WEBVTT NOTE This transcript was created on 2026-06-07 at 21:54:15 1 00:00:03.359 --> 00:00:13.800 Maximum power Hello and welcome to Maximum Power. 2 00:00:13.859 --> 00:00:18.239 Today we're going to be talking about episode 2 of series A, Space 4. 3 00:00:18.480 --> 00:00:19.500 I'm Colin. 4 00:00:19.620 --> 00:00:20.579 I'm James. 5 00:00:20.640 --> 00:00:21.719 I'm Nathan. 6 00:00:21.780 --> 00:00:24.600 I'm Pete, and I'm Cy. 7 00:00:24.899 --> 00:00:31.140 So, P, what's going on with all this shaving foam coming out of walls? 8 00:00:32.039 --> 00:00:42.960 I've been doing some grouting recently around my own house, and let me tell you, it is a real perilous thing to get involved in, and space grouting, clearly, is even worse and even more dangerous. 9 00:00:43.020 --> 00:00:53.820 Uh, who, who, I, I think, yeah, I, in fact, this episode, I'm surprised I didn't call it the space grouting peril because you're, you're really in trouble. 10 00:00:53.880 --> 00:00:57.240 I'm leafing ahead, but the way that the guy when there's the hole in the wall. 11 00:00:57.299 --> 00:00:58.859 It's like, oh, no, there's a hole in space. 12 00:00:58.920 --> 00:01:02.820 I'll put my hand over it I've seen it. 13 00:01:02.880 --> 00:01:06.359 I've seen alien resurrection. all the way through. 14 00:01:06.599 --> 00:01:09.659 It's hand or a tea tray, isn't it? 15 00:01:09.719 --> 00:01:10.260 That's what you need. 16 00:01:10.379 --> 00:01:12.659 Doctor Who has taught us a tea tray. 17 00:01:12.719 --> 00:01:17.219 I was thinking shoe would actually have been much better than palm of hand. 18 00:01:17.280 --> 00:01:19.500 That scene is so affecting though. 19 00:01:19.560 --> 00:01:26.400 Like when I watched it as a child, like, you know, sure, they're shaping foam pouring out the walls. 20 00:01:26.459 --> 00:01:36.959 But the, just that sort of kind of animal guttural kind of like sound of fear that he starts making as, as he realises what's happening. 21 00:01:37.560 --> 00:01:39.359 You just think he's hot, James. 22 00:01:39.420 --> 00:01:40.319 Well, yes. 23 00:01:40.379 --> 00:01:45.180 And it's a shame that he's dead, not a regular cast member. 24 00:01:45.299 --> 00:01:47.579 So where are we? 25 00:01:47.640 --> 00:01:54.780 So we picked up this week straight, like immediately from last week, only Pennant Roberts is shooting it. 26 00:01:54.840 --> 00:01:56.879 But like Blake's still in the chair. 27 00:01:56.939 --> 00:01:59.819 Um, he's still looking out the window. 28 00:01:59.879 --> 00:02:08.219 And now we just have another sort of strange wheel spinning episode, which, you know, does introduce a thing. 29 00:02:09.479 --> 00:02:15.780 Well, yeah, no, it introduces a bunch of stuff that's super important, I think. it is odd, isn't it? 30 00:02:15.840 --> 00:02:23.580 Yeah, it's, it's, basically set in 2 rooms and an, an, an, an, an access corridor, an, an, after having shown us this world. 31 00:02:23.639 --> 00:02:27.780 Now they're just, they're trapped in this, uh, it's a bottle episode, I suppose. 32 00:02:27.840 --> 00:02:29.280 Am I getting my tropes the right way round? 33 00:02:29.340 --> 00:02:30.300 No, that's something else. 34 00:02:30.360 --> 00:02:30.900 But you know what I mean? 35 00:02:30.960 --> 00:02:32.759 It's a bus under siege. 36 00:02:34.379 --> 00:02:37.139 But they're the ones doing the sieging. 37 00:02:37.199 --> 00:02:46.259 Although I must say, I've had easy jet flights with far less polite crew and far less elbow room than this lot of supposedly hardened felons are getting. 38 00:02:46.319 --> 00:02:49.439 They've got lovely big chairs And it was harder to distract the guard. 39 00:02:49.500 --> 00:02:51.360 Yes, well, yeah. 40 00:02:51.479 --> 00:02:54.000 So that is a very uncomfortable line, isn't it? 41 00:02:54.060 --> 00:02:56.280 Like, oh, and Mr. Raker. 42 00:02:56.460 --> 00:02:57.659 There is a woman on board. 43 00:02:57.719 --> 00:02:59.280 Try and be discreet. 44 00:02:59.340 --> 00:03:00.599 It's horrible. 45 00:03:00.659 --> 00:03:04.620 Mr. Raker, try not to rape the rape the convict. 46 00:03:04.680 --> 00:03:05.879 No, no, he's not saying that. 47 00:03:05.939 --> 00:03:08.580 He's saying, just do it. discreetly. 48 00:03:08.639 --> 00:03:09.840 Yes, rape them quietly. 49 00:03:09.900 --> 00:03:11.400 So horrific. 50 00:03:11.460 --> 00:03:12.840 It is. 51 00:03:12.900 --> 00:03:17.219 And up to that point, they've just been 3 chaps. piloting this spaceship. 52 00:03:17.340 --> 00:03:20.280 All right, it's full of prisoners and we know that there's injustice and everything. 53 00:03:20.340 --> 00:03:23.219 But it's all, captain, ready for locked off, blah, blah, blah, blah. 54 00:03:23.280 --> 00:03:26.280 And they're not actually, they're not doing evil acting. 55 00:03:26.340 --> 00:03:29.460 And then she says, oh, yeah, but there's a woman, so try not to get caught raping her. 56 00:03:29.520 --> 00:03:37.500 And it's like, well, it's just, again, you can see why they moved it back 45 minutes in the, in the, in the, in the schedules from, from 6, 6, 15. 57 00:03:37.680 --> 00:03:39.060 I think it was originally, wasn't it? 58 00:03:39.120 --> 00:03:43.500 If the paedophilia wasn't bad enough, like raping, raping female convicts. 59 00:03:43.620 --> 00:03:45.960 And the captain is so useless. 60 00:03:46.020 --> 00:03:53.280 He's so, uh, I mean, it is, it is Jack from Howard's Way in his mermaid boatyard flying through the galaxy. 61 00:03:53.340 --> 00:03:57.060 But he has absolutely just any control. 62 00:03:57.120 --> 00:04:03.360 He's like, oh, no, Mr. Raker, can you just stop sacrificing and shooting people and stuff? 63 00:04:03.419 --> 00:04:07.319 It's going in my report, but would you mind awfully not doing that? 64 00:04:07.379 --> 00:04:08.340 He's so... 65 00:04:08.340 --> 00:04:10.439 Yeah, it's the paperwork. 66 00:04:10.500 --> 00:04:11.639 He doesn't want the paperwork. 67 00:04:11.699 --> 00:04:12.539 That's the chilling thing. 68 00:04:12.599 --> 00:04:22.319 He doesn't, he does no moral, no morality, no moral objection to, to this, or the idea that if you work in this totalitarian regime, it will grind you down and you will lose any morality. 69 00:04:22.439 --> 00:04:25.680 Yeah, this is the Federation actually in action, isn't it? 70 00:04:25.740 --> 00:04:31.680 It's world-wary, bored people getting away with what they can because they can. 71 00:04:31.800 --> 00:04:40.379 I do think that the show wants to centre Leyland, though, as a kind of good man. 72 00:04:40.439 --> 00:04:45.660 And there is a way in which he and Blake have some kind of mutual respect. 73 00:04:45.720 --> 00:05:01.319 And like I wouldn't dismiss that line, which I think is a little bit of a triumph for him. where Raker actually says, you know, I'm going to make it clear that you told me to do whatever I thought was necessary. 74 00:05:01.379 --> 00:05:06.060 And so this is your fault and you're going down with me. 75 00:05:06.120 --> 00:05:12.180 And he says, everything that both of us said is going into our report. 76 00:05:12.240 --> 00:05:22.980 And so it does look like he's prepared to take responsibility for what Reka did, but that he is going to make sure that Reka is punished as well. 77 00:05:23.040 --> 00:05:26.279 And like all of that's on a subtextual level. 78 00:05:26.399 --> 00:05:31.319 But I do think that because you've got what's his face, whoever it is playing. 79 00:05:31.379 --> 00:05:32.759 Have we seen him before? 80 00:05:32.819 --> 00:05:34.319 Isn't Doctor Who? 81 00:05:34.379 --> 00:05:35.639 Oh, you mean the commander? 82 00:05:35.699 --> 00:05:36.540 Glen Owen, yeah. 83 00:05:37.379 --> 00:05:39.240 Oh, of course, he is. 84 00:05:39.300 --> 00:05:39.839 Yeah, yeah, yeah. 85 00:05:39.899 --> 00:05:42.240 Yeah, he's also, you know, Howard's Way, guys. 86 00:05:42.300 --> 00:05:44.519 Yeah, 78 episodes of Howard. 87 00:05:45.240 --> 00:05:52.019 But, you know, like he has a certain sort of gravitas and I do think that that lends him an air of moral authority. 88 00:05:52.079 --> 00:05:57.779 And I do think that the show does want us to see. 89 00:05:57.839 --> 00:06:03.480 The show isn't quite committed to what the Federation is like. and like last episode. 90 00:06:03.540 --> 00:06:07.740 Varron would have been surprised to learn what the Federation is like. 91 00:06:07.800 --> 00:06:08.759 He doesn't know. 92 00:06:08.819 --> 00:06:14.879 You know, he thinks that he's going to be able to to take it to the president to get Blake off. 93 00:06:14.939 --> 00:06:17.100 You know, he thinks he's discovered a conspiracy. 94 00:06:17.160 --> 00:06:21.120 Uh, he doesn't realise that this is what his world is like. 95 00:06:21.180 --> 00:06:28.139 And so he thinks that there's sort of legitimate authorities that he can appeal to for the sake of justice. 96 00:06:28.199 --> 00:06:42.540 And it's the same here, where Glen Owens character is sort of a good guy and rake is a bad guy, and we haven't yet settled on the idea that the federation is all just sort of universally evil. 97 00:06:42.600 --> 00:06:43.259 Yeah. 98 00:06:43.439 --> 00:06:46.319 No, it's not the empire from Star Wars yet. 99 00:06:46.379 --> 00:06:48.000 No, I mean, it will be. 100 00:06:48.000 --> 00:06:51.000 I mean, the signs is clearly there. signs are clearly there, but it's not. 101 00:06:51.000 --> 00:06:53.699 But yeah, we could just be experiencing a lot of bad apples. 102 00:06:53.759 --> 00:06:58.319 I know, I mean, Arctics, you know, like he's not a bad guy. 103 00:06:58.319 --> 00:07:03.540 And we, we, Yeah, we hear him speaking Norman Tipton from Underworld. 104 00:07:03.600 --> 00:07:06.720 We hear him wearing a smock in underworld. 105 00:07:06.779 --> 00:07:12.660 We, you know, we hear him talking about his plans for the future and things, and they all just sort of seem terribly normal. 106 00:07:12.720 --> 00:07:20.459 He's not going to the sort of evil academy to learn how to kind of stick, you know, slivers of bamboo under prisoner's fingernails. 107 00:07:20.519 --> 00:07:23.220 He's just a pilot who's doing his job. 108 00:07:24.420 --> 00:07:26.639 And that's where we are here. 109 00:07:26.699 --> 00:07:29.040 There's kind of shades of gray, aren't there? 110 00:07:29.100 --> 00:07:30.660 in the Federation at this point. 111 00:07:30.720 --> 00:07:34.079 And these are just people doing their jobs. 112 00:07:34.139 --> 00:07:40.199 They're on the awful run of transporting prisoners for months and months and months. 113 00:07:40.259 --> 00:07:42.300 They're being exiled a long way from Earth. 114 00:07:42.360 --> 00:07:44.399 It's not a great job. 115 00:07:44.519 --> 00:07:46.560 It's really dull. 116 00:07:46.620 --> 00:07:47.699 It's quite boring. 117 00:07:47.759 --> 00:07:54.600 They're on the greyest spaceship in the whole world. shades of gray all over, yeah. 118 00:07:54.720 --> 00:07:55.319 Yeah. 119 00:07:55.379 --> 00:07:59.579 And it's just the day-to-day grind. 120 00:07:59.639 --> 00:08:04.980 They aren't turning up as Nazis in Nazi uniforms and going with Nazis, we're going to shoot you and then being fought off. 121 00:08:05.040 --> 00:08:08.160 There's more, I mean, that wouldn't last just to be functional. 122 00:08:08.220 --> 00:08:10.319 That wouldn't last for 50 minutes of drama. 123 00:08:10.379 --> 00:08:17.399 They've got to be people who have got, yeah, elements of not being utterly, uh, evil to make it, to make it last. 124 00:08:17.459 --> 00:08:23.699 I think it's not quite clear directorially how much time has passed in in world. 125 00:08:23.759 --> 00:08:24.600 No. 126 00:08:24.600 --> 00:08:30.000 Like, it seems like everything happens within the space of a couple of days. 127 00:08:30.000 --> 00:08:46.860 There's an indeterminate amount of time between them getting to, like, you know, like escaping, getting recaptured, then being used to board the liberator and then leading into Sigmus Alpha. 128 00:08:46.919 --> 00:08:50.519 Like there's a whole, there's 3 months between the end of episode 2 and episode three. 129 00:08:50.879 --> 00:08:53.039 Yeah, it's very odd. 130 00:08:53.100 --> 00:09:05.820 It's not made at all clear, and you get the scene of Blake and Jenna and Avon all locked in their flight chairs after they've had the prison break and everything else. 131 00:09:05.879 --> 00:09:14.460 And I think you're supposed to think that months have passed at times, but have they just spent 3 months sat on those chairs? 132 00:09:15.779 --> 00:09:19.139 I hope they had box sets on the in-flight entertainment. 133 00:09:19.200 --> 00:09:35.399 In, in, you know, in modern television, in this sort of show, you would showtime passing, you would go, you'd have them in those chairs and then you'd, you'd have like a card saying 3 months later. 134 00:09:35.460 --> 00:09:40.500 It would be told in a much more overt way, I guess. 135 00:09:40.559 --> 00:09:44.759 Whereas here it's just kind of frustratingly wild. 136 00:09:44.820 --> 00:09:51.480 Yeah, I mean, I guess they're saying, I guess it doesn't, maybe it just doesn't occur to them that it's a particularly important thing to land with us with. 137 00:09:51.539 --> 00:09:51.960 I don't know. 138 00:09:52.019 --> 00:09:52.200 Yeah. 139 00:09:52.259 --> 00:10:03.120 But this, I love the way that the 2nd that you've got Villa, Jenna, Avon and Blake talk having their 1st conversation, they just immediately gel. 140 00:10:03.179 --> 00:10:07.679 The Villa's joking, but he's got the inside gossip, you know, they say that they chuck them all out the window. 141 00:10:07.740 --> 00:10:15.480 Jenna's got the pilot skills, uh, and Avon is sort of merciless, but has these aptitude and Blake's doing all the planning. 142 00:10:15.539 --> 00:10:20.700 And it's like immediately that the 4 of them are, are, have got that potential of being a unit. 143 00:10:20.700 --> 00:10:22.799 And Gan is also, Gan is also there. 144 00:10:22.860 --> 00:10:24.840 Yeah, there's... 145 00:10:24.840 --> 00:10:41.039 One of my favourite things in this episode is where Villa does the whole sort of, you know, magic trick slide of hand thing to distract the guard whilst everybody else is kind of plotting in the background, and then they just kind of take control of the room. 146 00:10:41.039 --> 00:10:45.419 And clearly he's had time to develop a relationship with that guard. 147 00:10:45.480 --> 00:10:47.700 You know, it's another one of your things, Villa. 148 00:10:47.759 --> 00:10:50.399 Like they clearly have known one another for a while. 149 00:10:50.519 --> 00:10:57.779 Yeah, and Blake's obviously found his way into the hatches and knows his way around and where he can get to. 150 00:10:57.840 --> 00:11:01.440 So they've been practising this for quite some time. 151 00:11:01.500 --> 00:11:04.379 It's just you don't see a gap. 152 00:11:04.440 --> 00:11:10.139 I think it's because they they kind of open on the same shot of Blake in the chair effectively. don't you? 153 00:11:10.259 --> 00:11:15.899 There's no there's no kind of the ship going by loads of planets or anything because there's no budget for that anymore. 154 00:11:15.960 --> 00:11:19.259 There's no budget for the space battle either. just a bunch of... 155 00:11:19.259 --> 00:11:23.279 You just hear it and shake the set a bit. shake the camera a bit. 156 00:11:23.340 --> 00:11:25.440 Shake the giant red thermos. 157 00:11:27.480 --> 00:11:31.200 They do have a nice range of Tupperware on this show. 158 00:11:31.259 --> 00:11:34.320 I coveted that Tupperware as a child. 159 00:11:34.559 --> 00:11:37.500 They do not need a red alert light bulb. 160 00:11:37.500 --> 00:11:39.779 Just having a Tupperware has gone flying. 161 00:11:39.840 --> 00:11:41.100 That's all they had to do. 162 00:11:41.159 --> 00:11:47.039 That's all they had to do to make this a bit more believable. 163 00:11:47.100 --> 00:11:49.200 And like, I love space fold, don't get me wrong. 164 00:11:49.259 --> 00:11:51.419 Like this, like I really enjoy this episode. 165 00:11:51.480 --> 00:11:54.299 The character moments are fantastic. 166 00:11:54.360 --> 00:11:58.500 The tension in some of those scenes is just really quite palpable. 167 00:11:58.559 --> 00:12:04.620 But there's this sort of feeling that it's just kind of a bit loose and it could have been tightened up. 168 00:12:04.679 --> 00:12:11.460 All they had to do was start with a kind of previously on kind of shot. 169 00:12:12.120 --> 00:12:15.240 And then just and then just go 3 months later. 170 00:12:15.299 --> 00:12:19.620 And that would explain away the fact... not very British TV though, is it? 171 00:12:19.679 --> 00:12:21.360 It's not really a thing, is it? 172 00:12:21.419 --> 00:12:22.080 Well, not then. 173 00:12:22.139 --> 00:12:23.399 Yeah, no, exactly. 174 00:12:23.460 --> 00:12:33.840 But they could have done what they do in Sickness Alpha and have Leyland do his ship log and say, we've got this prisoner on the ship. 175 00:12:33.899 --> 00:12:35.460 We're 2 months into the voyage. 176 00:12:35.580 --> 00:12:37.139 Off we go. 177 00:12:37.200 --> 00:12:38.100 Yeah. 178 00:12:38.159 --> 00:12:38.820 Yeah, yeah. 179 00:12:40.500 --> 00:12:45.659 This episode is our 1st glimpse of some of the seven. 180 00:12:46.019 --> 00:12:50.820 We meet 2 characters for the very 1st time this week. 181 00:12:51.240 --> 00:12:55.080 And um, do they make an impression straight away. 182 00:12:55.139 --> 00:12:57.720 What is the point of Gan? 183 00:12:57.779 --> 00:12:58.379 I'm sorry. 184 00:12:59.399 --> 00:13:02.039 It's like having bungle with you. 185 00:13:03.659 --> 00:13:07.620 It's like he calls it, he calls Villa Villa for a while. 186 00:13:08.039 --> 00:13:10.860 He's supposed to be this big sort of hard man. 187 00:13:10.980 --> 00:13:16.500 He's sort of like, you know, we only need the hand and it's like pointless character, I think. 188 00:13:16.559 --> 00:13:24.179 It's just, whereas there is another character who's better introduced, but let's, you guys go on about. 189 00:13:24.240 --> 00:13:27.600 So you're talking about Nova, obviously, who's one of the sevens? 190 00:13:27.659 --> 00:13:30.299 Avon's paladromic counterpart. 191 00:13:32.039 --> 00:13:34.019 I never noticed. 192 00:13:34.019 --> 00:13:36.059 I'm not good with the English. 193 00:13:36.059 --> 00:13:37.919 And he's terribly pretty. 194 00:13:38.039 --> 00:13:39.659 Is he an evil guard or something? 195 00:13:39.720 --> 00:13:41.639 No, he's a guard in a Doctor Who story. 196 00:13:41.700 --> 00:13:45.299 Yeah, he's a Ruton in the invasion of time. 197 00:13:45.299 --> 00:13:45.720 Sorry. 198 00:13:48.179 --> 00:13:49.200 Varden, thank you. 199 00:13:49.259 --> 00:13:57.240 Yeah, and he's, yeah, he's a guard in the sun makers, and he's one of the slipper team in Face of Evil. 200 00:13:57.299 --> 00:13:58.980 Oh, look, he got a lot of work. 201 00:13:59.039 --> 00:13:59.759 And he's beautiful. 202 00:13:59.820 --> 00:14:00.899 He's pretty. 203 00:14:01.860 --> 00:14:05.100 The way he gets this, he gets that fantastic line. 204 00:14:05.159 --> 00:14:07.559 It's like, I've not done that. haven't done anything yet. 205 00:14:07.620 --> 00:14:10.379 I'll go into the dangerous little crevice on the outside. 206 00:14:10.440 --> 00:14:12.899 That's the point where you think, yeah. 207 00:14:12.960 --> 00:14:24.600 So he's in this episode and then we get Arco next episode and they are clearly kind of vestiges of a show where they could afford to have 7 regulars. 208 00:14:24.899 --> 00:14:26.460 Is that? 209 00:14:26.519 --> 00:14:27.179 definitely. 210 00:14:27.240 --> 00:14:29.279 Yeah, it feels that way. 211 00:14:29.879 --> 00:14:35.759 Everything is setting up Nova as a practical, happy. 212 00:14:35.820 --> 00:14:39.840 He's gonna Yeah, he's the one who's going to get into trouble because he's so infusiastic. 213 00:14:39.899 --> 00:14:41.340 You can see where this is going. 214 00:14:41.340 --> 00:14:43.259 And then they kill him. 215 00:14:43.799 --> 00:14:47.279 Yeah, I, I, some are coming at it. 216 00:14:47.340 --> 00:14:57.360 I hadn't occurred to me that he might have, because I, because I, when you watch it and you know that he's not one of the 7, but he's being treated as if he is, you immediately think, oh, okay, I know what's in for you. 217 00:14:57.419 --> 00:15:04.019 It's like in the 1st episode, um, the 15, by the 15 minute point, every single person that Blake's spoken to so far is dead. 218 00:15:04.080 --> 00:15:08.820 And like, in a way, it's surprising that in this episode, as many of them survivors do. 219 00:15:08.879 --> 00:15:10.740 Are they the only, I'm jumping ahead. 220 00:15:10.799 --> 00:15:13.440 Are they the only survivors at the end of the episode, the central cast? 221 00:15:13.500 --> 00:15:16.500 Um, they don't take any of the other prisoners with them, do they? 222 00:15:16.559 --> 00:15:17.519 Well, Arco. 223 00:15:17.580 --> 00:15:18.539 Our code is still there. 224 00:15:18.600 --> 00:15:21.059 No, but Arco's not in this episode. 225 00:15:21.120 --> 00:15:22.500 He only turns up next week. 226 00:15:22.620 --> 00:15:24.299 Oh, it feels like he's there. 227 00:15:24.360 --> 00:15:26.820 You know, because that's because I watched the beginning. 228 00:15:26.879 --> 00:15:28.080 Am I wrong? 229 00:15:28.139 --> 00:15:28.919 I could be wrong. 230 00:15:28.980 --> 00:15:30.000 I don't think he's in the same. 231 00:15:30.120 --> 00:15:30.960 No, he's definitely wrong. 232 00:15:31.200 --> 00:15:34.320 He's introduced next episode as someone who was actually there. 233 00:15:34.379 --> 00:15:36.240 I kind of love that. 234 00:15:36.299 --> 00:15:52.139 I kind of love that about this show because it does take such a long time to set up the regular cars, that you have characters like Nova at Arco, who you think could be part of that seven. 235 00:15:52.259 --> 00:15:55.080 And then... contrast with the Golden Girls. 236 00:15:56.580 --> 00:15:58.559 That 1st episode. 237 00:16:00.480 --> 00:16:07.440 In the 1st episode of The Golden Girls, there's the 4 of them, and they're all just already lived together, and there's also this 5th one who is, who's not near the golden Nora girl. 238 00:16:07.440 --> 00:16:16.019 They've got a gay Mexican, sassy chef, who's just got, who's just got pilot character only written. 239 00:16:16.080 --> 00:16:22.980 Does he goes and repairs the inside of a wall when it's sort of breached and... 240 00:16:23.039 --> 00:16:23.519 Yeah. 241 00:16:23.580 --> 00:16:26.100 And it's just, yeah, Sophia was having none of it. 242 00:16:26.159 --> 00:16:29.759 But they ditched him because they decided Sofia could have all the sassy lines. 243 00:16:29.820 --> 00:16:31.139 Sorry, I'm diverting. 244 00:16:31.200 --> 00:16:36.419 In terms of launching a series, you either hit the ground running and then do flashbacks and that's what the Golden Girls did. 245 00:16:36.480 --> 00:16:45.899 I was going to actually say the reason for me waffling about this is they do flashbacks of how they all met further down the line. which could you could have started Blake 7 that way. 246 00:16:45.960 --> 00:16:47.220 But we don't. 247 00:16:47.279 --> 00:16:49.440 It's like, no, it's really going to build it up as we go along. 248 00:16:49.440 --> 00:16:52.139 And that is part of it is unique. 249 00:16:52.200 --> 00:16:58.080 It's, well, I don't know, it's unique, but part of its unusual charm that, yeah, it takes so long till you find out who the 7 are. 250 00:16:58.139 --> 00:17:00.600 Really, spoilers, it's the end of the series, isn't it? 251 00:17:00.659 --> 00:17:02.039 End of series 8. 252 00:17:02.100 --> 00:17:04.619 Yeah, I wasn't going to use the Golden Girls. 253 00:17:04.680 --> 00:17:15.599 I was going to use a science fiction program called The Expanse, which does something very similar with one of the characters as well, that, you know, they're there for quite a while. you think it's part of the crew. 254 00:17:15.660 --> 00:17:30.059 There's no, there's no, it's not like the expanse 7 or anything like that, but suddenly, when I was watching it, I just thought, I never really thought, well, they're going to set him up as, um, someone's going to be on, on the crew or how many is 7 or anything like that. 255 00:17:30.119 --> 00:17:32.460 I never sort of analyse it that way. 256 00:17:32.640 --> 00:17:37.259 But there's someone else we should really probably spend a bit of time on. 257 00:17:37.319 --> 00:17:41.880 And it's the, um, uh, the guy, what's his name again? 258 00:17:41.940 --> 00:17:43.200 Avon. 259 00:17:43.259 --> 00:17:44.579 What do people think of Avon? 260 00:17:44.640 --> 00:17:47.400 He hits the ground absolutely running. 261 00:17:47.519 --> 00:17:49.200 He's perfect from the get go. 262 00:17:49.259 --> 00:17:50.400 He is so good. 263 00:17:50.460 --> 00:18:05.099 And like, when people talk about this show, they, you know, like I even's character changes because, you know, Paul Darrow just gets sort of camper and sort of more... performative and stuff, but he is here fully formed. 264 00:18:05.160 --> 00:18:09.900 And there is one speech, when the whole sort of highest fails. 265 00:18:09.960 --> 00:18:19.500 And we're, you know, they're seated in the chairs and and they're sort of strapped together and he gives a speech summing up how shit the heist was. 266 00:18:19.559 --> 00:18:25.440 And, you know, and then your men, you know, blunder around fighting someone to surrender to. 267 00:18:25.559 --> 00:18:31.559 And it's so beautifully delivered in a absolutely fully formed, even way. 268 00:18:31.680 --> 00:18:34.200 I reckon it's the best moment of the episode. 269 00:18:34.259 --> 00:18:40.680 It's, it's properly hilariously funny maybe for the 1st time in Blake 7. 270 00:18:40.740 --> 00:18:45.960 Like it's just a very, very funny speech delivered by someone who delivers funny speech as well. 271 00:18:46.019 --> 00:18:49.799 And, you know, it makes fun of what's been going on. 272 00:18:49.859 --> 00:18:54.900 It's it's even making fun of Blake and his sort of plans and aspirations. 273 00:18:54.960 --> 00:18:55.799 It's brilliant. 274 00:18:55.859 --> 00:19:00.539 I think that's the point at which he cements himself as the lead character of this show. 275 00:19:00.599 --> 00:19:01.500 Yeah, yeah. 276 00:19:01.500 --> 00:19:03.180 With one line. 277 00:19:03.240 --> 00:19:09.299 Like, Blake Blake is a peripheral character for a lot of the 1st 2 seasons, he's there. 278 00:19:09.359 --> 00:19:10.680 He's an idealist. 279 00:19:10.799 --> 00:19:17.400 He doesn't, he doesn't really have a driving sort of idea apart from, oh, I want to fight against the Federation. 280 00:19:17.460 --> 00:19:18.720 Like, he doesn't really have a character. 281 00:19:18.779 --> 00:19:20.940 He's just, he's just this thing. 282 00:19:21.779 --> 00:19:33.480 Yeah, I think because I think we get a pretty good indication of how their relationship is going to go towards the end of the episode where I think Avon says wealth is the only reality. 283 00:19:33.539 --> 00:19:41.519 Um, and Avon, uh, Blake is like, obviously sort of now gearing up for more justice. 284 00:19:41.579 --> 00:19:55.019 But there's a brilliant line from Avon where he just sums it all up, again, similar to the one that we've learned, where he says, an Army of 5, Blake, 5 plus him. wants be a thinner. 285 00:19:55.079 --> 00:19:58.380 And the whole series then is just set up completely, isn't it? 286 00:19:58.440 --> 00:19:59.160 Yeah, yeah. 287 00:19:59.220 --> 00:20:05.579 And, um, in fact, and going back to the moment where, um, where Lovely Nova, um, pluckily volunteers. 288 00:20:05.579 --> 00:20:14.339 And, and, uh, Villa is like, is, is, you know, clowning a bit about having a terrible condition and Jenna says, yes, cowardice or words for that effect. 289 00:20:14.400 --> 00:20:21.299 But then you get to see, and Villa sort of slinks away from it. edges away from having been the one put in peril. 290 00:20:21.359 --> 00:20:25.740 And it is actually saying, you know, that's actually how to stay alive in this series. 291 00:20:25.799 --> 00:20:27.660 It's like, Yeah. 292 00:20:27.720 --> 00:20:28.259 Yeah. 293 00:20:29.940 --> 00:20:39.000 And the one other person who joins, character, facet, aspect, 35 minutes in, we finally meet this big old ship that ends up being called the liberator. 294 00:20:39.059 --> 00:20:40.980 And what an entrance. 295 00:20:41.039 --> 00:20:55.980 Oh, and that 1st shot is just gorgeous with the great big Dudley Simpson title music fanfare, and you know this is something special and this ship just looks beautiful glowing there in space. 296 00:20:56.039 --> 00:20:57.000 I love that bit. 297 00:20:57.240 --> 00:21:00.240 And how much bigger it is than the London. 298 00:21:00.299 --> 00:21:01.680 It completely dwarfs it. 299 00:21:01.740 --> 00:21:05.039 And they've used the good model for that shot. 300 00:21:05.099 --> 00:21:07.680 Like later on, they'll decide to use the shit model. 301 00:21:07.740 --> 00:21:10.200 Well, because there are 3 there are 3 models. 302 00:21:10.259 --> 00:21:22.619 There's the hero model, the big fuck off, like, we've spent half the season's budget, um, and got Roger Murray Leach to do this, um, to this amazing model. 303 00:21:22.680 --> 00:21:27.720 And then there are the 2 ton of tiny ones that they kind of use. 304 00:21:27.720 --> 00:21:32.039 Because the other one is too, because the other one's too fucking heavy. that what it is? 305 00:21:32.099 --> 00:21:35.279 No one was such sharp on manoeuvring it. 306 00:21:35.279 --> 00:21:37.799 I have to hire an extra scene shifter to lift it up. 307 00:21:37.859 --> 00:21:41.519 Well, they haven't worked out that you could just move the camera. 308 00:21:42.539 --> 00:21:46.019 It's an emotionally controlled camera. 309 00:21:46.079 --> 00:21:48.420 I read somewhere that at the start of the series. 310 00:21:48.480 --> 00:22:03.299 They spent lots of money on really high spec, high, um, quality, model shots of the really good liberator, but then the subsequently other directors working on their own episodes didn't want to use model shots that someone else had done because they wanted to stamp their own. 311 00:22:03.359 --> 00:22:06.480 No, I wanted it going right to left, not left to right or whatever. 312 00:22:06.539 --> 00:22:09.000 And so they would end up using filming. 313 00:22:09.059 --> 00:22:10.619 I might want to use these good camera shots. 314 00:22:10.740 --> 00:22:12.539 I'll use my shit ones. 315 00:22:12.599 --> 00:22:13.200 Yeah, exactly. 316 00:22:13.259 --> 00:22:18.119 They wanted to they didn't want to reuse other people's work. when it's like, but it's better. 317 00:22:18.180 --> 00:22:18.779 That's the point. 318 00:22:20.940 --> 00:22:27.900 We do get a lot of the shots used time and again because they are so fabulous. 319 00:22:27.960 --> 00:22:29.819 But we'll come to that as we go on, really. 320 00:22:29.880 --> 00:22:37.200 So what do people think about the, the way the liberator is kind of discovered, the way they board the ship? 321 00:22:37.259 --> 00:22:42.720 Because I was kind of like, I really like the way it's mostly audio for the 1st couple of times. 322 00:22:42.779 --> 00:22:48.839 It's a little bit kind of, um, you know, alien, uh, where aliens type where it's all sort of done on the radio. 323 00:22:48.900 --> 00:23:00.480 But then when they get inside this year, it's like there's a big kind of gray floaty egg type thing that's confusing their minds and it doesn't kind of work for me. 324 00:23:00.599 --> 00:23:03.599 And it's like, oh, okay, you can have the ship. 325 00:23:03.660 --> 00:23:10.619 The people with guns, you know, who went in twice before you, um, obviously couldn't handle it, but you know, Blake could. 326 00:23:10.680 --> 00:23:29.160 I kind of love that because it's kind of, the ship is judging them and then looks at them and goes, actually, you know, you have some sort of purpose, that purpose might be overthrowing the evil, like the evil, the evil empire, like, that's a really nice way of putting it. 327 00:23:29.220 --> 00:23:39.839 I like, I don't know whether they explore that enough in the show, especially when they actually bring in, you know, the stuff in series 2 around where the ship came from. 328 00:23:39.900 --> 00:23:41.940 But I kind of love that. 329 00:23:42.059 --> 00:23:51.180 So it does explicitly come up next in next week's episode where the ship itself seems to suggest the name Liberator to Jenner. 330 00:23:52.079 --> 00:24:10.140 But in this episode, it seems to be that Blake knows that his family is dead because both like Blake and Jenner we see and even like all seem to have relatives appear to them. 331 00:24:10.200 --> 00:24:17.160 I think Ivan says it's his brother, it's Jenna's mother, it's Blake's, I don't know, what does Blake say? 332 00:24:17.220 --> 00:24:20.700 I can't even remember, but he knows that they're dead. 333 00:24:20.759 --> 00:24:28.920 And so in a way, what the Federation has done to him. you know, is the reason that he ends up with this shit. 334 00:24:28.980 --> 00:24:49.680 I mean, there's, there's something sort of charming and a little bit kind of adolescent about a setup where, you know, our heroes stumble across a ship which is faster than any other ship and can teleport, which no other ship can do and has better guns than anyone else and like a big wardrobe. 335 00:24:49.740 --> 00:24:53.400 Yeah, we could call it a DXS mashing up, which I always pronounce badly. 336 00:24:53.460 --> 00:24:56.039 But ultimately, that is what this show is about. 337 00:24:56.099 --> 00:24:59.880 It's like, yeah, it's like the Golden Girls can't actually have afforded a house that big. 338 00:24:59.940 --> 00:25:01.140 Sorry to keep that. 339 00:25:01.500 --> 00:25:05.700 Sorry, these parallels are really sending out to me this time, right? 340 00:25:07.440 --> 00:25:09.660 That's the episode. 341 00:25:09.779 --> 00:25:14.279 But I just think it looks so the ship just looks so beautiful. 342 00:25:14.339 --> 00:25:17.039 That flight deck is just wow. 343 00:25:17.099 --> 00:25:20.759 And it's so shiny and new and not broken. 344 00:25:20.819 --> 00:25:24.059 It doesn't have a lot of sort of muddy footprints up the walls. 345 00:25:24.180 --> 00:25:26.579 I think, which becomes a sort of feature of it later. 346 00:25:26.759 --> 00:25:29.640 And I haven't blown it up yet later. 347 00:25:29.700 --> 00:25:33.240 Yeah, it's either, so it's all hanging together beautifully. 348 00:25:33.299 --> 00:25:37.859 I'm just with Jenna where she just comes in and gasps and just says, it's beautiful. 349 00:25:37.920 --> 00:25:42.240 Yeah, and she's been established, you know, as a as a hard, hard-edged person. 350 00:25:42.299 --> 00:25:44.759 Obviously, the writers may not persevere with that. 351 00:25:44.819 --> 00:26:05.579 But for, but seeing how, you know, that she's a pilot and she loves all this stuff and for her to, her to react so emotionally to it is, is just really, and in the way, and it takes you with her as the audience, because they've come from this ultra dram ultra gray world of 1978, England, and, and, and it's saying we are going to take you somewhere better than this. 352 00:26:05.640 --> 00:26:11.519 There's quite a lot set up earlier in the episode where Jenna knows about different kinds of spaceships. 353 00:26:11.579 --> 00:26:13.319 She knows what spaceship they're on. 354 00:26:13.380 --> 00:26:14.940 She knows how to pilot it. 355 00:26:15.000 --> 00:26:21.660 So you get her judgement on this new ship that's unlike anything else and you're with her. 356 00:26:21.720 --> 00:26:22.380 She knows her stuff. 357 00:26:22.440 --> 00:26:34.740 I just wish they kept the, um, the shaving foam on her hand because in that scene earlier on where she's like, oh, this is all the, the self-sealing stuff, um, and it, and it hardens, it hardens in seconds. 358 00:26:34.799 --> 00:26:37.799 So let me just hold it up for another sort of 20 seconds. 359 00:26:37.859 --> 00:26:39.660 Oh no, I can't have my hand. 360 00:26:40.500 --> 00:26:47.160 So she's immediately gone to the, the, the liberated Lou to uh, to wash it off. 361 00:26:47.220 --> 00:26:51.720 She's clearly somehow managed to negotiate despite her prisoner status. 362 00:26:51.779 --> 00:26:54.599 She's been given a full, full personal grooming kit. 363 00:26:54.660 --> 00:26:55.500 I mean, she looks meticulous. 364 00:26:55.559 --> 00:26:58.319 However many, over many months they were on the London four. 365 00:26:58.380 --> 00:27:00.960 She has not let her standards slip at all. 366 00:27:01.019 --> 00:27:03.359 Yeah, her hair always looks magnificent. 367 00:27:06.420 --> 00:27:11.400 Well, one thing we haven't covered yet is, um, what do we think she said to Raker? 368 00:27:11.460 --> 00:27:14.400 Yes, this was my very next question. 369 00:27:14.519 --> 00:27:17.819 And it's something about getting hard, isn't it? 370 00:27:17.880 --> 00:27:23.880 Like there was some, like, this is this is for the ladies and gentlemen who don't know quite where we're at in the episode. 371 00:27:23.940 --> 00:27:26.700 This is where he has again, he's doing his thing. 372 00:27:26.759 --> 00:27:31.859 I mean, obviously it's coached in, it's dressed as it's a drama series. 373 00:27:31.920 --> 00:27:32.880 He's going to get her. 374 00:27:32.940 --> 00:27:41.400 It's not more explicit than that, but we know what it means, but and she goes and whispers something in his ear that he's horrified by. 375 00:27:41.460 --> 00:27:43.019 But we can't read her lips, can we? 376 00:27:43.079 --> 00:27:46.019 We can't, it's, uh, no. 377 00:27:46.079 --> 00:27:50.039 I think she found out he's a Doctor Who fan and she whispered, looms are cannon. 378 00:27:50.099 --> 00:27:53.640 And he just couldn't, he couldn't stick it. a new series fan. 379 00:27:53.700 --> 00:27:54.960 He looks the type. 380 00:27:55.019 --> 00:28:08.579 So you think I was being kind of, you know, prurient when I said something about getting hard, but the dialogue is, you know, Raker says, you know, I'll make you very comfortable or, you know, something like that. 381 00:28:08.640 --> 00:28:16.859 And, uh, Jenna, Jenna has this thing where she's amused by people who threaten her and it's wonderful. 382 00:28:16.920 --> 00:28:21.180 She has this sort of little way her mouth sort of curls and stuff. 383 00:28:21.240 --> 00:28:24.539 And Raker says, why make it hard on yourself? 384 00:28:24.599 --> 00:28:28.380 And then she hilariously says, why indeed? 385 00:28:29.880 --> 00:28:32.940 And then she goes in for the whisper. 386 00:28:33.000 --> 00:28:33.839 Do you know what I mean? 387 00:28:33.900 --> 00:28:40.619 And so she's clearly meant to be kind of impugning his manhood, which is why he slaps her. 388 00:28:40.680 --> 00:28:44.759 But yeah, we aren't ever going to sort of have her properly whispering that. 389 00:28:44.819 --> 00:28:46.259 Oh, no, no. 390 00:28:46.319 --> 00:28:47.819 There's a whole big finish audio. 391 00:28:47.880 --> 00:28:49.380 On that line. 392 00:28:49.440 --> 00:28:50.640 A box set. 393 00:28:51.000 --> 00:29:05.339 Actual Jenna, at least at this point, is a lot more glam than Jenna in my recollections, where I do, I do, I remember her being having more of a sort of rocky Susie Quattro look, but she's much more glam here, at least, than that. 394 00:29:05.400 --> 00:29:09.359 There is something incredible about her, I think. 395 00:29:09.420 --> 00:29:11.279 I think she's really, really great. 396 00:29:11.339 --> 00:29:15.900 And she does it without kind of showboating and stuff the way some of the others do. 397 00:29:15.960 --> 00:29:21.539 And it is, I think, just her sort of general amusement at anyone who's mean to her. 398 00:29:21.599 --> 00:29:23.759 And she keeps it going right to the end. 399 00:29:23.880 --> 00:29:28.859 I mean, think about her with Bruce Purchasing in, um, the keeper. 400 00:29:28.920 --> 00:29:31.619 Yes, I was going to call it the Tents of Goth or something. 401 00:29:31.680 --> 00:29:32.940 Yeah, the keeper. 402 00:29:33.000 --> 00:29:41.400 And, you know, again, she spends the entire episode just low-level amused and all of this sort of shouty nonsense that's going on. 403 00:29:41.400 --> 00:29:45.720 Yeah, and she gets to be, It's like Blake's the idealist. 404 00:29:45.779 --> 00:29:58.680 Avon's the cynic, and Jenna is the reason, like when the 2 of them are having a stubborn, narrow-minded declarations of what should or should not be done, she then comes along and says, well, I think maybe, and sort of weighs up the 2 of them. 405 00:29:58.740 --> 00:30:03.900 Which at this point is a really useful role for her to have in the dynamic. 406 00:30:03.960 --> 00:30:21.839 I think it works very well that it's the 3 of them are getting sent over, like we don't get villa, we don't get Gan, and we get the kind of grown-ups in a way, and the sort of central cast, all of whom have sort of quite different outlooks on things, all of whom appreciate different things about the ship. 407 00:30:21.960 --> 00:30:25.559 Yeah, and there definitely are. of them has their own type of line. 408 00:30:25.619 --> 00:30:37.619 You know, you could, there's not many lines that you could just give to a different member of the crew because they're, they do all come from their own point of view. uh full respect to uh Terry Nation and uh Chris Boucher for that. 409 00:30:37.680 --> 00:30:44.460 See, I'm just, I'm just here for a, the way that Paul Darrow handles a car aerial. 410 00:30:44.519 --> 00:30:46.259 Yes, he's very determined. 411 00:30:46.319 --> 00:30:48.480 Thrusting it into a computer. 412 00:30:48.539 --> 00:30:49.920 Does that work? 413 00:30:49.980 --> 00:30:51.359 Should I be doing that, Colin? 414 00:30:51.480 --> 00:30:53.460 Slotting it into that hole? 415 00:30:53.640 --> 00:30:58.559 Avon does give the guy he's assaulting a most amazing bitch slap at one point. 416 00:30:58.619 --> 00:31:01.200 I'll try and make a gif out of that because I think it will come in very handy. 417 00:31:01.259 --> 00:31:13.619 The way he sort of flies out of that sort of like this service hatch thing, it just kind of jumps out and just beats the living shit out of this guy. 418 00:31:13.619 --> 00:31:14.940 It's fantastic. 419 00:31:15.059 --> 00:31:21.900 I think too, because he is set up as their kind of, he's the nerdy guy who does the computer things in the heist. 420 00:31:21.960 --> 00:31:29.640 Like you can see, you know, perhaps we imagined that they're going to be heisting as sort of fair amounts in the future. 421 00:31:29.700 --> 00:31:32.519 And so he's clearly set up and given a role. 422 00:31:32.640 --> 00:31:38.579 And so I think in context, it is actually surprising that he does sort of get up and start smacking that guy around. 423 00:31:38.759 --> 00:31:43.500 Yeah, it's really scrappy and vicious as fights go. 424 00:31:43.559 --> 00:31:47.519 I mean, he claps over his ears and all sorts is quite nasty. 425 00:31:47.579 --> 00:31:49.319 It's quite visceral, isn't it? 426 00:31:49.380 --> 00:31:50.220 Yeah. 427 00:31:53.279 --> 00:31:56.880 There's another, there's a good sort of death scene at the end. 428 00:31:56.940 --> 00:32:04.140 I think, I don't want to, what you guys think of the special effects on this, where Raker is ejected from the ship. 429 00:32:04.200 --> 00:32:06.000 It feels like quite a complex shot. 430 00:32:06.119 --> 00:32:09.599 He's on wires and you've got, he's very obviously on wires. 431 00:32:10.380 --> 00:32:12.299 Because you can see them. 432 00:32:12.299 --> 00:32:13.920 And you've got the model shop. 433 00:32:14.039 --> 00:32:18.240 And then Dudley Simpson does like a sad trombone. 434 00:32:18.900 --> 00:32:20.940 I mean, I was cheering. 435 00:32:21.000 --> 00:32:22.799 I think everyone watching it would be cheering. 436 00:32:22.859 --> 00:32:35.519 He falls out the greatest show in the galaxy, car park tent, which looks like the, you know, not a very, um, not a very secure, uh, nice corridor. 437 00:32:35.579 --> 00:32:37.680 But I really like those scenes. 438 00:32:37.740 --> 00:32:50.220 I like that that set and it feels like it's really flimsy and you're walking through space and you could fall out of this at any time because it's cheap and nasty because it's an old ship. 439 00:32:50.279 --> 00:32:51.059 Prison ship yeah. 440 00:32:51.119 --> 00:33:01.500 The way the ships are separating, like he's kind of being pulled out and his fingernails are dragging along the top of the tube. 441 00:33:01.619 --> 00:33:05.519 No, no, like it's a great way for that character to die. 442 00:33:06.119 --> 00:33:10.140 He deserves to be sucked off into space. 443 00:33:11.460 --> 00:33:13.680 I think Shriek of the Week. 444 00:33:13.799 --> 00:33:15.480 Shriek of the Week is going to be a thing now. 445 00:33:15.539 --> 00:33:20.940 My nomination is definitely Nova for his horrible, terrifying little gasp as you realise it. 446 00:33:21.000 --> 00:33:26.339 As he realises the squirky foam grouting incident is not going to lead to his contract being renewed. 447 00:33:26.460 --> 00:33:27.539 I don't know. 448 00:33:27.599 --> 00:33:33.660 I think I'm the guard Krell gives a really good death scream as well when he's on the liberated flight. 449 00:33:33.660 --> 00:33:34.799 You can hear it. 450 00:33:34.859 --> 00:33:36.720 There's a really good one there. 451 00:33:36.779 --> 00:33:37.980 This could be a Twitter poll. 452 00:33:37.980 --> 00:33:40.140 Over to you, our listeners. 453 00:33:43.200 --> 00:33:46.619 So yeah, I think it's a terrific episode. 454 00:33:46.680 --> 00:33:54.420 I think, as we were saying before, part part 2 of four, perhaps, you know, and then there's a few more, and then we get our little reboot. 455 00:33:54.480 --> 00:34:02.700 But I think it's it's probably most successful in introducing Avon with some really sort of sharp dialogue. 456 00:34:02.700 --> 00:34:05.400 Like, oh, I relied on other people. 457 00:34:05.400 --> 00:34:10.019 And, you know, you know, um, wealth is the is the only reality. 458 00:34:10.079 --> 00:34:12.059 And you're not quite sure. 459 00:34:12.119 --> 00:34:17.519 And he's more, he's not just the sort of shy villa kind of thief guy. 460 00:34:17.579 --> 00:34:18.539 He is not going to do very much. 461 00:34:18.599 --> 00:34:22.199 He also going to kick the shit out of someone and then hack a computer. 462 00:34:22.260 --> 00:34:33.360 And we also start to see these little bits of, you know, how him and Blake are gonna get along or not. in terms of pragmatists versus realist and Jenna sort of going, oh, for fuck's sake. 463 00:34:33.480 --> 00:34:36.360 Men, put your dicks away. 464 00:34:36.420 --> 00:34:42.840 I think what's really interesting about it is that it's kind of too failures in a row. 465 00:34:42.900 --> 00:34:54.900 And normally in a sort of procedural show, you have the regulars presented with a problem and then they use their sort of ingenuity or talents or whatever to solve it. 466 00:34:54.960 --> 00:35:05.519 And here, you know, we've had that fake out last week, we had no way of knowing that that Varron was going to be killed. 467 00:35:05.579 --> 00:35:10.800 You know, it looked like it was going to be a race against time and maybe Blake gets saved. 468 00:35:10.860 --> 00:35:25.739 Here, I think we've got good reason to believe that the heist is going to work, that this is going to be a show about some prisoners who take over a prison ship and then, you know, get their revenge on the evil federation and that doesn't happen. 469 00:35:25.800 --> 00:35:31.019 And so it ends in failure with them kind of leaving with their tail between their legs. 470 00:35:31.139 --> 00:35:40.320 And in a way, like maybe the bravest and most interesting thing about Blake 7 is that it doesn't do that. 471 00:35:40.380 --> 00:35:44.039 It rarely, it rarely has them solve a problem. 472 00:35:44.099 --> 00:35:46.679 Sometimes they arrive and cause a problem. 473 00:35:46.739 --> 00:35:50.460 Sometimes they arrive and, and you know, they get what they want. 474 00:35:50.519 --> 00:35:54.360 But the show absolutely lets them fail at what they're trying to do. 475 00:35:54.360 --> 00:35:56.340 And here we're 2 in a row, I think. 476 00:35:56.400 --> 00:36:00.900 I mean, they are exceptionally good at visiting quarries. 477 00:36:00.960 --> 00:36:03.840 I mean, that's the one we know every time. 478 00:36:03.900 --> 00:36:04.739 Not yet. 479 00:36:05.400 --> 00:36:08.760 Could you say that they're actually failing upwards? 480 00:36:08.820 --> 00:36:11.039 Well, I mean, they fail into the ship. 481 00:36:11.099 --> 00:36:11.820 Do you know what I mean? 482 00:36:11.880 --> 00:36:16.679 And that's the show, the premise of the show, but that's, we don't know that it's going to do that. 483 00:36:16.739 --> 00:36:21.599 And I think as viewers, we're waiting for the thing to succeed. 484 00:36:22.019 --> 00:36:25.800 Yeah, and their heist really doesn't come off. 485 00:36:25.860 --> 00:36:31.739 It ends up in a lot of deaths that are almost needless and because Blake is a good guy. 486 00:36:31.800 --> 00:36:36.659 He stops people being killed, where Avon is just there saying, no, just wait. 487 00:36:36.719 --> 00:36:38.760 They're expendable, but we can live. 488 00:36:38.820 --> 00:36:42.719 It's really actually properly good, isn't it? 489 00:36:42.780 --> 00:36:49.500 Like it's cheesy and sort of super cliched in a way, but goodness me, they sell it. 490 00:36:49.559 --> 00:37:09.599 And, you know, the idea that because we're only just learning about Blake and what he's going to do, and so having him just say, yep, I'm throwing this away because they're killing the prisoners, and then having Raker be told that Blake has surrendered, and then he kills one last prisoner to just, as a kind of fuck you. 491 00:37:09.659 --> 00:37:11.159 Like, I can do what I want. 492 00:37:11.219 --> 00:37:13.559 Like, he's doing it not in order. 493 00:37:13.619 --> 00:37:14.159 Do you know what I mean? 494 00:37:14.219 --> 00:37:15.659 It's not to quell a riot. 495 00:37:15.719 --> 00:37:17.159 It's just that he can do this. 496 00:37:17.159 --> 00:37:18.179 It feels like it. 497 00:37:18.239 --> 00:37:23.760 But I, I, I kind of like to think that that is how Blake was captured. 498 00:37:23.880 --> 00:37:26.880 You know, he was cornered, he could have escaped. 499 00:37:26.940 --> 00:37:32.519 He could have continued his rebellion, but he had to stop and save a puppy. 500 00:37:32.579 --> 00:37:36.300 No, but Travis threatened Travis threatened his people. 501 00:37:36.360 --> 00:37:40.619 He went, no, I'm not going to let my people die. 502 00:37:40.679 --> 00:37:44.519 I'm going to, like, I'm going to do the right thing and save some people. 503 00:37:44.579 --> 00:37:46.019 And then Travis killed them all anyway. 504 00:37:46.079 --> 00:37:46.500 Yeah. 505 00:37:46.500 --> 00:37:56.340 I mean, if Avon had been, if it was called Avon 7 and the leader was more of a bastard, they would actually have had a stronger chance of bringing the Federation down probably, but it would have been a less interesting series. 506 00:37:56.400 --> 00:38:02.639 But this is something that we come back to again with Blake, just in a bit of foreshadowing, in the web. 507 00:38:02.699 --> 00:38:38.940 Very, very obviously, we have the same argument between Avon and and Blake, again, restating that Blake is on the side of life and what he thinks is right, and Avon's cynical and is not and is out for himself and saying, we need to get this and get out, and this is the way to do it as quickly, and as unmessly as... looking forward to seeing whether we notice a point when it becomes clear that Terry Nation is now writing for Paul Darrow, uh, and the, et cetera, and the cast as opposed to these fictional creatures that he's just got only existing his head up to this point. 508 00:38:38.940 --> 00:38:41.760 Do fans agree on a, on a point where that happens? 509 00:38:41.820 --> 00:39:06.539 Well, I mean, the point that I was making earlier is that I think that here arrives in this episode in that Boucher speech, and it's clearly by Boucher, and so much of Avon's character, that central moral thing is a little bit empty, you know, do we let people die or do we, I mean, because I even just wants to go and get rich? 510 00:39:06.659 --> 00:39:11.400 Like, it's not clear that there's a, a robust moral dilemma here. 511 00:39:11.460 --> 00:39:12.719 Like Avon's a bad guy. 512 00:39:12.780 --> 00:39:22.380 He just wants to get rich and and Blake wants in some way to do good. you know, and to make people's lives better to liberate them, I guess. 513 00:39:22.500 --> 00:39:26.340 So what I even, I think, is, is that attitude? 514 00:39:26.400 --> 00:39:33.900 You know, there's just this sort of perfect marriage between Boucher's dialogue and Darrow's delivery, that creates Avon. 515 00:39:33.960 --> 00:39:45.179 So I, you know, like I was super surprised because I'd always believed the kind of fan wisdom that even does take a while to cook, that that what we get here isn't what we end up with. 516 00:39:45.239 --> 00:39:47.159 But I think it absolutely is. 517 00:39:47.219 --> 00:40:02.940 So, you know, like Terry's written these episodes of series A, you know, like on a series of foolscap pages and then sort of eventually menus and napkins and bus tickets, you know, by the end of the season. 518 00:40:03.239 --> 00:40:07.079 Does it just say Avon says something witty and cynical? 519 00:40:08.219 --> 00:40:10.920 You can do that, Chris. can't you? 520 00:40:10.980 --> 00:40:11.340 Come on. 521 00:40:11.460 --> 00:40:15.480 So I don't think it's ever really that planned. 522 00:40:15.539 --> 00:40:17.820 And I think that TV in this era too. 523 00:40:17.880 --> 00:40:31.500 And Doctor Who's the same, where the regular characters are super peremptorily sketched, but what we get instead is just sort of incredible performances where the actors inhabited and kind of create those characters themselves. 524 00:40:31.920 --> 00:40:33.480 Definitely. 525 00:40:33.539 --> 00:40:48.780 I mean, Chris Bouncher has sort of been on the record to say there's not a single line of Avons that I didn't have a Passover and tighten up or throw in a film quote for Paul Darrow to to latch onto. 526 00:40:48.840 --> 00:40:54.300 And I think he's, Chris Boucher is actually paying attention to the characters all the way through. 527 00:40:54.840 --> 00:40:59.760 That line that line of someone to surrender to has a ring of being a quote from a film. 528 00:41:00.239 --> 00:41:03.719 It's just so... 529 00:41:04.619 --> 00:41:07.440 Along with Villas, I got confused. 530 00:41:07.500 --> 00:41:15.960 Although the only thing that did just stand out to be at the start when he got taken down while playing the ultimate heist for 5000000 credits, there's like 5 million. 531 00:41:16.019 --> 00:41:22.440 I mean, I don't know what inflation is, and credits aren't real anyway, but 5000000 doesn't seem like all that much for him to have gone down for. 532 00:41:22.500 --> 00:41:25.739 But serious CRD has become 500000000 great. 533 00:41:25.800 --> 00:41:26.400 Yeah, yeah. 534 00:41:26.400 --> 00:41:30.239 I think they're worth a Bitcoin, so it is quite a lot of money. 535 00:41:30.360 --> 00:41:36.480 That is after that is after the Federation's basically collapsed after the Dalek invasion. 536 00:41:36.539 --> 00:41:37.139 Yeah. 537 00:41:37.199 --> 00:41:40.079 I wouldn't be surprised if it did become 500 million. 538 00:41:40.139 --> 00:41:45.539 Oh, no, I think it becomes West Germany then and there's out of control inflation and one Bitcoin for... 539 00:41:45.539 --> 00:41:47.880 The Weimar, the Weimar, Federation. 540 00:41:47.940 --> 00:41:51.480 Or like inflation was in 1977. 541 00:41:51.719 --> 00:41:57.360 I suspect that'll be getting mentioned a few times as we progress. by the time. 542 00:41:57.420 --> 00:42:04.500 Basically, by the time you reach the 2nd half of your series, the money that you've got is worth about 70% what it was worth when you started filming the 1st episode, isn't it? 543 00:42:04.559 --> 00:42:05.880 With the inflation rate then. 544 00:42:05.940 --> 00:42:06.719 Yeah, yeah. 545 00:42:06.780 --> 00:42:14.280 But like between the beginning of the episode, the end of the episode, you've suddenly lost like nine-tenths of your budget. 546 00:42:14.460 --> 00:42:16.260 Hello, horror fang rock. 547 00:42:18.239 --> 00:42:29.820 So, this episode ends with Blake's 1st big speech, his, with a ship like this, and a full crew, then we really can start fighting back. 548 00:42:29.880 --> 00:42:30.840 Yeah. 549 00:42:31.440 --> 00:42:35.820 They know they've got good music to come in at the end of that as well, don't they? 550 00:42:35.880 --> 00:42:38.880 I wonder if the cast have heard the theme music. 551 00:42:38.940 --> 00:42:39.539 Oh, that's the point. 552 00:42:39.599 --> 00:42:41.579 I wonder if the cast have already heard the theme music at this point. 553 00:42:41.579 --> 00:42:46.139 Because in Doctor Who, even in the 70s, they were still definitely in the 60s. 554 00:42:46.199 --> 00:42:50.760 The theme music was actually played before they all started acting in the studio. 555 00:42:50.820 --> 00:42:59.159 I generally film the title sequence with the overlay while they're doing the recording somewhere in studio D or wherever they are. 556 00:42:59.219 --> 00:43:03.179 So maybe they'd have maybe they'd have seen it and heard it. 557 00:43:03.239 --> 00:43:11.880 Yeah, it's like hold the shot until you hear Dudley trombone. in that last line in key with the theme music, please, Gareth. 558 00:43:15.179 --> 00:43:17.639 Screams in the key of Blake. 559 00:43:17.699 --> 00:43:31.619 Still, to this day, these episodes seem to me to be quite fresh because Parson made seen 20 times and other parts of them, I've maybe seen 5 or 6 times and it just seems like they're new. 560 00:43:31.679 --> 00:43:37.679 Like they're like they're special edition extras because they didn't, I didn't watch it episodically. 561 00:43:37.739 --> 00:43:44.940 Like the episode ends with a still not quite knowing what's going to happen next. 562 00:43:45.000 --> 00:43:49.019 And I really kind of enjoy that. 563 00:43:49.079 --> 00:43:55.260 I like the fact that we haven't, like he does talk about fighting back, but he does have that sort of talk about the crew. 564 00:43:55.320 --> 00:44:04.920 And so maybe if we've got our wits about us and we've seen, you know, Villa, for instance, who is in the last episode in this episode. 565 00:44:04.980 --> 00:44:08.880 So I guess we're kind of expecting him to end up in the show. 566 00:44:08.940 --> 00:44:15.719 So I guess it does hint at the fact that he's going to go and rescue them 1st and then fight back. 567 00:44:15.780 --> 00:44:18.179 But still it's unknown, isn't it? 568 00:44:18.239 --> 00:44:27.059 I think they, at the end of the episode, they do say, no, I think it would have been good if they had just said, okay, we've got this kick-ass ship. 569 00:44:27.119 --> 00:44:28.860 Uh, there's the 3 of us. 570 00:44:28.920 --> 00:44:30.000 What do you want to do now? 571 00:44:30.059 --> 00:44:39.539 And then the Dudley Simpson trombone to come in instead of them to go, I'll tell you what, why don't we go and pick up all those fucking people we met on a ship? 572 00:44:40.260 --> 00:44:43.260 And everyone's like, okay, fair enough. 573 00:44:43.320 --> 00:44:50.820 You know, not let's go to the planet of something and find a bunch of, you know, bounty hunters we can use. 574 00:44:50.880 --> 00:44:55.199 It's like, no, let's, let's, let's go and have a look for some prisoners, you know? 575 00:44:55.260 --> 00:45:01.559 And so you've got to give Blake his big hero moment and his big close-up at the end of the episode, though, haven't you? 576 00:45:01.619 --> 00:45:09.780 And a bit, I'm establishing, this is my show, and this is where we're going, and this is what we're going to do. and I'm in charge. in charge, Darrow. 577 00:45:09.900 --> 00:45:12.780 Like, I mean, I love silk and silk itself up because of that. 578 00:45:12.900 --> 00:45:21.239 I guess what happens is that the ship christens itself the liberator through Jenna, and that's the 1st thing they do. 579 00:45:21.300 --> 00:45:24.480 They're not going to go and liberate Earth in episode three. 580 00:45:24.539 --> 00:45:28.860 So you have to give them a little liberation moment in episode three. 581 00:45:28.920 --> 00:45:31.500 Um, and and that's it. 582 00:45:31.619 --> 00:45:33.420 And it is to some degree successful. 583 00:45:33.480 --> 00:45:39.360 I mean, the 2 well, the one. 5 interesting people who were on the London get rescued. 584 00:45:39.420 --> 00:45:41.639 So, uh, mission accomplished. 585 00:45:42.179 --> 00:45:44.940 A lot of them probably are murderous bustards as well. 586 00:45:45.780 --> 00:45:52.139 Not literally, it's a series about every single person who was in prison escaped and took over the world. 587 00:45:52.500 --> 00:45:54.360 That would be slightly different. 588 00:45:54.420 --> 00:45:56.400 That would be kind, yeah. 589 00:45:56.460 --> 00:45:59.519 Although I'd watch the shit out of that, I can tell you what. 590 00:45:59.579 --> 00:46:02.039 But enough about intergalactic. 591 00:46:09.000 --> 00:46:11.280 That's it for Space Four. 592 00:46:11.340 --> 00:46:12.719 Thank you very much for joining us. 593 00:46:12.780 --> 00:46:15.539 We'll be back next week with Cygnus Alpha. 594 00:46:15.599 --> 00:46:17.579 Thank you very much for listening and good night. 595 00:46:17.639 --> 00:46:18.599 Good night. 596 00:46:18.659 --> 00:46:19.860 Good night. 597 00:46:19.920 --> 00:46:22.500 Good night. goodbye from me. 598 00:46:29.039 --> 00:46:31.139 Switching to Manny. 599 00:46:31.199 --> 00:46:33.239 Maximum power on all drives.