WEBVTT

NOTE
This transcript was created on 2026-06-07 at 22:17:15

1
00:00:09.839 --> 00:00:20.820
Hello, dear listener, and welcome back to Maximum Power, the only Blake 7 podcast that has this great idea for a perpetual motion machine that you might want to buy.

2
00:00:20.879 --> 00:00:22.559
I'm Nathan.

3
00:00:22.620 --> 00:00:23.579
I'm Brendan.

4
00:00:23.640 --> 00:00:25.440
I'm James And I'm Simon.

5
00:00:25.500 --> 00:00:35.640
Well, we're not far from the end of the series now, so it's off to the planet, Mecron, too, to do a bunch of generic space things until a black hole explodes or something.

6
00:00:35.759 --> 00:00:40.200
Let's see how all of that goes as we discuss games.

7
00:00:41.159 --> 00:00:45.299
All right, so I'm going to put my cards on the table straight away.

8
00:00:45.359 --> 00:00:50.280
I think this might be the most boring episode of Blake 7.

9
00:00:50.340 --> 00:00:52.320
I think that's a very unfair state in the run.

10
00:00:52.380 --> 00:00:53.640
I have assignment on that, I don't know.

11
00:00:53.759 --> 00:00:55.500
I don't think it's boring at all.

12
00:00:55.560 --> 00:00:56.399
I don't think it's boring.

13
00:00:56.460 --> 00:00:57.719
I think it's brilliant, but it's not.

14
00:00:57.899 --> 00:01:01.740
I was going to ask you all, is this fabulously terrible or terribly fabulous?

15
00:01:01.799 --> 00:01:07.260
Well, all I can say is that I was having fond memories of animals as I was watching it.

16
00:01:07.319 --> 00:01:07.920
Wow.

17
00:01:08.280 --> 00:01:09.719
Wow.

18
00:01:09.780 --> 00:01:12.120
I'm going to go with fabulously terrible.

19
00:01:12.359 --> 00:01:14.879
I don't think it's fabulously terrible.

20
00:01:14.939 --> 00:01:17.700
I think probably the reason you think it's terrible is because it's not fabulous enough.

21
00:01:17.760 --> 00:01:19.379
That might be what the problem is.

22
00:01:19.439 --> 00:01:20.879
Well, it does have server lad in it, so.

23
00:01:21.000 --> 00:01:21.599
Yeah, yeah.

24
00:01:21.659 --> 00:01:22.980
She's terribly fabulous.

25
00:01:23.099 --> 00:01:27.299
I mean, obviously that goes without saying, but I think there's something very generic about it.

26
00:01:27.359 --> 00:01:33.120
So this is by Bill Lyons, who doesn't write any other episodes for the show.

27
00:01:33.180 --> 00:01:34.079
That would be why.

28
00:01:34.140 --> 00:01:39.000
But he does play the young man who guards Denesh in The Enemy of the World.

29
00:01:39.060 --> 00:01:40.379
Oh does he?

30
00:01:40.439 --> 00:01:40.859
Yeah.

31
00:01:41.459 --> 00:01:43.319
We have wine tonight.

32
00:01:44.879 --> 00:01:46.319
Wow.

33
00:01:46.319 --> 00:01:56.640
In fact, according to Peter, the writer of last week's episode was in the web of fear.

34
00:01:56.700 --> 00:01:58.500
So it seems to be a thing.

35
00:01:58.560 --> 00:02:04.019
He imagines a nearby parallel universe in which Victor Pemberton plays a glorian, actually.

36
00:02:04.260 --> 00:02:12.180
But yes, yeah, so he has a huge career, both as a writer and as an actor.

37
00:02:12.240 --> 00:02:15.840
But this is the only kind of genre thing that he writes.

38
00:02:15.900 --> 00:02:22.620
And for me, what it seemed to be was that he just threw all of the genre things that he could possibly imagine in there.

39
00:02:22.680 --> 00:02:32.099
So we have orbits and black holes and a tribe of macronians who murder people and have, you know, plain song chanting and stuff like that.

40
00:02:32.159 --> 00:02:36.240
Just a whole heap of things that we'd seen before that all seem to be sort of thrown in together.

41
00:02:36.300 --> 00:02:42.840
And then a kind of thing about video games and this is Brendan's area of expertise.

42
00:02:42.900 --> 00:02:46.439
But video games were pretty boring in 1985, weren't they?

43
00:02:46.500 --> 00:02:46.979
How dare you?

44
00:02:47.099 --> 00:02:53.939
I was about to say, I think these video games somewhat predate Brendan's video games. fact, I think they predate Brendan.

45
00:02:56.159 --> 00:03:00.840
But I did look up a little because I'm interested in video game history.

46
00:03:00.900 --> 00:03:10.680
And look, the 1st sort of shooting gallery games date back to the 1930s using sort of electrostatic screens and that sort of thing and projection stuff.

47
00:03:10.740 --> 00:03:17.400
But, you know, we really see 2 video games, you know, we also see computer chess kind of thing.

48
00:03:17.460 --> 00:03:24.419
But, you know, so we see what we would now call a light gun game, which were in our caves in the late 70s and even in the home.

49
00:03:24.479 --> 00:03:42.240
Now, I want you at home or the gym or in the bath, wherever you are, to look up the Kaliko Telstar Arcade, which is a 1977 triangular game system that comes with a light gun, a steering wheel and a pong console.

50
00:03:42.300 --> 00:03:43.979
Is that for home use?

51
00:03:44.039 --> 00:03:49.080
That is for home use, but the cartridges are also triangles.

52
00:03:49.139 --> 00:03:52.259
Triangles, like the macronian knives.

53
00:03:52.800 --> 00:04:01.080
I was getting more trilogic game crossed with my 1st car from Fisher Prize. little bit, a little bit, a little bit.

54
00:04:01.139 --> 00:04:08.639
But yeah, so you know, the games we see here are sort of an extrapolation of what's in arcades at the time, what is in some homes at the time.

55
00:04:08.759 --> 00:04:11.699
And then Terrence flight simulator.

56
00:04:11.759 --> 00:04:18.959
Um, I tried to look into the history of flight simulators and I couldn't quite find, you know, if they used film at any point or what have you.

57
00:04:19.019 --> 00:04:26.399
But these kind of machines were using filmed footage with very minor inputs.

58
00:04:26.459 --> 00:04:33.779
And if I say laser disk games, if I say space ace, if I say dragon's lair, that's the kind of thing they're going for with Terrence.

59
00:04:33.839 --> 00:04:37.439
So the video game stuff here is right up to the minute, surprisingly.

60
00:04:37.560 --> 00:04:40.920
I think this must predate Dragon's Lair, though.

61
00:04:40.980 --> 00:04:42.240
Yes, it has to.

62
00:04:42.300 --> 00:04:42.779
Yeah.

63
00:04:42.839 --> 00:04:45.120
So the animated laser disc games come along a few years.

64
00:04:45.180 --> 00:04:45.420
Yeah.

65
00:04:45.420 --> 00:04:49.620
So what it reminded me of is the Star Wars one where you're in the cocktail.

66
00:04:49.680 --> 00:04:51.480
Yeah, the vector graphics one.

67
00:04:51.540 --> 00:04:53.579
Yeah, speaking of that, that graphic there.

68
00:04:53.639 --> 00:04:56.040
It's actually pretty cool for the era.

69
00:04:56.100 --> 00:04:59.220
The flight planets flying towards the screen.

70
00:04:59.279 --> 00:05:05.639
Yeah, it did look like just putting a camera sort of pointing up on the ground and dropping a lot of tennis balls.

71
00:05:05.699 --> 00:05:07.139
Drop dropping a lot of balls. yes Yeah.

72
00:05:07.199 --> 00:05:08.519
But that works. what it was.

73
00:05:08.579 --> 00:05:09.420
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

74
00:05:09.480 --> 00:05:10.740
But it works really well.

75
00:05:10.800 --> 00:05:11.579
Yeah.

76
00:05:11.639 --> 00:05:20.699
I mean, we'll obviously get to the games again at the end because they play an important part of what this episode likes to think of as its resolution.

77
00:05:27.959 --> 00:05:34.319
All right, so I guess the big deal in this episode is, I mean, we have 2 guests stars.

78
00:05:34.379 --> 00:05:39.959
We have the president, obviously, from the Caves of Andrazani. with his fabulous posh voice.

79
00:05:40.019 --> 00:05:40.560
Yes.

80
00:05:40.560 --> 00:05:54.839
But the big name guest star is obviously Stratford Johns, Peter's already told the anecdote on the podcast in the last couple of weeks about his outfit, and he is clearly the best thing going for the episode, I think.

81
00:05:54.899 --> 00:06:06.060
Absolutely, because what actors of his class do is they deliver all the lines or attempt to deliver all the lines as if they're Shakespeare, as if they're really, really good lines.

82
00:06:06.180 --> 00:06:13.199
He doesn't try to make any of the lines extra spacey, which is what I think bad actors do in these programs.

83
00:06:13.259 --> 00:06:16.379
He just delivers them as if it's all straight drama.

84
00:06:16.439 --> 00:06:18.959
And yeah, I think that's one of the reasons why he's so good.

85
00:06:19.019 --> 00:06:22.740
I actually might be a voice of dissent here in that.

86
00:06:23.040 --> 00:06:25.560
I cannot tell.

87
00:06:25.560 --> 00:06:50.639
If Belkov is meant to be confecting this slightly dodtery image, or if Stratford is genuinely stammering through the dialogue, and maybe that's a sign of a good actor, but I've seen Stratford in other things and enjoyed him in other things, but here, I actually feel like he's quite a bit disconnected from what's going on around him a lot of the time, and I, as I say, maybe that's his performance.

88
00:06:50.639 --> 00:06:55.439
There's one, one bit where I particularly love him where he oh, let's have a look in this silo here.

89
00:06:55.500 --> 00:06:56.819
Oh, there's blast walls.

90
00:06:56.879 --> 00:06:58.259
And then he just turns around and walks out again.

91
00:06:58.319 --> 00:06:59.100
That's wonderful.

92
00:06:59.100 --> 00:07:01.620
Yes, he plays that brilliantly.

93
00:07:01.680 --> 00:07:06.300
And also the scene where he's saying goodbye to Gambit. he plays brilliantly.

94
00:07:06.360 --> 00:07:13.439
So maybe I'm being too hard on him and if I can't tell if it's bad acting or a character trying to convince people that he's less than he is to underestimate him.

95
00:07:13.560 --> 00:07:14.819
Maybe it's maybe it is a good performance.

96
00:07:14.879 --> 00:07:21.360
Or he's been there basically, you know, going slowly mad for the last, what, 20 years?

97
00:07:21.420 --> 00:07:22.259
on a computer.

98
00:07:22.319 --> 00:07:31.079
Look, I don't get the stammering as, like, you know how sometimes you can tell when stammering is an affectation as opposed to a, I don't know what the hell I'm doing here.

99
00:07:31.139 --> 00:07:35.519
I don't get the impression it's the latter, but I can possibly see what you're talking about there.

100
00:07:35.579 --> 00:07:51.420
Another moment where I think he's really great is the introductory scenes where he's playing chess against Gambit while Guerin's invading the orbiter or whatever, and he's not interested in what's going on in the orbiter.

101
00:07:51.480 --> 00:07:53.339
He just interested in the game.

102
00:07:53.339 --> 00:07:58.680
And he preemptively kind of declares victory and says, I've definitely won.

103
00:07:58.680 --> 00:08:05.819
And then she comes back at him having won the game basically and says the same line and he laughs.

104
00:08:05.939 --> 00:08:07.740
He's been criticising her performance.

105
00:08:07.800 --> 00:08:12.600
He says, you're not on the attack enough, you're too defensive or something, you're not playing well.

106
00:08:12.660 --> 00:08:15.420
And then when she beats him, he laughs.

107
00:08:15.480 --> 00:08:24.480
And then there's just a moment before we go out where he suddenly looks angrily at the board again because he's sort of actually really genuinely annoyed at being beaten.

108
00:08:24.540 --> 00:08:29.819
And like, it's a shame that the script doesn't really give us anything.

109
00:08:29.879 --> 00:08:32.700
Like if the episode's called games.

110
00:08:32.759 --> 00:08:38.159
It can't just be called games because it's topped and tailed with the games on the orbiter.

111
00:08:38.220 --> 00:08:42.360
It has to be about the games the characters are playing with each other.

112
00:08:42.419 --> 00:08:53.940
And he's super kind of devious, apparently, and we get all this characterisation stuff where he doesn't trust anyone, and so he develops these automated systems to defend his property.

113
00:08:54.000 --> 00:08:56.759
But we never find out anything.

114
00:08:56.759 --> 00:08:59.399
Like, where are the Felden crystals that he's stolen?

115
00:08:59.460 --> 00:09:00.059
We don't know.

116
00:09:00.120 --> 00:09:04.679
Like we, at the end of the episode, we don't know, we don't know what's going on.

117
00:09:04.679 --> 00:09:05.940
No, we do.

118
00:09:06.000 --> 00:09:09.299
Like, they find out at the very end of the episode that there are no Felton, Chris.

119
00:09:09.360 --> 00:09:10.860
Oh, there are no failed and crystals.

120
00:09:10.919 --> 00:09:16.080
No, well, I believe I believe they're meant to be on his ship because that's what does the whole black hole thing at the end.

121
00:09:16.139 --> 00:09:17.220
Yeah, they're not.

122
00:09:17.340 --> 00:09:18.360
Yeah, they're not in the orbiter.

123
00:09:18.419 --> 00:09:19.379
Yes, they're not.

124
00:09:19.440 --> 00:09:22.860
No, we know they're not on the orbiter. just like we never told where they actually are.

125
00:09:22.980 --> 00:09:25.440
And so we don't know what game he's been playing.

126
00:09:25.500 --> 00:09:33.840
I think that's what just that's just guilty of the fact that they run out of time and the last the resolution is told in basically about 3 minutes.

127
00:09:33.899 --> 00:09:40.620
And I think that's something that does, as James sort of implies, just gets swallowed up in a whole lot of sudden exposition, which isn't entirely effective.

128
00:09:40.679 --> 00:09:46.200
I think the worst part of the episode, because I still don't know precisely how it ends.

129
00:09:46.320 --> 00:09:48.179
No, I don't know what happens.

130
00:09:48.240 --> 00:09:48.720
We'll get there.

131
00:09:48.779 --> 00:09:49.320
We'll get there.

132
00:09:49.379 --> 00:09:51.000
I don't quite follow it. anyway, sorry.

133
00:09:51.059 --> 00:10:03.000
I will say one thing that confuses me about Belkov's plan is, you know, he reported that this planet had, like, say, 2000000000 tons and it's like it's got a quarter of that.

134
00:10:03.059 --> 00:10:05.519
It's like, why oversell it in the 1st place?

135
00:10:05.519 --> 00:10:10.919
And the answer is kind of to get money, but sooner or later, someone's going to come and collect.

136
00:10:10.980 --> 00:10:12.720
Well, it's that kind of thing.

137
00:10:12.779 --> 00:10:16.200
You say, yeah, you need to overstate it so that they'll give you the contract, basically.

138
00:10:16.259 --> 00:10:22.259
But then he probably is assuming that they won't actually keep track of exactly how much stuff they get.

139
00:10:22.320 --> 00:10:24.299
And oh, and he'll be gone before they work out.

140
00:10:24.419 --> 00:10:25.799
They've only got half as much.

141
00:10:25.860 --> 00:10:27.600
Servolade explicitly says that's fraud.

142
00:10:27.720 --> 00:10:30.539
Either it's fraud or embezzlement either way.

143
00:10:30.600 --> 00:10:32.100
It's a capital crime.

144
00:10:32.399 --> 00:10:41.039
So, you know, the idea that he's overstating it in order to get investment in the thing is entertained as a possibility in the script.

145
00:10:41.279 --> 00:10:54.000
But so he's abstracted half of the Felden Crystals, and we think the entire time they're in the orbiter, but they aren't, and we don't know how Ava knows that.

146
00:10:54.059 --> 00:10:56.700
And then they're somewhere else.

147
00:10:56.759 --> 00:11:02.759
Avon knows that because Aurak has got dirt on Geren.

148
00:11:02.820 --> 00:11:03.720
Yeah, okay.

149
00:11:03.779 --> 00:11:07.919
And so Avon, sort of the, the rest of the Scorpio Crew.

150
00:11:07.980 --> 00:11:09.899
Well, I think Dana even says, so who is this person?

151
00:11:09.960 --> 00:11:13.559
We didn't know we were making a deal with Navon's like, well, it's not exactly a deal.

152
00:11:13.620 --> 00:11:15.360
And Tara's like, oh, so you're extorting him.

153
00:11:15.419 --> 00:11:16.139
Of course I am.

154
00:11:16.799 --> 00:11:21.960
That being said, Geren is then terribly friendly towards...

155
00:11:22.019 --> 00:11:24.360
What's the little blackmail the twin friends?

156
00:11:24.419 --> 00:11:30.299
He also seems to get fatally shot twice, which seems to be very unlucky for him.

157
00:11:31.139 --> 00:11:32.879
He's 2 rather attractive associates, Zach.

158
00:11:32.940 --> 00:11:39.659
Rather convincingly in those opening sequence and then he manages to just get clipped in the shoulder, I guess, is what the idea is.

159
00:11:39.720 --> 00:11:41.879
That it's a different shoulder, depending on which scene.

160
00:11:42.120 --> 00:11:44.220
Yeah, much annuity.

161
00:11:44.220 --> 00:11:46.500
He gets shot in the left shoulder and his holding is right.

162
00:11:46.559 --> 00:11:47.820
Yes, yes.

163
00:11:47.820 --> 00:11:50.220
It's it's spectroc's keeping him alive.

164
00:11:51.120 --> 00:12:10.980
But, you know, if I had a dollar for every time David Neal played an authority figure in a 1980s British science fiction series where his character is tied to the most rare and valuable substance in the universe and it gets him killed, I'd only have $2, I was about to say.

165
00:12:11.039 --> 00:12:13.080
But it's kind of weird that it happened twice.

166
00:12:13.139 --> 00:12:16.080
Yeah, twice in quick succession.

167
00:12:16.139 --> 00:12:16.620
Yes.

168
00:12:16.620 --> 00:12:16.980
Yes.

169
00:12:17.039 --> 00:12:21.600
So the previous hardest substance in the universe is, am I right?

170
00:12:21.659 --> 00:12:25.320
Herculaneum, which is what Liberator's hull was made out of.

171
00:12:25.379 --> 00:12:34.860
And as Doctor Who fans, we are aware of Bob Holmes's propensity for inventing new most valuable substances in the universe.

172
00:12:34.919 --> 00:12:40.259
We've already mentioned spectros, but he is also responsible for Jethric.

173
00:12:40.379 --> 00:12:41.759
So, yeah, yeah.

174
00:12:41.940 --> 00:12:46.740
Mac and I. Imagine that one fun.

175
00:12:46.860 --> 00:12:49.620
No, that's that's an adult.

176
00:12:49.679 --> 00:12:50.940
Yes, that's right.

177
00:12:51.539 --> 00:12:58.919
But look, my problem with it, though, is I don't care how many hardest, largest, most powerful substances of the event.

178
00:12:59.039 --> 00:12:59.399
I love it.

179
00:12:59.460 --> 00:13:00.179
The more the better.

180
00:13:00.240 --> 00:13:00.840
More the better.

181
00:13:00.899 --> 00:13:02.879
The universe is a big place, for goodness sake.

182
00:13:02.940 --> 00:13:08.519
But I do worry about how either any of them, really.

183
00:13:08.580 --> 00:13:18.000
What are they going to do with this material once they've gossip, because it is the kind of stuff that you can only in practice sell to like, you know, governments and large corporations.

184
00:13:18.059 --> 00:13:19.980
So it's not like you can kind of sell it on the black market.

185
00:13:20.039 --> 00:13:22.620
Well, that's a point Tarrant raises.

186
00:13:22.679 --> 00:13:29.759
Terrence's like, we can't sell this stuff because he's like, it could make its way back to the Federation and also will get caught.

187
00:13:29.820 --> 00:13:31.200
So what's the point in having it?

188
00:13:31.259 --> 00:13:35.399
So Terrence's idea is we just stop the Federation from having it.

189
00:13:35.460 --> 00:13:36.240
Yeah.

190
00:13:36.299 --> 00:13:41.879
Whereas, you know, this season they have a base, which they presumably have to keep stock.

191
00:13:42.000 --> 00:13:54.899
I feel like every story does also have the vestige of that idea of we're going to build an alliance, but of course, we can't guarantee that David Neil's going to be available in 2 months for the finale, so we'll kill him off.

192
00:13:54.960 --> 00:13:55.679
Yeah.

193
00:13:55.679 --> 00:13:57.840
Doctor Who.

194
00:13:58.740 --> 00:14:00.120
Yeah.

195
00:14:00.179 --> 00:14:05.519
Oh, and we were all talking last week about, you know, who is Rada Cancer?

196
00:14:05.580 --> 00:14:06.419
Yeah.

197
00:14:06.419 --> 00:14:16.919
Um, he, um, very shortly after this plays Eric Krieger, the blonde skier henchman of Christatos in for Euros only.

198
00:14:16.980 --> 00:14:17.460
Yes.

199
00:14:18.120 --> 00:14:31.740
Look, judging from the nature of your introduction, I think you have an issue with the idea of it giving infinite energy. which is a bit silly because if it gives infinite energy, surely you just need one crystal for the entire...

200
00:14:31.799 --> 00:14:32.940
Well, you would think so, yeah.

201
00:14:33.000 --> 00:14:41.759
So we speculate that you could run a whole planet on it using energy just from the light of distant stars.

202
00:14:41.820 --> 00:14:48.480
So the small amount of energy that comes from a distant star would be enough to create an infinite amount of energy.

203
00:14:48.539 --> 00:14:51.840
And then there's still a finite amount of light from the distance.

204
00:14:51.899 --> 00:14:57.120
But it infinitely amplifies it, and I'm using that word accurately.

205
00:14:57.779 --> 00:15:01.379
So you get infinite energy just from that.

206
00:15:01.440 --> 00:15:10.740
And then later on, we have the black hole, obviously, which provides an infinite energy source, which is then multiplied infinitely by the felden crystals.

207
00:15:10.799 --> 00:15:13.200
Like there's energy coming out the...

208
00:15:13.259 --> 00:15:14.399
Yeah, wazoo.

209
00:15:14.580 --> 00:15:16.320
It's a whole thing.

210
00:15:16.440 --> 00:15:21.120
So like that's kind of like whatever, that's our McGuffin or something like that.

211
00:15:21.179 --> 00:15:25.440
But yes, it is kind of silly, I think.

212
00:15:25.679 --> 00:15:38.519
And also it's kind of like, we have a sort of high concept in the beginning of, you know, the games aboard the orbiter. this computer that plays games, et cetera, et cetera.

213
00:15:38.580 --> 00:15:40.860
And we have the high concept in the end.

214
00:15:40.919 --> 00:15:45.840
And in the middle is just a lot of running around windspit quarry looking for Daleks.

215
00:15:45.899 --> 00:15:50.340
Yeah, it's that's amazingly boring, that whole section.

216
00:15:50.399 --> 00:15:51.960
It mighty rocks and everything.

217
00:15:52.019 --> 00:15:52.980
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

218
00:15:53.039 --> 00:15:59.340
I do love how as they're escaping, they they teleport up basically from the same place.

219
00:15:59.399 --> 00:16:01.019
Tatus arrives in destiny.

220
00:16:01.080 --> 00:16:03.179
And, you know, it's not the same director.

221
00:16:03.240 --> 00:16:14.399
So I have to wonder if Vivian Cousins watched Doctor Who a couple of years ago or maybe watched Destiny of the Daleks knowing she was going to the same location and kind of went, oh, that's a cool shot through that archway.

222
00:16:14.460 --> 00:16:22.139
No, I think it's probably just the fact that, you know, the people in the BBC know that there are 3 quarries that we have permission.

223
00:16:22.200 --> 00:16:24.659
They've given us permission before, which one do you want to use for this show?

224
00:16:24.720 --> 00:16:33.779
I was surprised, though, which we don't see in Destiny of the Daleks, is that it's obviously not as far from the ocean because, you see, at one point, you can see, 0 my god, there's water out.

225
00:16:33.840 --> 00:16:34.259
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

226
00:16:34.259 --> 00:16:35.220
Scaro has oceans.

227
00:16:35.279 --> 00:16:36.419
Yeah, it's pretty amazing.

228
00:16:36.480 --> 00:16:40.919
And there's all that abandoned mining equipment as well, which actually really kind of works to sell it.

229
00:16:40.980 --> 00:16:56.039
And it does give us the funniest line of the episode, I think, which is when that guy gets pushed into the refinery thing and all that's left of him is dust and Villa gets to say, oh, you know, bad way to go, all that dust very bad for the chest or something, which is really good.

230
00:16:56.100 --> 00:16:58.200
If you wear to go, all that does very bad.

231
00:16:58.259 --> 00:16:59.100
Yeah, yeah, wonderful.

232
00:17:01.740 --> 00:17:05.220
In my book, whoever's been thrown into that pulverizer.

233
00:17:08.220 --> 00:17:18.900
One thing I absolutely love about the location sequences is 2 sequences open with Garon, Villa and Tarrant sneaking around and you're like, where's Dana?

234
00:17:18.960 --> 00:17:23.160
It's like, Dana has gone somewhere else to save their asses when they invariably get discovered.

235
00:17:23.220 --> 00:17:28.019
Great shelf cliff thing that she's standing up on in one of those scenes.

236
00:17:28.079 --> 00:17:34.799
But there isn't even a line to cover that saying, I'll try to check on the back way or whatever it is, you know, I'll come back.

237
00:17:34.859 --> 00:17:36.839
You know, it's just like she's just suddenly not there.

238
00:17:36.900 --> 00:17:40.559
She literally just says, oh, these guys are going to get themselves into trouble.

239
00:17:40.619 --> 00:17:44.099
I'm just going to sneak off and watch over them.

240
00:17:44.160 --> 00:17:44.700
Yeah.

241
00:17:44.700 --> 00:17:46.619
And you want to know something.

242
00:17:46.680 --> 00:17:51.420
Like, the chemistry between the main cast is really well written in this.

243
00:17:51.480 --> 00:17:54.059
Like Villa says, why deal when you can steal?

244
00:17:54.059 --> 00:17:56.880
And Avon has a genuine smile at that.

245
00:17:57.839 --> 00:18:08.579
Avon and Sulin get some great banter scenes again, like after Dana shoots the garb that's already dead, Terrence's like, well, if he had been alive, you would have saved our lives. like, do I get a prize?

246
00:18:08.640 --> 00:18:11.220
There's no venom in any of those exchanges.

247
00:18:11.279 --> 00:18:13.140
They're actually just getting along.

248
00:18:13.200 --> 00:18:18.420
In fact, I just couldn't help thinking how posh and middle class they were in that exchange.

249
00:18:19.019 --> 00:18:22.380
It's just really something. you know?

250
00:18:22.680 --> 00:18:25.140
Five go hunting the Federation.

251
00:18:27.420 --> 00:18:36.599
Even Tarrant telling Villa to stay outside is funny rather than bullying and Villa does end up coming to their rescue.

252
00:18:36.960 --> 00:18:44.160
I actually think, though, that Ivan and Su Lin stuff up on the ship while everyone else is down below.

253
00:18:44.220 --> 00:18:50.460
Like, that's something that we've done to death, I think, where we go off station and suddenly everyone's isolated.

254
00:18:50.579 --> 00:18:51.839
Like that's super boring.

255
00:18:51.960 --> 00:19:04.079
But also what you get is Avon really, really desperately trying to make some very tedious dialogue about how the computer works interesting by just delivering it like a terrifying threat.

256
00:19:04.079 --> 00:19:05.099
You know what I mean?

257
00:19:05.160 --> 00:19:09.240
Like everything that Avon says is this sort of scenery chewing thing.

258
00:19:09.299 --> 00:19:17.700
And like, I appreciate that he's trying to enliven some pretty tedious dialogue, but it starts to seem a bit stupid, I think.

259
00:19:18.000 --> 00:19:23.039
I just wanted him at the beginning after the explosions to turn around and say, switch it off.

260
00:19:23.700 --> 00:19:33.960
The one thing I do like is where, or access to him, you know, you told me not to bore you with the technical details and he goes, oh, you know, I was busy.

261
00:19:34.019 --> 00:19:36.059
A bit more time now.

262
00:19:36.599 --> 00:19:39.180
Like, I thought that was actually pretty good.

263
00:19:39.240 --> 00:19:52.680
But otherwise he's just sort of gnashing his teeth and and then, you know, because Glynis Barber takes her lead from him, it's just the 2 of them doing that at each other upstairs and I just didn't think that that was all that much fun to watch.

264
00:19:52.799 --> 00:19:53.880
Jumping wildly.

265
00:19:53.940 --> 00:19:54.480
Yeah.

266
00:19:59.279 --> 00:20:02.640
Can we talk about Serverland this week?

267
00:20:05.700 --> 00:20:07.259
Why is she here?

268
00:20:07.319 --> 00:20:10.259
Yeah, so that's interesting, isn't it?

269
00:20:10.319 --> 00:20:16.680
She's obviously here because this would be much, much more boring if she wasn't, and she is magnificent.

270
00:20:16.740 --> 00:20:18.599
She loves up every episode.

271
00:20:18.660 --> 00:20:23.400
Yeah, yeah, she does. contracted for 6 episodes of season or something like that, yes.

272
00:20:23.460 --> 00:20:25.200
Eight, yeah.

273
00:20:25.259 --> 00:20:37.200
But you see, I then think that's a problem because famously, there is an episode later this season where in later years, Jackie Pierce was asked, why weren't you in this very important episode?

274
00:20:37.200 --> 00:20:40.440
And she said, because I'd done my 8 and they didn't want to pay me more.

275
00:20:40.500 --> 00:20:45.359
And you have to kind of go, I wish Chris Boucher had gone.

276
00:20:45.480 --> 00:20:46.980
You know what?

277
00:20:47.039 --> 00:20:50.400
It's always lovely to have Jackie in, but this isn't a serverland part.

278
00:20:50.460 --> 00:20:53.400
Let's save her because I know she's not contracted.

279
00:20:53.460 --> 00:21:04.500
Let's keep one up our sleeve and introduce someone else or even the Federation can just be on their way because Belkov's plan doesn't really change.

280
00:21:04.559 --> 00:21:06.180
Like, you know?

281
00:21:06.240 --> 00:21:07.019
Yeah.

282
00:21:07.019 --> 00:21:07.799
Yeah.

283
00:21:07.859 --> 00:21:12.599
I mean, so Jackie is famously kind of confused and upset by the sleer role.

284
00:21:12.660 --> 00:21:19.799
Like she's now no longer the supreme empress or the supreme commander of the Terran Federation or whatever.

285
00:21:19.859 --> 00:21:23.400
And she thinks that's a dumb idea and of course she's right.

286
00:21:23.700 --> 00:21:34.559
But, you know, just the way that she's fabulous in any role and the way she orders around those, you know, young men who fly her hotel room around the character in this season.

287
00:21:34.619 --> 00:21:35.460
You know?

288
00:21:35.700 --> 00:21:37.680
Like she's awesome.

289
00:21:37.740 --> 00:21:39.119
It doesn't matter what role she is.

290
00:21:39.180 --> 00:21:41.940
Pastry shed, you know, police commissioner.

291
00:21:42.000 --> 00:21:43.259
It really doesn't matter at all.

292
00:21:43.319 --> 00:21:45.960
But here she is super wasted.

293
00:21:46.019 --> 00:21:48.000
She never interacts with any of the regulars.

294
00:21:48.059 --> 00:21:50.759
She only interacts with Stratford Johns.

295
00:21:50.819 --> 00:21:53.700
That's great, but, you know, why is she here?

296
00:21:53.759 --> 00:21:58.859
It's odd that, yeah, she doesn't even get to interact with the regulars, which is does feel like a wasted opportunity.

297
00:21:58.920 --> 00:22:00.299
It's interesting what you're saying there, Brendan.

298
00:22:00.359 --> 00:22:02.400
I mean, we're, what, halfway through the season by now?

299
00:22:02.460 --> 00:22:09.839
It's eight, I think. more than halfway through the season and they haven't yet worked out even a sketchy idea of how they want the season to conclude.

300
00:22:09.900 --> 00:22:15.539
Now, fine, they don't maybe don't know still whether it's this is it or whether they're going to keep going on for a 5th season.

301
00:22:15.599 --> 00:22:22.140
And I think the episode, in its entirety, you've kind of touched on this, Nathan, where there's a bit of this, there's a bit of that and we'll have this, none of it kind of makes sense.

302
00:22:22.200 --> 00:22:25.920
It is kind of all a bit thrown together without a lot of care.

303
00:22:25.980 --> 00:22:30.839
And I think it's that is reflective of the fact that they don't then have her for the last episode.

304
00:22:30.900 --> 00:22:37.920
I mean, do we know for sure that it wasn't a deliberate decision not to have her in the final episode?

305
00:22:37.980 --> 00:22:49.619
I, you know, I wonder if it might be, if she was in the final episode, it probably just would have been, she was in the last scene, and maybe they're like, no, no, no, we won't just get her in and pay her a full episode for one scene.

306
00:22:49.680 --> 00:23:00.779
We'll get her in for a full episode and it's like, okay, but at the same time, Yeah that was done in modern television, you would just film those scenes with the other episodes.

307
00:23:01.019 --> 00:23:01.619
Yes, they don't.

308
00:23:01.740 --> 00:23:01.920
Yeah.

309
00:23:01.980 --> 00:23:03.720
That's not the way time it's worked back then.

310
00:23:03.779 --> 00:23:05.339
And not just the filming, but the contracting.

311
00:23:05.400 --> 00:23:06.720
Yeah, exactly very different.

312
00:23:06.779 --> 00:23:07.259
Exactly.

313
00:23:07.319 --> 00:23:14.099
Because, you know, I was thinking with this, you know, we don't see serverlands flying hotel rumours who put it there.

314
00:23:14.160 --> 00:23:16.440
But we will see it next week.

315
00:23:16.500 --> 00:23:20.160
And of course, she's paired up with Stephen Yardley next week, which is great casting.

316
00:23:20.160 --> 00:23:25.019
And, you know, wouldn't have been great to have a scene or 2 with him that they could have done back to back.

317
00:23:25.079 --> 00:23:28.740
But as you say, Simon, that's not the way they did contracts back then.

318
00:23:28.799 --> 00:23:30.839
Whereas now it can be done that way.

319
00:23:30.900 --> 00:23:37.440
And to use Doctor Who was an example, the upcoming Sea Devil spinoff, Russell C.

320
00:23:37.440 --> 00:23:40.140
Davies has said it's being filmed as one production block.

321
00:23:40.200 --> 00:23:45.180
So he's like, I've got a character who's in episode one and episode five, he shot all his scenes in 3 days.

322
00:23:45.299 --> 00:23:45.839
Yeah.

323
00:23:45.839 --> 00:23:46.140
Yeah.

324
00:23:46.200 --> 00:23:47.460
And that's how television has moved.

325
00:23:47.519 --> 00:23:50.220
But that's also because of the way they pay people is completely different.

326
00:23:50.279 --> 00:23:57.180
Whereas, you know, in the modern era, Jacqueline Pierce would have been paid an astonishing amount of money to be used whenever we need you.

327
00:23:57.240 --> 00:23:58.079
Yes.

328
00:23:58.319 --> 00:23:59.759
That's basically the way it works now.

329
00:23:59.819 --> 00:24:05.339
How can they not have come up with that as an idea where they've got Jacqueline Pierce right in front of you?

330
00:24:05.400 --> 00:24:08.160
It's like, yes, give her all the money.

331
00:24:08.700 --> 00:24:12.480
Surely should have been the originator of that concert.

332
00:24:12.539 --> 00:24:13.619
Exactly.

333
00:24:14.339 --> 00:24:20.700
Yeah, so I mean, are we actually even saying that perhaps this is Serverland's weakest appearance in the entire series?

334
00:24:20.759 --> 00:24:22.799
She does get to playoffs.

335
00:24:22.799 --> 00:24:24.299
A necessary appearance, man.

336
00:24:24.299 --> 00:24:25.200
Which is okay.

337
00:24:25.259 --> 00:24:26.400
Do you know what I mean?

338
00:24:26.460 --> 00:24:27.539
She's that's okay.

339
00:24:27.599 --> 00:24:29.880
There's some fun bits in it. don't know.

340
00:24:30.000 --> 00:24:41.339
I think it may seem so weak because of what she's become, because if you look back, say, to seek locate, destroy, she's kind of just there to give Travis orders before she becomes...

341
00:24:41.400 --> 00:24:44.460
Yeah, before she becomes who she became in Project Avalon and Beyond.

342
00:24:44.519 --> 00:24:51.420
But yeah, I think it's maybe maybe not her weakest just because Jackie Pierce at her weakest is still fabulously entertaining.

343
00:24:51.480 --> 00:24:56.220
We're not saying her week is we're saying the characters use the weakest use of the character.

344
00:24:56.279 --> 00:24:58.019
Okay, yes, I'm not talking about her at all.

345
00:24:58.079 --> 00:24:59.339
Yeah, okay, I would never say that.

346
00:24:59.400 --> 00:25:00.660
I think I would agree with you.

347
00:25:00.720 --> 00:25:08.339
And coming back to the point about her not liking Sleir, it's a real kind of weakening of that character.

348
00:25:08.339 --> 00:25:12.180
That character used to be the supreme power of this federation.

349
00:25:12.240 --> 00:25:15.299
Now she's in hiding, she's assumed a different identity.

350
00:25:15.359 --> 00:25:21.059
She's reduced to going around to various planets with nefarious schemes.

351
00:25:21.180 --> 00:25:28.799
Which probably would have worked if there had been a 5th series where she then regains all the power and can come out again at Severland and Wahaha.

352
00:25:28.859 --> 00:25:31.500
Is that just so Hugh Fraser can play the president?

353
00:25:31.619 --> 00:25:38.339
Yes, for a big finish. that's right I mean, what, you know, it doesn't affect her performance.

354
00:25:38.400 --> 00:25:43.200
She's still playing it as if she's supreme commander, you know, like who I don't think she needs to put in much effort.

355
00:25:43.319 --> 00:25:48.059
No, no, she's just, but this is very low rent for her, isn't it?

356
00:25:48.119 --> 00:25:57.960
And it kind of diminishes our characters a little bit too, that they're just being chased by a policeman rather than by the supreme commander or the galactic emperor.

357
00:25:58.019 --> 00:26:12.359
Well, because it was fine in whichever one it was, Traitor. where, yes, she's commissioner Sleer, but kind of everybody knows she's serverland, whereas I suppose this is the only instance, is it, or one of the few instances where everyone's still calling her commissioner Sleer.

358
00:26:12.420 --> 00:26:15.180
As opposed to, well, we actually know who you really are.

359
00:26:15.240 --> 00:26:15.960
Yeah.

360
00:26:15.960 --> 00:26:18.359
She's slearing animals, I think.

361
00:26:18.420 --> 00:26:19.319
They share, yeah.

362
00:26:19.380 --> 00:26:22.559
So, I mean, that is kind of thing to rewatch that.

363
00:26:22.619 --> 00:26:23.700
Did you?

364
00:26:23.700 --> 00:26:25.740
I thought I'd give that one a miss.

365
00:26:25.799 --> 00:26:36.779
It's actually astoundingly entertaining, even though it's atrocious, like... the worst episode of the run of the show, but gee whiz, it's so much more fun to watch than this.

366
00:26:38.279 --> 00:26:39.960
Molar.

367
00:26:42.240 --> 00:26:45.660
There is some competition there down the bottom, isn't there?

368
00:26:45.720 --> 00:26:53.339
Yeah, you know, I might go as far as to say, I was about to say season one doesn't have a worst episode, but maybe Time Squad.

369
00:26:53.400 --> 00:26:54.299
No, that's fine.

370
00:26:54.359 --> 00:26:56.640
But the thing is, Times Squad has the Cali plot.

371
00:26:56.700 --> 00:26:58.920
It's kind of like Time Squad has the Cali plot.

372
00:26:58.980 --> 00:27:05.099
Webb has like, you know, some interesting discussions about sci-fi concepts, you know?

373
00:27:05.160 --> 00:27:07.380
Yeah, actually, it's, 0 my god.

374
00:27:07.440 --> 00:27:09.059
Is season one the most reliable?

375
00:27:09.240 --> 00:27:10.680
Sorry.

376
00:27:10.740 --> 00:27:11.880
A, Series 8.

377
00:27:11.940 --> 00:27:12.420
Series eight.

378
00:27:13.500 --> 00:27:16.259
It's not what the Blu-ray boxer calls it.

379
00:27:16.319 --> 00:27:17.220
Yeah, yeah.

380
00:27:17.279 --> 00:27:19.019
Despite sleep binding, yeah.

381
00:27:19.079 --> 00:27:25.559
And despite how tall Siheart is, he does not have the wingspan to hit me from the UK for calling it season one.

382
00:27:28.980 --> 00:27:31.440
It's interesting with the game stuff.

383
00:27:31.559 --> 00:27:35.460
I mean, because computer chess has probably always been the computer game.

384
00:27:35.519 --> 00:27:39.599
It's always been, you know, can we build a computer that will beat the world champion at chess?

385
00:27:39.660 --> 00:27:40.859
And so having...

386
00:27:40.859 --> 00:27:41.579
Spoiler alert.

387
00:27:41.640 --> 00:27:41.819
Yes.

388
00:27:41.940 --> 00:27:43.859
Yes, yes, yes.

389
00:27:43.920 --> 00:27:44.940
But that was always the thing.

390
00:27:45.000 --> 00:27:50.160
But so but chess is not something you play on a computer so much anymore.

391
00:27:50.220 --> 00:27:53.039
And in fact, it wasn't by the time you even get to the early 90s, I think.

392
00:27:53.099 --> 00:27:54.839
So it's very much of its time.

393
00:27:54.900 --> 00:27:59.759
But all of the, I love, because I think this is the 1st time you see it done in television properly.

394
00:27:59.819 --> 00:28:06.299
I love all the player one player 2 game over stuff that you get on the space station and also later on.

395
00:28:06.359 --> 00:28:10.799
It's the 1st time that kind of language, which is suddenly common, appears on screen.

396
00:28:10.859 --> 00:28:28.500
Yeah, in fact, I think that that lands more boringly now, because game over is just a normal thing that people say. any expressions, but it's a little bit kind of surprising to see it turn up in Blake's ever, and where you've got that terrible, you know, with the computer font thing that says, you know.

397
00:28:28.559 --> 00:28:30.539
What was that BBC computer that they used to have?

398
00:28:30.599 --> 00:28:33.420
Oh, the BBC micro, yeah.

399
00:28:33.480 --> 00:28:37.440
No, but I mean the light that says game over that lights up with game over the door.

400
00:28:37.500 --> 00:28:40.799
I was just disappointed it wasn't speed chess.

401
00:28:40.859 --> 00:28:41.400
Yes.

402
00:28:41.400 --> 00:28:44.400
The very 1st computer chess.

403
00:28:44.460 --> 00:28:56.640
I think that we see on the show is in weapon. where Carnell has that computer which we identified as the 1st ever home computer sold that could play chess.

404
00:28:56.700 --> 00:28:57.119
Right.

405
00:28:57.119 --> 00:28:59.819
So computer chess is obviously a thing.

406
00:28:59.880 --> 00:29:03.660
And I think that adds a fair amount of visual interest to the set.

407
00:29:03.720 --> 00:29:15.180
Like, I think the set that Belkov lives in is pretty great, and that the point of presence for the gambit computer looks really good, like much better than Aurac does, I think.

408
00:29:15.480 --> 00:29:18.000
It's more than a box of flashing light.

409
00:29:18.059 --> 00:29:18.900
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

410
00:29:18.960 --> 00:29:20.279
Boy, who's an actress?

411
00:29:20.339 --> 00:29:23.339
So she is mostly a stage actress.

412
00:29:23.400 --> 00:29:24.960
She is a proper actress.

413
00:29:25.019 --> 00:29:26.579
I did kind of look her up.

414
00:29:26.640 --> 00:29:28.019
Her name is Rosalind Bailey.

415
00:29:28.079 --> 00:29:30.779
I think she's really actually quite good.

416
00:29:30.839 --> 00:29:31.799
She's great.

417
00:29:31.859 --> 00:29:35.519
There's this wonderful melancholy in her voice, which I think really sues.

418
00:29:35.579 --> 00:29:46.019
Whereas Peter Tottenham's got this, you know, very excitable voice, you know, where hers is this not sort of like low key, but it's got a sort of understated melancholy to it, which I think really suits it all.

419
00:29:46.079 --> 00:29:53.279
And actually, I think she delivers a flat enough performance throughout it, that it's not like you feel the computer's getting emotional when she's having to self-destruct.

420
00:29:53.400 --> 00:29:55.680
Yeah, although you do a little bit, don't you?

421
00:29:55.740 --> 00:29:58.920
Well, maybe, yes. subtle, but it's subtle. subtle. yeah, yeah.

422
00:29:58.980 --> 00:30:13.319
Because there's stuff said in the dialogue about how the computer has taken on aspects of Belkov's personality and Aurak rejects the idea that it has any kind of relationship with Belkov.

423
00:30:13.380 --> 00:30:17.759
But I think the performance is on the edge of that.

424
00:30:18.240 --> 00:30:24.660
And I do actually think that, you know, like I said, I think Stratford John's performance is maybe the highlight of this thing.

425
00:30:24.720 --> 00:30:26.880
When he comes in and says goodbye to her.

426
00:30:27.240 --> 00:30:32.759
But also that great moment where she kind of almost murders him.

427
00:30:32.880 --> 00:30:33.900
Yeah.

428
00:30:33.960 --> 00:30:38.039
Like, yeah, no, yeah, please, you know, like, give me give me control.

429
00:30:38.099 --> 00:30:39.299
No.

430
00:30:39.359 --> 00:30:43.440
No, she says unable to comply and then she says unwilling to comply.

431
00:30:43.500 --> 00:30:44.700
That's true, yeah.

432
00:30:44.759 --> 00:30:48.000
So there is some kind of agency that she sort of has.

433
00:30:48.059 --> 00:30:50.940
But when he says goodbye to her.

434
00:30:51.000 --> 00:30:55.980
She does kind of play it as if she's a little bit sort of upset or disappointed.

435
00:30:56.039 --> 00:30:57.660
And he's certainly playing it that way.

436
00:30:57.720 --> 00:30:58.500
Oh, yeah.

437
00:30:58.500 --> 00:30:59.640
He's certainly sorry to leave her.

438
00:30:59.880 --> 00:31:04.559
You know, we don't get a lot of computers in Blake Seven, really.

439
00:31:04.619 --> 00:31:15.839
We see a lot of the computers we do get, like Zen and Slave and Aurac, but the concept of the computer taking on aspects of the personality of the user has been around since the 1st series.

440
00:31:15.900 --> 00:31:25.980
And, you know, Aurac, of course, is modelled on Ensor, but I would argue also when Zen 1st boots up, you know, Zen talks about, oh, okay, yeah, I'll take your language from you.

441
00:31:26.039 --> 00:31:29.339
I take the image from Jenna's mind and this is Liberator.

442
00:31:29.400 --> 00:31:31.680
I give you a visual reference point as you require it.

443
00:31:31.740 --> 00:31:37.140
It's a fascinating atypical view of computers in the science fiction of the time.

444
00:31:37.200 --> 00:31:46.440
It's sort of you've got Hal in 2001 and the whole problem with Hal is he can't take on human ideas and human personality and that creates a conflict.

445
00:31:46.500 --> 00:31:59.039
You've got the computer in Star Trek, which had that horror strident voice, Major Barrett did, and the one time it had a personality, Kirk threatened to dismantle it with an axe. you know.

446
00:31:59.160 --> 00:32:02.940
And it's something that Big Finish then picks up and runs with.

447
00:32:03.059 --> 00:32:07.380
And I think possibly that's why the computers of Blake 7 are so fondly remembered.

448
00:32:07.440 --> 00:32:09.900
I don't know if I've told this story on maximum power.

449
00:32:09.960 --> 00:32:11.940
I've told it on FTE.

450
00:32:12.000 --> 00:32:19.259
My parents, both trained as scientists, and somewhere my mum was working.

451
00:32:19.319 --> 00:32:35.099
They had 3 very early mainframes in the 1980s and they were called Zen, Orac, and I will tell you the 3rd one in a moment because someone, is she overheard a conversation and this person said, why are the computers called Zen Aurac and this other name?

452
00:32:35.160 --> 00:32:39.240
And the person said, oh, they're computers from some science fiction thing.

453
00:32:39.240 --> 00:32:43.140
And my mother poked her head around the door and said, excuse me, Zen and or Aqua computers.

454
00:32:43.200 --> 00:32:48.000
Jenna was a gorgeous blonde. and swept out of the room.

455
00:32:48.119 --> 00:32:49.799
The 3rd one was called Jenna.

456
00:32:49.859 --> 00:32:50.400
Jenna.

457
00:32:50.460 --> 00:32:53.220
Maybe there was an objection to calling it slave.

458
00:32:53.279 --> 00:32:56.700
Oh, which is a surprise for the time.

459
00:32:57.660 --> 00:33:00.539
I wanted to know, were they prime computers?

460
00:33:01.319 --> 00:33:03.240
Almost certainly.

461
00:33:06.839 --> 00:33:08.880
Rosalind Bailey.

462
00:33:08.940 --> 00:33:12.180
Yes, stage actress and sort of bits and pieces of TV around the place.

463
00:33:12.240 --> 00:33:18.059
At this point, though, she was quite famous in the UK as a regular character in when the boat comes in.

464
00:33:18.119 --> 00:33:18.839
Yes.

465
00:33:18.839 --> 00:33:20.880
Which concludes around the same time.

466
00:33:20.940 --> 00:33:37.019
So, yeah, it's quite possible that she was considered like a 3rd big name in this episode and maybe she was busy shooting the last series of when the boat comes in, but said, oh, coming into a voice for you, you know, or it could have just been Vivian cousins, maybe had worked with her before.

467
00:33:37.079 --> 00:33:38.039
I don't know, to be honest.

468
00:33:38.160 --> 00:33:38.700
Yeah.

469
00:33:39.119 --> 00:33:53.339
The thing that they do with Gambit is they have her being made up out of a bunch of other computers and being added to, and so being made haphazardly, like not being designed.

470
00:33:53.400 --> 00:34:05.519
And so that's, I think, why it has human characteristics, because it wasn't designed on a drawing board, but like us, it was just kind of cobbled together out of other things, you know.

471
00:34:05.579 --> 00:34:08.519
And so like, I think that's kind of cool.

472
00:34:08.579 --> 00:34:13.739
But I, you know, like, I think it's a great performance and I think it's maybe one of the highlights of the episode.

473
00:34:13.800 --> 00:34:31.679
And I think, again, we'll get to the end quite soon, but I think the fact that we have really no idea what happens at the end of the episode actually kind of spoils that final interaction that you mentioned, James, between Belkoff and Gambit, because it's impossible to tell what the outcome of that is.

474
00:34:37.800 --> 00:34:47.699
How cheesy, on a scale of one to 11, do we find the last bit where the Scorpio crew arrive at the space station and each one of them gets one thing?

475
00:34:47.760 --> 00:34:48.360
Jesus Christ.

476
00:34:48.420 --> 00:34:55.320
So we have 4 games, each of which is based on the special skill of one of our characters.

477
00:34:55.380 --> 00:34:56.940
There's a door.

478
00:34:57.000 --> 00:34:58.320
I think by the time there's a door.

479
00:34:58.440 --> 00:35:02.340
Maybe even when there's a pilot game, do you know what I mean?

480
00:35:02.400 --> 00:35:07.380
Or you see sort of, oh, it's a quick draw game right at the very beginning.

481
00:35:07.380 --> 00:35:07.980
Yes.

482
00:35:07.980 --> 00:35:12.360
And that's the only thing that we know about Zulian, that's her entire character summary.

483
00:35:12.420 --> 00:35:13.500
Yes, exactly.

484
00:35:13.559 --> 00:35:17.340
But it doesn't make sense anywhere because the even it appears on the computer screen.

485
00:35:17.400 --> 00:35:24.300
It says the computer will match your skills and then in the final round, exceed them.

486
00:35:24.360 --> 00:35:30.480
So that kind of means that you're going to lose at the end anyway, because it'll always be a final round where it's better than you.

487
00:35:30.599 --> 00:35:31.800
It makes no sense at all.

488
00:35:31.860 --> 00:35:35.880
But maybe maybe it can't exceed Soulin's super skills.

489
00:35:36.599 --> 00:35:50.639
Yeah, it's, it's, it's the usual sci-fi thing of, and we even, we even, well, Villa undermines it later on, but it's the usual sci-fi thing of, that takes 2 hours.

490
00:35:50.699 --> 00:35:51.719
You've got 10 minutes.

491
00:35:51.780 --> 00:35:53.579
Yes, yeah, yeah, yeah.

492
00:35:53.639 --> 00:35:54.599
Yeah, that's great.

493
00:35:54.659 --> 00:35:58.320
But then the next one, the flight simulator one.

494
00:35:58.380 --> 00:36:06.719
I mean, flight simulators were the most, most boring, tedious game of those early PCs.

495
00:36:06.780 --> 00:36:11.280
Like, everyone wants everyone, like, I think they'd always come with your IBM piece.

496
00:36:11.340 --> 00:36:11.579
Yes.

497
00:36:11.579 --> 00:36:13.139
You always crash.

498
00:36:13.199 --> 00:36:15.960
They were just ridiculously dull.

499
00:36:16.019 --> 00:36:16.920
I hated them.

500
00:36:16.980 --> 00:36:19.739
Likewise, the quick George games I never got into and I think.

501
00:36:19.860 --> 00:36:22.980
So I was, where was the Pac-Man slash Space Invaders style game?

502
00:36:23.039 --> 00:36:25.260
Because those games existed.

503
00:36:25.380 --> 00:36:25.920
Yeah.

504
00:36:25.920 --> 00:36:30.659
And especially the space invasion, or even a pong star. you know what I mean?

505
00:36:30.719 --> 00:36:31.920
Like, it was all the dull ones.

506
00:36:31.980 --> 00:36:34.139
Big dug or load runner.

507
00:36:34.619 --> 00:36:36.840
Oh, I love load.

508
00:36:36.900 --> 00:36:37.860
Yeah, load runner was pretty great.

509
00:36:37.920 --> 00:36:40.019
Yeah, I dig dug's a bit lazy than that.

510
00:36:40.079 --> 00:36:41.340
I'll have to look up my emulator.

511
00:36:41.760 --> 00:36:44.519
A bit later, it might have been bubble bobble.

512
00:36:44.699 --> 00:36:47.340
I know load runners 1984.

513
00:36:47.460 --> 00:36:48.900
I think Dig Dog could be 1982.

514
00:36:49.019 --> 00:36:50.880
I think it is, that rings a bell.

515
00:36:51.119 --> 00:36:54.420
But something that is notable about the games.

516
00:36:54.480 --> 00:37:01.320
The 1st game with the joystick was, I believe, missile in 1969 arcade game.

517
00:37:01.380 --> 00:37:01.739
Okay.

518
00:37:01.739 --> 00:37:11.099
So most arcade games throughout the 70s and into the 80s didn't necessarily have what we would consider the modern control of the joystick or direction pad and buttons.

519
00:37:11.159 --> 00:37:15.360
They had some sort of dedicated controller to simulate the activity.

520
00:37:15.420 --> 00:37:16.920
And that's what we get here.

521
00:37:16.980 --> 00:37:20.579
We get a light gun, which I believe is recycled later in Vengeance on Varos.

522
00:37:20.940 --> 00:37:28.679
And we get like a moving seat cockpit with a joystick for the flight simulator.

523
00:37:28.739 --> 00:37:32.099
So we get a door for the door.

524
00:37:36.119 --> 00:37:43.980
But you know, I mean, I always loved, you know, Death of the Daleks 4 and Pyramids of Mars 4. as a kid.

525
00:37:44.039 --> 00:37:47.219
Now, I still have some fondness for them now, even though they're a bit ridiculous.

526
00:37:47.280 --> 00:37:48.900
They clearly just running out the time.

527
00:37:49.199 --> 00:37:56.639
But at the same time, I just think that this could have been a little bit more logical if this is allegedly an adult science fiction program.

528
00:37:56.699 --> 00:37:57.719
It could have been.

529
00:37:57.780 --> 00:38:01.739
Avon goes over 1st with Aurac and goes, okay, this is a gun thing.

530
00:38:01.800 --> 00:38:02.820
Sulin, you're up.

531
00:38:02.880 --> 00:38:03.780
Sulin beams over.

532
00:38:03.840 --> 00:38:04.500
There you go.

533
00:38:04.559 --> 00:38:06.599
Oh, this is a flight scene.

534
00:38:06.659 --> 00:38:07.920
Okay, Sulyn, you go back.

535
00:38:07.980 --> 00:38:09.719
It's too dangerous for too many of us to be here.

536
00:38:09.780 --> 00:38:10.619
Tarant, get over here.

537
00:38:10.679 --> 00:38:13.860
You know, and that...

538
00:38:13.860 --> 00:38:21.000
Even that, you would be going, 0 my god, it's still one game per person. at least you're hanging out.

539
00:38:21.000 --> 00:38:21.599
Possibly more so.

540
00:38:21.659 --> 00:38:22.920
You're hanging a lantern on it.

541
00:38:22.980 --> 00:38:25.260
And it's a computer game thing.

542
00:38:25.320 --> 00:38:33.719
If you are playing an arcade game, some at the time allowed you to select two, three, four players and you would alternate and you would step up to the cabinet.

543
00:38:33.780 --> 00:38:36.059
Yes, yes, for an extra $.20.

544
00:38:36.360 --> 00:38:39.000
I think it's just done, yeah, clumsily.

545
00:38:39.059 --> 00:38:40.139
I think is what it is.

546
00:38:40.260 --> 00:38:41.760
And without care, without finesse.

547
00:38:41.820 --> 00:38:43.920
No, it's the usual thing, right?

548
00:38:43.980 --> 00:39:00.239
Where, as someone learns that computer games are really new and interesting now in this world of the early 1980s, and I, Bill Lyons, who has maybe read about them, but never actually encountered one and going to include them in my script.

549
00:39:00.300 --> 00:39:09.900
And so it's very definitely, you know, it's like the emoji bots in Doctor Who, where they're being written by someone who doesn't know how to communicate with emojis.

550
00:39:09.900 --> 00:39:14.579
But that being said, he gets the computer games part right.

551
00:39:14.639 --> 00:39:17.159
Like the computer, the computer game.

552
00:39:17.159 --> 00:39:17.880
Door game.

553
00:39:17.940 --> 00:39:19.679
Well, here's the thing.

554
00:39:19.679 --> 00:39:20.519
Here's the thing.

555
00:39:20.579 --> 00:39:22.199
And I will get to the door.

556
00:39:22.260 --> 00:39:24.360
We'll get to the door again.

557
00:39:24.420 --> 00:39:32.280
But, you know, the light gun, the flight simulator, the computer chess, that is all how those things worked.

558
00:39:32.400 --> 00:39:35.760
And considering Bill Lyons is maybe what, about 20 winnings in Doctor Who?

559
00:39:36.179 --> 00:39:37.380
he's probably 40 or something.

560
00:39:37.440 --> 00:39:43.920
Well, yeah, approaching 40, which means he probably has teenage kids who are playing these games and that's probably where he's seeing them.

561
00:39:43.980 --> 00:39:45.059
Now that's the thing.

562
00:39:45.119 --> 00:39:48.840
We know the idea runs out when it's like, here's a door.

563
00:39:49.139 --> 00:39:55.619
And instead of having a game attached, like recently over on the BJBJ game show, available wherever you get your podcast.

564
00:39:55.679 --> 00:40:01.139
We played the Talos principle and one of the mechanics in that, you unlock doors using tangram puzzles.

565
00:40:01.199 --> 00:40:04.380
Yes, and that's what it needs to be rather than the fingerprint.

566
00:40:04.440 --> 00:40:11.280
It needed to have 2 things appear and say, you know, the next thing I say will be true, but the last thing I said was a lie kind of thing. all that kind of nonsense.

567
00:40:11.340 --> 00:40:11.940
You know what I mean?

568
00:40:12.000 --> 00:40:15.960
Like, it needs that added to it rather than just a door because really they've run out of time in the story.

569
00:40:16.019 --> 00:40:25.019
And look, the fingerprint thing is clever and it's appropriate to character and it makes sense as much as anything does in this episode, but it's not a game.

570
00:40:25.079 --> 00:40:27.719
So what is the game that Avon plays?

571
00:40:27.780 --> 00:40:32.579
So Avon has to do a thing about where planets are?

572
00:40:32.639 --> 00:40:36.300
Avon plays a pub trivia quiz machine?

573
00:40:36.360 --> 00:40:37.139
Okay.

574
00:40:37.199 --> 00:40:41.820
It's, you know, it's it's like the star must be this, this, this, this.

575
00:40:41.880 --> 00:40:43.500
It's the next illogical sequence.

576
00:40:43.559 --> 00:40:45.059
Oh my god, it's a black hole.

577
00:40:45.420 --> 00:40:46.860
Okay.

578
00:40:46.920 --> 00:40:51.840
And then we suddenly know that the Felden crystals aren't here.

579
00:40:52.679 --> 00:40:55.380
And apparently...

580
00:40:55.380 --> 00:40:56.639
That's what that's what Avon says.

581
00:40:56.699 --> 00:41:03.780
I think the logic is, when Avon solves his puzzle and it's, what's the name of the star?

582
00:41:03.900 --> 00:41:04.920
It's something XL.

583
00:41:04.980 --> 00:41:07.619
Yeah, like an extra large star, I think.

584
00:41:07.679 --> 00:41:09.480
It's not how we name stars.

585
00:41:09.599 --> 00:41:11.099
Signus XL.

586
00:41:11.159 --> 00:41:13.500
We don't call stars that, do we?

587
00:41:14.039 --> 00:41:15.420
Yeah.

588
00:41:15.480 --> 00:41:17.039
So, yeah, he names the style.

589
00:41:17.099 --> 00:41:17.820
Cygnus XL.

590
00:41:17.880 --> 00:41:18.659
It a black hole.

591
00:41:18.719 --> 00:41:31.139
And I think there is some very hurried dialogue that indicates during the thing, it's like, as soon as we solve this puzzle, we get access to the Felden Crystals, but also the station goes to wherever the star is.

592
00:41:31.199 --> 00:41:37.679
And that's when Avon realises there can't be crystals because if there's crystals, you can't get to them because this thing is going to shoot towards a black hole.

593
00:41:37.739 --> 00:41:39.480
So their crystals can't be here.

594
00:41:39.539 --> 00:41:40.920
But where's the black hole?

595
00:41:40.980 --> 00:41:41.639
It's nearby.

596
00:41:41.760 --> 00:41:42.179
What?

597
00:41:42.179 --> 00:41:42.599
Like what?

598
00:41:42.659 --> 00:41:50.699
But also then why is the space station reacting to the black hole with the infinite energy if the crystals are not there?

599
00:41:50.760 --> 00:41:52.320
I mean, how does that work?

600
00:41:52.380 --> 00:41:54.420
Like, they're the panels on the space station?

601
00:41:54.480 --> 00:41:55.320
Is there a light?

602
00:41:55.380 --> 00:41:56.400
Are they Felden panels?

603
00:41:56.460 --> 00:41:58.079
The panels are felded.

604
00:41:58.199 --> 00:41:59.519
The panels are Felden.

605
00:41:59.579 --> 00:42:00.000
Yeah.

606
00:42:00.059 --> 00:42:03.300
So there is Felton on the space station, just not the crystal.

607
00:42:03.360 --> 00:42:04.079
But if crystal.

608
00:42:04.139 --> 00:42:14.519
And if they're infinitely magnified, why won't someone's big lighter on the surface of the planet do just as well as a distant black hole?

609
00:42:14.579 --> 00:42:16.739
Like, it, like the whole, which is not emitting light.

610
00:42:16.800 --> 00:42:19.619
I don't know what, like it's not, is it emitting energy?

611
00:42:19.679 --> 00:42:21.360
Maybe it's anything radiation.

612
00:42:21.420 --> 00:42:23.820
It emits radiation out of the holes.

613
00:42:23.820 --> 00:42:26.219
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

614
00:42:26.280 --> 00:42:27.480
So there we go.

615
00:42:27.539 --> 00:42:28.260
It is.

616
00:42:28.320 --> 00:42:29.159
Sorry, Bill.

617
00:42:30.059 --> 00:42:34.800
It's all big radiation, not necessarily light radiation. but they're still against...

618
00:42:34.920 --> 00:42:38.340
Well it is a full light, actually. in terms of this full spectrum.

619
00:42:38.400 --> 00:42:41.460
Look, I don't I don't want to claim that about black holes, but just please.

620
00:42:41.460 --> 00:42:42.539
This is a different podcast.

621
00:42:42.599 --> 00:42:46.920
But, like, and then something, there's some sparkly light.

622
00:42:46.920 --> 00:42:47.760
We really are doing it now.

623
00:42:47.760 --> 00:42:58.800
At some point, and then a thing happens, and then, like, it's really, like, there's clearly something can't, we go, or not filmed.

624
00:42:58.860 --> 00:42:59.340
Yeah.

625
00:42:59.400 --> 00:43:09.539
We go from, uh, it's not made clear that the stupid circuit that Villa takes out of Gambit, he's in that box that's on top of Aurac.

626
00:43:09.599 --> 00:43:11.280
Well, the weird thing is it's not.

627
00:43:11.400 --> 00:43:18.659
Because I thought when we get that that picture of the space station and it's like Dana, where put us over now.

628
00:43:18.719 --> 00:43:24.239
I thought, okay, this is covering a scene where we attach the circuit to Aurak. et cetera, et cetera.

629
00:43:24.300 --> 00:43:26.219
But you've got the weird box on top of all rack.

630
00:43:26.280 --> 00:43:28.980
And then you've got the circuit next to it that Villa gets the fingerprint off.

631
00:43:29.099 --> 00:43:33.539
Also, somehow, or it's both on Scorpio and on the orbiter at the same time.

632
00:43:33.599 --> 00:43:35.400
But isn't the box?

633
00:43:35.400 --> 00:43:35.760
Oh, yeah.

634
00:43:35.820 --> 00:43:40.440
I thought the box on top of Aurac was basically just a camera attachment.

635
00:43:40.500 --> 00:43:41.099
Maybe.

636
00:43:41.099 --> 00:43:42.719
I thought that's what I interpreted.

637
00:43:42.840 --> 00:43:43.380
Oh okay.

638
00:43:43.440 --> 00:43:45.300
Because it needs to be this massive thing.

639
00:43:45.360 --> 00:43:46.739
It's not exactly a webcam size.

640
00:43:46.800 --> 00:43:48.659
Yeah, but who is that for?

641
00:43:48.719 --> 00:43:50.639
Who's looking at it?

642
00:43:50.760 --> 00:43:52.800
Isn't someone still back on Dana is?

643
00:43:52.860 --> 00:43:54.780
Dana is but Dana needs to follow along.

644
00:43:55.500 --> 00:43:58.260
She wants to watch the episode too.

645
00:43:58.739 --> 00:44:01.679
I wonder if she followed it better than we are.

646
00:44:01.739 --> 00:44:02.760
Clearly.

647
00:44:02.760 --> 00:44:05.340
So Aurek has become a Twitch streamer.

648
00:44:05.400 --> 00:44:07.019
That's what we're saying. basically.

649
00:44:07.079 --> 00:44:15.900
Okay, because I do like the thing the thing that I do like is Aurac and Gambit giving the dialogue at the same time as they analyse the games.

650
00:44:15.960 --> 00:44:21.059
So why just treat me, you know, like I'm a child?

651
00:44:21.119 --> 00:44:22.739
Explain it to me as if I'm a child.

652
00:44:22.800 --> 00:44:24.960
Why does Belkov's ship blow up?

653
00:44:25.079 --> 00:44:26.219
No, it doesn't.

654
00:44:26.280 --> 00:44:26.639
It doesn't.

655
00:44:26.639 --> 00:44:27.539
What does it do?

656
00:44:27.599 --> 00:44:28.440
I don't know.

657
00:44:32.099 --> 00:44:35.639
There's like there's a special effects shot missing there.

658
00:44:35.699 --> 00:44:40.380
So all you see is him kind of go, oh, I'm you to go to the orbiter.

659
00:44:40.440 --> 00:44:43.079
And then that's basically the last you see of him, yes?

660
00:44:43.139 --> 00:44:48.840
Like, it's supposed to be a shot at his ship blowing up that they either didn't film or they edited out of time.

661
00:44:48.900 --> 00:44:59.639
Because what happens is he has the conversation with Gambit and then Gambit is going to let him die and he persuades Gambit not to do that.

662
00:44:59.699 --> 00:45:00.780
And then he laughs.

663
00:45:00.840 --> 00:45:01.980
Oh, yeah.

664
00:45:02.039 --> 00:45:06.179
And actually, he persuades Gambit to send him and the station into the black hole.

665
00:45:06.239 --> 00:45:07.019
So I'm wrong earlier.

666
00:45:07.139 --> 00:45:09.360
Oh, really?

667
00:45:09.420 --> 00:45:10.559
Why would he want to do that?

668
00:45:10.619 --> 00:45:17.219
He says, if you're not going to give me control, lock my ship and orbiter onto Cygnus XL.

669
00:45:17.340 --> 00:45:19.380
But does that mean send them into the black hole?

670
00:45:19.440 --> 00:45:20.039
What does it mean?

671
00:45:20.099 --> 00:45:21.659
What is locking something onto something, me?

672
00:45:21.719 --> 00:45:23.280
That doesn't mean to send me there.

673
00:45:23.340 --> 00:45:26.519
Well, um, who knows?

674
00:45:26.760 --> 00:45:28.380
Who could say?

675
00:45:28.440 --> 00:45:33.599
That's why, you see, I, because when he laughs, I thought it was that laugh of, I'm going to die.

676
00:45:33.780 --> 00:45:43.139
Well, because we do, you know, we do have a line of dialogue saying the felon crystals won't be any use to Belkov where he's gone.

677
00:45:43.199 --> 00:45:51.719
But like the last we saw of him was him successfully persuading Gambit to do something that seemed to be not killing him.

678
00:45:51.780 --> 00:45:53.820
No, I thought he didn't successfully.

679
00:45:53.880 --> 00:45:55.139
Why does he laugh?

680
00:45:55.199 --> 00:45:56.099
I thought she agreed.

681
00:45:56.159 --> 00:45:59.280
He was laughing, staring at him, like, because she's beat him.

682
00:45:59.340 --> 00:46:01.139
Oh, yes, yes.

683
00:46:01.199 --> 00:46:01.739
Oh, okay.

684
00:46:01.800 --> 00:46:03.300
He's laughing like he laughed before.

685
00:46:03.360 --> 00:46:06.900
You know, it's like, I just can't tell what's going on.

686
00:46:06.960 --> 00:46:08.760
No, no, I can't tell. what I'm saying.

687
00:46:08.820 --> 00:46:09.179
I not sure.

688
00:46:09.239 --> 00:46:09.539
Is he dead?

689
00:46:09.659 --> 00:46:12.300
Like, I know, you know, Endgame Tabilikov in credits.

690
00:46:13.079 --> 00:46:16.440
Yeah, so he must be dead and then he out with them.

691
00:46:16.440 --> 00:46:17.340
He's out with you.

692
00:46:18.179 --> 00:46:22.679
Because then none of them have got Felden Crystals because the few that Villa style were fake. were fake.

693
00:46:22.739 --> 00:46:23.880
Yeah, why were they fake?

694
00:46:24.000 --> 00:46:25.800
Because he didn't want to leave something so valuable.

695
00:46:25.860 --> 00:46:28.019
I don't know, because I don't know, what did you do with the real ones?

696
00:46:28.079 --> 00:46:31.559
absorbed LED light from the console would have blown up his...

697
00:46:31.619 --> 00:46:38.219
What's not actually covered is, well, I didn't understand, which may be the same thing, is why.

698
00:46:38.280 --> 00:46:42.239
So obviously this infinite power that you can get from distant stars, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

699
00:46:42.300 --> 00:46:44.280
Sometimes they can control it. sometimes it can blow up.

700
00:46:44.340 --> 00:46:50.400
Do we actually get an explanation as to why it's controllable sometimes and or is it even controllable or is it erratic or is it what's going on here?

701
00:46:50.460 --> 00:46:53.219
Because it blows up that planet at the beginning, right?

702
00:46:53.280 --> 00:46:56.039
No, it blows up their facility, not the planet.

703
00:46:56.099 --> 00:46:56.940
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

704
00:46:57.000 --> 00:47:04.260
With that shot of the explosion at the beginning, when Avon's explaining, you know, about the new power station, they can build and et cetera, et cetera.

705
00:47:04.320 --> 00:47:10.559
He does say something along the lines of the reaction can be controlled, but it can go out of control.

706
00:47:10.619 --> 00:47:14.940
So it's it's kind of a metaphor for a new pass.

707
00:47:15.000 --> 00:47:15.780
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

708
00:47:15.900 --> 00:47:18.179
It's like a nuclear reaction, only more volatile.

709
00:47:18.239 --> 00:47:19.079
Yeah.

710
00:47:19.320 --> 00:47:25.739
My reading of the ending, oh, God, we shouldn't have to use those words.

711
00:47:25.800 --> 00:47:29.340
But my reading of the ending is.

712
00:47:29.400 --> 00:47:40.260
Belkov arranges for his ship, which is carrying some Felden crystals, and the orbiter, which has Felden solar collectors or whatever, are being sent towards the black hole.

713
00:47:40.440 --> 00:47:43.139
The energy from the black hole.

714
00:47:43.260 --> 00:48:03.900
He shrugged. is being magnified by the Feld and Grizzles, and increasing the gravitational pull of the black hole, and Avon basically says, well, if we apply a directly inverse force, that could be enough to push us away, and Aurak's like, that's fucking stupid.

715
00:48:03.900 --> 00:48:05.219
And it is.

716
00:48:05.280 --> 00:48:07.019
And then it worked.

717
00:48:07.079 --> 00:48:07.920
And it does.

718
00:48:07.980 --> 00:48:10.019
It makes all of the things disappear.

719
00:48:10.079 --> 00:48:12.900
Yeah, and is that what happens to Belkov?

720
00:48:12.960 --> 00:48:14.159
Is he one of the things that disappears?

721
00:48:14.280 --> 00:48:21.000
He goes into the black hole and loses his physical being and becomes...

722
00:48:23.940 --> 00:48:25.619
You know what?

723
00:48:25.679 --> 00:48:32.460
It is the plot that almost 10 years later, Red Dwarf would reuse for much better effect in Whitehole.

724
00:48:32.519 --> 00:48:37.199
They plug up a black hole with the inverse energy from the Felden crystals.

725
00:48:37.619 --> 00:48:41.820
In a particularly 1950s understanding of science fiction.

726
00:48:41.880 --> 00:49:03.360
I mean, I think that this is the problem with the entire show, is that it has a whole heap of science fiction things that are not very interesting and then it has the usual kind of faffing about in a quarry and like a tribe of primitive people, again, who have religion, those weirdos, and that's a thing.

727
00:49:03.420 --> 00:49:07.559
And then, like, there's no real kind of character to it.

728
00:49:07.619 --> 00:49:18.599
The closest it gets is the idea that it's about computer games, but you have to think that something like Death Watch is much more interestingly about computer games than this.

729
00:49:18.659 --> 00:49:21.480
And so there's no real proper high concept.

730
00:49:21.539 --> 00:49:24.360
There's nothing super interesting for Servoland to do.

731
00:49:24.420 --> 00:49:28.260
There's nothing really there, I think.

732
00:49:28.380 --> 00:49:44.400
And that's why I've been kind of, I've only been half joking when I've been comparing it unfavourably to animals because animals has a very strong, very stupid main concept, but it is an actual main concept.

733
00:49:44.460 --> 00:49:51.659
You know, it's the episode with OG and, you know, hypnotising, hypnotising Dana and stuff.

734
00:49:51.719 --> 00:49:54.239
Whereas this is the episode about what exactly?

735
00:49:54.300 --> 00:49:57.059
Yeah, that, that, that suddenly, an inappropriate grooming.

736
00:49:57.119 --> 00:49:58.739
Yeah, yeah, there's that.

737
00:49:58.800 --> 00:49:59.280
Yeah.

738
00:49:59.340 --> 00:50:01.380
Well, so when is grooming?

739
00:50:01.380 --> 00:50:01.619
Yeah.

740
00:50:02.400 --> 00:50:05.159
No, no, don't cut that.

741
00:50:14.760 --> 00:50:21.420
Look, I think you're absolutely right there, Nathan, but I don't think it's the worst Black 7 episode.

742
00:50:21.480 --> 00:50:27.840
I think we've had others, which qualify in more important ways to be bad.

743
00:50:27.900 --> 00:50:33.960
I think, yeah, I think this creates the sin of being poorly thought through, poorly put together.

744
00:50:34.019 --> 00:50:46.139
Poorly made, because there's obviously, well, as James, you've said, there's at least one missing shot that's either missing because they didn't get to it or because they forgot or whatever ridiculous excuse they have or because it was cut.

745
00:50:46.199 --> 00:50:51.420
If they decided to cast it, that is a very poor decision. unless it was because it wasn't properly realised.

746
00:50:51.480 --> 00:50:54.179
But it's too slow at the beginning and then 2 rushes at the end.

747
00:50:54.239 --> 00:50:55.800
So there's a pacing problem.

748
00:50:55.860 --> 00:51:03.059
It needs an extra draft and it needs everyone to go away and just have a big good think about what they've been doing. think that's the thing.

749
00:51:03.119 --> 00:51:04.440
The point that you made earlier, Nathan.

750
00:51:04.500 --> 00:51:05.639
It's like, it's a grab bag.

751
00:51:05.699 --> 00:51:07.079
It's a grab bag of ideas.

752
00:51:07.139 --> 00:51:09.360
It doesn't really have much of a purpose.

753
00:51:09.420 --> 00:51:12.840
It's just all these sci-fi concepts chucked in.

754
00:51:12.840 --> 00:51:13.980
Which you can't do.

755
00:51:14.039 --> 00:51:16.199
And you can't explore any of them properly.

756
00:51:16.260 --> 00:51:17.579
That's the problem as well.

757
00:51:17.639 --> 00:51:21.179
So whereas Death Watch, for instance, can explore a single idea.

758
00:51:21.239 --> 00:51:23.280
And, you know, you don't need to pair it back that much.

759
00:51:23.340 --> 00:51:27.480
You just need to kind of just think about what you're trying to say and what we're trying to do.

760
00:51:27.539 --> 00:51:28.380
Have a through line.

761
00:51:28.440 --> 00:51:29.400
It's okay.

762
00:51:29.460 --> 00:51:32.639
Computer games are definitely a thing that the kids are into, right?

763
00:51:32.699 --> 00:51:34.500
Yes, yes, we should do that.

764
00:51:34.559 --> 00:51:35.519
We should.

765
00:51:36.539 --> 00:51:39.719
I can do a really good game over graphic.

766
00:51:40.139 --> 00:51:41.519
Great.

767
00:51:41.579 --> 00:51:42.300
Let's make an episode.

768
00:51:43.440 --> 00:51:53.039
I think what probably saves it from being even in the bottom five, is that 1st of all, everyone is acting in character.

769
00:51:53.159 --> 00:51:54.960
You know, exactly.

770
00:51:55.019 --> 00:51:58.800
You don't have, like, animals is terrible for a number of reasons.

771
00:51:58.920 --> 00:52:01.500
But mostly it's Josette, is it?

772
00:52:01.559 --> 00:52:04.079
Well, mostly it's what Josette is given.

773
00:52:04.139 --> 00:52:06.719
Yes, oh, no, quite. portrayal of her character.

774
00:52:06.780 --> 00:52:07.139
Exactly.

775
00:52:07.199 --> 00:52:09.780
Which she then does the best possible job with.

776
00:52:09.840 --> 00:52:10.739
Yeah, maybe.

777
00:52:10.800 --> 00:52:21.239
You know, Star Drive has some really stupid design decisions and, as I mentioned before, just Avon, Sulin, and Tarrant dancing around a quarry.

778
00:52:21.780 --> 00:52:27.539
And it's also that series D has a coherent visual identity.

779
00:52:27.599 --> 00:52:29.760
It always looks great.

780
00:52:29.820 --> 00:52:33.480
They have dedicated model work per episode.

781
00:52:33.539 --> 00:52:37.139
Like we get new shots of the Scorpio because we have the orbiter.

782
00:52:37.199 --> 00:52:40.559
This is the only time we see Scorpio fire, it's guns.

783
00:52:40.619 --> 00:52:41.099
Oh, wow.

784
00:52:41.099 --> 00:52:47.039
You know, something Via Laura Ma brings, which David Maloney tried to do and kept getting shouted down by various departments.

785
00:52:47.159 --> 00:52:54.300
I't know how Via Lorimer does it instead, but Via says, no, we want this to look as close to Star Wars as possible, and we are going to pull out all the visual stops.

786
00:52:54.360 --> 00:52:58.800
So yeah, I think those 2 things at least keep it entertaining.

787
00:53:01.860 --> 00:53:02.340
Yeah.

788
00:53:23.400 --> 00:53:25.260
Well, that's all the time we have for this week.

789
00:53:25.380 --> 00:53:32.880
We'll be back next week to talk about a Blake 7 episode that's coarse, rough, and irritating, and that gets in everywhere.

790
00:53:32.940 --> 00:53:34.860
It's sand.

791
00:53:34.980 --> 00:53:48.360
Until next time, remember that a huge negative force a long way off could be balanced by a positive force close to the crystals, which might be a bad thing or a good thing, or both, who knows?

792
00:53:48.420 --> 00:53:50.699
Thank you very much for listening and good night.

793
00:53:50.760 --> 00:53:53.699
It's how I balance caffeine with my soma.

794
00:53:53.760 --> 00:53:54.179
Good night.

795
00:53:54.480 --> 00:53:56.219
Bye for now.

796
00:54:06.840 --> 00:54:09.000
Let's go.

797
00:54:09.059 --> 00:54:13.440
Go, go. 30 seconds thrust, amazing...

798
00:54:13.559 --> 00:54:15.539
Switch his man.

799
00:54:15.719 --> 00:54:18.179
Maximum power on all drives.

800
00:54:19.139 --> 00:54:21.659
Maxim, now.

801
00:54:30.780 --> 00:54:32.699
I need to correct something for me before.

802
00:54:32.820 --> 00:54:36.780
It is not X rays that come out of the poles of a... black hole.

803
00:54:36.840 --> 00:54:38.219
Yeah, well, it might be x rays.

804
00:54:38.280 --> 00:54:43.500
So please, no one at me, but it is, there is ionised stuff that comes out.

805
00:54:43.559 --> 00:54:48.420
I think they're still not entirely sure, but there is stuff that so a black hole can actually evaporate over time.

806
00:54:48.780 --> 00:54:50.219
Yes.

807
00:54:50.280 --> 00:54:54.360
Which is why, basically, otherwise the universe, which is black hole.

808
00:54:54.420 --> 00:54:56.039
Well, it is full like holes, but yeah.

809
00:54:56.820 --> 00:54:58.980
Oh, well, that's it, the science, and this is totally accurate.

810
00:54:59.039 --> 00:54:59.940
Action, totally.

811
00:55:00.000 --> 00:55:01.079
They were ahead of their time, in fact.

812
00:55:01.380 --> 00:55:04.079
The universe is basically Swiss cheese.

813
00:55:04.139 --> 00:55:06.179
Yes, essentially, yes, yeah.

814
00:55:06.239 --> 00:55:07.079
Not as delicious.

815
00:55:07.139 --> 00:55:09.300
Beats of it are quite delicious.

816
00:55:09.360 --> 00:55:10.619
Yeah, in my experience.

817
00:55:10.679 --> 00:55:12.059
Not as good as a nice cooter.

818
00:55:12.119 --> 00:55:12.480
Yeah.

819
00:55:12.480 --> 00:55:14.820
But much like this plot full of...

820
00:55:14.820 --> 00:55:16.260
That's the ending.

821
00:55:16.380 --> 00:55:23.219
No, I think we've probably already had the ending, I think, into our low effort. been ending it since the beginning.

822
00:55:23.280 --> 00:55:25.920
But I'm not entertained by this episode.

823
00:55:25.980 --> 00:55:27.539
Yeah, see, I was super bored.

824
00:55:27.599 --> 00:55:28.860
I'm bored.

825
00:55:28.860 --> 00:55:29.940
I'm bored.

826
00:55:30.119 --> 00:55:32.519
I keep coming back to it again, and I'll say it again, the keeper.

827
00:55:32.579 --> 00:55:34.260
Yeah, the keeper is also boring.

828
00:55:34.380 --> 00:55:36.239
No, no, no, that's where I'm bored.

829
00:55:36.300 --> 00:55:38.219
In fact, the one thing And I'm also bored by duel.

830
00:55:38.280 --> 00:55:38.880
I'm sorry everyone.

831
00:55:38.940 --> 00:55:40.320
Oh, okay, that's interesting.

832
00:55:40.320 --> 00:55:42.780
See, it's just tedious.

833
00:55:42.840 --> 00:55:49.679
I think I think the thing about keeper that's just about to say is it for me is Sally's performance.

834
00:55:49.739 --> 00:55:53.280
Like, she's the best thing in it, because she just thinks all of this is stupid.

835
00:55:53.639 --> 00:55:55.440
She's right.

836
00:55:55.500 --> 00:55:56.340
She's right.

837
00:55:56.579 --> 00:55:58.500
And you what?

838
00:55:58.500 --> 00:56:02.940
Kudos to the production team because Sally leaves because she's not very satisfied.

839
00:56:03.000 --> 00:56:07.260
So they're like, okay, we are going to give you a really dumb episode.

840
00:56:07.320 --> 00:56:09.960
Okay, we're so that you don't regret your decision.

841
00:56:10.380 --> 00:56:17.400
We're going to give you 2 really dumb episodes because she also plays a large party in Gambit with that cat fight.

842
00:56:17.460 --> 00:56:22.500
But at least they at least they go, we're going to make you a focus for this episode.

843
00:56:23.159 --> 00:56:28.019
It's actually going to be you that negotiates and you that gets the mission.

844
00:56:28.139 --> 00:56:30.239
You'll get to leave the teleport, basically.

845
00:56:30.300 --> 00:56:30.780
You get to sleep.

846
00:56:30.840 --> 00:56:35.519
It's kind of like, we're very sorry and we won't do it to the next woman.

847
00:56:35.579 --> 00:56:38.699
We did do it to her this week.

848
00:56:38.760 --> 00:56:39.539
Yeah.

849
00:56:39.539 --> 00:56:45.659
It'll be easier for the one after and the one after that, I believe, I believe, was what a great woman once said.

850
00:56:45.900 --> 00:56:47.280
Yes.

851
00:56:47.340 --> 00:56:49.980
Well, also shack her up with her dad's mate.

852
00:56:50.039 --> 00:56:54.360
Yuck He'll free to cut that.

853
00:56:54.420 --> 00:56:56.039
I need enough.

854
00:56:56.099 --> 00:56:58.559
I hate to say that's the sort of thing that did go on.

855
00:56:58.619 --> 00:57:00.059
Oh, God, it still does.

856
00:57:00.300 --> 00:57:03.539
Well, my look, my beloved Avengers.

857
00:57:03.599 --> 00:57:12.000
You know, Linda, Linda Thorson said the only way I could play this role is if I, is if Tara was madly in love with Steve and thankfully I was madly in love with Patrick.

858
00:57:12.059 --> 00:57:12.960
Well, you would.

859
00:57:13.019 --> 00:57:14.760
But she's like, not like that.

860
00:57:14.820 --> 00:57:17.400
Not like that, but you know, he stopped me going mad.

861
00:57:17.460 --> 00:57:18.960
Enamoured.

862
00:57:18.960 --> 00:57:20.159
Enamoured.