WEBVTT NOTE This transcript was created on 2026-06-07 at 22:07:16 1 00:00:03.660 --> 00:00:06.360 Maximum power. 2 00:00:11.580 --> 00:00:15.960 Welcome back to Maximum Power, a Blake's Up and Podcast. 3 00:00:16.019 --> 00:00:18.780 This week we're talking about Time Squad. 4 00:00:18.839 --> 00:00:22.679 I'm Cy, and I'm joined by various other people. 5 00:00:22.739 --> 00:00:25.679 I'm James I'm Peter. 6 00:00:25.739 --> 00:00:26.760 And I'm Simon. 7 00:00:27.179 --> 00:00:30.000 Okay, so over to James. 8 00:00:30.059 --> 00:00:33.179 We're on episode 4 here of Blake 7. 9 00:00:33.240 --> 00:00:35.039 The 7 are slowly coming together. 10 00:00:35.100 --> 00:00:37.380 What do we make of Time Squad? 11 00:00:38.579 --> 00:00:45.719 Um I don't know. 12 00:00:45.719 --> 00:00:52.079 My mother always taught me to, if I couldn't say anything nice, I shouldn't say anything at all. 13 00:00:52.140 --> 00:00:54.060 Now, I mean, I actually quite enjoy it. 14 00:00:54.179 --> 00:00:55.619 It a bit pants though, isn't it? 15 00:00:55.740 --> 00:01:00.119 There's some great elements, but it's really just a mess. 16 00:01:00.359 --> 00:01:02.460 I don't know where to start. 17 00:01:02.700 --> 00:01:10.260 Well, James, it's interesting that you say that because this is actually the 1st episode that I ever saw back in 1978 and I was 6 years old. 18 00:01:10.319 --> 00:01:14.340 And I have to say, I do love it, as I love all Blake 7. 19 00:01:14.400 --> 00:01:18.719 But if we're going to be truthful about it, It deserves moderate appreciation at best. 20 00:01:18.780 --> 00:01:22.859 I believe it was a late placement script and sadly it does show. 21 00:01:22.920 --> 00:01:28.439 So territation was really quite overstretched, delivering 13 episodes, and this, I think, is where it shows the most. 22 00:01:28.560 --> 00:01:32.219 Originally, it was supposed to be episode 6 in the run. 23 00:01:32.459 --> 00:01:45.180 As far as I'm aware, and it was dragged forward to episode 4 to replace a script called Locate and Destroy, which didn't come to fruition. 24 00:01:45.239 --> 00:01:46.920 And I think it shows. 25 00:01:48.780 --> 00:01:50.939 I think the problem with it. 26 00:01:51.000 --> 00:01:54.180 And it's not, see, I don't think it's terribly terrible. 27 00:01:54.239 --> 00:01:56.099 I just think it's not very good. 28 00:01:56.099 --> 00:02:08.039 And the reason it's not brilliant is basically because it's quite dull because I assume at this point in the series, they're still working out really what Blake 7's going to be. 29 00:02:08.099 --> 00:02:24.780 And this was a potential direction they could go into hard sci-fi, one of a better description, very dry, very, you know, long sequences where we're docking 2 spacecraft together and everyone's been very serious and there's no big sort of space battles. 30 00:02:24.840 --> 00:02:30.659 And the problem is that just makes it all not particularly interesting because to make that interesting, you need a much bigger budget. 31 00:02:30.719 --> 00:02:32.879 Yes, Simon, you're absolutely right. 32 00:02:32.939 --> 00:02:34.080 It lacks incidents. 33 00:02:34.139 --> 00:02:36.719 It kind of inches along at a very languid pace. 34 00:02:36.780 --> 00:02:51.240 And having said that, it's actually the Blake 7 archetype, as it turns out, because, you know, the crew strike at a federation facility had shot at a nuclear power plant or gas works somewhere in the west country, and there's a disappointing explosion at the end. 35 00:02:51.300 --> 00:02:57.539 So for all of the fact that it's not the direction they go, it does have those kinds of archetypal things to it. 36 00:02:57.659 --> 00:03:02.580 It's got elements of cyclocate destroy injured as well. 37 00:03:02.639 --> 00:03:03.780 I mean, like, I guess it's the thing. 38 00:03:03.840 --> 00:03:05.039 Like you say, it's the archetype. 39 00:03:05.099 --> 00:03:15.240 They're testing out these sort of ideas that they come back to you again and again for the next 3 to 4 years, but they do it much better 2 episodes later. 40 00:03:15.780 --> 00:03:36.419 But I also think that they're not quite sure in this episode, whether the series is going to be about a bunch of freedom fighters striking a blow against tyranny or whether it's going to be a series where they're travelling through space and discovering interesting and strange creatures and peoples and objects and so on. 41 00:03:36.479 --> 00:03:42.300 And so this is kind of trying both of them and is a bit half-hearted at both of them at the same time. 42 00:03:42.360 --> 00:03:43.379 That's right. 43 00:03:43.439 --> 00:03:49.259 And if you look at next week's episode, which is much more fantasy, the web, that's sort of another direction that the series might be able to go. 44 00:03:49.800 --> 00:04:12.060 Yeah, they're definitely feeling their way through all of this, but it doesn't feel like Terry Nation's heart is in either of these 2 storylines, particularly the stuff on the Liberator, all feels like it's just incident to keep Gan and Jenna busy while the boys go down to the planet and do the exciting blowing things up and meeting new people bits. 45 00:04:12.180 --> 00:04:24.600 Sorry, it's interesting that you say that because there are 2 strands to this story. and I think that it's actually the 1st and maybe last time that they treat the entire crew as an ensemble, so everyone gets a good piece of the action. 46 00:04:24.660 --> 00:04:27.899 But from what you said, where the boys go down to the exciting thing. 47 00:04:27.959 --> 00:04:34.740 I actually find the scenes on the Liberator hand visitedly mounted as they are on occasion. more interesting than the stuff down on the planet. 48 00:04:34.860 --> 00:04:35.759 Oh, really? 49 00:04:35.819 --> 00:04:37.800 What is it that you find interesting about that? 50 00:04:37.860 --> 00:04:40.560 Because I find them quite tedious and dull. 51 00:04:40.680 --> 00:04:43.019 I think it's because at the heart of it. 52 00:04:43.079 --> 00:04:45.000 And this is a big call. 53 00:04:45.060 --> 00:04:48.959 I find Jenna more interesting to watch than Blake. 54 00:04:49.019 --> 00:05:00.660 And I'm not making any claims for the performances because I think objectively Gareth Thomas is probably a better performer than Sally Nevette, but I just find the combination of her and Gan quite interesting in this episode. 55 00:05:00.720 --> 00:05:05.759 And I think if you had Jenna down on the planet and Blake up doing the stuff that she is on the ship. 56 00:05:05.819 --> 00:05:06.600 I would be less interested. 57 00:05:06.720 --> 00:05:09.120 She's always incredibly watchable. 58 00:05:09.180 --> 00:05:19.319 That's been one of the things that we've picked up on in the 1st 3 episodes, is that she is doing really interesting stuff and she's getting good character stuff to work with. 59 00:05:19.379 --> 00:05:21.720 And I'm not sure there's quite so much here. 60 00:05:21.779 --> 00:05:23.459 No, that's true. 61 00:05:23.579 --> 00:05:26.879 She'll be relegated to the teleport operation soon and driving the ship. 62 00:05:26.939 --> 00:05:29.160 Yeah, she's happy in this episode. 63 00:05:29.220 --> 00:05:36.600 But yeah, she always feels, particularly in this early stage, she's quite centre stage amongst the 7 that we've seen so far. 64 00:05:36.600 --> 00:05:39.480 Well, she's sort of the 2nd character. 65 00:05:39.600 --> 00:05:40.920 Blake's the 1st character. 66 00:05:40.980 --> 00:05:48.000 She sort of introduced in the space, the 2nd episode, which name's escaped me. 67 00:05:48.300 --> 00:05:49.860 Baseball. 68 00:05:49.920 --> 00:05:52.439 Isn't she kind of the 1st person that Blake meets? 69 00:05:52.560 --> 00:05:56.399 Yes, she's introduced to Blake actually when he's in the cell in the way back. 70 00:05:56.459 --> 00:05:58.500 And so she is our 1st couple of regular. 71 00:05:58.560 --> 00:06:00.000 Yeah, yeah, exactly. 72 00:06:00.060 --> 00:06:06.420 So she does, so she is kind of higher in the hierarchy here and then gradually descends as the series progresses. 73 00:06:06.480 --> 00:06:08.220 Yes, I think it's actually a season thing. 74 00:06:08.279 --> 00:06:10.500 She's quite prominent all through the 1st series. 75 00:06:10.560 --> 00:06:16.379 It's only in the 2nd series that she's kind of relegated to part of the ensemble rather than the female lead. 76 00:06:17.040 --> 00:06:24.360 So, speaking of female leads, We meet our 2nd female member of the crew, Callie. 77 00:06:24.420 --> 00:06:28.079 And doesn't she make a fantastic impression straight off? 78 00:06:28.139 --> 00:06:29.579 I love Kelly. 79 00:06:29.699 --> 00:06:35.339 I love Kelly, but that was driving me to distraction, that sequence down the planet. 80 00:06:35.399 --> 00:06:41.040 I mean, it's like she's giving a totally different performance in those film sequences compared to what comes later. 81 00:06:41.100 --> 00:06:42.660 Simon, exactly. 82 00:06:42.720 --> 00:06:44.220 That is exactly what we thought. 83 00:06:44.279 --> 00:06:51.360 I love Kelly. one of my favourite characters, but in those film sequences on the planet, she's playing a different character, and she's giving a different performance. 84 00:06:51.420 --> 00:06:59.939 I mean, I assume it works the same as Doctor Who will work the same as Doctor Who in the film stuff was done weeks ahead of before, maybe before they rehearsed the rest of the episode in action or where it is. 85 00:07:00.000 --> 00:07:07.139 Yeah, so that those scenes in the quarry are 1st seen shop the entire series. entire series. 86 00:07:07.199 --> 00:07:07.740 Yes. 87 00:07:07.800 --> 00:07:12.959 Like the location work for episode 4 was done before any of the studio work. 88 00:07:13.019 --> 00:07:15.660 That way, that makes so much sense now that you've said that. 89 00:07:15.720 --> 00:07:16.620 It does. 90 00:07:16.680 --> 00:07:26.339 I think there must have been some discussions about where the character was going to go because in the studio scenes for this episode in the control room in the facility and also back on the Liberator. 91 00:07:26.399 --> 00:07:31.800 Jan Chappell is giving a completely different performance and it's much more like the character that we know. 92 00:07:31.860 --> 00:07:36.120 Yeah, because she's really hard in those scenes in the quarry. 93 00:07:36.180 --> 00:07:41.939 And when she's out on location, even sort of her vocal mannerisms are very different to the Cali that we get to know later on. 94 00:07:42.000 --> 00:07:54.720 Look, it does make a sort of sense because the idea is she's been, you know, all her friends have been killed and she's left alone fighting just solo and she's gonna, she's prepared to blow herself up to strike a blow against the Federation. 95 00:07:54.779 --> 00:07:57.899 It just that it then changes so quickly. 96 00:07:57.959 --> 00:08:00.839 Like the teleporter changes her character. 97 00:08:02.220 --> 00:08:05.519 Something gets left and the same thing it happened to Dan. 98 00:08:06.480 --> 00:08:09.420 There must have character there, Peter. 99 00:08:09.480 --> 00:08:14.759 He was too busy, big, like, you know, being upset about someone murdering his woman. 100 00:08:14.819 --> 00:08:16.800 Yes, can we talk about that? 101 00:08:16.860 --> 00:08:21.000 I mean, it's so, I mean, is he supposed to be set up as like sort of the muscle? 102 00:08:21.060 --> 00:08:23.160 as the bit of a thug and all that sort of stuff? 103 00:08:23.220 --> 00:08:26.939 And the whole performance is this very sort of RP sort of performance. 104 00:08:26.939 --> 00:08:32.820 And then he has this line about they killed my woman, which is, like, it's being grabbed from Porky and Bess or something. 105 00:08:32.879 --> 00:08:38.159 And it's just, it just clashes with the rest of the way the character is being betrayed. 106 00:08:38.220 --> 00:08:45.539 Yes, I think it's meant to indicate that Gan is kind of the hard man of the crew, if you want, whereas one look at him and he's really not. 107 00:08:45.600 --> 00:08:46.740 He's not. 108 00:08:46.799 --> 00:08:47.820 He's so nervous. 109 00:08:48.419 --> 00:08:52.440 He would be, would it not for that limiter? 110 00:08:52.500 --> 00:08:55.080 Well, he's more gentle giant, I think. 111 00:08:55.200 --> 00:09:03.000 Yeah, I was going to say, I think Terry Nation was very much going for the relationship from of mice and men, really, wasn't he? 112 00:09:03.120 --> 00:09:04.559 Game's not supposed to be stupid, though. 113 00:09:04.620 --> 00:09:05.879 No, that's true. 114 00:09:05.940 --> 00:09:18.059 Those sort of elements, I think, in the relationship between Gan and Villa, of gentle giants and someone who's who's not necessarily as stupid as he appears, who takes him and they have that friendship. 115 00:09:18.120 --> 00:09:20.279 That's what I've always sort of got from them. 116 00:09:20.759 --> 00:09:26.700 And I did wonder whether that was in Terry Nation's mind sort of about this, particularly in Signus Alpha. 117 00:09:26.759 --> 00:09:35.159 You see, Gan, take control of the convicts sort of leading them through and doing that and he's never given that agency ever again in the show. 118 00:09:35.220 --> 00:09:38.519 Yes, it's such a shame because Gan is actually not a bad character. 119 00:09:38.639 --> 00:09:45.779 He gets a bit of a raw deal, I think, from viewers or fans who think that he's not as interesting or layered as a lot of the other characters. 120 00:09:45.840 --> 00:09:49.559 But the problem is that after Time Squad, he rarely gets anything to do again. 121 00:09:49.620 --> 00:09:57.600 I think in the scenes in this episode where he's given a bit of background and he's given a chance to kind of be in 2 hand, to with Sally Nevette. 122 00:09:57.659 --> 00:09:59.940 He's perfectly good at Gad is perfectly watchable. 123 00:10:00.539 --> 00:10:04.740 But all the performances at this point are very dry. 124 00:10:04.860 --> 00:10:11.460 I mean, I sort of compare it in my own experience to watching the early seasons or season at least of TNG. 125 00:10:11.519 --> 00:10:16.679 Everyone's playing everything very earnestly and all the performances are quite joyless. 126 00:10:16.740 --> 00:10:23.700 I mean, Avon does have the cutting one liners, but they're not as sort of camp and big as they become. 127 00:10:23.759 --> 00:10:35.460 You can see them all honing their performances and getting used to their characters, and then, although I think Avon, we said before, appears fully formed in Space Fall. 128 00:10:35.519 --> 00:10:43.860 I'm not sure the others are quite all there yet, and the performers are catching up with their characters and working out how to do this. 129 00:10:43.980 --> 00:10:55.200 We made a very good case to say that in some ways, cyclocate destroy is a 2nd pilot for the show where they work out what they're going to be doing for the rest of the next 4 years. 130 00:10:55.259 --> 00:10:57.720 Each character is quite well defined. 131 00:10:57.779 --> 00:11:03.120 They have their role, they do this, and this is what they what they're there for, and off you go. 132 00:11:03.179 --> 00:11:04.200 This is the show now. 133 00:11:04.259 --> 00:11:10.440 And sort of the 1st 5 episodes are sort of working up to that and everyone feeling their way very carefully. 134 00:11:10.620 --> 00:11:13.080 Oh, I think that's absolutely right. 135 00:11:13.139 --> 00:11:14.639 So I think you hit the nail on the head. 136 00:11:14.700 --> 00:11:27.779 It's almost as if, I mean, it will continue through the 1st series, but the series itself is a little bit dry at this and what they work out that it needs is a touch of camp, and I think the characters get them as well. 137 00:11:27.840 --> 00:11:34.139 So Avon will become iconic as soon as he gets that little touch of camp in his relationship with Blake. 138 00:11:34.200 --> 00:11:35.519 And yeah, I think you're right. 139 00:11:35.580 --> 00:11:46.620 Cyclocake Destroyer is the actual 2nd pilot, and of course, ratings wise, Cyclocake Destroyer was the highest rated episode of the season, leave, and the one that I think caught the popular imagination. 140 00:11:46.679 --> 00:11:52.559 So are you kind of suggesting that, you know, they're making this series and then they go, oh, God, this isn't working the way we hope. 141 00:11:52.620 --> 00:12:00.240 And then they write, seek, they do seek, locate, destroy as a kind of a reboot, or are you kind of suggesting that they get to seek, locate, destroy it? 142 00:12:00.299 --> 00:12:02.820 And finally they go, yes, that's what we're trying to do. 143 00:12:02.940 --> 00:12:03.600 Let's keep doing this. 144 00:12:03.659 --> 00:12:28.019 Yeah, I think there's very much the feeling of, oh, yeah, hang on. we've hit something here and we've got our we've got our villains that they're going to bat up against who are going to keep coming back and suddenly you've got a dynamic in this show that has been missing for these 1st 5 episodes because I don't think you can sustain the Federation as a faceless series of bases that you just go up and and destroy. 145 00:12:28.080 --> 00:12:32.399 They've got to give Blake something to fight against and that has to have a face. 146 00:12:32.460 --> 00:12:34.740 And a rather beautiful dress as well. 147 00:12:34.799 --> 00:12:35.639 Exactly. 148 00:12:35.759 --> 00:12:38.519 New is of constantly beautiful dresses. 149 00:12:38.580 --> 00:13:04.500 I mean, the betting because as soon as you put the face to it in the form of server and and so on, you do then make it automatically more count, not just because of Jacqueline Pierce, but because you've got like this single villain, there is something about like the dryer science fiction of it being this sort of implacable faceless federation and it's like the deep state kind of thing, it's just out there and we don't really know the extent of it and so on. 150 00:13:04.559 --> 00:13:08.700 And as soon as you do have the villain and villains appear. 151 00:13:08.759 --> 00:13:12.120 It can't help but change the flavour of the program. 152 00:13:12.179 --> 00:13:15.600 It's very interesting because it's almost likely cloquet destroyed. 153 00:13:15.659 --> 00:13:18.840 And obviously this is what we talked about when that episode arrives. 154 00:13:18.960 --> 00:13:24.000 It actually comes up with a new set of villains because the way back had already set up some villains. 155 00:13:24.059 --> 00:13:27.659 You had Fenn Glend, you had Warag, I think her name is. 156 00:13:27.720 --> 00:13:32.700 And so you had all of those people who actually set Blake up in the 1st place and they were part of the bureaucracy. 157 00:13:32.759 --> 00:13:34.620 So it's interesting that they didn't return to that. 158 00:13:34.799 --> 00:13:39.360 See, I quite like those characters in episode one. 159 00:13:39.419 --> 00:13:44.220 I think there's a lot of potential to them that, you know, they're just kind of squander. 160 00:13:44.279 --> 00:13:55.980 If they'd spent half the season with him trying to escape Earth or, you know, like, done a sort of long, like, long drawn out kind of persecution and trial thing instead of it just been one episode. 161 00:13:57.120 --> 00:14:03.419 In those in these 1st 5 episodes, I didn't even say 4 episodes because I think even from the web, it's different. 162 00:14:03.480 --> 00:14:17.639 There is a different series there that could have so easily gone in this other direction with these other characters as you guys are saying, and it's like it's just, it's, I don't know whether it's actively discarded. 163 00:14:17.700 --> 00:14:32.039 I think it just falls away, but in a parallel universe, Blake 7 is those 1st 4 episodes and then sort of going on from there in a completely different direction, without the server lance, with these, with these other characters that we're meeting the way back. 164 00:14:32.100 --> 00:14:33.299 Absolutely right. 165 00:14:33.360 --> 00:14:37.379 And tying that in with kind of 2nd pilots and false starts as we were talking about. 166 00:14:37.559 --> 00:14:55.080 It's interesting that when Travis is eventually introduced, his backstory with Blake and what happened when they 1st faced off is essentially what happens in the way back with Blake and with the guy played by Kelman from Doctor Who's Revenge at the Cyberman. 167 00:14:55.139 --> 00:14:57.539 The plotting is actually the same. 168 00:14:57.600 --> 00:14:59.820 Dev Terence, how could I forget his name? 169 00:14:59.879 --> 00:15:00.600 Dev Tarrant. 170 00:15:01.559 --> 00:15:04.620 Third brother, Dita and Dell. 171 00:15:04.679 --> 00:15:11.279 It's interesting you say that because in the in earlier in the scripting process, they were the same character. 172 00:15:11.399 --> 00:15:46.740 So the character that eventually becomes Travis started as as the character that was dead of Tarrant, and they, as they reworked the scripts, they became 2 separate characters, and he became a sort of kind of quasi cyborg with a, you know, with a hand that shoots like laser beams, but initially, there was supposed to be that ongoing, ongoing plot thread with him having having been the traitor and having betrayed him again and again. 173 00:15:46.799 --> 00:15:59.399 That sort of more evidence for the fact that Clocate destroyer feels like the real start of the series because it takes what was that character in the 1st episodes and it goes off in a new direction and just happens to give it most of that backstory. 174 00:15:59.460 --> 00:16:01.919 But back to Time Squad, if I may. 175 00:16:02.940 --> 00:16:06.899 Just on the odd chance that that's what we want to talk about, right? 176 00:16:06.960 --> 00:16:13.500 Interesting that we spent most of the episodes that if I'm not talking about every episode around it, but not this one. 177 00:16:13.559 --> 00:16:27.179 I mean, the other reason why it's unloved, let's be honest, is the man who's directing it, is never one to add much panache to his direct oriol style. 178 00:16:27.240 --> 00:16:38.220 But what I will say is that for Pennant Roberts in this, I actually felt it's actually not as bad as some of the Doctor Who he does in terms of the full square kind of coverage. 179 00:16:38.220 --> 00:16:41.639 I mean, this whole episode does suffer from Pennant Roberts ISIS. 180 00:16:41.700 --> 00:16:42.720 Absolutely, absolutely. 181 00:16:42.779 --> 00:16:46.799 The unfailing ability to shoot action sequences like it's coronation streets. 182 00:16:46.860 --> 00:16:52.919 I refer you to face of evil, Warriors of the Deep in Doctor Who and Mission to Destiny later this season. 183 00:16:53.279 --> 00:17:05.700 I don't know why he can't cover studio action, but the fact is he can't go all 3 times that Jenna faces off against the time squad in the hold are all shot far too wide. 184 00:17:05.759 --> 00:17:10.200 There's no cutaways and the vision switching between the shots is so flabby. 185 00:17:10.259 --> 00:17:28.740 I mean, if you want an example of how it can be done effectively in a studio setup, look at Michael Bryant's work in this season, just picking one example from the top of my head, in Project Avalon, where they rescue Avalon from the cells, that's all done under the same restrictions in studio and let it, it's shot so much more tightly. 186 00:17:28.859 --> 00:17:44.099 Yeah, and I was going to just extend on that is it's not just the sort of flabby, lazy sort of wide direction of that chock choices and the fact that the vision mixer seems to be at least 3 seconds behind where they should be and all that sort of stuff. 187 00:17:44.160 --> 00:17:49.680 It's because it's also the performances, like the performances feel stilted. 188 00:17:49.799 --> 00:17:58.859 Like the performances almost feel like they're shooting, you know, one of those line rehearsals, that actors might go through just to make sure that everyone's remembering everyone's line in the right order. 189 00:17:58.920 --> 00:17:59.640 Do you know what I mean? 190 00:17:59.700 --> 00:18:01.079 I like urgency, though. 191 00:18:01.140 --> 00:18:03.000 There's no urgency there, there's live. 192 00:18:03.119 --> 00:18:04.200 Live. 193 00:18:04.500 --> 00:18:06.000 Line. 194 00:18:06.059 --> 00:18:10.440 And there's just no sense of forward momentum, like every line is an effort. 195 00:18:10.500 --> 00:18:14.880 Not by the direction, obviously, but so it's not just the fact that he can't use the studio cameras. 196 00:18:14.940 --> 00:18:16.500 It's also the fact that he can't direct the actors. 197 00:18:16.559 --> 00:18:18.839 And we know that the actors can deliver. 198 00:18:18.900 --> 00:18:22.920 We know that they can deliver good, really tight scenes when given the direction. 199 00:18:22.980 --> 00:18:39.660 But then, you know, I review you to the end of the episode for peak pennant Roberts ISIS, where the guards break into the control room and just sort of open the door and then the crew teleport away in a lethargic multicam cut, and then a little flesh goes off and the guards lie down on the floor. 200 00:18:39.720 --> 00:18:41.579 It should have been laughed out of the studio. 201 00:18:41.640 --> 00:18:46.920 I want to know where the pennant rubber's itis is infectious and whether we need to have him in 2 weeks quarantine. 202 00:18:46.980 --> 00:18:49.140 Make sure he doesn't stuff up the rest of the season. 203 00:18:49.200 --> 00:18:51.900 What he needs is a good dose of Graham Harper. 204 00:18:52.859 --> 00:18:55.440 He goes into Clay, yes. 205 00:18:55.500 --> 00:19:01.740 Yeah, it's interesting because my 1st experience of this this particular episode was from the novelisation. 206 00:19:01.799 --> 00:19:03.539 There's a novelisation. 207 00:19:03.599 --> 00:19:04.380 There was. 208 00:19:04.440 --> 00:19:08.819 Yes, there was a book that contained the 1st 4 episodes as one long novelisation. 209 00:19:08.880 --> 00:19:19.740 And in that, the author makes the scenes on the Liberator incredibly tense, and there's a real sense of creeping menace and things going wrong. 210 00:19:19.799 --> 00:19:22.380 None of that comes really across in the episode. 211 00:19:22.440 --> 00:19:27.599 It's just a lot of creeping around and slow fights. 212 00:19:27.660 --> 00:19:38.759 There's obviously potential somewhere in this script because it felt much better in prose than it did on screen, but Pennant Roberts is very much the safe pair of hands. 213 00:19:38.819 --> 00:19:44.819 He will bring this in on time and on budget, and he's the kind of director you need to keep your budget, say. 214 00:19:44.940 --> 00:19:49.500 He's not going to do anything outrageous, but he doesn't do anything particularly stylish as well. 215 00:19:49.619 --> 00:19:54.599 I'll take eating them off out over Pennant Roberts as the on-time on budget director any day. 216 00:19:54.660 --> 00:19:55.920 Yes. 217 00:19:55.980 --> 00:19:58.920 And also, seriously, we have to ask ourselves if that's the point. 218 00:19:58.980 --> 00:20:10.980 Why employee Pennant Roberts, because again, we have an example this season in Michael Bryant of a director who does bring things in on time, but gets so much more out of his studios than Pennant does. 219 00:20:11.039 --> 00:20:15.599 And you think faced with that, how could you possibly be satisfied in its work? 220 00:20:15.660 --> 00:20:29.339 I read something recently about Pennant Roberts and the BBC, that the BBC used him quite often on the 1st series of shows because he was very good at doing the setup of a show. 221 00:20:29.400 --> 00:20:36.720 So he did sort of similar work on Tenko and survivors, particularly, where he was just brought in. 222 00:20:36.839 --> 00:20:42.359 Are you sure that this is a revisionist history and he only worked on the 1st series of shows because they never brought him back. 223 00:20:42.420 --> 00:20:43.799 Well, that's entirely. 224 00:20:43.859 --> 00:20:45.539 Yes, well that, well, there we go. 225 00:20:45.720 --> 00:20:53.759 I was going to, I was going to make the observation that what they're trying to say that if the series can survive Penet Roberts, it'll, it'll work okay. 226 00:20:53.940 --> 00:20:56.819 That might be a better way of putting it. 227 00:20:57.059 --> 00:21:02.160 Let's not be too hard on panic because even though I do not think he does a very good job. 228 00:21:02.220 --> 00:21:04.559 There are actually a couple of nice touches in this episode. 229 00:21:04.619 --> 00:21:11.099 So the lights are turned down a little in the studios, especially in those hold sequences. 230 00:21:11.160 --> 00:21:13.680 And there are a couple of genuinely nice moments. 231 00:21:13.740 --> 00:21:25.500 The bit where the camera pans to be smashed wall communicator in the hold, and Jenna's voice becomes this goblin kind of voice coming out of it is actually genuinely unset thing. 232 00:21:25.559 --> 00:21:27.539 So I appreciate him for that. 233 00:21:27.599 --> 00:21:30.720 And I also quite like Utter on the quarry down the planet. 234 00:21:30.779 --> 00:21:34.680 I think it's simple and effective, although truthfully it's quite hard to look at those sequences. 235 00:21:34.799 --> 00:21:45.359 They initially wanted to put Cali in a red wig, red eye makeup and red contact lenses because she was actually supposed to be from that planet, not from our own. 236 00:21:45.420 --> 00:21:46.799 Well, I'm glad they didn't do that. 237 00:21:46.859 --> 00:21:50.700 Poor old Jan Chapel would have suffered there. very glad as well. 238 00:21:50.759 --> 00:21:51.839 Yeah. 239 00:21:51.900 --> 00:21:58.740 And when they decided to rewrite it, they're like, maybe we don't want to have to stick red contacts in a red wave every week. 240 00:21:58.799 --> 00:22:00.539 And it's early in the season as well. 241 00:22:00.599 --> 00:22:05.940 So there's still a bit of money floating around and the model work is very well done. for Blake 7, I think. 242 00:22:06.000 --> 00:22:10.799 All of those scenes of the alien capsule being manoeuvred aboard liberated are really quite nice. 243 00:22:10.859 --> 00:22:17.519 Oh, I just have to point out at that point, sorry, with the model work, it's that thing where they say transfer to inner hold number five. 244 00:22:17.579 --> 00:22:22.619 It's a great way to avoid the inconsistency between the model work and then the sets that they had done. 245 00:22:22.859 --> 00:22:25.920 Absolutely Got a bit of... 246 00:22:25.920 --> 00:22:36.660 But I love the way they've gone to the effort of making a tiny model for the model shots and then they build the full size projectile and shove it into the into the studio as well. 247 00:22:36.779 --> 00:22:38.160 That's not bad going. 248 00:22:38.220 --> 00:22:43.680 They could have done that with a CSO shot behind them and they've actually gone to the effort of making the full-size thing. 249 00:22:43.740 --> 00:22:46.920 And don't they use that set again later in the season? 250 00:22:47.039 --> 00:22:49.859 So they've kind of, they've made the cost strip over several episodes. 251 00:22:49.980 --> 00:22:52.440 Yeah, and I'm sure it turns up in countdown as well. 252 00:22:52.500 --> 00:22:53.880 Yes, it absolutely does. 253 00:22:53.940 --> 00:22:54.420 You're right. 254 00:22:56.099 --> 00:23:10.680 The thing that Pennant might seem to be able to do as well is to keep Dudley Simpson relatively speaking under control because he does have some I'm not a huge Dudley Simpson fan, at least I'm not a huge Dudley Simpson's later work. 255 00:23:10.740 --> 00:23:13.920 What did you do for most of the 70s of Doctor Who? 256 00:23:13.980 --> 00:23:15.240 Well, indeed. 257 00:23:15.359 --> 00:23:23.039 It's in the Williams era of Doctor Who, the Dudley Simpson starts to, it all doesn't go rightly with directly with the video visuals. 258 00:23:23.099 --> 00:23:30.539 It's all a bit sort of, it's too bang crash wallet, whereas here you've got the subtleties which Dudley had up to kind of when he goes astray. 259 00:23:30.599 --> 00:23:36.119 You've got the sort of the shaker beating irregularly when Jenna's exploring the caption. 260 00:23:36.119 --> 00:23:41.519 And it's very Dudley Simpson, but he sort of loses that subtlety on his very late Doctor Who. 261 00:23:41.579 --> 00:23:45.059 I'm just talking about the end of Doctor Who, like the back end of the Williams era, basically. 262 00:23:45.119 --> 00:23:50.819 Yes, Dudley's interesting on Blake 7 because I think on Doctor Who, he could often be distinctive. 263 00:23:50.880 --> 00:24:04.680 If you think of the doctor who scores of the 70s, if you, especially during the Phil Kinsqui era, which was probably his, that's the early Tom Baker era, when he was at, I think, his best, each story had an individual flavour, which he gave to it. 264 00:24:04.740 --> 00:24:19.559 And I'm very hard pressed think of any scores in Blake second, which really stand out, except for maybe Star one, which is the end of the 2nd series, which I think has a very grand and kind of ominous score to it. 265 00:24:19.619 --> 00:24:25.799 But otherwise, sort of delivering what he does for the Graham Williams era of Doctor Who, which is stock music. 266 00:24:25.859 --> 00:24:26.460 Yeah. 267 00:24:26.460 --> 00:24:31.200 Likewise, in the within stuff, you know, City of Death is the only one that really stands out. 268 00:24:31.259 --> 00:24:32.880 And I think I think it's the similar kind of thing. 269 00:24:32.940 --> 00:24:38.700 All the rest of it in both Blake 7 and Doctor Who, that period, does sort of sound the same, regardless of what the episode's about. 270 00:24:38.759 --> 00:24:44.640 Yeah, I mean, there's occasional nice passages where he's gets a chance to write something beautiful and slightly distinctive. 271 00:24:44.700 --> 00:24:51.779 I think there's some nice bits in Mission to Destiny, and in Project Avalon, particularly has a pretty good score. 272 00:24:51.839 --> 00:25:06.180 But I think they might have been better off going to the radiophonic workshop and going for a big sort of symphi electronic score, maybe, and giving it a completely different field to Doctor Who in this particular era anyway. 273 00:25:06.240 --> 00:25:15.779 Like I say, in some ways, it's a shame that I think producer David Maloney, who'd worked with Dudley on Doc 2 a lot and sort of saw him as a good score for sci-fi. 274 00:25:15.839 --> 00:25:19.740 And I think that's a little bit of a shame because they had gone in a different direction. 275 00:25:19.799 --> 00:25:25.259 It might have taken away the fact that Blake 7 and Doctor Who feels so much like sister shows. 276 00:25:25.319 --> 00:25:26.700 What do you think of his feed? 277 00:25:26.759 --> 00:25:28.920 I mean, the theme is incredible. 278 00:25:29.039 --> 00:25:42.000 There was a massive pass of my childhood, just the excitement that I got from hearing that theme, Saturday night at like midnight when they were repeating series, A through C, and being allowed to stay up late and watch it. 279 00:25:42.059 --> 00:25:49.380 It was a formative part of my childhood and it's still now just hearing that music brings me joy even on Time Squad. 280 00:25:49.440 --> 00:25:51.359 It is amazing. 281 00:25:51.480 --> 00:26:01.200 It is an amazing theme and does prize me that he's written it given some of the incidentals he writes or churns out, shall we say? 282 00:26:01.259 --> 00:26:03.420 It's so anthemic. 283 00:26:03.480 --> 00:26:04.380 It's a real anthem. 284 00:26:04.440 --> 00:26:04.920 It's great. 285 00:26:04.980 --> 00:26:07.740 So, I mean, did you ever watch The Tomorrow people? 286 00:26:07.859 --> 00:26:11.339 No, no, I didn't, no. 287 00:26:11.400 --> 00:26:12.720 Is that is that as well? 288 00:26:12.779 --> 00:26:20.940 It's fairly lamentable in many ways, but it has, again, a brilliant opening titles with a fantastic theme by Dudley. 289 00:26:21.000 --> 00:26:22.859 Oh, don't there you go. 290 00:26:22.980 --> 00:26:23.700 Okay, is another thing. 291 00:26:23.759 --> 00:26:27.960 Yeah, it's really distinctive and really creepy and very, very odd. 292 00:26:28.079 --> 00:26:30.539 Have we talked about the opening credits? 293 00:26:30.599 --> 00:26:32.460 I just find them an interesting choice. 294 00:26:32.460 --> 00:26:42.960 And also, it's quite a contrast to the way the show is at this point, which is clearly trying to be a serious or reasonably serious science fiction program. 295 00:26:42.960 --> 00:26:50.400 And yet the credits are the only sequence, it's cartoon animation, it's drawn. 296 00:26:50.460 --> 00:27:03.059 I mean, maybe that was a conscious choice so that it wasn't sort of wobbly models and so on and that they obviously weren't going to go to the electric, you know, howl around type of Doctor Who, but it's always something that never sat well with me. 297 00:27:03.119 --> 00:27:12.299 The series A and B credits, that is, it just is strange and even in the episode, there's a sequence where the liberators flying along and it's the drawing. 298 00:27:12.359 --> 00:27:14.339 It's an animated thing. 299 00:27:14.400 --> 00:27:18.839 It just seems so at odds with the overall flavour they're trying to go with. 300 00:27:18.900 --> 00:27:22.680 I don't know whether this was done lazy when they decided to descend into space opera. 301 00:27:22.740 --> 00:27:24.539 And so they thought, well, this will work for that. 302 00:27:24.599 --> 00:27:25.440 Peter? 303 00:27:25.500 --> 00:27:31.680 I think the main problem is that the reach of the title succeeds its grasp. 304 00:27:31.740 --> 00:27:39.359 And so the idea for it is actually very good, but the only way that they could really perform it was to animate it. 305 00:27:39.420 --> 00:27:40.440 There was no other real way. 306 00:27:40.500 --> 00:27:59.700 And I think that a lot of the problem as well with the model work is, I don't know how accurate this is, but anecdotally, apparently the model maker, who I think was he in Scones, spent most of his budgets on the 1st couple of episodes and was left for virtually nothing for the rest of the season, which is why they literally had to animate the shots. 307 00:27:59.759 --> 00:28:10.440 Yeah, and there's a sort of case in point as well, that he went off and did sort of the hero shots of the liberator and lots of shots that they could throw into episodes generally. 308 00:28:10.500 --> 00:28:15.599 And then each director comes in and says, oh, well, I want to direct this and I've got an idea for this. 309 00:28:15.660 --> 00:28:33.119 And so they don't end up using a lot of the actual expensive model work that they've done and then end up with the liberator flying past 1000000s of planets and the most starry possible skates that you can imagine in those strange animated sequences. 310 00:28:33.359 --> 00:28:47.220 Have we discussed in earlier episodes that didn't the model cause a huge issue between the set and the props department because the model was actually designed by Roger Murray Leach. 311 00:28:48.119 --> 00:28:51.839 I think the design caused a lot of problems because it's impossible to fly. 312 00:28:51.900 --> 00:29:07.259 It needs a great big pole underneath it, to actually move it because they made this huge model, but you can't suspend it easily because it's got these tiny little struts holding the nacelles on, and it's difficult to fly in any conventional way. 313 00:29:07.319 --> 00:29:13.019 And there are several model shots looking at the web next week where you can see the pole that's holding it up. 314 00:29:13.140 --> 00:29:18.779 I mean, isn't there just any example of the fact that for all the difficulties that it caused? 315 00:29:18.839 --> 00:29:31.440 It was absolutely so right that they went that way because I believe that I have seen an initial drawing, which was done by the model makers, what the liberators should look like, and it looked pretty much like the London from those 1st 2 episodes. 316 00:29:31.500 --> 00:29:34.740 There was nothing iconic or interesting about it asshole. 317 00:29:34.799 --> 00:29:38.160 And so boo-hoo, if they have troubleshooting it. 318 00:29:38.220 --> 00:29:40.380 Thank God that Roger Murray Leach designed it. 319 00:29:40.440 --> 00:29:49.500 Because I'm surprised that it caused a strike that cancelled the rest of the season. some sort of clock that then... 320 00:29:49.559 --> 00:29:56.700 It's a learned fact, it's like it actually caused a rolling strike which actually cancelled charter. 321 00:29:59.759 --> 00:30:01.259 It's either that or Pennant Roberts. 322 00:30:02.279 --> 00:30:04.740 Let's just name it. 323 00:30:04.740 --> 00:30:11.759 Yes, of course, did direct the 1st episode, which was in studio, which was Spaceball, and he directed the 1st location, which was for this. 324 00:30:11.819 --> 00:30:20.400 So I think we must be grateful for small mercies that he didn't direct the actual opening episode because that could have been fairly turgid in his hands. 325 00:30:20.460 --> 00:30:21.240 Well, that's interesting. 326 00:30:21.299 --> 00:30:25.559 I didn't realise, I forgot that he did Spaceball, because that's actually not as bad a direction. 327 00:30:25.619 --> 00:30:27.119 That's sort of fine, isn't it? 328 00:30:27.180 --> 00:30:28.740 It's fine. 329 00:30:28.859 --> 00:30:29.880 In comparison, it is. 330 00:30:29.940 --> 00:30:31.079 Because it's uncomplicated. 331 00:30:31.140 --> 00:30:36.119 Or maybe maybe he can do it better because spaceball is more about, you know, people in rooms talking. 332 00:30:36.180 --> 00:30:39.839 I don't mean that in the negative sense because it's, you know, the tense drama of it. 333 00:30:39.900 --> 00:30:43.799 But maybe that's what he's more suited to and he can't cope with too much going on. 334 00:30:43.859 --> 00:30:47.099 There's not so much action in that one. 335 00:30:47.160 --> 00:30:52.380 And what fights there are, the big fight between Avon and the technician, for instance, is on film. 336 00:30:52.440 --> 00:30:53.640 So it's easier to cut. 337 00:30:53.700 --> 00:30:59.519 Yeah, your film editor can make something of that that maybe your vision mixture in the studio can't. 338 00:30:59.579 --> 00:31:02.099 I was just going to say, we're still not talking... 339 00:31:02.099 --> 00:31:05.579 We're still not talking... outside squad. 340 00:31:06.539 --> 00:31:11.759 Well, I think Time Squad is inextricably linked with the start of the series. 341 00:31:11.819 --> 00:31:16.140 I mean, there's a lot of choices which are made in Time Squad, which do reflect on the start of the series. 342 00:31:16.200 --> 00:31:25.200 There's a reason why it's the last chunk of that, the beginning, the HS tape back in the 80s, and I don't think it's just because it's Callie's introduction. 343 00:31:25.259 --> 00:31:28.380 So what percentage of the episode makes it to that VHS? 344 00:31:28.440 --> 00:31:29.519 Is it just? 345 00:31:29.519 --> 00:31:29.940 Most of it. 346 00:31:30.000 --> 00:31:30.779 Oh, most of it. 347 00:31:30.839 --> 00:31:32.759 Oh, it's sickness enough, basically sliced out? 348 00:31:32.819 --> 00:31:35.640 They cut the they cut the way back to shreds. 349 00:31:35.819 --> 00:31:41.339 Mainly because, you know, the plot line is not really palatable for a peachy raging. 350 00:31:41.400 --> 00:31:43.980 There's quite a bit of space for in there. 351 00:31:44.039 --> 00:31:49.140 There's still quite a bit of sickness alpha in there as well, but most of Times Squad is in there. 352 00:31:49.200 --> 00:31:49.859 Right. 353 00:31:49.920 --> 00:31:51.059 So you do get both of the plot. 354 00:31:51.119 --> 00:31:53.640 I thought maybe they, I mean, it's so long since I saw it. 355 00:31:53.700 --> 00:31:56.279 I mean, it is 30 something years ago, since I saw that. 356 00:31:56.339 --> 00:31:59.400 Maybe by that point the person editing the videotape and falling asleep. 357 00:31:59.519 --> 00:32:01.559 Oh, and just let the rest of it run. 358 00:32:01.619 --> 00:32:02.099 Yeah, okay. 359 00:32:05.160 --> 00:32:06.420 Getting back to Time Squad. 360 00:32:06.480 --> 00:32:12.900 Are they wearing the 7 teams costumes from the face of people? 361 00:32:13.019 --> 00:32:15.480 Or does it just look like it? 362 00:32:15.539 --> 00:32:18.900 It could only have been approved if one of them was wearing Leela's? 363 00:32:18.960 --> 00:32:24.359 I mean, They're very BBC savage, aren't they? 364 00:32:25.079 --> 00:32:26.519 No. 365 00:32:26.519 --> 00:32:29.819 I mean, it's ridiculous of everything that's wrong with this episode. 366 00:32:30.420 --> 00:32:44.099 It's just, and it's sort of indicative of what of what is wrong with, I think, stock standard BBC sci-fi to 70s and that you're meant to have this group of crack warriors, but it's actually the village people with middle-aged spread. 367 00:32:44.160 --> 00:32:55.920 And it's just, it's so lame that these warriors are a bunch of fat, poorly blocked extras with glued on facial hair and I don't know, an inability to chase a granny on a mobility scooter. 368 00:32:55.980 --> 00:33:00.299 It removes any kind of menace that should actually be there in the script. 369 00:33:00.359 --> 00:33:03.779 Yes, and if it was made now, at least they'd be hot. you know? 370 00:33:03.839 --> 00:33:07.440 I mean, it's just so depressing. 371 00:33:07.500 --> 00:33:11.279 But it's that, you know, old BBC thing as well. they have no lines. 372 00:33:11.339 --> 00:33:17.099 Therefore, they're only paid whatever it is, and therefore, you get what you pay for, basically. 373 00:33:17.160 --> 00:33:19.740 Well, could you speak to a screen? 374 00:33:19.799 --> 00:33:22.619 If the screen counts as a line of dialogue. 375 00:33:22.680 --> 00:33:24.539 GH. 376 00:33:24.960 --> 00:33:34.200 Also, I think it's over-promising and under delivering because Time Squad could be a 70s dance troop, like hot chocolate, but sadly, that's not what we're given. 377 00:33:34.259 --> 00:33:40.140 Yeah, or some crack time travellers have come back to change the past. 378 00:33:40.200 --> 00:33:43.799 Like, it's it's just a terrible name. 379 00:33:43.859 --> 00:33:45.660 Like why is it called Time Squad? 380 00:33:47.220 --> 00:33:49.380 Cryo squad, maybe. 381 00:33:49.500 --> 00:33:52.079 That would be better. crew. 382 00:33:55.319 --> 00:34:04.559 What do we think of the way Callie's telepathic abilities are introduced because I actually thought it was sort of done reasonably well. 383 00:34:04.619 --> 00:34:07.200 It's sort of, it's quite concise the way they do it. 384 00:34:07.259 --> 00:34:10.320 You know, they very quickly establish, you know, she can't just read people's minds. 385 00:34:10.380 --> 00:34:15.840 She can project her thoughts, and it sort of puts the boundaries around what she can do very, very quickly. 386 00:34:15.900 --> 00:34:19.320 So we don't discover that over the course of several episodes. 387 00:34:19.380 --> 00:34:23.280 And more to the point, we don't have incredibly inconsistent things that Kelly's capable of doing. 388 00:34:23.340 --> 00:34:26.940 I do love the way that Blake reveals that as well. 389 00:34:27.000 --> 00:34:32.400 So like he faints to one side and because she can't read his mind. 390 00:34:32.460 --> 00:34:33.480 He tricks her. 391 00:34:33.480 --> 00:34:37.019 And so it's actually kind of natural in the dialogue. 392 00:34:37.079 --> 00:34:41.519 It's not just, it's not just, I'm a telepath, but I can't read minds. 393 00:34:41.579 --> 00:34:43.019 I can only talk to you in your head. 394 00:34:43.619 --> 00:34:47.880 No, it's quite subtle writing from Terry Nation for a change. 395 00:34:47.940 --> 00:34:50.340 Well, it's probably Chris Boucher. 396 00:34:51.420 --> 00:34:58.079 Well, no, it's interesting that Blake doesn't know that the R&R are capable of telepathy. 397 00:34:58.139 --> 00:35:00.719 I mean, isn't that sort of thing that you hear about? 398 00:35:00.780 --> 00:35:05.699 I mean, I know the Federation's a big place and everything, but you'd think that someone would have known, no? 399 00:35:05.760 --> 00:35:16.980 Well, I guess, you know, like if they're a totalitarian stage and they control everybody's lives and thoughts and everything, would they allow you to know about the outside world? 400 00:35:16.980 --> 00:35:20.340 And Arron's supposed to be neutral as well, isn't it? 401 00:35:20.400 --> 00:35:25.260 as it's sort of stated later and isn't affiliated to anything and keep themselves to themselves. 402 00:35:25.320 --> 00:35:31.079 And Callie is one of the few who has made it out off-world and fighting for a call. 403 00:35:31.139 --> 00:35:38.940 It's interesting what I was saying earlier about, but I think this is non-semble episode in that a lot of the rest of the episodes of the series aren't. 404 00:35:39.000 --> 00:35:42.119 They actually allow different characters to have different knowledge. 405 00:35:42.239 --> 00:35:47.880 And so Jenner is the one who explains to Blake about cryogenesis and what that meant. 406 00:35:47.940 --> 00:35:55.320 Whereas I think later in his run, Blake becomes a little bit all knowing, he's the one who's sort of telling people their jobs. 407 00:35:55.380 --> 00:35:58.920 Jenna, break all this and do this, where it's like, yeah, she's the pilot, she knows this. 408 00:35:59.039 --> 00:36:02.159 Whereas I think here everyone has allowed their own agency a little bit more. 409 00:36:02.219 --> 00:36:08.159 Yeah, and I think you see that in that opening scene on the flight deck where they're going to dock with the ship. 410 00:36:08.219 --> 00:36:10.559 Jenna is very much in control. 411 00:36:10.619 --> 00:36:13.920 That's her knowledge and everyone is deferring to her. 412 00:36:13.980 --> 00:36:15.420 Yes, absolutely. 413 00:36:15.480 --> 00:36:22.800 And I think there's a little bit of a shame in those scenes because there was an opportunity, I think, to open up Gan's character a little bit more. 414 00:36:22.860 --> 00:36:34.619 So Jenna is teaching Blake how to fly the liberator at the start of the episode and I just wonder why they gave him that when it was just giving him more of the action than he already had. 415 00:36:34.679 --> 00:36:50.340 If they'd given it to Gan, for instance, it would have given him more of a character to have been sort of a backup pilot, and he could have then manoeuvred the capsule on board to demonstrate that, whereas Avon does it in the episode, and he doesn't have any piloting experience that we know of. 416 00:36:50.400 --> 00:36:53.820 So it's all a little bit kind of thought through at this stage, I think. 417 00:36:53.880 --> 00:37:01.320 You then get down using the tissue regeneration thing on Jenna, which is obviously something that they don't have in the Federation. 418 00:37:01.380 --> 00:37:03.300 That something that's, you know, unique to the liberator. 419 00:37:03.300 --> 00:37:05.820 And he somehow has discovered that this thing's there. 420 00:37:05.880 --> 00:37:10.739 So, but that's not giving the character something to do because it should be something that he does. 421 00:37:10.800 --> 00:37:15.239 It's just, well, this character's here, so he can fix genera. 422 00:37:15.300 --> 00:37:19.440 Yes, he's often relegated, I think, to the caregiver role, Gan. 423 00:37:19.500 --> 00:37:23.159 And that's an interesting dynamic because he's obviously the strong man. 424 00:37:23.219 --> 00:37:34.860 He's obviously got a violent past for whatever reason, which means he needed the limitser, but he is the one who often expresses empathy for other people on the crew and helps them medically. 425 00:37:34.920 --> 00:37:36.480 So it's an interesting dynamic. 426 00:37:36.539 --> 00:37:38.039 It's not overplayed, but it's there. 427 00:37:44.460 --> 00:37:54.599 The, uh, the sequence where they're actually attacking the power plant or chemical factory, whatever the hell it is. something that sort of bugged me when I watched it, because it sort of felt so obvious. 428 00:37:54.659 --> 00:38:00.239 Abel's the only one who's doing whatever he's doing to make the thing blow up, to make the reactor blow up. 429 00:38:00.300 --> 00:38:04.679 A couple of the others aren't really, they're just standing there. they're waiting for it to happen. 430 00:38:04.739 --> 00:38:09.179 You'd think someone would contact the liberator and say, get us ready to teleport. 431 00:38:09.300 --> 00:38:17.639 I mean, I know it's kind of the dramatic thing that, you know, when they do finally call in, there's no one, there's no one listening to teleport them up, but it just feels stupid. 432 00:38:17.699 --> 00:38:22.079 Like for me, it's characters behaving stupidly, which is annoying. 433 00:38:22.139 --> 00:38:25.619 And you can still have had that drama. 434 00:38:25.679 --> 00:38:29.699 You could have wrapped that drama up because flapping the 2 things together. 435 00:38:29.760 --> 00:38:33.300 Yeah, it's like thinking about had them constantly trying. 436 00:38:33.360 --> 00:38:40.079 And then they decide, shall we press the button anyway because, you know, they're going to burst in any seconds and kill us. 437 00:38:40.139 --> 00:38:43.860 We may as well blow ourselves up as well, other because we're about to be shot anyway. 438 00:38:43.920 --> 00:38:46.019 That that's there you go. 439 00:38:46.079 --> 00:38:47.579 We've just written the better version of time. 440 00:38:48.420 --> 00:38:50.579 Let's make the special edition. 441 00:38:50.820 --> 00:38:53.519 I think that goes back to the crocs, though. 442 00:38:53.579 --> 00:39:09.059 I mean, let's not bash Terry Nation too much because I think Terry Nation is a good writer, and he does a really good job of delivering 13 straight episodes this season, but there are a couple of instances where the cracks show, and I think Time Squad is absolutely one of them. 443 00:39:09.119 --> 00:39:24.119 It feels like a story that's fallen through the cracks and isn't properly developed and one where the character should be developing in a way that they do encyclocate destroy, but not yet because you've just got this episode sort of thrust into a gap here. 444 00:39:24.179 --> 00:39:37.679 I wonder whether, again, because it's been pulled forward, Chris Boucher hasn't had a lot of time to do some magic work on it and bring it up to standard, because I know he does that a lot towards the end of the season. 445 00:39:37.739 --> 00:39:43.320 This is, we've got to get this done because we're filming next week and this will do. 446 00:39:43.380 --> 00:39:57.360 It's serviceable. it'll be fine Well, didn't I didn't be able to famously say or infamously say that there wasn't a single line that Avon said that he hadn't had some involvement in writing. 447 00:39:57.420 --> 00:39:59.159 Chris Boucher did say that. 448 00:39:59.219 --> 00:40:06.000 He said it to me when I interviewed him. on the floor, shall I? 449 00:40:07.079 --> 00:40:18.780 I think you're absolutely right, James, but having said that, I do think this is the earliest episode where we start to get some of the banter that will become very identified with Blake 7. 450 00:40:18.840 --> 00:40:22.559 It's not quite the treasure that will come to expect, but there are some good lions. 451 00:40:22.619 --> 00:40:25.139 So you have some, you have Villa St. 452 00:40:25.139 --> 00:40:26.699 Lake early on the flight deck. 453 00:40:26.760 --> 00:40:27.840 He says, I don't follow you. 454 00:40:27.900 --> 00:40:33.960 And they even turns around and says, oh, but you too, that's the problem, which has a very nice kind of summation of that. 455 00:40:34.079 --> 00:40:40.500 And I think later on when they're talking about, you know, they might get killed or but properly they won't. 456 00:40:40.559 --> 00:40:42.900 And everyone says, I'm sure Blake will manage it somehow. 457 00:40:42.960 --> 00:40:47.039 And so they've already, they've already set up that character dynamic, which is good. 458 00:40:47.099 --> 00:40:47.579 Yeah. 459 00:40:47.880 --> 00:40:57.780 Like, I think the live is actually something like, for a clever man, you know, not very bright, deaf dumb and blind, how they're going to catch us. 460 00:40:57.780 --> 00:41:01.739 And then everyone says, I'm sure Blake will manage it somehow. 461 00:41:02.280 --> 00:41:05.639 There's some great lines in this episode. 462 00:41:05.880 --> 00:41:15.360 And actually, that's a bit of a problem with Time Squad and why we keep referencing Clokate destroyed, because Clokate destroy is a very similar story, but done well. 463 00:41:15.360 --> 00:41:22.019 Whereas with Time Squad, big stakes are talked about, let's do this death defying raid, we're blind to death at the Federation. 464 00:41:22.079 --> 00:41:24.659 But there's no follow-up in story terms. 465 00:41:24.719 --> 00:41:28.860 Nothing actually has an impact or ramifications for what comes next. 466 00:41:28.920 --> 00:41:33.179 And so the episode feels disposable in a way that Siklocate, destroy, doesn't. 467 00:41:33.239 --> 00:41:36.059 No, exactly, and encyclocate, destroy. 468 00:41:36.119 --> 00:41:44.579 The Blake getting hold of the cypher becomes the whole crux of the plot and is used against him once they've worked out. 469 00:41:44.639 --> 00:41:52.380 But here, they just blow it up and you don't hear sort of next episode, oh, the Federation's communications have been crushed by Blake. 470 00:41:52.440 --> 00:41:55.860 We've lost contact with this planet or anything like that. 471 00:41:55.920 --> 00:41:57.239 It just happens. 472 00:41:57.420 --> 00:41:59.159 Yes, you're right. 473 00:41:59.219 --> 00:42:01.320 Although I think you're very cruel to call genera cypher. 474 00:42:04.139 --> 00:42:10.980 Well, there's also, there's, there's real peril in Secloquet destroyer as well. 475 00:42:11.039 --> 00:42:12.300 Callie's left behind. 476 00:42:12.360 --> 00:42:20.280 You know, they think she's dead for a time and then, you know, she is used by Travis to lure them into a trap. 477 00:42:20.400 --> 00:42:22.260 Again, we're not talking about the episode. 478 00:42:22.320 --> 00:42:30.719 Yeah, that leads me to sort of observe that I think one of the problems with time squad, and I know that PD you're saying it's an ensemble piece where everyone kind of has an equal part, which is great. 479 00:42:30.780 --> 00:42:35.039 But I think it suffers from not having an A plot and a B plot. 480 00:42:35.099 --> 00:42:37.500 It has 2 beep plots. 481 00:42:37.559 --> 00:42:38.579 Absolutely. 482 00:42:38.639 --> 00:42:41.340 You're not you're not waiting. 483 00:42:41.400 --> 00:42:42.960 I'm not waiting to get back to the other one. 484 00:42:43.019 --> 00:42:50.340 I mean, B plots are sort of there to fill out the scenes of the A plot sometimes and give the secondary character something to do. you know, you can criticise them. 485 00:42:50.400 --> 00:42:55.860 But it kind of focusses where the attention should be, whereas because of the fact that both of the plots are equal. 486 00:42:55.920 --> 00:42:58.079 You don't really care about either of them. 487 00:42:58.139 --> 00:43:01.380 Both of plots are equal, but neither of them is developed. 488 00:43:01.440 --> 00:43:04.380 They go down to a planet and they run around for a little bit. 489 00:43:04.440 --> 00:43:06.659 They up on the liberator and they run around for a little bit. 490 00:43:06.719 --> 00:43:15.000 Yeah, and if either of those was a little bit edited down and in another episode, you probably wouldn't mind them individually. 491 00:43:15.119 --> 00:43:16.440 Absolutely. 492 00:43:16.500 --> 00:43:19.139 Either of them would make a good B plot in another episode. 493 00:43:19.199 --> 00:43:20.519 I say, cute knee blocks. 494 00:43:20.579 --> 00:43:22.980 No, I think you're absolutely right. 495 00:43:23.039 --> 00:43:28.980 They both just feel so inconsequential other than to get Callie into the series. 496 00:43:29.039 --> 00:43:42.900 We've got to go to this planet to meet her, and that is almost the primary aim of this episode, and there's no impetus to do anything else with this episode other than introduce the last member of the seven. 497 00:43:43.019 --> 00:43:46.380 I think also there's like there's problems with the actual. 498 00:43:46.619 --> 00:43:48.000 There no purpose in the plot as well. 499 00:43:48.059 --> 00:43:51.780 A lot of the plot just happens because it needs to happen for the plot. 500 00:43:51.840 --> 00:43:55.980 The bits with Zen refusing to help them. 501 00:43:56.039 --> 00:43:58.739 It's never really quite clear why he's refusing to help them. 502 00:43:58.800 --> 00:44:03.480 I mean, yes, you can read that as, oh, he knows they are. 503 00:44:03.599 --> 00:44:09.239 Yeah, he knows that the ship is dangerous, but why can't he just tell? 504 00:44:09.239 --> 00:44:22.980 Like, like, like, if that, there was an explanation in the plot, you know, apart from, oh, he might have a limit, but what does it achieve for, for that, for the ship not to, not to be saying, no, don't go near that thing. 505 00:44:23.039 --> 00:44:29.039 Like, you're being enigmatic and difficult and all you're doing is actually leading them into danger. 506 00:44:29.159 --> 00:44:31.739 If you just don't know that thing is dangerous. 507 00:44:31.800 --> 00:44:33.000 Keep away from it. 508 00:44:33.059 --> 00:44:33.960 They would have left it alone. 509 00:44:34.019 --> 00:44:37.920 Yes, you're being getting magic and difficult just to be hypmatic and difficult. 510 00:44:37.980 --> 00:44:52.440 Like, you could all it took was half a line of dialogue to say that, you know, the ship, the little pod thing was, you know, sending out some kind of cancellation waves or something to enable it to be brought on board and had to disable the ship's computer in order to do that. 511 00:44:52.500 --> 00:44:58.500 I mean, there's a much more elegant way of saying that, but at least that, it wouldn't be such, it wouldn't be as trite. 512 00:44:58.619 --> 00:45:08.699 You know, I have a theory that that might have been a casualty of the developing writing because Zen in the early episodes is written to be sort of troublesome. 513 00:45:08.760 --> 00:45:11.639 It doesn't give them the explanations and things that they want. 514 00:45:11.699 --> 00:45:26.639 However, part of me wonders if as they came towards the end of the season and they were developing the episode Aurak, who gets all of those character traits of being difficult and not working with them because he's too powerful, whether they just let that slide from Zen. 515 00:45:26.699 --> 00:45:28.860 Yeah, I think there's a very good case for that. 516 00:45:29.099 --> 00:45:44.820 Yeah, and there's a line, I think in Sickness Alpha, where Zen says, oh, wisdom must be gathered, it cannot be given, which he's very much conforming to here, but that is very much, again, lost pretty much from cyclocate destroy. 517 00:45:44.940 --> 00:45:50.460 He's just the information you've arrived at your planet, confirmed. 518 00:45:50.519 --> 00:45:55.500 I've got a bit of information in my databanks about where you're going and that's it. 519 00:45:55.559 --> 00:46:00.000 But let's not kid ourselves that Zen doesn't have more personality than Gan. 520 00:46:00.059 --> 00:46:01.019 That's true. 521 00:46:01.079 --> 00:46:03.239 Because he's got more lines than gas. 522 00:46:04.079 --> 00:46:15.719 Well, very famously, David Jackson, who plays Gan, apparently approached Terry Nation or Chris Boucher at one and said four, and they looked at him and they said, what? 523 00:46:15.780 --> 00:46:16.679 He said four. 524 00:46:16.739 --> 00:46:18.719 That's number of lines I have in this episode. 525 00:46:18.960 --> 00:46:20.579 Oh. 526 00:46:20.699 --> 00:46:22.860 She's just dreadful, really. 527 00:46:22.920 --> 00:46:24.420 They treat him so appallingly. 528 00:46:24.480 --> 00:46:26.639 But it is a lot of characters, really. 529 00:46:26.699 --> 00:46:34.679 I mean, they, the fact that the latter seasons have, well, after he dies, basically, you have one fewer, it is. 530 00:46:37.980 --> 00:46:40.619 It's only been 43 years. 531 00:46:40.679 --> 00:46:42.480 Don't give it away. 532 00:46:42.659 --> 00:46:45.480 The chaps watching it, gave that. 533 00:46:46.800 --> 00:46:53.280 I can just see someone sat down and listen to this podcast and say, oh, watch this interesting series with Sandies along with them. 534 00:46:53.340 --> 00:46:57.119 Oh, and speaking of characters like Zen, who will change. 535 00:46:57.179 --> 00:47:00.659 Villa, I think, is still being shaken down as well. 536 00:47:00.719 --> 00:47:06.420 So I think the problem with Villa maybe in these early episodes was that he was a little bit too much like Avon. 537 00:47:06.480 --> 00:47:13.199 He's a little bit sardonic and a little bit kind of glib, and they kind of, they take those traits away from him. 538 00:47:13.260 --> 00:47:15.360 He loses some of his early cockiness. 539 00:47:15.420 --> 00:47:18.659 And I think that was a more interesting direction for the character to go. 540 00:47:18.719 --> 00:47:21.059 Yes, it's also in these early episodes. 541 00:47:21.119 --> 00:47:27.179 He has his sort of, you know, he's esky, he's picked up at Bunnings, the 1499 that he takes down to the planets and... 542 00:47:27.179 --> 00:47:29.280 Oh my God, I love the Space-esky. 543 00:47:29.579 --> 00:47:32.159 I don't know how many crew members. 544 00:47:32.219 --> 00:47:38.280 Blake thinks he's going to get from Saurian Mach, but they pack about a dozen telling bracelets and that thing along with their picnic lunch. 545 00:47:38.340 --> 00:47:44.219 You know, what I love what I love about what you just said is that British people now know what Bunnings is. 546 00:47:45.900 --> 00:47:46.860 We do have Bunnings. 547 00:47:47.280 --> 00:47:50.039 I assume that's better on some equivalent. 548 00:47:50.099 --> 00:47:52.679 They bought out home base. 549 00:47:52.739 --> 00:47:53.699 The British home stores? 550 00:47:53.760 --> 00:47:54.960 Yeah, home base. 551 00:47:55.019 --> 00:47:56.940 Yeah, our big DIY chain. 552 00:47:57.000 --> 00:48:01.739 Yes, I mean, and it's also good how the crew have apparently spent so much time with each other. 553 00:48:01.800 --> 00:48:07.739 They were alongboard the London for months and yet they're still finding new important things about each other. 554 00:48:07.800 --> 00:48:13.199 So Jenna's like, what do you mean you've got a limit and went, surely this would have come up in conversation at some point. 555 00:48:13.260 --> 00:48:16.079 When he threatened people in earlier episodes. 556 00:48:16.199 --> 00:48:23.400 But he didn't seem to, you know, be under, you know, in any pain for the violence that he was, he was perpetrating. 557 00:48:23.460 --> 00:48:27.900 Well, maybe he knew he wasn't going to do it. 558 00:48:27.960 --> 00:48:31.860 He was bluffing, whereas here he's having to actually follow through with it. 559 00:48:31.920 --> 00:48:34.320 Yes, if only so you loved him. 560 00:48:34.320 --> 00:48:39.659 I've had that kind of prison record, which said, don't believe it if Gan says he's going to hit you. 561 00:48:39.719 --> 00:48:40.139 He can't. 562 00:48:40.920 --> 00:48:44.579 I like when Villa says, I should hate to be eaten by something stupid. 563 00:48:44.639 --> 00:48:46.380 You should stay clear of Gan at dinner. 564 00:48:50.880 --> 00:48:56.880 I do love that they've just stuck a big Lego brick on his head to show that there's a limiter there. 565 00:48:56.940 --> 00:49:01.139 It reminds me of the cops they put on people in the tripod series from the 80s. 566 00:49:01.199 --> 00:49:01.559 Yeah. 567 00:49:01.559 --> 00:49:02.760 If you've anyone seen that. 568 00:49:03.179 --> 00:49:06.179 When it needs to be seen, of course, when it's not seen, it's not there, but. 569 00:49:07.679 --> 00:49:21.000 Yeah, so when Cal Scarlione operates on the limiter later in the season and he's clearly operating on something which is the size of a screwdriver and yet is kind of doing this delicate work with this little micro circuit on his head. 570 00:49:21.059 --> 00:49:24.599 So, uh, I think one slip that again could have been lobotomised. 571 00:49:24.659 --> 00:49:28.079 Isn't it just a screwdriver painted silver? 572 00:49:28.139 --> 00:49:30.480 Yeah, I'd be disappointed if it wasn't. 573 00:49:33.659 --> 00:49:36.780 Once we think of Time Squad at the end of the day. 574 00:49:36.840 --> 00:49:40.320 I mean it does have its good points, but it seems to be a missed opportunity. 575 00:49:40.380 --> 00:49:42.480 Yeah, I think that's an excellent summary. 576 00:49:42.539 --> 00:49:44.039 I actually don't mind it. 577 00:49:44.099 --> 00:49:51.539 I kind of, every time I watch it, I go into it thinking, oh, this is going to be terrible and come away going, well, it wasn't that bad. 578 00:49:51.599 --> 00:49:55.920 It's just that it could have been better if this, that, and the other had happened. 579 00:49:55.980 --> 00:50:10.139 And what I found most interesting watching at this time, as I've already said, is kind of I found it a window into what Blake 7 might have been, but I'm very glad that they didn't go through that window. 580 00:50:10.199 --> 00:50:11.820 Absolutely. 581 00:50:11.880 --> 00:50:16.800 And I think it's Blake 7 and I love all Blake 7 and I genuinely love it. 582 00:50:16.860 --> 00:50:20.159 I don't love it on an ironic level, even though you can appreciate it that way. 583 00:50:20.219 --> 00:50:25.019 I genuinely love it and love every episode, but basically with time squads. 584 00:50:25.079 --> 00:50:29.820 You needed to add better writing and subtract Panic Roberts and you might add something. 585 00:50:29.880 --> 00:50:31.980 No, it's a very good point. 586 00:50:32.039 --> 00:50:37.860 I mean, I don't think it's the very worst depth that this season will get to. 587 00:50:37.920 --> 00:50:45.179 But it just feels so uninvolving and then, and there's nothing worse than a TV show being boring. 588 00:50:45.239 --> 00:50:49.320 And I think this episode is just a bit dull. 589 00:50:49.440 --> 00:50:52.019 Yeah, all the ideas were there. 590 00:50:52.139 --> 00:50:56.039 Well, some of the ideas were there, but they're just not developed very well. 591 00:50:56.099 --> 00:50:56.760 Yeah. 592 00:50:56.760 --> 00:50:58.559 Which is odd. 593 00:50:58.619 --> 00:51:03.000 I think you have the problem with that era of television. 594 00:51:03.059 --> 00:51:05.039 Sometimes I think you do need the writer's room. 595 00:51:05.099 --> 00:51:11.519 You need some people throwing some ideas around each other, throwing some ideas to each other, going, well, what if so-and-so did this? 596 00:51:11.519 --> 00:51:12.360 And what if that happened? 597 00:51:12.420 --> 00:51:14.460 What if they had more difficulty at the end? 598 00:51:14.460 --> 00:51:16.980 And what if the time squad people were something else? 599 00:51:17.039 --> 00:51:23.099 you know, there's just no, it's like it's the 1st draft. and no one's gone through it to say, what if we did it like that? 600 00:51:23.159 --> 00:51:24.000 What if we added this? 601 00:51:24.059 --> 00:51:25.139 Absolutely. 602 00:51:25.199 --> 00:51:37.980 And I think there are hints in Time Squad that it was written quickly and recent later in the season than you would think from its position, like Jenna's comment about fake distress calls being an old pirate trick? 603 00:51:37.980 --> 00:51:41.639 Because in bounty, of course, coming up to that, that's absolutely what happens. 604 00:51:41.699 --> 00:51:44.159 The space pirates send out a fake distress signal. 605 00:51:44.219 --> 00:51:47.159 So, I mean, I can think you can see where it's coming. 606 00:51:47.219 --> 00:51:48.300 Absolutely. 607 00:51:48.360 --> 00:52:11.519 And there is a thing, I think, that Chris Boucher again said, it might have been in your interview pizza, where he said, Terry Nation, where Terry Nation said to him, you can have a 2nd draft or you can have the next episode where he's just literally so close to the bone writing that he just sending the 1st draft in and saying, you'll have to work from this, particularly towards the end of the season. 608 00:52:11.579 --> 00:52:14.699 There isn't time for him to refine his ideas. 609 00:52:14.760 --> 00:52:20.219 So I think the episodes are not quite as strong as his original sort of 1st 6 or 7. 610 00:52:20.219 --> 00:52:22.800 Were they underwritten as well? 611 00:52:22.860 --> 00:52:27.119 Like, there's always that rumour that Terry Nation scripts ran to half the time and then they needed to. 612 00:52:27.179 --> 00:52:28.079 Was that actually the case? 613 00:52:28.139 --> 00:52:41.340 Well, that was absolutely the case on bounty, which we will come to because that was so anaemically written that Chris Boucher had to step in and write half the episode and it was still short and so the cast improvised several scenes. 614 00:52:41.400 --> 00:52:42.539 Oh, goodness me. 615 00:52:42.599 --> 00:52:45.119 And you know, it's fashionable to bash Terry Nation. 616 00:52:45.179 --> 00:52:54.000 He's received a lot of stick over the years for the fact that he tends to reuse ideas and he really only has about half a dozen good ideas, but they are very good ideas. 617 00:52:54.059 --> 00:53:09.000 And I think when you take the pressure off him of having to supply 13, 50 minute episodes and he does what he does for series B and C and provides only 3 episodes for each season, every one of those episodes is an absolute corker. 618 00:53:09.059 --> 00:53:10.139 Absolutely. 619 00:53:10.199 --> 00:53:12.179 I think that's also function of feedback. 620 00:53:12.239 --> 00:53:22.739 I think he's a writer that does have those few ideas, those good ideas, but he needs them to be corralled by someone else or helps to be corralled by someone else. 621 00:53:22.800 --> 00:53:27.360 And I think this is an example of an episode where they aren't properly corralled. 622 00:53:34.500 --> 00:53:42.300 So, thank you very much for listening to another episode of Maximum Power, where we almost talked about Time Squad. 623 00:53:42.360 --> 00:53:52.559 So I'd like to say thank you to James, Peter and Simon for joining me today, and hope you'll tune in next week when the Liberator discovers the web. 624 00:53:52.619 --> 00:53:53.639 Thank you and goodbye. 625 00:53:53.699 --> 00:53:54.480 Goodbye. 626 00:53:54.539 --> 00:53:55.800 Ta-ta. 627 00:53:55.860 --> 00:53:56.579 Bye for now. 628 00:54:06.000 --> 00:54:08.159 Switching to Manny. 629 00:54:08.219 --> 00:54:10.199 Maximum power on all drives.