 100%. Yeah, there was. And we've mentioned this a couple of times, haven't we?

Where not the fact that Paul Darrow is going to start laughing as much, but we're not suited to the situation.

Paul Darrow plays A couple of scenes and delivers a couple of lines where he's got this big grin on his face, and you think, you know, things are about to go down, dude. Like, you know, you're in. You're in danger. Blake's asking you to do something, and you've got this kind of, you know, strange.

I mean, don't get me wrong, that's. In my opinion, that's the genius performance from Paul Darrow where he's not playing it as you would expect it.

So things like when he's asking him to go and, like, reprogram a computer or something because, you know, stuff's going down and they're in danger. Blake's like, right, okay, Callie, you do this. Jenna, you're on the controls. You know, Villa, whatever. They all just fall in line.

You know, they're all like, yes, Blake, yep, we'll do it. And, you know, we could talk about this bit for quite a long time. We won't do. But that's.

That lends to the frustration of Avon because he can't stand it when the crew do. When. When. When they do that, when Blake says, okay, we need to do this, and, like, sheep, like you mentioned earlier, they all just do it.

Adam: 01:14:07

Yeah.

Garry: 01:14:08

And so the way that Avon reacts to Blake with this kind of smile on his face and stuff like that, I think it's a. And, like, almost laughing in the situation. I think it's a way of Paul Darrow, through the character saying, you know, this is. I'll do this, Blake.

But no, 100%, this has the potential to go completely tits up.

Adam: 01:14:32

This is on you. Yeah, exactly. That's what I mean. I don't know if he is corpsing, and I don't want to accuse him of it if they're not.

But again, but that's what I love about Avon, this unpredictability of the way he delivers his lines, the way he acts. And I just thought, is that Paul Darrow holding back a laugh, or is that Paul Darrow just. Is that Avon just being a bit unhinged, as usual, you know?

But I love stuff like that. It's. It is not a criticism. I love stuff like that. But I just wondered if you'd picked up on it, really.

Because I just thought both of those times, it felt like they were perhaps having a bit of fun and trying not to enjoy themselves too much and get back into character. I don't know.

Garry: 01:15:09

Maybe it was. Maybe they had resumed filming after a few pints.

Adam: 01:15:14

Oh, maybe in the day. Yeah, maybe they've Been to the Acton Hilton bar in between takes or whatever. Exactly, yeah.

Garry: 01:15:21

Yeah. Because we know that back in the day, the, the scheduling around shows like this was. Was very much down to the.

The British television making stuff back then was a very strict schedule because it's highly unionized. And so when you turned up to your studio to film that day, the.

The BBC had essentially said, look, you've got the studio for this amount of time and if you go over, the lights go off. We go home. We do tomorrow. So it was a bit of a rush, but because of that set schedule, it did mean the actors knew that. Okay, at lunchtime.

It was lunchtime.

Adam: 01:15:59

Yeah.

Garry: 01:16:00

And so you're off down the pub, you grab the sandwich a pint or two and then you come back. So maybe. Yeah, it was a case of, yeah. In the afternoon, Paul Darrow's like, yeah, I'll play this a bit softer.

I've had a few, you know, I'll have a bit of a laugh with it sort of thing. Who knows? It would have been lovely to be a fly on the wall back then to see what was going on. But I do agree with you.

I think there was a couple of times where if he hadn't have held himself in, Paul Darrow probably would have cracked up.

Adam: 01:16:24

Yeah, well, there is, there is not many, but there is some outtakes from Blake7 on the DVD. I think a couple of them have made it onto the Blu Ray, obviously. The rest are probably from series two and three. So we will.

There are some outtakes out there of Blake's 7 and you can tell that they. They had a lot of fun. There's one, I think it must be series three where Paul Darrow sort of pulls a piece of.

Piece of the set off the wall by mistake and just cracks up laughing. He's like, well, what do I. What do I do? You know? So, yeah, I just wondered really.

But it's nice to see it comes through on screen that they're having a good time filming this, whatever, whether it's intentional or corpsing.

Garry: 01:17:05

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. And lastly, before we put a score, we can't obviously glaze over. Gareth Thomas.

Adam: 01:17:13

No, as.

Garry: 01:17:14

As Blake, obviously Sally Navette had a. A quiet one because they devoted more screen time to Gan. And Cali was in it a little bit more than she was in the last couple of episodes.

So, you know, as is the case with these things, if myth be true, in the last episode with.

Was it Project Avenue with Duel, where Sally Nevad had basically complained a little bit and said, look, My character's not having enough to do, so they swapped her character out.

So Callie was meant to go down to the forest and the planet and stuff like that, but so I guess she didn't want to push her luck too much and sort of, you know, demands that her character do everything all the time.

So, yeah, it was time for her character to have a little bit of a back seat, I guess, while it was about Gannon and Callie's in it a little bit more and so on. So those guys are very cool. But another consistent one from Gareth Thomas, though, as Blake, very, very.

The ability to remain firm indecisions when stuff is going. Going to pop. Normally on the Liberator, when something, you know, where we had it going through the asteroid field and.

Or when the Federation strips are just sort of blasting them with. With missiles and so on.

In this one, where they go through the gravity whirlpool, through the washing machine, you know, you can see that sort of time dilation effect with, you know, they're being stretched out and everything.

Adam: 01:18:41

Oh, yeah, that.

Garry: 01:18:42

He was told, you know, numerous times before that to turn back, you know, and he was warned everything, but, like, stood firm and did that stuff. And Gareth Thomas does that very well alongside the little. The little fun little laughs and bits like that.

When they come through the other side of that, he turns to Jenna and he's full of glee. Oh, we've made it through. It's fantastic and stuff. So. So just more consistency from Gareth Thomas.

Not a standout one, but a good performance nonetheless.

Adam: 01:19:10

Yeah, yeah, that's lovely. That scene, actually, when he, you know, when they get through the other side of that and he's. He's like smiling at Jenna, like, you did it.

Well done. Nice moments from Gareth Thomas. And as I said, I love it when he flips at the end and says about breaking Kane's hands. It's just.

Just a reminder that Blake might be a. You know, don't mistake him for an old softie because he. He really steps up when he needs to.

Garry: 01:19:35

Exactly. Yeah.

Adam: 01:19:35

Yeah. Nice performance. Yeah, yeah.

Garry: 01:19:37

He's the embodiment of don't take my kindness for weakness. Yeah, he's that kind of dude. And then just lastly, the music from Dudders. As we always say.

I can't really remember much on this one in terms of motifs or themes that came into it. It was. It was okay. But, yeah, I don't remember too much of Dudley's music.

Adam: 01:20:00

No. Weirdly, it starts off with some lovely synth music the very first couple of Shots of space. We get this synthy sound from Dudley.

I thought, oh, I like that. But that's pretty much all I can remember. That's not to say the rest of the music in the episode isn't good because it's typical Dudley and great.

But, yeah, nothing stand out I can think of this week. Apart from that intro. I loved that synth at the start.

Garry: 01:20:25

Yeah, that was cool. And just put a score on this one. The working title was kind of cool. Brainstorm.

Adam: 01:20:33

Oh, that would have been a good title. I like that.

Garry: 01:20:35

Pretty good one, that.

Adam: 01:20:36

Yeah. Brainstorm. Yeah.

Garry: 01:20:39

Okay. Anything else on your notes?

Adam: 01:20:41

No, dude, I'm good. Let's put a swacker score on.

Garry: 01:20:44

It's your turn, bud. What you got?

Adam: 01:20:46

It is. It's quite an easy one for me. I'm going to give this a 6.5. I enjoyed it, thought it was good. I don't think it's. It's not quite a seven. It's not a.

A great episode, but I do find it enjoyable and that does put it on par with Jewel, which I think a lot of people will be surprised about. I think people would say Jewel is a better episode, but, yeah, I found it enjoyable. So I'll give it a 6.5.

Garry: 01:21:13

Cool. I will give this a 6 out of 10. Yeah, I think this is a. This is a good watch. I certainly don't find it boring.

And again, most of that score is down to the performances in this one. And I have to say, once again, just how. Just how much. Just solid gold. Paul Darrow is in some scenes, in some stories.

He's absolutely on fire with the way he delivers certain lines and that intensity sometimes a couple of scenes where he's. Where he's talking with Farron and. Yeah, just doesn't break.

Eye contact is very intense, but at the same time coming across a little bit smiley, a little bit like, you know, I've got some cards held close to the chest still, which I'll reveal later. And, you know, it's just brilliant. Just so good.

Adam: 01:22:04

He's great. Yeah.

Garry: 01:22:06

Alrighty. So six for me, a 6.5 from him on the episode 10 breakdown. What's next for series A next week, bud?

Adam: 01:22:15

Yeah. So we'll be moving on to an episode about a chocolate bar and it's cool. No, it's not really, but it's called Bounty. Make of that what you will.

Garry: 01:22:24

Yeah. Another episode that obviously I haven't seen, that I'm trying to piece together from the title alone and will fail miserably, I'm sure.

Adam: 01:22:31

But yeah, I don't think that gives a lot away actually. Well, maybe it does. Anyway.

Garry: 01:22:36

Well, I thought that mission to Destiny sounded rather epic. I thought was going to be this massive core law story and everything. And turned it out. It turned out to be a, a bit of a detour.

Adam: 01:22:48

But yeah, there you go. You never know what you're going to be in for.

Garry: 01:22:51

There you go.

Adam: 01:22:52

Yeah.

Garry: 01:22:52

Alrighty, on that note, let's wrap there for episode 10.

Adam: 01:22:57

Alright.

Garry: 01:23:13

Thank you so much for listening to another episode of Federation Strike, a journey through Blake's 7. That was episode 10 and our review of Breakdown where I gave it a 6 and Adam gave it a 6.5.

Next week, as Adam said, we're going to be reviewing the next one in series A, which is episode 11, Bounty.

So if you want to follow along along with us, get that watch, get your DVDs out, get your new Blu Ray set, whatever you want, give that a watch and, and join us as we as we continue through series A of Blake's 7.

And on the note of you following along, make sure that in your favorite podcast app of choice, whatever you're listening to this on, if you've not given us a follow yet, make sure you do that so you get your notifications through and when a new episode drops every Wednesday at this point and continue the journey with us. You can also chat to us about Blake7 over on the Socials. We're on Twitter and Bluesky. Our name on there is Blake7 Podcast.

Give us a follow over there and chat plenty of Blake's 7 goodness with lots of other cool Blake's 7 fans. And on the subject of talking about Blake's 7 and by extension geeky stuff, also make sure you check out my co host channel on YouTube.

It's called the Geeks Handbag.

Adam: 01:24:29

Nicely done. Yeah, check out my YouTube channel, the Geeks Handbag. Also on all the socials, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, sort of TikTok, but not much.

Anyway, yeah, go check out the Geeks Handbag.

Garry: 01:24:41

All the geekery stuff there. And yeah, just grab a cup of tea or a coffee, settle in years worth of very cool geek stuff over on Adam's channel. So go check that out.

The Geek's Handbag. Okie dokie. We will be back next time, so tune in then for our thoughts on Bounty. Until then, have a good week. Take care of yourselves.

And my name is Garry.

Adam: 01:25:02

My name's Adam.

Garry: 01:25:02

And we will see you next time on Federation Strike.