WEBVTT

NOTE
This transcript was created on 2026-06-07 at 21:48:15

1
00:00:03.720 --> 00:00:06.360
Maximum power.

2
00:00:10.679 --> 00:00:12.480
Hello, everyone.

3
00:00:12.539 --> 00:00:22.620
Welcome to Maximum Power, a podcast about Blake Seven, but also for one week only, about gramophones, weird little keeps in the forest, and bounty hunters in fetching blue capes.

4
00:00:22.679 --> 00:00:25.079
Uh, quick introduction to your hosts.

5
00:00:25.140 --> 00:00:25.800
I'm Peter.

6
00:00:25.859 --> 00:00:27.120
I'm James.

7
00:00:27.179 --> 00:00:28.019
I'm Colin.

8
00:00:28.140 --> 00:00:29.160
I'm Nathan.

9
00:00:29.219 --> 00:00:36.780
This week we're talking about bounty, not the delightful coconut based confection, but in fact, a delightful terry nation-based confection.

10
00:00:36.840 --> 00:00:38.759
So let's dive in.

11
00:00:38.820 --> 00:00:45.060
I was saying to Nathan this morning, I unapologetically love bounty and I'll fight anyone who says otherwise.

12
00:00:45.119 --> 00:00:48.240
So I imagine everyone here agrees with me, James.

13
00:00:48.359 --> 00:00:50.399
I think it's terrible.

14
00:00:51.299 --> 00:00:53.939
No, I absolutely love it as well.

15
00:00:54.060 --> 00:00:56.100
Oh it's just so delightful.

16
00:00:56.159 --> 00:01:03.000
Even with hapless federation security forces and TP McKenna, it is most fruity.

17
00:01:03.060 --> 00:01:04.859
Actually, that's the reason it's so fabulous.

18
00:01:04.920 --> 00:01:06.239
No, I love I love this story.

19
00:01:06.299 --> 00:01:07.319
Colin, are you with us?

20
00:01:07.379 --> 00:01:08.819
I am absolutely with you.

21
00:01:08.879 --> 00:01:13.079
I thought you wanted this story because you hated it, but I'm delighted to you love it as well.

22
00:01:13.140 --> 00:01:15.060
I think it's fantastic.

23
00:01:15.120 --> 00:01:17.280
I think it's got so many different sort of parts to it.

24
00:01:17.340 --> 00:01:30.000
It's just a load of fun and it's, you know, hilariously bad and like with the guards in places and chitty, chitty, bang, bang is... where it regenerates into Bessie.

25
00:01:30.060 --> 00:01:32.219
But, you know, I think it's got a lot of good stuff going for it.

26
00:01:32.280 --> 00:01:36.060
And I really like the way Jenna gets to be Bruce Willis and Die Hard.

27
00:01:36.120 --> 00:01:39.060
So she's kind of yippee Kai Liberator the whole way through.

28
00:01:39.120 --> 00:01:41.579
Yeah, nice lining kind of high kicks as well.

29
00:01:41.640 --> 00:01:42.299
Yeah.

30
00:01:42.299 --> 00:01:44.700
So yeah, no, I'm a fan of this one.

31
00:01:44.760 --> 00:01:46.859
Very powerful high kicks, huh?

32
00:01:47.219 --> 00:01:57.420
She just sort of gently nudges one of those offensive space Arab stereotypes in the stomach with her foot and he's unconscious.

33
00:01:57.480 --> 00:01:59.760
She can knock people out with a single tap.

34
00:02:00.599 --> 00:02:03.719
Now, Nathan, I'm sure that you're agreeing with all of this.

35
00:02:03.840 --> 00:02:07.260
I actually think it's a little bit shit. actually.

36
00:02:07.379 --> 00:02:09.120
Is that bad?

37
00:02:09.240 --> 00:02:11.159
It's...

38
00:02:11.159 --> 00:02:12.300
I'm sorry you have to leave now.

39
00:02:12.599 --> 00:02:16.979
I'm talking about the, talking about the actual chocolate bar.

40
00:02:17.039 --> 00:02:17.759
It's a shock.

41
00:02:18.900 --> 00:02:28.620
But no, it's, I think the script is really, really undercooked and the direction is lamentably bad.

42
00:02:28.680 --> 00:02:39.360
And it has some great ideas in it, but there's sort of ideas that are really not very much like anything else that ever goes on in Blake 7.

43
00:02:39.419 --> 00:02:40.680
It is, it is very strange.

44
00:02:40.740 --> 00:02:45.719
Like I'm here for all of those other fun camp things that everyone mentioned.

45
00:02:45.780 --> 00:02:50.159
There's a lot of fun to be had, but you have to have it very very slowly.

46
00:02:50.219 --> 00:02:53.400
Yeah, it does feel undercooked, doesn't it?

47
00:02:53.460 --> 00:03:03.539
There's something about pragmatism versus idealism and there's something about kind of defeatism versus activism or something like that.

48
00:03:03.599 --> 00:03:05.879
But it doesn't really go anywhere.

49
00:03:05.939 --> 00:03:07.740
I think that's a good point.

50
00:03:07.800 --> 00:03:13.560
It doesn't really have the vision or the budget to sort of realise the whole rebellion beginning.

51
00:03:13.620 --> 00:03:19.319
I feel like this episode is a little bit of false hope in the sense that they, they go and get Zarkov.

52
00:03:19.439 --> 00:03:22.560
He goes back to Lindor to make chocolate, presumably.

53
00:03:22.620 --> 00:03:24.539
It's our so good.

54
00:03:24.659 --> 00:03:28.979
It's our 2nd piece of confectionery in the episode.

55
00:03:29.039 --> 00:03:31.080
Oh my god, I didn't realise that.

56
00:03:31.139 --> 00:03:33.599
Sorry, when they go back to earth next season.

57
00:03:33.719 --> 00:03:34.979
They're going to go past Mars.

58
00:03:36.120 --> 00:03:38.219
No, no way.

59
00:03:39.900 --> 00:03:43.259
What if we renamed this episode, Cherry Ripes?

60
00:03:43.319 --> 00:03:44.219
Would that be okay?

61
00:03:47.400 --> 00:03:49.379
This is gonna be a good one.

62
00:03:49.979 --> 00:03:57.659
But yeah, no, I just, I just think it, it's kind of a bit of false hope in there that is like, oh, you know, we've got one Guan guy.

63
00:03:57.719 --> 00:04:03.360
We've sent him back to his planet to try and lead a rebellion, and we might be fighting back against the Federation.

64
00:04:03.419 --> 00:04:08.280
But again, it's just left and, you know, you don't ever see anything, you need to do with it again.

65
00:04:08.340 --> 00:04:21.779
I think it's that the conception of Blake 7 changes out from under the program and it turns into a sort of ludicrous space opera where we're kind of intermittently meeting bad guys.

66
00:04:21.839 --> 00:04:33.720
And this is from a point where there's some kind of political content to the show, you know, as if you can reinstate a president in exile and affect political change.

67
00:04:33.720 --> 00:04:45.839
And that will stop the federation rather than, you know, having server land to send in a sort of whole bunch of battle cruises to kind of wipe the thing out, which is what the show will eventually turn into.

68
00:04:45.899 --> 00:04:48.660
I think that's absolutely right Nathan.

69
00:04:48.720 --> 00:04:52.199
It's the 1st time I think Blake 7 embraces camp to this degree.

70
00:04:52.259 --> 00:05:07.920
So we're moving away from quite straight laced caper episodes like Time Squad or Project Avalon, and into a universe where theatrically dressed politicians play vinyl records, while the liberated crew are overwhelmed by a couple of loveys with spray water pistols.

71
00:05:07.980 --> 00:05:09.839
But yeah, I'm here for that.

72
00:05:10.199 --> 00:05:15.360
But I think it's also quite good as well as being entertaining.

73
00:05:15.420 --> 00:05:16.920
I think the script is about something.

74
00:05:16.980 --> 00:05:33.120
And there might be a good time to talk about why it's undercooked because I think this was the episode where the script crunch happened, and so you basically had Terry Nation saying, I can give you a 2nd draft, or I can give you the next script, got to that point in the season.

75
00:05:33.180 --> 00:05:42.779
So, it's sort of got a lot of cooks to it, and everything is a little bit underdeveloped, and it's a shame because I think what is there could have been developed into something interesting.

76
00:05:42.839 --> 00:05:51.300
It's really the stage of the season where Terry Nation is saying, I've got a draft for you and here it is on the back of this napkin, though, isn't it?

77
00:05:51.360 --> 00:05:51.839
Yes, exactly.

78
00:05:51.899 --> 00:05:54.480
Isn't that how he operates most of the?

79
00:05:54.540 --> 00:05:57.360
Yeah, survivors, see survivors.

80
00:05:57.420 --> 00:05:58.319
Exactly.

81
00:05:58.439 --> 00:06:02.759
Well, charitably, it's because Terry Nation would always take on this huge job.

82
00:06:02.879 --> 00:06:08.399
I mean, when can you think of another writer who's written all 13 episodes, hour long episodes of a series?

83
00:06:08.459 --> 00:06:10.199
It's clearly overwhelming for anybody.

84
00:06:10.259 --> 00:06:13.980
And I do think he gets a little bit under appreciated sometimes.

85
00:06:14.040 --> 00:06:15.660
I think that's fair.

86
00:06:15.720 --> 00:06:18.300
I think the only other person I can think of is J.

87
00:06:18.300 --> 00:06:30.779
Michael Strazinsky, Babylon 5 having to just go, race basically right 4 years, and he was knackered, completely broken by it, I think, from, you know, the amount of stuff he sort of posted on it.

88
00:06:30.839 --> 00:06:33.720
But, you know, fairness to Terry Nason, we do get it.

89
00:06:33.779 --> 00:06:35.579
We do get, you know, a bunch of tropes as well.

90
00:06:35.699 --> 00:06:37.500
We do get a nearby mine.

91
00:06:37.560 --> 00:06:40.259
He's he's definitely uh, including bits in there.

92
00:06:41.459 --> 00:06:51.240
But anyway, speaking of the campy stuff then, should we talk about how hilariously bad these Federation guards are because they're just, this is a classic.

93
00:06:51.300 --> 00:06:53.699
I mean, there's so many scenes in this.

94
00:06:53.759 --> 00:06:58.860
It's like a bit right at the start where 6 of them are like, should we, should we start to run?

95
00:06:58.920 --> 00:07:01.139
Shall we sort of jump gently?

96
00:07:01.199 --> 00:07:03.240
And they all sorts of where trotting along.

97
00:07:03.300 --> 00:07:05.459
I noticed that scene as well.

98
00:07:05.519 --> 00:07:07.740
I think it's the federation's D squadron.

99
00:07:07.800 --> 00:07:09.180
They can't shoot straight.

100
00:07:09.240 --> 00:07:12.060
They're tricked by feeble ploys and they're, well, they're blind.

101
00:07:12.120 --> 00:07:14.399
They can't see Calli when they're walking straight past her.

102
00:07:15.240 --> 00:07:25.500
I love that bit on where Callie and Blake sort of freezing on top of the sort of battlements of this sort of tower thing.

103
00:07:25.560 --> 00:07:29.519
And they're standing there looking guilty as if they've been caught.

104
00:07:29.579 --> 00:07:31.379
And then they just keep standing there.

105
00:07:31.439 --> 00:07:34.560
They're still there in the next shot and no one has noticed them.

106
00:07:34.680 --> 00:07:36.300
Did anyone notice as well?

107
00:07:36.300 --> 00:07:47.339
When the guards say, oh, there's movements, maybe it's a rodent digging under a detection device, I think that's Chris Belcher because he uses exactly the same plot beat in rumours of death in series C.

108
00:07:47.339 --> 00:07:49.019
And that time it is a rodent.

109
00:07:50.579 --> 00:07:57.180
So we're on that planet side plot, which is sort of half the episode, and we've got Sarkoff and Tice.

110
00:07:57.240 --> 00:08:09.720
I think Lindor political story at the Heart of the Plot is very Terry Nation, and even though it's not very well developed, as I think, we're probably all on board with, it is quite interesting in its own way, thoughts.

111
00:08:09.839 --> 00:08:23.339
I think the best thing about it is that it gives us the character of Sarkov, and that's a sort of reasonably grounded idea, you know, the idea of a rigged election and a president in exile who sort of seems defeated and stuff.

112
00:08:23.399 --> 00:08:27.060
Like there is something kind of comprehensible about that.

113
00:08:27.120 --> 00:08:32.940
It's not space politics, you know, it's sort of a little bit more grounded. planetary politics.

114
00:08:33.059 --> 00:08:39.659
And it gives us tice as well, because I think those scenes would not work as well without Tice.

115
00:08:39.720 --> 00:08:43.500
It sort of gives you a nice thing for Sarkoff to play off that isn't Blake.

116
00:08:43.559 --> 00:08:46.679
I guess it's that defeatism versus activism thing.

117
00:08:46.740 --> 00:08:48.179
I mean, she's still a young person.

118
00:08:48.240 --> 00:08:50.039
She still sees hope.

119
00:08:50.100 --> 00:08:53.879
She's slightly contemptuous of Sarkov for having given up.

120
00:08:53.940 --> 00:09:00.179
I do love how it's not revealed in dialogue until the end of the episode that she's his daughter.

121
00:09:00.240 --> 00:09:05.100
And the revelation has literally no effect on anything.

122
00:09:05.159 --> 00:09:06.000
Oh no, not at all.

123
00:09:06.179 --> 00:09:08.639
This revelation.

124
00:09:08.700 --> 00:09:09.840
Trial immediate.

125
00:09:09.899 --> 00:09:12.419
Yeah, you read it as that.

126
00:09:12.480 --> 00:09:15.299
And then, and you're like, is she his daughter?

127
00:09:15.360 --> 00:09:18.000
And it's like, Father, you can kill him.

128
00:09:18.600 --> 00:09:23.580
In fact, doesn't, doesn't someone once call her his woman before she reveals that?

129
00:09:23.639 --> 00:09:27.899
Yeah, it does feel in to the point that this is sort of underwritten.

130
00:09:27.960 --> 00:09:29.519
It's a bit of a mess, right?

131
00:09:29.580 --> 00:09:35.220
You could easily have left that out and it would have been much more effective, that she's his bodyguard, right?

132
00:09:35.279 --> 00:09:41.639
It kind of devalues her presence as someone that is supposed to be a bodyguard that can't seem to start the engine on a car.

133
00:09:41.700 --> 00:09:43.980
Yeah.

134
00:09:44.039 --> 00:09:45.419
She completely devalued all the way through.

135
00:09:45.480 --> 00:09:53.100
She starts off with like being holding 2 sawn off shotguns or and then she just sort of needs saving towards the end.

136
00:09:53.159 --> 00:09:54.600
It's kind of, it's kind of annoying.

137
00:09:54.659 --> 00:09:56.100
But yeah, it is a great performance.

138
00:09:56.159 --> 00:09:57.899
She's very good in it.

139
00:09:57.960 --> 00:10:04.379
You know that Corinthia West was screen tested for the part of Ursa, the Superman?

140
00:10:04.500 --> 00:10:06.179
I was going to mention that.

141
00:10:06.240 --> 00:10:07.259
I've watched that audition.

142
00:10:07.500 --> 00:10:08.879
Really?

143
00:10:09.000 --> 00:10:09.480
Was it?

144
00:10:09.539 --> 00:10:10.379
How was it?

145
00:10:10.440 --> 00:10:12.000
It's very short.

146
00:10:12.059 --> 00:10:17.039
She just, there's basically, it's in a, it's in a studio and it's on the DVD as an extra.

147
00:10:17.100 --> 00:10:19.860
I think they have like loads of people in, but she's one of them.

148
00:10:19.919 --> 00:10:27.720
She's kind of buff and, um, she's saying to this bloke, um, you puny man, perhaps I will keep you as a pet and that's, that's all it is.

149
00:10:27.779 --> 00:10:30.360
And she's pretty convincing, actually.

150
00:10:30.419 --> 00:10:32.039
She's she's pretty sort of malevolent.

151
00:10:32.100 --> 00:10:34.080
There would have been a completely different take on the character.

152
00:10:34.139 --> 00:10:35.340
It would have, yeah.

153
00:10:35.399 --> 00:10:36.120
Yeah.

154
00:10:36.179 --> 00:10:38.820
I think her performance in this is really good.

155
00:10:38.879 --> 00:10:42.539
I think the character is actually a bit thinly written.

156
00:10:42.600 --> 00:10:48.059
She's just there to kind of provide an alternate point of view to Sarkoff, but she brings something to it.

157
00:10:48.120 --> 00:10:53.220
And also in real life, she was a journalist and photographer as well as an actress.

158
00:10:53.340 --> 00:10:59.879
And she apparently moved in very famous circles with people like Angelica Houston and Robin Williams and Rod Stewart.

159
00:10:59.940 --> 00:11:04.679
And if you go online, you can see some of the personal photographs that she took of these people. really quite interesting.

160
00:11:10.740 --> 00:11:12.539
What about TP McKenna?

161
00:11:12.600 --> 00:11:13.139
What do we think of him?

162
00:11:13.200 --> 00:11:14.820
You know, I think I think he's pretty good.

163
00:11:14.879 --> 00:11:18.360
I think he's given dialogue that he kind of washes over.

164
00:11:18.480 --> 00:11:22.559
Instead of, you know, it's like, what's there's a couple of things I wrote down.

165
00:11:22.620 --> 00:11:26.460
Yeah, civilisation was always depended on civility rather than truth.

166
00:11:26.519 --> 00:11:31.620
And it's a little bit kind of, my dear, civilisation has always depended on the village rather than truth.

167
00:11:31.679 --> 00:11:36.299
You know, it's it's, it's like him talking to himself or giving a soliloquy or something.

168
00:11:36.360 --> 00:11:38.279
TP McKenna's all over it.

169
00:11:38.340 --> 00:11:39.840
Like, that's that's his thing.

170
00:11:39.899 --> 00:11:40.740
That's his shtick.

171
00:11:40.799 --> 00:11:49.799
I think also that dialogue really exists just to kind of, you know, it doesn't exist in any meaningful way to convey information to Tice.

172
00:11:49.860 --> 00:12:00.419
It is really just look how defeated he is and or or is it sort of real politic is the idea that that Sarkoff is a politician.

173
00:12:00.480 --> 00:12:08.940
He will lie, he will do things that he needs to do in order to sort of achieve his ends and she's more idealistic.

174
00:12:09.000 --> 00:12:16.019
That real politic kind of collapses in the face of the federation rigging the elections I think.

175
00:12:16.080 --> 00:12:17.519
Is there something here?

176
00:12:17.580 --> 00:12:18.899
I think there is.

177
00:12:18.960 --> 00:12:27.480
I think actually it's a product of the script underrunning or needing to sort of be filled a little bit more, that it slightly gets over-gged in the dialogue?

178
00:12:27.539 --> 00:12:31.919
There's some interesting points there, but it becomes a little bit overly fruity.

179
00:12:31.980 --> 00:12:36.960
So all that stuff about tolerating mediocrity and the tyranny of 2nd class minds.

180
00:12:37.019 --> 00:12:39.240
It's kind of like, yeah, get on with it a little bit.

181
00:12:39.899 --> 00:12:50.279
Do you think that Chris Boucher has cut a whole bunch of shit from the beginning of the episode because it, it starts in that crisp Boucheryan kind of way.

182
00:12:50.340 --> 00:13:14.279
I want to say Baucherian, that Baucherian kind of way, where we're in the middle of something and we don't know what's going on and I'm thinking, again, rumours of death, you know, where it very frequently happens in Boucher scripts that we don't get the liberator sort of arriving at a planet and us learning about it and then a tedious scene in the in the teleport bay or whatever.

183
00:13:14.340 --> 00:13:18.419
We're just down on the planet and we're left to find out what's happening.

184
00:13:18.539 --> 00:13:27.000
It's really interesting that we do jump in right there because you could have imagined a long, boring setup scene, but in the face of having a script that's underrunning.

185
00:13:27.059 --> 00:13:29.759
They just jump straight in and choose to make up the time elsewhere.

186
00:13:29.820 --> 00:13:34.679
Yeah, I think it's a good choice, and Blake 7 once Boucher gets much more control of it.

187
00:13:34.740 --> 00:13:38.460
It gets better because of that sort of storytelling device.

188
00:13:38.519 --> 00:13:41.940
And it's kind of the 1st time that we've had this juxtaposition of things.

189
00:13:42.000 --> 00:13:57.419
It would have been very easy just to have had something which looked very federation and a little bit boring, but instead to make the slightly camp choice of having it set in this folly in the middle of the woods with this giant mast on top, which I thought was a glass shot, but is apparently real.

190
00:13:57.480 --> 00:14:02.100
Um, sort of lends it this quite interesting juxtaposition.

191
00:14:02.159 --> 00:14:07.139
It's like they've tried to add desperately, furiously add layers to a script that's really thin.

192
00:14:07.200 --> 00:14:10.559
You know, also, it's not a later addition to the building.

193
00:14:10.679 --> 00:14:12.899
No, that's why it was built.

194
00:14:12.960 --> 00:14:13.200
Yeah.

195
00:14:13.259 --> 00:14:15.000
It's a bell tower.

196
00:14:15.059 --> 00:14:15.659
Yeah.

197
00:14:15.720 --> 00:14:17.340
Isn't that interesting?

198
00:14:17.399 --> 00:14:21.899
Because I had strong memories of this as a child and I think some of that interesting scenery is because of that.

199
00:14:21.960 --> 00:14:32.340
And then the sort of space version inside where you have sort of the silver bricks and the sort of Gothic arches and stuff, but they're all sort of metal pipes and things.

200
00:14:32.399 --> 00:14:33.720
That's brilliant, Nathan.

201
00:14:33.779 --> 00:14:39.720
I'd written, it's a space castle on the inside because it's painted silver and I'd like to.

202
00:14:40.080 --> 00:14:43.679
It's not Roger Murray Leach's best work, is it?

203
00:14:43.799 --> 00:14:46.080
You know, like, I think it's okay.

204
00:14:46.139 --> 00:14:51.240
It does add something, and it is a place that Blake 7 won't go.

205
00:14:51.299 --> 00:14:56.759
Like it never kind of mentions 20th century things before or after this.

206
00:14:56.879 --> 00:15:04.679
It's not until Bob Holmes comes along and starts talking about sandwiches and stuff that we get any kind of reference to real world history.

207
00:15:04.740 --> 00:15:12.299
This is the 2nd calendar and, you know, like a giant totalitarian government has wiped out the past.

208
00:15:12.360 --> 00:15:14.700
And so this is nice.

209
00:15:14.759 --> 00:15:18.779
I do think that this is the most striking thing about it.

210
00:15:18.840 --> 00:15:23.460
There's something about the incongruous site of Blake and Kelly in that automobile.

211
00:15:24.360 --> 00:15:26.879
All of the mistakes are fun too.

212
00:15:26.940 --> 00:15:32.639
You know, that this is a typical residence of the 20th century, uh, says Sarkoff.

213
00:15:32.700 --> 00:15:33.299
It's wonderful.

214
00:15:33.360 --> 00:15:35.700
He doesn't know how to hold vinyl properly though.

215
00:15:35.759 --> 00:15:36.779
That does my head end.

216
00:15:37.860 --> 00:15:40.259
He can hold it better than Blake.

217
00:15:40.320 --> 00:15:41.700
It's not vinyl, is it?

218
00:15:41.759 --> 00:15:42.480
It's a 78.

219
00:15:42.720 --> 00:15:45.299
Like it shatters when Blake smashes her.

220
00:15:45.360 --> 00:15:46.320
Shellac.

221
00:15:46.379 --> 00:15:49.139
Yeah, it is Sherlock, yeah, which is disgusting.

222
00:15:50.399 --> 00:15:58.379
I really wanted Sarkov's record collection to be more contemporary, but still historical in terms of the Blake 7 universe.

223
00:15:58.440 --> 00:16:04.139
So if he'd only put on that record and take chance on me, it started playing, that would have been amazing.

224
00:16:04.200 --> 00:16:06.480
Oh, worst Elumber.

225
00:16:11.100 --> 00:16:15.659
It's interesting talking about that iconography because the costuming is quite camp.

226
00:16:15.720 --> 00:16:17.759
Maybe for the 1st time in Blake 7.

227
00:16:17.820 --> 00:16:29.159
It's sort of taking its cues from the weird backdrop and the anachronisms, but I think it adds a level of visual interest that, you know, the episode might have been quite gruelling if it looked like mission to destiny.

228
00:16:29.220 --> 00:16:32.759
If everyone had been wearing sort of space outfits and stuff.

229
00:16:32.820 --> 00:16:35.580
Sarkov's jacket is just stunning.

230
00:16:35.940 --> 00:16:38.100
Is this frock watch?

231
00:16:38.159 --> 00:16:40.259
Well, I don't remember what we call this segment.

232
00:16:41.940 --> 00:16:44.580
I think Frockwatch from now on.

233
00:16:45.179 --> 00:16:47.100
Frocalicious.

234
00:16:47.159 --> 00:16:48.120
Uh, no.

235
00:16:48.120 --> 00:16:54.179
Um, like it's a sort of velvet Paisley jacket, a sort of jacket.

236
00:16:54.240 --> 00:16:54.840
It's lovely.

237
00:16:54.960 --> 00:17:02.460
And then Tice is sort of dressed like a sort of camp chauffeur, isn't she, with a little cape and things like that?

238
00:17:02.519 --> 00:17:03.840
Like she's going fox hunting.

239
00:17:04.079 --> 00:17:05.940
Well, that's her job.

240
00:17:06.000 --> 00:17:07.440
She's the daughter slash driver.

241
00:17:07.500 --> 00:17:08.220
Yeah.

242
00:17:08.220 --> 00:17:11.640
It looks like a cast off from Pertwee, doesn't it?

243
00:17:11.700 --> 00:17:16.619
I think it was Mark that referred to him the other day as a pert we cosplayer.

244
00:17:17.940 --> 00:17:20.339
Would you know T.P.

245
00:17:20.339 --> 00:17:27.299
McKenna has always struck me as quite a John Pertwy-like figure, and wouldn't that have been interesting casting if John Pertwy had actually played that role?

246
00:17:27.359 --> 00:17:29.579
I'm not saying it would have been good, but interesting.

247
00:17:29.640 --> 00:17:31.859
No, I mean, it would have been good as well.

248
00:17:31.920 --> 00:17:35.700
I mean, just imagine pert we popping up in more sci-fi stuff would be great.

249
00:17:35.819 --> 00:17:39.779
There'd be lots of business with sandwiches and red wine.

250
00:17:39.839 --> 00:17:41.279
Sardonic wines.

251
00:17:41.640 --> 00:17:51.660
So I think maybe the scenes down on the planet are the ones which show most clearly, they needed to fill the script a little bit more because a lot of them are quite languidly paced.

252
00:17:51.720 --> 00:17:55.440
So all of those scenes with Blake and Kelly outside.

253
00:17:55.500 --> 00:17:57.299
With the space picnic basket.

254
00:17:57.900 --> 00:18:00.599
That's right, they've come for a nice picnic.

255
00:18:00.720 --> 00:18:12.059
It feels like an episode that's struggling to reach its runtime and the scenes are much longer than they need to be for sequences that are really lacking in dialogue or much event.

256
00:18:12.119 --> 00:18:15.299
So that's why they got Pennant Robertson, isn't it?

257
00:18:15.359 --> 00:18:19.500
You know, make it slow, love, you know, keep it leisurely.

258
00:18:19.559 --> 00:18:23.700
Because, I mean, those scenes could have actually been fun action sequences.

259
00:18:23.759 --> 00:18:28.680
You know, there's nothing wrong with having long stretches on location with no dialogue.

260
00:18:28.740 --> 00:18:42.900
But if the federation guards felt like they posed any threat at all, then that could have actually been quite tense and exciting, but just everyone sort of ambling around in a sort of fairly uninspiring sort of way.

261
00:18:42.960 --> 00:18:48.900
Yeah, they're like on the other side of the house at all times to wherever the...

262
00:18:48.960 --> 00:18:49.980
They can carry off.

263
00:18:50.039 --> 00:18:51.539
We're on the side of the house.

264
00:18:51.599 --> 00:19:05.579
And we're just talking into this radio, which we have to press the button and make sure it lights up, and we're saying that something is terribly, terribly urgent because we've gone from red alert to red standby, to red mobilisation, to blue mobilisation.

265
00:19:05.640 --> 00:19:07.920
And then it's just shit.

266
00:19:08.039 --> 00:19:08.700
You know?

267
00:19:08.759 --> 00:19:10.079
Nothing happened.

268
00:19:10.140 --> 00:19:12.480
He's so bad.

269
00:19:12.539 --> 00:19:14.460
He's Chaney, isn't he?

270
00:19:14.519 --> 00:19:17.039
He is, he's so posh.

271
00:19:17.099 --> 00:19:18.900
He's got no chin of any kind.

272
00:19:18.960 --> 00:19:24.539
And just the way he speaks is just bizarre.

273
00:19:24.660 --> 00:19:32.220
Like I've been cross at Blake 7 for having sort of RP accents even for, you know, the Delta grave thieves and things.

274
00:19:32.279 --> 00:19:34.319
But I mean, this is another level.

275
00:19:34.380 --> 00:19:36.240
He's royalty, I think.

276
00:19:36.299 --> 00:19:37.619
He must be the Duke of something.

277
00:19:37.680 --> 00:19:39.480
That's actually his castle.

278
00:19:41.039 --> 00:19:43.380
That's why they cast him.

279
00:19:43.440 --> 00:19:46.200
So they could use so they could use his castle.

280
00:19:46.319 --> 00:19:47.279
Yeah, come on love.

281
00:19:47.339 --> 00:19:48.059
We'll give you a bit.

282
00:19:49.200 --> 00:19:53.160
So, you know, those wood scenes are Black Park.

283
00:19:53.220 --> 00:19:55.500
Yes, it looked very Black Park.

284
00:19:55.559 --> 00:19:57.420
I was just thinking that.

285
00:19:57.480 --> 00:20:00.599
So am I correct in thinking that is the same place as Doctor Who's full circle?

286
00:20:00.660 --> 00:20:02.400
And the visitation.

287
00:20:02.460 --> 00:20:03.720
And the web.

288
00:20:03.779 --> 00:20:04.380
Ah.

289
00:20:04.380 --> 00:20:06.660
And Battlefield as well, no?

290
00:20:06.720 --> 00:20:09.720
Isn't Battlefield filmed around Black Park as well?

291
00:20:09.839 --> 00:20:11.640
I'm not sure about that one.

292
00:20:11.700 --> 00:20:16.319
But it's also going back to Superman 2, where Superman 2 is filmed as well.

293
00:20:16.380 --> 00:20:17.460
Oh wow.

294
00:20:17.519 --> 00:20:20.279
So is that a Corinthia Westlink?

295
00:20:21.720 --> 00:20:23.099
Yes.

296
00:20:23.160 --> 00:20:25.619
Well scraping it a bit, aren't we?

297
00:20:27.720 --> 00:20:30.599
So this is the same place that the web was filmed.

298
00:20:30.660 --> 00:20:31.079
Is that correct?

299
00:20:31.140 --> 00:20:31.920
Yes.

300
00:20:31.980 --> 00:20:37.259
Well, I think this could have been improved by an attack of the decimas on that little game.

301
00:20:37.319 --> 00:20:37.859
What do you think?

302
00:20:37.920 --> 00:20:40.079
Banging on the windows screaming.

303
00:20:40.440 --> 00:20:42.299
All is forgiven.

304
00:20:42.359 --> 00:20:45.960
So someone like ring big finish and get the decimas back.

305
00:20:46.019 --> 00:20:47.819
Oh, say it 3 times.

306
00:20:47.940 --> 00:20:50.880
Yeah, and they get Corinthia West to fight the decimals.

307
00:20:51.000 --> 00:20:51.420
There we go.

308
00:20:51.839 --> 00:20:55.740
We could give them the other 7 functions that we don't know what they are.

309
00:20:56.220 --> 00:20:59.759
I thought they were mostly just saying, help me, please. and stuff.

310
00:20:59.940 --> 00:21:02.579
Crying, crying.

311
00:21:02.640 --> 00:21:05.819
You can have a crossover with the decimas and the zygons.

312
00:21:05.880 --> 00:21:06.779
Yeah.

313
00:21:06.779 --> 00:21:09.119
Very deep zigons.

314
00:21:09.180 --> 00:21:13.980
You're thinking like Nicholas Briggs, James, well.

315
00:21:14.700 --> 00:21:16.740
Call me a big finish.

316
00:21:16.799 --> 00:21:18.779
I have other ideas like this.

317
00:21:18.960 --> 00:21:28.740
So I think one of the good things is actually that Callie is the crew member that's chosen to go with Blake because I think she's quite interestingly used.

318
00:21:28.859 --> 00:21:34.140
It would have been actually much less interesting if Avonne or Villa had accompanied Blake down to the planet.

319
00:21:34.200 --> 00:21:34.920
Why do you say that?

320
00:21:34.980 --> 00:21:42.539
Because I think that for the most part, the female characters are less well served than the male characters.

321
00:21:42.599 --> 00:21:45.480
Maybe not so much in this season, where it's not so much for a problem.

322
00:21:45.539 --> 00:21:54.599
But I get tired of seeing the boys run around on location, and I like it when you have a male lead and a female lead, sort of doing the action bits.

323
00:21:54.660 --> 00:22:07.200
And I think Cali is an interesting choice because of her background, um, because obviously she's, they've given her the link with Lehan, who is also R and R and was the ambassador to Lindor.

324
00:22:07.259 --> 00:22:09.059
Wow, all these words.

325
00:22:09.839 --> 00:22:18.900
And I think it's an interesting choice that it was her that they chose to do that rather than villa because he could get into the castle or whatever.

326
00:22:18.960 --> 00:22:20.819
It just added another element to the script.

327
00:22:20.880 --> 00:22:25.440
So at this point, and we rapidly forget this.

328
00:22:25.500 --> 00:22:31.200
Callie can't go back to her people because she failed on Sorian major or something.

329
00:22:31.200 --> 00:22:45.000
And so we get a little kind of resolution with Lee Hahn, presumably going back to Lindor, to be the ambassador again, which kind of opens up the possibility that Callie could go back.

330
00:22:45.059 --> 00:22:56.759
But there's also that really bitchy side kind of comment from Blake, where they're talking about him being ashamed, because he'd failed, and then Blake says, you can understand that.

331
00:22:57.480 --> 00:22:59.099
Yeah, yeah.

332
00:22:59.160 --> 00:23:10.440
But I mean, yeah, but I mean, part of what Blake wants to do is kind of get Sarkoff, to stop doing what he's doing, to his just sort of acquiesce to sort of federation control.

333
00:23:10.500 --> 00:23:12.180
He's a president in exile.

334
00:23:12.240 --> 00:23:13.380
He's not doing anything.

335
00:23:13.440 --> 00:23:18.000
And it's a result of his failure, I guess, or his sort of perceived failure.

336
00:23:18.059 --> 00:23:19.619
It's quite interesting, isn't it?

337
00:23:19.680 --> 00:23:34.079
The number of times that Blake helps somebody out who is generally in the same position as he is, opposed to the Federation, and who could be a thorn in the Federation side, and basically says, I'll come back and help you if you need it. and then never follows through on it.

338
00:23:34.140 --> 00:23:34.799
Yeah.

339
00:23:34.799 --> 00:23:39.180
You will have an episode next season where Blake says, I will come back and help you.

340
00:23:39.240 --> 00:23:44.940
I'll give you 3 years or whatever and you think, well, you're not going to follow through on that. dead by then. full of empty promises.

341
00:23:45.599 --> 00:23:51.779
I think it's interesting that Avon has hardly anything to do at all, this episode.

342
00:23:51.839 --> 00:24:02.579
Like 7 in my memory, it's always like Avon is very front and centre, and obviously it becomes much more so in series C and D, but this, he's just there to be bitchy, really.

343
00:24:02.640 --> 00:24:09.299
He's just, you know, and even Villa tells him to shut up, but his utility in this episode is kind of zero.

344
00:24:09.359 --> 00:24:13.680
Well, you did say he was being bitchy and that is super...

345
00:24:13.740 --> 00:24:15.839
Yeah, no, that is his utility.

346
00:24:15.960 --> 00:24:20.759
Yeah, but Nathan bitterness is not going to bring down the Federation or is it?

347
00:24:21.660 --> 00:24:22.740
That's it.

348
00:24:22.859 --> 00:24:24.180
Depends where you direct it.

349
00:24:24.299 --> 00:24:39.599
So we're back on the liberator. and we have, again, this sort of incredibly undercooked B plot, which is just there's a distress call. even says it's fake, they fall for it anyway, you know, big stupid Gan goes over there.

350
00:24:42.660 --> 00:25:00.539
But I quite like the way that that is set up where Jenna Gan and Villa are kind of on board and he's kind of standing to one side refusing to sort of properly intervene, but just basically telling them how stupid they are.

351
00:25:00.599 --> 00:25:03.720
And using some great Chris Boucher dialogue to do it.

352
00:25:03.779 --> 00:25:04.920
He does that.

353
00:25:04.980 --> 00:25:06.119
I'm entitled to my opinion.

354
00:25:06.180 --> 00:25:09.299
It's your assumption that we are entitled to it as well as irritating.

355
00:25:09.359 --> 00:25:12.240
That is perfect, Blake 7 dialogue, for example.

356
00:25:12.299 --> 00:25:13.140
Yeah, yeah.

357
00:25:13.200 --> 00:25:16.200
I also like the test is not whether you are suspicious.

358
00:25:16.259 --> 00:25:17.880
It's whether you are caught.

359
00:25:17.940 --> 00:25:20.099
Like, I think that's wonderful.

360
00:25:20.160 --> 00:25:22.380
It's so great and it's absolutely right.

361
00:25:22.440 --> 00:25:25.319
You know, they are suspicious, but nevertheless.

362
00:25:25.380 --> 00:25:28.619
What the fuck is he wearing, by the way?

363
00:25:28.680 --> 00:25:31.619
Let's get back to frock watch for a second.

364
00:25:32.339 --> 00:25:35.220
He's wearing a green skivvy.

365
00:25:35.279 --> 00:25:37.200
It's like his worst outfit.

366
00:25:37.259 --> 00:25:39.779
It's worse than the lobster thing that he does.

367
00:25:42.119 --> 00:25:44.640
Dr. Zoidberg Cosplay.

368
00:25:44.700 --> 00:25:45.720
Yes, yeah, yeah.

369
00:25:45.779 --> 00:25:47.700
It's atrocious.

370
00:25:47.759 --> 00:25:50.519
Everyone is costumed interestingly in this episode.

371
00:25:51.119 --> 00:26:04.859
I think, you know, like, yes, it was an underrunning script, but I think the joy of a sort of underrunning, messy script in Blake 70s that you do get much more Chris Boucher.

372
00:26:04.920 --> 00:26:05.759
Yeah.

373
00:26:05.759 --> 00:26:14.940
And so it might be a mess, but there's some great bitchy put downs and one-liners and people vamping all over the place with fantastic dialogue.

374
00:26:15.000 --> 00:26:19.799
Yeah, there's also some fairly kind of crummy dialogue, though, I think.

375
00:26:19.920 --> 00:26:22.259
I like to think that's all Tony Nation.

376
00:26:22.319 --> 00:26:23.519
Well, no, clearly.

377
00:26:23.579 --> 00:26:27.480
I just kind of think that Boucher isn't giving it his full attention either.

378
00:26:27.539 --> 00:26:32.460
Or there's a lot of people standing up and explaining their views to one another.

379
00:26:32.519 --> 00:26:34.500
There's not a lot of subtext to a lot of things.

380
00:26:34.619 --> 00:26:38.039
It feels like the crunches hit everyone at this. doesn't it?

381
00:26:38.099 --> 00:26:40.259
Yeah, it's interesting, isn't it?

382
00:26:40.319 --> 00:26:46.740
Because I think it was Simon, Simon Moore, who said on our Times Squad episode, that it wasn't an A plot and a B plot.

383
00:26:46.799 --> 00:26:57.000
It was 2 B plots, and this feels a little bit the same because they're both undercooked and they're both quite interesting ideas, but don't really go very far.

384
00:26:57.059 --> 00:26:59.400
It's a little disappointing from that point of view.

385
00:26:59.460 --> 00:27:14.579
But there are other positives from this sort of Amazon bounty hunter plot on board the Liberator, because I think where Avon was standing aside earlier, Jenna is foregrounded, and even in those early scenes where they're group scenes, she's in charge.

386
00:27:14.640 --> 00:27:17.099
And I don't know if we see that again.

387
00:27:17.160 --> 00:27:22.380
In fact, both of the women get good roles in this episode, don't they?

388
00:27:22.440 --> 00:27:23.759
Jenna is fantastic in it.

389
00:27:23.819 --> 00:27:26.759
I mean, she's boned what's his face, hasn't she?

390
00:27:26.819 --> 00:27:28.740
Is that the is that what we 2 understand?

391
00:27:28.799 --> 00:27:30.359
That time they spent on the mountain?

392
00:27:31.559 --> 00:27:33.539
Which is...

393
00:27:33.599 --> 00:27:34.079
Yeah.

394
00:27:34.140 --> 00:27:37.079
It's kind of, it's a bit unfortunate.

395
00:27:37.140 --> 00:27:37.920
You know what it means?

396
00:27:37.980 --> 00:27:41.400
She only knows him because sex rather than anything else.

397
00:27:41.579 --> 00:27:51.299
So there are things about that B plot that I actually quite like, and maybe the most effective one is just having everyone on the liberated disappear.

398
00:27:51.420 --> 00:27:53.460
It's quite suspenseful, isn't it?

399
00:27:53.519 --> 00:27:56.220
Yeah, and you don't get to see it for like 20 minutes.

400
00:27:56.279 --> 00:27:57.299
Yeah.

401
00:27:57.359 --> 00:28:00.119
Yeah, there's a big gap when you're sort of wondering a bit what's going on.

402
00:28:00.180 --> 00:28:04.259
We even cut back to the liberator just to see the empty sets, don't we?

403
00:28:04.319 --> 00:28:10.259
Yes, we sort of cut to those kind of wide shots of the bridge when Blake's desperately trying to get in touch with them.

404
00:28:10.319 --> 00:28:17.579
And then when they get teleported out by magic, it seems, because in the split 2nd that they're teleported up, someone has left the teleport bay.

405
00:28:17.640 --> 00:28:23.460
Um, it's really quite interesting and I think it's good for Jenna.

406
00:28:23.519 --> 00:28:25.259
That whole story is good for her.

407
00:28:25.319 --> 00:28:26.519
It fills out some of a history.

408
00:28:26.579 --> 00:28:28.859
It also makes her clever.

409
00:28:28.920 --> 00:28:31.200
She changes sides to stay at liberty.

410
00:28:31.259 --> 00:28:36.180
Avon says she only changed sides at the last minute, so she was clever in that.

411
00:28:36.240 --> 00:28:39.359
And she totally saves the day as well.

412
00:28:39.420 --> 00:28:45.359
And some of the dialogue that she has, I'm thinking in particular of that exchange with Tarvin, where he says, have I changed so much?

413
00:28:45.359 --> 00:28:50.460
And she just quietly says, one of us has, I think that's really quite interesting and revealing of the character.

414
00:28:50.519 --> 00:29:02.460
I also think that her way of delivering lines where she's always got a bit of a half smile and she kind of always thinks the situation is a bit ridiculous, particularly when she's talking to a man.

415
00:29:02.519 --> 00:29:11.279
Um, I think that works terrifically well with the sort of slightly crappy noir-ish dialogue that's going on in that scene.

416
00:29:11.339 --> 00:29:12.900
It's all a little bit heightened, isn't it?

417
00:29:12.960 --> 00:29:15.900
It's interesting because we're trying to get our heads around.

418
00:29:15.960 --> 00:29:16.799
Is it good or not?

419
00:29:16.859 --> 00:29:21.779
And it's enjoyable and it's fun and we like it and it's certainly something we watch.

420
00:29:21.839 --> 00:29:36.240
But when we're listening to what we've been saying, it feels like there are so many good bits in it around the general interactions, her deception, and then the presidential plot and all these things.

421
00:29:36.299 --> 00:29:40.559
So it's just missing like an extra an extra zoom to make it work.

422
00:29:40.619 --> 00:29:42.299
It is undercooked.

423
00:29:42.359 --> 00:29:46.920
It doesn't really achieve either of those 2 things massively successfully.

424
00:29:46.980 --> 00:29:57.599
What you're left with is people being down with a picnic hamper, collect someone in chitty, chitty, bang, bang, beam back to a spaceship, have a little fight, and then go home.

425
00:29:57.660 --> 00:30:03.660
It's a bit the the hole is a less than the sum of its parts kind of situation, isn't it?

426
00:30:03.720 --> 00:30:05.940
It really feels like it needed that extra draft.

427
00:30:06.059 --> 00:30:12.180
Just one more draft would have tied everything together a bit more and brought out the characters and kind of linked them together.

428
00:30:12.240 --> 00:30:16.980
I do like the last scene with Sarkoff and Tice and the leader of the Amazons.

429
00:30:17.039 --> 00:30:20.400
I think that does tie up the characters and say something quite interesting.

430
00:30:20.460 --> 00:30:21.839
But it could have been so much more.

431
00:30:21.900 --> 00:30:28.619
Things could have been thematically tied together, quite a bit better, and it just feels like a product of not having enough time to do it.

432
00:30:28.680 --> 00:30:31.740
I don't know what they're trying to do with Sarkov.

433
00:30:31.799 --> 00:30:38.400
But it looks like Tice, the activist is trying to get him to actually take some positive action.

434
00:30:38.460 --> 00:30:47.339
And so she should really be encouraging him to kill Tarvin, and she does do that.

435
00:30:47.400 --> 00:30:50.339
But he doesn't really properly do it, does he?

436
00:30:50.400 --> 00:30:56.460
I mean, he doesn't really kind of rise to the occasion until the Liberator crew intervene.

437
00:30:56.519 --> 00:30:57.839
And I think that's a bit of a shame.

438
00:30:57.900 --> 00:31:00.480
I think it muddies what that scene should be about.

439
00:31:00.599 --> 00:31:02.099
You're absolutely right.

440
00:31:02.160 --> 00:31:03.480
He's not proactive, is he?

441
00:31:03.599 --> 00:31:07.619
It takes an immediate threat to Tyson's life for him to do it.

442
00:31:07.680 --> 00:31:20.700
So he has the choice of, I can shoot Tarvin at my own behest and take on board everything that Tyson's been saying, or I can do it last minute where it's clear he's about to press the button and kill her.

443
00:31:20.759 --> 00:31:22.980
And so it's sort of taken out of his hands, isn't it?

444
00:31:23.039 --> 00:31:23.640
Yeah.

445
00:31:23.700 --> 00:31:37.019
There's a much more interesting version of this story where she is inspired by the, like, you know, wanting to live up to her father's legacy, and she liberates her people.

446
00:31:37.079 --> 00:31:38.339
Oh, that would have been good.

447
00:31:38.400 --> 00:31:39.779
Yeah, that is interesting.

448
00:31:39.839 --> 00:31:48.539
She's a strong, she, well, apart from, you know, occasionally, like where the character is let down by sort of lack of writing or sort of lack of time.

449
00:31:48.599 --> 00:31:51.359
Her inability to start a car.

450
00:31:51.420 --> 00:31:55.799
Yes, she is a woman after all.

451
00:31:56.220 --> 00:31:58.859
Get out of the way, he says, Blake.

452
00:31:59.339 --> 00:32:03.240
Like, He's never seen one before.

453
00:32:04.200 --> 00:32:05.579
Exactly.

454
00:32:05.640 --> 00:32:21.420
It's like she is actually written as quite a sort of strong forthright person and they could have done something much more interesting with her than have her threatened by terrible racial stereotype and then and then sort of just flirt with Blake at the end of the episode.

455
00:32:21.539 --> 00:32:23.460
That is quite odd.

456
00:32:23.519 --> 00:32:24.420
Can we talk about that?

457
00:32:24.420 --> 00:32:29.160
Because it's quite odd all of these, but we'll have more of them to come.

458
00:32:29.220 --> 00:32:39.779
Female characters who are kind of enamoured of Blake, and then we have one of our female crew members, or in this case, both of them, watching on and looking a little bit jealous and then making a catty comment about it.

459
00:32:39.839 --> 00:32:41.220
I mean, it...

460
00:32:41.279 --> 00:32:42.839
At least it's not his cousin this time.

461
00:32:44.279 --> 00:32:46.680
He's much younger cousin.

462
00:32:47.400 --> 00:32:54.900
They are doing this thing of ending episodes like police squad where they they end up with they try and make it into a joke.

463
00:32:54.960 --> 00:32:59.640
We had breakdown and they're like, they all sort of have a hilarious laugh at the end of it.

464
00:32:59.700 --> 00:33:07.559
And then this one, it's like, oh, gosh, Blake got hit on in front of us and it's like, well, what?

465
00:33:08.099 --> 00:33:09.180
There's work to be done.

466
00:33:09.240 --> 00:33:11.759
I actually quite like it.

467
00:33:11.819 --> 00:33:17.099
His line is, uh, well, don't just stand there and then we cut to the credits.

468
00:33:17.160 --> 00:33:29.400
And I think that's actually a really strong ending and again, very Baucherian, I think, to just sort of go out on that and without the sort of crummy Scooby-Doo laugh thing at the end of the episode.

469
00:33:29.460 --> 00:33:33.119
I like that, just to sort of sudden out.

470
00:33:33.180 --> 00:33:34.799
And it's not the end of the scene.

471
00:33:34.859 --> 00:33:35.759
Do you know what I mean?

472
00:33:35.819 --> 00:33:38.220
It's just it's, it comes in in the middle.

473
00:33:38.279 --> 00:33:43.140
It's humourous, but it's not necessarily played for humour in a way.

474
00:33:43.200 --> 00:33:46.380
Although I did laugh at that look between Callie and Jenna.

475
00:33:48.779 --> 00:33:53.579
It's also interesting that it's a comment on the episode because don't just stand there.

476
00:33:53.640 --> 00:33:57.420
I mean, most of the episode. have just been standing there.

477
00:33:57.480 --> 00:34:00.779
Yeah, he was actually talking to pennant Roberts, he would actually...

478
00:34:00.779 --> 00:34:03.420
Do something pennant.

479
00:34:06.720 --> 00:34:15.300
I think the other enemy we have in this episode is that there's a bit of a trope around the teleport not working on the communications not working.

480
00:34:15.360 --> 00:34:28.500
So how is it that you get this hilarious scene where Villas, he's realising that Gan is like synthesised and is trying to decide whether or not it's quicker to run down the space corridor or to go back and use the telecom.

481
00:34:28.559 --> 00:34:37.139
And he goes back and uses the telecom and it's like, it's basically pressing the button that says, put the speaker on in the teleport bay so they can hear me.

482
00:34:37.139 --> 00:34:40.500
And it's like, for some reason, it's just not working today.

483
00:34:40.559 --> 00:34:43.619
You know, like, can we?

484
00:34:43.619 --> 00:35:05.940
Or Zen just saying, no, I'm not going to tell you, you know, like, like there's sort of a characterisation of Zen there, but it is also just Terry Nation saying, I'm giving them the biggest computer and the best guns and the biggest spaceship and all of that sort of thing, but we'll just make it not work when we need it to not work for the plot, you know.

485
00:35:06.000 --> 00:35:09.179
Nope, sorry, I'm not going to tell you, confirm.

486
00:35:09.239 --> 00:35:11.039
You know, like it's ridiculous.

487
00:35:11.099 --> 00:35:12.780
He has a mind of his own.

488
00:35:12.840 --> 00:35:16.559
It's the biggest computer and the best guns, but then you put villa at the harshole.

489
00:35:17.159 --> 00:35:29.460
But I mean, Zen announces that it's not Dan, but he only announces it on the flight deck and we know that he can talk into the teleport bay or maybe they haven't decided that can happen yet.

490
00:35:29.519 --> 00:35:39.960
But equally, like why, why, oh, why, is there all this sort of running backwards and forwards when you could just communicate via the intercom?

491
00:35:40.019 --> 00:35:48.059
Like, I think this is the 3rd episode this season so far, maybe the 4th, which has a bit of that sort of, Oh, shit, shit, shit.

492
00:35:48.119 --> 00:35:48.840
What are we going to do?

493
00:35:48.900 --> 00:35:53.219
running about because they're not very good at what, using the phone?

494
00:35:53.400 --> 00:35:56.219
Well, I mean that would have been dramatically interesting.

495
00:35:56.340 --> 00:36:01.619
How long do we think the corridor is between the flight deck and the teleport bay?

496
00:36:01.679 --> 00:36:03.420
That is the greatest questionable time.

497
00:36:03.480 --> 00:36:04.559
Yeah.

498
00:36:04.559 --> 00:36:10.440
It's never been established, but very interesting as well when the corridors lead off the flight deck in this episode.

499
00:36:10.500 --> 00:36:14.940
They end in kind of these white walls that we've never seen before.

500
00:36:15.000 --> 00:36:16.679
So clearly they had a packed studio.

501
00:36:17.519 --> 00:36:23.280
Aren't they the white sheets they use in the battlefield when they've sold TARDIS Waltz.

502
00:36:24.300 --> 00:36:26.760
Yeah, it's interesting, isn't it?

503
00:36:26.820 --> 00:36:30.599
I think there's a lot of stuff in this episode that gets jettisoned later.

504
00:36:30.659 --> 00:36:39.780
So you have things like Zen isn't able to tell you if there's internal movement in the ship and by the time we come to power play, he absolutely will be able to tell you that.

505
00:36:39.840 --> 00:36:43.440
And anyone can operate then on the flight deck.

506
00:36:43.500 --> 00:36:50.340
So you have Tarvin, just interacting with Zen, whereas later they will make it that only people with authorised voice prints can do that.

507
00:36:50.400 --> 00:36:54.239
So they haven't quite locked down their little get out of jail free cards.

508
00:36:54.300 --> 00:37:01.320
No, it's very much they just sort of make up whatever rules are sort of required. this week to get the plot to work.

509
00:37:01.380 --> 00:37:04.079
Like, I have to say, I don't mind that approach.

510
00:37:04.139 --> 00:37:06.599
It's one of the things that I like about Blake 7.

511
00:37:06.659 --> 00:37:08.940
You know, I bitched about it on previous episodes.

512
00:37:09.000 --> 00:37:19.260
But the fact that it's just kind of made up as we're going along makes it a little bit more interesting than having a Starfleet technical manual that we all have to adhere to, you know.

513
00:37:22.739 --> 00:37:40.260
I think it's interesting where you say people just sort of standing around because this was, we've talked before, about the episode, we've talked before, that this was the episode where everything came to a crunch, and I believe in some of the scenes with all of the regular cast, there was actually improvised dialogue.

514
00:37:40.320 --> 00:37:49.559
So those scenes where they're all in, trapped in that room and they've got the colas around their neck, a lot of that might have been improvised in rehearsals by the cast to fill the runtime.

515
00:37:49.619 --> 00:37:57.480
And I think it actually works because everyone gets a bite at the cherry and everyone has quite interesting things to say.

516
00:37:57.539 --> 00:37:59.340
Do we think that's a plus or a minus?

517
00:37:59.400 --> 00:38:00.780
It works fine.

518
00:38:00.840 --> 00:38:02.219
You can't really tell.

519
00:38:02.280 --> 00:38:14.159
It was, I mean, they are professional, darling, but I mean, Blake does get his own sort of dad joke with the, be careful, Villa, don't lose your head before I lose mine.

520
00:38:14.219 --> 00:38:19.380
I'm wondering if that's created by them or it is about Voucherianism.

521
00:38:19.739 --> 00:38:22.800
It doesn't like a very actively joke.

522
00:38:22.860 --> 00:38:23.219
Yeah.

523
00:38:23.400 --> 00:38:31.739
There's the scene where Jenna kind of gets into that room and starts wandering around kind of lording it all over them.

524
00:38:31.800 --> 00:38:37.920
And we see a moment where she sees that they've removed their manacles.

525
00:38:37.980 --> 00:38:40.320
I think she sort of kicks them with her foot.

526
00:38:40.440 --> 00:38:52.440
And I thought that that was going to be the way that she indicated to Blake and the crew that she was actually on their side because she hadn't given them away.

527
00:38:52.500 --> 00:38:53.639
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

528
00:38:53.699 --> 00:38:56.280
And I think at least one of them reacts to that sound.

529
00:38:56.340 --> 00:39:01.260
And so I just sort of thought that that was happening, but I think they're really stupid.

530
00:39:02.219 --> 00:39:10.440
Can you imagine a version of this where Jenna was really credibly betraying them, but we don't believe it for a moment, do we?

531
00:39:10.500 --> 00:39:14.940
And so it just makes them dumb, I think, that they that they fall for it.

532
00:39:15.000 --> 00:39:41.159
That's a great point If we didn't have this sort of 20 minute gap between the liberator bit ending and then the boy down on the planet again, you could have built that into much more of Jenna being realistically, has she turned, because she could have seen checks notes, Tarvin, and sort of gone, oh, it's you again, and how that's much more played out and much more, you know, believable.

533
00:39:41.219 --> 00:39:42.119
So I think that's a really good point.

534
00:39:42.179 --> 00:39:49.320
The one scene that I do really like is when they arrive in the teleport bay and she's there and she sort of says, no, they're all dead.

535
00:39:49.380 --> 00:39:58.800
And it's so weird and she plays it so weirdly, you know, like it almost looked for a moment like it was going to be a return to the sort of weird Blake 7 that we saw in duel.

536
00:39:58.860 --> 00:40:03.179
She covers her mouth before we realise what's happening and it's really quite disconcerting.

537
00:40:03.239 --> 00:40:04.500
It's really good.

538
00:40:04.559 --> 00:40:21.239
I think as well, when the space pirates teleport on board, and we end with the big close-up on Jenna's face, presumably recognising Tarvin, when he teleports on board, and she sort of bathed in the teleport light, and it's a really interesting show.

539
00:40:21.300 --> 00:40:22.079
No, no, no, no, no.

540
00:40:22.139 --> 00:40:22.920
He arrives naked.

541
00:40:23.099 --> 00:40:23.519
That what happens.

542
00:40:26.880 --> 00:40:28.440
That's it.

543
00:40:28.559 --> 00:40:31.260
She's just reacting to him having his wang.

544
00:40:31.380 --> 00:40:33.599
Just like up on the mountain.

545
00:40:34.800 --> 00:40:49.500
It's that scene also where Blake is hit by the water pistol and it's like 15 seconds of sort of holding his eyes in a very strange way and then sort of rolling around and sort of going a bit cross-eyed and stuff like this.

546
00:40:49.559 --> 00:40:53.099
It's like the direction is like, no, no, no, no, no.

547
00:40:53.159 --> 00:40:54.780
Make it make it like your eyes really hurt.

548
00:40:54.840 --> 00:40:55.800
No, no, no, hang on a minute.

549
00:40:55.860 --> 00:41:01.500
Make it like you're rolling around in pain, but don't actually scream or anything, but oh, just fall asleep, you know?

550
00:41:01.980 --> 00:41:04.739
It's sci-fi extra acting.

551
00:41:05.400 --> 00:41:15.840
I like to think that it's a pennant up in the studio going, yep, fill the episode, give it more love, longer, longer. those water pistols are really bad, aren't they?

552
00:41:15.900 --> 00:41:21.480
I mean, you can see those poor guys desperately pumping them to keep the smoke coming out.

553
00:41:21.539 --> 00:41:23.340
Like they have to repeatedly pull the trigger.

554
00:41:23.400 --> 00:41:24.780
They're kind of triple work.

555
00:41:24.840 --> 00:41:26.039
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

556
00:41:26.099 --> 00:41:33.420
I mean, the pendant Robertsitis is strong with this one and that's kind of a, that's one of the things that reveals that he is, in fact, behind the camera.

557
00:41:33.480 --> 00:41:40.980
But I actually think his studio work is a bit better than his location work on this, which is the reverse of the usual pattern.

558
00:41:44.039 --> 00:41:45.659
So that's bounty for us.

559
00:41:45.719 --> 00:41:51.659
So just finally, what do we think of the episode now that we've sort of turned it around and talked about it?

560
00:41:51.719 --> 00:41:54.659
Do we think it's good, bad, or a mix of both?

561
00:41:54.719 --> 00:41:55.679
Nathan?

562
00:41:55.739 --> 00:41:57.539
I think it's definitely a mix of both.

563
00:41:57.599 --> 00:42:14.099
I think the pace is really languid and the whole thing's undercooked, but it does do things that Blake 7 hasn't done before and won't do again, and it sort of explores some areas that the show will eventually kind of reject.

564
00:42:14.099 --> 00:42:26.099
Someone once said that an interesting failure is more fun at least to kind of talk about, if not to watch, than a kind of mediocre success.

565
00:42:26.159 --> 00:42:31.739
And I don't think that this story is boring because it's got nothing going for it.

566
00:42:31.860 --> 00:42:35.400
I think it's just boring because Pennant Roberts is directing.

567
00:42:38.820 --> 00:42:40.320
James.

568
00:42:40.380 --> 00:42:41.880
Look, I agree.

569
00:42:42.119 --> 00:42:44.340
I really love bounty.

570
00:42:44.400 --> 00:42:47.760
But I think that's in spite of it.

571
00:42:47.820 --> 00:43:00.599
Like it's, It's, it's, it's got some really interesting ideas that never quite reach their potential and it is so very different from a lot of the show around it.

572
00:43:00.659 --> 00:43:05.219
So it kind of stands out as something interesting, but is it good?

573
00:43:05.400 --> 00:43:10.800
Probably not, but I think that's what we've been saying for the last 45 minutes or so.

574
00:43:10.860 --> 00:43:14.639
It may charitably be what we've been saying for the last 11 episodes.

575
00:43:15.659 --> 00:43:18.239
Answer the podcast, how about you?

576
00:43:18.960 --> 00:43:21.179
I think we've reached our conclusion.

577
00:43:21.239 --> 00:43:22.559
I have always enjoyed this.

578
00:43:22.619 --> 00:43:34.079
I think it's good, but it is underdeveloped and actually talking it through today, I've realised I like it more than I think I did, but also that I knew it could have had more potential.

579
00:43:34.139 --> 00:43:49.500
I, the Jenna deception could have been bigger and the liberation of the planet of Lindor chocolates could have been bigger, a bigger thing and more convincing with more sort of convincing dialogue and to have the characters come back in some form would have been much more interesting.

580
00:43:49.559 --> 00:43:53.760
But now it's just a, it's a small glimpse of, oh, we've made a little bit of a hope.

581
00:43:53.820 --> 00:43:58.019
We've, you know, there's, we're putting chess pieces in the place to hit the federation.

582
00:43:58.079 --> 00:43:59.639
But nothing really comes a bit.

583
00:43:59.699 --> 00:44:01.320
But I enjoy it.

584
00:44:01.380 --> 00:44:03.960
I think it's I think it's good fun for 45, 50 minutes.

585
00:44:04.139 --> 00:44:06.119
Bless you, Colin.

586
00:44:06.179 --> 00:44:07.199
Much like this podcast.

587
00:44:08.639 --> 00:44:10.260
We hope.

588
00:44:10.320 --> 00:44:25.380
It struck me as the inverse of breakdown last week because breakdown was a fairly standard idea that really wasn't developed and was a bit like wallpaper, whereas it feels like this episode, they've absolutely chucked everything at it to try and jazz it up a little bit.

589
00:44:25.440 --> 00:44:34.500
And they didn't really succeed on all counts, but like Nathan said, I think it's an, if it is a failure, it's a very interesting failure.

590
00:44:34.619 --> 00:44:35.880
Well said.

591
00:44:42.599 --> 00:44:46.559
Well, that's bounty for you, maximum power.

592
00:44:46.619 --> 00:44:58.260
So please join us next week for deliverance when we'll have our 2nd episode in a row where the crew are left to their own devices, in this case down on the planet, and we'll see just how much they muck it up without Blake being present.

593
00:44:58.320 --> 00:45:00.360
Until then, thank you very much for listening.

594
00:45:00.420 --> 00:45:01.559
Goodbye from all of us.

595
00:45:01.619 --> 00:45:02.340
Thank you very much.

596
00:45:02.400 --> 00:45:03.119
Good night.

597
00:45:03.179 --> 00:45:04.320
Bye.

598
00:45:13.380 --> 00:45:15.360
Switching to manning.

599
00:45:15.420 --> 00:45:17.460
Maximum power on all drives.

600
00:45:20.519 --> 00:45:21.239
Max