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This transcript was created on 2026-06-07 at 22:21:26

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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.

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I'm Mark.

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I'm Brendan.

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I'm Peter.

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And I'm Toby, but for this week only.

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Toby, welcome to maximum power.

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Thank you very much for joining us.

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As traditional as our runner guest. lets hear your opinion of the story first, please.

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Well, it's a funny old beast, isn't it?

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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.

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I remember after an episode of heart to heart, me saying to my mum, how do they do that?

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You know, where they kiss each other?

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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.

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Well, I don't knowing Robert Wagner and Stephanie Powers, it may have been a special effect.

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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.

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And I remember being particularly upset when Paul Darrow snags, Snoggs, Jan Chapel, and sarcophagus, and it's like, they even work together. anyway.

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I was, yeah.

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I couldn't handle that.

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And the sort of nihilism which this has, which, and I'd remembered the ending very, very differently.

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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.

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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.

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So I like, I like the fact that it's, it's pushed the better.

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It's a curious beast.

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I'm not sure it's very good, but I'm always quite enjoy watching it.

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Well, I'm going to say, actually, I'm seriously impressed by this episode.

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I think it is much better than its reputation would suggest.

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I think Simon Masters, this is only Blake 7 script, and he is a real find for Blake 7 late in the day.

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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.

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And I appreciate it properly building to something at the end of the season.

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It really feels like things are falling apart for our heroes and there's a lot of tension.

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And it's also clever.

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You know, there's a lot of double crossing, even little twists like through Lynn teleporting Ziona back.

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The script unfolds intelligently, and I think everyone acts with agency.

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It's also one of the few scripts this season, I think, that plays to the strengths of the series D format.

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Um, I quite enjoy this one as well.

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I think it is a great example of what I think V.

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Lorimer brings to the program is a very strong visual sense.

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Some might say fettered.

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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.

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I do think there are some moments in the script where I sort of wound back about 10 seconds ago.

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Did I miss something or no, okay, they just haven't actually said what's happening there?

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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.

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So, Paul, can you just rattle off this?

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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.

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I do really like Bobby Brown as the owner.

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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.

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Maybe with a haircut.

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Maybe with a haircut.

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I mean, uh, that that hair came back a few years ago at Eurovision with um, uh, Senhai Adrenaline for San Marino.

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So.

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What did you think of it, Mark?

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I really, really liked it.

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As a bike 71st timer, you know, coming in without any knowledge of what the sort of fan consensuses or anything.

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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.

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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.

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This is, you know, they're trying to achieve something.

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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.

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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.

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So yeah, I thought I thought all worked really, really well.

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And and like, yeah, I kind of thought the owner probably wasn't going to make it as the guest star of the week.

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But then part of me was thinking, they've gone to all this effort.

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And we've established that beta file is the only planet that can possibly produce the antitoxin.

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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.

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So yeah, it did seem a bit reckless that they endangered her so much at the end.

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But other than that, yeah, I thought it was an excellent, and I really like the direction as well.

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It also, it moves at a real clip.

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Like it's really fast moving.

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It's set over a number of days and the scenes cut together quickly without a lot of slack.

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So when Zukan realises that Ziona's on the base.

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Um, It just, you have a series of scenes that move really quickly to her boarding Scorpio.

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And so by the time we're like a total away into the episode, they're already onboard Scorpio taking Ziona home.

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And everything builds from there.

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And just when you think it can't get any better, I'm sure we'll talk about this later, Servoland turns up.

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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.

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They all get kind of a decent slice of the action.

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It's a great episode for Sulin, actually, isn't it?

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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.

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Yeah, let's face it.

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They are the best.

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It's fantastic.

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They're the somersault squad.

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The special somersaulting service.

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But I just love that.

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Should we kill them?

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No, we have to jump off a cliff edge first.

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Do you think that was the squad that Michael Sheard was in charge of before he was in charge of the death squad?

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He was in the somersaulting squad. absolutely.

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But I was surprised.

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I watched it again last night, even though I'd done a Blake 7 marathon not that long ago.

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I've never read War and Peace, but yeah, I've done Lake 7 marathons a few times.

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You've seen hostage.

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Of course I have.

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It's got John Aboneri in it.

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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.

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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.

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Terrence horrible to him again though, isn't he?

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Nearly, nearly, you know, he attacks him.

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But yeah, it's everyone gets a good bit to do.

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You know, I kind of believed that Villa would crack up under the circumstances and that the drink would bring out his nasty side.

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It felt consistent to me.

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So even though he doesn't have a lot to do.

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I think it is quite in character.

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Going on, what you're saying about Su Lynn, though.

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I think this is possibly her best episode.

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Um, she's really good in those early scenes with Taranton's owner in the cargo bay.

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And then with Siona, where they kind of strike up this girly friendship, a little bit.

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And she, I just love her delivery of the line.

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It could explain it, I suppose.

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It's just, she's just really nailed how to deliver that character.

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She's then excellent in the scenes on Scorpio with Avon.

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She stands up to Zukan.

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She saves the situation on beta file by passing herself off as Fiona.

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And I think Glenisbub has just really found a way to play that character.

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And if there'd been a 5th season, she might very well have ended up being one of the strongest regulars.

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Hmm.

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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.

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They sort of go into this heightened register.

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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.

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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.

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And the look on Avon's face is part outrage in part.

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Ooh, well played.

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Nice, nice logic suit then.

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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.

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So she says to him on the flight deck.

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She says, Ziona deserves better than having just you for company.

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And Paul Darrow is Avon, actually looks a little bit hurts by this.

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He kind of like frowns when she can't see.

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And then later on she mocks him.

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She says, but you lie so well.

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I really like this characterisation of Su Lim.

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I mentioned the the direction being really strong.

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I thought there was some great touches.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Some of the best we've seen this season.

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Yeah.

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And even the camera shaking, when Zookan's ship is out of control.

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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.

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So, yeah, I thought I thought the direction was really, really good throughout this one.

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Can we talk about that opening sequence a little bit?

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Because I think it's really good.

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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.

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So we're getting some of that Blake 7 again, and I really liked that Blake 7.

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And I think those scenes, like you said, Mark, they show a lot of directorial flair.

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We call Victors, Ritellus, Uncle Victors in this house because he's a cousin by marriage.

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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.

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Um, and it's incredible what he brings to this episode, I think.

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There is.

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It's directed a bit like a one off sci-fi play.

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Um, and I appreciate that.

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It departs from the regular Blake 7 style and it works.

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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.

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But that's not terrible source material.

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I mean, that's good source material.

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There are also great individual shots.

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That dolly in on Tarrant when Scorpio leaves is really dramatic and tells the story properly.

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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.

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I think it could have gone further into this direction.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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And and I love the fact that, you know, that is not unique to Doctor Who.

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That was my entryway into it.

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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.

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And I mean, I, I, I have 2 of.

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Is there anybody in this podcast who hasn't interviewed Vic Ritellis?

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I had the I had the great pleasure of doing so when I did my Hooseram podcast and he's a fascinating chap.

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Surely the only person to have directed Blake 7 and Home and Away.

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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.

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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.

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And he obviously, he obviously loves getting to grips with avant-garde visuals.

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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.

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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.

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So the more of that that exists, even if it's a bit flawed.

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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

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all of this stuff..

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So his, you know, his his visuals are very much there, front and centre, and I cherish it for that.

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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.

180
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The director is really working it.

181
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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.

182
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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.

183
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They're at an interesting angle.

184
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And there's so much in those opening scenes that actually marks this out as good direction.

185
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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.

186
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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.

187
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It's very cleverly cut together.

188
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And like you said, Toby, I think going too far in this direction doesn't always work, but I would rather that it did.

189
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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.

190
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And I am here for that.

191
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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.

192
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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.

193
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So there's got to be a different sort of visual grammar.

194
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And of course, Camfield is a good call because, you know, Victor's was the production assistant on the Daleks master plan.

195
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Master Plan.

196
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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.

197
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And as we've noted before, a series like Blake 7 rises and falls on its director.

198
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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.

199
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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.

200
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Um, I should mention at this point, I have also interviewed Victor's writer.

201
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Are you also related to him?

202
00:20:54.839 --> 00:20:56.700
I'm not also related to him.

203
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So I don't get that point.

204
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No, 2003 Dr. Club of Australia, 40th anniversary event.

205
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I interviewed Victor's Rotellus.

206
00:21:06.420 --> 00:21:08.940
We also had a young lad called James Goss.

207
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I wonder what happened to him and he brought along a couple of episodes of Scream of the Shell Cup for us to watch.

208
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But, um, so...

209
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Sorry?

210
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Did you forgive him?

211
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Oh no, no.

212
00:21:24.480 --> 00:21:38.640
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.

213
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Um, which is my abiding memory of that interview.

214
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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?

215
00:21:51.720 --> 00:22:06.900
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.

216
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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?

217
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Like, no, no, no, it's an hallucination.

218
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He's like, oh.

219
00:22:25.140 --> 00:22:29.339
Um, but yeah, I mean, I love the stuff at the beginning.

220
00:22:29.400 --> 00:22:35.039
Um, I even put the moment where it, what's his name?

221
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Finn.

222
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The moment where Finn gets ejected out into space and we have that video effect of him stretching.

223
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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.

224
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So well.

225
00:22:55.200 --> 00:22:56.519
And, you know, that's the other thing.

226
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It's not just about being stylistic.

227
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It's about saying, I want to imply something horrible.

228
00:23:02.220 --> 00:23:07.319
I can't show it, so I'm going to find some way to make it really disturbing, which is great.

229
00:23:08.220 --> 00:23:10.920
That is one of my childhood memories.

230
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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.

231
00:23:28.019 --> 00:23:30.420
And from this story, the death of Finn.

232
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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.

233
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And Bernard Hepton, and it was quite a big series and he plays a character called, what was it, DC Danny Prince.

234
00:23:47.279 --> 00:23:52.079
He was quite, he was quite a memorable sort of copper who comes in and changed is the dynamic of the story.

235
00:23:52.079 --> 00:23:54.119
And also he was, of course, married to Katie Manning.

236
00:23:54.180 --> 00:24:04.140
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.

237
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He cropped up in various bits and bobs.

238
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So it was also quite a surprise when he got because the episode rattles along.

239
00:24:11.039 --> 00:24:20.579
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.

240
00:24:20.640 --> 00:24:22.859
I was like, 0 no, he survives for most of it.

241
00:24:22.980 --> 00:24:38.700
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.

242
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I'm quite happy with this.

243
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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.

244
00:24:47.460 --> 00:24:49.980
But, oh, no, no, Zukon goes, oh, you go.

245
00:24:50.039 --> 00:24:52.559
And it's one of those snogging and nihilism.

246
00:24:52.619 --> 00:24:54.839
That's those are my memories of Blake 7 mostly.

247
00:24:54.900 --> 00:25:02.880
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.

248
00:25:02.940 --> 00:25:10.259
So yeah, that scene and the ending are the 2 that really lingered for me in Warlord.

249
00:25:10.319 --> 00:25:16.500
Yeah, Zookan's not clearly not that plagued by his conscience, considering that he ejects porphin with the bomb.

250
00:25:18.299 --> 00:25:23.339
Just like to say that I've also interviewed James Goss.

251
00:25:27.180 --> 00:25:29.940
Yeah, the scene that you said about the viewscreen.

252
00:25:30.000 --> 00:25:32.759
I thought that was interesting because you see Servolan and Ziona.

253
00:25:32.819 --> 00:25:43.920
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.

254
00:25:43.980 --> 00:25:49.380
Because he is still protesting that she's on Scorpio quite far into that scene.

255
00:25:49.440 --> 00:25:57.299
And it made me think, is this like his final vision is, right, these 2 people have kind of screwed me over there.

256
00:25:57.480 --> 00:26:07.200
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.

257
00:26:07.259 --> 00:26:11.039
So I like those little flourishes that are a little bit open to interpretation as well, I think.

258
00:26:11.099 --> 00:26:18.359
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.

259
00:26:18.420 --> 00:26:25.740
He sees Fiona because he's betrayed her. by leaving her down on the base and like putting her in this position.

260
00:26:26.039 --> 00:26:29.339
And so, yeah, I think those things work really well.

261
00:26:29.400 --> 00:26:35.759
They do they do have the potential, like Rod said, Brendan, to pitch the episode a little bit towards camp.

262
00:26:35.819 --> 00:26:38.339
Um, but I can live with that.

263
00:26:38.400 --> 00:26:41.640
I think it's just on the right side of being pretty interesting.

264
00:26:41.700 --> 00:26:45.299
Yeah. occurred to me on the 2nd watch of this.

265
00:26:45.660 --> 00:26:51.000
When Zukon has found out that his daughter is on the base.

266
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And then when they track her down, she's in Terence Boudoir.

267
00:26:55.680 --> 00:26:57.480
Which I thought was interesting.

268
00:26:57.539 --> 00:27:07.079
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.

269
00:27:07.140 --> 00:27:08.460
So it's all about them.

270
00:27:08.519 --> 00:27:16.740
When she, when she, and the bit where they all sort of come into the room and Avon just grabs Tarrant by the shore.

271
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I've forgotten that bit.

272
00:27:17.880 --> 00:27:19.319
I thought that was so funny.

273
00:27:19.380 --> 00:27:20.640
Brilliant.

274
00:27:20.700 --> 00:27:31.859
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.

275
00:27:31.920 --> 00:27:35.940
And then when she talks about going home on the Friday... also what she said to Tarrant.

276
00:27:36.000 --> 00:27:37.259
Yeah, well, that's what I mean.

277
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And she says about going home on the freight and she said, Tarrant will take me.

278
00:27:40.140 --> 00:27:53.579
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.

279
00:27:53.759 --> 00:27:57.059
I think that their relationship is really quite interesting.

280
00:27:57.119 --> 00:28:04.920
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.

281
00:28:04.980 --> 00:28:22.980
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.

282
00:28:23.039 --> 00:28:23.940
Yeah.

283
00:28:24.000 --> 00:28:36.539
The, her performance, when she's on the radio to him has such a level of very upsetting emotional grip to it.

284
00:28:36.599 --> 00:28:46.619
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.

285
00:28:46.680 --> 00:28:59.579
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.

286
00:28:59.640 --> 00:29:07.319
Whereas, you know, yes, she has this emotion, yes, she is upset, but she is still a confident, capable scientist.

287
00:29:07.380 --> 00:29:09.960
Um, in terms of Zukon.

288
00:29:10.019 --> 00:29:23.099
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.

289
00:29:23.160 --> 00:29:24.839
Cross my heart and hope to die.

290
00:29:24.900 --> 00:29:27.660
No, I'm not leaving early for any particular reason.

291
00:29:27.960 --> 00:29:30.539
I'm just going to go back home now.

292
00:29:30.960 --> 00:29:42.539
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.

293
00:29:42.599 --> 00:29:50.279
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.

294
00:29:50.339 --> 00:30:01.859
Um, Yeah, I think possibly why Zukon is such a brilliant character is because he's not an out and out villain.

295
00:30:01.920 --> 00:30:07.259
He wants power. and he wants power over his system, but that's also a way to keep the Federation out.

296
00:30:07.319 --> 00:30:08.279
He's self-interest.

297
00:30:08.400 --> 00:30:08.700
Yeah.

298
00:30:08.759 --> 00:30:16.079
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?

299
00:30:16.140 --> 00:30:18.240
sort of jettisoned him from the ships.

300
00:30:18.299 --> 00:30:20.460
So it's another way that he's a bit of a lure of Avon.

301
00:30:20.579 --> 00:30:24.059
And Zukon calls that out to Servilon, doesn't he?

302
00:30:24.119 --> 00:30:29.039
He said, you know, we could have, you know, we could have been unstoppable together if he teamed up with Avon instead of Servilance.

303
00:30:29.099 --> 00:30:30.359
He recognises that they're both.

304
00:30:30.900 --> 00:30:34.680
Yeah, quite kind of ruthless, powerful characters.

305
00:30:34.799 --> 00:30:41.220
I think it's good to have, um, these characters with their own agendas in Blake 7.

306
00:30:41.279 --> 00:30:47.099
They're not typically just responsive to what our regulars are doing, but it lends interest.

307
00:30:47.099 --> 00:30:57.240
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.

308
00:30:57.299 --> 00:30:59.039
Sue Cannon Ziona from Zondor?

309
00:30:59.099 --> 00:31:00.000
What's with all the Zeds?

310
00:31:00.720 --> 00:31:12.599
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.

311
00:31:12.660 --> 00:31:15.359
The good performances come through.

312
00:31:15.420 --> 00:31:27.539
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.

313
00:31:28.019 --> 00:31:30.900
I actually like Roy Boyd's hair.

314
00:31:30.960 --> 00:31:38.160
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.

315
00:31:38.220 --> 00:31:49.799
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.

316
00:31:49.859 --> 00:31:51.720
If you you may as well have a go.

317
00:31:51.900 --> 00:31:58.680
And I think having this sort of big striding warlord with this funny sort of, you know, pink bunch on the top.

318
00:31:58.740 --> 00:31:59.700
I think kind of words.

319
00:31:59.759 --> 00:32:13.440
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.

320
00:32:13.500 --> 00:32:24.539
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.

321
00:32:24.599 --> 00:32:35.880
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.

322
00:32:35.940 --> 00:32:37.140
Last appearance on screen.

323
00:32:37.200 --> 00:32:37.980
Yes.

324
00:32:38.099 --> 00:32:41.279
And and Queeg from Red Dwarf.

325
00:32:41.339 --> 00:32:45.000
So it's quite a it's quite a bunch, Charles Organs.

326
00:32:45.059 --> 00:33:13.019
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.

327
00:33:13.079 --> 00:33:22.859
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.

328
00:33:22.920 --> 00:33:37.200
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.

329
00:33:37.259 --> 00:33:41.039
It's not just, you know, 4 men in suits or whatever who all look the same.

330
00:33:41.099 --> 00:33:45.299
I think they probably all got the spark of death in the cargo bay at some point.

331
00:33:45.480 --> 00:33:57.119
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.

332
00:33:57.180 --> 00:33:58.440
It's a gift.

333
00:33:58.500 --> 00:33:59.400
It's a gift.

334
00:33:59.759 --> 00:34:01.859
Not a gift to the audience.

335
00:34:01.920 --> 00:34:11.579
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.

336
00:34:12.960 --> 00:34:22.739
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...

337
00:34:24.300 --> 00:34:38.039
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.

338
00:34:38.159 --> 00:34:42.000
He's incre- I will give him this though.

339
00:34:42.059 --> 00:34:44.639
He's incredibly ripped for 1981.

340
00:34:44.820 --> 00:34:45.960
Isn't he?

341
00:34:46.019 --> 00:34:46.260
Yeah.

342
00:34:46.320 --> 00:34:48.059
It's extraordinary.

343
00:34:48.119 --> 00:34:52.019
And like we, you get a shot with full lat and I think almost side boob.

344
00:34:52.079 --> 00:34:53.159
It's very impressive.

345
00:34:53.219 --> 00:35:14.460
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.

346
00:35:14.760 --> 00:35:18.119
Just like, what about what about the delegates?

347
00:35:18.179 --> 00:35:20.219
I don't think they're coming, villa.

348
00:35:20.280 --> 00:35:21.480
You know, they are.

349
00:35:21.539 --> 00:35:22.800
But, yeah.

350
00:35:22.860 --> 00:35:31.440
I assumed that after their sparky toast, that they'd all gone their separate ways to do their separate things.

351
00:35:31.500 --> 00:35:33.900
So maybe that's me misunderstanding.

352
00:35:33.960 --> 00:35:35.579
I think you're right.

353
00:35:35.880 --> 00:35:39.719
I thought that toast was to sort of signify, business is done.

354
00:35:39.780 --> 00:35:41.400
Now everybody's going there separate ways.

355
00:35:41.460 --> 00:35:45.119
You know, that makes a lot more sense of...

356
00:35:45.119 --> 00:35:46.739
So Rick James is still out there.

357
00:35:46.800 --> 00:35:50.099
He's still, he's still out there to emote another day.

358
00:35:50.159 --> 00:35:56.280
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.

359
00:35:59.760 --> 00:36:01.739
We're on the Blu-ray.

360
00:36:02.519 --> 00:36:17.760
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.

361
00:36:17.820 --> 00:36:22.739
So, you know, we could have had Dr. Paxton and Belkov and...

362
00:36:22.739 --> 00:36:23.280
Oh, amazing.

363
00:36:23.280 --> 00:36:25.260
Goggles.

364
00:36:25.320 --> 00:36:27.840
You could have had like just in an Omega's old outfit.

365
00:36:27.900 --> 00:36:28.619
It would have been amazing.

366
00:36:28.980 --> 00:36:31.619
Is Rick James available?

367
00:36:31.679 --> 00:36:32.159
Yes.

368
00:36:33.300 --> 00:36:36.539
Well, better get him instead of Barbara Shelley.

369
00:36:36.599 --> 00:36:37.440
Yeah, there you are.

370
00:36:37.500 --> 00:36:38.460
Who?

371
00:36:50.519 --> 00:36:56.340
They scripted nice bits of world building in it as well, which you don't get in in all of Blake 7.

372
00:36:56.400 --> 00:37:06.659
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.

373
00:37:06.719 --> 00:37:07.980
They're a little bit about Sulin.

374
00:37:08.039 --> 00:37:12.480
I couldn't remember, but I didn't think I'd heard about her father being murdered when she was 8.

375
00:37:12.539 --> 00:37:16.260
And then she sounds like she'd avenged his death.

376
00:37:16.320 --> 00:37:21.420
Um, the stuff about uh, betafile being in perpetual daylight.

377
00:37:21.480 --> 00:37:37.559
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?

378
00:37:37.619 --> 00:37:46.679
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.

379
00:37:46.739 --> 00:37:55.500
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.

380
00:37:55.559 --> 00:38:00.179
If it's perpetual sunlight, presumably that would be really good for grown crops as well.

381
00:38:00.239 --> 00:38:05.760
So it also ties in and just makes it feel like a bigger world and a bigger universe, I think.

382
00:38:05.820 --> 00:38:07.380
I really appreciate it.

383
00:38:07.440 --> 00:38:17.099
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.

384
00:38:17.159 --> 00:38:30.119
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.

385
00:38:30.179 --> 00:38:37.800
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.

386
00:38:37.860 --> 00:38:38.519
It's not all about.

387
00:38:38.639 --> 00:38:42.119
We are from the tribe, Clathor, and all that sort of boring sci-fi guff.

388
00:38:42.179 --> 00:38:47.579
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?

389
00:38:47.639 --> 00:38:50.940
And that just seems to be just a nice little touch.

390
00:38:51.000 --> 00:39:02.460
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.

391
00:39:02.519 --> 00:39:07.860
So the idea of just introducing the concept of compensation amidst the space opera.

392
00:39:07.920 --> 00:39:12.539
I think is a nice deaf little piece of of reality to it, you know.

393
00:39:13.260 --> 00:39:16.739
The script is full of those really nice moments.

394
00:39:16.860 --> 00:39:21.179
There's good world building of the kind that we usually get from people like Robert Holmes.

395
00:39:21.239 --> 00:39:25.679
I think, and that's what marks him out as a really good dog too, and Blake 7 writer.

396
00:39:25.980 --> 00:39:31.440
But also, like we were talking about before, the characterisation is just right.

397
00:39:31.500 --> 00:39:34.500
Everyone has lots of interesting things to do.

398
00:39:34.559 --> 00:39:37.500
You believe the way that they're relating to each other.

399
00:39:37.619 --> 00:39:39.119
Um, and...

400
00:39:39.119 --> 00:39:43.739
We said before that Zulin was really well characterised.

401
00:39:43.800 --> 00:39:53.639
I think Avon is a particularly interesting example in this episode because what has prompted Avon to bring together this conference.

402
00:39:53.699 --> 00:39:55.260
Suddenly he's anti-federation.

403
00:39:55.320 --> 00:39:58.139
He sort of adopted the role that Blake used to have.

404
00:39:58.199 --> 00:40:03.960
He's wholeheartedly transitioned into Blake's mantra against the Federation.

405
00:40:04.019 --> 00:40:07.739
Um, and I really appreciate that having decided to do that.

406
00:40:07.800 --> 00:40:10.739
Paul Darrow, like you said earlier, Brendan, has bought the performance down.

407
00:40:10.800 --> 00:40:14.280
If he was giving a grandstanding performance, it wouldn't quite work.

408
00:40:14.340 --> 00:40:18.300
It's almost like he's resigned himself to the fact that this is the way that they have to go.

409
00:40:18.360 --> 00:40:23.159
It's like you said earlier in the season in Traitor, I think, where Villa said, come on, let's get out of here.

410
00:40:23.219 --> 00:40:34.800
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.

411
00:40:34.860 --> 00:40:37.019
Um, and Villa actually says to him.

412
00:40:37.079 --> 00:40:49.139
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.

413
00:40:49.199 --> 00:41:00.300
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.

414
00:41:01.679 --> 00:41:13.079
And arguably, last week with Orbit was sort of the culmination of Avon's darker, more callous side than we've seen this season.

415
00:41:13.320 --> 00:41:24.599
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.

416
00:41:24.659 --> 00:41:36.239
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.

417
00:41:37.019 --> 00:41:42.539
You know, and has that then affected his thinking and he's thinking back to that.

418
00:41:42.599 --> 00:41:46.679
He's like, well, what am I doing if we're not fighting against the Federation?

419
00:41:46.739 --> 00:41:56.159
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.

420
00:41:56.219 --> 00:42:02.219
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.

421
00:42:02.699 --> 00:42:05.820
With Avon, it's always about self-preservation.

422
00:42:05.880 --> 00:42:09.420
And so last week on the shuttle with Villa was about self-preservation.

423
00:42:09.480 --> 00:42:14.639
The fact that he's decided to take these steps is about self-interest going into the future.

424
00:42:14.699 --> 00:42:22.500
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.

425
00:42:22.559 --> 00:42:23.519
They do not cross over.

426
00:42:23.579 --> 00:42:26.159
They don't have anything to do with each other.

427
00:42:26.219 --> 00:42:34.260
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.

428
00:42:34.320 --> 00:42:36.780
And so I really like that.

429
00:42:36.840 --> 00:42:44.400
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.

430
00:43:00.840 --> 00:43:03.780
Can we talk about the scenes in the wrecked base?

431
00:43:03.900 --> 00:43:05.940
I think they're fantastic.

432
00:43:06.000 --> 00:43:14.340
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.

433
00:43:14.400 --> 00:43:16.739
Well, time's been kinder to you.

434
00:43:17.219 --> 00:43:19.019
Thank you very much.

435
00:43:19.079 --> 00:43:21.360
Hoffles radiation in reverse.

436
00:43:23.219 --> 00:43:26.579
No, I remember watching this on 1st run when I was 10.

437
00:43:26.820 --> 00:43:37.860
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.

438
00:43:38.579 --> 00:43:52.440
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.

439
00:43:52.500 --> 00:43:55.320
Um, and there's great lighting and soundscape.

440
00:43:55.380 --> 00:43:59.340
So when they turn off the air conditioning when they realise it's an airborne radiation.

441
00:43:59.519 --> 00:44:02.760
Everything just goes completely silent.

442
00:44:02.820 --> 00:44:06.420
You can barely hear a tick or a click in the studio.

443
00:44:06.480 --> 00:44:08.400
The music stops as well.

444
00:44:08.460 --> 00:44:10.260
It's a really nice choice.

445
00:44:10.320 --> 00:44:12.059
All the ambient sound suddenly goes.

446
00:44:12.119 --> 00:44:14.099
So he's not just about the visuals.

447
00:44:14.159 --> 00:44:15.599
It's extraordinary, isn't it?

448
00:44:15.659 --> 00:44:20.400
As I mentioned it, the top Blake 7 seemed so grown up.

449
00:44:20.519 --> 00:44:25.199
I know I know we're celebrating for its camp and all of that sort of issue.

450
00:44:25.260 --> 00:44:28.440
When I was a kid, I mean, I did not have a campometer.

451
00:44:28.500 --> 00:44:30.119
I didn't know there was such a thing.

452
00:44:30.179 --> 00:44:35.699
To me, this was, this was as hard as nails, you know, people wore leather.

453
00:44:35.760 --> 00:44:42.780
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.

454
00:44:42.840 --> 00:44:44.460
I mean, this was rock hard.

455
00:44:44.519 --> 00:44:47.099
Yeah, people using the word bitch.

456
00:44:47.159 --> 00:44:48.719
Absolutely.

457
00:44:48.840 --> 00:44:50.460
Oh, God.

458
00:44:50.519 --> 00:44:52.500
And, you know, people snogging bad.

459
00:44:52.559 --> 00:44:56.820
Oh, and when, oh, and the bitten traitor wear serverland, snogs a man and then stabs him in the back.

460
00:44:56.880 --> 00:44:57.659
It's like this.

461
00:44:57.719 --> 00:44:59.940
I mean, this is a, this is Eddie stuff.

462
00:45:00.420 --> 00:45:03.599
I'm glad she didn't take too many life lessons from it though.

463
00:45:03.659 --> 00:45:05.039
Oh my goodness me.

464
00:45:06.719 --> 00:45:09.719
You can only see what I'm wearing from the top.

465
00:45:11.519 --> 00:45:26.460
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.

466
00:45:26.519 --> 00:45:47.219
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.

467
00:45:47.280 --> 00:45:53.880
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.

468
00:45:53.940 --> 00:45:59.940
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.

469
00:45:59.940 --> 00:46:08.820
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.

470
00:46:08.880 --> 00:46:19.860
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.

471
00:46:19.860 --> 00:46:23.400
You know, it seems like again, rather than going from episode to episode.

472
00:46:23.460 --> 00:46:31.559
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.

473
00:46:31.619 --> 00:46:34.739
You know, that's that's more than just somebody's blown the bloody doors off.

474
00:46:34.800 --> 00:46:38.699
You know, they've that the whole place has been kind of wreck.

475
00:46:38.820 --> 00:46:40.980
This isn't the USS Voyager.

476
00:46:41.039 --> 00:46:43.320
It's not going to turn up next week and look spick and span.

477
00:46:43.380 --> 00:46:44.219
Yeah, yeah.

478
00:46:44.280 --> 00:46:54.900
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.

479
00:46:54.960 --> 00:47:10.019
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.

480
00:47:10.079 --> 00:47:15.599
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.

481
00:47:15.659 --> 00:47:37.320
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.

482
00:47:37.380 --> 00:47:51.960
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?

483
00:47:52.019 --> 00:47:53.579
Should I have been watching this?

484
00:47:53.699 --> 00:47:55.440
What year is this?

485
00:47:55.500 --> 00:47:56.519
Is it 1980?

486
00:47:56.699 --> 00:47:57.539
This is 1981.

487
00:47:57.659 --> 00:47:58.739
1981?

488
00:47:58.800 --> 00:48:00.539
Oh, so I was 7.

489
00:48:00.539 --> 00:48:15.840
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.

490
00:48:15.900 --> 00:48:23.460
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.

491
00:48:23.519 --> 00:48:29.699
And Toby, you've just made me realise that in Nathan's absence, I am by far the oldest person on this podcast.

492
00:48:31.199 --> 00:48:33.960
You bathe in oil of you, eh?

493
00:48:37.019 --> 00:48:42.360
It's interesting what you said about realising in redemption that, you know, the good people are going to die.

494
00:48:42.420 --> 00:48:45.179
For me, that revelation came in aftermath.

495
00:48:45.179 --> 00:48:51.659
When I really enjoyed Hal Melonby, Cy Grant's performances, dad.

496
00:48:51.719 --> 00:49:00.239
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.

497
00:49:00.300 --> 00:49:01.800
Yeah, yeah.

498
00:49:02.340 --> 00:49:04.500
And he's one of the good guys.

499
00:49:04.559 --> 00:49:08.099
He's one of the few unambiguous good guys in the Blake 7 universe.

500
00:49:09.000 --> 00:49:17.340
Because the owner in this one, I fully expected it today, as I say, but I thought her death.

501
00:49:17.400 --> 00:49:18.480
Tarrant sold very well.

502
00:49:18.780 --> 00:49:28.679
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.

503
00:49:28.739 --> 00:49:43.320
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.

504
00:49:43.380 --> 00:49:44.579
It could have just been there.

505
00:49:44.639 --> 00:49:46.199
It could have just been left there.

506
00:49:46.260 --> 00:49:48.000
Could we talk about her death, though?

507
00:49:48.059 --> 00:49:49.679
because I'd remembered it as a kid.

508
00:49:49.920 --> 00:49:52.980
Because I think these were on twice, weren't they?

509
00:49:53.039 --> 00:50:03.900
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.

510
00:50:03.960 --> 00:50:07.019
And as you say, the fact that Dana doesn't even touch his elbow or anything.

511
00:50:07.079 --> 00:50:08.519
It's like, this is Blake 7.

512
00:50:08.579 --> 00:50:09.599
We do things differently here.

513
00:50:09.659 --> 00:50:13.139
And I think Dana is still very pissy with him sleeping with Servolan.

514
00:50:13.260 --> 00:50:14.219
Yeah, wow.

515
00:50:14.280 --> 00:50:21.900
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.

516
00:50:21.960 --> 00:50:22.559
I think he's great.

517
00:50:22.619 --> 00:50:27.480
But it's not a tear in her clothing.

518
00:50:27.599 --> 00:50:29.820
Why does she take?

519
00:50:29.880 --> 00:50:31.440
Why does she take her gloves off?

520
00:50:31.739 --> 00:50:33.360
Absolutely.

521
00:50:33.420 --> 00:50:34.199
Absolutely.

522
00:50:34.260 --> 00:50:36.960
The credit started rolling when we watched that today.

523
00:50:37.019 --> 00:50:40.619
And Rogers turned to me and said, that's just lazy writing.

524
00:50:40.679 --> 00:50:45.599
You know, that's just, that's just, we haven't contracted her past this episode.

525
00:50:45.659 --> 00:50:46.920
He's like, is there any reason?

526
00:50:46.980 --> 00:50:49.260
Is there a cut line because he knows I booked this stuff up.

527
00:50:49.320 --> 00:51:00.059
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.

528
00:51:00.119 --> 00:51:01.920
So she takes the glove off.

529
00:51:01.980 --> 00:51:08.880
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.

530
00:51:08.940 --> 00:51:13.139
There seems to be a shot of location that gets lost because just for like 3 seconds.

531
00:51:13.199 --> 00:51:21.539
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.

532
00:51:21.900 --> 00:51:24.659
Which again is very Dougie Canfield.

533
00:51:24.719 --> 00:51:25.860
Yep, absolutely.

534
00:51:25.920 --> 00:51:33.300
But it, it, I think it's meant to be, she can't do it with the gloves on.

535
00:51:33.360 --> 00:51:40.559
So she takes them off, but by taking out that explanation, it's it's not even a a self-sacrifice.

536
00:51:40.619 --> 00:51:46.559
You're having to invent the reason for the climax of the episode in your head.

537
00:51:46.679 --> 00:51:48.480
Yeah, because you want not sure.

538
00:51:48.539 --> 00:51:50.579
If that's the thing, you want to see her make the decision.

539
00:51:50.639 --> 00:51:59.039
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.

540
00:51:59.099 --> 00:52:01.440
It just seems, yeah, sorry.

541
00:52:01.500 --> 00:52:02.159
Peter.

542
00:52:02.219 --> 00:52:03.599
It is a little bit muddled.

543
00:52:03.659 --> 00:52:05.699
But I'm not sure it's lazy writing.

544
00:52:05.760 --> 00:52:09.360
I think I like the fact that we can't read exactly what happened there.

545
00:52:09.420 --> 00:52:10.619
Was it an accident?

546
00:52:10.679 --> 00:52:13.260
Did she just take the glove off by accident?

547
00:52:13.320 --> 00:52:18.300
She decide to do it because she realised that was the only way they were going to be able to rescue things.

548
00:52:18.360 --> 00:52:27.659
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?

549
00:52:27.719 --> 00:52:30.239
I like that that's really open to interpretation.

550
00:52:30.300 --> 00:52:31.739
Fair enough.

551
00:52:33.239 --> 00:52:35.219
But it is muddled.

552
00:52:35.280 --> 00:52:38.639
Yeah, I just feel it sort of slightly comes out of nowhere.

553
00:52:38.639 --> 00:52:45.179
And so you leave the episode on the back foot. the credits are in and you'll sort of go, wait, half a mo?

554
00:52:45.239 --> 00:52:47.280
Um, yeah.

555
00:52:47.340 --> 00:52:50.639
And I think it's interesting because I started this.

556
00:52:50.699 --> 00:52:52.320
I was the 1st person to speak on this.

557
00:52:52.380 --> 00:53:04.440
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.

558
00:53:04.500 --> 00:53:15.239
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.

559
00:53:15.300 --> 00:53:39.000
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.

560
00:53:39.059 --> 00:53:48.000
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.

561
00:53:48.059 --> 00:53:52.860
I'm not quite sure he's explored in as well as he might be.

562
00:53:52.920 --> 00:53:57.360
Although I do like the the whole thing about the fact that he says it's always day on my planet.

563
00:53:57.420 --> 00:54:01.139
But then he goes, oh, but I miss the darkness and you go, well, well, why do you miss the darkness?

564
00:54:01.260 --> 00:54:02.280
You on a planet that doesn't have any?

565
00:54:02.340 --> 00:54:12.719
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.

566
00:54:12.840 --> 00:54:16.380
Well, no, because you didn't you didn't grow up with a concept of flabble doubles.

567
00:54:16.440 --> 00:54:17.280
So why do you need them now?

568
00:54:17.340 --> 00:54:23.219
If you'd never met somebody from the Planet of the Flowerball Dubles, you wouldn't suddenly be craving them.

569
00:54:23.280 --> 00:54:33.840
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.

570
00:54:33.900 --> 00:54:43.980
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.

571
00:54:44.039 --> 00:54:53.460
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.

572
00:54:53.519 --> 00:54:56.880
I am still very much, yeah, but I watch this stuff because I like it.

573
00:54:56.940 --> 00:55:04.679
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.

574
00:55:04.739 --> 00:55:07.980
I mean, Toby, we are all Blake 7 fans here.

575
00:55:08.039 --> 00:55:09.239
Doctor Who fans.

576
00:55:09.300 --> 00:55:22.860
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.

577
00:55:22.920 --> 00:55:35.880
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.

578
00:55:35.940 --> 00:55:39.119
He always brings grit and realism to whatever he's doing.

579
00:55:39.179 --> 00:55:43.739
And then we contrasted that with Frieda Noor, who was Governor Legrand in Voice from the Past.

580
00:55:43.800 --> 00:55:47.760
And I can see that objectively, one is very good performance, one is not a good performance.

581
00:55:47.820 --> 00:55:52.380
And yes, if you put them side by side, I enjoy them both equally for different reasons.

582
00:55:52.440 --> 00:55:52.860
Yes.

583
00:55:52.860 --> 00:55:57.179
Ronald Lee Hunt always gives you the impression that even when he's in space, he's got a briefcase.

584
00:55:57.239 --> 00:55:58.920
There's a briefcase not too far away.

585
00:55:59.820 --> 00:56:05.340
My favourite line of his is when someone mentions Kelly's name, he goes, no, that young rebel.

586
00:56:06.179 --> 00:56:07.800
Amazing.

587
00:56:07.860 --> 00:56:10.860
Look, this whole episode, I think, is actually very well done.

588
00:56:10.920 --> 00:56:14.340
I think I'm I appreciate it, maybe more than some people do.

589
00:56:14.400 --> 00:56:32.639
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.

590
00:56:32.699 --> 00:56:35.699
It's just, it's made with style and panache.

591
00:56:35.760 --> 00:56:38.519
In fact, I think it's top tier Blake 7.

592
00:56:38.579 --> 00:56:39.119
Wow.

593
00:56:39.780 --> 00:56:45.179
You know, I think it gets 90% of it right because that's the thing.

594
00:56:45.239 --> 00:56:47.639
I'm sitting there at the ending going, hold on, why did that ending happen?

595
00:56:48.300 --> 00:56:53.340
With games, you're sort of asking why is this happening all the way through the episode.

596
00:56:53.400 --> 00:56:55.500
And games are still very enjoyable.

597
00:56:55.559 --> 00:56:58.320
So if games is very enjoyable with all that happening.

598
00:56:58.920 --> 00:57:05.699
This has to be more enjoyable and it is, and as you say, it's down for me.

599
00:57:06.119 --> 00:57:13.260
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.

600
00:57:13.980 --> 00:57:23.460
You give people real emotions to portray that just happen to be in a space setting and they rise to the occasion.

601
00:57:24.960 --> 00:57:34.320
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.

602
00:57:34.380 --> 00:57:35.159
Oh, wow.

603
00:57:35.159 --> 00:57:37.139
Not just better file, but best file.

604
00:57:37.199 --> 00:57:38.460
Oh, great.

605
00:57:53.639 --> 00:57:58.739
So I'm very excited to watch Blake for the 1st time next week.

606
00:57:58.800 --> 00:58:03.300
I've got a few thoughts kind of just based on the series so far.

607
00:58:03.360 --> 00:58:07.079
I thought, um, we've done this in the past where I kind of made a couple of predictions.

608
00:58:07.260 --> 00:58:09.900
Tell us what you think is going to happen, Mark.

609
00:58:09.960 --> 00:58:14.280
Well, I, obviously, I've seen the name of the episode and, you know, I referred to it though.

610
00:58:14.340 --> 00:58:19.380
It's Blake, so I can make a pretty pre-educated guess about a guest star at least.

611
00:58:19.440 --> 00:58:27.900
And obviously for years I've seen veiled references on social media to it being a traumatic experience for for younger viewers.

612
00:58:28.019 --> 00:58:31.679
Yeah, it's no traumatic experience in the same way as hostage was.

613
00:58:33.780 --> 00:58:37.800
It feels like Servan's getting closer to finding the base.

614
00:58:37.860 --> 00:58:49.920
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.

615
00:58:49.980 --> 00:58:53.099
So that's felt like a bit of a thing this series, that she's getting close to tracking them down.

616
00:58:53.760 --> 00:59:03.420
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.

617
00:59:03.480 --> 00:59:08.099
I don't think anything's gone right for them since they nicked the star drive from the space punk rockers.

618
00:59:08.159 --> 00:59:10.679
They didn't get the crystals in games.

619
00:59:10.739 --> 00:59:12.900
They didn't get the robot and headhunter.

620
00:59:12.960 --> 00:59:15.179
They didn't get the new energy source in sand.

621
00:59:15.300 --> 00:59:20.219
They didn't get the gold in gold, and they didn't get the tachyon weapon in orbit last week.

622
00:59:20.280 --> 00:59:26.639
Each time they just keep barely escaping with their lives and the plans don't don't pan out at all.

623
00:59:26.699 --> 00:59:29.099
It's the sort of form that you'd expect from the master in Doctor Who.

624
00:59:30.059 --> 00:59:36.539
And then obviously last week with Villa knows that Avon was potentially willing to kill him.

625
00:59:36.659 --> 00:59:45.719
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.

626
00:59:45.780 --> 00:59:51.000
So, Yeah, and and and really, I want to know whether Aorak survived.

627
00:59:51.119 --> 01:00:03.360
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.

628
01:00:03.420 --> 01:00:09.119
If that is the end of Orak, um, just kind of, although he, well, he didn't really save him, did he?

629
01:00:09.239 --> 01:00:14.039
Because he warned them of the bomb, but they just ran straight towards it. caught in the blast.

630
01:00:14.099 --> 01:00:18.119
But yeah, if he just sort of dies with a wimper like that with the beam falling on him.

631
01:00:18.179 --> 01:00:24.480
Yeah, I'll be a bit disappointing. 10 year old me gasped when that girder fell on Aurak.

632
01:00:24.539 --> 01:00:25.679
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

633
01:00:25.739 --> 01:00:37.380
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.

634
01:00:37.440 --> 01:00:43.199
But I have to say, one of the joys of this podcast has been following your journey mark.

635
01:00:43.260 --> 01:01:00.539
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.

636
01:01:00.659 --> 01:01:02.400
And I think that's really nice.

637
01:01:02.460 --> 01:01:15.059
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.

638
01:01:15.119 --> 01:01:18.480
And I try and remain spoiler free.

639
01:01:18.539 --> 01:01:28.019
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.

640
01:01:28.079 --> 01:01:40.139
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.

641
01:01:40.199 --> 01:01:42.239
So, you know, have a good one, mate.

642
01:01:42.420 --> 01:01:44.039
That must be nice.

643
01:01:44.099 --> 01:01:49.500
Must be nice, Mark, to know that the last episode of Blake 7 is famous.

644
01:01:49.559 --> 01:01:54.239
And so you're looking forward knowing that it's going to be whatever it is, a good episode.

645
01:01:54.480 --> 01:02:07.739
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.

646
01:02:07.800 --> 01:02:15.420
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.

647
01:02:15.539 --> 01:02:18.780
Don't say, remember that Mark hasn't seen the last episode because I...

648
01:02:18.840 --> 01:02:20.519
Don't mention Avon and Serveland's wedding.

649
01:02:20.579 --> 01:02:21.059
Yeah.

650
01:02:21.059 --> 01:02:27.659
We have been winding him up something shocking with fake.

651
01:02:27.719 --> 01:02:30.360
Question mark story descriptors.

652
01:02:30.420 --> 01:02:31.320
We're not going to say?

653
01:02:32.460 --> 01:02:34.800
It's actually a typo.

654
01:02:34.860 --> 01:02:35.639
It's not called Blake.

655
01:02:35.699 --> 01:02:36.599
It's called Blakey.

656
01:02:36.659 --> 01:02:39.239
It's on the bus's crossover.

657
01:02:40.139 --> 01:02:45.119
The guest star you allude to is Stephen Lewis and I'll get you, Avon.

658
01:02:45.179 --> 01:02:48.599
So sorry, I've ruined it for you now.

659
01:02:49.260 --> 01:02:52.260
Maybe Scorpio just stops dead in space.

660
01:02:52.320 --> 01:02:53.579
It wasn't Blake, it was break.

661
01:03:00.059 --> 01:03:01.440
So you've only got one more to go.

662
01:03:02.460 --> 01:03:04.199
One more to go.

663
01:03:04.260 --> 01:03:08.519
And we're doing 2 podcasts on it too, because of its significance.

664
01:03:08.579 --> 01:03:11.760
We're doing a UK crew and an Australian crew.

665
01:03:11.880 --> 01:03:13.079
Oh fantastic.

666
01:03:13.139 --> 01:03:14.519
Oh, quite right too.

667
01:03:14.579 --> 01:03:15.360
It deserves it.

668
01:03:15.480 --> 01:03:15.960
Yeah.

669
01:03:16.019 --> 01:03:20.820
I remember it so, I remember it so well from the time.

670
01:03:20.880 --> 01:03:24.420
Uh, uh, yeah.

671
01:03:24.480 --> 01:03:29.579
But then again, I remember uh, terminal really well from from the time as well.

672
01:03:29.639 --> 01:03:34.199
You know, they, they, they certainly know, you know, knew how to, to, to, to make an impact.

673
01:03:34.260 --> 01:03:37.679
Uh, it's uh, yeah, so what fun, what fun?

674
01:03:37.739 --> 01:03:38.340
Well, enjoy.

675
01:03:38.400 --> 01:03:41.159
Yeah, you'll, I think you'll, I think you'll enjoy it.

676
01:03:41.219 --> 01:03:42.719
Oh, thank you very much.

677
01:03:42.780 --> 01:03:43.920
I'm very excited.

678
01:03:53.579 --> 01:03:55.619
So that's our show.

679
01:03:55.679 --> 01:03:59.039
Thank you very much for listening, and remember, it's possible.

680
01:03:59.099 --> 01:04:01.679
They may have been anti radiation drugs, gloves.

681
01:04:05.579 --> 01:04:09.780
And if you like to let our listeners know where else we can find you on the internet, Toby?

682
01:04:09.840 --> 01:04:13.260
Yeah, well, I have a series of podcasts called Toby Headocks.

683
01:04:13.320 --> 01:04:34.920
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.

684
01:04:34.980 --> 01:04:37.079
I think we just need to put the finishing touches.

685
01:04:37.860 --> 01:04:44.880
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.

686
01:04:44.940 --> 01:04:46.139
But I'm very...

687
01:04:46.139 --> 01:04:48.179
Ends up with just a little Toft of Red.

688
01:04:49.019 --> 01:04:59.699
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.

689
01:04:59.760 --> 01:05:05.880
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.

690
01:05:05.940 --> 01:05:09.780
What he types into Facebook is Dear Toby, who's still alive, but where are they?

691
01:05:09.840 --> 01:05:15.480
But so I listened to it, the interview with slightly irked.

692
01:05:15.539 --> 01:05:28.679
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.

693
01:05:28.739 --> 01:05:31.019
Nobody I'm slightly irritating.

694
01:05:31.139 --> 01:05:38.699
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.

695
01:05:38.760 --> 01:05:41.159
So, um, that's that's...

696
01:05:41.159 --> 01:05:45.960
I believe there's only one Blu-ray ever seen on screen in Blake 7 and that is the guns in Mission to Destiny.

697
01:05:46.019 --> 01:05:47.159
Very nice.

698
01:05:47.280 --> 01:05:48.960
Very nice.

699
01:05:49.079 --> 01:05:59.340
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.

700
01:05:59.880 --> 01:06:01.500
Fantastic.

701
01:06:01.559 --> 01:06:03.539
Well, thank you very much for listening and good night.

702
01:06:03.599 --> 01:06:04.139
Good night.

703
01:06:04.199 --> 01:06:04.920
Good night.

704
01:06:04.980 --> 01:06:05.579
Night night.

705
01:06:17.639 --> 01:06:18.539
Let's not power.

706
01:06:18.599 --> 01:06:23.340
Go, go. 30 seconds thrust to the maximum power.

707
01:06:23.400 --> 01:06:25.500
Switching to manual.

708
01:06:25.559 --> 01:06:27.420
Maximum power on all drives.

709
01:06:27.960 --> 01:06:30.360
Maximum power.

710
01:06:31.079 --> 01:06:34.380
What is it with Tarrant being Randy this season?

711
01:06:34.440 --> 01:06:37.500
First of all, there was Perry.

712
01:06:37.559 --> 01:06:39.900
Then there was Servlan, then there's Siona.

713
01:06:39.960 --> 01:06:43.800
He's gone from 80s perm to buzz cut to top of the pops wig.

714
01:06:43.860 --> 01:06:47.159
I wouldn't have been despite if he'd had a pop at Pinder as well.

715
01:06:47.219 --> 01:06:49.019
He's just overly sexed this season.

716
01:06:50.280 --> 01:06:53.159
That's why Dana's so cold to him at the end.

717
01:06:53.219 --> 01:06:54.780
She's like don't even think about it.

718
01:06:54.840 --> 01:06:56.159
I am not interested.

719
01:06:56.460 --> 01:07:03.659
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?

720
01:07:03.659 --> 01:07:05.940
And she goes, can I think about it and let you know?