From The Way Back to Orac: Our Series A Wrap-Up

Garry: 00:00:17

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

Adam: 00:00:21

My name's Adam.

Garry: 00:00:22

And welcome to our special bonus wrap up episode of Series A. Yes, what a theme, what a theme, eh? Welcome everybody to our first bonus episode of Series A.

You've hopefully you've heard all of our reviews thus far of the the each individual episode as we've gone through from the very beginning, the way back all the way through to Orac. Thank you so much. To those of you that have also joined us on our Blake's 7 journey.

We've had quite a few people that have re watched it, like long term fans, a bit like my co host Adam who have re watched it along with us. We've had people that have picked up the Blu Ray set specifically to listen to our podcast and watch through. So that's amazing as well.

And then everybody in between who has just dipped in and or have just listened to the show and based it on their memories of watching Blake's 7, et cetera. Whatever your watch status is on Blake's 7, thank you so much for your listenership throughout Series A thus far.

And also it's been really cool to chat to you on the socials as well.

Over on Bluesky and X with got into some really cool chats about people's views on certain little nuggets about Blake's 7 or the series as a whole or certain bits. So yeah, it's been really, really cool.

So we're going to do a bit of just a chinwag about our closing thoughts on Series A before we leave you guys with a couple of other bonus episodes and we'll reveal what they are a bit further into the episode. So stay tuned for that.

So mate, first of all, I want to say this because I know I'm going to forget later, but I just want to say a big thank you to you. Oh because listener you probably would have known over the last 13 weeks. I've mentioned it a couple of times.

But the whole reason why we're doing this podcast is because Adam is a lifelong fan of Blake's 7. It's his favorite show and we've been doing a Doctor Who podcast for many years, over a decade now, the Big Blue Box.

And at certain intervals whenever we've met up at the pub or an event, whatever it might be, he's consistently said we should do a Blake's 7 podcast. And I've always said yeah, cool. You know, I've never said no or you know, don't want to do it, whatever.

And but we've always just kicked the can down the road a little bit, I think, is the best phrase.

Adam: 00:03:05

Yeah.

Garry: 00:03:06

Not sure why. It was just one of those things where it's like, you know, we'll, we'll, we'll.

We'll do it then and we'll do it at this point and we'll wait till then and blah, blah, blah. And we have a saying that we've said many times over the years where something slots into place nicely. We say the stars have aligned.

And that's never been more more relevant than this timing now for this Blake's 7 podcast federation strike. Because we never. For years, nobody knew that the, the guys who did the Doctor Who Blu Ray collection sets would ever dive into Blake's 7.

It just wasn't on the cards, we felt. And when they announced that they. They were going to re.

Remaster Blake's 7 and bring out the Blu Ray sets and stuff, that's when Adam and I really started talking seriously about it.

And it was another one of those things where Adam was like, yes, you know, now we've got the Blu Ray coming and we had some ideas around expanding our podcast stuff anyway. And as you know, as part of that, we set up Cosmic Echoes, which is a network for all of the shows that we want to do.

And we've got some other ones coming, so stay tuned for that. But, mate, I do want to say a big thank you because if you didn't sort of keep on about it.

Adam: 00:04:19

And keep sort of going on down.

Garry: 00:04:21

Yeah, we, you know, we potentially would have just left this to. To time and just. I remember when we used to talk about doing a Blake's 7 podcast, you know, it would have been relegated to just chats like that.

So, mate, thank you so much for keep going on it and thank you so much to introducing me and by proxy, some of our new listeners who have never seen Blake's 7 before. They're also now big fans of the show because you wanted to do it. So, mate, thank you so much.

Adam: 00:04:49

Well, I'm just glad it's worked out like that because there was no guarantee. I mean, you know, just because I love the show didn't mean you were going to love it.

You know, I know a lot of people out there like the other Terry Nation show survivors, which I've tried to get into and just can't. And sometimes people are passionate about a show and they want everybody else to love it and it doesn't always work.

So there was no guarantees when we started this that you would fall in love with it the way you did. I. That's why I hoped would happen but, you know, it might not have done. It's like a film isn't.

There's nothing worse than telling someone, I love this film. You got to watch this film. You sat next to them and you can just feel it. They're not getting into it. It's not happening.

They're not seeing what I see, you know, so actually a better. A better way.

Way of putting it is sometimes when an episode of Doctor Who drops and I'm sat there in, the credits roll in the later series, you know, and I think, God didn't. That was rubbish. And then I go on Twitter and everyone's going mad about it, and you feel like, oh, no, I'm the only one who didn't enjoy it.

And I hate that feeling. So there were no guarantees, but.

But, yeah, I mean, it is one of those shows that I am very passionate about and I do use any opportunity to try and get people to just give it a go or watch it, you know, And I think when the Blu Ray came out, like you said, it was perfect timing, really, because we've. We've pretty much reviewed everything Doctor Who on the. On the big blue box.

There's just a handful of, like, animations and one sort of TV episode I think we haven't done. So we were really getting to sort of like the end of Doctor Who, apart from the new series, and.

And then the Blu Ray comes out and I think you sort of.

We had a chat with the BFI and you said, you know, maybe we could start this Cosmic Echoes Network and branch out into other things and everything just come together. And I think I sort of said, well, you know, the one that I really want to do is Blake's 7. And you were like, I was thinking the same.

I said, that would be a good sort of show to branch into as part of the cosmic echo thing. And. And then. And then here we are and somehow we're at the end of series one already, which I'm, like, thrilled about this, this.

This feeling now of comfort that you've enjoyed series one. And I know we're both itching to get onto series two and we are going to wait for the Blu Ray to come out.

We did talk about whether we should just carry on and, you know, the DVDs are out there. I think it's still on Britbox. I'm not sure. But we've decided, you know, it's good to.

To do it like a seasonal thing where we tie in with the release of the Blu Ray, and I think that's quite nice. Because there's a buzz when the Blu Ray sets come out. And like you said, a lot of people are discovering Blake's 7 thanks to the Blu Ray release.

And because they've heard people say it's a good show, they're giving it a try. And if this podcast has helped anyone to get into show, I will even more thrilled about that because I think sometimes.

And we'll get onto this, I think sometimes people will watch like episode one, and it doesn't grab them, it doesn't grip them, so they just stop. I know somebody, one of my friends has done that. He's like, nah, I watched the first one, couldn't get into it.

I'm like, but you've bought the, you bought the Blu Ray. At least watch a couple more. You might get into it, you know. No, no. If it doesn't grab me straight away, I'm not interested.

I'm like, oh, what a shame. But you know what I mean? Hopefully people are following along with us on this journey and enjoying it in the same way we are.

Garry: 00:08:08

Yes, that's the hope, anyway, that we've. We've dragged at least a handful of people in and I've got them in into the show.

And one thing that I've particularly enjoyed about this is the, the, the. The different dynamic between. Because when we've reviewed Doctor Who, we're coming at it from a slightly different angle where.

Especially with new Doctor Who, you and I watching it for the first time in that respect. So when we come to review episodes like we will do when season two of Doctor Who lands next month, at some point. I think it's the 12th of April.

Adam: 00:08:44

Yeah.

Garry: 00:08:45

When we come back for the Blue Box and we review those, the dynamic is going to be very much where you and I are fresh, fresh eyeballs on it and that sort of thing with this one, it's been really cool to have that opposite ends of the spectrum in terms of somebody who's very into it and has been for years. Yourself versus my very fresh, you know, watching through it for the. For the first time.

Adam: 00:09:09

Yeah.

Garry: 00:09:10

And that's something that's been really cool to me because, uh, it, it just provides a little bit of. And, and some of our listeners have also commented on this on. On Blue Sky.

I think when someone has said, it's really refreshing to hear a podcast where you've got somebody. Because actually, I'll finish a sentence.

It's really refreshing to hear a podcast where you've got somebody who's coming into it fresh, who you can tell in Their tone of their voice, et cetera, just how much they're getting into it as the series goes on and how much, you know, and there's been a few messages that have said, I love Garry is, you know, saying things out loud to the TV and love Garry's enthusiasm and his love for the show. Let's Hope this continues, etc. Yeah, it's.

And then, because there are some other podcasts, not just Blake's 7, but just in general, podcasts in general, where you have people that want to revisit an older show. And it's just. And there's nothing wrong with this.

It's just the, you know, two or three people or whatever who are just sat down and they're all coming at it from exactly the same angle. You know, it's like, oh, I remember when. I remember when my dad put that on and we sat and watched it and they're like, yeah, my.

My parents put that on too, and it was really good and that sort of thing. And there's nothing wrong with that. It's a lovely sort of trip down memory lane and you're, you know, you're going through it and stuff like that.

But it's just that we have those two differing entry points into the show. I guess it's been very cool in that respect.

Adam: 00:10:39

Yeah, And I've loved that because my anticipation each week of not being able to sort of second guess whether you're going to enjoy an episode, especially that first one, you know, especially the first episode, I was like, I know you'd watched it once before and it just didn't click with you. And I thought, oh, is it, you know, what's. What's going to happen?

Is he going to watch it again and say, oh, no, sorry, dude, this is going to be a struggle, you know, how far into the series is it going to take for you to get into it? But something about that episode clicked with you this time, didn't it?

And I don't know if, you know, I don't know if you can put into words what it was about the watching it this time. But. But just before we go into that, mate, I. Yeah, I love this dynamic, but I.

What I hadn't sort of taken into account was normally, like you said, if you're reviewing something, if you're reviewing a series, it's quite often something that you've both seen before or you're both seeing for the first time together. So this dynamic of me knowing everything that happens in Blake's 7, having to bite your lip. Yeah, it's made it more difficult because.

But also not just about not saying any spoilers because I am a bit of a blabber mouth anyway. I have found it hard to sort of stop myself sometimes. But also it's this thing of not even being able to talk about like character progression.

So normally if we were reviewing the series we were both familiar with, you know, you'd be saying, ah, yeah, but of course it's serious too. So. And so does this. And oh, isn't it brilliant?

We, you know, even though they're doing that now and you think they're that sort of person by the time we get to this episode, remember that, you know, this happens.

And so there's a lot, there's a lot more restricting in that sense that I have to just concentrate on just talking about what we've both just watched, if you see what I mean, rather than actually talking about the characters in this series as an overview or an. Or as you would. If you. If you'd already. Both of us had already seen it. So that makes sense. So that's been quite hard as well to just keep my.

Because the characters change a lot, lot over the four series. There is a. There's great progression in the characters and things change.

We talk, we will talk about, you know, the fact that we, we're now both aware of a cast change that's coming up and stuff. So even stuff like that, it's where we've been talking about Steven Greif. It's been hard for me not to say, oh yeah, of course.

In series two, though, when Brian Croucher takes over, you know, this happens. It's, it's just anything like that. I've had to really hold myself back and double think everything I'm about to say.

So I hadn't quite taken that into account when we first started this, that I would have to sort of be a bit muted on stuff rather than letting everything out. Wow. What about episode so and so where Villa does this? You know, do you remember that? And stuff like this. So, but, but I love this dynamic, mate.

It's just love coming in every week just, just to hear what you're going to make of this episode. Like the web, for example. What are you gonna make of those, you know, Zygon screaming Zygon babies or whatever they were.

You know, I mean, so it's been, it's been fantastic in that sense. But yeah, the quick question, mate. What do you think changed from the first, you know, when you first watched Blake's 7?

And like you said, you Tried watching the first episode and a little bit of episode two and it just didn't grab you, you know, you were like, nah, I don't know. It's not for me, I don't think. But then obviously we decided to. The Blu Ray was out, you gave it a proper go. What do you think clicked with you?

This on this watch?

Garry: 00:14:03

I think, if I'm being honest, I think it's doing this podcast. I think that's what it was. I think because before, when I. When I tried to watch it, and I must say this with. Without sounding like I.

I just binned it off before because I didn't like it when I. When I watched it before. It was just. I don't know, I was kind of watching it in the background almost.

Adam: 00:14:27

Yeah.

Garry: 00:14:27

I can't remember what I was doing at the time.

I might have had my laptop on and I was doing some work or doing something and it was on and I was kind of 80% watching it and 20% doing something else. And then when I got to. I think I got to about 20 minutes into episode two, space four, I had to turn it off and go and do something else.

And then that was it. I just never returned. So, not just. Not. That's not because I didn't like the show or anything.

I think I just didn't give it my full attention, stupidly.

Adam: 00:14:56

No, but, mate, I think that that's absolutely fair enough. And that's. That's kind of what I suspected.

And I think, you know, like I was saying about my friend who bought the Blu Ray set, he's watched the first episode, said, no, I'm not. No, can't get into it.

I think that is the thing we do often with a show, just put it on in the background and we don't really sort of take in the performances or the. The actual storyline. You know, we all are guilty of this.

If a new series, like, you know, we'll be sort of looking at our phone and so half watching it. And I think this is. I've said this before, when you do a podcast review, you kind of have to watch it properly.

You know, you're watching it through different eyes. Like I've said before, there are episodes that I really enjoy watching, but when I come to review them, I have to put my reviewer goggles on and.

And actually watch it properly. Try and get to know the character names, which I'm never very good at. But. But, you know, you do have to concentrate on it when you're doing a review.

And I Think that's the thing you. Yeah.

Once you actually watch Blake's 7 properly and you get to know the characters, and that's what I've always said is great about Blake's 7 is the characters. I think you really do get into it, don't you? You get drawn into this crew that you get introduced to over the. Over the course of series one.

And that's why I keep saying to people, you know, you can't just watch the first one and say, stick with it because you get to know some really good characters in Blake's 7.

Garry: 00:16:11

Exactly. Yeah, you do. Yeah. And it's so.

I know there's probably some die hard Blake7 fans listening that are obviously, you know, tut, tut, tut, Garry, you know, you should have stuck with it and I should have done 100%. It's. I just stupidly didn't go back and pick it up. But, you know, if I had have done that, then maybe we wouldn't have done this podcast.

Maybe if I had have done that and you and I were talking about it, I'd have been like, well, I've been there and done it, mate. And, you know, I don't really want it. Who knows?

Adam: 00:16:39

Well, that's what I was thinking. What happens if you.

Let's say we'd got halfway through series one or even at this point to the end and you were, you were like, yeah, it's all right, but I'm not. You're not really enjoying it. Would we then? Because we'd sort of committed to doing it.

We'd committed to doing all four series and it, you know, that's the thing that could have happened. We always give our honest reviews. But do you think we.

Well, we probably would have carried on, but I would have been feeling like we wouldn't have been enjoying it. And that's what we've always said. It's a little bit. A little bit like doctor at the moment.

We are at a point where we're enjoying it, but nowhere near as much as we were. And there's this.

It's not that it's becoming a chore to review it, but it's like almost an obligation to a certain extent, but we're still hanging on in there.

And I was thinking, God, that'd be awful if we started the Blake's 7 podcast and you'd sort of got to the end of series one and perhaps it wasn't clicking with you. Whereas thankfully we are, and we've both said this off air. We just are really enthused at the moment by this. Series and by doing this podcast.

So I'm so grateful for that, really, because I just keep thinking it could have gone. Imagine if you hadn't got into it, because we were committed to doing it, whatever, you know.

So I am glad that you've enjoyed it as much as you have, because otherwise I'll be sort of turning on the mic every week thinking, oh, no, what's he going to say this week? You know?

Garry: 00:17:59

Exactly. Yeah. But that's been cool in a way, though. Like we said, that kind of anticipation on. On.

On how we're both going to feel about stuff, because let's face it, when we've reviewed some Doctor Who episodes, ones that you and I had seen years ago that were on the list that we had to re watch for a review, our opinions changed a bit on how we felt about that. So there were. There was no, There was nothing to say that your opinion might have changed on. On certain Blake's 7 episodes as well. I think you're.

I don't think I have. I think you're fairly consistent that, you know, some episodes that you enjoyed or didn't enjoy so much, you're still in that same camp.

I think you haven't, like, had a big 180 on some episodes. I think that's right to say, yeah.

Adam: 00:18:46

I haven't had a big 180. I think. I think I've got to love Blake more, actually, on this rewatch.

I mean, I've always liked Blake as a character, but because we're watching it from the start and we are seeing Blake's personality from the beginning right the way through, and Gareth's performance. I mean, as I said, I've always loved Blake, but there are other characters, I think, like Avon, that kind of.

If you'd asked me, my favorite character, as you say, Avon just springs. I love Avon, you know, but I'm really appreciating Blake as Gareth. Gareth Thomas is Blake. Blake is Gareth Thomas on this rewatch, mate.

Like, a lot more than I have done before. And that's not to say I don't like the character. I've absolutely always liked Blake, but I've really sort of fallen in love with him a bit.

Because I think sometimes when I've watched Blake's 7, you sort of. I'm almost siding with Avon, thinking, oh, Blake, you know, you're really getting him.

You know, you get a bit frustrated with Blake for sort of always being a bit bullish and. And, you know, getting the crew into trouble.

And you think when Avon's telling him off and saying, And I think this might apply a bit more to series two actually, mate.

When certain things happen and it's kind of Blake's fault and Avon's like I told you and all this, you sort of think, yes, Blake, you know, what are you doing?

So I don't know, I've just really, really fallen in love with the character of Blake more than I was already, I think on this rewatch and particularly Gareth's performance.

Garry: 00:20:15

So yes, let's actually talk about the show itself. Yeah. Because we spent I don't know how long, 20 minutes just giving you some insight into what we feel about things and the setup.

But I think there's a little bit of something cool to look back on with this wrap up episode though to, to give it a bit of, you know, these guys did the podcast because of blah and so I think it was important to go through, to go through that stuff. And we've alluded to it a little bit over the episodes up to now.

But so listener, that's in a nutshell what the, what Federation strike is and how it came to be. And I could not be happier, could not be more thrilled about how the podcast has gone.

And, and I think Adam's relieved now he can sleep a lot better knowing that I'm fully into it. Everything's cool. Can't wait for series two.

And as Adam said, we are so itching to dive into series B, but we just, we are going to have this seasonal format and stick to that, have a bit of a break and, and come back when the, when the Blu Ray set comes out for series two, as they call it.

So we'll be back for our season two later on this year once the Blu Ray set at the moment, the pre orders, the, the dates are for the end of December 31st, I believe, but I'm 99% sure that's just a placeholder. Likely it's going to be before that.

Adam: 00:21:40

I hope so. I'm itching to get into series two.

Garry: 00:21:43

Yeah. Yeah, same dude. And so we'll be back for then. So let's talk about the show in terms of series A as a whole.

I don't think we need to put like a score on it or the end or anything like that, like we've done with the episodes. But in terms of. Let's pick out some stuff, some highlights. Let's start with that.

One of the highlights for me, mate, this is going to sound a bit weird and obvious, but I'm a real big fan of the first episode. The way back it's a bit of a. An interesting one because it's the. It's the selling point for the series as a whole, isn't it?

For somebody like me who's. Or anybody that's going into it fresh, it really is that. And potentially the next episode, are the. Are you going to enjoy this or not?

Is this your cup of tea or not?

You know, is Blake the type of character that you can buy into early or early enough that it piques your interest a little bit and you want to continue watching?

And I'm a real big fan of that first episode because, like I said, when I first watched Blake's 7 a couple of years ago and only lasted a little bit, I thought that first episode was good. But like I said, it was on in the background somewhat when I actually put this on and didn't have my phone on and actually watched it. The.

The way that Terry Nation had set up that initial sort of springboard into the story had such a mature, dark theme to it, this kind of dystopian, oppressive federation, that we wasn't even really aware of what was going on to begin with, were we? Because Blake had. They had kind of taken Blake out of the. Out of the loop, if you like, the everyday loop of being suppressed and everything.

Those initial scenes where they go outside and they find the. The guys living out in the tunnels and so on. Yeah, we wasn't even aware really of what was going on at that point.

It was being told to us, to the viewer. You know, this is. This is what's happening, Blake, you know, you don't remember, but this is what you were like before. This is the situation.

And Blake doesn't really believe it. And so as a viewer, you're like, well, is this true? Is this a bit of a. Is this a ruse? Is this the real thing?

It turns out, obviously it was all direct info.

And then the events that follow on from that, where you see Blake getting framed, being sent to Cygnus Alpha and, you know, and all that stuff, it really sets up this epic story just out of nowhere. Do you know? I mean, by that, it wasn't like they started the story with like this huge.

Not that had the budget to do it anyway, but they didn't allude to this massive space battle between the Federation and the Rebellion. And this is the. The offshoot of that. And now this. It didn't do any of that. It just started really small, really quiet.

Just one character, obviously, Blake, and then you're off. Soon. As soon as he. As soon as we're on the London at the end on their way to Cygnus Alpha. And then we start to meet these other characters.

It's we're off from there. So a highlight for me, dude, would be that very first episode.

Even though some people falter at that bit, it's absolutely worth obviously pushing through. And then just quickly, a couple of other episodes were really good for me was Seek, Lock, Hate, Destroy, for obvious reasons.

Project Avalon was really good for me. And Orruk, the finale, those were real standout ones for me. And yeah, just real highlights. What about you, bud?

Adam: 00:25:20

Yeah, I mean, I think it's interesting you mentioned the tone of the first episode as well, because I And Michaely Bryant talks a little bit about this in the interview that's on the. On the Blu ray that the tone does seem to lighten up fairly quickly after those two episodes.

Now, he would have preferred it if they had have stayed a bit darker in terms of the tone of the storylines. And I think sometimes people are a little bit put off by the darkness of the first episodes.

Whereas, because, you know, the show does lighten up, especially as the series goes on, by the time we get to series four, it's got a very different feel to it. And I absolutely. I Love Series 4, but it does if you compare that to how the series started.

So I'm curious whether you would have liked to have seen it like Michael E. Bryant continue down that more adult, darker tone or if you felt the series would have survived as long as it did if it had kept that tone.

Because I think this is one of the things about the survivors, mate, that I just find it so bleak that I can't. I'm struggling to continue with it, although people tell me it's such a good series that one day I will go back to it.

But do you think Blake7 should have kept that. That tone or do you think it was right to introduce it like that? And then slowly the series lightens up and we get into more fun adventures.

If you think about what's the one with the murder mystery in space caught on the episode title now.

Garry: 00:26:42

Oh, that was Mission to Destiny.

Adam: 00:26:47

Now that's quite a fun episode. Although there's people being murdered, it's, you know, it's more playful in its time.

But yeah, it just before I say my highlights very quickly, by the way, is that I just love the way the series each week kind of gives you a new piece of the puzzle. So in episode two, we get the Liberator, then Cally, you know, Ganz Limiter and Then obviously, all right.

At the end, I just love the way the series just builds all the way through that. You're just getting something new. And the episodes you mentioned are also the ones that I particularly like, especially Secret Destroyer.

Love the first episode with Server Land and Travis. Brilliant stuff. But yeah, just quickly before, what do you think of the tone, mate?

You, that's what I was worried was going to put you off, that you were going to watch series one, episode one, and, and, and think, oh, this is bleak. But you, you got into it. But was that, was that a good way to start, do you think?

Garry: 00:27:43

I think so, yeah. I think so. Because it hammered home just how, just how bleak things are. But not for the people who are in it, if that.

So for people like Blake and the other people, they, they don't know any better.

Adam: 00:28:02

Would you have liked it to have continued like that though, mate?

Garry: 00:28:05

No.

Adam: 00:28:06

Okay.

Garry: 00:28:06

No, I think that those first couple of episodes, they are quite. I wouldn't say they're, they're like. Bland's the wrong word. It's not that it's.

I think it, it was really important to establish just how bad things are. And as the viewer, you're like, for me, I was like, okay, this is the, the Federation are clearly, it's all about control.

It's all about power and control and the way they're doing that is with the suppressive drugs etc. So for people like Blake and the other citizens of, you know, that Dome City and so on on Earth, it's like, was it on Earth? It was, wasn't it?

Adam: 00:28:46

Yeah.

Garry: 00:28:47

For them, they don't know any better. It's like everyday life for them. This is, they're just in the, in that situation and they don't know any better.

And so because of that, it needed to have that sort of more darker tone to it because you, you really need to sell to the viewer exactly what's going on. You know, this is not a, a light hearted, you know, romp through space. You know, this is not a sitcom, this is not a, or anything at all.

You have to be aware up front that this is a serious thing that's going on in it.

So I think if you left that until midway through the series and you built up to it at that point, the shift in tone would have been, you know, the wrong way round, you know, So I think it was really important to establish right off the bat that things are, things have gone to shit pretty much due to the Federation and Blake is.

Although what was also really cool is that they didn't make Blake this kind of second coming, Jesus style character that was, you know, the savior of the galaxy. You could tell that he was part of the solution.

So, you know, when we got two episodes, like was it Project Avalon where we saw other Freedom Fighters and other people involved in, you know, the uprising and so on, it was clear that Blake was just part of that, you know, grouping together with other people to take down the Federation. He wasn't like this superhero, you know, he's vulnerable, he's got issues, he's not perfect, all the rest of it.

So I think it was really important to A, get the vibe down and B, establish Blake as not this kind of Iron Man, Superman, you know, kind of comic book hero style character, but be this everyday guy who's just got, just wants to do the right thing, got a big heart, all the rest of it. So yeah, to answer your question, mate, I think that they did do it the right way around.

And as the series goes on and we get some not sort of comedic episodes but more light hearted and more light hearted characters like, like Villa, etc, I think it was the right way to go.

Adam: 00:31:00

Yeah, yeah, no, definitely, mate. And like I said, I think it's to take the Federation seriously as a threat.

I think you kind of needed that first episode to see that they are ruthless and corrupt.

You have to see that from the get go to, to sort of be on Blake's side because he is a flawed character and these, you know, this team that we've got on the Liberator are crooks and goodness knows what, you know, they're not. Again, they're all kind of got their own flaws in their own way.

So to be on their side and be wanting them to win against the Federation, I think you needed to see why they're like they are and why they are fighting, you know, this regime which are very controlling and nasty.

Garry: 00:31:44

Yes, they are. Yeah. And that was more, that was really evident when we get to Seek, Locate, destroy, which was another highlight for us.

I think that was our highest rated episode. Let me just have a look. Yeah, it was, yeah.

Adam: 00:31:57

Probably because of the surveillance robot. I mean that gets extra points.

Garry: 00:32:02

Yeah.

So up to that point we'd had five episodes and the only thing that we've known about the Federation is some of those characters in the way back, you know, who are looking to frame Blake, you know, near the beginning, after he's been captured, after he's gone outside and, and, and he's been captured, we have characters like Glynd and Morag.

You know, those sort of high ranking Federation people, they're really the only glimpse of what the Federation is really, aside from the sort of iconic Federation guards that have got, you know, the gas mask look on and the black overalls and stuff. Other than that, we don't really see too much of what's going on in terms of their oppression across the galaxy in that first episode.

It really is just about. They realize, of course, that in break, in Blake's former, not former life, but before that he was under the suppressants. He was this people that.

This thing that people look up to and it provided inspiration for them to do their own uprising and. And all the rest of it. He was like the.

For anyone that's seen the Hunger Games or read the Hunger Games books, they play on that a lot in the later films where they use the character of whatever the main character is. They use her as a symbol more than a person because she will inspire people to uprise and all that sort of stuff.

And it's exactly the same with Blake. Yeah, they know that if he, you know, if he. I'm sort of, you know, I'm treading old ground.

You guys already know this stuff, but I'm just getting it out of my head. But they know that if he goes back to his old ways, he will inspire other people and they don't need that.

Adam: 00:33:54

We're already starting to see that, aren't we? Yeah, people are like, oh, you're Blake. You know, he's becoming a name again.

Garry: 00:33:59

Mm. So in that first episode, it really was just about a few key characters against Blake. That was really it.

So it wasn't until we got to seek, locate, destroy that we start to see Servalan and just how ruthless she is as the supreme commander.

Adam: 00:34:19

We see nothing yet, mate. Honestly, she is. Oh, boy.

Garry: 00:34:25

Well, exactly. Yeah. So at that point, when we get to episode six and that one, it's really as. You really do start to see just how oppressive and how.

How far they're willing to go, the Federation, to. To wipe out Blake and. And maintain a level of control. So. So that one was a.

Was a real highlight, mainly because of that and the performances of Jacqueline Pierce and Stephen Greif. Like, those two are just. Oh, they're solid gold, mate.

Adam: 00:34:54

Solid gold on screen, I have to say, mate.

Actually, I know we'll talk about characters, but Steven Greif is definitely a highlight for me in series one and a bit like how I talked about Blake and Gareth Thomas. I don't think I've ever really appreciated Steven Greif more than I did on this rewatch.

I think it's because I'm so used to Brian Croucher as Travis because I tend to watch series two more than series one. They just have more sort of go to episodes for me.

So watching this from the beginning, like we have been, and just really getting to see Steven Greif doing his thing, I think I've really not underestimated his performance.

But I think his performance got a bit lost when I've watched Blake's 7 before because Brian Croucher plays in a slightly different way to give, not to give too much away. So I think Steven Greif is slightly more calmer, slightly underplays it more than Brian Croucher.

And so that's what I mean by he didn't stand out as much as Brian Croucher. That's not to say I have a preference. I actually think I'm starting to like Steven Grice performance more, which.

Yeah, so he would be a highlight for me. I've really, really loved him as Travis on this rewatch, whereas before I've just thought he was. Yeah, he was good.

You know, it was very much like that, if. If you know what I mean. I'm trying not to give too much away about Brian Croucher.

Sorry if I'm sounding like I'm trying to bite my lip a little bit, but. Yeah, so Steven Greif is another highlight for me, mate. I really, really loved him as Travis in this series in a way that perhaps I haven't before.

I just.

Yeah, I just found him and Jacqueline Pierce great together and I really wish he'd gone on to do another series, but then I guess we wouldn't have got Brian Croucher and he does his own thing, so. Don't know. Anyway, I'll stop before I say anymore, but definite highlight for me in. In this rewatch was Stephen Greif.

Garry: 00:36:51

I love that. Yeah, I love that, dude. Where you've done this so many times as we've.

With each episode that we've recorded where you've said, I can tell that you're so eager to go down a certain train of thought with something that you can't. Because I've not seen. Yeah. So that's been really cool. Yeah, I 100% agree, mate. Stephen Greif has been brilliant to watch.

He's really good chemistry with. With Jacqueline Pierce and those two characters. Really cool from that point of view.

Adam: 00:37:21

I am wondering what you're going to make a Brian Croucher, mate. I am. This could go either way because you've liked Steven Greif. Yeah, you've really liked him as Travis. I'm.

This is one of the things I'm really looking forward to when we get on series two is to see what you make of where Brian Croucher takes the character and what he does. And all I'm going to say for listeners is who know. I'm just going to say the word. The word. And that's all I'm going to say.

Yeah, it's going to be very interesting, I think. I know, but it's. Yeah, we'll see. We'll see what you make of the cast change.

Garry: 00:37:56

Indeed. Yeah. Well, I've seen, I've. I've watched the trailer for series B. You was we.

After we recorded one episode, you were like, mate, there's a trailer on the end of the features on the last disc. It's for series B. I'd love you to give it a watch.

But at the same time I don't because while there's no massive spoilers, one thing that's definitely going to be apparent is a bit of a cast change and you'll know exactly who it is. So I was, I'm in an iron for a bit. I was like, should I leave it so I watch it? I was like, now give it a watch.

And yeah, as soon as I saw it, I was like, huh, what's this all about? And so, yeah, the few seconds I've seen of that character played by Stephen Croucher.

Adam: 00:38:45

Is it Brian Croucher?

Garry: 00:38:46

Brian Croucher, sorry. Yeah, the few seconds of screen time that I've seen, I really. It's not enough for me to say no. Yeah, yeah. Interesting though.

And just a real shame that I think it was because of other filming commitments, Steven Greif couldn't come back and he'd already signed himself up to film other things.

Adam: 00:39:07

That's right.

Garry: 00:39:07

And so couldn't. Couldn't do it. Which is a real shame. But who knows? Mr. Croucher might bring the goods.

Adam: 00:39:14

We'll see. And I would like to, before we wrap up at the end, I would like to just talk a little bit about that series two trailer.

But I'll save it till the wrap up at the end. Just a couple of little things I want to ask you about it.

Garry: 00:39:25

Yeah, cool. Yeah. So some other highlights. So, yeah, those stories are highlights for me. So the first one, the Way Back, I really like Space Fall as well.

Yeah, I equally like that. It was really cool. And you and I rated those stories exactly the same, 7.5. That was really cool. Cygnus Alpha was another highlight.

Seek, Locate, Destroy was probably my fave episode. Fave episode, I think so of the series for me. A real. A real banger. And what a great place to put that as well.

You know, almost smack bang in the middle. A real sort of mid series highlight. And yeah, and then also Project Avalon was kind of cool, but Orac was. Was very cool as well.

Adam: 00:40:06

I can hear listeners screaming out, what about Jewel?

Garry: 00:40:08

Jewel.

Adam: 00:40:09

Yeah, I know this is. Yeah, this could have upset people. It's a fan favorite, mate. Jewel.

Garry: 00:40:15

Mm. That's what I teased out in our social posts for that I said episode eight is now live with our review of Duel, a fond one amongst fandom.

But do we agree or have we got different thoughts and a little thinking emoji face? So, yeah, we didn't really think it was that amazing.

Adam: 00:40:35

No, we liked it, but watch, didn't we? We enjoyed it, but it didn't. It didn't hit the heights that I think if someone was saying to you, I'll wait till you get.

You know, as I said, a lot of people like Jewel and when I was watching it, I was thinking the same, you know, before I knew your thoughts, I thought, when I go to record tomorrow, I'm going to be honest, I'm not going to pretend I love it just because I know fandom loves it. We always are. Honest, I thought. But I wonder if Garry will love it.

I wonder if it'll be one of those episodes where I'm sat there again feeling like I'm the only one that doesn't get the hype. But yeah, we enjoyed it, but we just didn't think. We thought it was a bit plotty, didn't we? We didn't quite get it. But we love this.

I love the concept. That's the thing I will say, and I'm pretty sure I said that in the video.

I love the concept of Jewel, the actual story itself, but just too much wandering around the forest for me and yeah, yeah, even Avon was bored. So come on.

Garry: 00:41:27

I think that was the crux of it, mate. For us. It was a. It was a. It was a good watch. Up until the point where they get sent down to the forest.

Adam: 00:41:36

Absolutely. Yeah.

Garry: 00:41:38

Yeah. And then it seemed to just. I wouldn't say it died. It's wrong to say that the episode died at that point. It didn't, but.

And it was some really great characters as well. You know, with Jirok and Cinefar, those brilliant.

Adam: 00:41:52

Yeah.

Garry: 00:41:53

Really, really well done characters. And obviously with Blake up against Travis, I think as a new viewer, I think I expected just a bit more action in that episode.

A little bit more of a face off between those two. Bit more cat and mouse, all the rest of it. But it ended up being.

And again, there's nothing wrong with this, but it ended up just being a series of little conversations between Travis and the mutoid that was with him and Jenna and Blake, you know, set up a tree fire, going all very cozy and a few chats, et cetera.

Adam: 00:42:28

What is it, what's the line that Avon says? He says. He says, I'm off to bed or. So he said that unless they start throwing nuts at each other, they just sat up a tree or something.

I thought that is kind of. That is kind of summing up how I'm feeling at the moment in this episode.

Garry: 00:42:40

Yeah, mate, that's. We mentioned that in our review. Yeah, that episode, we said that that's.

That was potentially not the best move in terms of the script for that episode, because unbeknownst to those guys at the time making it, they obviously didn't think we're making a boring episode. They obviously didn't think that.

But to have the crew of the Liberator sat there almost asleep and then Avon throwing lines like that around, it almost mirrors what you're feeling as the viewer from our point of view. Like you said amongst fandom, a lot of Blake's 7 fans love this episode.

Adam: 00:43:20

I think they'll be surprised by our score. But I'm glad that there was not. There wasn't any episode in series one, mate, where the wheels came off.

I kept thinking, oh, I wonder if there'll be an episode that you. Because I. I pretty much like all of them. They all have something in there for me.

But I was thinking, I wonder if there'll be an episode that you really don't think is good. Or you. You come in and you're like, oh, man, this. You know, such a shame. We were on a good roll. But this episode. Nah, this was. This was not good.

And that didn't happen. We had episodes that we felt were not so great. I think Bounty was one of them where we felt like it just was a bit. Bit bland.

But overall, Series 1 has been fairly consistent. There was no episode that we thought was bad. They all had something, didn't they? Was Bounty, our lowest rated one?

Garry: 00:44:08

I think it was Bounty. Let me have a wee look. Yes, it was. Yeah, Fives for both of us on that one.

Adam: 00:44:15

And, yeah, I don't think we rated anything lower than a Five. Did we?

Garry: 00:44:18

No, we didn't.

Adam: 00:44:18

No.

Garry: 00:44:19

So again, that wasn't a terrible watch though. It's not like we disliked it heavily or anything. Bounty, it was just wasn't as strong as, you know, the other episodes.

Adam: 00:44:29

Yeah. Even though TP McKenna and it wasn't enough to. To lift that one for us. But again, it was enjoyable, wasn't it?

Was not been any bad which is pretty good considering, you know, 13 episodes of a series. Normally you get one real clanger that you'd say oh God, skip this one. But I think even Bounty, I'd happily sit and watch it.

Garry: 00:44:48

Same.

Adam: 00:44:49

Yeah, it wouldn't be a go to but happily if it was on, I'd happily sit there and watch. Watch Bounty.

Garry: 00:44:53

Yeah.

When I do a rewatch of this and I absolutely 100% will at some point do a rewatch of it all and I will, I will get to that point and I won't just skip past the episode or anything. I still watch it. It's still a. Still an okay watch for sure. Yeah, yeah.

And in Duel, I just want to pick up just very quickly because a couple of people just did mention this on the socials afterwards, something that we didn't mention at the time in our review just because one, we didn't feel like it was really hugely relevant and two, we just forgot at the time, but we are aware that it is an almost rip off of a Star Trek episode from back in the day.

Adam: 00:45:40

Yeah, I think you, you can be forgiven for not spotting that, mate, because you're not a Trekkie and. But I do feel I should have picked up on that because I, I'm not a big Trekkie but I do love the original series and I think.

Am I right in saying that's the one that people said it was a rip off of? I think it's the one with Arena. Yeah, I think it's the one with Spock and Kirk have to have a fight.

I might be wrong, someone will have to correct me.

Garry: 00:46:05

But yeah, so I was aware of it because before, before we went through our review episodes I did some research into, you know, the, the writing for the episode and any sort of trivia and you know, interesting behind the scenes stuff. So I'd seen that it, you know, I'd seen that it would.

A lot of people had compared it very heavily to that episode arena from the original Star Trek series. And yeah, it's. But then we have to.

Something that I've noticed about science fiction in the last sort of two decades and especially as you And I have gone through and reviewed a lot of, you know, classic science fiction in Doctor Who and now with Blake's 7. But I've noticed it with a lot of films over the years as well.

Is that at the end of the day, good science fiction just pilfers from other science fiction. You know, that's the, that's the thing that. Because you can be watching a film and you're. You're.

Inevitably there'll be a plot point or a plot twist or a character or series of characters, and you'll immediately think, oh, this is just like that thing. Oh, this is really. And it happens. I think in my opinion, it happens more in science fiction than any other genre. And yeah, even some random things.

Like you and I reviewed an episode of Doctor Who and it was like, oh, this is just like the Alien movie.

Adam: 00:47:29

Yeah.

Garry: 00:47:30

You know, and that sort of thing.

Adam: 00:47:31

So Brain and Morbius being like Frankenstein and stuff like that, you know.

Garry: 00:47:34

Yeah, exactly. And so. And there are varying degrees of that.

And I think this episode really is up there with like, it's really close, like almost not identical, but it's really, really similar. So, yeah, we are aware of that listener who also told us about that. It's just I. I forgot to mention it on the thing and Adam was, you know.

Adam: 00:47:58

Well, I just didn't pick up. I mean, as soon as it was mentioned in the comments, I was like, oh, yeah, of course it is. But it hadn't occurred to me at the time.

Garry: 00:48:05

Yeah, yeah.

So actually, while we're talking about episodes like Bounty, were there any specific kind of low points or non highlights for you as you were re watching this for whatever amount of times you've watched this thing now with me, was there any points where you thought, oh, actually, I forgot how bad this is, or I forgot just how much I didn't enjoy this. Was there any. Any moments like that for you?

Adam: 00:48:29

Actually that there genuinely wasn't. There were two episodes when we, when we talked about doing the series, there were two. I was thinking, which ones is he gonna not enjoy?

You know, and the two that I was sort of pleasantly surprised by because I thought they might be the bad ones was the web. I just remember.

I don't know, there was one time I watched that and maybe I wasn't in the mood, but I just remember all the squealing and thinking, God, this is terrible. This is not a good episode. And I actually really enjoyed it on this watch. And the other one was Mission to. Was it Mission to Destiny? The.

The one with the murder mystery Again, I was pleasantly surprised. I enjoyed that month a lot more than I did previously.

And those were the two episodes I thought you might think were a bit poor because Mission to Destiny is a bit of a murder mystery. And I remember thinking the, you know, the twist was really obvious, I thought, but, you know, you didn't get it.

And that might just be that I knew what the twist was. So. No, towards your question, mate, there wasn't anything really that I would say is disappointing, I think, really, apart from Bounty.

I do think Bounty is quite a weak episode, but it still has some really lovely ideas in it. That's the thing. I don't think it holds together. It's a bit of a patchwork of ideas that don't quite, you know, needs a rewrite.

I think Bounty and it could have been good. But no, in all honesty, mate, I don't think there is anything I would say is particularly bad in series one. I think it's. They're all.

All got something to offer.

Garry: 00:50:02

They're all.

Adam: 00:50:02

Yeah, I do genuinely think that. I don't. I can't think of anyone where I think, oh, no, this is really bad. No.

Garry: 00:50:09

Yeah, I'm much the same as a new. A new viewer to it. There wasn't any particular episode that I thought, oh, God, that was a rough watch.

Adam: 00:50:17

There was no Underworld. You know, if you. If you think of Doctor Who, you think, oh, if you put Underworld on it, I'll be like, oh, no, really?

Whereas there's not any episode in this list where I think if you were to say, I'm gonna put this on, I'd be like, oh, head in my hands. You know, they're all pretty good.

Garry: 00:50:32

They're all pretty good. Yeah. And I was actually surprised at that because I thought, you know, being 13 episodes, it's. It's not a patch on, obviously, some of the.

The US TV shows that we've seen over the years, those guys have like 22, 23 episodes in a season. Because I started rewatching the original Star Trek.

I say rewatching, I'm not really a Trekker like you, and I started watching the original Star Trek a couple of months ago. Not sort of super regular, sort of once or once every two or three weeks, I'll dive in and watch another couple of episodes.

And I'm slowly getting through it. But when I fire up Netflix and I've. And I go to that first season, I'm like, bloody hell.

You know, I feel like I've watched 20 episodes already and I've got You know, but in reality I'm only at like episode eight or something and I've got, you know, another 15 to go or something like that, so. But however, 13 episodes is still a lot to.

To get through in terms of your average British TV series, which is normally around 8 to 10 episodes of something.

So I was surprised that when I got to episode 13 and we'd done all that, there wasn't any episodes that I thought, oh God, that was a slog or, you know, that was a real. A real weird one.

So, yeah, I'm surprised that even though we rated some of them around 6.6.5 and we gave Bounty a 5 and so on, they're not bad watches at all.

Adam: 00:52:07

No. If anything, I feel like I might have been a little harsh with my scoring.

I think I have very much gone into trying not to be the fanboy of this and try and be the reviewer.

And I do look at the scores and think perhaps I've just a sort of a 0.5 under on each one because I have tried to be fair, you know, I've tried to be sort of point out the stuff I like and don't like.

And we have said a couple of times that we felt like perhaps Terry Nation started off strong and towards the end maybe, you know, where we got to Bounty, that is, is he running a bit low on fumes? And obviously Chris Boucher has stepped in to help out. So that might be the other reason that it's managed to.

Even when you get a script that perhaps is a little bit under par, I think perhaps, maybe Chris Boucher or whoever has injected some life into it and, yeah, made it quite a strong opening series overall. The other thing that surprised me, mate, was I'd said to you about the models and I've kind of had to eat my words on this.

I mean, we, we may get some bad. I'm sure there is some terrible models in place of them, but I've had to eat my words a bit. They've been pretty sweet in this first series.

And this is the series that had absolutely no budget really for a sci Fi show. Had a really small budget.

I think they, they do give them a little bit more money in series two because it was a success, you know, but yeah, I had to eat my words on that, mate. I'd sort of tried to temper your expectations by telling you, you know, some of the model shots get.

You know, people would laugh at them now and say they're washing up liquid bottles and stuff like that, but they were pretty Good. Especially the Liberator. What a model that is, what a ship the Liberator is. It's. I could just stare at that spaceship, mate. It's beautiful, isn't it?

In design and the model work that's gone into it, I just, just love it. But the other spaceships have been pretty good as well. The Federation fighter ships look cool. And we've, we've hardly seen them.

We'll see a lot more of them. But yeah, even that has been better than I remembered it being, to be fair.

Garry: 00:54:18

Yeah, yeah, no, I'm glad you've brought that up because that was next on the list before we do a bit of, just a closing thing with some characters.

But you did warn me up front, listener Adam did say to me, look, mate, I know we're used to some low budget stuff from Doctor Who, but yeah, some of Blake's model work for the ships and so on is a little bit ropey. So I was like, okay, this is gonna, Is this the prelude?

Is he teeing me up for like the Blue Peter style cereal boxes and washing up liquid bottles and this kind of thing? That's what it made it sound like. And. But mate, I've got to be honest with you.

The, the designs and the model work for this is, is considering that no money or time to really get these things rocking and rolling, I have to just give props to those guys, those old, the, the guys that did all the model work and stuff. It's just so, so good.

And the thing that I think, because I got sort of waylaid a little bit with like, oh God, I'm just dreading the next model, you know, what's gonna, what's gonna happen with that? I was surprised again that I didn't really run into that stuff because at this point I had bought it.

Especially when we get into like the episode Spacefall and Beyond, when we see models for the London and later on. Yeah. And, and then the Federation ships later on and all that sort of thing.

I, I'd really bought into this whole, which I knew anyway, which was that old British shows from the 70s and 80s, especially science fiction, they've got this lovely charm about them where they, the people that were making them didn't really get much buy in from executives at TV stations at the time. It was just a case of look, okay to satisfy.

You know, there is a very, I think, a bit of a tunnel vision from those guys at the time, but they were like, you know, there's a small market for this stuff, so, yeah, you can Have a little bit of money, go and make your show. And. And so. And that's exactly what they did. It's like, yeah, here's a little bit of money, you know, do your best sort of thing.

And so I'd already bought into the whole charm of this old school sort of class, classic sci fi. And just how much it benefited from, from having not a lot of money that to, you know, use just 100 pure talent to do what they had to work with.

So yeah, mate, some of the model shots, especially the Liberator, like you said, one of the best looking ships from science fiction. Just absolutely incredible design. It's the best inside and out.

Adam: 00:56:59

Yeah, yeah, I was gonna say. So that's the other thing. I love the design of the flight deck, you know, and, and all the, is it hexagonal? I also feel like, I'm saying, I think so.

Yeah. All the corridors, it's quite simple.

But I love all the colors on the flight deck and Zen, everything about it, you know, it's just, yeah, you can tell that love's gone into it in terms of the design.

And I don't know when I said to you about the models, I don't know if that was me just getting a bit nervous about what you were going to make of this show and was trying to sort of, you know, manage your expectations. I don't know. But yeah, I definitely. My words, mate.

I've been sat back thinking, although we've got all these new shiny effects on the Blu ray, if we want to watch them, I'm actually quite happy to watch the original effects. I think they're like you said, charming.

Garry: 00:57:44

Yeah. And I have watched every episode just without the new effects.

Adam: 00:57:48

Yeah.

Garry: 00:57:49

But I did go back afterwards and pick out a few moments.

So as I was watching the episode I thought, okay, this scene where they've got the Liberator sort of nicely cruising through space or you know, this bit with the ships and the teleport effect and all that stuff. I did go back in afterwards, put the new effects on and check out some of those scenes and yeah, some, some, some really cool updated effects there.

And nothing too overbearing as well. Nothing that pulls you out of the, of the experience of it being a classic show.

They're just sort of, they're done with the perfect level of like sympathy for the time and, and all that stuff.

It's, it's not like a night and day difference like, oh, that looks out of place, you know, they've done it in a way that fits the the tone and the style. So, yeah, props to those guys.

Adam: 00:58:35

Just. Yeah.

And also while we're talking about style and sort of like the feel of the show just before we move on to wrapping up with the characters and that. I have always loved the opening credits because again, if you watch the new effects, they have actually altered the very last shot of the Liberator.

But again, I, you know, if you knew, nowadays we could skip. It says skip title you can get rid of. And I never would with like seven. I think it' beautiful. I love the font of the logo.

I love the Federation Trooper turning round and it coming up with Eliminate with Blake's face on it. And again, I feel like a lot of love's gone into that intro and I'm not sure how quite how they've done the Liberator shot in the original.

It looks almost like a painting. I don't know what it is, but it's. I think it's gorgeous. And coupled with Dudley's theme as well.

So I just want to say how much I love the credits and the theme. And I just want to ask, you know, to me, every time I put an episode on, I have to watch credits. It gets me pumped for the episode. It really.

It just reminds you that what Blake is as a character because he's, you know, eliminate and all that. It gets me pumped every time the credits and the theme combined and I.

And I just wondered what you thought the first sort of time, if you can remember, when the credits rolled. Did you sit there and think, oh, these are pretty cool, you know, or what did you think they looked dated? Or what did you think?

I know you love the theme.

Garry: 00:59:59

Yeah, the theme's really cool. And yeah, I think of course dated because of the, of the time.

But just going back to what I said about the having a charm about that stuff and having a really nice look and feel to it. It's just, I think if you're a certain age as well, it helps. I'm not saying that we're old, but I think if you're a certain age, you can.

ms and other shows from about: 1985

Because in that time period, that's when I spent, you know, a large portion of time in the living room, sat cross legged while my mum was watching through, you know, her shows, quote unquote.

And it's not that she was into science fiction, but just that time period, you know, that you can tell when a lot of shows were just done on studio tape.

Adam: 01:01:02

Yeah.

Garry: 01:01:03

And all that stuff and the credits being a certain way and all that. So, yeah, I think if you're a certain age and you've got your nostalgia goggles on, it gives you that wonderful warm feeling.

But I think even for younger viewers, you know, I think it provides just an overall sense of, ah, we're into. We're going to go into classic territory. This is going to be like retro tv. So you, you know, you kind of fully expect it from that point of view.

But theme I love. Yeah, I just love the theme.

Adam: 01:01:31

I just think the credits also give you an idea of what the show's about in very simple ways. Like showing the. Because I love that. I like the design of the Federation soldiers. It's very simple. Just sort of a black boiler suit, isn't it?

But something about the, the helmets they wear, which I find really creepy, even though, you know, it's just a man under there, because they often take them off. But there is something about that design I find quite unnerving.

And just to see that shot of him turning and firing the gun and then Blake's face coming up, you kind of get exactly what's happening here that, you know, someone's after a guy called Blake, you know, and they want to kill him. So, yeah, I love the cretis, mate. I think they're cool.

Garry: 01:02:10

And it was also a nice combination of different things as well in that those opening theme and credits and stuff. Because, you know, with.

Actually we've mentioned the classic Star Trek in the opening theme to that series, really all it is is just a space scene and then the Enterprise just whizzing past.

Adam: 01:02:29

Yeah, yeah, pretty much all it is.

Garry: 01:02:31

Whereas with Blake's 7, you've got a few different types of effects going on. You know, you've got the security camera that's moving around and it's kind of morphing into each frame. Yeah, you've got the still shot of the photo.

You've then got this real really cool sort of old school pixelated video game style thing of Blake in the, in the round screen with the blue that says eliminate, you know, and, and that stuff. And then you have got a couple of shots of the Liberator and things like that.

So it's like a combination of these little experimental ways of putting some cool credits together. So yeah, it's.

Again, it's one of those things where you've got some people who are very, very talented who are able to put some cool stuff together with not much money. So I applaud that every time. It's. It's very cool.

Adam: 01:03:17

Yeah, it's enough to, I think it's enough to intrigue a viewer if they were to see that. What's that about then? You know, it's enough to draw you in, I think.

Garry: 01:03:24

Yeah, yeah. I love that, dude. Love it. Okay, let's touch on a few characters. So the highlight's got to be Avon for both of us, right?

Adam: 01:03:37

I think it has to be. Yeah. I love Avon.

Garry: 01:03:40

Not, not to take anything away from Gareth Thomas as Blake as the starring character. But for me, Avon just had the perfect mix and Paul Darrow did this beautifully.

Just had the perfect mix of being strong willed and strong mind minded enough to not get swept up in the hole. Blake against the Federation thing where some of the other characters I think bought into that rather quickly.

If we think about a character like Jenna, who when we saw we first see her in Space Fall, very, very comes across as very standoffish, quite tough and, and I think even Villa says to Blake, you know, she's a smuggler or something like that, so she's clearly a criminal.

Adam: 01:04:26

Yeah.

Garry: 01:04:26

And, but then fast forward just an episode or two and she's very smiley with Blake and very much like, yeah, Blake, whatever you want, I'll do sort of thing. So some characters bought into that whole thing quite quickly. Not, not in a bad way.

You know, that's their own reasons in the way those characters were written. But Avon was very much a. You know, you can say this as much as you like, Blake.

You can, you can tell us until you're blue in the face about how bad the Federation is and how much we need to go and do this and how, how critical it is we go to this planet and do this thing. You know, I'm here because I'm not in prison, simple as that.

Adam: 01:05:05

Yeah.

Garry: 01:05:06

This is the only reason I'm here because it was an escape route and I'm here by default. But at some point I could jump ship, you know, and, and we saw that quite a few times as we went through the series. And then on the other hand, he.

Not that he wanted to be the hero, but there were some times where he saved the day almost. And if it wasn't for Avon, they'd be in a real tricky spot by now.

So just a great mix of different types of attitude in each episode and not really giving Blake the upper hand or not Trying to. And those little, those little trade off moments between Blake and Avon. Those little grins exchanged, little snarky comments and stuff.

So Paul Darrow, mate, just perfect casting for that character. So a real highlight was for both of us, I think we both agree, is Avon.

Adam: 01:05:56

Yeah, yeah, absolutely, mate. Paul Darrow is outstanding. He just, I don't know, he's just such a unique performance.

I just can't think of anyone else playing it the way that he does. And I can't even pinpoint what it is about his performance, but it's just, I don't know, it's calm, calculated and he manages to do humor.

Avon is such a contradiction in many ways, but it's great. It's such a contrast to Blake that they are a bit like Servland and Travis. They're. They're gold when they're on screen together.

I like the fact that although there's tension they. You can feel a warmth growing between Avon and Blake throughout the series. I think. I don't know, but I, I feel like Avon's almost resisting.

He doesn't really want to like Blake, but I feel as the series goes on that he is.

He almost forgets that, you know, he doesn't like Blake and he has to sort of remind himself a bit like that scene you said about where he gets up and looks really angry when Blake gets the last word. There's. There's this ongoing tension between two of them which I think is brilliant.

But there's also, I don't know if I'd call it a friendship, but I think there's a need. They need each other, I think. Blake and Avon. But yeah, Paul Darrymate. Superb.

Garry: 01:07:10

Yeah, very, very cool. We'll get back to Blake in just a second. But the other highlight, I think we've mentioned it already is, is Travis and Servalan.

So Jacqueline Pierce and, and Stephen Greif, just like we said, absolute brilliance on screen when those two are together. And it was really cool to see the change in Steven Greif's performance as the series goes on.

Where at the beginning he's up on a high because he's been tasked with taking out his nemesis Blake. You know, it's his life mission to take him out. Servalan's very confident in that.

And then you have this sort of downfall almost where he's tried and tried to take Blake out is failing at every turn. Servaland's trying to protect him. The, the upper echelons of, of, of management at the Federation are not happy.

She's Trying to protect him and give him a bit of a buffer because she still believes in him and he can do the job. But then when we get to the end, he's completely failed, you know, and. And Sir Valand's now not happy at all.

So I'm fascinated to see how those two characters, even though Steven Greif isn't returning to see how those two characters progress together because obviously they're in it without series B, of course. But at that point in the series, a bit of a low point for Travis. He knows he's going to get his ass kicked now he hasn't produced the goods.

And Servolan is also unhappy. She's just lost Orak to Blake. He's escaped once more. Travis has had his hand blown off. Bit of a humiliation.

So it was really cool to see that there was some vulnerability in that character as we went through. And that showed a little bit, didn't it, when we saw him with having a bit of a catch up with serverland. And she tells him that the. I think.

Was it in Breakdown? No. What episode was it where she has a bit of a catch up and she tells him that's Project Avalon, I.

Adam: 01:09:18

Think at the start. And then she's like, you've, you know, you're. Oh no, people are talking.

Garry: 01:09:23

Yeah. What was the episode where Ensor's son, also called Ensor, is on the Liberator and so on.

And she's having a chat with Travis and she tells him that she sabotaged the ship and the other guy.

Adam: 01:09:37

Deliverance.

Garry: 01:09:38

Yeah, Deliverance. So yeah, the other guy on the ship who was fixed up, his face and everything. Was it Mary Marriott?

Adam: 01:09:48

Marriott, yeah.

Garry: 01:09:49

Yeah.

When she mentions that Marriott was on the ship that she sabotage to explode, he has a moment of he was a good man, you know, and that showed a little bit of vulnerability in Travis's character. So you couple that with the fact that he's on a bit of a downward trend with the Federation by not delivering the goods.

It was really cool to see that character progression. Not in the way that you thought it was going to happen by the time he got to the end of series eight. It was very cool.

Adam: 01:10:18

Yeah, I mean they are great together and. And Jacqueline Pierce is superb server. Lana, as I said, we. You really haven't seen anything yet. She.

She's good in this series one, but she really comes into her own in the next series. She's fantastic. And I said earlier that I appreciated Steven Grice performance a lot more this time round.

I just thought he Was particularly, particularly in Seek, Locate, Destroy when he's, you know, when he's going in, trying to work out what, what's happened because they've stolen that decode or whatever and he's giving orders and barking and he's so confident when he strides in and yeah, Steven Greif, great performance. I can. I.

Although I wish he'd gone on to do the second series, I can sort of see, having watched these in order again, why he might have been getting a little frustrated because, you know, he does at the end of pretty much every episode, looked up to the sky and say, I'll get you, Blake. And he's had his hand blown off for the second times.

You can see it from his point of view that perhaps the character had already had a bit of repetition and he's like, well, what else are you going to do with Travis? But Travis gets a lot more. Gets a lot more sort of to do in series two. So.

But you can see why Steven Groff might have felt a little frustrated and, and thought, yeah, I think I'll do. Move on. You know, I think lots of, for lots of reasons he moved on. But there is definitely a bit of repetition there. But I got handed to him. He's.

He's superb in the series and I really liked him as Travis.

I kind of wish he'd gone on to series two, knowing what's to come, because I think he would have, he would have really embraced the storylines he gets.

Garry: 01:12:02

Yes.

I think I, I'm guessing that he would have just absolutely soaked up all of the, all of the, the new stuff that Travis is obviously going to get stuck into.

Adam: 01:12:12

He would have, mate, trust me. Yeah.

Garry: 01:12:14

Yeah. Oh, dear. So, yeah, they were a good highlight.

And then I don't want to spend too much time going through all the characters because Listener, you would have heard us go through the sort of. The screen time allocated to these characters as we go through each episode. We know that Jenna had some busy episodes and some quiet ones.

Same with Villa, Jan and. And Gan. Gan. Sorry. And Cally. And so there's kind of a mix and match.

We've mentioned it a couple of times over the series that when you have a, a group of cast members of this number, we know when you start getting over four or five people, it's just impossible to dedicate a lot of screen time to all of them all the time. So ultimately some of them have to have quieter episodes, etc. But let's talk about Gareth Thomas then, as Blake. As Blake. Blake.

Adam: 01:13:13

Just love that.

Garry: 01:13:14

Yeah. So I would say for me, overall, one of the most consistent performances from Gareth Thomas as Blake throughout the episode.

If you think about that moment of realization when he's in the cell in the way back, you know, just after he's been captured and he finds out, you know, he finds out that he's being framed, you know, when he's in sort of cahoots with who's the. The guy? Is it Varon the lawyer? Tell Varon. Yeah, yeah. He basically says, look, you're in for it, mate, because you've done this and this.

And he's like, I didn't do that. I'm being framed clearly. And then that's when all the pieces start to fall into place for him.

He starts to realize that everything he's been told in the last 24 hours, up to that point, whatever, is all been true. And then Varon starts to bind that a little bit as well, starts to dig into it.

So from that point on, he's just been incredibly consistent with his performance.

We've always had this thing where even if cars, crew members didn't agree with a decision, mainly Avon, he's done it anyway, either because he sees the bigger picture.

He sees that if they don't do something about the Federation, they'll always be on the run and people like them will always be under a regime, essentially. So he sees the bigger picture.

And then thirdly, he's got a good heart on, you know, some of those episodes where we detour off the little bit, you know, where it wasn't all about taking down the Federation.

So things like the Web Time Squad, you know, episodes like that, project Avalon, where wasn't, sorry, Mission to Destiny wasn't so much about, you know, Blake's next move against the Federation. It was like these group of people, or this person is in trouble, we need to go and help them. And. And that's been really consistent.

So, you know, in terms of Gareth Thomas, from one end of the series right through to the other end, has just 100% been Blake. You can't take that from. From his performance.

So although again, Blake has had some episodes where he wasn't quite as strong as another one, or he didn't have. Have as much screen time as another one, you could always rely on Gareth Thomas being 100% Blake, I think it's fair to say.

Adam: 01:15:50

Absolutely. And I. I just love him as Blake.

And I think it's kudos for Gareth Thomas for allowing everyone around him, all the cast and crew, to have their moments. You know, he's Although he. Although it's called Blake's 7 and he is the lead, you don't feel like he's trying to be the central character.

You know, I don't feel like there's an ego there. It's Blake's 7, not Avon 7. Everybody gets their moment and they work together brilliantly. And. And that's what I said earlier.

Why I've really sort of appreciated Gareth so much more this time around is because I think often Avon does overshadow Blake as a character sometimes.

And bear in mind, mate, although I've watched this series, you know, Blake's 7 from the start before, you know, as a fan of this show, over the years, and we are talking a lot of years now, you know, it's like any show that you like. I don't. Whenever I feel like watching Blake's 7, I don't start from the beginning.

Every time, I'll dip in and think, oh, I feel like watching episode from series four tonight or. Or I feel like that one from series two where that happens.

And so, you know, for the last probably few years, I've watched everything out of order and, you know, just certain ones, episodes that I enjoy the most.

So to watch it from the beginning again has just sort of made me fall in love with the character of Blake, and that is down to Gareth Thomas, his performance, if that makes sense. I mean, when you're just dipping into random episodes you enjoy, Avon quite often steals those episodes.

He sort of overshadows Blake and becomes your favorite or whatever. But. So I'm not saying Blake got lost, but in a sense, he does get a little bit lost as a character in terms of.

If you say, you know, do you love Blake? Well, he's all right. Yeah. But it's Avon, you know, But I loved him in this series, mate, and I. And I love the character.

Garry: 01:17:38

Agreed. And. Same. Yeah, Love that character.

Adam: 01:17:42

Yeah.

Garry: 01:17:42

Really, really good. Which is why I said it. I think it was important to set up at the very beginning the reason why Blake does what he does.

Adam: 01:17:50

Yeah, exactly. Yeah.

Garry: 01:17:51

You know. Yeah. Because that could have gone one or two ways if they'd have kept that fairly quiet. And then we grew into what character, what Blake's about.

I think some people would have been lost by that point. We needed a strong.

Adam: 01:18:04

Yeah, I think that's what it's reminded me, what Blake's about.

I think that's what I'm trying to get at when I say I've sort of fallen back in love with the character, watching it from the start and what he goes through and how he starts to remember who he really is. It's just reminded me who Blake is as a character. That's what I mean when I say I've fallen back in love with it.

Garry: 01:18:24

Yeah, no, I get that, bud.

Adam: 01:18:26

Or back in love with him, rather. Yeah.

Garry: 01:18:28

Yes. Another thing that's been cool. Before we wrap up, just quickly, we've mentioned every episode is Dudley Simpson's soundtrack to this first series.

Adam: 01:18:37

And we can't not mention Dudley.

Garry: 01:18:40

No, of course. Yeah. So we had a couple of ups and downs. It's strange, our relationship with Dudley's music has been very up and down over the years because.

Because we reviewed pretty much all of classic Doctor Who over on the Big Blue Box. We've obviously run into quite a few episodes where Dudley has scored those ones.

And I think it's safe to say that there's no middle ground with us with Dudley.

It's either he produces a great score, which is really suited to the story in that episode and it's really good, or it's a case of it was just quite forgettable. You know, I don't really remember much of a theme from that. You know, an ongoing hook or a motif from an episode.

I just don't really remember the music that much. There's no middle ground. It's like. It's either that it's either forgettable or it's really good.

Adam: 01:19:30

Yeah.

Garry: 01:19:31

And the thing with his music for Blake's 7, and I believe we touched on this in the first episode or two, and I'll repeat it again now, because I think it's. It's. This definitely holds water, is that you can tell that he absolutely owns Blake's 7 as his thing. It's a case of.

It's not a case of he's been hired to put some incidental music together for an episode, and he's doing his best from what he's been given I. A basic script or an overview of the story and come up with some stuff.

He obviously has been given full reign just to take the premise of the story, the setup, the characters, the situations, etc. And put together what he feels is going to aid the story and make the story better.

And I think, for the most part, I think he accomplished that throughout this first series.

There's a couple of episodes where, due to some absolute weirdness that we can't quite get our heads around between grown adults, where Douglas Camfield has insisted that Dudley's not involved in an episode, which is really weird, for the most part, he's absolutely nailed it. There's Been a few episodes where exactly that. Where they've been a bit forgettable, where you think.

I don't really remember much of the music in that one, but the episodes where he does turn in a great score have been. Have been really good and we. Obviously the theme music is just. It's just iconic. Right. Just amazing.

Adam: 01:21:10

It's a br. I love the theme. I just absolutely love the theme. So, yeah, hats off for that, just as a start. But his music throughout the series is great. It's. It.

It's typically Dudley, but also I love the fact he's using a bit more synths because I guess he's thinking sci fi. He wants to, you know, instead of having all the flutes and stuff that usually has, you know, we still have all that lovely stuff.

But to add in all these little synth sounds is just lovely to hear as well. And it doesn't sound dated. I don't think it really suits the show. You know, sometimes synthesizer music.

I'm thinking about when they, you know, released Sharda on vhs. They put this dreadful synthesizer soundtrack over it and then thankfully they redid it years later.

But, you know, it can go horribly wrong when you start adding incense. You know, practical, practical instruments often date better a lot more than. Than synthesized music. You know, flutes and, and.

And drums and things like that. You know, proper instruments often don't. Violins, for example, they. They don't seem to age, whereas since music can.

But he's quite sparse with it, but it's just enough to give it that slightly sci fi feel. So. I love Dudley's work. I mean. Yeah. The episode that he doesn't get to do, I think we said it was stock music. It works quite well.

It's interesting to hear some different music because I think with Dudley you can always tell it's Dudley. Yeah, but I, But I mean that in a good way, you know. So, yeah, I love his work in this and he does, yes, a great stuff throughout all four series.

Dudley.

Garry: 01:22:52

Mm. Yeah, 100% mate. Yeah.

Okay, so before we wrap this bonus episode up, we have to also give props to the people that got off their asses and actually wanted to bring Blake's 7 back in the form of the Blu Ray set. So a couple of people to thank for that. So obviously Russell Minton, who's the exec producer on those. The Doctor Who box sets and now Blake's 7.

So massive props to him for, for signing that often and getting the wheels in motion for that stuff and then a bunch of other people and a couple of them ties in very nicely. To some upcoming bonus episodes starting next week.

So next week we have an interview with Chris Thompson, who is the visual effects consultant and model extraordinaire, etc on this Blu Ray set. He's done an absolutely wonderful job.

If you've watched the episodes with the newer effects turned on and you've seen some of the really cool effects and some of the updated model work that they've done, I've seen a few comments on socials or people have said, why haven't they gone old school and done some models and stuff? And they absolutely have, which is a, you know, indicative of the quality of, of the model work that Chris and his team have put together.

So next week for our second bonus episode, we've got a wonderful chat with Chris and I must admit I go a little bit fanboyish and a bit giddy on that one.

Adam: 01:24:31

I was gutted I couldn't sit in on this interview. So you got to see the models, didn't you?

Garry: 01:24:37

I did, yes. You can't.

This is an audio only podcast, but we did a video chat and it was in his office and I can't say too much about some of the other stuff that he showed me, but some of the Blake's 7 models and some other bits and pieces were just absolutely, just mind blowing. Very, very cool. So that was a really good chat.

Really good deep dive into some of the reasons why he did effects a certain way and the way they did things and just. Yeah, we talk about Thunderbirds and a little bit of Doctor Who and all sorts. It's a really good chat, that one.

And then the week after, for our third bonus episode, we've got an interview with Paul Vanezis who is responsible for the remastering all the picture quality for the Blu Rays. And for those of you that are really geeky about that stuff, you're going to love that episode. Again, Paul, he doesn't. He mate, he deep dives a lot.

Adam: 01:25:30

Yeah, it's fascinating, honestly, hearing the source material they had and you know, because I asked him things about, well, I noticed this line down the screen. Why is that left in? And all sorts. He, he really goes into it and it's a fascinating chat with Paul.

Garry: 01:25:45

Yes. Yeah.

So if you're interested in how the, some of the rationale behind why they did this remaster, the way they did it and the certain look and how they. Some of the technical tools and software and everything that he used to accomplish that and everything. You'll love that one. So that was really cool.

So the next couple of weeks we've got some great interviews with those guys. So make sure you're following the podcast in your preferred podcast app so you won't miss notifications for those.

And then just lastly, yeah, so Russell, Chris Paul, Chris Chapman, who did the really cool documentary stuff on the Blu Ray set, and I think Mark Ayres is back for the audio reconstruction and stuff, isn't he? I'm sure it's Mark Ayres.

Adam: 01:26:27

I think so, mate. Yes, I hope so, because Mark is superb when it comes to remastering audio.

Garry: 01:26:33

Yeah, he's amazing. So really good job from all those guys.

And obviously there's too many names to rattle off and stuff like that, but to all of you, the guys that were responsible for getting this Blu Ray set and then obviously series B and then the subsequent ones after that, thank you so much because who would have thought, you know, that a sci fi show from back in the 70s and 80s would now have a new lease of life almost amongst modern audiences and everything. So it's not an easy thing to do to get these Blu Ray sets done. It's a lot, a lot of work and man hours.

So it's only done from people who love the show and love doing this stuff. So big thanks to those guys.

Adam: 01:27:15

Yeah, definitely, mate.

All the people involved in remastered and the special features that we're getting as well on these, it's, it's lovely to see Blake's 7 getting the love that it deserves on, on these Blu Ray sets for sure.

Garry: 01:27:26

Yes, indeed.

So, mate, I know we weren't going to put a score on it or anything, but I think we can gladly say with a lot of relief on your part as well, that series A of Blake's 7, we've absolutely loved it overall.

Adam: 01:27:40

Absolutely loved it, mate. And I, I just have two little questions I want to ask you before we wrap up and they are, what would you say to someone to get them into Blake's 7?

And secondly, and more importantly, the one I'm really excited for, what are your expectations for series two or predictions?

Garry: 01:27:59

So to answer the first question, for anyone who said, you know, should I watch Blake's 7?

Or if someone said to me, I'm stuck for something to watch, if you got any cool old sci fi shows I can dive into, I would say in terms of Blake's 7, and I think it's an obvious one, but just give yourself a minimum of three episodes, don't give yourself one of those things where it's like, okay, I'll watch the first one and if that goes well, I'll carry on because we don't get introduced to some characters until later on, especially episode two with space for. So I would say give yourself a minimum of a three episode thing before you decide whether you want to continue watching Blake's 7.

I think a lot of TV is these days quite throwaway. You know, I think a lot of people are judgmental. I mean, we even see people who say, no, I'm not going to watch anything based on trailer.

Adam: 01:29:00

Yeah, true.

Garry: 01:29:01

You know, movie trailers and TV trailers, they'll look, they'll look at that and they'll be like, nah, doesn't it like my cup of tea or, you know, I was expecting better, you know, not even seen a proper episode or the movie, etc. So don't treat it as throwaway. It's an amazing, amazing show. I've fallen in love with it, as Adam hoped I would do.

If you've not seen it before, if you're listening to this podcast and you're just listening along because you've, you've heard us over on Doctor Who for years and you're just interested in our waffle and opinions on things and you've not seen Blake's 7. 150% do watch it. It's a cracking show, great characters, great story. It's. It's just great.

Adam: 01:29:43

But I wanted to hear.

Garry: 01:29:45

Yeah, but give it, give it a few episodes before you decide because you get introduced to the Blake and the whole setup. And then the second one you get most of the characters. The third one you get some Brian Blessed.

Shouting, shouting and don't forget Brian and all that stuff. And then a bit further on you get Serval and Travis, two amazing characters. And then everything's.

I could talk about it for hours, but yeah, that'd be my advice. And then the second question, which was what do I. What my expectations was it for series.

Adam: 01:30:18

Expectations or predictions for series B?

Garry: 01:30:21

Yeah, or predictions. Right.

So my expectations would be that the BBC would hopefully have dinged them a little bit more money based on the success of series A, because obviously they thought, you know, there's some decent viewership here and they did get some decent numbers.

You know, we're talking like, I don't know exactly, but like 10 million viewers for the finale, like 11 million viewers for a couple of other episodes. And so they got some decent numbers from it. Yeah, so that, you know, it's obviously a success.

So hopefully we see some more really cool model work, some really cool action sequences, a bit more location stuff. So I'm predicting, because they potentially got a little bit more money.

Not a lot, but a little bit more we get to see a bit more of the galaxy, a few more locations, etc. So that's what I'm predicting. And then in terms of story, I'm predicting more of the same from Blake.

I'm predicting more of more of ways to infiltrate the Federation and take those guys down and you know, a bit more of a. A bit more of a personal trade off between him and Servalan.

Now that Servalan's, you know, really into the problem now with Blake, now that they've not managed to capture Orac and, and all this stuff, I think she's now more than ever going to buy into the fact that Blake is definitely the main problem to tackle. So I think there's going to be a. Some more.

I predict there's going to be some more juicy, you know, conversations and sequences between those two and stuff like that.

Adam: 01:32:03

Was there anything in the trailer that peaked that you just particularly sticks in your mind from the Series two Traitor. Is there anything you thought. What, what was that? Apart from the cast change?

Garry: 01:32:12

Apart from the cast change, Anything you.

Adam: 01:32:14

Heard or saw in that trailer that you thought, oh, can't wait to find out what that's about.

Garry: 01:32:20

Not standout. No.

Adam: 01:32:22

Okay. All right. I thought you might say Star One.

Garry: 01:32:26

Oh, yeah, not really.

Adam: 01:32:28

All right, I won't say anymore. I just, I know that is mentioned a few times. I thought you might be curious what Star One is.

Garry: 01:32:33

Okay. Yeah. So, yeah, that didn't, that didn't strike me as. Or maybe it is then. I'm not sure. It didn't strike me as a, as a huge plot point for the series.

Adam: 01:32:43

I'm saying too much already.

Garry: 01:32:44

It might be.

Adam: 01:32:45

I'm not gonna say anything else. I just wondered if there was anything really caught your eye on the trailer. But I'll say no more, mate.

All I'll say is we've got new writers coming in.

Obviously Terry Nation is still very much there writing stories, but we've got Chris Belcher, we've got Robert Holmes, you know, we got some really Alan Pryor, some great stuff. I'm looking at some of the episodes in Series two. Pressure Point, Shadow, Redemption.

No, no, these are just titles, you know, so I'm just looking, thinking, wow, wow, wow. So bring on Series two.

Garry: 01:33:24

Yeah, and my expectation, just very simply, is that I think it's just going to be slightly bigger and slightly better, I think is an expectation for me than series. Series A. So.

we will find out later on in: 2025

We might have a couple of little tidbits going on in between, but we'll certainly chat with all of you guys and the Blake's 7 community over on the socials in between then. So we're having a break of course, but we won't be going far. We'll be back for more Blake7 goodness later on in the year.

And I think on that note, dude. So let's wrap there for our special wrap up episode.

Adam: 01:34:21

Cannot wait, mate. Indeed.

Garry: 01:34:37

Thank you so much Blake7 listener for listening to our first bonus of and if you've listened through the previous episode 1 to 13, thank you so much for going along the journey with us for Blake's 7.

It's been incredible for me to dive into such a wonderful show and as I mentioned earlier, big thanks to Adam who has really been the driving force between of getting this podcast off the ground and made and watching everything. So it's been really cool. Dude, thank you so much for prodding me and, and getting the podcast done. It's. It's been really cool.

Adam: 01:35:13

What to do forever, mate. I'm so glad we've done it. It's brilliant.

Garry: 01:35:17

Yes. Agreed. Yeah.

Next week is our interview with Chris Thompson, so tune in for that and then the week after Paul Venesis, another great interview chat there. So make sure you are following or subscribing whatever the the button says in your podcast app of choice. You can follow along with that.

Plus you'll get notified notifications for all the future stuff that lands from us from Federation Strike and we're on the socials too.

Links are in the show notes for those or just do a search for ake7podcast on either x or Bluesky and come and chat plenty of Blake's 7 with loads of other really cool Blake's 7 fans. You lot are awesome. It's been great to chat to you all. So thank you very much for getting involved over there.

And if you're after more geekery stuff in between the this and our next season, then make sure you check out my co host channel over on YouTube. It is the Geeks Handbag.

Adam: 01:36:06

The Geeks Handbag, yeah. And there is a cool. There's a couple of Blake's 7 videos on there. It's a cool little convention video.

So check out my channel, the Geeks Handbag also under the same name on all the socials.

Garry: 01:36:17

On all the socials, of course.

Adam: 01:36:18

Socials. Yeah. Apart from Blue Sky. I'M gone there yet.

Garry: 01:36:21

Some really cool videos from Adam on his channel. Loads of really good geekery stuff. So grab a cuppa, grab a coffee, settle in and watch and watch them some goodness over on the Geek's handbag.

So until later on, I mean you'll hear our voices in the next couple of bonus episodes. But to cap off the series and our season, thank you so much again for listening to our waffle, our opinions, Our thoughts on Blake's 7.

It's been awesome and we'll be back later on in the year after the series two to Blu ray set land. So until then, mate, it's been awesome to go through this. Thank you once again.

Adam: 01:36:56

What a journey, mate. What a great start to the journey indeed.

Garry: 01:37:00

So we'll be back then. Until then, take care of yourselves and thank you so much for listening to Federation Strike A Journey Through Blake's 7 Series Season 1.