WEBVTT NOTE This transcript was created on 2026-06-07 at 22:09:22 1 00:00:03.720 --> 00:00:06.299 Maximum power. 2 00:00:10.320 --> 00:00:16.859 Hello and welcome back to Maximum Power, the only Blake 7 podcast that's not a major violation. 3 00:00:16.920 --> 00:00:19.079 Let me introduce the team. 4 00:00:19.140 --> 00:00:20.760 We have. 5 00:00:20.820 --> 00:00:22.140 I'm Mark. 6 00:00:22.199 --> 00:00:23.280 I'm Pete. 7 00:00:23.339 --> 00:00:24.480 I'm Simon. 8 00:00:24.600 --> 00:00:25.739 And I'm Dita. 9 00:00:25.800 --> 00:00:26.820 Sorry, Peter. 10 00:00:27.359 --> 00:00:30.179 What am I saying everyone knows? 11 00:00:30.239 --> 00:00:33.299 Dita Tarrant is dead. 12 00:00:35.159 --> 00:00:36.780 Spoiler. 13 00:00:37.079 --> 00:00:40.259 Yes, spoiler, exactly, spoiler alert. 14 00:00:40.320 --> 00:00:45.179 So let's jump right into this most bleak 70 of Blake 7 episodes. 15 00:00:45.240 --> 00:00:46.560 What time? 16 00:00:46.619 --> 00:00:47.640 Well, that was my line, Peter. 17 00:00:47.700 --> 00:00:50.460 I think it's the most Blake 70 of Blake 7 episodes. 18 00:00:50.520 --> 00:00:51.960 You can't possibly think that as well, can you? 19 00:00:52.020 --> 00:00:53.039 Take it away, Simon. 20 00:00:54.119 --> 00:00:56.280 I love this episode. 21 00:00:56.340 --> 00:01:01.259 Whilst Harvest of Chiros is my sentimental favourite, even though I acknowledge it, it's a little bit rubbish. 22 00:01:01.259 --> 00:01:11.459 This is the one that I think is the best Blake 7 episode because it is all 4 seasons because it is, it's got, it's got the right amount of camp. 23 00:01:11.519 --> 00:01:12.900 It's got the right amount of seriousness. 24 00:01:13.019 --> 00:01:13.980 It's got the right amount of action. 25 00:01:14.040 --> 00:01:15.420 It's by Chris Boucher. 26 00:01:15.480 --> 00:01:18.000 The dialogue is flawless, it's well made. 27 00:01:18.060 --> 00:01:22.200 I am just, I just love, love, love this episode. 28 00:01:22.260 --> 00:01:28.560 One might almost say it's the most crisp Bauchery episode, and by default, that is the most Blake 70 episode. episode. 29 00:01:28.620 --> 00:01:29.579 Exactly. 30 00:01:30.959 --> 00:01:34.079 It's got all that great character work you get with him. 31 00:01:34.140 --> 00:01:36.840 Um, and it's got Servoland and Avon. 32 00:01:36.900 --> 00:01:41.040 It's got dialogue over action, it's drama with touches of camp. 33 00:01:41.099 --> 00:01:42.180 I really love it. 34 00:01:42.239 --> 00:01:44.700 I think it's really clever and really well done. 35 00:01:44.879 --> 00:01:46.319 Pete. 36 00:01:47.040 --> 00:01:57.180 I think, I think it's got 2 Terrence in it, and and that, that's just enough, that's just Tarrant, uh, Tarrant overload in, I can't cope. 37 00:01:57.239 --> 00:01:58.200 I can't cope with. 38 00:01:58.260 --> 00:01:59.400 I think the wig is amazing. 39 00:01:59.459 --> 00:02:08.520 The wig just, Dieter's wig just basically, monopolises the screen of every single scene that it's in, and I find it hard to take in anything other than the enormity of that wig. 40 00:02:08.580 --> 00:02:13.199 Also, Madonna at the start of erotica saying, my name is Dita, I'll be your mistress tonight. 41 00:02:13.740 --> 00:02:19.560 I think she obviously was watching this, and that's obviously what got her going on that front. 42 00:02:19.680 --> 00:02:23.099 I want to know how Serverland ended up as a neutral arbiter. 43 00:02:23.159 --> 00:02:24.960 I wonder know what the selection process was. 44 00:02:25.020 --> 00:02:26.219 How many people did they interview? 45 00:02:26.280 --> 00:02:27.360 How did they decide? 46 00:02:27.539 --> 00:02:34.080 We're having this, this, this fight to be death. someone we can trust, someone who's, you know, someone impartial. 47 00:02:34.139 --> 00:02:38.699 I think clearly Servline must have ended up as neutral arbiter by being the mistress of Dita. 48 00:02:40.259 --> 00:02:42.120 It all joins up. 49 00:02:42.180 --> 00:02:42.900 It all joins up. 50 00:02:43.259 --> 00:02:45.180 Mark, what did you think? 51 00:02:45.240 --> 00:02:46.979 Yeah, I really enjoyed it as well. 52 00:02:47.039 --> 00:02:53.819 I think what I found quite satisfying was that there was something for all of the crew, they were together for a lot of the time. 53 00:02:53.879 --> 00:02:57.780 It wasn't a case of a couple of people stay on the Liberator while everyone else teleports down. 54 00:02:57.840 --> 00:03:03.180 So they spent a lot of time together, so you got all that really great interplay and interactions. 55 00:03:03.180 --> 00:03:09.000 And then they, maybe apart from Villa, they all had an important part to play in the story as well. 56 00:03:09.060 --> 00:03:11.099 So they all got something to do with the resolution. 57 00:03:11.159 --> 00:03:12.960 So I really like that. 58 00:03:13.020 --> 00:03:16.919 I also liked the Deters Elvis Wig, thought that was absolutely fantastic. 59 00:03:18.659 --> 00:03:22.740 It just, yeah, because it's the wig and it's the sideboard. 60 00:03:22.800 --> 00:03:24.659 It really had an Elvis vibe to me. 61 00:03:24.719 --> 00:03:28.620 I just wish that we'd have seen Dita and Dell together. 62 00:03:28.680 --> 00:03:32.280 That's what felt at the end, like it was missing for me. 63 00:03:33.180 --> 00:03:37.379 Yeah, the only one that needed... dodgy split screen. 64 00:03:37.439 --> 00:03:37.740 Exactly. 65 00:03:38.639 --> 00:03:40.919 Where they pass something to each other. 66 00:03:40.979 --> 00:03:46.680 They put the glass on a table in the middle and then there's this inordinate pause until the other one picks up the glass. 67 00:03:46.740 --> 00:03:49.500 Just enough time for a wipe to move across. 68 00:03:49.500 --> 00:03:50.699 Wipe to move across, yeah. 69 00:03:51.539 --> 00:03:58.860 Well, I mean, let's make up on that because the reason that the crew is used so well is that it's Chris Belcher. 70 00:03:58.919 --> 00:04:02.159 He knows entirely what to do with Blake 7. a master at it. 71 00:04:02.219 --> 00:04:09.960 And you look at like that opening scene with Dita and the would-be assassin on the deck of the flight of the spaceship. 72 00:04:10.020 --> 00:04:17.459 And I'm just in awe of Chris Boucher's ability to kind of sketch an entire world and a backstory in just those few lines of dialogue. 73 00:04:17.519 --> 00:04:18.180 It's absolutely incredible. 74 00:04:18.240 --> 00:04:19.860 Yes, exactly. 75 00:04:19.920 --> 00:04:41.759 And the other thing is that with the Chris Boucher dialogue is that it's always so clever and witty, but yet in the main, so it seems so effortless, like it feels like it can be something that someone might realistically say, at least in a heightened multicam drama kind of environment, whereas sometimes when other risers try and mimic that, it all sounds like, well, come on, no one would really actually say that. 76 00:04:41.819 --> 00:04:45.420 Yes, there's people sparring with each other rather than having banter. 77 00:04:45.480 --> 00:04:46.920 Yes exactly. 78 00:04:46.980 --> 00:04:56.759 I think it was brilliant about the opening is you've no idea what's going on and you think that it is Dell in disguise on an undercover mission on this on this ship initially. 79 00:04:56.819 --> 00:04:57.540 I did anyway. 80 00:04:57.600 --> 00:05:00.540 But yeah, because the performance is are virtually identical. 81 00:05:00.600 --> 00:05:14.100 And maybe, you know, if they had been on screen together in the same room, we might have detected it, subtle differences in the performances, but there's very, very little difference. 82 00:05:14.160 --> 00:05:17.639 So yeah, I was immediately with that 1st scene I immediately thought, oh, they're undercover. 83 00:05:17.699 --> 00:05:32.639 You immediately get all that great dialogue, like the would-be assassin who is just in that one scene and is really well played and has that great dialogue where she like switches on a dime from being all, oh, why is fashion never practical to suddenly being, oh, you really think of me as a major threat, don't you? 84 00:05:32.699 --> 00:05:39.120 It's amazing We get a lovely little classic, lovely little classic villa line quite near the start as well. 85 00:05:39.180 --> 00:05:44.699 I hate to see a man, a man cry, especially when it's me. which is just perfect for it. 86 00:05:44.759 --> 00:05:50.579 Well, you know, that's part of the reason why I think this episode is so great because it's such a light, playful tone. 87 00:05:50.639 --> 00:05:53.339 It's almost like this, the regulars are on holiday. 88 00:05:53.339 --> 00:05:54.360 And so it's written like that. 89 00:05:54.420 --> 00:06:00.240 They're sort of, they're involved themselves in Servelance machinations, but it's not her trying to steal a liberator or anything. 90 00:06:00.300 --> 00:06:11.040 And so you get all those great scenes at the start, like Villa and Cali teasing and chasing each other and drinking their green drinks and essentially just sitting around watching TV on the liberator, which is amazing. 91 00:06:12.300 --> 00:06:24.240 It's good to see, actually, like Morlock, um, to see Servoline, you know, kind of with some plans that don't directly affect trying to get hold of the liberator or anything, that she does have other stuff going on as well. 92 00:06:24.300 --> 00:06:24.660 I like that. 93 00:06:30.899 --> 00:06:36.060 So we were talking about Stephen Pacey, um, doing the dual role. 94 00:06:36.120 --> 00:06:52.379 It's interesting what you said then, Mark, because I think that actually he does do a good job of differentiating between Dita and Dell, because Dell is all kind of like dashing and animated, whereas Dita has this kind of laconic centred quality. 95 00:06:52.439 --> 00:06:54.839 Um, and I think he does a really good job. 96 00:06:54.839 --> 00:06:59.459 And it's curious, I think, that Stephen Pacey was always meant to play this role. 97 00:06:59.519 --> 00:07:03.240 So the script is structured, like we said, with the 2 of them never meeting. 98 00:07:03.300 --> 00:07:08.699 And so it was never something like you were going to get another actor, an older actor to play his brother. 99 00:07:08.759 --> 00:07:10.079 He was always meant to be there. 100 00:07:10.139 --> 00:07:12.240 I think he does a really great job Am I alone in that? 101 00:07:12.420 --> 00:07:14.519 No, I agree. 102 00:07:14.579 --> 00:07:37.019 I, I sort of feel that he's, he, he's, it's supposed to be an older brother and I think he does come across as an older, It comes across as an old performance and maybe the wig helps that, but it's a bit more world where it's a bit more I've seen all this before and, you know, you don't impress me kind of thing, whereas Adele is more the kind of the excitable puppy dog in comparison. 103 00:07:37.079 --> 00:07:39.420 Yeah, I suppose it is an option. 104 00:07:39.480 --> 00:07:47.279 But it's a difficult call on him as an actor because as brothers, we're supposed to be emphasising that they're similar, but then he doesn't need to, because obviously they look the same. 105 00:07:47.339 --> 00:07:49.500 It is a bit weird that he's not his twin brother. 106 00:07:49.560 --> 00:07:55.920 He just his identical older brother, but maybe there was cloning, cloning factory thing involved in that. 107 00:07:56.160 --> 00:07:59.639 But yeah, he somehow looks, he does, he does look older. 108 00:07:59.699 --> 00:08:00.720 He also looks a little bit chubier. 109 00:08:00.779 --> 00:08:03.779 I don't know how he's done that maybe just with different stuff on his face. 110 00:08:03.839 --> 00:08:10.980 But it's not he's not getting to go the full Callian sarcophagus of giving as a proper far out. 111 00:08:11.040 --> 00:08:13.019 This is the opposite end of my range kind of performance. 112 00:08:13.079 --> 00:08:15.300 Or indeed, Cali and Children of our on. 113 00:08:15.360 --> 00:08:16.379 Yes. 114 00:08:16.439 --> 00:08:18.540 Yes, yes. 115 00:08:18.600 --> 00:08:19.800 Um, yeah. 116 00:08:19.860 --> 00:08:23.160 So, yeah, obviously, there's a family theme to this season. seems to be. 117 00:08:23.220 --> 00:08:28.379 A lot of people meeting family members or likenesses cropping up. 118 00:08:28.439 --> 00:08:29.939 Or long lost loves. 119 00:08:30.000 --> 00:08:32.639 They're the, yeah, the... 120 00:08:32.700 --> 00:08:33.659 It's a small universe. 121 00:08:33.779 --> 00:08:43.500 I found it interesting in the fiction of the universe, that Dita is said to have left Earth because we know that you're not really allowed to leave the federation. 122 00:08:43.559 --> 00:08:50.100 And so the fact that he was able to leave Earth and then go and settle on a planet that's actually outside the Federation, I thought was quite interesting. 123 00:08:50.159 --> 00:08:53.639 Yeah, I mean, was it just a bit of a contrivance? 124 00:08:53.700 --> 00:08:54.960 That's how we need the world to work this week. 125 00:08:55.019 --> 00:08:59.340 Rather than, um, uh, but, but you roll with it. 126 00:08:59.399 --> 00:09:00.000 Yeah, it's fine. 127 00:09:00.059 --> 00:09:00.299 Yeah. 128 00:09:00.360 --> 00:09:04.799 But there's a suggestion that Dell and Dieter haven't seen each other since they were kids. 129 00:09:04.860 --> 00:09:07.379 Am I the anyone reading that? 130 00:09:07.440 --> 00:09:08.279 8 years, he says. 131 00:09:08.759 --> 00:09:10.259 Oh, is that? 132 00:09:10.259 --> 00:09:10.919 Oh, he says that years. 133 00:09:10.980 --> 00:09:11.340 Oh, right. 134 00:09:11.399 --> 00:09:12.059 Okay, right, okay. 135 00:09:12.120 --> 00:09:15.779 Well, I mean, in Terrence case, that would have been kids, because Terrence meant to be, what, 21, 22? 136 00:09:16.259 --> 00:09:17.820 Is he? 137 00:09:17.879 --> 00:09:19.139 That's how old the actor is. 138 00:09:19.440 --> 00:09:20.940 Well, Stephen Pacy is, yeah. don't know. 139 00:09:21.000 --> 00:09:22.080 Yeah, that's right, yeah. 140 00:09:22.139 --> 00:09:22.679 Yeah. 141 00:09:22.740 --> 00:09:26.159 It's all the curl hair weighing down on him in the wrinkles. 142 00:09:27.120 --> 00:09:32.700 But it's why he looks so remarkably well preserved now is because he was actually younger than almost. 143 00:09:32.759 --> 00:09:33.779 A child, practically, is. 144 00:09:33.840 --> 00:09:43.740 I think him and Josette Simon were both, and I was still noticing this season, if you noticing, I don't know if someone's commented on a previous episode, but the stacking of in the end credits of the principles. 145 00:09:43.799 --> 00:09:54.240 It's um, uh, it's Paul Darrowjang, Chappel, Michael Keating, then it's uh, Jacqueline Pierce, if she's in it, then it's the, then it's the new, the new lot. 146 00:09:54.299 --> 00:09:55.860 And then it's the voices. 147 00:09:55.919 --> 00:10:03.360 So yeah, Jacqueline Pierce is between the, the, the, what do you call them, the Leeds versus the, uh, juniors? 148 00:10:03.419 --> 00:10:04.139 That not the word. 149 00:10:04.200 --> 00:10:05.100 The juvenile leads. 150 00:10:05.159 --> 00:10:07.379 Juvenile leads. theatrical terms. 151 00:10:07.500 --> 00:10:10.259 Well, the newbies, the diamond of being jucular. 152 00:10:10.320 --> 00:10:11.639 Yeah, yeah. 153 00:10:11.700 --> 00:10:17.159 It's a shame that the series didn't take its cue from that because if Jan Chappel is considered to be the leading lady. 154 00:10:17.220 --> 00:10:24.539 I wish they would treat her as the leading lady because in a lot of episodes, even though this season does better than last season, certainly it does. 155 00:10:24.720 --> 00:10:29.639 Tarrant is definitely the 2nd lead and it would have been nice for Kelly to be the 2nd lead. 156 00:10:29.759 --> 00:10:33.539 Yeah, she gets her moments this year, but yeah, it's still uneven. 157 00:10:33.600 --> 00:10:43.679 But I do wonder if losing Sally, at the end of the previous year, finally made them pay attention to the fact we've got to give these talented actors something to get their teeth into this time. 158 00:10:43.740 --> 00:10:45.960 Maybe it was a promise to Jan Chappell. 159 00:10:46.019 --> 00:10:53.460 It's like, we promise we will give you more to do next year because from about weapon through to the keeper last year, she did nothing but sit around in the teleport. 160 00:10:53.580 --> 00:10:54.539 Yeah. 161 00:10:54.539 --> 00:10:56.159 And you know what? 162 00:10:56.220 --> 00:11:00.120 If I was in her shoes, my list would have been precisely would have been right, I want an evil twin. 163 00:11:00.120 --> 00:11:05.879 Sorry, no, no, or an evil alien and actually a twin who's even lovelier than me. 164 00:11:05.940 --> 00:11:08.220 One of those two, or both. 165 00:11:08.279 --> 00:11:09.480 Maybe she was one upping. 166 00:11:09.539 --> 00:11:11.759 She was like, well, if Terrence's getting an older identical brother. 167 00:11:11.820 --> 00:11:12.840 I want an actual twin. 168 00:11:14.700 --> 00:11:25.980 So talking about that, I think Chris Boucher really does a lot of the heavy lifting this season with helping those characters long and drawing them deeper than they otherwise would have been. 169 00:11:26.039 --> 00:11:45.720 So he uses a lot of callbacks to their established histories, um, you get that bit where Villa mentions that serve land's idea of chivalry is never to shoot a blind man in the back, which references Dana's father, and then he pivots off that to get Villa, to make an absolute heartfelt apology to Dana for putting his foot in his mouth. 170 00:11:45.779 --> 00:11:47.639 There's nothing, there's nothing heightened about that scene. 171 00:11:47.700 --> 00:11:48.840 It's genuine apology. 172 00:11:48.899 --> 00:11:54.779 And then Dana herself gets the chance to menace Serviland later in the episode is payback for that. 173 00:11:54.840 --> 00:12:04.679 So it weaves this kind of tapestry and it adds texture and world building that was kind of lacking in this era of episodic television and certainly in sci-fi. 174 00:12:04.740 --> 00:12:10.620 There's even a throwaway reference to Servilan trying to buy Aurak all the way back in series A. I love that kind of thing. 175 00:12:10.679 --> 00:12:12.539 Yes, yes. 176 00:12:12.600 --> 00:12:16.139 What is it well worth the price you almost paid for him? 177 00:12:16.200 --> 00:12:18.059 Is that what it was That's right. 178 00:12:18.120 --> 00:12:19.679 She was going to pay the price for it. 179 00:12:19.740 --> 00:12:20.820 But then she was going to steal it. 180 00:12:20.879 --> 00:12:21.960 But then Blake stole it. 181 00:12:22.080 --> 00:12:24.240 What a great line that is though. 182 00:12:24.539 --> 00:12:39.840 It's a great line, and it made me think that, that sort of Avon is pretending that Aurak is, Aurak is a really useful machine, but he leaves out all the sort of pettiness and snark and sort of obstructiveness that he get from Aurak. 183 00:12:39.840 --> 00:12:44.879 And he did make me think I would actually like to see Servilan tried to use Aurak in a reeval schemes. 184 00:12:44.879 --> 00:12:50.460 And for him just to sort of complain about it and yeah, he'd be as unhelpful as possible. 185 00:12:50.519 --> 00:12:57.659 I think that that is maybe, I don't know if that's going to happen in the future, obviously, but that is a pairing I'd like to see in the series, I think. 186 00:12:57.779 --> 00:13:02.700 Periodically, you get these episodes where Servlin remembers that they've got Aurak and that she really wants it. 187 00:13:06.960 --> 00:13:16.559 So there's numerous scenes in this episode, which I just think are the epitome of Blake 7, and it's all based on the character work and the dialogue. 188 00:13:16.620 --> 00:13:20.460 Can we talk about the one scene between Avon and Servilan? 189 00:13:20.519 --> 00:13:23.639 Oh, yes. 190 00:13:26.519 --> 00:13:31.139 I'm not familiar with Blake 7 fandom, but is there a name for this ship? 191 00:13:31.200 --> 00:13:32.700 Is it Avalan? 192 00:13:34.740 --> 00:13:37.019 Oh, checked avalad. 193 00:13:39.000 --> 00:13:40.139 Devil Avon doesn't sound right. 194 00:13:40.200 --> 00:13:41.399 That's too antiseptic. 195 00:13:41.460 --> 00:14:08.700 Shave on But that's why I think one of this is one of the most Blake 70 of Blake 7 episodes is because that it's like we've been waiting 3 years for a sequence like this where, you know, he kisses her and, you know, then backs away and teleports off and she gives a little quip, which is almost to the camera, but I think it's not quite delivered straight down the barrel of the camera, but it is practically that way. 196 00:14:08.759 --> 00:14:13.860 It is just so, such perfection and not, and yet also feels like it works. 197 00:14:13.919 --> 00:14:18.240 It doesn't feel like it's just a one big in joke or one big bit of fun that they're having. 198 00:14:18.299 --> 00:14:24.960 It is, obviously, but it also completely works within the tone of the episode and the tone of the series. 199 00:14:25.019 --> 00:14:25.500 What do you think? 200 00:14:25.620 --> 00:14:28.320 Yeah, it works on its own 2 feet. 201 00:14:28.379 --> 00:14:30.059 It would also work with a laughter track. 202 00:14:30.120 --> 00:14:34.019 It's a physical power. hit both of those tones at the same time. 203 00:14:34.080 --> 00:14:37.679 But but Avons, um, Cali, I'm ready to come up now. 204 00:14:40.440 --> 00:14:43.019 It looked like they both were by that point. 205 00:14:43.440 --> 00:14:45.659 It's not a major violation. 206 00:14:45.779 --> 00:14:46.799 Violation. 207 00:14:46.860 --> 00:14:50.039 There's just so many good lines in that one scene. 208 00:14:50.100 --> 00:14:53.159 The way that she looks at him says, oh, Avon. 209 00:14:53.220 --> 00:14:56.159 I haven't gone and given myself away again, have I? 210 00:14:57.779 --> 00:15:03.659 She's definitely enjoying getting to play a much bigger range in this season than the previous season. 211 00:15:03.779 --> 00:15:07.379 And we'll see it, we'll see it, particularly in Children of Aron earlier. 212 00:15:07.500 --> 00:15:15.600 But the way that, yeah, she's not just having to be icily aloof and always in control of everything. 213 00:15:15.659 --> 00:15:19.019 You can tell Jackie is enjoying. the other moments. 214 00:15:19.080 --> 00:15:22.860 Yes, we've come a long way from seek to locate destroy, haven't we? 215 00:15:22.919 --> 00:15:29.399 And as you mentioned, callbacks as well, Peter, because they did kiss at the very beginning of this season as well, didn't they? 216 00:15:29.460 --> 00:15:32.940 In Dana's dad's bunker as well. 217 00:15:33.000 --> 00:15:38.039 So yeah, it feels like that's another, you know, kind of reference to their ongoing stories and things. 218 00:15:38.100 --> 00:15:45.960 I actually thought Avon was trying to kidnap her because he's still got his arms around her when he speaks into the teleport bracelet. 219 00:15:46.019 --> 00:15:50.460 I thought that was him, he was going to take her up to the liberator as a prisoner. 220 00:15:50.519 --> 00:15:53.820 So I thought, yeah, that was quite a kind of a bald movie he was making there. 221 00:15:53.879 --> 00:15:57.179 I mean, it was a bold move, but not to, but not politically. 222 00:15:57.240 --> 00:15:57.480 Yeah. 223 00:15:58.440 --> 00:16:02.159 You have to have a bracelet on to be teleported, don't you? 224 00:16:02.220 --> 00:16:05.580 You can't grab hold of someone and take them with you just by holding them. 225 00:16:05.639 --> 00:16:07.320 Because I was wondering that at that scene too. 226 00:16:07.379 --> 00:16:08.519 I couldn't remember what the law was. 227 00:16:08.580 --> 00:16:11.879 Whether you, I think you need one bracelet per person. 228 00:16:11.940 --> 00:16:14.519 But that's for plot reasons, so that, oh, no, we've not got enough bracelets. 229 00:16:14.580 --> 00:16:15.480 You have to go back and get some more. 230 00:16:15.539 --> 00:16:16.500 You can't just grab hold of someone. 231 00:16:16.559 --> 00:16:18.419 And also established law. 232 00:16:18.480 --> 00:16:21.179 Blake 7 has really never been very big on that hazard. 233 00:16:21.899 --> 00:16:38.580 I mean, it's really interesting what you said there, Mark, because this that scene is absolutely following up on that dynamic that is established in aftermath with quite a cosy relationship between Avon and Servland that almost exists outside of the bigger story of the series. 234 00:16:38.639 --> 00:16:47.580 Whenever they get together, they just have these nice little moments where you think, actually, there's truth in what Servland says, it just sound all wanky for a moment. 235 00:16:47.639 --> 00:16:53.220 There is truth in the scene, when she says to Avon, I don't view you as an enemy, I view you as a future friend. 236 00:16:53.279 --> 00:16:55.559 You can absolutely believe that between them. 237 00:16:55.620 --> 00:16:58.379 They're both very pragmatic, aren't they? 238 00:16:58.440 --> 00:17:02.100 They would ally themselves with each other if, yeah, if the situation demanded it. 239 00:17:02.159 --> 00:17:06.420 But I didn't know whether that was foreshadowing as well, whether that is something that's going to happen. 240 00:17:06.480 --> 00:17:09.660 Oh, wait till you get to the wedding episode mark. 241 00:17:09.720 --> 00:17:10.319 Yes exactly. 242 00:17:11.039 --> 00:17:13.319 Oh, sorry, spoiled. 243 00:17:13.380 --> 00:17:19.980 Yeah, but the risk of sort of saying a plot that actually doesn't happen, which is a shame, is that you need, you did. 244 00:17:20.039 --> 00:17:29.579 It's a shame you didn't have an episode where the 2 of them are find themselves stranded on a planet and they need to actually actively work together to save both their lives and then have to go their separate ways at the end. 245 00:17:29.640 --> 00:17:34.559 I think that is probably a series E plot so that we've missed out on, perhaps. 246 00:17:34.680 --> 00:17:38.220 So, I mean, are you familiar with the episode Sand in series D? 247 00:17:38.819 --> 00:17:40.380 Yes. 248 00:17:40.440 --> 00:17:43.859 So if you substitute Tarrant for Avon in that situation. 249 00:17:44.039 --> 00:17:46.140 Yeah, yes, there you go. 250 00:17:46.200 --> 00:17:46.799 Well, there you go. 251 00:17:46.859 --> 00:17:48.059 Okay, fair, fair, fair. 252 00:17:48.119 --> 00:17:48.480 Yeah, fair. 253 00:17:48.480 --> 00:17:50.220 That is a strange thing about sand. 254 00:17:50.279 --> 00:17:50.940 Very strange. 255 00:17:51.000 --> 00:17:55.799 That's and it was such a perfect Avon Servilon 2-handed that's got that's got Tarant in it instead. 256 00:17:55.859 --> 00:17:56.579 Got well-ayed. 257 00:17:56.640 --> 00:17:57.299 That's for another episode. 258 00:17:57.359 --> 00:17:58.859 Sorry, Mark, spoilers. 259 00:17:58.920 --> 00:18:00.119 Spoilers. 260 00:18:01.319 --> 00:18:04.559 Very interesting that Chris Boucher writes this scene. 261 00:18:04.619 --> 00:18:14.759 And I mean, I do think it's in the best way possible, hammed up a little bit by Jacqueline Pierce and Paul Darrow, because come series D, he contrives. 262 00:18:14.819 --> 00:18:23.880 Chris Bouch contrives to keep them apart because he says that he didn't like the very cosy dynamic that developed between them and yet he is mostly responsible for it here, I think. 263 00:18:23.940 --> 00:18:25.200 Wow. 264 00:18:26.099 --> 00:18:28.799 Yeah, it's a fine line to wait. 265 00:18:28.859 --> 00:18:30.359 I guess he's trying to age that line, isn't he? 266 00:18:30.420 --> 00:18:33.359 And he doesn't want to, um, uh, like, Avon. 267 00:18:33.420 --> 00:18:34.859 He doesn't want to cross. 268 00:18:35.339 --> 00:18:41.700 He doesn't want this show to become a romance, you know, to become a romance in the in the bland sense of, you know, I guess. 269 00:18:42.299 --> 00:18:57.000 Instead, he wants there to be those, always have those undertones, and occasionally bring him into the lights with these 2 on a little bit of a little bit of a bondage tip, which has always been a bit of a Blake 7s, a little ethos on the outskirts of Blake 7. 270 00:18:57.059 --> 00:19:03.660 But, um, doesn't want it to be ever be foregrounded as this was the tale of their, you know, a man and a woman divided whatever. 271 00:19:03.720 --> 00:19:04.559 Obviously it couldn't be. 272 00:19:04.619 --> 00:19:05.220 Yeah. 273 00:19:05.279 --> 00:19:09.359 Hammed up a little bit by Jacqueline Tierce and Paul Darrow, you said there, Peter. 274 00:19:09.420 --> 00:19:10.019 That the sentence. 275 00:19:10.079 --> 00:19:12.900 No one has ever used the word a little bit in that sentence before. 276 00:19:12.960 --> 00:19:13.920 But you're dead right. 277 00:19:13.980 --> 00:19:15.299 You're dead, right. 278 00:19:15.359 --> 00:19:22.740 They are actually keeping a lid on it and giving it and not going hell for leather as they easily could have done and had an absolute hoot if they had. 279 00:19:23.339 --> 00:19:26.700 They are going for it, but they're keeping it tight. 280 00:19:26.759 --> 00:19:27.000 Yeah. 281 00:19:27.420 --> 00:19:38.640 There's that weird, that weird thing between Avon and Servland, where they will enjoy each other's companies to a certain extent, but they will absolutely resume trying to kill each other the next scene. 282 00:19:38.700 --> 00:19:48.839 And so you actually get that moment in this episode after Avon has been to see his sick friend, which is another hilarious line. he comes back on board the liberator. 283 00:19:48.900 --> 00:19:50.880 How is your sick friend as sick as ever? 284 00:19:50.940 --> 00:19:52.920 Which is sick as ever. 285 00:19:54.059 --> 00:20:03.720 Do you see that when Dana says that not killing Serviland was a purely temporary oversight, Avon gets this big happy grin on his face at the prospect that he's going to kill her. 286 00:20:03.779 --> 00:20:04.740 It's really crazy. 287 00:20:05.160 --> 00:20:15.000 And then I think it felt like another callback, as you're saying, to the character's history, I think in volcano, they talk about villa fancying Dana. 288 00:20:15.059 --> 00:20:27.299 And then in this one when he says, uh, all right, which I assume I'm reading that correctly, that it's a clumsy attempt to seduce her when he says, like, I want, I want a thrill, uh, anyway or something, and he looks at her and goes, would you like a drink? 289 00:20:27.359 --> 00:20:31.859 And she says, uh, you're uh, the most attracting about you is how obvious you are or something like that. 290 00:20:31.920 --> 00:20:38.880 So that seems to be like an ongoing thread as well from early in the series that, yeah, he's quite interested in Dana. 291 00:20:38.940 --> 00:20:43.680 I mean, I think the thrust is that Villa is quite desperate, and so he's sort of equal opportunity. 292 00:20:43.740 --> 00:20:49.859 He would take whoever was there and he could get drunk, be it Dana Kelly, or maybe Aurak. will never know. 293 00:20:50.819 --> 00:20:54.779 But yeah, that sort of that comes up quite a lot, doesn't it? 294 00:20:54.839 --> 00:21:06.420 There's a scene in a future episode, Mark, slight spoilers where Villa puts his arm around Dana's waist and says, would you rather be snuggling up to those snakes and she sort of unwraps him from her and says, oh, can I think about it and let you know? 295 00:21:09.480 --> 00:21:12.839 It's just great character work all around, isn't it? 296 00:21:12.900 --> 00:21:20.460 Every character. gets really amazing scenes, even if they're not part of the A-plot that's happening at the moment. 297 00:21:20.519 --> 00:21:27.420 And I mean, name another writer, maybe Terry Nation, but name another writer recently who has used the regular cast so well. 298 00:21:28.680 --> 00:21:32.940 But it also painting the, the, the minor characters as well. 299 00:21:33.000 --> 00:21:44.039 Like, the guy who's, like, you know, Dita Terence 2nd, effectively, the guy that kind of helps him get ready for the battle, you know, is that really how I look? 300 00:21:44.099 --> 00:21:50.220 Like, it's, there's just some wonderful kind of, like, I get, I get a sense, like, he's actually very consistently written for the for the few scenes that he's in. 301 00:21:50.279 --> 00:21:56.519 It's almost like the kind of English public schoolboy sort of sort of Is that Stuart Bevan? 302 00:21:56.579 --> 00:22:00.720 our Stuart Bevan of Green Deathface. that? 303 00:22:00.779 --> 00:22:01.980 No, that's Professor. 304 00:22:01.980 --> 00:22:03.180 I did not notice that was stupid. 305 00:22:03.240 --> 00:22:05.759 Well, I was missing the Welsh accent, evidently. 306 00:22:05.819 --> 00:22:07.140 Because he's very posh in this. 307 00:22:07.200 --> 00:22:13.259 Yeah, and he's a little bit older, but also he looks older because he's got a short haircut instead of his hippie. 308 00:22:13.319 --> 00:22:13.619 Right. 309 00:22:13.619 --> 00:22:15.960 That's why that's why he seemed oddly familiar. 310 00:22:16.019 --> 00:22:18.299 Sorry, Simon, did you say he was very hot in this? 311 00:22:18.359 --> 00:22:20.220 No, I did not say that. 312 00:22:20.279 --> 00:22:21.599 Sorry. 313 00:22:21.599 --> 00:22:25.140 I thought you were losting after Professor Clifford Jones. 314 00:22:25.200 --> 00:22:25.440 Sorry. 315 00:22:26.279 --> 00:22:33.059 I didn't recognise him either, but yeah, I thought he was that rare thing, like a nice person in the Blake 7 universe. 316 00:22:33.119 --> 00:22:51.839 He was just sort of quite decent and caring and they don't show up very often, but I think it showed that these these planets outside of, well, apart from the side that tries to assassinate Dieter, the side that Dieter actually works for, they actually seem sort of, you know, sort of fairly nice, sort of decent kind of civilisation. 317 00:22:51.900 --> 00:23:04.619 But yeah, the other the other side character being the news presenter, who is absolutely brilliant, kind of one scene character, and I really wanted him to come back later on in the episode for them to bump into it or something or for them to elicit his help. 318 00:23:04.680 --> 00:23:06.779 It's such a shame he's only in that one bit. 319 00:23:06.839 --> 00:23:09.599 Yeah, he gives runs to ball the fatuous, so ran for his man. 320 00:23:11.400 --> 00:23:14.519 It's funny because Chris Boucher is straight. 321 00:23:14.579 --> 00:23:19.200 Chris Boucher was a straight writer and yet he writes camp so well. 322 00:23:19.259 --> 00:23:24.299 And that scene between David, which is another camp name and his producer. 323 00:23:24.359 --> 00:23:26.099 He's so catty. 324 00:23:26.160 --> 00:23:28.619 They played like a bitchy married couple. 325 00:23:28.799 --> 00:23:30.720 Ridiculous, really. 326 00:23:30.779 --> 00:23:32.519 But it's all, it all just works. 327 00:23:32.579 --> 00:23:34.799 Like it just is, yeah. 328 00:23:34.859 --> 00:23:36.839 In a different episode you'd think it was ridiculous. 329 00:23:36.900 --> 00:23:41.880 Yeah, I want him and Alistair Fergus from the demons to have their own big finish box. 330 00:23:42.240 --> 00:23:47.940 They go around the trying to present arts documentaries, but everywhere they go, there's chaos and murder. 331 00:23:48.359 --> 00:23:54.240 I mean, the way that they, I think they've been directed to play it as is to BBC lovies. 332 00:23:54.299 --> 00:24:04.440 Because even when he says, you know, can I give you control of the remotes and he says, you've got it. incredibly funny. 333 00:24:04.559 --> 00:24:17.039 I wonder, I wonder if they were based by Chris Boucher on Vier Lorimar and his PA, Jeffrey Mantle, who were apparently hysterically funny and bitchy together. 334 00:24:17.099 --> 00:24:27.900 So Sally and Yvette, when I interviewed her, Jenna told me all about what a hilarious double act they were, and that was just the kind of thing that a writer would store in his mind and then regurgitate on screen. 335 00:24:27.960 --> 00:24:30.180 Exactly the kind of thing, exactly. 336 00:24:36.420 --> 00:24:39.119 So what do we think about the assassin? 337 00:24:39.180 --> 00:24:41.099 The robot, the alleged robot assassin? 338 00:24:41.160 --> 00:24:43.019 It's a really good performance. 339 00:24:43.740 --> 00:24:46.200 Yeah, no, I think he's good. 340 00:24:46.259 --> 00:24:47.339 But that's the thing. 341 00:24:47.400 --> 00:24:47.940 Everyone's good. 342 00:24:48.000 --> 00:25:00.000 Like, there's no, there's no one who looks like they're reading a queue card or no one who looks like they, they, you know, they're straight out of, they finished drama school last week and they really shouldn't have gotten into the industry in the 1st place. 343 00:25:01.500 --> 00:25:04.680 Yeah, I mean, he didn't make much impact on me. 344 00:25:04.740 --> 00:25:13.619 But this is such a central caste centred episode that no one else has really given all that much room to do more than be a little vignette or a little thing for them to interact with. 345 00:25:13.680 --> 00:25:14.519 But yeah. 346 00:25:14.579 --> 00:25:16.920 Um, and is he playing it? 347 00:25:16.980 --> 00:25:19.440 Are they meant to be clues in his performance that he might be an Android? 348 00:25:19.500 --> 00:25:20.099 Spoilers. 349 00:25:20.160 --> 00:25:22.019 I don't think there are, really, are they? 350 00:25:22.079 --> 00:25:24.180 Because he's supposed to be a real twist. 351 00:25:24.240 --> 00:25:24.960 Yeah. 352 00:25:25.019 --> 00:25:30.779 And because, you know, he's supposed to, he's not supposed to think he's an Android, so they kind of get away with that. 353 00:25:30.839 --> 00:25:37.859 I think there are clues because I think the main reason he's been cast is those weird ICIs of his. 354 00:25:37.920 --> 00:25:48.299 There's a couple of scenes where he's in close-up, and he's got very pale blue eyes, and he's just doing the staring acting, and that, I think, is the slight clue that you need, and that's probably why Mark Elliott was cast. very good, I think. 355 00:25:48.359 --> 00:25:50.039 Yeah, yeah, yeah. 356 00:25:50.160 --> 00:26:08.220 The other thing I really like is it's interesting, the way, even though we talk about the regular cast being so good in it, in some respects, the other cast are kind of in it more or at least as much, but I love the way they're on the liberator and there's never really a sense that the liberator is under any kind of threat at all. 357 00:26:08.279 --> 00:26:14.940 Like, it's not like Serverland discovers that the liberator is there and goes, ooh, right, now I'm going to also try and capture the liberator back and all that. 358 00:26:15.000 --> 00:26:21.299 It's just there and they're all just relaxing with their multicoloured drinks and their cheeseboards and whatever the hell it is that they've got there. 359 00:26:21.359 --> 00:26:23.759 They're sort of their space canapes. 360 00:26:23.819 --> 00:26:26.039 And, you know, they're just... 361 00:26:26.039 --> 00:26:27.180 The beginning of the board game at the start. 362 00:26:27.240 --> 00:26:29.339 Oh, another board game at the start? 363 00:26:29.400 --> 00:26:29.940 Yes, that's true. 364 00:26:30.000 --> 00:26:30.660 Yes, yeah. 365 00:26:30.720 --> 00:26:31.920 Yeah. 366 00:26:31.980 --> 00:26:35.279 And yeah, it's definitely 2 for one cocktails hour on the Liberator today. 367 00:26:35.339 --> 00:26:36.240 Yes exactly. 368 00:26:36.720 --> 00:26:39.720 Because there are more cocktails than there are people, aren't there? 369 00:26:40.259 --> 00:26:51.839 So, I mean, do you remember that we had a university lecturer whose one memory of Blake 7 consisted of that green drink that Villa spoons the powder into, which makes it go all kind of murky? 370 00:26:51.900 --> 00:26:53.339 Oh, really? 371 00:26:53.400 --> 00:26:54.539 which lecture was that? 372 00:26:54.900 --> 00:26:56.940 Gosh, what was her name? 373 00:26:57.000 --> 00:26:58.440 She took us... 374 00:26:58.500 --> 00:26:59.460 It was Jody, yes. 375 00:26:59.519 --> 00:27:01.079 How hilarious. 376 00:27:01.140 --> 00:27:02.279 No, that completely. 377 00:27:02.339 --> 00:27:07.920 Look, that sounds like the kind of thing that you'd have absorbed more than me at that particular... 378 00:27:07.980 --> 00:27:09.960 My ears would have creaked up at the mention of Blake 7. 379 00:27:10.019 --> 00:27:12.359 I can tell you that. what? 380 00:27:12.420 --> 00:27:22.680 Although extraordinary to think that, of course, when we're at university, you know, the series had only finished like 10 years prior, whereas, you know, still, it was still in living memory, if I can put it that way. 381 00:27:22.799 --> 00:27:28.140 And also it's a very bleak 70 thing that your takeaway from the series would have been that. 382 00:27:28.319 --> 00:27:30.420 Yes, yes, exactly. 383 00:27:30.480 --> 00:27:47.279 My my takeaway from this episode is that Servolan is not in the habit of waiting for couriers, which is one of the 1st time, but my favourite bit of server and dialogue since somebody put her on hold when she tried to phone Federation Supreme Command in that last series. 384 00:27:47.339 --> 00:27:49.319 I went, hold, please, and you've just got a look of her face. 385 00:27:49.440 --> 00:27:57.660 It also makes you wonder if everyone actually teleported around the corner if we'd gone through a whole rigmarole of pretending to her attache that he was a courier just for fun. 386 00:27:58.980 --> 00:28:01.559 I was leaving it behind the bed. 387 00:28:01.619 --> 00:28:02.519 Yes. 388 00:28:02.579 --> 00:28:09.299 We've been talking a lot about all the sort of the camp and all the fun, but it, I think one of the reasons why this episode works is because it's not, it's not all that. 389 00:28:09.359 --> 00:28:14.160 And the fact that you've got these fight sequences, which are played completely straight. 390 00:28:14.160 --> 00:28:21.960 And the preparation scene, as with, you know, what's his face from the Green Death, Stuart Bevan from the Green Death, is again played. 391 00:28:22.019 --> 00:28:26.819 It's all played quite, quite seriously and, you know, not earnestly, just, just straight. 392 00:28:26.880 --> 00:28:40.440 And and also when Dita is killed and the other Stephen Pacy, the Adele Tarrant, is, you know, obviously incredibly cut up by this and even Villa is affected and others are affected. 393 00:28:40.500 --> 00:28:46.140 It's a great juxtaposition for the kind of the fun that the rest of the episode is. 394 00:28:46.200 --> 00:28:50.519 And so I think having them both in the same episode is one of the reasons why it works so strongly. 395 00:28:50.640 --> 00:28:52.440 The tone is rise. 396 00:28:52.500 --> 00:28:58.259 This is the 2nd of 2 episodes that Gerald Blake, Erstwhile, Doctor Who director does. 397 00:28:58.319 --> 00:29:00.240 And I would argue... 398 00:29:00.240 --> 00:29:02.160 Invasion of Time and the Abominable Snowman. 399 00:29:02.220 --> 00:29:02.400 Yes. 400 00:29:02.819 --> 00:29:14.460 But I would think that on his on his 1st episode, he also got the tone right, and that was the harvest of Chiros, which has similar kind of tampness and drama happening at the same time. 401 00:29:14.519 --> 00:29:18.779 I think, although I don't wish to dredge up bad memories. 402 00:29:18.839 --> 00:29:28.859 If this had been in the hands of George Spenton Foster, I think it would have been a mess because I think he would have, he would have misjudged the tone, he would have gotten the campness right, but everything else wrong. 403 00:29:28.920 --> 00:29:31.559 And so it just wouldn't have had that great balance that it does. 404 00:29:32.160 --> 00:29:34.319 I'd come up a bit more. 405 00:29:34.380 --> 00:29:35.460 The one thing that's missing is tinsel. 406 00:29:38.579 --> 00:29:41.460 Interestingly too, it's the 2nd last episode of the season. 407 00:29:41.519 --> 00:29:44.099 Is it actually shot 2nd last Peter? 408 00:29:44.160 --> 00:29:44.940 Do you happen to know? 409 00:29:45.000 --> 00:29:46.380 I believe it was. 410 00:29:46.440 --> 00:29:47.700 Okay. 411 00:29:47.759 --> 00:29:52.740 Because it's so unusual for something which is in that slot to look as good as it does. 412 00:29:52.740 --> 00:30:02.940 And I wonder that is that the director making sure that he gets what he needs out of the sets or is it just the fact that he's shooting the sets right or is it just written so that they don't need too many sets? 413 00:30:02.940 --> 00:30:10.140 Because that that 1st class, you know, spaceship loungy thing, which is then reused, obviously, for the 2nd battle sequence. 414 00:30:10.200 --> 00:30:11.940 It looks really good. 415 00:30:12.000 --> 00:30:15.900 It sort of reminded me a bit of terror of the Vilbois, actually, with the way the space was kind of behind it. 416 00:30:15.960 --> 00:30:17.519 I mean, the 2 tiers as well. 417 00:30:17.579 --> 00:30:19.259 And the 2 tiers as well. 418 00:30:19.319 --> 00:30:22.079 A little bit of CSO fringing around Tarot. 419 00:30:22.140 --> 00:30:24.480 Oh, you know, CSFringing, yeah. 420 00:30:24.480 --> 00:30:27.240 Just like Colin, just like Colin got on the Hyperion three. 421 00:30:27.299 --> 00:30:27.960 Exactly. 422 00:30:28.019 --> 00:30:30.000 Just squeak your eyes a bit more and then you don't notice it. 423 00:30:30.059 --> 00:30:32.940 Not as much fringing as it would have been Dell because of all the curls. 424 00:30:33.059 --> 00:30:34.380 Yes, exactly. 425 00:30:34.440 --> 00:30:35.759 Maybe that's why they chose that wig. 426 00:30:35.819 --> 00:30:37.500 But that's so well done. 427 00:30:37.559 --> 00:30:43.980 And that kind of, I think all those sets are, and when I think now that they think about it, they're all quite small, aren't they? 428 00:30:44.039 --> 00:30:57.420 Like the set where obviously Dieter and Stuart Bevan are chatting before is just a tiny room and Servoland and the other adjudicators, whatever they are, who don't speak, I think, do they? 429 00:30:57.480 --> 00:31:03.000 That, again, is quite a small space and, and, and then you've, of course, you've got the standing liberator set. 430 00:31:03.059 --> 00:31:10.859 So maybe it's a cheaper episode apart from that film stuff in that abandoned factory or whatever it is, is it maybe was it relatively cheap episode to make? 431 00:31:11.220 --> 00:31:16.859 I mean, yes, I think it was, but also Chris Boucher, a script editor, knows what he's writing for. 432 00:31:16.920 --> 00:31:19.619 He knows the resources he's got and he uses them effectively. 433 00:31:19.680 --> 00:31:22.140 So I don't think he was down to write this episode. 434 00:31:22.200 --> 00:31:28.440 I think another episode fell through at quite a late stage, which is why he supplied this episode at the 11th hour. 435 00:31:28.500 --> 00:31:31.079 And he just knows what he's doing. 436 00:31:31.140 --> 00:31:44.099 And so it's a small scale intelligent script and he does things like inferring that there's joyous multitudes, which are mentioned quite a number of times, but you never even hear them over the voice link with Villa. 437 00:31:44.160 --> 00:31:45.420 It's just Villa talking about them. 438 00:31:45.480 --> 00:31:46.259 Exactly. 439 00:31:47.339 --> 00:31:58.619 Yeah, just on that, yeah, I've noted when we have our little narrator saying 1000s of cheering spectators. and then, and you don't hear them, and then it cuts to him being bitchy with the cameraman, and it's clever. 440 00:31:58.740 --> 00:32:00.660 Yeah, they're playing with the fact that obviously there aren't really. 441 00:32:00.720 --> 00:32:02.460 And the characters know there aren't really. 442 00:32:02.519 --> 00:32:05.940 It's like the even the characters within it know that they can't afford the extras. 443 00:32:06.000 --> 00:32:09.839 Yes, there's 1000s of joyous multitudes out there. 444 00:32:09.900 --> 00:32:16.440 Yes, we don't have that pirate planet sequence where it's kind of like wealth beyond the dreams of avarice and 4 people going, yay. 445 00:32:34.500 --> 00:32:55.200 So, Director Wise, there's a really good shot from inside Aurak, when Aurak is telling, uh, even that, uh, that the opponent had been an android, and it really struck me as a really cool shot, because it's, it's all really delivering some important information. and doing it from inside there. 446 00:32:55.319 --> 00:33:01.019 And yeah, I think the, you know, we're saying about the action is pretty well shot on everything. 447 00:33:01.079 --> 00:33:04.079 I think, particularly stuff on film in the abandoned warehouse is really good. 448 00:33:04.140 --> 00:33:17.759 The fact that they're using not laser guns that just sort of make people fall over, but proper kind of guns with bullets or whatever you call them, projectiles or whatever, you know, so there's a harshness to that as well, isn't it more of a brutality as well? 449 00:33:17.819 --> 00:33:31.140 Yeah, I think it's maybe only their costumes that sort of let that bit down because they talk earlier about giving the costumes, so help them to survive or whatever in the environment that they go into and instead, oh, it could be like open space or it could be. 450 00:33:31.200 --> 00:33:32.339 It could be anywhere. 451 00:33:32.400 --> 00:33:39.720 I don't know why they had a really shiny spacesuits with big shoulder pads and things for that environment rather. 452 00:33:39.779 --> 00:33:46.380 Yeah, instead of something that would help them help them, you know, if they wanted to hide, to blend in a little bit more. 453 00:33:46.440 --> 00:33:51.059 I was going to say, because what's the idea is that it's like it's space, what used to be called the final frontier? 454 00:33:51.119 --> 00:33:53.640 Well, sorry, Space the Final Frontier is what was once known. 455 00:33:53.700 --> 00:34:01.019 They're supposed to be they're supposed to be going into what like is effectively a void that's been like artificially generated by computers. 456 00:34:01.079 --> 00:34:02.220 Is that what's supposed to have happened? 457 00:34:02.279 --> 00:34:10.079 I thought that there was, I could have picked this up wrong, that space was one of the potential arenas that they could be in. 458 00:34:10.139 --> 00:34:16.619 So they could have been in space suits and, you know, maybe like at the end of Moonraker when the space Marines are fighting or something. 459 00:34:17.340 --> 00:34:28.980 And is there a more bleak 70 moment than the fact that it could have chosen anywhere, it could have chosen a sprawling desert or a jungle somewhere, but instead it chose a corner of the street. 460 00:34:29.219 --> 00:34:32.340 No, it show, it show, it didn't show. 461 00:34:32.340 --> 00:34:32.699 At the end. 462 00:34:32.760 --> 00:34:33.179 Oh, the end. 463 00:34:33.239 --> 00:34:34.320 Yes, yes, yes, yes. 464 00:34:34.380 --> 00:34:37.260 Well, we spent it all on location in the in the in the factory. 465 00:34:37.320 --> 00:34:39.179 Could have chosen out. 466 00:34:39.239 --> 00:34:47.039 Space could have chosen the planetary surface, could have chosen going underground, which is what the jam were doing at number one in the hip parade this very week in 1980. 467 00:34:47.699 --> 00:34:48.719 Fantastic. 468 00:34:49.079 --> 00:34:52.079 I've brought my fact and I'm going to use it. 469 00:34:52.139 --> 00:34:53.940 You're going to use it. 470 00:34:55.739 --> 00:34:59.340 You know what I appreciate about appreciate about you, Pete? 471 00:34:59.400 --> 00:35:00.599 Your subtlety. 472 00:35:00.900 --> 00:35:03.539 I whack that subtlety up to 12. 473 00:35:07.019 --> 00:35:18.300 I mean, the studio work is really great in this episode, I think, there's lots of really good close-ups, but it's that film work that really shows off Gerald Blake's skill, I think. 474 00:35:18.360 --> 00:35:19.380 It's beautiful. 475 00:35:19.440 --> 00:35:30.480 It shot and cut like a film series, and it's got great sound design with the echo of the blasts of the gun, and it's got Dudley Simpson, the immortal Dudley Simpson doing really great work as well. 476 00:35:30.539 --> 00:35:36.780 No, no, I was just asking about Gerald Blake because it's interesting because this is good. halves of cars is well directed. 477 00:35:36.840 --> 00:35:42.000 Abominable snowmen, from what we can see, is well directed, but invasion of time is just... 478 00:35:42.059 --> 00:35:42.900 It's like the odd one now. 479 00:35:42.960 --> 00:35:53.460 And I don't know whether that's just because he can't he can't deal with the fact that they haven't got any money and so the sets are all rubbish and, you know, half of it was shot inside a disused hospital somewhere in Red Hill as well. 480 00:35:53.519 --> 00:35:55.199 Totally. and a totally inappropriate setting. 481 00:35:55.320 --> 00:36:09.239 It felt like the only misstep was at the start when Dieter pulls the gun on the woman on the flight deck and she has to step back because his arms are sort of too long and she has to sort of stepped back to stand in front of the gun. 482 00:36:09.239 --> 00:36:13.199 But yeah, it was just like a time thing they couldn't really shoot it. 483 00:36:13.679 --> 00:36:16.380 She was a one scene character actor. 484 00:36:16.440 --> 00:36:18.179 You couldn't expect it to hit a mark, could you? 485 00:36:21.239 --> 00:36:42.480 But it almost like the story's almost prefigures both reality TV and those sort of like golden eye style games where, you know, you have 2 opponents and and, you know, the computer generates uh, uh, location for them to to track each other in, you know, sort of like versus mode in golden eye and things like that. the hunger games, yeah. 486 00:36:42.539 --> 00:36:43.800 Yeah, and the hunger games. 487 00:36:43.860 --> 00:36:44.460 Yeah, of course, yeah. 488 00:36:44.519 --> 00:36:49.739 Yeah, I did wonder if in an earlier draft, this had a heavier leaning towards Roman amphitheatres and stuff like that. 489 00:36:49.739 --> 00:36:59.760 Um, because you've got, and mainly because of what the character being called Vinnie, as in, maybe immediately it made me think Vinnie Vidy Vicci, um, which, like Donna Noble, that's, that's the full extent of my Latin. 490 00:36:59.820 --> 00:37:03.539 But there's motives on that. 491 00:37:03.599 --> 00:37:09.719 And there's a bit where Villa uses the, what is still an everyday expression here. 492 00:37:09.780 --> 00:37:12.599 What did your last slave die of, meaning somebody's bullying you? 493 00:37:12.659 --> 00:37:23.940 Um, which, but that, that is more of, and that's an illusion to, to, to Roman uh, things rather than uh, crimes of, of the previous century, I think the origin of that phrase. 494 00:37:24.000 --> 00:37:36.300 But, yeah, so I just wondered if originally it had a lot more of that kind of motif in it and they turned it down a bit awkward of all the props and went for a more a little bit drier rather than that, yeah. 495 00:37:37.019 --> 00:37:40.440 Yeah, and gladiators would have seconds and that kind of thing. 496 00:37:41.280 --> 00:37:48.000 Well, the seconds, the seconds thing is more related to like the old style kind of 18th, 19th century duel, isn't it? 497 00:37:48.300 --> 00:37:53.579 where you'd have the one helper who'd go with you to, you know, hand your pistol or whatever. 498 00:37:53.639 --> 00:37:54.360 Yeah. 499 00:37:55.019 --> 00:38:02.880 I mean, Chris Boucher always draws on a variety of sources, and in fact, when I interviewed him, the infamous interview where we sat in the pub talking about this. 500 00:38:02.940 --> 00:38:10.079 He said that he loved Blake 7 because it gave him an opportunity to dabble in all kinds of genres. 501 00:38:10.139 --> 00:38:11.760 And so this is clearly his Western. 502 00:38:11.820 --> 00:38:26.219 This is this, like, the gunfight at the okay corral, um, in the same way as something like rumours of death was his big romance episode and tragedy, and something like trial was his legal episode. 503 00:38:26.280 --> 00:38:30.659 And so every time, and Shadow was his mafia thriller. 504 00:38:30.719 --> 00:38:44.159 So he, every episode that he does, he chooses a slightly different genre, and I'm really glad that he did this because he does such a good job of transposing that kind of slight western theme to outer space in the same way that something like firefly will do later on. 505 00:38:45.480 --> 00:38:47.579 I still prefer gambit. 506 00:38:47.820 --> 00:38:49.440 There you go. 507 00:38:49.500 --> 00:38:50.579 There's a minority report. 508 00:38:50.639 --> 00:38:51.659 Now I prefer these. 509 00:38:51.719 --> 00:39:06.360 I could tell I'm a minority, but because, yeah, but I mean, and in a way, they're examples of the breadth of Blake 7, this is doing it properly, whereas Gambler is doing it ludicrously over the top. whereas this is doing it, unludicrously, a little bit over the top. 510 00:39:06.539 --> 00:39:14.460 And there is that sense that when you get outside of the Federation, there is that sort of, as it says in the episode, final frontier kind of thing. 511 00:39:14.519 --> 00:39:20.699 The fact that it's a little bit lawless, although Teal and Vandor seem to be working very well within their laws. 512 00:39:20.760 --> 00:39:23.039 And the cheekiness of quoting Star Trek. 513 00:39:23.099 --> 00:39:26.039 That's cheeky. 514 00:39:26.099 --> 00:39:26.460 I like it. 515 00:39:26.519 --> 00:39:31.559 And it's, but again, it, it's a real board line thing because it could make some, somebody could roll their eyes at that. 516 00:39:32.099 --> 00:39:34.920 But no, I think it lands just right. 517 00:39:34.980 --> 00:39:37.199 They just get away with it because they breathe it through. 518 00:39:38.039 --> 00:39:43.139 And they must still be watching Star Trek, and this is like 3000 years in the future. 519 00:39:43.199 --> 00:39:45.539 So there must be like loads of spin off. by then. 520 00:39:47.039 --> 00:39:52.739 And possibly the only example of a superior series referring to an inferior series, just saying. 521 00:39:54.840 --> 00:39:56.940 Quality of quantity. 522 00:39:58.019 --> 00:40:01.199 Is there anything else that anyone wanted to bring up independently? 523 00:40:01.260 --> 00:40:04.019 Just what you're saying there about being like a Western? 524 00:40:04.079 --> 00:40:08.280 I suppose it's like a Western or a war movie thing when Dieter does go for the fight? 525 00:40:08.340 --> 00:40:11.579 He says, oh, we'll all have a drink when I get back. 526 00:40:11.639 --> 00:40:17.039 Like, as in Max, him and Max and Dell, and at that point, I thought he's not coming back. 527 00:40:17.099 --> 00:40:21.300 That's, you know, it's like the, that's kind of a war movie thing, isn't it? 528 00:40:21.360 --> 00:40:27.059 I don't know, I'm going to marry this girl or whatever when I get back and, you know, yeah, it's not going to make it. 529 00:40:27.119 --> 00:40:29.699 So yeah, that was the point where I actually thought he was he was going to die. 530 00:40:29.760 --> 00:40:37.500 And yeah, as I think said, he's quite powerful when he does because they all experience it through the that kind of empathy disk thing. 531 00:40:37.500 --> 00:40:43.019 And yeah, it's and the way it's shot as well from the point of view of of D to dying. 532 00:40:43.079 --> 00:40:44.099 It's really well done. 533 00:40:44.159 --> 00:40:51.360 I'm interested in tea, your perspective on that, Mark, because all of Blake 7 has been goal to me by endless repeated viewings. 534 00:40:51.420 --> 00:40:55.440 But when you're watching an episode like this 1st up, is it a bit of a gut punch? 535 00:40:55.500 --> 00:40:57.900 Does it carry something because of the importance to the characters? 536 00:40:57.960 --> 00:41:06.420 Yeah, I think with him, because we've spent a bit of time with him and, yeah, and because, yeah, because of his link to Dell, it was. 537 00:41:06.480 --> 00:41:07.980 Yeah, it was quite a good punch. 538 00:41:08.039 --> 00:41:11.760 And because I really wanted to meet Dell as well with it within the story. 539 00:41:11.820 --> 00:41:22.619 But yeah, particularly, well, particularly Villa and Dell's reactions to experiencing it through those psychic discs was, yeah, really added to the emotion of it, I think. 540 00:41:27.179 --> 00:41:34.260 So cycling back to what we were saying at the start that this is the most Blake 70 of Blake 7 episodes following our discussion. 541 00:41:34.320 --> 00:41:37.679 Do we stand by that and is that the really good thing that it feels like being? 542 00:41:37.739 --> 00:41:40.139 Yeah, I completely stand by that. 543 00:41:40.199 --> 00:41:51.480 I think I think it's almost like what Chris Boucher, at least, has always wanted this series to be, and this is this for me is kind of the pinnacle of where they get everything right. 544 00:41:51.539 --> 00:41:52.079 The tone's right. 545 00:41:52.139 --> 00:41:54.539 I mean, I love the more serious episodes like Horizon and Killer. 546 00:41:54.599 --> 00:41:56.519 I mean, I've sort of waxed lyrical about those. 547 00:41:56.579 --> 00:42:04.199 I also love the sort of the camper ones like Harvest of Car, or Orbit next year, for instance. and certainly things like that. 548 00:42:04.260 --> 00:42:05.400 And voice from the past. 549 00:42:05.460 --> 00:42:06.300 I love those sorts of things. 550 00:42:06.360 --> 00:42:11.099 And, you know, I loved the one when we recorded Ultraworld too. 551 00:42:11.159 --> 00:42:24.659 But I think this is the one where I think I just, I hope that everybody involved with it, they think about this one as being the one they are most proud of, in that everyone's, everyone's so relaxed. 552 00:42:24.719 --> 00:42:26.579 Like everyone's giving a confident performance. 553 00:42:26.639 --> 00:42:34.380 The dialogue is got the right, as I was saying before, has got the right level of cleverness without being ridiculous. 554 00:42:34.440 --> 00:42:45.300 And you've got enough campering villainy from Villainy from Serverland to add the extra spice without it looking cheesy. 555 00:42:45.360 --> 00:42:51.059 Yeah, I just think it is, everything has, everything has gone right. 556 00:42:51.119 --> 00:43:08.579 And the fact that it's obviously well made. there's no bit that you look at apart from, you know, there's a whole bit of CSA fringing, all that kind of stuff, but there's nothing that you look at that you go, oh, God, that didn't work. you know, that's a bit dodgy. allowing for the fact that it's a multicamera, BBC drama for about 1980. 557 00:43:08.760 --> 00:43:13.019 It really feels like a series that's hit its confident height, doesn't it? 558 00:43:13.079 --> 00:43:18.059 And just before it was meant to bow out with its last episode, which turned out not to be its last episode. a really good point. 559 00:43:18.119 --> 00:43:18.840 We've talked. 560 00:43:18.900 --> 00:43:21.900 Yeah, this is filmed to be the penultimate episode of Blake 7, isn't it? 561 00:43:21.960 --> 00:43:25.800 I get the time that did they know the time they're making it, the decision had been taken, hadn't it? 562 00:43:25.860 --> 00:43:26.340 That's it. 563 00:43:26.400 --> 00:43:27.300 Next week's? 564 00:43:27.300 --> 00:43:27.719 Absolutely. 565 00:43:27.780 --> 00:43:28.139 Yeah. 566 00:43:28.800 --> 00:43:30.719 That's China. 567 00:43:30.719 --> 00:43:37.619 Which makes the fact that they detour into an episode like this, which is very character-based and kind of low key, all the more delicious. 568 00:43:37.739 --> 00:43:44.820 It's interesting you say character-based and low-key, because going back to what I was saying about it, like that slot of that spot of being the 2nd last episode of the season. 569 00:43:44.880 --> 00:43:50.400 You expect something which is a lot more rubbish than what this is, um, or something. would you know what I mean? 570 00:43:50.519 --> 00:43:52.559 Like, for all sorts of, like, you expect the keeper. 571 00:43:53.760 --> 00:43:56.159 You were going to say the US... 572 00:43:56.159 --> 00:44:00.599 I'd say... to turn up and do a turn and everyone else to just rattle around them. 573 00:44:00.659 --> 00:44:02.219 Yeah, which is what exactly what the keeper is. 574 00:44:02.280 --> 00:44:03.000 Yeah, exactly. 575 00:44:03.059 --> 00:44:07.800 And I think that the more I think about it, I wonder whether, yes, it started life as that episode. 576 00:44:07.860 --> 00:44:18.659 It started life as something that we're just going to keep this one really small because, you know, we got to save our powder for the last episode, but somehow it just all came to, came to fruition. 577 00:44:18.719 --> 00:44:27.659 I think it was quite Blake 7 about it as well, is that I feel like if it was Doctor Who or Star Trek, they would have tried to put a stop to this to these death matches. 578 00:44:27.719 --> 00:44:36.539 Whereas Blake 7 is just kind of a more brutal universe and they just go along and say, well, we'll just, if we follow the rules, we're safe. 579 00:44:36.599 --> 00:44:40.380 We don't care that we're going to see 2 men kind of slug it out to the death. 580 00:44:40.440 --> 00:44:57.719 So that feels, like you say, as the most Blake 70 Blake 7, it feels in keeping with the universe and the morality of the universe and of our heroes as well that, you know, although they try and stop the Federation getting more powerful through Serverland's plot, that's mainly for their own survival. 581 00:44:57.780 --> 00:45:00.300 It's not, you know, out of altruism or anything. 582 00:45:00.420 --> 00:45:14.639 It's interesting you say that, Mark, because the, it's, they do touch on the fact, though, that, that, um, you know, it's, if 2 planets are going to go to war, isn't it just much better that 2 guys try and kill each other rather than 1000000s of people be killed. 583 00:45:14.760 --> 00:45:18.900 So they do actually touch on the morality a little bit, whilst at the same time saying, well, it's not a thing to do with us. 584 00:45:18.960 --> 00:45:24.840 We're just going to have our cocktails and space canapes and put the disc. 585 00:45:24.840 --> 00:45:25.679 Adrenaline. 586 00:45:25.739 --> 00:45:25.920 Exactly. 587 00:45:28.980 --> 00:45:33.480 It does have one of the most abrupt endings of the, let's all have a chuckle. 588 00:45:33.539 --> 00:45:36.420 Oh, your brother's dead, but let's have a cocktail. 589 00:45:36.480 --> 00:45:38.940 Look on the bride. 590 00:45:39.000 --> 00:45:40.739 I was looking for another scene, actually. 591 00:45:40.800 --> 00:45:42.659 I was actually even I've seen it several times. 592 00:45:42.719 --> 00:45:45.780 I was a bit surprised this afternoon where Oh my god, is that it? 593 00:45:45.840 --> 00:45:46.500 Like it just suddenly stopped. 594 00:45:46.559 --> 00:45:47.579 I expecting another 2 scenes. 595 00:45:47.760 --> 00:45:49.380 Yeah, yeah. 596 00:45:49.440 --> 00:45:51.239 It really does just rub that off. 597 00:45:51.360 --> 00:45:52.739 Yes. 598 00:45:52.800 --> 00:45:53.940 Oh, out of time. 599 00:45:54.000 --> 00:45:54.360 That it. 600 00:45:54.420 --> 00:45:55.260 The end. 601 00:45:56.699 --> 00:46:13.739 I suppose I'm quite interested to see going forward as well because now Servolan has been, I suppose, well, more or less directly responsible for Dell's brother's death, whether that, you know, kind of, you know, changes their dynamic, uh, next, you know, next time the meet, whether he's out for revenge or whatever. 602 00:46:14.519 --> 00:46:20.820 I think the next time that Dell and Servoland meet, they might shag each other, so let's see how... 603 00:46:22.800 --> 00:46:24.719 Spoilers indeed. 604 00:46:25.260 --> 00:46:27.360 On that bombshell? 605 00:46:27.420 --> 00:46:28.320 Well. 606 00:46:41.039 --> 00:46:43.559 Thank you very much, everybody. 607 00:46:43.619 --> 00:46:47.519 We've been advised by our legal advisor, Aurak, to leave it there. 608 00:46:48.059 --> 00:46:51.539 So thank you very much for joining us. 609 00:46:51.599 --> 00:46:57.000 This has been Maximum Power, the only podcastcasters who don't view our listeners as enemies. 610 00:46:57.059 --> 00:46:59.760 We view you as our future friends. 611 00:47:00.119 --> 00:47:08.340 We have a whole bunch of other podcasts, including Flight Through Entirety, Trap one and Untitled Star Trek project. 612 00:47:08.400 --> 00:47:11.820 I don't have those links to hand, but you should be able to find them on the website, I think. 613 00:47:11.880 --> 00:47:16.559 And doubtless if you tune in for next episode terminal, there'll be a couple of links in that as well. 614 00:47:16.619 --> 00:47:19.679 So until then, goodbye from all of us. 615 00:47:19.739 --> 00:47:21.000 Goodbye. 616 00:47:21.059 --> 00:47:21.840 Goodbye. 617 00:47:21.960 --> 00:47:22.619 Bye for now. 618 00:47:28.679 --> 00:47:30.300 Switching to manual. 619 00:47:30.360 --> 00:47:32.400 Maximum power on all drives. 620 00:47:35.460 --> 00:47:37.320 Maximum power. 621 00:47:43.500 --> 00:47:45.300 Was that okay, guys? 622 00:47:45.360 --> 00:47:46.920 Sorry, I was really doing that all the time. 623 00:47:46.980 --> 00:47:49.019 No, yeah, honestly, yeah. 624 00:47:49.079 --> 00:47:50.940 Exactly. because that's what I was saying. the best one. 625 00:47:51.000 --> 00:47:56.579 You're the best one to be able to come up with like a sort of a spontaneous quip for the beginning and the end, whereas the rest of us would have had to think about. 626 00:47:56.639 --> 00:48:00.719 So, like, so I have instantaneous recall of everybody. like 7 line. 627 00:48:00.840 --> 00:48:01.019 Exactly. 628 00:48:01.079 --> 00:48:01.920 Yes, yes, yes. 629 00:48:01.980 --> 00:48:04.260 Yes, exactly Is that was good? 630 00:48:04.320 --> 00:48:04.860 was good discussion. 631 00:48:04.920 --> 00:48:05.760 Yeah, yeah, it was good fun. 632 00:48:05.820 --> 00:48:10.260 Yeah, and yeah, we didn't fall into the trap of just all saying, yeah, it's brilliant. and then running out of things to say. 633 00:48:10.380 --> 00:48:14.099 In fact, that's always the ones that don't have massive flaws, sometimes the hardest. 634 00:48:14.159 --> 00:48:16.679 You realise you've not got as much to talk about sometimes.