Teleporting in... welcome to Federation Strike: A Journey Through Blake's 7!

Things get spicy as Travis finally faces the music for his past misdeeds. Blake’s grappling with some serious guilt over Gan's death, and it’s clear the crew is feeling the heat of his decisions.

Meanwhile, Servalan is pulling strings like a puppet master, ready to watch Travis dance into the gallows.

The friction between Blake and Avon is as palpable as ever, especially with Avon looking to seize any chance to undermine him.

So, grab your teleport bracelets and settle in as we watch Travis' fate unfold.

We're teleporting out for now! Thanks for listening, and don't forget to follow and subscribe on your preferred podcast app so you never miss an episode.

You can also join the conversation and stay updated by following us on Twitter/X and Bluesky. We'd love to hear your thoughts and theories!

Join us next time as we continue our journey through the universe of Blake’s 7.

Hello there and welcome to another episode of Federation Strike: A Journey Through Blake's 7. My name's Garry.

My name's Adam.

Welcome to our sixth episode and our review of the episode. Episode, Trial.

Just can't not do it. This. Can't not join in.

Exactly. Yeah. It's addictive. As soon as you hear it, it's the one. Yeah.

I think you ought to get the 7 inch single that was released, mate, so you can put it on full blast.

That would be cool. I have to hunt that down. I think you must be able to pick that up at like convention somewhere.

Yeah, I mean, I've got it somewhere. I don't know where I got it. I can't remember. It probably was ebay.

It is great because it is the theme, but I gotta tell you, there's obviously they've lengthened it to make it long enough for a 7 inch single and there's this sort of extra bit in the middle which I don't really like. It goes a bit disco for about a minute just to sort of pad out the theme and then it comes back to the main theme.

I'm like, oh, I just want the theme. I don't need the extended remix. But it is worth getting. It's got a really nice Liberator cover on it. So. Yeah, yeah. Track one down, mate.

There must be some floating around on ebay.

Yeah, fleabay. We'll find one on there. You can get the fan made teleport bracelets and Liberator models on ebay. There's quite a few.

Yes. Yeah, I've got a Liberator bracelet.

Yeah, nice. Anyway, welcome, dear listener, to another episode.

Thank you very much for joining us once again as we journey through Blake Sever on series B now, of course, and our second season. And thank you very much. If you checked out last week and our. Our review of Pressure Points, we reviewed that reasonably well, actually. It was. Yeah.

Not a bad episode, that one. Pretty good.

We'll see what we think to this week where we see Travis up on trial finally for these war crimes that have been sort of hovering over him like a dark cloud for a while. And it's obvious that serverland is pulling some strings to. To get rid of Blake through the official channels, it seems. So we'll get on to that.

But bud, it's been great to. To watch three more Blake's 7 as well. We seem to be doing. On every episode now is a little check in. Which version did you watch on this one?

Yeah, original was always, mate. I did have time though this week to flick through and check out the new effects and it's even more minimal than last week.

So they didn't need to do a lot to this week's one mate. I, I didn't notice hardly anything. There's a, I think a Liberator shot that's been replaced.

You know when it's coming towards the screen behind John Savignance. Oh, I always say his name wrong. You know the character behind his head. You can just see the Liberator coming in.

They've replaced that but didn't notice too much on this one, I must admit. In terms of new effects anyway.

Yes. Yeah, same. I do the same.

I watched the purist version and then flick the, the visual effects version on and had a scout through and yeah, I couldn't see. I think they do it like consistently with each episode.

There's, well there's inevitably there's at least a couple of shots, isn't there, where the Liberator's just in orbit somewhere.

Yeah.

So they replace that with a, you know, with a nice sort of up to date modern looking Big Planet Vista and stuff like that and an update model, but that's about it. Yeah. And also the teleport effect is updated of course.

Yeah. It's funny because I actually really like the new effect. I say it's funny because I am a bit of a purist.

I always think there's nothing wrong with the old effects. But I will admit I do like the new teleport effect. I think it looks really good. I think you compared it to Star Trek the other way, didn't you?

I suppose it has got a bit of a. Bit of a Enterprise glow about it but I think it is, it is nice.

It is, yeah. It's not too bad, is it?

Now I'm going to say his name right. So I don't get this wrong for the rest of the review. It's John Savagen, isn't it? John?

Yes.

Yeah. I say Ashley, I say, remember him from old Corrie? John Savage. He does pop up later in series four actually is a totally different character and.

Right.

Oh that episode, mate. Whoa. So, yeah, but it's good to see him in this. I haven't been up to much else, mate.

I just must say how excited I am that they've quietly announced the Season 3 Blu Ray set for Blake's 7. Kind of a quiet announcement. Almost wondered if HIV tweeted it by mistake because you know.

Yeah, just a little tweet was put out saying available now for pre order and I think you know, Amazon quickly followed, but yeah, no trailer or cover for it yet or anything like that. So maybe they're saving a bit more fanfare for when they've got all those together. But just nice to know it's on the way this year.

Maybe, you know, towards the end of the year, I'm guessing maybe October time, who knows? But just lovely to have it announced anyways. And even if we haven't got any details yet.

Yeah, that is very cool. And I've. I stuck a pre order on immediately, of course for that, so that should be pretty sweet.

I'm hoping that's going to launch roughly the same time as we've got the other two, which will be what, September? October? Ish. I think.

Yeah, I think so.

Around that time. Yeah, so that'd be good. And it's something to look forward to.

Yeah, he's hooked. Listen and hear that. He pre ordered it straight away. Imagine if you hadn't of enjoyed Blake's 7 and much, you'd have been like.

You wouldn't have been buying them, you wouldn't have been spending for. You've been searching for them on Brit Box Box and some inferior quality episode on goodness knows where.

And so thankfully you like the show and you're enough to want to pre order it straight away. And obviously. Yeah, I can't wait to get it just for the new extras and everything else.

Yeah, yeah, same. Yeah, I can't wait for that. Yeah, the lovely set as well. Yeah, they've got that just.

I think they've got the sweet spot with the sets where this is not a criticism on the. On the Doctor who classic here, you know, the special edition collection sets. But they are quite pricey. You know, it's just over.

Just over 50 pounds worth. Whereas these sets, I think they've. They've got that sweet spot where it's not just the standard DVD sort of single case.

Yeah.

Or. Or a little. A little thin sort of thing. But you know, you get a. Some really good special features on this. You get both versions, the purist and the.

The updated visual effects version. You get the nice booklet with it and stuff. And so it doesn't push the price up too much.

They kind of done just about the right amount of sort of nice. Nice touches to it. So, yeah, love these sets.

They are. I have to say, season two looks beautiful as well.

And I obviously buy the UK ones because they've been coming out whilst I've been in the uk and then I bring them back to the US with me because they must Be they must be region free because they play on the PlayStation. It's one of things I was worried about. I thought, well, if, if they don't play on the PlayStation I'll just buy the US versions.

But they do play, so I'm guessing they're region free or maybe the PlayStation plays all regions, I don't know.

But I'm kind of pleased about that, mate, because in, in the US they had season one in Barnes and Noble and it was in a slip case, but it's in a much thinner box and when you opened the booklet had just been crammed inside the box, it was all dented and stuff. So it's because I've watched unboxing video. So they have cut a little bit of corners with the US release, I'm sad to say.

And season two, which I never even managed to find in a store, but I know it got released here because again I watched people unboxing and stuff on videos. Didn't even get a slip case.

It was just released in a standard plastic case and, and it was 70 something dollars, which is about 50 pounds, something like that. So. Yeah, so I'm glad I'm getting the UK ones.

I don't know what I'm going to do when season three comes out because I'll probably still be in the us so I might have to get the US version if I can find it, but I'll worry about that when it comes anyway. Or I might, I might come back to the UK especially just to get it. I don't know, I'll get someone to send it over.

I'm not sure yet, but UK ones definitely are better. I'm sorry to say US listeners, the packaging and everything's definitely better in the uk.

Agreed. I've seen the US ones. Yeah, agree with you, bud. Yeah. Okay, well that's what you've been up to. I haven't done much since we last recorded.

I have one little tasty little nugget I just want to very quickly mention, which is something that I'd never, I'd never considered at the time, which is mega obvious because I wasn't into Blake's 7 at all. This is before you and I even met, dude.

The character from Star Wars, Grand Moff Tarkin, is in it with quite a few voice lines.

And I hadn't obviously clocked at the time, but I was watching some Paul Darrow because after we recorded last time, we were saying about that, I was gutted that other than Gareth Thomas, I've not been into Blake's 7 long enough to go back and to have been lucky enough to be at conventions over the last decade or two and met the actors and so on. So I went down the rabbit hole of watching a bunch of interviews with various actors from Blake's 7.

I went, watched about half a dozen Paul Darrow interviews. On one of them, it was mentioned about his voiceover work. So I had a look and yeah, lo and behold, Paul Darrow does the voice of Grand Moff Tarkin.

Ah.

In the video game Star Wars Empire War. I mean, you know, probably lots of our listeners out there and hardcore Blake fans will obviously know that already, but I was. Yeah.

So I fired up a clip on YouTube and I've put it on our social channels and it. And the. The video that I managed to find was literally just Paul Darrow's lines as Tarkin.

Oh, wow, that's amazing.

In the game footage. Oh, yeah, Yes. I watched through that video and it was. He does a really good talking. Very, very good.

Yeah. And of course, like, before you get into Blake's 7, that wouldn't have sort of meant anything to you.

If I was to get excited to say, oh, Paul Darragh does the voice, you'd be like, what? But now it's like, oh, you know, there's a. That's a cool sort of full circle link, isn't it? And did you. Was there an interview with Paul?

Did any sort of interviews? Did you watch? Because he's. He's so funny in interviews. He's very dry. I love his humor.

Yeah, there was. There was a couple that people had filmed at conventions.

Yeah.

I don't know what conventions were called. I watched two of those. There was another one that was really cool where he was at the Space Museum in London.

Oh, I think I've seen that.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's a really good one. And then there was another one where he was just talking in among sort of clips that he had done.

This was quite late on his life, I think about five or six years before he passed away. So they had played clips of like other things that he'd done after Blake. And there was a clip of some program I can't. What's called.

He played obviously some kind of gangster, sort of hard man, you know, he's. But yeah, it was just fascinating to watch, to watch him recall some of his memories of working with Gareth.

And there were some other videos I watched as well, with a couple of Stephen Greif videos. And I went down the rabbit hole a little bit and. And did all that. But that's so cool. Yeah, it was just a lovely moment where it was.

Yeah, I remember playing many, many hours in that game. And obviously, unbeknownst to me at the time, it was, you know, one of the. One of the best actors from. From British tv, so.

And that voice as well. He's got such a great voice, isn't he? Paul Darrow, very distinctive. I think he used to do. Oh, what was the radio show?

He used to do the adverts for it. Not the actual radio show. I think it was Jack FM or something. And you could just. You could just tell it was his voice every time.

It's like Jack FM or something like that. Brilliant. Yeah, yeah, he was great.

Yeah, yeah. Ah, so that was a nice little nugget. Cool offer of Paul Darrow. Little Blake's 7 connection there. So.

Okay, before we crack on with our review of Trial, a friendly reminder, a little nudge to make sure that if you're not following or subscribing to this podcast, if you're brand new here, if this is your first listen to the podcast, it's great to have you here as long as the.

As well as the listeners that have been with us from the beginning, we'd love it if you followed or subscribed in your preferred podcast app of choice so that you don't miss notifications when new episodes drop. They come through every single week through your app.

And while we go through these seasons and you can also chat with us about all things Blake7 over on our social channels. We're on X and Bluesky.

Just do a search for Blake7 podcast or there are links in the show notes and you can come and chat Blake's 7 with some really cool other Blake's 7 fans. It's a very cool community over there. And also check out my co host channel on YouTube for all the geekery stuff. It's called the Geeks Handbag.

Yeah, the Geek Sandbag just dropped a new video today. Well, as of recording, actually, we'll be a few weeks ahead now, so go back a few months and yeah, you'll see.

I just dropped a video on the geeks handbag of a vinyl unboxing of a doctor who vinyl. So there's all sorts of geeky stuff on there. Go and have a look. The geeks handbag indeedy.

So bud, bring us in. What we doing for this week?

Yeah, so we've reached episode six, mate. Can you believe it already? And this one's called Trial Time.

To think is a luxury battle seldom affords you. You react instinctively. Your actions, your decisions, all instinct, nothing more. But an officer's instincts are the product of his training.

The more thorough the training, the more predictable the instinct, the better the officer. And I am a good officer. I have been in the service all my adult life. I'm totally dedicated to my duty and highly trained in how to perform it.

On Sir Caster, I. I reacted as I was trained to react. I was an instrument of the service. So if I'm guilty of murder, of mass murder, then so are all of you.

So Travis is up against it, bud, in this one. He's. It's finally caught up with him and it's obvious that Serverland is, is ready to. To watch. To watch him go to the. To the gallows it seems. So.

What a great way to spend Valentine's weekend watching Blake's 7. It was written by Chris Boucher, this one directed by Derek Martinez and overseen by himself, script editor Chris Boucher.

And the synopsis on the VHS release is as follows.

With Gan dead distance from the safety of the Liberator, Blake is questioning his purpose in life or while Travis court martialed and alone has every reason to contemplate his death. Very poetic.

Yeah.

What your thoughts on on trial, bud? What's your.

I guess the same question as I've been asking you through this season so far is now that you've watched it again, I don't know how many times this is for you on the rewatch, but. Any better than the last time you watched it? Any worse? What are your thoughts?

Yeah, probably slightly better. First off, I'm glad that it picks up from last week. In a way it's kind of a continuation in many respects.

You know, you got Blake dealing with Gan's death and you've got Travis dealing with the consequences of burying himself and Serval and in the control bunker. So I like the fact it does doesn't sort of pick up with the new story and we just carry on and, you know, I called it the Adric situation, didn't I?

Where they just completely forget him the following week, pretty much.

So there is sort of consequences that we're seeing played out on screen for what happened last week, which is nice in terms of whether it's better or worse than when I last watched.

I say better because I think my early memories of watch this episode was I found the character Zill early on, you know, when I first sort of watched this or whenever I found the character Zill quite embarrassing and a bit, you know, a bit annoying. Whereas that's definitely improved. I think it's one of those things.

We call it the charm of this era of television, don't we, when we're reviewing it? And I think when I was watching this last night, I. I really warmed to Zill.

You know, I loved how caring she was towards Blake and that she's trying to save him the whole way through, and. And then she gets gobbled up by the planet at the end. And I thought, oh, no, poor old Zill.

So in that respect, mate, it's kind of better than I remember because I guess it's just the outfit.

You know, when I first saw this back in the day, I was thinking, oh, dear, you know, it's just someone in a leotard, isn't it, poking their tongue out. And I just. Yeah, it was a bit cringe for me when I first saw it.

But, yeah, once you get past that, mate, and as I said, once you sort of lean into the charm of. Of that sort of thing with Blake's 7 and any show of this era, I think you can actually enjoy it for the character that's being played out on screen.

But the. The episode itself, it is a bit of a slow burner, not gonna lie.

I found it a bit slow to get going, but I feel like once it did, I feel like it actually built really nicely. And the last 10 minutes, I thought were great, you know, when they actually. Yeah, I'm gonna say it. Strike Federation. Strike the. The Federation.

I thought that was a great last 10 minutes.

And, you know, you've got all the stuff with Travis escaping and catching up with Servaland, and I get the impression, and I genuinely can't remember, but I get the impression that she's gonna be taken prisoner. It looked like he was, you know, she was going with him whether she wanted to or not at the end. I genuinely can't remember what happens there.

So, yeah, a slow burner. I think it built nicely a good episode and I thought the last 10 minutes were great. I loved it, but I wouldn't say it's one of my favorites.

I think that's perhaps why it's one of those. I don't reach for that much, but it's one that, when I do watch it, I enjoy it. What do you reckon?

I see. Yeah. I think I'm. Yeah. Similar thoughts to you on this one. I think. I think it's a good watch. It is a good watch because it's got some variety to it.

I think if it was. If it was just solely about Travis and the courtroom stuff and this tribunal, I think that could have. That could have worn thin quite quickly.

Yeah.

But the fact that it's got a nice mix of the kind of moral dilemma that Blake finds himself in, where he's ridden with guilt over Gan and knows that the rest of the crew are, you know, not really feeling it at the minute. You know, there's this kind of. And ultimately he did the right thing.

You know, he distanced himself from the crew, gave himself time to think on his own. Gave them time to think and deliberate on what their future's gonna be. And so that's interspersed. And then you've got the.

The little undercover stuff with Servalanne and her monitoring what's going on and doing a bit of puppeteering and so on, as she usually does. So, yeah, it's got a nice mix of things going on. It's got a little bit of silliness to it. I think that the stuff where. Where Blake is on is on.

Is on the planet with. With Zill and stuff, and all that stuff's going on. I think they just wanted to get the point across quite directly and heavily that.

That this is a very alien planet. You know, last week we were on Earth and it was very. It felt very grounded. I think we. We noted that it felt very grounded.

And I used the phrase boots on the ground.

Yeah.

Because it was not much science fiction going on as such. It was more. Yeah, it was more of a human grounded thing. So I think this week they wanted to transfer. Transfer you more into that.

You know, this is a science fiction show, after all. And. And so that whole thing with the planet being alive, as it were, and the oceans of the planet being the. As Villa put it so eloquently, the. It's.

Is it Spitz? You know, is it just all the spit sort of thing? And so I think.

Yeah, the whole thing with Zill, I think Oracle, Zen, after he did some analysis, said it was like, you Know, the planet cleanses itself of the parasites on the surface and stuff.

So, yeah, I felt that, that little bit, a little bit on the silly ish side, but at the same time it had a nice sort of kind of metaphorical moment for Blake going through that silly process.

Yeah, it serves a purpose, I guess.

Yeah. It kind of opens his eyes up a little bit to the fact that, yes, you know, he's got problems and he's.

Things are going on and things are not 100% great at the moment, but this person that he's just connected with just for a very short space of time is already, you know, succumbed to her own fate. And, you know, there's a moment where he shouts out aloud to himself, doesn't he, when he's on that planet?

He's like, no, you know, I will not succumb. Or not, not, not now, or something like that, you know, and it sort of gives him a bit of a wake up call and, and stuff like that. So, yeah, it's.

I felt like it was a good watch just because it kind of drops you in, into these different moments throughout the story as, as the trial builds.

Yeah.

For, for Travis and you're. It's more of a guessing game. That was what it was for me at least about. Because I knew, you know, you didn't say anything last week.

You didn't say like, you know, beware spoilers or anything like that. But I knew that Travis wasn't going to be killed.

I knew that there would be like, something would happen and, and he would, he would live on another day, you know, another life out of his nine lives. But he's going to survive and live on. So that, that guessing game as you went through was like, well, this is. How is he going to get out of this?

You know, he's banged to rights. The, the, the computers basically said, yeah, guilty.

The, you know, the, the three sort of federation, you know, higher ups are all like, yeah, you're going down, mate. That's it. And then ultimately, unbeknownst to Blake, he saves Travis. Yeah. So, yeah, it was for those reasons alone. I thought it was a good watch.

It's not been my favorite episode so far, admittedly, but it wasn't bad at all.

I must admit. That's the bit I've always liked about the episode is the irony.

I just love that little twist, if you want to call it that, that it's Blake striking the federation that actually causes Travis to get away. I just love the irony of that. I've always liked that part of the story. I just think it's a really simple but brilliant, you know, piece of writing.

I asked you last week whether you thought Gan would be replaced with a new crew member and you said yes. And I was wondering. Kept thinking, kept thinking all the way through this. I wonder if Garry thinks that Zyl, he's gonna be the new seventh member.

Can you imagine if Zill became a new regular? But alas, it wasn't. Wasn't to be. Did that cross your mind at all, did you think, surely not. This can't be. Or did.

I mean, it is a bit ludicrous, right? It could be.

No, I didn't. I didn't think that.

Oh, okay. I was hoping it might have crossed your mind. I thought, imagine still joining. Do you want to come with me at the end? But, yeah.

Sadly swallowed up, not to be. The other thing I did think about that, mate, knowing you're a big Star wars fan is before Zill is revealed, we get lots of little teases, don't we?

Like the little stick picks up the home in Beacon. I. I had visions of Yoda. I was sort of getting like, yeah, yeah, yeah. And I don't know. Did you get any of that at all?

I did, yes.

Yeah. Oh, cool.

Yeah, yeah. Because the. I first noticed it, to be honest with you.

I noticed it more from the sound design to begin with, more than the visuals, because it's got that swampy, that misty floor. Yeah. And also just the sounds that you hear are very, very Dagobah from Empire Strikes Back.

You got, like these little weird bat things making noises. You got these other things. And just the way that the sort of the sound is. Who did sound design on this? Let's have a look.

Studio sound, Malcolm Johnson and special sound was Richard Yeoman Clark. But I think between the two of them, they had got this really nice. Just the right amount of reverb and echo on it.

So it sounded like, you know, you were out in a swamp somewhere. But it had that quirky alien sound design to it. So I thought, this is Dagobah.

And then, yeah, a bit later on where you saw the stick, like, I must admit, I did have a little chuckle at one of them. Not at the beginning. You know, at the beginning where Zill uses a stick to pick up the little homing beacon.

Yeah.

She does that fairly carefully and slowly because she doesn't want to get found out, but a bit later on when she takes Blake's back, his satchel, the way that she does it was really comedy. She like, hooks the stick under it and then it's like really quickly. You almost expected a sound effect to be like. So she, like, yanks out the way.

And I had a little chuckle, but I know exactly what you mean. Yeah. Altogether it is very much Yoda on. On Dagobah. Yeah.

It would be great if someone did like a fan edit, wouldn't it, of just having Blake wandering through and then Yoda rocking up and depressed. You are give up. You must not, you know, And Blake would be like, who are you?

Yeah.

I love the Empire, Yoda the best.

Yes. Actually staying on that planet. What did you think to the. The design and the.

The kind of not like the way that Zeal is played by Claire Lewis, because she's. She's having to. I mean, she definitely got the memo. She's definitely given it.

Yeah.

She's not one of these extras that are just, you know, this is her paycheck and what's all this nonsense about and whatever. She's really into it. But the way that she talks is obviously quite weird. And she's flicking her tongue out from time to time.

Do you think she nailed that? Kind of. We need someone who's like humanoid, obviously, and somebody that can talk, but at the same time you need to be completely alien.

This is an alien planet. You think they nailed that, that vibe on this?

Yeah, I think they did in a way, because it's just a forest and like you said, I do buy into the fact it's like this alien planet and it's done very. With very simple effects, like you said, the sound design, the smoke. And, you know, they've obviously made a fake floor that opens up.

It's pretty basic by today's standards. But, yeah, for me it works, mate. And as I said, Zillow as a character works for me. Now.

I just find it a really sweet performance that when you get around to watching the Making of on this new Blu Ray set. So the new Making of on series B, there is a little interview with Claire Lewis when they get to this episode. And she's lovely, mate.

And she says, you know, she didn't really have much notes to go on. They just sort of said. She's like. I can't remember what it is. She said something like a lizard creature or something.

So that's why she does the tongue thing. She's like, well, look, they didn't really tell me what to do. They just described the character as this. So I just assumed. Okay, so I'll do that then.

Try and make it a Little bit alien. And, yeah, it's a very short little interview with her. They're just talking about the episode, and Claire Lewis pops up.

But it's just lovely, you know, to see that she kind of just was given a bit. A few notes and kind of had to do her own thing, and that's what she came up with. But, yeah, it's really grown on me, mate. As I said, I was. I was.

I don't know how old I would have been when I first saw this, but a lot younger. And, yeah, you know what? You, like, you. You judge everything when you're young, don't you? And I was like, oh, this is cringe. Oh, what.

Oh, what is this? You know, And.

And now I look at it and I'm just like, I love Zill, I think, still great, you know, And I'm sad when she falls in the crater at the end. You know, it's like, no, but, yeah, it's. It's amazing, isn't that your opinion can change on something. So. But, yeah, I don't know.

I don't know that she got that many notes is what I'm trying to get out. I think she. There was stuff on the page, but she didn't have a lot to go on. So she kind of just do her thing.

Yeah, she just turns up on set after being dressed in that stuff, and. And I think she may be casting. Sorry, I was gonna say, Yeah, I was like, action. And she's like, okay, big thing around.

Her neck, a big hump or whatever that thing is. I think she may have been cast because she was a dancer or something thing. You know what I mean? She's got the role because she.

Yeah, someone said, oh, she'll be good at doing those movements and something like that. Yeah, it's one of those sort of examples of that.

Gotcha. Yeah. And it was quite sweet. In the end, I think Blake warms to a. Just because he's, you know, he's. He's intrigued.

His intrigue takes over and, you know, it's a bit of a. It's admittedly a distraction because he's meant to be there contemplating what he wants to do in his next move.

And, you know, are the crew going to come and get him is everything. But, yeah, this sort of takes him off track quite literally in that respect. And it's. It's.

The writing was cool in that the two of them are trying to figure out what's going on, and then it ultimately ends up with him finding out that she's Been protecting the eggs that are on the surface.

Yeah.

And. But the planet is opening up these cracks.

I think he's hatched from it or something.

Yeah. And she's got this.

That was the other thing that was quite cool in that alien esque setup for this was that she assumes that he's hatched, you know, from one of the eggs, but she's worried that he's standing still. And you realize that the reason why they don't stand still is because all the cracks open up in the surface of the planet and you get swallowed up.

So she's like, you know, life basically equals. You keep moving, you know, you have to keep moving, otherwise you're going to get. You're going to get swallowed up. So.

And he gets that towards the end, you know, he gets it. But then ultimately she, she ends up not being strong enough to carry on and she's like, yeah, this space will do.

Happy to sort of call it a day in this bit. And she, she unceremoniously just rolls into the gap and that's it. By zill.

By zil.

Can I just say kudos to Gareth Thomas as well, mate, Because I think one of the things I noticed particularly watching this last night is how straight he's playing it opposite Zill. I mean, it can't been easy to be taking it that seriously, you know, because let's face it, the outfit is.

Is very basic and not very good, to be quite frank. But Gareth Thomas is absolutely buying into it. You know, he does sell the character. He does help sell the character is ill, I think.

I just thought, yeah, he's really like. He's not hamming it up. You can tell he's, he's trying to make out this, this character is real.

You know, he definitely helps sell the character, I think. Gareth.

Yes, no, I agree. Yeah, I think we've mentioned this.

This is a really nice little tenuous link back to Star wars again, actually, I'm sure we mentioned this in an episode previously where when you're working with like puppets or aliens or stuff like that, it really depends on the actor to, to perform that properly in terms of their reactions to it. And sincerely, because if you don't sell the fact that you're reacting to an alien or. Because you know the reason why Yoda works so well is.

Yes, of course, the design of Yoda and the voice and everything and the puppet effects are all great. But ultimately it relies on Luke, on Mark Hamill's acting and his reaction to a puppet.

You know, if he didn't do that well enough and he don't sell it. The effect is done, you know, and it falls apart.

So it's a very similar thing here with the way that Gareth Thomas reacts to Zyl and Claire Lewis's performance.

If he didn't do that straight enough and well enough with sincerity, that whole scene and that whole part of the episode just would have fallen apart. So, yeah, kudos to Gareth Thomas for that. It's very cool.

Definitely. Right, yeah.

So, yeah, we. Let's stick with the. With the Liberator crew for a second. We'll get back to Travis and the trial in a moment.

It's the first time, isn't it, I think throughout series B so far, where we've seen some proper deliberation about whether they're going to leave Blake or not.

Yeah.

Previously it was just really sort of Avon having constant digs, wasn't it, at Blake and his decisions and whatnot. But now that the. Now that somebody has actually died as a result of one of Blake's decisions, the crew have kind of been rocked a little bit by that.

So you. You still have the constant, which is Avon and his view on whether they should go or not.

Because he's convinced them in a way, hasn't he, that Blake has deserted them.

Yeah.

Before they find the message that Blake had left them, Avon's like, you know, he's deserted us, basically. He's done the off, he's covered his tracks. He doesn't want to be found. This is our opportunity to go off and do our thing.

And normally you have Cali jumping to Blake's defense.

You have Jenna kind of doing the same, and then you've got Villa in the middle, who's just wants the easy option anyway, you know, regardless of what's going on. But this episode, it was quite.

I was like, I leant forward in my seat a couple of times when they were having this conversation because I was like, whoa, are they actually going to just go, like, and leave wherever Blake's gone? Are they just gonna leave him? Like, how. How is this gonna work? And, you know, ends with.

It ends with what looks like Avon looking at the bigger picture again, there's. There's a little, nice little scene between him and Villa where, because earlier on Avon had a dig at the rest of the crew saying, you know, you.

You lot are easily led by Blake, basically. And then later on, Villa's like, oh, yeah, you've decided to be led, have you? And Avon's like, no, I'm deciding to follow. There's a difference.

So it comes across as though although Avon's willing to help Blake and rescue him, he's also doing it for another ulterior motive, you know, a bigger picture. But yeah, it was really interesting to see the crew seriously consider. Yeah, buggering off.

Yeah, I mean, I guess, you know, the impact again's death would make them think, oh, do we want to follow Blake? It might add a bit of doubt in there. And I guess Avon's gonna use any doubt they've got against Blake to his advantage, isn't he?

I mean, Avon is showing no remorse whatsoever for Gan in this, is he? Not a touch. He's. He's almost looks gleeful in the first scene when he sits down. And I don't think it's because Gan's. It's not because Gant's dead.

I think he's gleeful though, because he knows that Blake has messed up so big, you know, it's kind of what he's been waiting for, isn't it, for. For Blake to get one of them killed so that he can use that to put doubt in their mind about Blake. So he's. Yeah, he's almost gleeful, isn't he?

At the start of this episode, he's swanning around with a big smile on his face and he's like, come on, let's go. He's gonna get you killed. If not today, tomorrow. And he tries to convince Villa with becoming rich, you know, and all this stuff.

So he's almost turning their heads around to his way of thinking when of course, the message, the message pops up and you know, and his face drops like through the floor, doesn't it? Of course he's left a message. And once again, mate, I mean, how many times have I said about the great dialogue in this show? It's.

It's just one of the things that I think makes it such a great show. There's a line, isn't there, where I think Cali or someone says, you don't believe what he said? And he said, I believed. What does he say?

Everything except. No, I didn't disbelieve something about the self pity. I've messed up the line.

But just saying it's a great line and I can't remember it, but that line about the self pity. And I believed everything but the self pity or whatever, you know, just again, the dialogue is so sharp in this and.

And they all flip back to being, you know, on Blake's side and yeah, it's. Again, it's a Good moment, isn't it? Where you think is Avon's looking for any opportunity now to get rid of Blake one way or the other.

Just like, you know, he doesn't want him to die, but he wants him gone. You know, go off and do your thing and let me take charge of this is basically what he wants.

Yeah, we had that in last week's episode, didn't we, where Avon was, like, trying to sell the idea to Blake that if this goes to plan and we end up taking out control, you should stay on Earth because resistance is going to look to you as a natural leader. I'll take the Liberator, you stay on Earth, that's where you should be. And he's. You're right. Yeah.

Any opportunity now to leave him behind or to kick him off, he's going to take it. And, yeah, interesting thing that you picked up on with Avon's not really showing any compassion about Gan's death.

It reminded me, actually, I mentioned earlier, before we got into the episode, about me watching some interviews with Paul Darrow earlier today, and one of them was when someone said, what was your take on. On Avon and your. And you playing him that way? And he was. His answer was something along the lines of, yeah, Avon's this and Avon's that.

And then he said that Avon is brutally honest.

Yeah.

Even in the face of adversity or things are going down the pan, or even when things are happy, he's like just unreservedly and unapologetically honest all the time.

And that was really apparent, like you said, in this bit, where the rest of them are feeling it a little bit, you know, especially Blake, which is the reason why he's gone in the first place. But they're all feeling it, whereas Avon's just like me. And it's that I. I took from that as well, that Avon is almost very subtly rubbing it in.

Yeah.

By saying. And I don't mean with Blake by. By sort of. Because at the end of last week, you said, what do you reckon is going to.

Is going to happen with Blake and Avon? And I said, blake's probably going to be racked with guilt, which he obviously is. And I don't mean Avon's rubbing it in.

Into with Blake too much, but you almost get the impression that he's got no sympathy for the crew because they decided to go along with Blake's ridiculous mission.

Yeah.

It's like he's viewing it as well. I warned you all that this was an absolutely absurd idea. You all decided that you wanted to do it. So the fact that someone's died is on you lot.

Yeah, that's not on me. I warned you all and here we are.

And, you know, you're all like this sort of thing, so just absolutely solid gold, mate, with the character progression between the crew and Avon. Because it's not like Avon's like, like you said, he doesn't, he doesn't want Blake to be dead. He doesn't. He's not vindictive as a character.

He's just got this kind of. He's got this thing in his head, isn't he, that why is it? Why are you following this man? Why. Why are you doing this?

You know, we have such an opportunity here to, to go off, make some money and just, you know, chill. Which is why he's been developing this system that we find out about in this episode that he's almost cloaked the Liberator from long range sensors.

So he's like, yeah, we can just go now, you know, we can pull off a couple of heists or go and do something, make some cash, and then we're off.

He's so confused why they're, why they follow Blake into these suicide missions and he warns them and they're like, nah, we'll follow Blake and the rest of it.

And that character progression of him being more and more just confused and, and then taking a little bit of relish in making him know that he knew this was going to be a problem all along. And that friction with Blake, mate, it's just the writing and, and the progression is amazing on that front.

Yeah, I think this, I think this is the thing. I think he's like, he wouldn't wish any of them dead, but he's almost been waiting for this to happen.

So just, just so he can turn around to the crew and say, see, I told you so. You know, again, it's because he's so calculated. Avon, you know, he looks after number one.

It's not that he doesn't care about the others, but at the end of the day, he comes first no matter what, you know, because I was looking at the, you know, the crew that are left, and I'm thinking, is there anybody that if they were killed, he would get upset about? I mean, you know, like, in terms of. Would actually affect him deeply. And I'm thinking, not really. It's not, not because he doesn't care.

It's just they all have their use to him. You know, he. He'll go down to a planet when we're Villa, if he needs Villa to open the door. But, you know, he's not Villa's best mate.

You know, they all have their use to him. But would he be upset for any of that crew? You know, it could have been Gan, it could have been Cali. He would just move on, I think.

But the one person I think he might, and this might surprise Avon himself, the one person I think he actually would be sad is Blake.

Blake.

Because as much as he. As much as he sort of wants Blake to go off or move on or do his own thing, I think he also enjoys the friction. You know, it's a bit of a.

What's the word? Not cat and mouse. It's. I don't know. He likes spurring off Blake, whether he realizes it or not, you know.

So I think even though he wants Blade to go, I think he'd miss Blake if, you know, anything was to happen to him. If he had been swallowed up on that planet, he would have enjoyed it for a while, I think. But I don't know.

I think the relationship between those two, as much as they would deny it, is actually quite strong. You know, they do look out for each other. He does go down and save Blake. He wouldn't do that if he wanted rid of him, if you know what I mean.

But I don't know if he'd admit that to himself. That's the thing.

Yeah.

Character.

Yeah. And that's what I mean. The. The writing behind it is so good because you're just itching alongside, like, the main plot point of this.

Of the episode that you're watching. There's always this subplot of this friction between Avon and Blake, and so you just itching to see more and what's going to transpire there.

But another thing you mentioned there, about whether Avon realizes it or not, this relationship that he has with Blake, it's really evident at the end of this episode, isn't it, the closing scene where Villa makes what he thinks is quite a. Like a poetic sort of statement about what's happened and Avon makes some remark and they.

You know, Blake starts cracking up and then he starts laughing. It's almost like they're back to, you know, back to being sort of chums in a way, because they're having a little crack at Villa's expense.

But that wouldn't happen, you know, if they weren't, you know, close in that way. And it's. It's. In a way, it's almost cheesy, the ending, isn't it?

Because whenever Whenever old TV shows or films end with, like, people having a good old chuckle, it's a bit like, it's a little bit cheesy, but it does, it does give you that sense of, you know, Blake and Avon are, you know, whatever.

Whatever's happened up to this point, or whatever's happened in this episode to that point, it's now, I guess, on the surface at least, sort of water under the bridge.

It's a very layered. It's a very layered relationship, mate.

Because in the scene just before that, you've got a great scene with Avon and Blake where they're being very serious with each other, where Avon says to Blake, one more death will do it. He says, well, wouldn't it be ironic if it was yours?

And it's again, it's a bit, you know, they're sort of sparring off each other with these fantastic one liners, but basically Avon is saying, you know, it's like what you've got. Probably got one more chance before I can overthrow you, if you like.

He's sort of warning Blake in a way, isn't even then Blake's almost saying it is like, try it. You could be the one who gets killed. It's, you know, they're sort of saying that to each other, but without actually saying it.

And I think, again, great dialogue. So you go from that quite serious undertone to the very next scene where Blake talks about a philosophical flea.

They compare poor old Villa, don't they, to a philosophical flea, the flea. And that's why they both start laughing. So it's. It's a great relationship, you know, it's got a lot going on.

It has, yeah.

And it's so good to watch, to be honest with you, in a couple of the episodes that we've watched where the actual, the theme, the thematic material of the episode hasn't been as strong as some of the others. We've still rated them fairly well because of the writing and because of the performances and these relationships and interactions. It's.

Yeah, it's very cool. So shall we move, actually not much from Jenna or Callie in this one.

No, no, not a lot of them. For them to do again.

Yeah, I just want to mention those two. A couple of lines here and there, but obviously nobody other than Blake teleports down anywhere.

There's no, you know, physically going to rescue anybody. It's just, you know, get the, get the teleport ready and. And that's your lot.

So a bit of an equal footing between, I would say, Kali, Jen, Zen and Orac and, you know, Avon gets a bit more in it than the others and Villa as well. So, yeah, fairly quiet from. And we. The episode goes in for quite a few. Quite a few minutes before you even see any of the crew as well.

It does, yeah, yeah.

Because it's obviously kicks off with the, the opening scenes with the guards outside the. The courtroom. Let's, let's go back actually and finish up on. On that side of the story then another bit of genius writing, I will say, is. Doesn't.

It doesn't start with any tentpole characters. We don't, we don't have any conversations with Travis and Thania that's been appointed his, you know, attorney, if you like, defense attorney. No, no.

Nothing from Serverland to begin with. Nothing from, from anybody.

It's just these two guards outside who are just having a chat about, you know, you know, one of them's like, this is boring the hell out of me. You know, I'm just standing here on guard duty. I signed up because I wanted to see some action. And he's like, yeah, you know, don't worry about it.

And then the higher ups come along and. And then we go into the courtroom. One of them we know very well. Peter Miles.

Yeah.

From Doctor who. Of course. Yeah. Who played Rone Taine and John Savident. You're the guy that you can say his name.

Yeah. John Savant. How do you say it?

Savadent Savage.

Yeah. I mean he's one of those actors, a great actress. He's got that great face and that voice and he's probably best known for Corey, isn't he?

I say Ashley, but mate, he's in. He.

He's.

He plays such a good character in series four. I know it's a long way off. I'm not going to say too much, actually. Although we won't get to it for ages.

It's an, it's an episode I'm really looking forward to reviewing with you. And he is a full on proper. He is a very strong character in it and it's a totally different character to what he's playing here.

But yeah, that's way off. It's just. I cannot wait to get to the episode. But it's episode four. Series four, so we're way off. But yeah, John Savident.

Savagent. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's. He played this really well, didn't he? He's got that very sort of stern officer that's.

That's been pulled into this really surprisingly to the other guards and the other people in, in the Federation, because they're like, wow, we've not seen this guy in years. Like, he's normally stationed on this ship somewhere, doesn't ever leave it, and he's here. So you can tell.

And that was one of the little clues, wasn't it? Little things that you can, that you can tell that this trial is slightly different.

People are noticing those little things that are slightly different than your average trial. And then you realize that it's kind of linked back to Serverland.

You know, she's, she's orchestrated this whole thing to, to absolutely guarantee that Travis goes down and, and gets the death penalty, of course, and which ultimately happens. But a really, a really interesting performance, mate from. From Brian Croucher for this one.

Yeah, actually another tiny little nugget that I noticed earlier today because I watched this episode on my lunch break today.

And you know when you put in the disc and it's those BBC discs and you get a few screens that come up before the menu and it's somebody saying, to start audio navigation, press this. That's Brian Croucher.

It's Brian Croucher.

Yeah, I'm sure of it. Is that right?

It is. I recognize his voice.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I thought so anyway. So, yeah, Brian Croucher, he's had a real interesting one because I can't make up my mind.

And maybe you, you, you've got a different thought to me on this, but I can't make up my mind whether he had just settled on the fact that he was going to be executed. And so throughout the first 2/3 of the trial, he's just sat there doing nothing. He's absolutely not bothered because he knows that.

He knows in the back of his mind that Serverland is behind this. And he knows that she's done it in a way that this is bulletproof. You know, he's not getting out of it. So he just resides in.

In the knowledge that, yeah, I'm going down, I'm going to be executed.

Because Major Thania, who has been appointed by Serverland, surprisingly or unsurprisingly, she goes to report on the progress, doesn't know that server lands, watching this all, you know, with a secret camera and so on. And, and yeah, she comments on it. She's like, he's not saying anything. He's not doing anything. It's almost like he's asleep.

Yeah.

And then he explodes, like. So for the first 2/3 of the episode, he's really quiet. You know, he's. He's quite quiet in his, in his speech. And.

And then, yeah, out of nowhere he's like, I'm going to deliver the opening statement for the defense. Yeah. And he walks around the courtroom like he owns the place and he's shouting and he's like, whoa, all of you. So, yeah, I find.

Yeah, so, yeah, that was really cool that, that his. That his kind of justification for what he did was essentially on them because they're the ones that trained him.

They're the ones that have built this kind of. This killer instinct. When you're out in the field, you don't really think about two things.

It's your training that takes over and you're the people that have provided the training. So this is on you as much as it's on me sort of thing. And that. That left you hanging, did you? When the first.

You probably don't remember the first time you watched this, but I was left hanging thinking, is, is that the thing that's going to get him off? That could be it. Because even Serverland's worried.

Yeah.

Because when Thania goes back and reports, she's like, yeah, she's like, could you not tell that when he delivered that, you know, it was. Burkhole was physically moved by that. And she was like, no, he's not going to get it. So I was left hanging, buddy, on that bit.

I don't know about you, but yeah,.

I mean, I like Brian Croucher in this episode. I think he's settling into the part really well. Still a bit shouty, but I mean, this. This kind of episode I think warrants that.

You know, I was waiting for the two little flashing balls that I must be thinking of a different episode, you know, when they sort of do the guilty innocent thing, maybe.

I'm thinking all the way back to the very first episode where Blake's on trial, you know, when he's watching those two flashing lamps and one of those guilty. Well, I was waiting for them, but they're not in it. But yeah, Brian Croucher, mate, I think he's great in this.

You know what makes me laugh is after he shouted at them in that scene, he plunks himself down in the chair like some sort of spoiled child. He seems to be having fun, even though he's. Yeah, like you said, a lot of time he's just sat there sort of staring.

But there's a great scene with him and Par isn't there when Parr comes in to give him some drink and you know, you know, Par's.

I can never work out if he has actually got Respect for him or if he's sort of doing it because Thalia's told him to, because he passes something like with the greatest respect, I didn't do it for you or something. So I feel like there is a bit of respect there for Travis.

Yeah.

From these people. So from. From all the other guards and stuff. So that's nice as well. I think that's a nice scene between the two of them.

And it's nice to see these other guards, isn't it? Like Par and whoever the other chap is, you know, just giving it a bit more world building in terms of Federation.

I think his name was Lie.

Yeah. Yeah. And nice to see. Nice to see our friend Peter Miles back as well, playing the same character with. With John.

Brian's as Berkol, because I couldn't remember if they were the same characters because they're from series one, I think, aren't they?

They are, yeah.

Yeah, they sort of popped up. So good to see them back as well. But Brian Croucher, mate. Yeah. I like him in. I can't help but wonder what it would have been like with Steven Greif.

But in a way it's, it's. It's. I think it's wrong to even think that because Brian Croucher does his thing in it and I think he does it well.

You know, I'm kind of rooting for Travis. I love it when he escapes at the end. I mean, I think you're right. I think Travis as a character is. He's given.

He knows Serverland's gonna play him for every card she's got left. You know what I mean? He just feels like he's probably done for.

And then he's given this split second chance, isn't he, for freedom and he takes it and he goes straight for Serverland. I love that ending, mate, because now he's.

He's on the run pretty much, isn't he, Travis, you know, so his character has changed slightly and I think that's about the right time because you can't keep, you know, you can't keep having Travis turning up, going Blake and trying to kill him and. And all that, you know, they've got to add another sort of element to his character and I think they've just done that by having him become a.

A renegade, I suppose you'd call it, would you?

An outlaw, I guess.

An outlaw. That's it.

Outlaw, yeah.

Serverless helped him. She's given him his own ship. She's given him mutoids. That won't Question it.

You know, she, again, she's one step ahead, I think even says that, you know, she's still using him, she's putting him out there, but instead of being officially under his command to get Blake, she's sort of doing it, but unofficially. So you can go, I'll give you a ship, give you mutoids, but you've still got a hump, Blake, and then I'll let you go, you know, so,.

Yeah, and he's still playing him. Yeah. And he even clocks that, doesn't he said, yeah, you know, and I'll, you know, you go and hunt Blake.

And he's like, yeah, while you're hunting the both of us.

Yeah. Another great line.

Yeah. So he knows, isn't he? He knows that the actions that he's doing right now is. That's him done.

Like, he's done, you know, like he's going to be an outlaw now. He's going to take matters into his own hands where it concerns Blake.

But now he's also got to look over his shoulder because he knows that Serverland's going to be on him.

I can't. I cannot remember if he takes Serval and with him hostage or if it just picks up within that. What's the next episode?

Next episode is Killer.

Killer. Yeah. I genuinely can't remember, but I sort of got the impression at the end that she thought he. He was going to go off and he was.

He'd got other ideas. He's like, oh, no, you're coming with me. But maybe not.

Maybe he's just like, maybe he's going off to do his own thing, but he knows that she's going to be after him. I genuinely can't remember how it goes, but again, I wanted to watch the next episode to find out.

Same. Yeah, same. Itching to watch the next one. And, yeah. That those closing moments are really good.

And like we've mentioned, this all comes with a grand sense of irony, that it's Blake that's initiated the attack just because he wanted to just put it out there, back in the public eye, that, you know, these, they're not a pushover and that they're still willing to. To have a. Have a little snipe and a dig at the Federation.

So they attack and leg it because they want, you know, publicly known that Blake is still out there, still attacking the Federation. But, yeah, leads in, lends itself to very nicely to Travis's escape. I love the way you put that. Is that split second chance.

Yeah.

And he takes it.

Yeah. Well, also, that's the other thing we're learning about Travis, you know, is he, again, there are more layers to this character.

He, he seems a bit off the rails. I think Servland says, you know, he's probably mad, but don't underestimate him.

He's also very intelligent and, you know, that's what I mean about layered characters. He, he gets a split second chance and he goes for it and he knows exactly what he's going to do, you know, if he, if he does escape.

So, yeah, I'm really, really actually again getting a greater appreciation for Brian Croucher as Travis.

Exactly. Yeah. And you asked me last week if I, if I still, you know, what my thoughts are between Brian Croucher and Steven Griffin.

I think, yeah, I, Brian Croucher is definitely growing on me the more I watch him in this character and in this role. So, yeah, it's. That those final scenes were all very cool.

And just one last thing I want to mention is you mentioned earlier that it's just a nice bit of world building in that, in those bits where the opening scenes, especially where you've got no mention of you, you don't see Blake and the crew yet, you don't see Serval and anybody.

It's just these two sort of run of the mill guards for the Federation having a chat between themselves in between trying to act proper when, when the big wigs turn up and even as they go past them and into the door, you know, into the courtroom, they sort of relax a little bit and start chatting again and then, and then PA turns up a couple of times a bit later.

But that whole, that whole thread there is basically like, you know, I hate to use the Star wars comparison again, but you know, that's like having a couple of stormtroopers having a conversation in between Darth Vader or Tarkin walking past or. Yeah, something like that. You know, it's. And so it's got that real kind of.

It makes the world of the Federation appear much more realistic and larger because you're, you're, you're overhearing conversations between people other than Serverland, like you do at work, like you.

And you're moaning about your boss or whatever it does.

It sort of grounds it a little bit, doesn't it, where you think, yeah, you know, even the Federation are sort of know what's going on behind the scenes and they'll, they'll sort of talk about it when no one's around and all that sort of stuff. So, yeah, it is world building.

Yeah, yeah. Really cool. I really, really like that aspect of it.

I did too, mate. I must say, I really liked Salia as a character as well. I thought she worked really well with Serverland. I thought she.

She played the part really well. And. And yeah, the two guards. But particularly Par, because he gets that nice scene with Travis and of course, I'm sure you did.

As soon as you saw him, you thought, I know that guy. Because he was in the Bill, wasn't he? For a very long time. The TV show, the Bill. Can't remember his character name.

It's like a one word.

It's like. Let me google it. He played Tosh in the Bill for many years and good actor. Kevin. Kevin Lloyd.

Kevin Lloyd. Yeah. Tosh with a tash. That's it in the Bill. Yeah.

Yeah.

No, he was good. Yeah, he was getting this. So. Yeah. Anything else on your notes? Dude, I think we've. We've gone through like the bulk of it, I think.

Yeah, no, I think we've pretty much covered it.

Scores. I think it's me to go first.

Yes.

I'm gonna give this a seven out of ten a blade.

Seven.

A good seven. Yeah. Nice. Nice. Sort of enjoyable watch. Nothing to nothing. That's gonna blow your socks off. In terms of pub chat about Blake's 7.

I don't think down the pub at a convention, we're not going to tear this one to pieces too much, but it was a. It was a. When I say tear to pieces, I mean like, you know, dissect it and talk about it at great length. But it was. Yeah, it was. It was a good. A good.

A good watch and just really, really good solid further character progression on all counts, which was really cool. So, yeah, a good seven. What about you?

Yeah, I'm also giving it a seven. A strong seven. I think it was a good episode. It's just a little slow to get going, that's all. But it does, as I said, build nicely.

Some great one liners in it once again. And maybe I should go a 7.5. Actually gonna add on a little cheeky 0.5, mate. I'll tell you why.

Because the support and cast in this, I think bring up another notch. Everybody in it. And I'm going to include little old Zill. Everybody in it is really good.

You know, like you said from Par to Thalia to John Samidon said it wrong. You know, everybody in this is. Is great, you know. So, yeah, I'll give it a 7.5. I'll go that little bit extra, a 0.5.

On it. Okay, cool. Another. Another episode down and not too bad, that one. I can't wait till next week, dude, to crack on and. And watch Killer.

I'm intrigued, obviously, by the title. That could. That could mean one of a number of things or people or whatever. So, yeah, I'm intrigued. Defo.

Yeah.

And so am I. I know I've seen these episodes a million times, but because I, you know, because I've watched this series from the beginning a lot of times. Sometimes I just pick around an episode, so I do watch them out of order, which is why I forget which ones are which.

And Killer, I'm trying to think what episode that is. Is it the one where Avon's got a friend?

I wouldn't know, mate.

Don't look, don't look. I think I watched. Yeah, but yeah, I'm looking forward to watching it. Like you may. Even though as soon as I put it on, I'll be like, oh, this one.

Yeah, yeah, you will. When you. Within seconds, you will.

Yeah, well, yeah.

Yeah. Okay. Okie dokie then. With a 7 from me and a 7.5 from him. I think that's a good point there to end episode six. Dude.

Alrighty.

Thank you so much, dear listener, for coming back and listening to another episode of Federation Strike: A Journey Through Blake's 7. And that was episode six and our review of the episode trial, which Killer, didn't you. I nearly did, yeah. You read.

We've been doing this so long now, listener, that, yeah, he knows exactly what I'm thinking and what I'm trying to say. That was the episode trial. Yeah. A seven from me, some 7.5 from Adam. We'll be back next week for our review of the next one.

The episode is killer, of course, so join us then tune in for our review and our thoughts on that episode. In the meantime, make sure you're following or subscribing to this podcast in your preferred podcast app of choice.

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And thank you once again for listening to another episode of Federation Strong Reich, a journey through Blake's 7.