Blake’s 7 Production Diary: Series A

Written by Jonathan Helm, designed by Grahame Robertson.

For those of us of a certain age, or those who were introduced to its majesty later, Blakes 7 is a hugely important tv show. It ran for only 4 seasons, but at its height over ten million people tuned in to watch, and even at it’s lowest ebb (viewers wise) it attracted over six million. Yes, there were only three channels, but even so the show was very popular.

Regular readers of this blog will know I’ve recently gone through a full rewatch of the series, which has served only to reaffirm my love for it, so when I heard this book was coming out there was little chance I wouldn’t buy it.

Helm has shared much production info on Twitter (some people call it X these days but not me) over the years, but here all that information is collated and bound together in a book that can simply be described by one word.

Sumptuous.

I could go on for some time about how gorgeous the design of this book is, there are dozens and dozens of photos in here I’ve never seen before, along with copies of documents that provide a fascinating background to the show.

This volume is (hopefully) the first of four, each focusing on a different season of the show. Here it begins with Nation making up the title Blakes 7 on the spot in some meeting in 1975, it goes into detail about how the initial set up and pre-production was handled, it details the casting of actors who would go on to play iconic character, and then it goes into detail about the production of each and every episode. There’s detail on the scripts, the effects, the direction, the acting, the costumes…everything you can think of in fact, including the fact that Nation significantly overreached himself in committing to writing all 13 episodes of Series A—thank heavens for Chris Boucher and David Maloney amongst others for polishing the sometimes scant scripts Terry delivered.

The only downsides are the cost ( though it is for charity—the recipients being chosen by Sally Knyvette who played Jenna in the first two season— and frankly it’s so jam packed with information that it’s a must have for any fan of the show) and the fact that on occasion some of the text is quite small and/or a little faint, though frankly this probably says more about my eyesight and my decision to try and read in bed by the light of a reading lamp than the design of the book itself!

I really can’t recommend this highly enough. Can’t wait for the Series B Production Diary!

Blakes 7. Series D, Episode 13: Blake

Scorpio takes off from Xenon base for the last time (and as an aside what great model work we’ve had for the hero ship) and once in orbit, explosions tear through the base, destroying what they left behind. Vila says he never liked the place anyway, Soolin adds the caveat that he never liked it once the wine ran out. They don’t know if Zukan revealed the location to the Federation but they’re taking no chances, if he didn’t it’s possible one of the other members of the nascent alliance will, sooner or later.

The question is what do they do next? Vila, unsurprisingly, is all for running away but Avon has other ideas, he says they can find a new figurehead to unify the anti-Federation alliance (nimbly forgetting that Zukan wasn’t really a figurehead, he could just provide the raw materials for the antidote to Pylene-50) and that this person is strongly identified with rebels, and very popular with rabbles.

Avon strings the reveal out, but in the end Vila works it out.

Avon thinks he’s found Blake.

Blake is on Gauda Prime, a frontier world, working as a bounty hunter, which seems like a very un-Blake thing to do. One of Scorpio’s crew has personal experience of Gauda Prime. Soolin grew up there. Once it was a peaceful faming colony until valuable minerals were discovered under the surface and the rule of law was suspended. The rule of law is back now, hence the bounty hunters.

They set a course for Gauda Prime, but is their luck about to run out?

And so we reach the end, and I really don’t want us to. This rewatch has only served to remind me how much I love this show, and I wish there’d been series E, F and G. I wish it was still going now, however improbable that idea is. And sure, to borrow from another franchise, all good things must come to an end (but then when Next Gen ended it was hard to get too upset because they immediately started filming Generations, and hell, the Next Gen crew were back on our screens just last year!) and so it is with Blakes 7.

On the plus side, at least I can go back to watching random episodes in no particular order as the mood takes me again now, although watching it in sequence has been quite rewarding, and has forced me to return to those episodes I had a less favourable opinion on and, as a result, I have reappraised my opinion of some episodes I thought were duds.

Though is any episode of Blakes 7 ever a complete dud? Even Animals has the hilarity of Vila in the bilge tank after all.

Enough chit chat, let’s crack on with talking about Blake.

I think I had a very specific opinion of this episode, that the ending was genuinely iconic but that what led up to it was a tad ropey. I don’t think that was a fair assessment because in truth this is a very good episode. Would I rank it as highly as say Star One? Perhaps not, but then Star One is phenomenal. There’s great dialogue (“The fire was stupid. Putting Vila on guard was suicidal. What’s the matter, is staying alive too complicated for you?”) and a fantastic scene as Scorpio crashes. There’s also an overriding sense of mortality overshadowing everything. From Xenon base being destroyed to the dialogue:

Vila: “Sooner or later we’re going to drop into one of these holes in the ground and never come out.

Avon: “Sooner or later, everyone does that.”

There’s also a sense of things coming full circle. Blake returns. We get mention of Jenna, and we’re  told she’s dead. Cally is referenced, only Gan and Travis don’t warrant a mention, and reference to Servalan is brief. Soolin’s characterisation may be wafer thin at the best of times, but there’s a certain synchronicity to her dying on the planet she grew up on.

If you think about it a lot about the episode doesn’t make sense, and its somewhat dishonest to the audience, trying to make us think that maybe Blake has gone bad. I was talking to someone about the moment when SPOILER Avon shoots Blake, and said it seemed a little contrived, but as my friend pointed out, Avon’s pretty paranoid by this point.

That Blake returns is wonderful. I’ll never be the biggest fan of the character, but he is the central focus of the show for much of its run, and the show retains his name even after he leaves. Servalan said she’d seen his body, but as Avon points out, she does lie a lot. Of course, she might have been telling the truth, there was a Blake clone running about don’t forget, maybe it was his body she saw.

Thomas puts a lot into his performance, partly because he was a true professional, but also, I suspect because, one way or another, this was going to be the last time he would ever play Blake. Hence why he got the special effects bods to make his gunshot wounds as gaudy as possible. The scar suits him, and he’s definitely not the clean cut hero we met four years ago, it’s safe to say that this is a far more interesting Blake than we’ve seen before. What might have been. I can see why they considered giving him an eye patch, but I think the scar works much better.

His plan doesn’t make a lot of sense though, and how does Arlen wind up working for his new rebel army when she clearly tried to dob Blake in to Deva? Surely that’s exactly the kind of person you couldn’t trust? Even setting aside that she’s a Federation OFFICER! She’s great, though I can see why Boucher and co were a tad disappointed that she wasn’t a bit less RP before the turn.

There’s a lot going on around the periphery of the story, mention of a lot more transports than usual. They think it’s maybe the Federation representatives, and I suppose it is, just not the ones they were expecting. I guess the only mitigation to Avon killing Blake is that the Federation were onto his nest of rebels, so chances are Blake didn’t have long left anyway.

After intentionally destroying the base, our crew now unintentionally destroy Scorpio. The moment where Tarrant points out it takes talent to fly a dead ship (even when he’s being noble Del can’t help bigging himself up) and Avon’s farewell lacks warmth, but I like to think contains a touch of respect at least.

Maybe.

It is interesting how concerned Vila suddenly is about Tarrant, but after Orbit I suppose he’s a little warier of Avon and half suspects he might have murdered him.

Given the financial restrictions they were operating under, the crash landing is nicely done, as is the internal destruction as the ship comes to rest. Much as in Terminal we have a section of flooring rising and a hapless individual sliding down it. That’s what you get when you hire the same director for both episodes, but Mary Ridge does a good job.

Tarrant’s survival is a touch miraculous, but it would have been a bit underwhelming if he died in the crash. We get a nice riff on Zen’s “I have failed you” from Terminal with Slave calling Tarrant by name. I guess if they had got the greenlight for another series, then the ship isn’t completely destroyed, and they might be able to salvage Slave, the teleport and maybe even the Photonic Drive. That would have made more sense than chancing across another ship with teleport capability.

Is it just contrivance that Blake finds Tarrant, or has he been hoping a Wanderer class planet hopper might drop by? I’d like to assume the latter.

Pacey and Thomas have some nice scenes together, again you wonder what might have been, and Tarrant does well out of the final episode, in fact most of them do to some extent, except Dayna. It’s noticeable that neither woman gets any dialogue once they reach the base. At least Soolin gets to kill a Federation trooper in the final battle, which is more than Dayna gets.

Vila gets some decent moments, a last cowardly huzzah.

Soolin: “Don’t tell me you’re afraid of the dark?”

Vila: “Only when its unilluminated.”

 But also a last heroic huzzah as well, avenging Dayna’s death, and his apology to Arlen after knocking her out is very on point for a character who, despite his dishonesty, drunkenness and occasional lechery, was never really a killer. When he says he was just along for the ride, and that he’s harmless, he has a point.

There are a hundred ways you could have ended the show, but a Wild Bunch/Butch and Sundance shootout works on several levels. Rationally it was unlikely Blake or Avon were ever going to topple the Federation, it draws a line under the show (though clearly any one of them outside of Blake could have just been stunned) and it feeds into Darrow’s love of westerns. One final showdown that none of them will walk away from.

In Terminal Avon told Servalan that he always thought his and Blakes deaths might be linked in some way, he probably never imagined he’d be the one to kill him, but in those final few seconds Avon does two things that feel very genuine for the character. There’s the half smile just before the screen cuts to black, even on the cusp of death he’s amused rather than fearful, but just before this Avon stands over Blake, quite protectively for a man he just killed. The inference is clear. If you want Blake, you have to go through me.

Any number of get outs would have enabled the show to carry on, but maybe this is the best way. You can’t fight city hall, and The Man (or rather The Servalan) always wins.

Talking of which, it might be blasphemous to say this, but I think if Servalan showed up it might have been overdoing things.

A truly iconic ending to a truly iconic show.

Next time…

Oh yes, there’s a next time, I haven’t quite finished with Blakes 7 yet…

Blakes 7. Series D, Episode 12: Warlord

On Xenon base Avon is showing some video footage to some potential allies. It shows the planet Zondor, its populace subjugated by Pylene-50. Federation guards absently shoot people, and no one seems to notice, they just go about their business, drugged up zombies.

Those potential allies are sympathetic, and afraid, but they also have no armies, unlike Zukan—who isn’t there—who it seems has quite lethal armed forced, and who none of these potential allies seem to like.

In another room the others are watching via CCTV. Dayna says it’s not going well, of course it isn’t, says Vila. “Avon’s idea of diplomacy is like breaking someone’s leg then saying, “Lean on me.”

Avon is offering the potential allies total immunity from Pylene-50, he has the antidote, he just doesn’t have the necessary ingredients or the manufacturing capability to mass produce it. These potential allies have the means, only Zukan has the raw material, which makes the whole idea null and void…until Zukan turns up out of the blue offering an alliance against the Federation. The others are wary, but Avon says they have no choice.

There was a stowaway on Zukan’s ship however, his daughter Zeeona, it seems when Avon and friends visited their home planet of Betafarl(?) she became rather enamoured of one of Avon’s friends (quick clue, it wasn’t Vila).

Zeeona is on the level but is her father? Soon love and betrayal are going to collide.

It’s safe to say the first half of Series D is a tad ropey (much as I love parts of it) but the latter run of episodes is superb, all the way from Games to Blake is pure (ahem) Gold…or it would be, if it wasn’t for Warlord.

Don’t get me wrong, its heart’s in the right place, it continues the Pylene-50 story arc and will eventually give our heroes the necessary push to abandon Xenon base and go looking for…ah, getting ahead of myself here.

The trouble, as is so often the case, is the execution. Take Avon’s potential allies, what a rag tag bunch. Sometimes raiding the BBC’s costume department can work (take Gambit) and other times it really doesn’t (take Assassin). Warlord falls into the latter category. A group of actors are dressed up like fools and given some woeful dialogue to boot. Kudos to Rick James who puts his all into the line “But words are no more than … words.” This is even before they all toast their alliance which involves lightning for some reason.

And then we have the sappy romance between Tarrant and Zeeona, and between her wig and some cheesy staging, makes it looks like you’re watching the video for The Rah Band’s Clouds Across the Moon (Google it, it’s a stone cold classic of the 80s).

And this is before we even get to the Federation’s crack gymnastic assault squad.

It’s not even so bad it’s good in the way something like Assassins or Stardrive is, in fact it’s not really bad at all, it’s just…well it’s just a bit meh.

Which isn’t to say it doesn’t have its moments. The opening footage of Federation troopers murdering people because they’re bored is genuinely chilling and feels like a long overdue callback to the show’s opening episode. Soolin shoving her gun in Avon’s face and pretending to be Zeeona is nicely done, showing how smart the character is, and Roy Boyd does his utmost to imbue Zukan with a kind of twisted nobility, and occasionally the script helps with this;

“Betafarl has perpetual day — did you know?… It never sleeps. Perpetual light. All that energy. There are times when I miss the darkness. It is hard to live always in the light.”

Sadly such moments are few and far between and the fact that this supposedly switched on warlord believes he can trust Servalan doesn’t imply he’s the sharpest tool in the box.

And we get Jacqui’s last hurrah, little more than an extended cameo. She won’t be in the finale and frankly she deserved a better end (although I’m guessing that without Avon and co spoiling her ridiculous schemes she’ll probably end up President again soon, especially if she finds Orac.)

It’s odd, she’s been a big part of the season, yet she’s too often felt wasted, slipped in for a few minutes just to provide a recognisable foe. You can see why she loved Sand so much, the best episode of the season for her by far.

Vila gets to be drunk and a bit of a dick, Avon gets to be sober and a bit of a dick (His “Oh let him go” with regard to Tarrant near the end is so cruel. Soolin gets to be smart and not remotely a dick and Tarrant gets to be smoochy and heartbroken. And Dayna is just kinda there.

One question. Why does Zeeona take her glove off? Accident? It seems unlikely, she’s an intelligent woman. Guilt? Is she sacrificing herself to atone for her father’s betrayal? Or is it just that they needed her out of the way and couldn’t have Tarrant scurrying off with her with one episode left? Whichever it is, it’s a bit of a crummy end for the character.

Ok two questions. Why do those Federation troopers somersault over the ridge?

Next time. Is the last time, and I’m not ready to say goodbye!!!

Blakes 7. Series D, Episode 11: Orbit

Scorpio is in orbit of the planet Malodar. With a noxious atmosphere and freezing temperatures, Malodar isn’t a welcoming place. They’ve come in response to a message sent to Avon, but Avon says he gets chilblains and so encourages Tarrant and Dayna to go down. He asks it Vila wants to join them and Vila responds; “You know I like to stick with you, Avon. Where it’s safe.”

On the planet an old man named Pinder calls for a man named Egrorian to tell him that Scorpio has arrived. Egrorian slaps Pinder but then they both laugh.

It becomes clear that the message sent to Avon was from Egrorian, a renowned genius who vanished ten years ago (along with several million credits of the Federation’s money). Egrorian contacts the ship and demands that Avon go down alone, and uses a shuttle that Egrorian will send up to dock with Scorpio. When Egrorian reveals that he has an assistant Avon demands that he take his own assistant to watch Egrorian’s assistant and the scientist reluctantly agrees.

Avon takes Vila. “Well, who else? After all, you always say you feel safe with me.”

Down on Malodar Egrorian reveals that he has created the ultimate weapon, the Tachyon Funnel, a device that can destroy any target at any distance. He demonstrates by destroying a moon that’s 17 light years away. He’s willing to gift the Tachyon Funnel to Avon, knowing he’ll use it to defeat the Federation. All he wants in return is to know that the people who resented his genius are punished…well that and he wants Orac too.

Avon agrees, but all is not as it appears to be. Egrorian has a secret backer (you get one guess) and Egrorian also has an overly complicated plan, and Vila? Well Vila weights 73 kilos…

Spoiler warning because I am going to dive right into things here.

Still here?

Ok then.

I can still recall the first time I watched Orbit, and I remember completely missing the obvious, namely that Kerr Avon was fully prepared to dump Vila Restal out of the airlock to save his own skin. Maybe it was naivete, maybe I just didn’t want to believe what I was seeing, but for years I remembered the episode this way; Avon always knew how to save them, he always knew about the dark matter, unfortunately Vila got the wrong end of the stick and so Avon had had to save them both on his own.

Foolish child.

Let’s be honest, Avon has always put himself first, remember Dawn of the Gods? Liberator swallowed by a black hole and what’s Avon doing? He’s trying to get into suit, telling Tarrant there’s a chance…for one of them, and Avon’s already decided which one of them that should be.

That was different though. He wouldn’t have been killing the others, he’d just have been leaving them to die. This, however? This time the implication is clear. It’s doubtful Vila is going to throw himself out of an airlock so Avon’s probably going to have to shoot him first.

As cold blooded as Avon can be, he’s probably never been quite this cold blooded, and that it involves Vila, if not his friend then perhaps the closest thing to a friend he has left, just makes it worse. He doesn’t even hesitate, there’s no flicker of a debate in his eyes. Orac points out that Vila weighs 73 kilos and Kerr goes for his gun.

As an aside let’s not forget Orac’s part in all this. If I were Vila Orac would be “accidentally” knocked on the floor first chance I got.

There’s little for Tarrant, Dayna and Soolin to do this week (although Dayna and Soolin taking the piss out of Vila is hilarious), it’s mainly about Darrow and Keating, and they’re wonderful. We’re three episodes from the end of the show and this is our last chance to see team up (to be honest they probably team up less than you think they do.) This is no comic adventure ala Gambit, this is something altogether darker, something that should have had ramifications for the pairing for some time to come.

And if I had a major complaint (and I do have some minor gripes) it’s that Orbit comes so late in the season. Ideally there’d have been a chance for Vila to get some measure of payback, or at least the opportunity to show that things will never be quite the same between them again. Sadly no.

Darrow is wonderfully cold, but Keating? When Vila’s scrunched up in hiding it’s an absolutely heartbreaking performance.

It isn’t just about Avon and Vila of course, the reason they’re in this position is because of a man named Egrorian. Let’s be honest here, Egrorian shouldn’t work, he’s practically a pantomime villain, but he works because he’s such a comedic bad guy, because every so often while we’re laughing at him we’re actually a tad scared of him. John Savident plays him to a tee, the man who would go on to play butcher Fred Elliot in a thousand episodes of corrie, and who of course was Fleet-Warden General Samor in Trial, is unrecognisable. Arrogant, possibly insane and something of a bully to poor Pinder to boot (come on we all cheer when Pinder gets his revenge, right?) also you do have to wonder if Vila’s comment that Avon should have taken one of the girls wasn’t completely off base, because Egrorian seems quite enamoured of our Vila (and clearly once had a thing for young Pinder, when he still was young Pinder).

Of course Pinder’s wonderful too, Larry Noble playing him like a cowed, unloved child, but occasionally letting his childish glee show through, and his obvious jealousy at Vila is great.

Now Egrorian might have a thing for golden haired striplings, but he also has a thing for black cats with large golden eyes and long silver talons, and for once Servalan is almost out-camped.

Almost.

Jacqui is great, but you do get the feeling she’s just there because they wanted another episode with Servalan in it, and once again there’s no contact between her and any of the crew.

Flaws? A few. Egrorian’s plan is a trifle ridiculous, and does he or Servalan really need Orac? They have the Tachyon Funnel, and yes it looks, let’s be honest, a tad shit, but it can blow up moons 17 light years away, is it worth risking just to get your hands on Orac? And how do they know that moon’s been blown up? (apparently there’s a deleted scene that explains how) It’s also a stroke of luck that Avon has a copy of Orac that he made, for some reason presumably. It does give us Servalan’s wonderful line; “It’s just a box of flashing lights!”

One final, very petty gripe. Darrow does a good job of pushing the dark matter and making it seem…so…very…heavy. And then once inside the airlock he gives the little trolly a gentle push and it rolls several centimetres.  

Any gripes are minor though. This is Robert Holmes’ final Blakes 7 script and it’s a doozy. Probably his best. There aren’t many shows that would go where Blakes 7 went forty odd years ago. Could you imagine Spock shoving McCoy out of an airlock? This episode is more than just its final act however, there’s treasure to be found from start to finish. A stone cold classic.

*  Author’s note.  I should point out that with this post almost finished we learned today of the sad death of John Savident. The universe loves serendipity, but I’m glad I got to laud his wonderful performance, today of all days *

Next time. Betafarl affirms!

Blakes 7. Series D, Episode 10: Gold

Scorpio docks with a ship we soon discover is named the Space Princess, a played out old pleasure cruiser. The only person on board is the purser, a man named Keiller who says he’s an old friend of Avons. Avon somewhat disagrees with this assessment. The Space Princess is heading home after a refit, home being Zerok, or the gold planet as it’s sometimes known. Gold has been virtually mined out everywhere, but it’s still plentiful on Zerok. Keiller informs them that gold is purchased by the Federation and transferred via the Space Princess with practically no security because no one would expect it to be carrying gold. Keiller explains that every so often they send up a heavily armoured transport and someone attacks it and gets killed, which is nuts, because that ship is carrying fruit.

Keiller is a poorly paid purser, so he wants the crew of Scorpio to help him steal a gold shipment that will be worth seventeen billion (credits presumably). Avon isn’t stupid though, he knows there must be a snag, and there is. Before being shipped via Space Princess the gold is processed to change its chemical composition, making it black until someone uses the correct code to turn it back again at the other end of the trip.  Keiller has an answer to this however, they break into the gold processing plant on Zerok and reprogramme the computer so the gold isn’t altered. Easy right?

So long as everything goes to plan…

Gold is a lot of fun, an episode I’ve always liked, so why on this occasion did it not seem quite as awesome as I remember? Maybe it just feels a tad too similar to Games which was, let’s not forget, the episode before last. That’s the disadvantage to watching things in order. There’s the crew embarking on a heist, and the presence of a, and apologies in advance, big guest star in more than one sense of the word.

It also all falls apart a little once you start to think about it. Given how many guards they kill getting into the gold processing plant, surely someone’s going to check on the gold before it gets shipped? I’m not entirely sure what you know who’s plan is either (Servalan, it’s Servalan ok!) Talking of which, given the lengths she was going to in order to keep her identity a secret, would she really leave a crook like Keiller running around? There’s always something a little irksome about the villain planning for every eventuality, unless it’s done very well, and while this is a well written episode, it kinda falls down here.

But there’s still an awful lot to like. The notion of the Space Princess being used to transport gold with no guards while a heavily armed transport transports fruit is delicious, and is a nice call back to Control. Boy that empty room seems a long time ago now! Also great is the conceit that the Space Princess doesn’t actually take a pleasure cruise, instead it flies straight to Earth, the passengers are drugged enough to buy that what they see out of the window is real rather than the recording it really is, another nice call back to The Way Back.

Inestimable Roy Kinnear is wonderful as Keiller, a man whose obviously as slippery as they come, and his realisation that the ‘pretty one’ as he keeps calling Soolin is infinitely more dangerous than she looks is nicely done. Darrow’s delivery of “Soolin killed them both” is good.

The balls up on Zerok is a nice dramatic touch, even if we don’t for one moment imagine Avon and Soolin are dead. It does lead to a nice scene on Scorpio where Vila Tarrant and Dayna threaten Keiller as well. “We have to find out, you see. For the sake of our friends. For the sake of our dead friends.” Simon’s delivery is wonderful.

With the original plan scrapped they resort to plan B, cue Pacey and Barber get to have some fun by pretending to be drugged up passengers (shame the Space Princess only seems to have about six passengers) while Simon draws the short straw of acting the part of the person who has actually been drugged. On the subject of the Space Princess, it’s a cool model, and the effects work of Scorpio docking with it is nicely done. Those docking tubes are a health and safety nightmare though. Twice they’re used in Blakes 7, and some poor bloke gets killed in them both times (ok Raiker probably wasn’t deserving of the poor bloke tag).

Soolin gets to shoot some people, Vila gets to be distrustful of another crook, and offer some useful advice (the scene where he and Avon decide how much to ask for the gold is priceless) There’s also the fact that this is the one and only time this season, believe it or not, that Avon and Servalan come face to face, in fact it’s the last time Servalan will see our heroes, and the only time she’ll meet Soolin.

And then there’s that ending as the rug’s pulled out from under our heroes, yet again (another similarity with Games, although that time at least Servalan had the decency to lose too.) Orac’s half laugh is so snarky; I think he enjoyed this.

Tarrant:  We’ve just risked our lives, for nothing.

Soolin: Not for nothing, Tarrant. We risked our lives to make Servalan rich!

Gold is a lot of fun, just don’t watch it and Games close together.

Next time, did Orac just fat shame Vila?

Blakes 7. Series D, Episode 9: Sand

The planet Virn is a desolate, sand covered planet with no sun, and it never rains. In voiceover a man named Don Keller talks about how all the machinery is playing up, and there’s a plague that’s killing them all off. He asks for help.

It becomes clear that this is a recording from five years ago being watched by Servalan on a ship approaching Virn. With her is Investigator Reeve, a nasty piece of work who doesn’t seem at all threatened by Sleer’s position. He asks why the head of the pacification program is going to Virn. Servalan gives him a vague response.

On the recording Keller makes it clear that everyone died except him and one other, a woman. They seemed to be immune. Servalan ends the tape and points out that they obviously weren’t immune, the girl shot herself and soon after Keller got plague after all. The only reason the Federation is going to Virn is because, before all their instruments failed, Keller’s team determined there was something unique on Virn, unique and valuable.

On Xenon the crew are also discussing Virn and Don Keller. Orac intercepted Federation transmissions so they know all about the planet, and its unique secret, and they know that the Federation is sending an investigator. Despite Vila’s objections they decide to head to Virn rather than risk the Federation getting their hands on something useful. Avon tells Vila he can stay at home, but he refuses (he may regret this later).

Servalan’s ship makes a rough landing on Virn, while Tarrant and Dayna teleport down from Scorpio, which remains in very low, and very dangerous, orbit.

It will soon become clear that Virn isn’t as desolate as it appears, and as danger threatens enemies will have to work together, and perhaps get closer than either of them might have ever imagined…

Lots of TV series have a will they/won’t they dynamic. In Sand we have a did they/didn’t they dynamic. I’ve seen this episode many times and I’m still undecided.

More on that later.

As I’ve said before, this rewatch has made me reappraise certain episodes, and Sand is definitely one of those. I’ve always loved Sarcophagus, but if you’d asked me a few weeks ago what I thought of Tanith Lee’s second Blakes 7 script you’d have probably got a shrug and a half-hearted “meh.”

Turns out me from several weeks ago was a fool, because Sand is actually rather good, and in a season where several episodes are a trifle generic, Sand dares to do something different. Is it as good as Sarcophagus? Probably not, but I still enjoyed it a lot.

As she did in Series C, Lee plays around with horror tropes, introducing the gothic into Blakes 7, yet still grounding it, somewhat, in science fiction rather than fantasy. Vampiric sand doesn’t sound remotely believable, but she does couch it as a scientific, biological threat rather than something supernatural, even if that’s how it appears. The fact that the sand is just sentient enough to want its own breeding stock is a wonderfully gruesome conceit as well.

You have to love the way Lee introduces thunder and lightning into the mix to shake those on the planet, and on Scorpio, like they were actually in some old dark house.

Originally it was to be Avon down on the planet with Servalan, but I’m glad they switched things around. We all know how Avon and Servalan feel about one another, but we’ve rarely seen Tarrant go toe to toe with her and it works surprisingly well. Tarrant is allowed to be smart and resourceful in a way he isn’t always allowed to be when Avon is around, and Servalan manages to be ever so slightly vulnerable without appearing weak, I’m not even sure it’s entirely an act.

The episode is chock full of great dialogue, from Servalan telling Reeve that there are no women like her “I am unique” to the wonderfully flirtatious…

Servalan: “Oh, Tarrant. I’m just the girl next door.”

Tarrant: “If you were the girl next door, I’d move.”

Servalan: “Where would you move to, Tarrant?”

Tarrant: “Next door.”

There are some lovely callbacks, Tarrant hasn’t forgotten that Servalan had a hand in his brother’s death and Lee harks back to her previous script as Soolin wonders if they’re all cursed (though not sure how she figures the others are affected, as only Vila seems to be) and while maybe it’s because he’s frightened by Soolin’s idea of a malign alien influence, it’s interesting that it’s at mention of Cally’s name that Vila gets angry. I don’t know if it was intentional but given he mournfully asks “who cared about Cally?” minutes later it seems clear to me. He misses her (don’t we all?)

Servalan explains her escape from Liberator, and at least it isn’t completely illogical, plus it gives Dayna chance for a vicious “Did she excuse it as well?”

We learn a little more about Servalan, that Don Kellar was her lover, when she was eighteen. He left her and that’s when power became her lover. Whatever you think of being jilted as Servalan’s inciting incident, it’s a lovely speech and Jacqui delivers it beautifully. By all accounts this was her favourite episode, and I can understand why.

So did they or didn’t they? They kiss, and the next we see Tarrant is waking her up to show her what her tears have done to the sand. It’s feasible they did sleep together, and just as feasible they didn’t. Tarrant’s wonderful “I’ve said all I’m going to say” later aboard Scorpio is great (as are the dirty looks he gets from everyone. I’m pretty sure even Orac is probably horrified.)

I think they did, but maybe we’ll never know, and maybe it’s best that way.

A delightfully eerie little tale that manages to be spooky and romantic at the same time, with some wonderful dialogue between Tarrant and Servalan (backed up by two lovely performances) and some great snark on Scorpio just in case you think the others get short shrift, from Vila’s pulse being weak (like the rest of him) to Dayan’s sarcastic “You are the dominant male,” to Avon.

And just in case you think Servalan’s gone soft, she ends a melancholy little speech about Tarrant by saying she didn’t kill him…

Yet!

Next time. For the sake of our friends. For the sake of our DEAD friends!

Blakes 7. Series D, Episode 8: Games

On Scorpio the crew watch footage of explosions. The footage is from the planet Agravo, a worked out planet the Federation had got all they wanted from, Feldon Crystals that focus energy infinitely more efficiently than a burning glass, the crystals are the hardest and most valuable substance in the universe. Vila perks up at this and asks where?

“Where what?” replied Avon.

“Where do we steal them from?”

It turns out they steal them from the planet Mecron Two where a man named Belkov is playing chess with his computer Gambit (amazingly this isn’t a Robert Holmes script). Gambit tells him that intruders have boarded ‘Orbiter’. Belkov isn’t concerned, Orbiter’s defences are better than Gambit’s he jokes, thinking he’s about to win.

Back on Scorpio Avon gets a message from Academician Gerren, one of the men who’s boarded Orbiter. He was supposed to wait for Avon and the others to join him in his heist, but instead he goes early with two companions. They’re faced with one of Belkov’s games, a quick draw contest where you have to outshoot yourself. Gerren’s companions don’t do very well, and he is wounded, though he manages to escape and calls for help from Avon.

Soon the crew of Scorpio will need to play Belkov’s devilish games, but there’ll be a new player entering the board. Sleer!

I think sometimes Games gets overlooked because of the episodes that follow—especially Orbit—but this really is a corker of an episode, full of action and adventure, twists and double crosses, cool lines and, best of all, it’s a script that gives every member of the main cast (including Orac and Servalan) something to do, which is more than you can say about a lot of episodes.

Or maybe I just love any episode where Vila gets to be vaguely heroic, which he does here. Sure his early moments aren’t great—note to self, when infiltrating an enemy base under no circumstances take a knife from the back of a dead Federation guard and keep it on you—but he gets the computer circuits Avon wants by sweettalking Gambit, saves Tarrant and Dayna, offs a Federation guard (apparently the only time Vila deliberately shoots someone, though obviously he did stab someone in Cygnus Alpha) and still finds time to thwart one of Belkov’s games and snatch victory from the jaws of defeat by stealing Belkov’s Feldon crystal necklace…ok, he doesn’t do that last one but for a moment at least he’s allowed to be rightfully smug.

Plus he gets some great lines.  “I’ve been shot at, trodden on, nearly captured twice, and now I think they’re trying to blow me up. A fairly average day.”

For once the quarry location doesn’t jar, it’s supposed to look like a mine after all. Nice to see the sea in the background also. The Mecronians are fun, a native people not dressed up like the stock native people we usually get, and yeah, those knives don’t make a lick of sense but they look cool, and Belkov’s ploy in getting them to do as he tells them is nicely done. Stratford Johns makes for an effective antagonist, and his interplay with Gambit is nicely done, especially the way Gambit outplays him, not one but twice.

The games on Orbiter are surprisingly effective. Soolin having to outdraw herself is cool, as is her sardonic remark that it’s finally a game worth playing. Tarrant flying the flight simulator isn’t bad either, it’s nice to see everyone using their talents; Dayna reverts to those ‘ancient’ weapons she loves by coopting a Mecronian knife, Vila circumvents some security systems and Avon? Well Avon is a bit of a bastard, from blackmailing Gerren to taking Scorpio out of orbit for a while, leaving those on the ground up to their necks in something brown and sticky. He dislikes playing games where someone else makes the rules and sets themselves up as the referee as well!

For the one and only time we get Scorpio firing its weapons (though we never get any idea what kind of armament it’s carrying).

A lot of action, a lot of twists and turns, explosions and pithy one-liners. Games is a lot of fun, but it isn’t perfect. What happens to Servalan and Gerren? The last we see she’s interrogating the academician but then what? Does she just go home? Does she, presumably, kill him or is it off to Cygnus Alpha for Gerren?

I’m also still not entirely sure what happens at the end. Avon says there never were any crystals, but there must have been or else what is locking onto the black hole? Belkov’s demise isn’t something that bothers me though. His ship exploding was filmed but not used, but I don’t think it’s essential we see it destroyed, it’s pretty clear what’s going to happen.

It might not be perfect, but this is still a fun episode and one of the highlights of the final season.

Next time, sand gets everywhere!

Blakes 7. Series D, Episode 7: Assassin

Vila has called everyone to the flight deck because he’s intercepted a message. The message itself is short and doesn’t make much sense: “Utilizer to Cancer, Utilizer to Cancer. Domo the ninth, five subjects.” What does make sense is the voice uttering those words, it’s Servalan!

While Vila jokes that Domo the 9^th is obviously the son of Domo the 8^th Dayna suggests it’s a date. Soolin knows of a planet named Domo which was taken over by space pirates some years before. No one know who or what Cancer is, no one except Avon of course. It turns out Cancer is a man who kills people, for a great deal of money. Avon also points out that there are five of them. (“You may use your fingers, Vila”) Has Servalan decided to hire a professional to rid herself of Avon and co? Also, does she know Soolin’s part of the crew now, or does she still think the five includes Cally?

Servalan is on her way to Domo, her captain points out it’s not a healthy place and Servalan retorts that she has a robust constitution.

Tarrant is shocked when it turns out Avon is wary of Cancer, it seems he has never failed. Orac (having obviously recently watched The Man with the Golden Gun) points out the obvious tactic. They need to find Cancer before he finds them.

On Domo Avon allows himself to be captured by space pirates (Or Flash Gordon cosplayers, it isn’t exactly clear). It’s not entirely clear what his plan entails either, and to imagine his bracelet wouldn’t be taken seems a bit ridiculous. In the cells he meets an old man named Nebrox who it seems has seen Servalan, she arrived a while ago and talked to the owner of a black ship that had also arrived. The black ship, presumably Cancer’s, then left.

Avon and Nebrox are put on sale at the universe’s cheapest slave auction, though the BBC try to make up for things by suggesting there are dozens of buyers off planet who are liaising with the small number of bidders.

It doesn’t work.

Servalan makes a huge bid for Avon, planning to make him her slave, but luckily for him (or unluckily, take your pick) Nebrox retrieves his bracelet. Avon calls for teleport, planning to leave Nebrox behind before a rare case of decency overtakes him, instead he gets Dayna to teleport down. On the upside Dayna remembers she hates Servalan, on the downside she fails to kill her… again!

Back on Scorpio they track Cancer’s ship, which seems to be dead in space. It’s obviously a trap, but as they’ll soon discover, it’s not quite the trap it appears to be.

Much like Stardrive, Assassin is one of those episodes that’s terrible, but also manages to be so much fun that you don’t care. One of these days I should put together a top five list of Blakes 7 episodes you can watch when you’ve just come home from the pub, and I think Assassin would be in there. The episode races along, rarely giving you time to breathe, with multiple screen wipe transitions worthy of George Lucas at his best (or possibly worst). It’s wonderfully camp, has some terrible outfits and awful performances, one of which is so arch that I still can’t decide if I love it or hate it.

After I do my post pub Blakes 7 list I might also do an ‘actors who’ve done Blakes 7 and Bond’ list (off the top of my head there’s three at least) and here we have John Wyman who played stony faced assassin Kriegler in For Your Eyes Only playing Cancer, a stoney faced assassin.

Or is he?

No, he isn’t, he’s actually playing an actor playing a stoney faced assassin. As I often ask myself, was this twist a surprise back in the day? Did people guess right away that the shrill, hysterical young woman Piri was Cancer all along? Who knows. The episode clues you in before the reveal at least so it doesn’t come completely out of left field. There’s the fact that she doesn’t want to leave Cancer’s ship, which given how scared of him she’s pretending to be doesn’t make much sense, there are a couple of other moments where the mask briefly slips, and of course the bit where Nebrox talks about mangon (the awful slave gruel) and Piri goes “Eh?” Given only Nebrox is there for this bit, and is killed shortly after, the moment can only for the audience.

Ah Piri/Cancer. Let’s talk about her. The idea that the universe’s deadliest assassin if a meek and mild young woman is a great one, and this is an episode that bigs up the ladies, Cancer, Servalan and especially Soolin all do well, while the boys are portrayed as idiots—yes even Avon—distracted by a pretty face.

So yeah, on paper a great idea. The realisation on the other hand…

It’s hard to put all the blame on Caroline Holdaway and she does give it her all, but she’s too annoying as Piri and then too arch as Cancer, I know Darrow and Pearce felt she was miscast. On the plus side her performance is so camp that you could argue it almost works. Almost.

She does have possibly the most ridiculous death scene in Blakes 7 history though, which is worth the price of admission alone.

Pacey didn’t like this one and I can see why, Tarrant doesn’t come out of it well, though in fairness neither does Avon, it’s just less noticeable. In fact, the only one who really comes out of this with any credit is Soolin who calls out Tarrant and Avon’s blatant sexism and who’s the only one not fooled by sweet, innocent Piri, and the one who saves the day in the end. Sure it’s not subtle but it works and it’s always nice to see Soolin get something to do.

Nebrox is fun but is always likely to die, apparently it was Hurndall’s performance that convinced the powers that be that he could play an effective First Doctor.

The slave market really is atrocious, and you have to pity those actors wearing such ridiculous outfits, I wonder who decided on the Egyptian vibe? Much like the ridiculous outfits to come in Warlord, it does damage the episode somewhat.

There are probably more but there’s also a gaping plot hole. If Servalan has remote control of the ship, why doesn’t she make it self-destruct, or have it move towards her cutting down the point where she can destroy it? Probably not an episode to think too deeply about.

Next time; Do you want to play a game?

Blakes 7. Series D, Episode 6: Headhunter

Scorpio, with Tarrant and Vila on board, is on its way to the planet Pharos to pick up a scientist named Muller. Muller is, by all accounts, a genius, and studied under Ensor, the man who created Orac. Muller’s lady, Vena is on Xenon base where she explains to Avon that she doesn’t know much about his work and their relationship is mainly recreational (maybe she makes him a lot of gravy, if you know you know). It seems Vila is on the mission because he was paying Vena a little too much attention. “I was a perfect gentleman,” says Vila. “That’s what worried us,” replies Tarrant.

It should be a relatively easy pickup, but Muller is working for the Robot Development Cartel, and he sends a message that they’re onto him. Knowing they won’t want to lose such a valuable scientist, Tarrant teleports down to find Muller and a dead body partially concealed under a table. There’s also a black box that Muller seems wary of. A technician rushes in and Tarrant knocks him out. Tarrant gets a bracelet on Muller and Vila teleports him up. Tarrant grabs the box and follows.

Up on Scorpio Muller becomes incensed when he sees Tarrant has the box, claiming it will destroy him. Tarrant tries to calm him down, but Muller attacks him and looks to be in the verge of throttling him when Vila saves Tarrant’s life for the second time this season by whacking Muller over the head. Vila’s explanation for his actions is note perfect. “He was trying to kill you. I would’ve been next.”

It looks like Vila may have hit him too hard. Tarrant thinks he’s dead. They put him in a survival capsule and set course back to Xenon.

Meanwhile on Pharos the technician has regained consciousness and reports the incident. He says Muller might be dead, he can’t be sure because the body under the table is missing its head…

Let’s address the elephant in the room straight away. There’s a conceit in Headhunter that stretches credulity to breaking point. That the android can seamlessly remove Muller’s head, without any sign of blood, and then attach it to its own body where it seems perfectly normal, if a little stiff, is one of the barmier ideas in the show’s run. Once you get past this ridiculous notion however, there’s a lot to like about the episode and, not for the first time, a show made in the late 1970/early 1980s manages to be prescient because it feels very relevant to 2024.

There’s a nice recurring plot thread this season whereby the crew are trying to recruit experts, last week it was Justin, this week Muller (much like Dorian, Muller must have been very young when he apprenticed under Ensor). Much as Series D is quite poor in places you can’t fault it for its arc, Avon and co are back fighting the Federation, and while their rebellion is mainly down to self-interest, at least they have a goal.

Again we have two crewmembers sent off to retrieve the expert, Tarrant as pilot is obvious, and the reason for Vila being sent is nicely done, there is a recurring theme of Vila being a little creepy around the ladies, none of whom relish his interest (Kerril aside). It still seems a little odd to only send two people on such an important mission, you’d think maybe Dayna or Soolin should have gone along, in fact given that without Scorpio they’d be stranded on Xenon you’d have thought all five of them would want to go on every mission, just in case! Here of course it’s just the two of them to justify Vila thwacking Muller!

And someone has to keep Lynda Bellingham company, and say what you like about Vila being inappropriate, Avon seems a trifle too interested in the nature of her relationship with Muller as well. Bellingham doesn’t get much to do other than be a bit sexy for the dads, but she’s there for exposition, and a hilarious death scene—though it’s worth noting that, given the death scene that’s coming up next episode, Bellingham’s is almost Oscar worthy.

This is, in many ways, a bottle episode. Apart from the exterior shots and Muller’s office it primarily uses the Xenon base and Scorpio flight deck sets, and there aren’t many guest stars. Muller’s android chasing them around Zenon base is nicely done, and the exterior scenes are more original than just another quarry, with the bridge and the old hydroelectric power planet. There’s a definite Thing from Another World/base under siege vibe. The electrocution of the android late on clearly homages the 1951 monster movie.

The star of the show is Soolin. Barber is finally allowed to have a personality, given how wonderfully dry and sarcastic she is it’s a shame she only got one season. Her scenes with Orac, who’s terrified of the android, are a joy, especially when a possessed Orac says they can fulfil her every desire.

“You wouldn’t know where to start.”  

There’s also a great quote when Vila says “A little hard work never hurt anyone,” and Tarrant’s reply “How would you know?” is made even better by Pacey’s exasperated glance.

I mentioned Blakes 7 being prescient, didn’t I? We live in an age where AI is on the rise and we’re all wondering if our own technology will supplant us, which is, in the end, the overarching theme of Headhunter. What are the android and Orac, if not humanity’s own hubris in circuit form, creating our own replacements. That Tarrant and Dayna blow the android up is seen by Avon as a mistake, “superstitious halfwits,” he calls them. “You hold back every advancement we make.” That’s as may be, but Avon seems to be cast in the role of Elon Musk here, eager to push the boundaries without considering the consequences. For what I think is the only time Orac gets the final word, and his glorious “Yes, master!” is wonderful.  

A better episode than I remembered with some nice threat and a great denouement, and its theme of the dangers of technology is as relevant today as it was in 1981.

Next time, there are two classic ways to deal with a hysterical woman…

Blakes 7. Series D, Episode 5: Animals

Scorpio is in orbit of Bucol 2. Only Dayna and Tarrant are on board. Dayna is here to contact a man named Justin, who Tarrant refers to as her mad scientist. He asks if she thinks he’ll remember her and Dayna says “I hope so” and her expression implies she should be memorable to him.

She teleports down and almost immediately is followed by a curious looking humanoid creature. In orbit Federation pursuit ships come out of nowhere and launch plasma bolts. Caught off guard Tarrant manages to evade them but the ship is badly damaged.

Down on the surface the creatures attack Dayna, she kills several (ever heard of warning shots, Ms Mellanby?) About to be overwhelmed she’s saved by Justin who tells Og—the lead animal—to go into his bunker. Og refuses. Justin gets Dayna inside his base where it appears he lives alone and drinks rather a lot. He refers to Dayna as his little pupil and says she’s lovelier than ever. It seems Justin was one of the tutors Hal Mellanby got in to teach Dayna.  

Dayna explains that her group is looking for experts to help fight the Federation. She says they’re led by a man named Avon (presumably Tarrant has given up any notion that he’s in charge by now) and they want Justin’s expertise in radiation and his help in synthesising the antidote to the anti-pacification drug. Justin isn’t interested, he’s all noble, apart from the fact that his genetic experiments created Og and co, which Daya finds disgusting. Justin hopes she’ll stay anyway (I bet he does!).

Tarrant wants to go back for Dayna but Avon insists he bring the ship home for repairs. Meanwhile Servalan hears word of a clapped out old planet hopper than can do Time Distort 12 and which was in orbit of a deserted planet and gets intrigued. When she finds out there’s an abandoned Federation science base there, she gets even more interested and tells her captain to set a course for Bucol 2.

If Stardrive is a terrible episode that I love, Animals is a terrible episode that, well I’m not even sure I can bring myself to hate it, and in fairness on this rewatch it didn’t seem quite as bad as I remember.

Maybe it would have worked better if Jan had stayed. Early drafts featured Cally being Justin’s long lost love interest, and while there’d have still been an age discrepancy it wouldn’t have been anywhere near as jarring, because make no mistake the romance between Dayna and Justin is icky on just about every level. There’s 32 years between Josette Simon and Peter Byrne. He’s not just old enough to be her dad, at a stretch he’s old enough to be her granddad. And yes, Roger Moore was regularly romancing girls young enough to be his granddaughter at the time so it isn’t that unusual and if Daya met Justin on Bucol 2 for the first time in this episode and there was a spark you could wrinkle your nose a bit and accept it, but it’s worse than that. So much worse. The question is, just how long is it since Justin and Dayna have seen each other? Because Servalan’s report indicates that the project on Bucol 2 started 6 years before the galactic war. I think Dayna is supposed to be around 19 in Aftermath, which implies that the last time Justin saw her she was, at best, 13!

This isn’t the only reason the episode doesn’t work well of course. Trying to portray Justin as a noble scientist falls somewhat flat when it’s clear he experimented on animals and humans to create Og and the others. He can take the moral high ground all he wants when it comes to war, but he’s not remotely innocent and even without the age gap it’s hard to imagine Dayna would possibly give up life with the others to settle down with Dr Moreau here!

The animals themselves aren’t great, though to be fair they look better than many monsters of the time, and it’s unfair to judge them too harshly, especially given several of the actors ended up in hospital with burns from the spirit gum used to attach their makeup!

The most unforgivable sin of Animals, however, is the wasted potential. Dayna face to face with Servalan again and yet her father is never mentioned. She doesn’t even mention him to Justin (you’d think Justin might be quite sad to hear Hal’s died.) This could have been an episode to reignite Dayna’s blood feud with Servalan, but outside of a mention of Justin being a friend of her fathers to Tarrant, Hal doesn’t get mentioned, yet infuriating his murder hangs tantalisingly over the episode. For God’s sake if you really wanted to drive the point home Servalan even contrives to murder another blind man (the ever reliable Kevin Stoney returning for his second Blakes 7 outing, one can’t help feeling he was wasted both times).

Instead Servalan brainwashes Dayna into hating Justin in order to get her to betray him. Setting aside how quickly Sleer accomplishes this, there’s still a problem. Making Dayna hate Justin doesn’t make her not hate Servalan, surely she’d just hate both of them? Josette Simon deserved better.

There’s good stuff, of course, and naturally much of it revolves around Keating. Vila being forced into the bilge tank to make repairs, not once but twice, is comedy gold, especially with everyone taking the piss out of him. Soolin gets to shoot some people, Tarrant gets a space battle and Avon, well Avon gets to almost fall over when they burst into Justin’s lab (kudos to Darrow for staying on his feet.)

In the end the episode is pointless. It changes nothing. Our heroes don’t gain access to Justin’s expertise, and Servalan doesn’t get control of the animals. Both sides are in exactly the position they were before the episode started. It’s the epitome of filler.

Next time on Blakes 7. Don’t lose your head!