Snogging & Nihilism
Warlord
Series D, Episode 12. First broadcast on Monday 14 December 1981.
Episode 59
Sunday 9 March 2025
This week Mark hosts a conference of non-aligned podcasters, Brendan goes to see the Federation’s acrobatic display team, Peter has an ill-advised fling, and Toby asks if are you a Zukan or a Zukan’t.
It’s the penultimate episode of Blake’s 7 — Warlord.
(“But blurbs are no more than… blurbs.”)
Recorded on Sunday 24 November 2024 · Download · Episode Gallery
Transcript
Hello and welcome back to Maximum Power, the Blake 7 podcast, where this week the gloves are off as we talk about the penultimate episode of Blake 7, Warlord.
I'm Mark.
I'm Brendan.
I'm Peter.
And I'm Toby, but for this week only.
Toby, welcome to maximum power.
Thank you very much for joining us.
As traditional as our runner guest. lets hear your opinion of the story first, please.
Well, it's a funny old beast, isn't it?
I mean, I remember a series C and D on broadcast because I am a very old man, and Blake 7 was always grown up, a bit grown up to me, and I remember that, and as a big Doctor Who fan, which is a little known fact about me, is that I like Doctor Who a little bit, is Blake's, I had older brothers and sisters, and Blake 7 was kind of the thing that they did that I was sort of allowed to watch and it had the, you know, I, I had 2 things that I thought really marked it out, both of which are in this episode, which were snogging, which always perplexed me somewhat.
I remember after an episode of heart to heart, me saying to my mum, how do they do that?
You know, where they kiss each other?
Because I knew they were actors and I knew they weren't together in real life and I assumed it was some sort of special effect and she said, oh, no, they just, they just kiss each other and I was appalled.
Well, I don't knowing Robert Wagner and Stephanie Powers, it may have been a special effect.
But then, of course, I had my Italian every time somebody snogged in Blake 7, it was like, oh, now, they've snobbed somebody, they're not married to.
And I remember being particularly upset when Paul Darrow snags, Snoggs, Jan Chapel, and sarcophagus, and it's like, they even work together. anyway.
I was, yeah.
I couldn't handle that.
And the sort of nihilism which this has, which, and I'd remembered the ending very, very differently.
I mean, I'd remembered that she died, but I thought it was a bit more or a bit less stupid, but we'll get onto that.
It's a, it's an odd fish, this, but I sort of, I, I believe it's not as liked as many, but I grudgingly admire it because I, I at least think Vic Ritellis, the director, has, I mean, he's learned how, he's got a few new tricks and he's decided to employ every single one of them.
So I like, I like the fact that it's, it's pushed the better.
It's a curious beast.
I'm not sure it's very good, but I'm always quite enjoy watching it.
Well, I'm going to say, actually, I'm seriously impressed by this episode.
I think it is much better than its reputation would suggest.
I think Simon Masters, this is only Blake 7 script, and he is a real find for Blake 7 late in the day.
I find the script taught full of good characterisation, which is not always the case with writers who aren't Terry Nation and Chris Boucher on this series.
And I appreciate it properly building to something at the end of the season.
It really feels like things are falling apart for our heroes and there's a lot of tension.
And it's also clever.
You know, there's a lot of double crossing, even little twists like through Lynn teleporting Ziona back.
The script unfolds intelligently, and I think everyone acts with agency.
It's also one of the few scripts this season, I think, that plays to the strengths of the series D format.
Um, I quite enjoy this one as well.
I think it is a great example of what I think V.
Lorimer brings to the program is a very strong visual sense.
Some might say fettered.
And it's, it's not that Blake 7 didn't have a great visual sense beforehand, but, um, as you alluded to, Toby, Victor's Rotellis is really pushing the visuals, and that's something that happens a lot this season.
I do think there are some moments in the script where I sort of wound back about 10 seconds ago.
Did I miss something or no, okay, they just haven't actually said what's happening there?
But it's not the same situation as we have with games a few weeks ago where it's like, oh, we've forgotten to film the spaceship blowing up.
So, Paul, can you just rattle off this?
Um, No, I, I really, I do quite enjoy this one and I think also, you know, something we get a lot of this season, of course, is guest, doomed guest star of the week.
I do really like Bobby Brown as the owner.
And she, I think she's probably the only one this season where I sat there going, actually, I kind of wish you would join the regular cast.
Maybe with a haircut.
Maybe with a haircut.
I mean, uh, that that hair came back a few years ago at Eurovision with um, uh, Senhai Adrenaline for San Marino.
So.
What did you think of it, Mark?
I really, really liked it.
As a bike 71st timer, you know, coming in without any knowledge of what the sort of fan consensuses or anything.
I thought this was a really, really strong episode and for a lot of the reasons that you said, Peter, I think it's just a really strong, well put together one.
It's not sort of an idea, um, and then sort of padded out by kind of ridiculousness, like the guy in games being obsessed with kind of, uh, you know, putting people through games and challenges, or, um, you know, any, any kind of, uh, the, you know, or in Saturn, where, um, you know, she's got that kind of ridiculous theatrical streak that, uh, that kind of pads the whole episode out.
This is, you know, they're trying to achieve something.
It's all really well worked out and the love story that puts the spanner in the works is is believable, particularly, you know, talking about assassin.
I think Terrence, um, kind of feelings for Ziona are much more believable and uh, well acted on both sides than, than his infatuation with cancer in in Assassin.
So yeah, I thought I thought all worked really, really well.
And and like, yeah, I kind of thought the owner probably wasn't going to make it as the guest star of the week.
But then part of me was thinking, they've gone to all this effort.
And we've established that beta file is the only planet that can possibly produce the antitoxin.
Surely they'll try and protect her, um, as either the sort of next in line to ruling the planet or at least an important figure on the planet for the next administration so they can.
So yeah, it did seem a bit reckless that they endangered her so much at the end.
But other than that, yeah, I thought it was an excellent, and I really like the direction as well.
It also, it moves at a real clip.
Like it's really fast moving.
It's set over a number of days and the scenes cut together quickly without a lot of slack.
So when Zukan realises that Ziona's on the base.
Um, It just, you have a series of scenes that move really quickly to her boarding Scorpio.
And so by the time we're like a total away into the episode, they're already onboard Scorpio taking Ziona home.
And everything builds from there.
And just when you think it can't get any better, I'm sure we'll talk about this later, Servoland turns up.
I like stories where most of the cast gets them or all or most of the cask gets something to do as well, which other than Villa, it doesn't get that much to do in this one.
They all get kind of a decent slice of the action.
It's a great episode for Sulin, actually, isn't it?
To, uh, you know, because she she passes herself off as, uh, well, 1st of all, she's instrumental in in the deceit that allows uh, Ziona to come back and then she, you know, poses as Ziona in order to gain an advantage over the somersaulting uh, uh, Federation Guards, which I love as a director.
Yeah, let's face it.
They are the best.
It's fantastic.
They're the somersault squad.
The special somersaulting service.
But I just love that.
Should we kill them?
No, we have to jump off a cliff edge first.
Do you think that was the squad that Michael Sheard was in charge of before he was in charge of the death squad?
He was in the somersaulting squad. absolutely.
But I was surprised.
I watched it again last night, even though I'd done a Blake 7 marathon not that long ago.
I've never read War and Peace, but yeah, I've done Lake 7 marathons a few times.
You've seen hostage.
Of course I have.
It's got John Aboneri in it.
Um, uh, and uh, I, um, so, so I was, I was, I was quite, yeah, I was quite impressed with Su Lin's contribution because she is, you know, she she doesn't have too many moments to shine and I thought that was, I thought that was a nice element to the episode.
As you say, they all they all get a pretty decent amount to do, except for Villa, um, but he does get to get drugged.
Terrence horrible to him again though, isn't he?
Nearly, nearly, you know, he attacks him.
But yeah, it's everyone gets a good bit to do.
You know, I kind of believed that Villa would crack up under the circumstances and that the drink would bring out his nasty side.
It felt consistent to me.
So even though he doesn't have a lot to do.
I think it is quite in character.
Going on, what you're saying about Su Lynn, though.
I think this is possibly her best episode.
Um, she's really good in those early scenes with Taranton's owner in the cargo bay.
And then with Siona, where they kind of strike up this girly friendship, a little bit.
And she, I just love her delivery of the line.
It could explain it, I suppose.
It's just, she's just really nailed how to deliver that character.
She's then excellent in the scenes on Scorpio with Avon.
She stands up to Zukan.
She saves the situation on beta file by passing herself off as Fiona.
And I think Glenisbub has just really found a way to play that character.
And if there'd been a 5th season, she might very well have ended up being one of the strongest regulars.
Hmm.
Something we said a few weeks ago on games is when you've got, um, Avon and Sulin up on Scorpio and they're having to do a whole sort of bunch of technobabble about, you know, where to position the ship and what have you.
They sort of go into this heightened register.
And here, because they're talking about sort of real human things and emotions and love and what have you, yes, it's a wonderful performance from Glynis Barber, but it's also a very different level from Paul Darrow than we see for a lot of this season, and he's quieter and more contemplative, and he's not sort of mean or snarly about Terrence relationship with Ziona, like he doesn't particularly like it because it complicates things.
And then there's that great bit where I think Sulin just says, Sulin says something along the lines of, well, if we go back now, Zukan's going to know that Zeona isn't with us.
And the look on Avon's face is part outrage in part.
Ooh, well played.
Nice, nice logic suit then.
It's interesting because there's actually a few moments in this episode where Sulin has a go at Avon, and I really like the dynamic between them.
So she says to him on the flight deck.
She says, Ziona deserves better than having just you for company.
And Paul Darrow is Avon, actually looks a little bit hurts by this.
He kind of like frowns when she can't see.
And then later on she mocks him.
She says, but you lie so well.
I really like this characterisation of Su Lim.
I mentioned the the direction being really strong.
I thought there was some great touches.
I thought the, the inscreen pictures of the board guards at the start on the planet of the escalators, when they just, the 1st guy's got some miming, just shooting people, and then the guy comes along and says, well, let's just do it sort of thing, and then they kind of line them up 2 at a time, that, that worked really well.
It was a good kind of reminder of the series arc about the, about the drug as well. that uh, the suppression drug, which is not, it's been mentioned once or twice, but, but not that much.
And then, like you say, the leaping guards, the little bit when it closes in onto the owner's eyes when she admits her feelings for, for Tarrant as well, and then, and it sort of like fades to a planet or something, and, um, the ship taking off from beta file, the Scorpio taking off, I thought was, was one of the best model effects I've seen on Blake 7.
Some of the best we've seen this season.
Yeah.
And even the camera shaking, when Zookan's ship is out of control.
I think a couple of times I noted earlier in this season, when a ship was in difficulty, they, they, they didn't sort of, you know, shake the camera or anything as, you know, as rudimentary as that sort of thing to give, to give the impression that uh, that it was in difficulty.
So, yeah, I thought I thought the direction was really, really good throughout this one.
Can we talk about that opening sequence a little bit?
Because I think it's really good.
And this is like, we're almost at the end of lake 7 now, and it almost takes us all the way back to the way back with those scenes of people drugged and sort of walking through the corridors in the domed city.
So we're getting some of that Blake 7 again, and I really liked that Blake 7.
And I think those scenes, like you said, Mark, they show a lot of directorial flair.
We call Victors, Ritellus, Uncle Victors in this house because he's a cousin by marriage.
And so I interviewed Tim about, it must be going on for more than 20 years ago now, and just sort of went around to his place and hung out and, you know, asked him all about Blake 7.
Um, and it's incredible what he brings to this episode, I think.
There is.
It's directed a bit like a one off sci-fi play.
Um, and I appreciate that.
It departs from the regular Blake 7 style and it works.
Um, it's cut quickly and obviously there's all like the wipes and the cross feeds and the superimposition of images and that's obviously influenced by Star Wars.
But that's not terrible source material.
I mean, that's good source material.
There are also great individual shots.
That dolly in on Tarrant when Scorpio leaves is really dramatic and tells the story properly.
I think it's unusual for Blake 7, the way that this story is put together, but I think it was really, you know, I like it in this area.
I think it could have gone further into this direction.
This is one of my joys about old telly, uh, and and, you know, television programs now very much obliged to have a house style.
I know modern, you know, modern directors aren't allowed to bring their own style to an episode within a series because casual viewers need to know they're watching the thing they watched last week or people watching a box at all in one go that suddenly can't be jarred out of it.
I love the fact that a different Doctor Who director every week. you know, brings their own style and their own incidental musician and all of that.
And and I love the fact that, you know, that is not unique to Doctor Who.
That was my entryway into it.
But I would have liked to have sort of almost seen more of this in in Blake 7 because if you're gonna do it, if you're able to do it, you may as well.
And I mean, I, I, I have 2 of.
Is there anybody in this podcast who hasn't interviewed Vic Ritellis?
I had the I had the great pleasure of doing so when I did my Hooseram podcast and he's a fascinating chap.
Surely the only person to have directed Blake 7 and Home and Away.
And, uh, he, uh, and there's a brilliant extra on the secret army DVD where he's obviously got a new machine where he can sort of, instead of having just a shot of him, He's got 4 shots of him, you know, all cut together like a segue out of a song in top of the pops.
So it's just this interview of him talking about doing secret army, but every now and again, suddenly a special effect will happen because he's made it himself at home.
And he obviously, he obviously loves getting to grips with avant-garde visuals.
And I, I, I, I think it, you know, I, I would probably, you would probably on a, on a more sensible day reign some of that in just because it is so sort of jarring, but actually I'd rather it existed than didn't exist.
And although if I could coldly be analytical about it, I'd go, well, you probably very sensibly, so you don't get the, you know, the sort of the television equivalent of the bends watching it, you're suddenly like, hang on, this is all, I, I would still rather you went too far in that direction in order to make your episode distinctive because that's one of the advantages of making telly in those days, which we don't have anymore.
So the more of that that exists, even if it's a bit flawed.
And it gives us that there's a brilliant shot at the beginning as well, that, you know, the showpiece is the escalator planet one, but then when they introduce, um, you know, all the, the, the 4 guys that Avon is sort of pitching to, there's a brilliant shot of the actor Simon Merrick, the one with a beard, you know, in the foreground, and it's almost like a sort of John Carpenter style, um, what's, what's it called, split focus where, where Charles Organs is at the back, and it's a, you just go, you could have just cut to 4 people around a table, but you've really, you've really thought about
all of this stuff..
So his, you know, his his visuals are very much there, front and centre, and I cherish it for that.
And I think that's one of the reasons I, I, I was happy to do, um, this episode, which on the, on, you know, when you, when you asked me, I thought, no, there's lots to talk about with Warlord, because it's got its own, It's got its own identity in that regard, which I think, which I think singles it out and makes it rather, rather fun.
The director is really working it.
Setting out that kind of blocking in the studio is something that Douglas Canfield did as well, and he's obviously celebrated as one of Doctors and Blake 7's best directors.
He just knows how to frame the actors so that you don't just have people sitting around a table, but there's actually someone in the foreground, someone in the background.
They're at an interesting angle.
And there's so much in those opening scenes that actually marks this out as good direction.
I like how in the opening sequence, um, suddenly the camera becomes part of the action when the guard notices it and comes over and clubs the person who's taking the recording.
And then Avon steps into shot as the camera pulls out and you realise that that's being shown on a screen in a room.
It's very cleverly cut together.
And like you said, Toby, I think going too far in this direction doesn't always work, but I would rather that it did.
And I think Victor's is Uncle Victor's is bringing a real, um, a real sense of flair and cinematic sensibility and kind of an hauteur feel to this.
And I am here for that.
Well, he's going, I'm doing sci-fi, which a lot of, you know, it's famously Blake 7 is, you know, on the softy softly budget or whatever, and directors used to do that.
Here's a director who's going, well, no, but the sci-fi in the cinema looks different to thrillers in the cinema or police things in the cinema.
So there's got to be a different sort of visual grammar.
And of course, Camfield is a good call because, you know, Victor's was the production assistant on the Daleks master plan.
Master Plan.
So, and so impressed Douglas Campfield that he lobbied to get him a credit as production assistant, which was not usual at that time, but he'd been such a help to him on that big 12 parter that he had that unusual thing of being credited on the last episode as a production assistant.
And as we've noted before, a series like Blake 7 rises and falls on its director.
So you get someone like Victor's or Duggee and they will absolutely make an episode good or bad script, and I happen to think this is a very good script.
But, you know, you get David Sullivan Proudfoot earlier in the season, and it just ends up as wallpaper, good script, traitor, or bad script, Star Drive.
Um, I should mention at this point, I have also interviewed Victor's writer.
Are you also related to him?
I'm not also related to him.
So I don't get that point.
No, 2003 Dr. Club of Australia, 40th anniversary event.
I interviewed Victor's Rotellus.
We also had a young lad called James Goss.
I wonder what happened to him and he brought along a couple of episodes of Scream of the Shell Cup for us to watch.
But, um, so...
Sorry?
Did you forgive him?
Oh no, no.
Speaking of, however, victors did relate the story about how he hadn't really forgiven William Russell ever for making him get staked out in a desert on a sound stage and get covered in ants because that's his arm.
Um, which is my abiding memory of that interview.
He did, he did talk about, um, he did talk about Blake 7 and how he, you know, he wanted to be inventive with it and why not?
Um, to me, the only sort of creative touch that drew me out of it a bit were um, towards the end with Zukon, and he's seeing the owner's face, and Serverland's face, and what have you.
And watching it with my with my husband, Rod, who saw these all on original broadcast and hasn't watched them since, he just turned to me and said, It's not a viewscreen, is it?
Like, no, no, no, it's an hallucination.
He's like, oh.
Um, but yeah, I mean, I love the stuff at the beginning.
Um, I even put the moment where it, what's his name?
Finn.
The moment where Finn gets ejected out into space and we have that video effect of him stretching.
It sells the horror of it without being full, full body horrific, which they wouldn't have been able to get away with, but it sells that horror and that idea.
So well.
And, you know, that's the other thing.
It's not just about being stylistic.
It's about saying, I want to imply something horrible.
I can't show it, so I'm going to find some way to make it really disturbing, which is great.
That is one of my childhood memories.
That is one of my, you know, for each of these stories, even though I've seen them a number of times since, for every story from Sirius C and B, I have snippets, some episodes, I remember pretty much all the way through, but I have snippets that I, that are the snippets I have from the 1st time I watched it.
And from this story, the death of Finn.
And we knew Dean Harris in our house because he just that year he'd been in a series called, it was blood money or something with Juliet Hammond Hill from Power is in it as well and Secret Army.
And Bernard Hepton, and it was quite a big series and he plays a character called, what was it, DC Danny Prince.
He was quite, he was quite a memorable sort of copper who comes in and changed is the dynamic of the story.
And also he was, of course, married to Katie Manning.
So he, uh, and then he, I think he's in Howard's way, but I think he comes in, that was after Blake 7, but he was somebody who was a bit of a face in the 80s, uh, Dean Harris.
He cropped up in various bits and bobs.
So it was also quite a surprise when he got because the episode rattles along.
I remembered thinking this time I was actually quite surprised how late that happened because at the time it seemed to be, oh, they've killed him off quite quickly, whereas actually watching it last night.
I was like, 0 no, he survives for most of it.
Um, but yeah, Dean Harris was a sort of a, definitely a recognisable uh, uh, fellow and and that death, therefore, which sort of comes out of nowhere, especially as they're sort of establishing Zukon as being, oh, I'm plagued by my conscience and Finn is going, I'm not.
I'm quite happy with this.
You think, oh, okay, well maybe he's going to be the sort of power behind the throne where he's a bit, he's a bit of a creepy sort of mosca type.
But, oh, no, no, Zukon goes, oh, you go.
And it's one of those snogging and nihilism.
That's those are my memories of Blake 7 mostly.
And, you know, deaths of the kind that probably were a bit harsh for Doctor Who definitely seem to be the ones that stick in mind.
So yeah, that scene and the ending are the 2 that really lingered for me in Warlord.
Yeah, Zookan's not clearly not that plagued by his conscience, considering that he ejects porphin with the bomb.
Just like to say that I've also interviewed James Goss.
Yeah, the scene that you said about the viewscreen.
I thought that was interesting because you see Servolan and Ziona.
And is that the 2 people that he thinks have betrayed him because he's still, he seems to, it's not clear whether he thinks the owner or believes that the owner is on the base.
Because he is still protesting that she's on Scorpio quite far into that scene.
And it made me think, is this like his final vision is, right, these 2 people have kind of screwed me over there.
And then it flashes to Ziona, who screams, as suggesting there's some kind of psychic link that she knows that he's blown up at that point as well.
So I like those little flourishes that are a little bit open to interpretation as well, I think.
I think he's definitely cracking up at that stage and my reading of it was that he sees Servland because she's betrayed him.
He sees Fiona because he's betrayed her. by leaving her down on the base and like putting her in this position.
And so, yeah, I think those things work really well.
They do they do have the potential, like Rod said, Brendan, to pitch the episode a little bit towards camp.
Um, but I can live with that.
I think it's just on the right side of being pretty interesting.
Yeah. occurred to me on the 2nd watch of this.
When Zukon has found out that his daughter is on the base.
And then when they track her down, she's in Terence Boudoir.
Which I thought was interesting.
They obviously didn't have a set for that, but it's quite well shot as well, just with the green sort of background, like he's put a bit of mood lighting on, and then it's kind of a tight close upon them.
So it's all about them.
When she, when she, and the bit where they all sort of come into the room and Avon just grabs Tarrant by the shore.
I've forgotten that bit.
I thought that was so funny.
Brilliant.
But then when it's just Zukon and Siona, those lines, she could have played a bit sort of provocative towards a dad because she says I'm glad I came.
And then when she talks about going home on the Friday... also what she said to Tarrant.
Yeah, well, that's what I mean.
And she says about going home on the freight and she said, Tarrant will take me.
And I think there's a way she could have played that that would have been quite, you know, kind of provocative and, you know, kind of mocking to her dad a little bit, given the situation that she's just been caught in in flagrante de lecto.
I think that their relationship is really quite interesting.
I think she genuinely really likes and admires her father and she's picking him up at the start saying that she's a way of making him respectable and that kind of thing.
So I think when she realises that he's betrayed the people who she's come to like, who she now views as friends and Taryn, who's obviously a lover of hers, I think that crushes her relationship with him, but before that, I think she's actually, like, quite admires him quite a lot.
Yeah.
The, her performance, when she's on the radio to him has such a level of very upsetting emotional grip to it.
And I think, like, there's a fair bit of good acting technique going on here because when we come back to her and we're seeing her, the performance isn't quite so big.
So she gets that she has to give a different performance for just the voice and a different performance when you see her on camera, because seeing it on camera, I think would be too upsetting and sort of undermine the character a bit.
Whereas, you know, yes, she has this emotion, yes, she is upset, but she is still a confident, capable scientist.
Um, in terms of Zukon.
I was kind of thinking, he sort of mirrors how Avon's been this season because he turns up and he says to this room full of people, you know, yes, I've treated you badly in the past, but I promise it's different this time, really promise.
Cross my heart and hope to die.
No, I'm not leaving early for any particular reason.
I'm just going to go back home now.
And perhaps that's also why we get a slightly gentler Avon because he spends some time with Zukon. there's a couple of sort of sideways looks he gives him like when Zukon insists that he flies the ship.
Avon sort of smirks a bit to himself and I'd be honoured and then and then sort of just has this look of, oh, this is this is an odd situation for me.
Um, Yeah, I think possibly why Zukon is such a brilliant character is because he's not an out and out villain.
He wants power. and he wants power over his system, but that's also a way to keep the Federation out.
He's self-interest.
Yeah.
And I suppose when he kills Finn, it's a bit like what Avon was thinking about doing to Villa the week before, isn't it?
sort of jettisoned him from the ships.
So it's another way that he's a bit of a lure of Avon.
And Zukon calls that out to Servilon, doesn't he?
He said, you know, we could have, you know, we could have been unstoppable together if he teamed up with Avon instead of Servilance.
He recognises that they're both.
Yeah, quite kind of ruthless, powerful characters.
I think it's good to have, um, these characters with their own agendas in Blake 7.
They're not typically just responsive to what our regulars are doing, but it lends interest.
And again, going back to what we were saying about victors, the mark of a good director is good casting, and Roy Boyd as Zookan, and Bobby Brown as Ziona.
Sue Cannon Ziona from Zondor?
What's with all the Zeds?
They are both, they are both extremely well cast, and despite the fact that there's some design choice flaws around the way that they've been made up and dressed.
The good performances come through.
And I think, like you said earlier, it makes us buy the relationship between Ziona and Tarrant, it also makes us buy Zookan's conflicted emotions at what he's done and whether he's actually taken the right course.
I actually like Roy Boyd's hair.
I'm not, I don't, I don't think Bobby Brown's quite his obvious wig and it's a bit top of the pops and, I mean, it's essence of 80s.
She couldn't have been more 80s if she not been, you know, wearing sweatbands and on rollerblades, but I actually think Roy Boyd's hair is quite, because I think, again, a bit like the direction.
If you you may as well have a go.
And I think having this sort of big striding warlord with this funny sort of, you know, pink bunch on the top.
I think kind of words.
And and I quite like the attempt to make all of the, you know, the 4 conference members at the top have their own sort of look, you know, a bit like the aliens in Star Wars.
They sort of go, well, instead of just having you know, silver suits or overalls or whatever, let's try and at least suggest that aliens have a different way of doing things, even if it's only their hair.
So you've got cotton from the mutants with, I think, his last acting perfor- or, I mean, one could say he perhaps never even got to the point of acting, but it's good, it's good to see him outside.
Last appearance on screen.
Yes.
And and Queeg from Red Dwarf.
So it's quite a it's quite a bunch, Charles Organs.
So, but I quite like, it's the sort of thing that as a kid, again, watching sort of different alien, and imagining that there might be a, you know, a toy of them one day or something like that, it's one of the things that, again, if you're watching sci-fi, you kind of want them to push the boat out on that side of things because that's why you're watching sci-fi and not the power game or Howard's way or something else where people sit in a room and, you know, and argue the toss and make concessions and all of that.
So, um, yeah, I I quite like that opening, even though you know, it's a shame you never see those those characters again in the episode because they feel like they might be going somewhere.
Um, it does, it does open it out a little bit to, you know, stories off world, if you like, and you, and those worlds all seem to have at least a sort of distinctive thing about them.
It's not just, you know, 4 men in suits or whatever who all look the same.
I think they probably all got the spark of death in the cargo bay at some point.
I mean, speaking of the little loved Rick James, it takes real effort to mangle delivery of the line, but words are no more than words, but he somehow manages it.
It's a gift.
It's a gift.
Not a gift to the audience.
You know, I do also like the fact that they've made some effort with those, but it does look all a little bit like Avon's Doctor Who cosplay convention.
It's just a shame because mostly actors are pretty good and I was just waiting for Dorian's C double former boyfriend to turn up again, but unfortunately...
I will say, like, as much as, you know, as a Doctor Who fan as well, you're sitting there watching Rick James just going, please have gotten better in the last 9 years, please, oh, dear.
He's incre- I will give him this though.
He's incredibly ripped for 1981.
Isn't he?
Yeah.
It's extraordinary.
And like we, you get a shot with full lat and I think almost side boob.
It's very impressive.
Um, I will, yeah, I will say, I, it's kind of like, those characters just going missing halfway through the episode, and yes, there's a perfectly reasonable assumption that they've been blown up or radiation virus or whatever. sparked to death, but I feel like there could have been a line in there.
Just like, what about what about the delegates?
I don't think they're coming, villa.
You know, they are.
But, yeah.
I assumed that after their sparky toast, that they'd all gone their separate ways to do their separate things.
So maybe that's me misunderstanding.
I think you're right.
I thought that toast was to sort of signify, business is done.
Now everybody's going there separate ways.
You know, that makes a lot more sense of...
So Rick James is still out there.
He's still, he's still out there to emote another day.
If not, it would have been nice to have had a cutaway to that room with them all sitting around the table as the roof caved in on them.
We're on the Blu-ray.
I do think that alliance is probably the remnant of when they were thinking, we're going to rescue someone each week and then they're all going to be in the finale and then someone pointed out, you're never going to get availability for that many actors to come back 3 months later.
So, you know, we could have had Dr. Paxton and Belkov and...
Oh, amazing.
Goggles.
You could have had like just in an Omega's old outfit.
It would have been amazing.
Is Rick James available?
Yes.
Well, better get him instead of Barbara Shelley.
Yeah, there you are.
Who?
They scripted nice bits of world building in it as well, which you don't get in in all of Blake 7.
So the fact that there was a backstory between all the delegates of the non-aligned planets that they'd previously had issues with Zukon and they'd blown up their ships.
They're a little bit about Sulin.
I couldn't remember, but I didn't think I'd heard about her father being murdered when she was 8.
And then she sounds like she'd avenged his death.
Um, the stuff about uh, betafile being in perpetual daylight.
And never, never been any night, but then also Zukan talks about his dreams as well, which you'd imagine him having quite trouble sleep if it was, if, you know, there's never any darkness there, you know, the, uh, uh, I can't remember the words, circadian rhythms, is it, or something like that?
But yeah, the fact that also that, yeah, his backstory about having bad dreams that are crowded with with the deaths of people that he's responsible for.
Um, I suppose it ties in with the fact that the, the crops are supposed to be on betafile that are gonna, that are the raw materials to produce the, the antidote.
If it's perpetual sunlight, presumably that would be really good for grown crops as well.
So it also ties in and just makes it feel like a bigger world and a bigger universe, I think.
I really appreciate it.
And it's difficult with sci-fi because sometimes you can make it too down to earth that it seems a little bit quaint that we're dealing with space and we've added something from, you know, contemporary earth dynamics.
But I, I, I, I, I, you know, we laud alien because Harry Dean Stanton and Yaffet Kotto are just like, you know, mechanics from, you know, down the road or whatever, and that, and that makes it real, and that was a real step forward in those terms.
I really liked a bit where Rick James asks for compensation because I think it, it, it, it's realistic, you know, it's Brinkmanship.
It's not all about.
We are from the tribe, Clathor, and all that sort of boring sci-fi guff.
It's like this guy blew up a letter of our ships and is he going to, is he going to give us some money?
And that just seems to be just a nice little touch.
It's like when you have space insurance in Doctor Who or stuff like that, that you sort of go, Well, yeah, just because we're out there in the stars, it doesn't mean we're not worried about the sort of nuts and bolts of sort of real life.
So the idea of just introducing the concept of compensation amidst the space opera.
I think is a nice deaf little piece of of reality to it, you know.
The script is full of those really nice moments.
There's good world building of the kind that we usually get from people like Robert Holmes.
I think, and that's what marks him out as a really good dog too, and Blake 7 writer.
But also, like we were talking about before, the characterisation is just right.
Everyone has lots of interesting things to do.
You believe the way that they're relating to each other.
Um, and...
We said before that Zulin was really well characterised.
I think Avon is a particularly interesting example in this episode because what has prompted Avon to bring together this conference.
Suddenly he's anti-federation.
He sort of adopted the role that Blake used to have.
He's wholeheartedly transitioned into Blake's mantra against the Federation.
Um, and I really appreciate that having decided to do that.
Paul Darrow, like you said earlier, Brendan, has bought the performance down.
If he was giving a grandstanding performance, it wouldn't quite work.
It's almost like he's resigned himself to the fact that this is the way that they have to go.
It's like you said earlier in the season in Traitor, I think, where Villa said, come on, let's get out of here.
And he just turns around and says, I won't run, filler, which is a new side to Avon, who, at the 1st opportunity previously, would run, preferably taking the liberator and only himself with it.
Um, and Villa actually says to him.
Blake would have been proud of you, and Avon says, I know, but he never was very bright, which is a great Avon line, but that's the way that he's heading, and that's where I think this is the culmination of that.
And I think this episode going wrong so badly for everybody and it's really Avon's the catalyst for that because it's his idea, sets the scene for a lot of what we're going to see next week.
And arguably, last week with Orbit was sort of the culmination of Avon's darker, more callous side than we've seen this season.
And, you know, there's a reading to be made there that as much as he plays plays it off to Villa at the end of the episode, what's happened.
Um, There's a reading to be made that actually it has affected him and he's realised he was about to go too far because he was about to get rid of the last person who was there with Blake.
You know, and has that then affected his thinking and he's thinking back to that.
He's like, well, what am I doing if we're not fighting against the Federation?
And yeah, all of a sudden he's he's got these mates and he's like, I've known how to make this chemical for 10 episodes.
This is the 1st time I'm coming back to it because I've now realised if I actually ask for help, there's a chance we can do this.
With Avon, it's always about self-preservation.
And so last week on the shuttle with Villa was about self-preservation.
The fact that he's decided to take these steps is about self-interest going into the future.
And I like how this episode doesn't, it doesn't necessarily refer back to it, but doesn't drop the ball on what happened between Avon Andrilla.
They do not cross over.
They don't have anything to do with each other.
I think there's one scene where they're together and Villa is very kind of wary of Avon and not close, not in close ties with him.
And so I really like that.
And I also think that what happened to Villa probably left such a mark on him that that's why he cracks up when things go wrong or further wrong in this episode.
Can we talk about the scenes in the wrecked base?
I think they're fantastic.
I really like the fact that this episode sees so much go wrong for heroes, and I remember watching it, because like you, Toby, I am of a certain age.
Well, time's been kinder to you.
Thank you very much.
Hoffles radiation in reverse.
No, I remember watching this on 1st run when I was 10.
Um, and this episode had such an impact on me that I went away and promptly novelized this on the typewriter that my parents had bought me for typing up essays for school.
Those scenes are really mounted well and very well shot, and there's a really good integration of the model work, like the those little doorways on the hill that we saw in power and headhunter blowing up like outside.
Um, and there's great lighting and soundscape.
So when they turn off the air conditioning when they realise it's an airborne radiation.
Everything just goes completely silent.
You can barely hear a tick or a click in the studio.
The music stops as well.
It's a really nice choice.
All the ambient sound suddenly goes.
So he's not just about the visuals.
It's extraordinary, isn't it?
As I mentioned it, the top Blake 7 seemed so grown up.
I know I know we're celebrating for its camp and all of that sort of issue.
When I was a kid, I mean, I did not have a campometer.
I didn't know there was such a thing.
To me, this was, this was as hard as nails, you know, people wore leather.
They snogged, the way that Paul Darrow stands when he lands on the planet, and not, and let's not even talk about how he holds a gun.
I mean, this was rock hard.
Yeah, people using the word bitch.
Absolutely.
Oh, God.
And, you know, people snogging bad.
Oh, and when, oh, and the bitten traitor wear serverland, snogs a man and then stabs him in the back.
It's like this.
I mean, this is a, this is Eddie stuff.
I'm glad she didn't take too many life lessons from it though.
Oh my goodness me.
You can only see what I'm wearing from the top.
But I, and to me, the real appeal of it, um, you know, this, because, you know, such a Doctor Who fan, but for me, it was, it was that, you know, people died.
One of my earliest memories of realising quite how grown up Blakeson was, was, was, I mean, he's credited a slave, but Roy Evans getting killed in, um, in redemption because he's helped them and then, you know, he's, he's killed just before they get back onto the ship and it's like, oh, oh God, nice, nice helpy people get, get killed and you soon realise, oh, it's, it's going to largely remain the seven.
So, a bit like hammer house of horror, which was another thing we watched at the time, which largely the twisters at the end is that they die.
And that always seemed to be the thing with Blake 7 is that you'd sort of, you'd get somebody and you'd be worried pretty much.
You'd go, well, the chances are they're not going to make it out of the episode because it is so bleak that, that, that, that's off, you know, largely what happens.
Um, and this one steps it up a bit because, of course, the place that gets blown up and the place that is, you know, totalled is, is their place.
You know, it seems like again, rather than going from episode to episode.
This suddenly seems like, oh, hang on, this, this is, this is continuous storyline because I, I assume we're not going to turn up next week and they've put a sticking plaster on it.
You know, that's that's more than just somebody's blown the bloody doors off.
You know, they've that the whole place has been kind of wreck.
This isn't the USS Voyager.
It's not going to turn up next week and look spick and span.
Yeah, yeah.
And it really feels that that to me is one of the great appealing things about Blake 7, is that, I mean, and the genius of Chris Bouchers, he makes the darkness part of its sort of sardonic wit.
But what made it feel so grown up and compelling was that it had all the advantages of a sort of bleak war movie or whatever that took it away from the more sort of escapist and joyous fantasy, if you like, of Doctor Who.
Again, I'm aware now through an adult lens, there is that, you know, there are shonky bits and there's camp bits and all of that.
And there's animals and there's, yeah, well, um, uh, but, but, but that was in my bank because that was in my, it was in my snog bank because she, she snogs in when he's dead on the ground and he's much older than her and I was, that, that, yeah, that was, I mean, there's quite a lot of disturbing things in my head because of Blake.
Um, and uh, um, so, so yeah, I, I, I think the, the fact that in the landscape of, of what we, what I was watching at the time because I was, what, oh, how old was I?
Should I have been watching this?
What year is this?
Is it 1980?
This is 1981.
1981?
Oh, so I was 7.
Uh, but uh, but it felt like such a kind of, you know, guilty pleasure and it was an, an, and, and, and it's quite, it's quite forming, isn't it, when you watch something that sort of forbidden fruit and it makes you feel like you're being trusted with grown up material.
And I'm so grateful to Blake 7 for that because it felt it felt like it was a gateway to me to sort of, I was being trusted with the sort of adult stuff.
And Toby, you've just made me realise that in Nathan's absence, I am by far the oldest person on this podcast.
You bathe in oil of you, eh?
It's interesting what you said about realising in redemption that, you know, the good people are going to die.
For me, that revelation came in aftermath.
When I really enjoyed Hal Melonby, Cy Grant's performances, dad.
And I just had this sinking feeling upon watching it the 1st time as a 9 year old and realising that he was probably going to die and then he did.
Yeah, yeah.
And he's one of the good guys.
He's one of the few unambiguous good guys in the Blake 7 universe.
Because the owner in this one, I fully expected it today, as I say, but I thought her death.
Tarrant sold very well.
Dane is very callous, doesn't offer him a single word of comfort, just says, oh, she took her gloves off and and then kind of walks away from him.
And I thought it was probably a good idea the way they filmed it because it would have looked ridiculous if it was a school with the pink wig. just a few wisps left of her hair just to suggest that it was there because it's obviously not organic or anything.
It could have just been there.
It could have just been left there.
Could we talk about her death, though?
because I'd remembered it as a kid.
Because I think these were on twice, weren't they?
I'd remembered it, that she'd got got a tear in her suit or something and it was just one of those bleak Blake 7 things that happens that just at the last minute, something went wrong and so she died.
And as you say, the fact that Dana doesn't even touch his elbow or anything.
It's like, this is Blake 7.
We do things differently here.
And I think Dana is still very pissy with him sleeping with Servolan.
Yeah, wow.
And I think Stephen Pacey does do a lot of heavy lifting in this episode in terms of the relationship and the, so I really like Stephen Pacey.
I think he's great.
But it's not a tear in her clothing.
Why does she take?
Why does she take her gloves off?
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
The credit started rolling when we watched that today.
And Rogers turned to me and said, that's just lazy writing.
You know, that's just, that's just, we haven't contracted her past this episode.
He's like, is there any reason?
Is there a cut line because he knows I booked this stuff up.
And the weird thing was my memory as a kid was there was a scene before that of her fumbling with the tools and like the look at her face of, I can't, I can't do this with the gloves.
So she takes the glove off.
So I don't know if it's a situation like games where they didn't shoot it or it got lost in the edit or something like that.
There seems to be a shot of location that gets lost because just for like 3 seconds.
Um, they go, um, just for 3 seconds, Avon and Soulin are against a blue screen in the quarry and then they're back in the proper quarry.
Which again is very Dougie Canfield.
Yep, absolutely.
But it, it, I think it's meant to be, she can't do it with the gloves on.
So she takes them off, but by taking out that explanation, it's it's not even a a self-sacrifice.
You're having to invent the reason for the climax of the episode in your head.
Yeah, because you want not sure.
If that's the thing, you want to see her make the decision.
You want to see her go, well, I either take the glove off and die. and do it at the last minute or we're off and you want to, you want to see that.
It just seems, yeah, sorry.
Peter.
It is a little bit muddled.
But I'm not sure it's lazy writing.
I think I like the fact that we can't read exactly what happened there.
Was it an accident?
Did she just take the glove off by accident?
She decide to do it because she realised that was the only way they were going to be able to rescue things.
Was it an act of self sacrifice because she couldn't really handle knowing that her father had betrayed everybody and just couldn't see her way forward?
I like that that's really open to interpretation.
Fair enough.
But it is muddled.
Yeah, I just feel it sort of slightly comes out of nowhere.
And so you leave the episode on the back foot. the credits are in and you'll sort of go, wait, half a mo?
Um, yeah.
And I think it's interesting because I started this.
I was the 1st person to speak on this.
So I said, wow, I don't think it's very good, but I quite enjoy it because I'd suspected the whole timbre of this broadcast to be, you know, critical of this episode because it's not a favourite.
So I've, I've, I've, so I thought I would be a lone champion and I'd sort of guarded myself by going, yeah, but so, so I'm, so I'm quite, I'm quite, I'm quite pleased that we've been largely positive.
And yet I do think that means that, um, I do have to account for the fact that I've always felt that my enjoyment of bits of this episode and partially because it's tied in with my memories of when I was younger, is despite the fact that it is, I think it is inherently flawed, which is why it's not as popular as some.
And I think it's because it doesn't quite hold together and it is a little bit bitty and I think Zukon's madness sort of comes out of out of nowhere.
I'm not quite sure he's explored in as well as he might be.
Although I do like the the whole thing about the fact that he says it's always day on my planet.
But then he goes, oh, but I miss the darkness and you go, well, well, why do you miss the darkness?
You on a planet that doesn't have any?
That's like, if, you know, that's like me saying, oh, listen, everyone, I miss the flabble dubles, and you go, but there's no flabble dubles where you come from. you go, I know, but I'd really like.
Well, no, because you didn't you didn't grow up with a concept of flabble doubles.
So why do you need them now?
If you'd never met somebody from the Planet of the Flowerball Dubles, you wouldn't suddenly be craving them.
So I, I, So I appreciate the fact that they're trying to give him some depth there, but I, I, it, it doesn't quite hold, uh, for me.
I can see why this is a this is a less popular episode in some some quarters because I don't think it holds together as well it might.
Despite the fact that we've, you know, we've talked very glowingly about it, but that's because I like all this stuff anyway, and even, even an episode I would qualify as going, well, it's it's flawed.
I am still very much, yeah, but I watch this stuff because I like it.
I'm not one of those, those people who watch your stuff that I hate and spends all my time saying how much I hate it because that would be, that would be a mad way to spend one's life.
I mean, Toby, we are all Blake 7 fans here.
Doctor Who fans.
We all love these series when they are very good, which is very often, but there is also an element of being a fan, which means that you love it in spite of itself sometimes. and that's loving it and appreciating it on a different level.
So, You know, to use the example, we talked a little bit, um, in a previous episode, I think it was children who are on, where we're talking about Ronald Lee Hunt's performance and how that he's always a dependable sci-fi performer.
He always brings grit and realism to whatever he's doing.
And then we contrasted that with Frieda Noor, who was Governor Legrand in Voice from the Past.
And I can see that objectively, one is very good performance, one is not a good performance.
And yes, if you put them side by side, I enjoy them both equally for different reasons.
Yes.
Ronald Lee Hunt always gives you the impression that even when he's in space, he's got a briefcase.
There's a briefcase not too far away.
My favourite line of his is when someone mentions Kelly's name, he goes, no, that young rebel.
Amazing.
Look, this whole episode, I think, is actually very well done.
I think I'm I appreciate it, maybe more than some people do.
But I've always liked it from the start and watching and this time I was just struck by how good and how fast paced it was and how how much it was written well for the regulars and how it moved the series on to the climax of the season and how much Uncle Victor's brought to it.
It's just, it's made with style and panache.
In fact, I think it's top tier Blake 7.
Wow.
You know, I think it gets 90% of it right because that's the thing.
I'm sitting there at the ending going, hold on, why did that ending happen?
With games, you're sort of asking why is this happening all the way through the episode.
And games are still very enjoyable.
So if games is very enjoyable with all that happening.
This has to be more enjoyable and it is, and as you say, it's down for me.
It's kind of, it's kind of down to the performances and that's not to dismiss the direction which I have praised, but just.
You give people real emotions to portray that just happen to be in a space setting and they rise to the occasion.
Yeah, and as I say, the 1st timer, I think this is one of the best episodes of the series of, you know, probably have enjoyed it more than most of them.
Oh, wow.
Not just better file, but best file.
Oh, great.
So I'm very excited to watch Blake for the 1st time next week.
I've got a few thoughts kind of just based on the series so far.
I thought, um, we've done this in the past where I kind of made a couple of predictions.
Tell us what you think is going to happen, Mark.
Well, I, obviously, I've seen the name of the episode and, you know, I referred to it though.
It's Blake, so I can make a pretty pre-educated guess about a guest star at least.
And obviously for years I've seen veiled references on social media to it being a traumatic experience for for younger viewers.
Yeah, it's no traumatic experience in the same way as hostage was.
It feels like Servan's getting closer to finding the base.
You know, she, if, um, if Zookan had told her this week or in Assassin, if she'd, instead of, um, stopping the ship in its tracks, you should just let it go back to the base, you should have found it.
So that's felt like a bit of a thing this series, that she's getting close to tracking them down.
But I also kind of feel like I wouldn't be surprised if they just scupper it themselves because most of their missions this season have gone wrong.
I don't think anything's gone right for them since they nicked the star drive from the space punk rockers.
They didn't get the crystals in games.
They didn't get the robot and headhunter.
They didn't get the new energy source in sand.
They didn't get the gold in gold, and they didn't get the tachyon weapon in orbit last week.
Each time they just keep barely escaping with their lives and the plans don't don't pan out at all.
It's the sort of form that you'd expect from the master in Doctor Who.
And then obviously last week with Villa knows that Avon was potentially willing to kill him.
And then this week, the he's let Terrence's girlfriend go to a death, so it feels like there's going to be more tensions within the team as well.
So, Yeah, and and and really, I want to know whether Aorak survived.
It would be a pretty disappointing death for him, I think, especially given last series when Zen had such a good final scene where he apologises for failing them and everything.
If that is the end of Orak, um, just kind of, although he, well, he didn't really save him, did he?
Because he warned them of the bomb, but they just ran straight towards it. caught in the blast.
But yeah, if he just sort of dies with a wimper like that with the beam falling on him.
Yeah, I'll be a bit disappointing. 10 year old me gasped when that girder fell on Aurak.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Or, or acts a bit like canine in that, though, is that every week something happened and you thought, God, has he been, you know, has he been destroyed, but he's, I was always waiting for canine to die, Doctor Who. something that was terrible always seemed to happen.
But I have to say, one of the joys of this podcast has been following your journey mark.
And I love the fact that, yeah, and I, and there's something really joyous about knowing that somebody doesn't know something that you know about, that, you know, I have such profound memories and +and enjoyable memories of and that you're yet to experience.
And I think that's really nice.
I think it's a really, in this day and age where everyone's quick to share the knowledge that they have of something, you know, I knew Sutek was going to be in Doctor Who because somebody couldn't stop, you know, couldn't resist showing off on their Facebook page or whatever.
And I try and remain spoiler free.
But the fact that you, you've been doing this about something that, you know, happened 40 years ago and that you've been going on this journey for the podcast has been a real, lovely dimension to it.
So I'm excited for you next week because it's, you know, it's, there's so much to, that, that, to, to, you know, to enjoy an experience in, in, in the final episode of Blake 7.
So, you know, have a good one, mate.
That must be nice.
Must be nice, Mark, to know that the last episode of Blake 7 is famous.
And so you're looking forward knowing that it's going to be whatever it is, a good episode.
Yeah, I'm really excited for it and I've been so careful for 4 years of avoiding spoilers for this 40 year old series. more so than anything new like, you know, the Mandalorian or anything like that.
I have been, I could barely sleep last night because I've been implanting it into my head going, don't say anything about the last episode.
Don't say, remember that Mark hasn't seen the last episode because I...
Don't mention Avon and Serveland's wedding.
Yeah.
We have been winding him up something shocking with fake.
Question mark story descriptors.
We're not going to say?
It's actually a typo.
It's not called Blake.
It's called Blakey.
It's on the bus's crossover.
The guest star you allude to is Stephen Lewis and I'll get you, Avon.
So sorry, I've ruined it for you now.
Maybe Scorpio just stops dead in space.
It wasn't Blake, it was break.
So you've only got one more to go.
One more to go.
And we're doing 2 podcasts on it too, because of its significance.
We're doing a UK crew and an Australian crew.
Oh fantastic.
Oh, quite right too.
It deserves it.
Yeah.
I remember it so, I remember it so well from the time.
Uh, uh, yeah.
But then again, I remember uh, terminal really well from from the time as well.
You know, they, they, they certainly know, you know, knew how to, to, to, to make an impact.
Uh, it's uh, yeah, so what fun, what fun?
Well, enjoy.
Yeah, you'll, I think you'll, I think you'll enjoy it.
Oh, thank you very much.
I'm very excited.
So that's our show.
Thank you very much for listening, and remember, it's possible.
They may have been anti radiation drugs, gloves.
And if you like to let our listeners know where else we can find you on the internet, Toby?
Yeah, well, I have a series of podcasts called Toby Headocks.
Time Travels, which are a mixture of deep dive whimsical essays, if you like, and positive commentaries based on Doctor Who, and also I have been labouring for 5000000 years to write a series of books about Quater Mass, the 1st of which, as I record this, is tantalisingly imminent.
I think we just need to put the finishing touches.
I think my editor's struggling with his keyboard, so I hope he takes his gloves off. just to do the final just to do the final bit.
But I'm very...
Ends up with just a little Toft of Red.
I'm very excited about those and you know, yeah, I've got my fingers in various sort of DVD and Blu-ray and sci-fi pies.
You wouldn't have known it from your interview with Chris Chapman when he says, oh, yeah, I just I just type into Facebook when I'm looking for it.
What he types into Facebook is Dear Toby, who's still alive, but where are they?
But so I listened to it, the interview with slightly irked.
But so yes, I had the pleasure of doing a little bit of work on the on the Blake 7 Blu-ray as well, but only only the sort of the, or, I'm, a bit like aura, really.
Nobody I'm slightly irritating.
Nobody really likes me, but they know that I'm occasionally useful to ask. you know, whether that actor's still alive and if so, where they live.
So, um, that's that's...
I believe there's only one Blu-ray ever seen on screen in Blake 7 and that is the guns in Mission to Destiny.
Very nice.
Very nice.
So yeah, it's been a pleasure to be able to be part of that process of the hopefully ongoing Blake 7 Blu-ray range.
Fantastic.
Well, thank you very much for listening and good night.
Good night.
Good night.
Night night.
Let's not power.
Go, go. 30 seconds thrust to the maximum power.
Switching to manual.
Maximum power on all drives.
Maximum power.
What is it with Tarrant being Randy this season?
First of all, there was Perry.
Then there was Servlan, then there's Siona.
He's gone from 80s perm to buzz cut to top of the pops wig.
I wouldn't have been despite if he'd had a pop at Pinder as well.
He's just overly sexed this season.
That's why Dana's so cold to him at the end.
She's like don't even think about it.
I am not interested.
Ah, that amazing scene in rescue where Villa Siddles up to her and says, would you rather be down on the surface with those snakes?
And she goes, can I think about it and let you know?