Alan Lake Was Also the Location

[00:03]

Maximum power.

Hello and welcome back to Maximum Power, the only Blake 7 podcast that's very keen on water sports, even at the worst of times.

That's why I've covered everything around here in tarpaulins.

Or plastic sheeting.

Do we not have tarpaulins in England?

We do have top wall, isn't it?

Okay.

Then it works.

After that little bit of cross-cultural confusion.

Let's introduce ourselves.

I'm Nathan.

I'm James.

I'm Peter.

And I'm Cy.

We're back and we're going to talk about the 1st episode of series 3 of Blake 7.

Oh, Nathan.

Let's see.

Look at the, I've got the Blu-rays over there.

I believe Andrew Pixley Okay, all right.

No, that's fair enough.

Siri C, episode one.

Aftermath written by Terry Nation and directed by Via Lorimer.

And Ed on my birthday in 1980.

[01:06]

Oh, wow.

It's in fact the 1st episode of the 1980s, isn't it?

It is.

So I wanted to start by asking people, is there anyone here tonight who actually watched this for the 1st time not knowing that Blake and Jenner would be back?

Yes, I did.

Okay.

Yeah.

So you were kind of surprised.

Yeah, I mean, I have very strong memories of watching series B and series C because they were shown back to back in Australia in 1980.

Right.

And so Star one ran straight into Aftermath.

And so it just seemed like one big season.

And I had no idea that Blake was just going to disappear in the middle of things.

It was quite extraordinary.

But Siri C, even with Blake's absence remains potently the best season of any TV show that I have ever seen.

Wow.

That's pretty amazing.

Cool.

I think it is the best season of Blake 7.

[02:06]

Oh, absolutely.

Yeah.

So, Cy, were you did you come back to this all much later?

Yeah, I didn't see this till the BBC video came out.

You know, the edited together version.

Right.

So that was my 1st taste of this one.

So by then I'd seen episodes with Blake, I'd seen episodes without Blake.

So my Blake 7 watching was all over the place.

So I wasn't surprised.

What I was surprised about was how efficiently they write Blake and Jenner out with a single line.

Jenna's gone with...

Jenna's gone with Blake, which makes me howl every time I hear it now because that's brilliant and it does the job absolutely wonderfully.

I just, it's kind of like they're in another room and we haven't got any cameras there.

They're in the life pod bay around the corner.

It's so great.

I just can't imagine like I would love to know what it's like because like you, Si.

[03:08]

I watched this after I'd seen Blake 7 and after I'd seen some of series 3.

So I have never watched it not knowing that this was where they were written out.

But it is kind of amazing how well they do.

And I think there's a little touch later on where Avon is down in Mellonby's bass and speaking to Aurak, and Aurak has news of Blake and Jenner, but not of Callie and Villa, who we've seen.

Zen, Zen, Zen.

Yeah, from the...

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I think it's kind of a weird decision.

I mean, don't get me wrong.

I love it.

But it's kind of a weird decision to keep the mystery about Blake going.

It means that when you do watch it for the 1st time, You're kind of expecting Blake and or Jenna to turn up at any point.

Or going forward for that to be more of the driving force of the series.

Not just, oh, let's, you know, pop back to that like maybe in 10 episodes time and kind of go, oh, we've got we've got his scent kind of thing.

[04:12]

It's it's, yeah, it's an interesting way of dealing with the fact that 2 people decided not to come back.

But it's not just, it's not just that.

It's a really efficient script.

I mean, that's Terry Nation, isn't it?

When he actually writes the script.

It's not just them being written out.

Star one is destroyed.

Basically offscreen, the Federation is kind of destroyed, basically offscreen.

The Andromedans are defeated offscreen in a line delivered by Mike, yeah.

I mean, I won't defend the 5P space battle at the start, but I will move beyond that to say that that scene in the life pod bay between Avon Villa and Kelly is amazingly tense and really well shot on film.

And it kind of imprinted on me.

When I think of Blake 7, I think back to Aftermath and PowerPlay, which had such an impact on me the 1st time I saw them, and Avon Villa and Cali are Blake 7 for me.

[05:13]

Yeah.

And all that cutting backwards and forwards between them, the pod, the speaker, with Zen's readout over the top.

And that incredible tension where we cut away from Villa and Cali.

And they're actually, you know, the atmosphere is about to run out and we don't know if things are going to work and we don't catch up with them for a whole other episode.

And as James said earlier, we hear about Bleak and Jenner, but what happened to Villa and Kelly?

Are they dead?

It's really exciting.

It's clever isn't it?

It's beautifully done.

It's, I really like that because they're the ones that are coming back and yet we have no idea.

At this point, anyone who's been written out could be written out completely.

So we don't know what the face of anyone is other than Avon right now, and that's that's really great.

That's good writing from Terry.

I really like in that scene as well, that Avon is knocked out and Villa is tasked by Callie, was sort of lugging him about and putting him in a life capsule.

This is the 1st of 2 season openers where Villa will be lugging around one of his unconscious crewmates with, let's say, Cali part of the scene.

[06:19]

No I just wonder whether part of the thing is, is there a paratext, like, has there been announcements that Gareth and Sally are leaving and, you know, stories about the 2 new regulars, like, are most of the people watching this for the 1st time aware that they're not going to see Gareth and Sally again?

I think there had been, if not publicity, Gareth had mentioned it in interviews that he was moving on and because he went on to the RSC straight after this.

He moved into another job.

And so I think it was well known, but I'm not sure there was like a big photo call with Stephen Pacy and Josette Simon.

Right, right.

Because, I mean, what it does lead to is a complete retooling of the show.

And we talked when we were doing series A, and I remember doing Sik, locate, destroy, where that's a kind of minor retooling of the show, where we have Blake involved in yet another massacre of a bunch of people.

[07:35]

You know, we've got Travis now, as well as Tarrant from episode one and so on.

And that retooling of the show that centres it around Travis and Servoland is actually a good thing and series A and B work, I think, as well as they do because of that course correction in the middle of series A. Here, I think it's a really, really bold retooling of the show.

And Terry Nation does such a brilliant job of it.

I mean, to me, this is Blake 7.

The Lake 7 with Blake doesn't quite hit for me, whereas Avon is the central character is just infinitely more interesting.

The way that the crew relates to him just makes for an even better dynamic than we saw in series A and B. Because series A and B is so much centred on Blake and Travis.

You've now removed both of those characters from the series.

And so it's really clever to bring Servlan and Avon together and create their relationship and a personal relationship out of whole cloth, whereas we have never actually seen them relate.

[08:41]

They have been in a scene together.

Yeah.

They've never actually...

Two scenes together, actually.

So what we have to do is we have to retool Avon so that he works as the protagonist and we have to give him a relationship with Serverland, which he never had in order to make her the proper antagonist.

And now that we've decided to get rid of Travis, which was a good move.

I think partly because the character had been kind of stuffed around in all sorts of ways, but also because he only works opposite Blake anyway.

Not even there, most of the time.

Yeah, well that's right.

Is there a line in this episode?

Oh, oh, we know he's heard each other so well, Ava.

Yes.

She's read the files.

Federation Space Security, the space files.

I've read the Blake 7 program manual.

[09:43]

By the same guy who writes Otro Otworld.

Oh my god yes.

Yeah, I think, I mean, this episode takes pains to make Avon the centre of the show and it does a couple of things which one of which doesn't quite work and a couple of which really do work.

So I think the scene where he says to Dana, who we will talk about, don't kill the sarin, is not particularly Avon-esque.

He would just turn around and walk away, and they try to give it context by saying that if we kill him, his friends might kill us, and so it's Avon being calculating about it.

But I just don't think it's quite Avon to say, yes.

But there is an earlier scene where he has a dagger in his hand and he is, is he going to attack the sarin with a dagger and he looks at it, decides against it and punches him instead, knocks him unconscious, and then goes on.

So already he's not just killing people unnecessarily.

And I think that they do want that to happen.

[10:47]

They do want to make it clear that he's still a good guy even though he's a little bit more morally ambiguous.

Yeah, I think Paul Darrow had something to say about this because he said they've retooled Avon as the hero.

He said, and then they backtracked on that when I said, this isn't how Avon would react in all of these situations.

So I think we get more Avon-esque Avon later in the series, but at this point, they're bringing him up to be the lead character.

So the lead character has to be a proper hero.

But when Servoland talks about his character, like and says, you know, you would sell your own grandmother out for, you know, for any price. and he, what was it?

You would sell people out for anything?

He goes, I never got an offer that I thought was worthy of me.

Which is an amazing Avon Line.

Such a great line.

So, and this time, just watching it today in preparation, just looking at the 2 of them looking into each other's eyes. and her offer offering him joint rule sort of joint rule over the galaxy now that the Federation's gone and they've got Aurak and the Liberator.

[11:58]

I was very nearly buying that.

I actually did buy it.

At the very end, Avon says, killing us now is always part of your plan, and Servoland says, it's a pity I was willing to share with you.

Yeah, yeah.

She meant it.

But and his reaction is great, even though it's sort of slightly, it's probably not what we would do on television now, but that, you know, rule of half the galaxy, I'd be dead in a week. like that's a great line.

But it is still the person who was going to run in Horizon.

You know, the person who was going to run in horizon is now in charge.

Well, that's what I was going to say.

That scene that you mentioned where Avon fights the sarin and does it so suavely.

You can tell that Paul Garrow is channelling all of those Westerns that he really loves so much, where he actually tosses him over his shoulder and then has the dagger in one head, throws it to the other and punches him in this incredible move.

That is where he becomes, I think, the lead character.

And where he becomes the hero is that last scene where he says to Dana. come on, we've got to get to the bridge, the flight deck, we've got to locate the others and pick them up.

[13:04]

This is the same character who 10 episodes ago was talking to Aurak about how, you know, what would happen if I just ditched them and ran.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah, that's true.

That's true.

I think so I think that he's a great lead character and, I have to say, a better character than Blake.

And I think you can see Paul Darrow absolutely loving being the centre figure of this episode and this show at this point.

He's grasping every single opportunity it's giving him.

And there's little bits of wonderful bits of business he does.

My favourite being, the bit where he closes up Aurak's case, and then puts his feet up on it.

That's the show. doesn't care about anything.

It's absolutely wonderful.

And I bet that's a bit that Paul Darrow worked out himself and thought, do you know what?

I'm gonna do this.

Just to show that I'm in command of Aurak and just to show Serverland that none of this matters and I'm really cool.

And in that wonderful scene, where Servland's trying to flatter him and she says, there's one thing about you that I've always really admired and he just goes, yes.

[14:16]

I think my favourite line between them in this...

Sorry.

I think my favourite piece of dialogue in this episode between the 2 of them is I'm going to be honest with you.

Oh, that should be mildly disconcerted.

It's all really good, isn't it?

The dialogue is great.

And obviously that's that's voucher rather than nation.

I mean, I think we can do Terry a little bit badly by, because I think he actually is pretty good at dialogue, but there are certain exchanges in this episode that must be Boucher.

It's just not Terry Nation.

That's one of them, the scene between Servilan and Dana, where they're being catty about the dresses.

There is no way that Terry Nation would love him, though I do wrote that.

Yeah, I was thinking that as I was watching it.

Maybe we should move on and talk a little bit about Dana, because again, what we what we do in series C, and I don't want to be mean because I love everyone, as is now well known, but I think that we're replacing 2 characters who depart with 2 much better characters.

[15:25]

It's that I think Josette Simon, who is struggling with a character who is written, you know, you know how data doesn't use contractions in Star Trek, the Next Generation, or, or, you know, she's a, she's an exotic sort of primitive, so she doesn't talk normally.

And so she keeps saying come instead of come on and stuff like that.

But she's so fabulously posh.

Like she's just got the most adorably posh accent.

And she kind of doesn't play it like that at all.

And I think the best bit is there's an obvious kind of wank fantasy moment where she kisses Avan awake.

And then she's done.

Do you know what I mean?

It was sort of curiosity and then it's just, yeah, okay, like whatever. like, she never seems like an, like an anginue, you know, she never seems innocent or anything like that.

[16:27]

We'll find out animals next season.

Please, no.

I mean that's true.

I mean, she gets kind of a me gatch.

Yes, yes, that's it.

Servalang gets the full pella.

She gets like the snog and the throws the floor.

But I think she's just tremendously good.

And I think one of the things that they do is we haven't had a weapons expert before, but that sort of fits very well.

They've decided not to replace the female pilot with another female pilot.

The new male character is going to be the pilot.

And all of that is, you know, a good idea.

But there's so much here.

The other thing that they do is they give her a reason to be in the show by giving her a personal relationship with server lab.

Which is absolutely amazing and we forget just how well this is set up.

There's proper hatred between them.

I often wonder whether there's, whether Terry is being a bit smart here and thinking, well, other writers might pick up on this, but we could have a bit of a love triangle going on here.

[17:34]

So I've set it up with Dana fancying Avon maybe.

Serverland obviously does and then Dana and Serverland absolutely hate each other.

It's not something that's ever actually sort of picked up on, but the setup is there just in case anyone else wants to play with that.

I think it is mentioned again in this series that Dana has sworn to kill...

Oh yes, that comes up a lot, doesn't it?

It's just the Avon Dana bit doesn't ever come up.

Yeah, yeah.

There's the brilliant scene in Death Watch where Avon sends Dana down to menace Serverland and she does the whole thing of close your eyes.

That scene.

It's really great.

Yeah.

Yeah, it's probably good.

And when you think about Doctor Who doing the same thing at about this time with Teagan and Auntie Vanessa, come on.

And then it never gets mentioned again.

Do you know what I mean?

Auntie Vanessa's spotlight photo is on the set. in Enlightenment, but otherwise we'd never mention it until Power of the Doctor.

[18:37]

I thought you meant a love triangger for the moment.

And how often and how often do those 2 characters interact?

Well, I mean, you know, like Nissa, like the master is wearing Nissa's father's body.

You know what I mean?

And it never comes up.

We never ever bring it up.

So, but here we absolutely give her a reason to be in the show and give her a reason to hate the enemies.

And I think that's really, really very well done.

And then I think the other thing that's really, really striking is the complete off-scene off, the complete off-camera destruction of the Federation.

So we're told something like 90% of the fleet is wiped out.

I heard it was 600.

I mean...

That scene with Mike Yates and a Terreleptalism.

It's your ex-position.

They have nothing to say.

But it's good.

It's well done.

Do you know what I mean?

[19:38]

Like there's an officer and a sort of regular, they've got a very quickly drawn relationship.

There's that moment where they go, oh, fantastic, we're out of the war.

Like, I think it's well done.

It isn't just exposition because it is also telling us about Shell and the sarins as well and making them a threat.

How does it feel to win the war?

Yeah, yeah.

And it's funny.

Like, it's entertaining.

I mean, I think Dana is incredibly charismatic.

Josette Simon just comes hits the ground running and is clearly a new regular in the making.

You wouldn't mistake her halfway through the episode as just a guest character.

The thing that I think is really interesting is that I think Nation has gone back and looked at series one and 2 and has decided that the Federation that was set up in episode one never really returns as a thing.

[20:41]

And we said, as we were talking about series A and B, that the Federation is different, you know, in just about every episode it appears in.

It's not a constant presence.

It's not really that necessary for the show.

If the show becomes about Serviland chasing Avon through the galaxy in order to get the liberator.

We don't really need the Federation.

And there's no, there's no story in series 3 that can't be done.

They, you know, because oh, we destroyed the federation.

And so it turns out that the Federation, which is hugely important and we imagine it still to be important in Siri C, is not really important at all.

And it only really comes back when Lorimer takes over the reins of the show and says actually, let's have the Federation back.

I think there's only one episode this series where Servoland is, in fact, the president and that's rumours of death.

In every other episode, she could just be supreme commander in her ship.

[21:43]

The Federation is reduced to being her personal fleet.

Yes, yeah.

That dreadful model.

Yes. very strange shit that she gets, isn't it?

The Pooh ship.

The Pooh ship.

Except isn't there one, there's one episode where they accidentally use Space Command headquarters.

Yes, Harvest of Chiros.

Harvest of Chiros instead by mistake first.

But done.

It's nice to see it back, though.

Again, sort of conceptually, this is what the new titles are telling us, isn't it?

That it's going to be...

Some ships chasing the liberator, and that's what this series is all about.

It's all about the chase.

And it's all going to be a bit cartoony.

Oh, that's awesome.

And slightly overset.

They're not great titles, but they're not bad, but they tell you everything you need to know in the same way that the original titles tell you everything you need to know about this show.

So this is where we are, but this this year and boom, off we go.

Well, because in fact, the Blake plot is tied up, isn't it?

[22:45]

Several times, Avon says Blake won.

We destroyed Star one, that's what we were trying to do, and we were trying to destroy the Federation, and it worked.

We won.

And so the Federation is kind of gone for this year.

And Paul Darrow delivers that line with real conviction where he says he won.

Yes.

Yeah.

No, we don't need him. back.

And it's only because Serviland survives that everything sort of comes back together.

Yeah.

When I 1st saw her, like I've seen this 100s of times, obviously, like I've watched this a lot, but watching it today, and then just seeing her, like, kind of, you know, leaning on one elbow on a sand dune talking to her.

I just said, oh my god, you're so magnificent.

And she is absolutely superb.

She sings in this episode.

This is the best she's ever done, I think.

Oh yeah, it's a proper lead performance.

Yeah, it's amazing.

And can I just say, someone, I think it might have been Gareth Roberts, had, has his, uh, as his ringtone serverland saying, answer me, damn you, answer me.

[23:49]

That's so good.

She so great.

The scene that you alluded to earlier, Peter, where we're having the bitchy conversation about the dresses.

You're too young for you.

I do find unsophisticated clothes. amusing.

Like unsophisticated.

It's amusing.

Great.

Obvious.

Brilliant bit. where she says, and I want a gun.

And Abel says, there is only one.

And she smiles at him and says I only want one.

So perfect.

I texted that exchange to Peter this afternoon when I was watching it because I think it may be my favourite bit of dialogue in the whole of the show's run.

It's so perfect.

It absolutely tells you everything you need to know about that character.

But she also gets to be like really genial and stuff.

Like there's that scene with melon bee where, which I think is actually, am I allowed to say this, it's a bit shittily directed, the actual action thing where he's blind and hurling himself around the...

[24:51]

It's not the best, but it is a brilliant scene.

And it really brings home how venomous she is.

Yes, because he she makes him relax.

Like we actually see his hand relax because she persuades him.

The Federation's gone.

There's nothing for you to worry about.

You're safe. and she's really kind of genial and she's like that with Dana as well.

You know, like we see her just acting as a normal person.

She's venomous and she's manipulative, but she is charming and genial and stuff in a way that we've rarely seen, I think.

And it's quite interesting because it seems like Servlaine is a true believer.

She really can't stick Mellonby because he doesn't like the Federation.

It's almost personal for her.

Yeah.

Yeah, I mean, that is very strange, but it is also just because she's terribly evil.

And can we just say Hell Melonby, I think.

One of the 5 top guest characters and actors of the series.

[25:52]

Oh, wow.

I think Sy Grant is amazing and really charming.

Do you know, he was a World War 2 vet, a singer and also a barrister.

Oh, wow.

Because he didn't act much.

No, I did look him up on IMDb.

He doesn't have a massive.

No, he was in Captain Scarlet, though.

Yes, he was.

Yes, he was.

And he was in Mesal Mickey.

I think that was actually his last acting role was Metal Mickey.

I also did look up the woman who played Lauren.

Did she have a long career?

No, she didn't.

She didn't have a long career, but she did work again, and she just looks fabulous now.

You know, like she's a woman in her 60s or whatever, just looking fabulous.

And she has just that cut glass posh accent as well, which I just think is fantastic.

She, you know, Alan Lake brought her up and he sort of communicates in a series of grunts and things for no particular reason.

But then somehow she's picked up this RP accent like Dana has.

[26:54]

Yeah, it's because she's taken in, isn't she?

So, because Dana says, oh, she's one of them.

But we took her in and educated her, which is great because it's a real reversal of white, white imperialism going on there, which is really brilliant and nice and subversive.

I think they must have been getting in Viz tapes from Space Rada.

I mean, she does look a bit like young Miranda Richardson.

Same hair.

It's kind of awful too, the way that they kill her. brutal.

It's really.

And Alan Lake, that's his kind of best moment as well, where he's looking down at her, you know, the sun's behind him, so his face is in darkness and he just says, welcome back to your people.

It's so brutal.

Yeah, it's awful.

Little known fact, Alan Lake was also where they shot it.

So those of you who want to know about Alan Lake and his relationship with Diana Dawes should go back to the...

[27:55]

I should go back to the flight through entirety episode and listen to what Richard has to say in our episode on Underworld because they were party animals.

Oh, can I just say something regarding, yeah.

Regarding underworld.

Okay, so, obviously, Alan Lake was in underworld and he's in aftermath.

Underworld was shown in the same week that the way back was shown.

So I think that aftermath proves my thesis that whenever Blake 7 and Doctor Who were on in the same week, Blake 7 was without fail, better than Doctor Who.

So aftermath is the only episode of late 7 that overlaps with the Dog 2 episode this season.

It overlaps with the Horns of Nimon part four.

Yeah, okay.

So there we go.

He's better than that.

It is.

And otherwise, we're just looking at the last 2 episodes of Underworld and Invasion of Time, and the last 2 episodes of Power of Crawl and the Armageddon Factor.

Now, hostage is better than any of those episodes.

[28:56]

Wow.

So they are, you know, they're very standard now, aren't they?

kind of posh-ish primitives on a planet like the like goth or sarin or whatever.

Or the deliverance planet.

The deliverance planet.

But I think they're pretty good.

And they have horses.

Like, does this episode feel, and again, it's hard to kind of bring back all that context and things, but does it feel more expensive than previous episodes?

I think so.

I think maybe it's the location filming, and they've gone a long way from television centre, so they've gone right up north up to Bambra for this to that great big beach, and I think that makes it feel expensive because they've got plenty of extras.

They've got lots of horses and there's lots of action on location and I think that just seems to raised the game a bit.

[29:56]

But also, I think the sets look magnificent as well, particularly the underwater spaceship set looks really good.

That's great.

Yeah, and they spent the money well.

Yeah, and there's really interesting lighting that they've got then for the underwater bit as well, which makes it feel very different from anything we've seen so far.

We do have the do we have the flight deck of the Liberator.

We do.

No, we get a couple of cutaways.

We won't see it properly until that amazing sweeping shot in power plate next episode.

Okay.

That's also a very clever way of building tension with that.

You only see the escape pod bay.

Yeah, yeah.

And then also, and then at the end of the episode, which we'll get to, like the teleport bay.

And so you're not sure what's happened to the ship.

Yeah.

So it takes 4 episodes to set up the premise at the beginning of series A, right?

So Times Squad Callie joins and then we've got the crew.

[30:57]

And for that time, it's not an episode about a bunch of people in a ship travelling around having adventures, it really is setting things up.

You know, we're on the London.

You know, we're on CIGNA Sal for all of that sort of thing takes a while.

And then series B, obviously, just takes one episode to get back to the status quo anti.

But this one they take 2 proper episodes.

And I think it gives it a real sense of scale that this has made a big difference to the show.

And so next week when we have an A plot and a B plot.

And we have all of these characters kind of moving into position.

Like, I think it's a, it does feel like a bit of an epic in a way that I don't think happens again.

Structurally, it is a two-parter.

Yeah, it's the only proper Blake 72 parter.

We have cliffhangers at the end of seasons, but this is the only real cliffhanger between episodes.

Yeah.

I mean, next episode is separate.

You know, it's got a different guest cast.

[31:58]

It, uh, you know, has uh, different sets, the, that B plot with Villa and Cali.

I'm not on next week.

It's really fun.

We'll talk about that. really enjoy it.

I mean that's true.

I mean, I think I said during Star one that it wasn't quite my favourite episode of Blake 7, but it was very probably the best episode of Blake 7.

I mean, welcome to my favourite episode of Blake 7 or in fact, my favourite episode of Blake 7 into halves, and this is the 1st half.

I think this is just magnificent for the way that it reformats the series with such efficiency.

And I also think what you were saying earlier, James, and Si about the budget.

This season, I don't think had more money.

Series B was where they got the cash injection.

It's just they know what they're doing now and they're spending the money better.

And it goes for the aesthetic as well, as much as I love June Hudson's costumes.

[33:01]

They are a bit out there sometimes, whereas Siri C settles down into something where the aesthetic is actually quite good.

It really works.

It's not outlandish in any way.

Yeah, I mean, I would say that this is probably, for me, the best episode of Blake 7, and it is precisely that it does.

It has a whole lot of series, you know, stuff to do.

Like it has a job to do, but it doesn't feel like that.

Like it just feels like an enjoyable episode of Blake Seven.

You're not forced to endure lots of exposition dumps or anything like that.

It's all just done terribly, terribly well.

Do we think that's because Terry Nation only has to do 3 episodes?

And so he's got time to actually devote to his writing here.

Well, I mean, we thought that countdown was very strong.

And pressure point and redemption are both pretty good.

Yeah, yeah.

I think that, I mean, look, Terry Nation is a hack in the sense that he is someone who will churn out content for you, but he's good.

[34:05]

Like he didn't have a big TV career for no reason at all.

He didn't just hit it lucky with the Daleks.

He just wrote solidly good entertaining repulsive television.

And when he doesn't have to write...

Yeah. you know, row and actually has the time to spend just on a few episodes.

They're really good.

But I also think he's raised his game even further.

So he does great work on Doc 2 for the most part.

A lot of his series A episodes is good.

His 3 series B episodes are all good, but still fairly straightforward.

He's 3 episodes for Siri C, aftermath power play and terminal at the end.

Oh, series best episodes. with amazing character work and brilliant dialogue, which can't all be Chris Alcho.

No?

Yeah.

I also think that this episode probably has more great moments than every Alan Pryor and Ben Steed episode put together.

It's just scene after great scene.

[35:08]

Yeah, yeah.

I mean, this is one of the episodes that if someone had never seen Blake 7, you would show them, I think, because it just is a great jumping on point for the show.

Yeah, it's funny, isn't it?

Because it is like it's pivotal in the in the story, the overall story of the series, but it's still a functional individual episode as well.

And I think that you're right.

You know, you could just sort of watch and understand that there'd been some kind of giant space battle and this is the aftermath of that.

And it really sort of has an arc.

It takes us back to the liberator, all of that stuff.

Oh, what about that scene?

It's so unusual, isn't it?

And perhaps that's the thing that makes this a two-parter, is the scene where Zen tells Avon about the little spaceship.

Oh yeah, and Avon, uncharacteristically, forgets all about it.

[36:08]

Because when you teleport on board, he's not even thinking about it.

No, that's right.

That's funny, isn't it?

Well, to be fair, they have just escape from a fight.

Yeah, maybe that's it.

And again, that's really well done.

I mean, we had that dreadful space battle, which, again, you know, they do what they can and they try and make most of it happen through a voiceover and then the scene with Michael Amelia and... and Dudley Simpson does good work to make that all hang together and make it exciting.

I think he doesn't get a lot of kudos all the time.

But I think his his music in this episode is very, very good.

It really is.

It's that same trick that they do, I think, during Star one, where a lot of the, a lot of the action is, is in voiceover or over, over an intercom or over.

For the PowerPoint presentation?

The guy shows.

Star one breaking down.

But like that's all stock footage, but of real things.

[37:10]

Instead, it's like, oh, there's the London, there's that other shoe from thing.

You know, like it is...

There's that crucial shot of the pursuit chips flying past the liberation.

That's it.

There's Space City being destroyed and then being destroyed again for some reason.

There's enough to sell it.

Yeah that's right.

And that's all you need because none of the people watching this at this point would remember any of those models had been in the show before.

So they'd been seen once and that was it.

So it's just another big battle to start an episode off.

I mean, I think they could have done without it.

I think that it would have worked.

In fact, they were just a little bit less confident in their ability to sell that than they needed to be.

It actually would have been great if that scene in the life pod bay had been extended and it'd all been done with sound.

Yes.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And, you know, shaking the camera and things falling off the ceiling and all of that sort of thing.

I did like the thing that falls off and lands on Villa's head.

[38:10]

It's pretty amazing.

But yeah, I don't know that we needed that and I don't think it's all that good.

It's not, but I mean, if the, if you don't like this episode for that opening scene and you can ignore all the brilliant things about it, then you're a bit of a twat.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

I mean, it's not like it's not like the specially shot scenes at the end of Star one were particularly impressive either, to be fair.

They're cutlery draw.

Yeah, that's right.

It's really great how in that last scene, which is really exciting, by the way, when they get away and Servland finally goes down into the thing and Chell is there, it's all, you know, you've swept up in it.

And then that nice little coder at the end where you have the scene between Avon and Dana.

And it's what passes in kind of 70s television for Dana's just lost her father and her sister and everything that matters to her and they wrap it up in a really efficient scene where Avon basically says, have you had enough excitement?

[39:20]

She repeats back to him, his line from earlier, where she says a little boredom wouldn't go on this now.

It's really efficiently done.

And then, of course, we get the appearance of Space Commander Tarrant.

And again, that is terrifically well done, isn't it?

Did they reshoot it for next week?

Oh, I don't know.

Or it's a different tape, or it's a different tape.

They might just...

Yeah, maybe.

It does seem different.

I think maybe they just had another camera on it Yeah, maybe that's it.

It is a very, very good final scene.

I think perhaps, though, that Avon has forgotten about it because we have as well.

I think that we aren't expecting it either.

So it does come as a surprise, even though it is completely set up for us in a very sort of visually striking and impressive way.

So I think we've forgotten.

And I think we're shocked when we see Terrence there.

And also the fact that he's just wearing a Federation uniform is quite sort of, 0 my god, you know, it's not like an Amazon or something.

[40:23]

No, no.

And he says my ship, you know, he says it's, what are you doing on my ship?

And Darrow looks furious. doesn't he?

It's wonderful.

It's such a brilliant close-up.

Like, you know, Blake 7 doesn't get cliffhangers, but this is an amazing cliffhanger, and the way that the theme music comes in over it is so Doctor Who Scream.

It's fantastic Well, I think that we're on the brink of something fabulous over the next few months then.

Oh, absolutely.

This is the height of Blake 7.

I mean, personally, and I just think quality wise.

The series has never been so confident, and it looks brilliant, and we have great new characters.

Um, you know, it can do no wrong for me.

But, you know, wait for volcano and we'll see.

Volcano has some...

It does indeed have some things.

Yeah, I just want more of Serverland striding round places and great big silver sandals and her white dresses, please.

[41:29]

That's Blake 7 to a T for me.

And yeah, this episode is just a spectacular return.

I want more of serverland opening up bathroom vanities and finding guns inside.

I love how Dana has the classic backless cupboard.

Like Jackie Tyler's backless fridge and her backless washing machine.

It's just a perfect piece of TV joinery there.

I also like the fact that Dana's developed the biggest, greenest, most plasticky guns I've ever seen.

It is a detergent bottle, isn't it?

It's a detergent bottle.

What about that?

What about that fantastic cave?

That thing?

You know the cave?

Oh, yes.

It's kind of, because it's got to be a sort of fairyland thing, doesn't it?

Because he's sort of rescued unexpectedly by a nymph by like a young woman in a sort of dress that is vaguely Greek and classical.

[42:31]

Well, basically, it's, yeah, it's, it's Diana the Hunter.

Yeah, yeah, really.

It's an image, isn't it?

That's right.

It's also...

It's also The Tempest, or if we're being not kind to Terry.

It's probably forbidden planet ripped off the table.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah.

But that that sort of green plastic thing. for a cave, that is a classic piece of Blake 7 set design.

It's sort of green and orange and stuff.

We will see it again in rumours of death at the very end.

It's the same cave, isn't it?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

She took it with her.

They came back and teleported him up.

And they go to the effort of on location, putting something with a doorway that's around the same shape, on location as a filter, almost, so that they can shoot through it, and then they can walk in and into the location.

It's wonderfully done.

It's so well done.

Vill Lorima.

We love you.

He's one of the unsung heroes of Blake 7.

[43:36]

That's all we have time for this week, and we'll be back next time to meet our posh new pilot in PowerPlay.

Try saying that when you're drunk.

So until then, it's good night for me.

And me.

And me.

And for me.

Switching to Manny.

Maximum power on all drives.

Maximal power.