Planets Without Daisies or Daffodils

[00:03]

Not several power.

Well, now, hello, Dreamheads, and welcome back to Maximum Power, a Blake 7 podcast.

I'm Psy.

I'm Colin.

I'm James I'm Tim.

So this week we're talking about Shadow, episode 2 of series B of Blake 7, our very 1st script that is not by Terry Nation.

So script editor Chris Boucher is taking up the reins for the very 1st time here and giving himself a chance to write for the series that he's had a lot of input into through series A. So, Tim, what do you think of Shadow?

I love Shadow.

I think it's a fabulous episode.

I think it's Blake 7's 1st sort of next step, if you like.

It's, uh, as you say, it's not it's not a Terry Nation script.

It's got a bit of attitude to it as well.

It's kind of quite spiky and bit more unambiguous and then perhaps, you know, any script in the past.

[01:05]

So that's probably the main reason I like it.

It's like Blake 7's evolution, 1st real next step.

What about you, Colin?

I had written down, oh God, it's this one.

Uh, but...

Having rewatched it this morning.

I actually really like it now.

I couldn't get over the kind of like 5 minutes of them in that room and that dreary kind of music, obviously deliberate, and it was just like, 0 God.

And then it was like, who are these kids out of Grange Hill that haven't rinsed out their shampoo?

What?

I just, but no, no, I do like it.

I think it's really good.

And as you say, Tim, it does start to move us a little bit more in the direction of conflict. and how far they'll go to disrupt the federation and stuff.

Yeah, definitely.

I think it's the 1st episode for me where I really see Blake's kind of passion to destroy the Federation turn into something that's really quite unhealthy.

And I think there's a little bit in the way Gareth Thomas is playing the part in this series, which is very different from series A. It's a little bit more, I don't know, it's a bit more insular and a bit more sort of, you know, dedication at all costs, that there is definitely something different, you know, in this episode than before.

[02:23]

Yeah, it's really fascinating the fact that he's not concerned about what's going on with Cali at all because that's, it's not a focus on the Federation and what he's doing.

So he's not not at all sort of concerned almost with that. is just very dismissive of that whole part of the plot.

Yeah, he just says later, leave it, Jenna, or whatever, you know, we'll deal with it later.

It's quite dismissive.

What about you, James?

your thoughts on this episode?

I've always liked Shadow.

I think it's difficult to right. like a drug plotline in primetime, BBC drama and and not have it come across as being preachy or ham fisted.

Yeah.

I think overall, it actually does quite a good job of it.

And the fact that Blake, I think this, you know, like it was what you were saying before, Tim, about the lengths that Blake will go to, this really kind of throws into sharp contrast that, you know, he is willing to do deals with organised criminals and drug runners to, like, you know, the, the, the evils outweighs the, Being the Federation outweighs the lesser of the evils being drug running.

[03:51]

And that actually creates some real drama in the episode between the lead characters.

Yeah, definitely.

There's a moment like, I don't know, 20, 30 minutes in where they haven't been able to get the information from Largo and they're all back on the liberator and Villa's got his, you know, his hangover, which I don't feel is a hangover.

I think it's something else entirely.

But we'll come until that later.

But, you know, Blake's approach is right, that didn't work.

So we're going to try a different route.

And then all this extra conflict, you know, particularly with Gan and an Avon who can just use it as a chance to make a dig at Blake.

Blake doesn't retreat.

He just approaches it in a very different way.

And again, it's that sort of question of like, uh, you know, is the pterostra the only corruption group or force in this episode.

I find it really fascinating.

Yeah, it's sort of blurring the lines, isn't it, between what's happening with the crew of the liberator.

Are they just as bad as all the people that are around them?

[04:52]

It's taking what had been a fairly straightforward goodies and baddies show in most of series A and just adding that extra little twist that brings it up to another level.

And I think that's that's very much a crisp voucher thing, isn't it?

Yeah, definitely.

Yeah, it does feel like a very different voice in this episode.

It was the 1st episode that I watched from my dad and he turned to me and said, that was a bit weird.

So it meant to me like there wasn't something particularly straightforward about it.

Very ambiguous and it was the 1st episode that I think I needed to watch a few times before I got it.

It's a bit of a slow burner.

Yeah, no, I've just done that and got it.

Possibly, possibly the 1st half.

Got 2 very different plot strands going on here.

So we've got Blake and the Terra Nostra, and we've also got what's happening with Aurak and Cali.

And for a long time, It doesn't feel like those 2 are going to mesh at all.

[05:56]

And I think that it's quite disorientating at times because you've got some very surreal moments with Cali and Aurak or the creature that is possessing Aurak, tormenting her and blocking her off from everything, it's, it always reminds me of those scenes in Kinder, where Tegan is in her own head, and it's all very starkly recorded, so it's all on very bleached out backgrounds. you've got the sort of primitive video effects working with it to create something that's really atmospheric, but you don't really get a grasp of what's going on for quite a while.

Yeah, I totally agree.

I mean, this is the other reason I really like Shadow.

I think it's the best directed episode of Blake 7 of them all.

Oh, wow.

The reason I think that there's so many things that make it up and maybe I won't sort of go into detail about them now, but it was directed by this chap called Jonathan White Miller. who seems to be a little bit of an unknown quantity in sort of Blake 7.

[07:02]

He did 2 episodes, as I'm sure we know, he did this on Horizon.

And that's all he did.

And he's never given really any interviews.

I think, is it Ian, what's his name?

Ian from Signus Alpha.

Yeah, that's it.

Ian Cubiac.

Sorry, Ian, if you're listening.

He managed to get Jonathan Wright, Miller in to do a panel a few years ago.

And it was really interesting to hear how he approached this episode.

I mean, he was saying that he borrowed, you know, the moment where Callie's in that sort of frame, that grid like frame of Aurak, you know, she's trapped in that video effect.

He said, you know, he borrowed that from Francis Bacon, a series of paintings called Screaming Popes, and I looked it up the other day and it's like, my goodness, yeah, you can see where the influences it's been drawn from.

But he also said that he turned down the opportunity to direct Doctor Who. which, you know, unfortunately for Graham Williams would have been brilliant because I know Graham Williams was desperately trying to find new directors because of course a lot of them have gone to Blake 7.

But Kinder is the episode, I thought, if there's a, if there's a Doctor Who story that Jonathan Ryan Miller should have directed, Kinder, you know, would have been amazing.

[08:10]

Fabulously.

And he had pedigree.

He'd done like the Jensen code with Brian Croucher and Carl Howman and I think Philip Hitchcliffe was the script editor and lots of other things for ITV.

But yeah, I think it's brilliantly directed in how he's using video effects.

He's using sound design.

The sound design is incredible.

You know, when Cali is being kind of goaded by Aurak to run, and there's that repeated staccato run.

You know, that's quite rhythmic.

It's really disturbing.

It's a real, it's a director who trusts his team to be really creative. like, you know, whether it's video effect sound design. brilliantly done.

That's just one reason I think it's well directed.

I could talk for 50 minutes, but I won't.

Now go ahead, go ahead.

But you're right, the set design is really good as well.

So you've got those white, almost opaque panels making up the scenes, the rooms in Space City that can obviously be reconfigured to make the different rooms and the different spaces.

[09:19]

And then you've got all those different levels with the carpet and Largo sitting cross-legged at the top rather than on a chair, for instance.

And it's just little things like that that just make this feel like you're entering a world and a proper space.

And again, when they go down onto Zondar, you've finally got a quarry where they say it's hot and it actually looks like it's hot as well, which doesn't happen very often, but he's got the Mac painting of the sun, the extra sun in the sky and things like that.

It's just all those little touches that make this something quite quite special.

Yeah, definitely.

And they're not all successful touches, but that's, you know, that he's working with whatever budget Blake 7 had, you know, like £10 away.

Budget of Zed cars.

Yeah exactly.

And he did say something like, I can't remember exactly what you said, but it's something like, I wanted to find planets that didn't have daffodils and daisies on it.

And he said he went to that sand pit in Dorset to do a recie, and it was a lovely, glorious, sunny day.

[10:24]

And of course, when it came to do the filming, it was gray and cloudy and, you know, it didn't add the kind of effect that it was.

So I really like that glass shot with the kind of the weird red sun in the background, you know.

It is a bit clunky, but I think I can use my imagination enough to get a sense of what he was trying to achieve.

But yeah, you're right.

The lighting is brilliant and it's not it's not about turning the light the lights down all the time.

I mean, Space City, I don't think you want dark cavernous spaces.

I think you want grand, palatial backgrounds and things like that that suggest wealth and how do people...

Yeah, power, how do people get that power, you know, through corruption.

I think it's really nicely done.

Yeah, and you've just got that shot of Gand or characters standing in that corridor with the triangular windows and you can see the liberator coming in at the side and things like that.

Yeah, it was.

[11:25]

Yeah, it's a really nice special effect.

It's not totally successful, but you could see what they're what they're doing.

He's really pushing the envelope a lot here, I think.

I like in that corridor, I like when Gan's listening in later on.

And then that gun just appears out of shot, the handholding the gun.

I thought whoever's ham that was, they weren't paid enough, you know, to...

They needed like a speaking part fee for that.

This week, obviously, as we've said, we're tackling organised crime and drug addiction.

So Tim, do you think shadow is cool?

Do I think it's cool?

I mean, taking shadow is not cool. obviously.

Just say no kids, but I do think it is the coolest episode of Lake 7.

As I say, it's got it's got a spiky attitude to it.

And I like the fact that the crew are, like, even more prickly with each other than they ever have been.

[12:29]

You know, there's that scene where they're all in their sort of dressing gowns about to go out onto the planet.

And Blake is really spiky and edgy with the rest of the crew and I remember again watching that scene for the 1st time and thinking, This feels very different.

Blake's no longer trying to influence the crew in his decisions.

He's just telling...

Yeah, he's just telling people what's gonna happen.

And it's and it's left to Avon.

That's one of the things I took away from this was that no one wants to do Blake's plan. really they really just don't want to do it.

And it is that.

And he's just doing this commanding thing all the time.

And I would just think you're just like, no, we're not doing this at all.

We're not, like, there's not, there's opposition to it, but there's not a kind of a, you know, we're actually not going to participate or whatever.

It's all kind of, well, all right, we'll trust you, perhaps.

Resistance.

Yeah.

That's what I thought was sort of most interesting on it, is, you know, the obviously building up to a few confrontations.

[13:31]

I can see vouchers thinking ahead to the whole series and how it will end, and I know I think he wanted Terry Nation to write the end or Terry Nation wanted to write the very final thing, but it didn't work out that way.

But I can see how Boucher is thinking ahead to what's what's to come and where those tension points are going to happen.

And obviously I won't, won't reveal them in this episode.

But, uh, I think the seeds of all of those confrontations are, I've been sown here.

Definitely.

I find it very fascinating that Blake is using Jenna's connection with Largo, who is obviously someone that she doesn't want to see ever again who had got her into this situation in the 1st place and he's using that as his inn.

That's really manipulative.

What do you think about that, James?

Well, the fact that it's clearly implied that he is the reason she is in prison at the, and heading to Cygnus Alpha in, in, in Sirius A, and that's shit.

That's a shit thing to ask of somebody who, like at best, is supposed to be a friend or a colleague or at worst is, well, something you treat as a like kind of a disposable...

[14:45]

Yeah, commodity.

Oh, commodity, exactly.

It's, it's, it really does kind of cast a much darker light on Blake.

Yeah, definitely.

I like how Boucher is writing for all of the characters.

Every character, every regular character, including Aurac, because we don't know much about Aurac.

And I like the fact that we don't know much about Aurac at this point in the series.

And then, or I take this sort of malevolent turn.

But Blake, I wrote here, Blake's more fanatical.

Villa's hedonism is kind of, which, wrapped up, carries alien is intensified.

Jenna's history is referenced and in a meaningful way, Gan's morality is played up.

In fact, the only person that who I didn't think evolved, because perhaps because he didn't need to evolve, he was already who he is, is Avon.

It's like a step up again, you know, that they're written in a really intelligent way.

Yeah, I really like that when there's the 1st conversation with Largo, Blake is silent and sitting still in the background and letting Avon do the talking and Avon's there in his big baker foil top and his boots that come up to sort of his thigh high boots and looking quite cool. but he's the one who is driving that conversation and Blake's just the silent person behind it all.

[16:05]

And I thought that was a really fascinating dynamic.

The Blake would let him do that.

But also, you get one of the best lines in the episode there where he's, he offers Lago the Gems and and he says, they have a sentimental value for me.

And Lago says, oh, family heirlooms, eh?

And he says, no, I'm just sentimental about money.

Which is just such a nave online.

And it also leads to that superb moment where Avon's got the jewels in his hand, and Blake just clicks his fingers and holds out his hand, and Avon, with a look of absolute disdain, put, has to put the, put the bag of jewels into Blake's hands, and he's angry about it.

Brilliant.

And you know that Paul Darrow was just waiting for that line because he doesn't just say, you know, I'm just sentimental about money.

He goes, I'm just sentimental about money, you know, it's the way he delivers it.

[17:06]

It's just pure, beautiful unadulterated Paul Darrow, you know.

Sort of speaking about the crew, um, Cole, how do you feel about Gan being positioned as the moral compass of the liberator crew, really, for the 1st time?

I liked it.

I thought it, it adds a lot more to him.

And as you were saying, Tim, everyone is written for in this episode.

I think he does, you know, object several times and sort of plays off the whole, you know, we can't do this.

We can't be doing drug running and all this stuff to even get to the federation.

But it doesn't massively come to a head through him, I don't think, but because they're going to do it anyway, right?

That's the episode, they're going to go in and do this.

Blake's just ordering everyone about and everyone is sort of following through in any event.

But I like it because up until now I felt again has not been a particularly well-written character or very well.

You know, in like last week, he was just like, you guys run ahead.

I can just beat up these blokes in your power station.

[18:10]

Whereas now he's actually got something meaningful to say.

And, like, we know that he has killed someone in the past, which is why he was going to sing this Alpha as well.

But, you know, we don't know the full circumstances of that as well.

So no, I liked it.

I think it's I think it's good for him.

And I think I don't think we get any, correct me if I'm wrong, I don't think we get any reference to the limiter after breakdown.

I don't think it's mentioned once.

No, I don't think, you know, it's almost like that story is told and kind of what's left.

Good point.

If Gan had carried on, this would have been a useful character trait for him to have, speaking up and saying when things are wrong.

And I think it's something then that Callie takes on very much for the rest of the series, particularly, obviously, obviously there's lots of conversations in Star one, for instance, which are on similar lines about, are we doing what's right?

Is this the right thing to do?

Can I ask a question?

What do you think of the casting of it?

[19:10]

I mean, I love the casting of it.

I just want to get my tuppance out there quickly.

I think it's really well cast, but were there any like standout performances for you or not so standout?

I really enjoy Carl Howman is back, despite the brill cream in the hair.

There's that moment at the very end of the episode where his sisters died and he's been quite distraught.

And then Blake just tells him, you know, that button there, you know, that will burn the president's garden.

And the relish on his eyes as he just reaches over to press the button, the end titles kick in, is just fabulous.

Yeah, it's a really neat way to end it.

You know?

And we don't get to see the burning.

We don't get to see the plasma bolt.

We don't have the money for that.

Yeah, I know that.

That's half budget. you know.

And they use that on all those reflected the reflector discs.

[20:15]

I think he's really impressive.

He's got a good line in anger.

That anger that he shows when Petey is dead and he's sort of manhandling Hannah around to say, look, this is what's going to happen to you and he's so furious about it.

That's really good.

Then you get the sadness immediately after that.

He's a really well-rounded character and a really well played.

That's why it's another reason I really think it's brilliantly directed because it's quite aggressive.

It's quite an aggressive episode.

It's aggressive in of a kind of passive way at times, but when there is moments of real nastiness, it plays it up, so, you know, as you say, Beck says, that's how, you know, in a really aggressive way.

And there's another moment where I think Villa finds Cali next lying unconscious next door rack and you hear that scream that Callie gets out.

And then as the scream, kind of ebbs away.

You just hear Aurat go, obviously, she's insane, you know, and it's so cold and dispassionate.

[21:19]

I know Blake 7 does cold and dispassionate very well, you know, part of the DNA, but I think shadow sort of takes it up a notch.

And, yeah, again, I think the director gets that gets that balance really, really nice.

There's good, good, good stuff.

But even the characters who you usually expect to be, at least as they evolve over time, Kelly is definitely not passive in series A, but as they give her less to do, she becomes quite a background character.

But there's this great line about, oh, I don't know, a 3rd way, the way through an episode where Villa disappears, like to the city, and she gets in contact with him and he's drunk. drunk.

And he's like, tell you what, I'll bring you back a present.

What would you like, Kelly?

Name it.

It's yours.

And she says, a necklace villa. made from your teeth.

[22:20]

I love it.

And Blake references that a bit later, doesn't he?

When he goes to pick up Beckham and Hannah again.

Yeah, but Callie also gets that kick-ass moment where she's blasting Space City with the neutron blasters as well, just to show that she's she needs business.

That's really cool.

She's really strong in this episode despite being victimised by a shadow being from another dimension.

She actually has some really, really strong scenes.

Yeah.

Yeah, and they remember her telepathy.

Yes.

But that, like, and that's a great juxtaposition. like she's shown as being an incredibly resourceful and powerful character, and then the fall from that agency and that strength to being trapped and helpless is quite stark and affecting.

Definitely, she gets, she gets proper range in this episode.

And that scene, as you say, you know, with the, was it that very bored end of day feeling of that duty officer.

[23:23]

It says, shouldn't go drinking in those cheap dives. go blind eventually.

You know, but it's that kind of, I don't know, slightly cynical depiction of the universe where everyone's sort of fed up with their jobs and, you know, there's very little to celebrate.

I really like that.

Yeah, and that's a thing that Chris Boucher comes back to all the time.

I think in his scripts, you see it again in rumours of death, don't you, where you've got the 2 the 2 guards in the patrol room who are just tired and don't want to be working together and obviously the scenes with trooper par and the other the the new young rookie in trial and things like that.

It's that everyday feeling that Chris Boucher brings in.

The banality of evil.

Yeah, exactly.

I also really like just going back to the casting.

So I discovered a couple of little things that I think I'd forgotten, Archie Chu plays the enforcer.

He's now a life coach in America.

[24:23]

See, the complete antithesis of his character, you know, which I thought was quite amusing.

And I was so happy to see Vernon Dobcheff as the chairman, even though he's with his cider.

And I think the last time I'd seen Vernon Dobcheff prior to this episode, he was getting his neck bitten by Jaws in The Spy You Love Me, because he's the owner of the, was it the Mohaba Club or whatever, whatever it was called.

I forget the name of it, and he's on the receiving end of Jaws in the phone booth, I think.

But, um, and he has one of those awful James Bond lines, which everyone remembers.

I'll just go back and have a listen to episode of Bondfinger.

No, yeah, I need to.

I need like the piece of catching up.

But yeah, no, I was really, really happy to see him in there just for a few scenes.

He is silky smooth.

You know, he plays it really well.

He's powerful without being over the top.

He's quietly in control of everything, isn't he?

Definitely.

And of course, we've got, who else we've got?

[25:25]

Derek Bond as Largo, who I think it's also very dignified and very good and looks great in the brown...

Oh, Derek Smith.

Sorry, yes.

We've also got Derek Smith as Largo. who looks very cool in his in the brown velvet and the frilly shirts and you get a sense of the decadence of them.

I think he's quite nice and spiky and the way he can turn from the charm to the chilling is really good and well judged.

Which makes his death even more delightful.

Yes.

And it's horrible with that little bit of yellow stuff coming out of his mouth.

It's horrible.

It's quite quite a memorable Dessie.

But yeah, I like, I do like, I mean, I like the whole shadow, but I like those early scenes on Space City and I like that sort of that chess game that's playing between Hannah and Beck and Largo, Largo, Blake and Jenner and the enforcer at the end, you know, so there's always manoeuvring, sort of taking place.

[26:27]

I think that plays out really nicely.

And for me, I think all that finishes halfway through the episode.

So to me, that's a midpoint where the episode now can move on to the after effects of Cali's imprisonment by Aurak and moving to Zondar.

I think that's a, you know, a really nice way of moving things on.

So, how do we feel about the B plot of Cali versus the evil alien from the Upper Dimension coming across?

Completely weird and just unnecessary.

It just it just seems so at odds to what they're trying to do, either make make the 1st episode, make the make the A-plot the main thing around how do we get to the Federation, how how are we going to break, you know, break our own rules and all these things.

I just was just watching it a couple of times.

I was just like, why, why is this even a thing?

[27:28]

Why are they doing this?

I don't, it just felt like a little bit of a jumble of things and like, okay, now here are the moon discs and we're going to blow those up and okay.

And I just thought the second, there's a definite like 25 minute mark where it flips into this other thing.

And I felt like I just felt like, okay, why do we need that?

Why not just do the 1st thing?

I think it's pretty cruel also.

You know, the moon discs saved Cali and the and our universe from this evil being.

And only one of them survives and the rest get blown to smithereens.

Yeah, I can't work out in my head what I feel about that 2nd plot with Callie, but the one clunky thing I do feel about Shadow is the way everything is wrapped up with a very long talkie scene at the end of the episode.

I mean, that scene goes on for a few good few minutes.

And I know that happens again, I think, later in Blake 7, you know, in another episode. sarcophagus, doesn't it?

[28:34]

Yeah.

Another one where it's all weird around Cali.

The plain man's guide to Alien Invasion.

And you're talking to a moon disc is a complete waste of time.

It's like talking to Villa or something along those lines, you know?

So there's always nuggets even in these very long talkie scenes.

But I do wonder whether that, you know, that scene suggests that the plot didn't fit in quite as well as, I don't know, it could do or whatever.

Personally, I do like it, but I can see, yeah, it doesn't it doesn't entirely mesh.

All right, I think it's sort of fairly neat that the moon discs are Cali's salvation, but also the source of the pternostra power.

I mean, that's that's quite nicely done, and the mood discs are really weird and odd.

And I still can't quite work out how they made them move.

Because I can't see any wires that they're pulling them along on, but there are little channels in the sand that they move along.

[29:40]

Well, I think those channels only appear when they've moved.

Ah, they're on the screen, like one of the bigger ones, moves. and it creates that channel.

Whereas when they're all stationary.

It's like lovely, fluffy, undisturbed sand.

I also assumed they were on wires.

Someone underneath on wires and stuff, but it's like Sandis, Mundis will only, you know, move and create these little channels after them because it's obvious they've been pulled on wires.

Um, I should like to, there's a line in there about they moved to avoid direct sunlight, but every single one that you see apart from the ones that are under those silver disk umbrella things.

Every one of them is sitting in the broad daylight.

They're not sitting under like rock, rock ledges or, or anything like it's like, did you said that they didn't like the sun?

Well, that sun is enough to fry your eyeballs.

[30:43]

Daintily hurts, I'm daintily fit.

It must be the company I could.

Oh, the lions in this are great though, aren't they?

Like, yeah, they are.

What was it?

That's the level of stupidity that no amount of training could ever hope to match, you know.

I think that was the other one that stood out to me.

And the way Avon just swaggers into shot as he says that as well.

It's not just the line. again, it's the performance.

There's that interaction between Avon, Blake and Jenner, where one of them says, oh, Moonjis, they're like prized by collectors.

And Blake says, people collect odd things and then Jenna says, look what you ended up with.

It's it's just it's such knowing dialogue.

Like, I love, look, I love Chris Boucher's dialogue.

I think that's why I love Blake 7 so much is that he's very clearly on the, on the, you know, on the page in most scripts, especially, especially once you hit series B. He's been let out of the Bronx.

[31:51]

Yes.

He even gives Zen a gag as well, doesn't he?

where Villa says, oh, I just want to see what it's like.

And then Zen puts the main screen up and shows him the visual of the city.

And it's, and of course, because in Zen, it's so deadpan, but it's really funny where he says, you expressed a desire to see what it was like. know.

Actually, villains really dark in this as well.

I mean, I know we talked about it a moment ago, that the scene where he's on Space City and supposedly it's, I think Blake references its alcohol.

I mean, I'm no expert, honest, but that does not sound like alcohol to me.

There's something really dark going on.

Has he been trying shadow?

Yeah, well, I wonder.

I remember thinking this feels more like a more synthetic chemical type of experience rather than the grape.

Yeah, because it sounds like he's tripping.

Yeah, no, really does. does, doesn't it?

And I thought, this is really dark for, what was it?

7.30 or whatever it was in the evening?

I mean, you know, I'm surprised Mary Whitehouse wasn't all over this one.

[32:55]

Maybe that's what they were getting at, but maybe they had to turn it down because of the time slot.

Yeah, so it's a fine line.

The episode finishes with us discovering that there's a special relationship between the Pterra Nostra and the Federation.

James, are we surprised by that?

Oh, I was shocked, shocked and appalled.

I expected better of the Federation.

If you can't if you can't trust the Federation, who can you trust?

Well, exactly.

Have you listened to any of the big finish play 7 audios?

Yeah, most of them.

The president of the Federation turns out to be Hugh Fraser.

Yeah.

It's really, yeah, it's really difficult not to imagine him being a drug runner now.

It really ruined Poirot for me.

But I did wonder, like, you know, when was the 1st moment, I thought this really isn't going to end well.

[33:59]

And there was 2 episodes that I thought it could be.

It could be the way back because, you know, I'm asking myself, right, can Blake ever actually crack this, you know, regime?

But actually it was shadow because it was the 1st episode that I could think of where it was all about Blake's attempts to achieve something, but only to find that actually it was a complete brick wall, basically a federation graffitiated brick wall.

And it was it was almost like, well, it was completely futile endeavour at the end of it all.

What did what did they all gain?

Well, they Callie gained a moon disc.

And they managed to burn the president's garden slightly, but that's a poor reward for 50 minutes of endeavouring to utilise the pterranostra, which I always thought was crisp voucher.

Whenever I hear Terra Nostra.

I always hear Terry Nation.

I don't know why.

I always thought Chris Boucher was probably having a little bit of fun because it's like now it's my show.

[35:02]

You know, I can, I can write a script on all of my own, so he's like throwing in some Terry Nation in there.

No, I really like that.

I like the little bit with Blake at the end where to have total control, you must control totally and the 2 sides of the same coin.

Yeah, just that almost defeated by that, that kind of view is is really, really good.

It's Bay Blake 7.

Yeah, I remember Vicky, that was a really cool twist when I saw that age sort of 14, 15 when the video came out.

I really liked that.

For me, the other reason I think Shadow is the best directed.

It's not just the tone, it's not just the casting, you know, it is the visual style of this episode.

And I was thinking back to all the Blake 7 episodes that have like a really distinctive visual style, so sarcophagus definitely has a sand has of a particular look all of its own.

And warlord as well.

I mean, that's barkingly directed.

[36:03]

I absolutely love warlords, you know, but that's a long time away.

But Shadow is just full of really interesting electronic effects, transitions.

I mean, there's the scene where Callie gets attacked by Aurak and then that sort of merges to an establishing shot of space city and then cuts to Largo talking to the chairman.

And Dudley Simpson's music is going all over the shop, you know, backward loops and weird electronic wipes and things like that.

And I thought, this is brilliant.

And there's other little moments that I didn't notice on the 1st few watches, but Jonathan Wright Miller cuts action quite quickly and it's in sort of very sort of blink and you'll miss it moments.

So there's a scene where Avon and Gan storm back into Largo's office just as Blake gives Largo a chop and they managed to, you know, free Blake and Jenner.

And then there's a little moment where they're sort of Avon's throwing sort of keys to the handcuffs that people would Beck's about to execute lower goat.

But it's cut really quickly, and I just imagine the vision mixer sat next to Jonathan Wright Miller, who's having to cut between all these camera shots really, really quickly.

[37:11]

So for me, there's a, there's a real difference to Jonathan Wright Miller, who I feel, and he said in this, in his interview, he'd done a lot of children's shows, and he hadn't, of course, with children shows, there's very little budget.

And he was saying that this was one of his 1st shows as a freelancer, and it almost feels like to me.

He is a director at the beginning of his freelance career who's really, really excited about the possibilities that are available to him.

I mean, there was one quote I put down.

He he directed at university, then he went in as a postgrad in the drama department.

He got an assistant directorship at the Royal Court, and then he got a general traineeship at ATV.

He got into ATV and then he said, 9 months later, I found I was working on crossroads and wondering where I had gone wrong with my career.

So I think he got through the 70s and like just as, you know, just a shadow hit, he's really excited about the potential.

[38:12]

But I think it's, yeah, visually shadows amazing.

I totally agree with you on that.

There's that wonderful scene when Callie starts running and and she's sort of like there's like all that cutting and the soundtrack is really kind of distorted and over and like lay it over itself and then you hear the teleport sound and then she's running across the sand dunes.

It's just, yeah, like it's really starish. directed.

It is. visceral and a wonderful mix of sound and vision throughout the through the episode.

I mean, Dudley Simpson, that background Nuzak is really unsettling.

It is very dream heady music.

And funnily enough, not particularly space city-esque, you know, if it's like a place of entertainment.

It's not like freedom cities, quirky keyboard tones that we'll hear later in the series.

But yeah, it's really unsettling sound design.

Yeah, I think Dudley has a very good week this week.

[39:15]

I think he's on top four.

I think this is one of his best Blake 7 scores.

Yeah, I agree.

Yeah, it's really good.

One of the things I do quite like is the model work.

I mean, there's not a huge amount of model work in there, but it's sort of slightly, I don't know, it feels slightly different.

It's not just modern work of space city or a planet or anything like that. where the camera zooms into those storage containers, you know, in the kind of the layer of Space City.

Um, and I don't know, it just feels like there's different ways of establishing where they are, that isn't just a, you know, sort of straightforward long shot.

Um, so I, again, I found that it was another sort of quite interesting sort of visual touch.

And actually another thing, I really like the costumes in this.

Because I think this isn't this where June Hudson is.

Yeah, 0 yes, she's joined with redemption.

So yeah, she's in her pomp here.

[40:15]

It looks more kind of decorative.

That sounds like a sort of slight insult and it absolutely isn't meant to be.

But it's a lot more grandiose than perhaps the Robin of Sherwood-esque costume design in season eight.

But there's all this sort of velvets for the pterranostra.

So again, it's very rich, rich feeling, sort of, yeah, very operatic and I like the costume design in this.

And I might be wrong, but I wonder whether they took those costumes and messed around with them for horizon because I know, is it Row?

I know, sorry, the Commissar and the Assistant Commissar, where they similar.

I know what you mean.

Yeah, they're in very purple velvet, aren't they?

But it's a very similar style of costume.

Yeah, definitely.

So I think that's, yeah, that's really nicely.

Yeah nicely done.

As we said, we've got Avon in his baker foil for the 1st time, which is just a ridiculous costume, but I really like it.

It's really striking.

[41:17]

And I think Jenna looks magnificent with the Lycra and the mini dress sort of draped over it, but with the purples and things like that.

It's a real contrast to everyone around her.

I'll be honest, I wasn't, this is just a personal opinion.

I don't, I wasn't quite as taken with the kind of sun lounger retire. thing.

I don't know why.

It just doesn't work for me.

Perhaps I was concentrating more on the fact that Gareth Thomas hair on location is very different to what it is in the studio.

It's a lot longer, a lot more permed in the in that kind of chalk pit in Dorset.

That's the 2nd unit about 3 weeks later.

But we do get Jenna's really fantastic silver boots with that with that white costume.

I love those.

So yeah, I'm a big fan of the costuming in this one.

I really like the aesthetic of series A, but this isn't series A. This is a new series and I like that it's evolving and it's something new.

[42:21]

So, that was shadow.

Join us again next week where we'll be discussing Chris Boucher's 2nd episode for the series Weapon.

And we'll be asking, what is Imipak?

I think you can get that at your local chemist, can't you?

I don't want to know what's up with you, James, if you know that.

So remember, until next time, we own you Dreamheads, ever since you 1st watched Shadow.

Bye for now.

Switching to manual.

Maximum power on all drives.

Maximum power.