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

It's only the third episode, but things are heating up as Blake and the crew face off against the Federation, who are on the hunt for their now stolen new weapon, IMIPAK.

There's also some changing dynamics with the new Travis and Servalan, as Brian Croucher steps into some hefty shoes left by his predecessor. He's desperate to take out Blake, which leads to some tense moments, the moments we love!

How does this episode stack up to last week's as we move ever forward through Series B?

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 Federation Strike, A journey through Blake's 7. And this is our third episode from series B and our review of Weapon. Yes indeedy. Welcome back to another episode of Federation Strike.

It's great to have you here listening as we go through all of Blake's 7 from the beginning. And this is our second season as we go through series B.

My name's Garry, your regular host as always, joined by my co host, my partner in crime, Mr. Adam. How are you, dude?

I'm really good, thanks, Garry. I'm looking forward to hearing what you thought of this episode because it will be the first time you've seen Brian Croucher as the recast Travis.

So I'm really intrigued to see what you thought of him because I know you like the character, so be interesting. But yeah, looking forward to this one.

Yes. Yeah, it's, it's. I was wondering when we were going to get to it because when we went through, I think it was the last episode actually.

Or maybe it was our, our kind of wrap up episode of series A.

We spoke about some of the highs and lows for us throughout that first series and you mentioned a couple of times that there's a, there's a character, an actor change coming up in the second series and it was spoiled a little bit, wasn't it, because of. They put the trailer out for series B when they announced the Blu ray. So I remember seeing the actor change and I was like, okay.

But I just didn't know what episode it was. It was coming up but. Which is upon us this week though, dude.

Yeah, yeah, that was one of the things about the trailer.

I was saying I sort of want you to watch it to get you in the mood for the series because it's a really good trailer but there's no mistaking who the character is with the eyepatch. So I thought as soon as you see it's a different actor, you're going to know that it's Travis.

Unless it's Travis's twin brother or whatever that's popped in. Um, so yeah, I thought I wanted you to see a trailer, but I also knew it'd spoil things, but it's.

Yeah, it's one of those things I think back in the day, mate, just actors taking over the same part is a thing, isn't it? James Bond, Doctor who, It's kind of. We just go with it, don't we? So not a big deal. But be interesting to see how you think they compare.

Yes. Yeah, we'll get on to. Onto the, the character Travis In a bit. But yeah, I think when we ended it.

So if you've not listened to last week yet, by the way, dear listener, then go and check that out. That was our review of Shadow and that was kind of. We. We liked most of it, didn't we?

We felt like it was a reasonably good, isolated little story because it wasn't too heavy on the, on the big sort of story arc. And the lore of, of Blake versus the Federation and the Federation weren't in it at all.

They were mentioned towards the end, but they weren't really in it. And now fast forward to this week and it's very Federation heavy, isn't it? It's all, all server land and you know, those guys are back in it and.

Yeah, so I wonder if actually. No, I'll save that question when we get into the review properly. But how have you done. Have you been doing since the last time we recorded last week?

But you've been all good over in there, the US of A. Yeah, yeah, definitely.

Yeah. She had a nice. At the house to myself when I watched this one. Normally I'm sort of putting it on and getting looks from the other half.

Oh, Blake's 7 again. But yeah, I got to. Got to watch this in peace.

And I was sort of watching it thinking we were talking about the new effects last week and I thought, oh, I've actually got time to re watch it if I want to with the new effects and very little on this one actually, because the. It does start with a fantastic model shot, you know, of a spaceship exploded.

And when I was watching it with the original effects, I thought, well, that's, that doesn't really need changing. That actually looks pretty good. And yeah, they haven't changed it. They obviously felt the same. It's the same model shot at the start.

I think the only sort of new effects on this one that I could see really were the gun effect is slightly updated. The IMIPAK gun. Must get myself one of those. Yeah, they've. They've slightly updated that effect.

But yeah, this one didn't need too much work in terms of special effects redoing, so.

Yeah, that's true. Yeah. That opening explosion, you know, the faked spaceship crash, that reminded me of the old. The original Death Star explosion.

The original effects that they used back.

In before they put the big fire ring on it.

Yeah, yeah, it had that vibe for me, that one.

Yeah. I gotta say I did think it was a good shot. I did think it was a good opening shot, but it almost seems a bit over the Top.

Because there are some times when you need a good exploding spaceship model shot and they've not been that great. And then this one, you have this fantastic. And they sort of show it for a couple of angles. It's a really big explosion and it's just so they can.

They then cut to the two main characters and they're like, yeah, so now they'll think we're dead. And I thought, God, they've really, like, really gone for it on that model shot. For such a short, like, explanation, if you like.

It feels like it should be a climatic sort of explosion, doesn't it? It's that good. It feels a little wasted just on that. That opening scene. But anyway, it's good. It's a good shot.

Yeah. And did you watch all of the. The episode through again with the updated visual effects or you just watched the first.

First go round with just the original stuff?

No, I didn't watch it all. I kind of. Because I'd got the house myself and I thought, oh, I have got a chance just to. Just to see if they've done much to this one.

I kind of just flicked through it. That might be an indication of my feelings on this episode. I don't want to go into, you know, spoilers already, but, yeah, I just felt like.

I just wanted to see if there was much that got updated on this one. Mainly that only model shot, because I thought it was so good. I just was curious to see if they did bother to update it.

But I was almost pleased to see they hadn't, to be honest with you. I was like, oh, they obviously thought it was, you know, good enough to keep.

So, yeah, yeah, that same for me.

I watched it through as usual, as I do with every story, just in its purest form, without the updated effects and everything, just as it went out on the tv. But then sometimes I go through and watch. Watch them twice with the vfx and other times like I did with this week, the same.

Sounds like you did the same thing where I just zip through and check out the updated effects and whatnot.

Talking to rewatching, mate. I can't remember if I said this to you last week, but with Shadow, that is an episode that I feel.

When you do go back, I think you're going to enjoy the episode more because although we had issues with certain parts of it, I overall enjoyed it a little bit more than you. I think it's a really strong episode, but I don't think it quite hit the mark for you did it last week.

So I get the feeling that is going to be one of those episodes that when you're sort of. We've, you know, done series B and perhaps you're in the mood for a Blake and you think. I'm thinking sort of four to doomsday vibes of Doctor who.

You know how that's not a very good story, but sometimes you're just in the mood and you pluck it out of obscurity to watch. I have just got this feeling the next time you watch Shadow, you'll be thinking, actually, this is.

I'm actually really enjoying this because it is one of those episodes, mate. It's. I think because it's not Federation heavy and it does sort of take its own.

It's almost like a bit of a standalone story and it's got stuff, you know, with all the sort of psychedelic stuff and it's a bit of an odd one. I just feel it's one you'll appreciate more when the dust has settled. Do you know what I mean?

It'll be one you'll put on and you'll be like, yeah, actually, this is something. I'm really enjoying this. But we'll see. Not that you didn't enjoy it. You did, but just not as much as I thought you would, if, you know, I mean.

Gotcha. Yeah, No, I probably will, yeah. Because when I get around to re. Watching it all, which I will do at some point, I will.

I'll undoubtedly reflect on the. On the review that we did in the score. I think I gave it a seven, a pretty decent seven.

You did, yeah.

Yeah. I think you gave it an 8 or an 8.5. One of the two.

I think I gave it an 8.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I did enjoy it, for sure.

Yeah, you did. I just feel it's. It is one of those. It's a bit of a.

It's not quite a remembrance, the Daleks, where it's going to be one of those that you really didn't like and then you just loved it on a rewatch. I think it would just be one of those eps that grows on you over time, because I think that's how I feel about it.

I think when I first watched it, I was a bit sort of, I don't know, confused by it, if you know. I mean, it didn't quite sit right, me. And it's really grown on me over the years.

And also because you're a new viewer to Blake and you're watching these episodes fresh, having never seen them before, you know, you've sort of got things in your mind that you're waiting to see. Like, I think you enjoy the Federation stuff.

So when we do sort of sidetrack from that and have side stories, standalone stories, I think perhaps you're sort of, let's get back to the Federation stuff. Whereas I think once we've got all this done and you're just sort of watching it as individual episodes, I think they'll feel different to you.

Does that make sense? Because at the minute you're sort of.

You're wanting stuff in the series because you don't know what's to come, whereas I kind of know how it all plays out. So we're on slightly different. Slightly different watching viewing experiences from that point of view.

Yeah. Are you slightly envious that I'm experiencing it all fresh and new for the first time?

Yeah, I am, a little bit. Because I think. Because you're watching it linear, because you're watching it from the start in order.

Yeah, I'm a little bit jealous of that because you've asked me a couple of times, can I remember the first time I watched this or the first time? And I'm thinking, no, because I sort of watched it all out of order.

You know, I watched it a couple of episodes when I was really, really young because my dad was watching it, so I'd sort of saw it and it caught my imagination.

And then I sort of bought the vhs, which were released sort of out of order because they did them as sort of three episodes on each tape or whatever, but they weren't in order.

And, you know, so I've kind of watched in a really jumbled up way, way over the years, but obviously I have now gone back and watched them from the beginning countless times. I know, I do, I do. Sometimes I just go back and rewatch it from the start, and other times I just dip into episodes I love.

But, yeah, I'm jealous of that. You know, like you said that when I try and think back to my memories of it, they are very scrambled.

Whereas yours, I think, are very clear at the moment. In a. In a line. I'm a bit jealous of that, yeah.

Oh, cool. Yeah, I'm sorry. Not cool that you're envious, but I know exactly what you mean.

Because over the years of you and I doing a Doctor who podcast, the Big Blue Box, there are so many great stories from the classic era that when we have listeners get in contact to say, oh, I've put this story on, or I've bought this story because I heard your review of it. And now I want to watch it.

I always think, oh, I'd love to be in that position again where I'm just watching it fresh, brand new, you know, for the first time. It's so. I know what you mean.

Yeah, yeah, it's true. And also, maybe, maybe not envious, but I'm definitely getting a buzz. I'm definitely getting a kick out of you watching it. Does that mean.

So I'm getting a kick out of how much you're enjoying it. I almost feel like I'm sharing and I'm basking in your enjoyment of it. You know what I mean? So I'm getting that, in a sense is rewarding.

But that's why I said to you at the start, it would have been horrendous if we'd got to enter series one. And you were like, well, dude, we'll carry on doing the pod, but I'm just not digging this show, you know, I'm not getting into it.

That would have been like, oh, dear, I don't know why we would have done. We would have carried on, I guess. But yeah, I'm glad you're enjoying it as much as you are.

Well, we'll see what you thought this episode first, but indeed, yeah, we have been enjoying the ride so far, which is good.

Indeed. Yes.

So before we crack on with our review, just a friendly reminder to prod you in the direction of the subscribe or the follow button and whatever that looks like on your preferred podcast app of choice. We'd love to have you along for the journey.

So if you, if you do that, then you'll get notified when new episodes drop and you can download them and do all that stuff in the app. We'd love that. And you can also go back and check out the, the back catalog that we're building as we go through these seasons.

So we've got all of series A, all the reviews up there, we got some really nice bonus episodes and so on. And as I said, you get the notifications for the future stuff. You can also chat to us about Blake's 7 over on our social channels.

We're on X and Bluesky. If you just do a Search or Lake 7 podcast, you'll find us on there. Federation Strike across everything and give us a like and a follow.

And thank you very much to our friends that we've made online and on the socials and stuff since we've started. It's been great chatting to you about all the things Blake seven.

So yeah, Lake seven podcast, we'd Love to hear your thoughts on what you think about things like individual stories and what you. What score you would give them and so on. What do you think to update it? Effects, you know, theories, all that stuff.

So, yeah, it'd be very cool to chat to you all. Thank you very much for that. So, dude, moving on to the review. What have we got this week?

Yeah, so it's series three. No, sorry, it's episode three of series two. Another Chris Boucher script this week and it's called Weapon.

A gun? Not just a gun. Imipak. It's called imipak. Induced Molecular Instability Projector and key. Imipak. What does it do? It kills. Shut up. Will you shut up.

How does it kill? This is the projector. It'll work on anything living. All life is linked.

You use it like a gun and it projects a potential, an unstable molecular potential in the part of the victim that you hit. The beauty of it is that unless they see you do it or you tell them you've done it, they don't even know it's happened. And that kills them. This.

This kills them. This is the key. When they're in range of this and you press that, it triggers the unstable molecules. Death at the press of a button.

At the press of a button.

Imagine the power.

Immipak. Hey, interesting name. Yes.

There's always almost a bit in this when it sounds like they're doing an advert, isn't it? Immipac. The gun that kills you at the touch of a button. I can't remember the line, but I actually thought that sounds like it's an advert for it.

It was written by Chris Boucher, directed by George Spencer Foster, and the synopsis from this one from the original VHS release is. The battle rages on between the Freedom Fighters and the Federation as they search for the stolen prototype type of imipak.

Delayed death at the press of a button. Sir Valan and Travis have a clone of Blake and they're anticipating the Liberator's every move. Can the folk hero escape annihilation this time?

High stakes indeed for Blake and the crew on this one.

Indeed. Yeah. Sounds exciting from that synopsis.

It does, yes. Now, was the episode actually exciting though? Let's. Let's crack in one thing.

I will say first observation off the bat, dude is very, very different tone to last week.

Indeed. Yeah. Considering it's written by Chris Boucher again, I thought that very different.

I found that with Shadow, the previous episode, I found that to be a bit more up and down in terms of light heartedness and seriousness.

It kind of goes on this like ebbs and flows of one minute being quite serious and then the next minute the some one liners are in there with Villa and so on. And then it goes back to Sirius and then back to Avon being funny and things like that. I felt that this episode was quite flat. So if you're.

If you're in the mood for laughter and mayhem and some funny one liners and some little gags here and there, this is not the episode for you. No, very much not. So we're back to serious Blake in this one.

That was the, that was my main takeaway was that from start to finish, other than a couple of little expected lines from Villa, nowhere near as much as you usually get. I found that this was very serious back to. Back to like the early Blake's 7.

Remember if you cast your mind back to when we reviewed the very first episode of Blake's 7, or even the first two, we commented on that very like the attractive. How attractive that dystopian future was. And that sort of grittiness and dark, dark storytelling.

You know, I feel like this pushes it back in that direction somewhat where Servalann is very scheming and cunning. Travis is absolutely just pissed off at everything in the entire Very Angry Man. Yep, he's not in the mood for anything.

He is in quite the mood and Avon's not in the mood as usual. And Blake's losing his temper with Orak and it's. Everyone's just in a mood and you know, nobody's got time for, for, for any. For stupidness.

Especially from Villa. So yeah, that was my main takeaway. Did you get that vibe from this?

Well, I think you make a really good point there actually, because it definitely has got that more somber, darker tone to it of the early episodes. But unfortunately I don't enjoy it anywhere near as much as those episodes. I think you said flat there, mate.

That's a good way of describing this episode. It does feel very flat. Even the cast, although they're still good, they don't seem to be firing on all cylinders.

They are given a couple of sort of good lines, but they don't really sort of hit the mark.

I think, you know, in shadow of Chris Boucher's other script, you know, they were Given the lines like, I want a necklace made out, your teeth filler, and they really sort of, you know, delivered them. But in this, everything does feel a little bit flat. And I think now that I know that the director, George Spenton Foster, I think that's how you say.

Yeah, yeah. I think he wasn't very popular with the cast. And I know certainly Chris Boucher was very unhappy how his script ended up translating to screen.

And so, I mean, I don't want to put all of the blame at George Spent and Foster, you know, because, I mean, it's fairly nicely directed. There's a couple of high shots, but just the overall atmosphere of the episode does feel very. There's not much atmosphere to it.

It just feels very dead, I think. You know, I do love some of the elements to this. I don't think it's a really bad episode. It just seems to plod along a bit.

I mean, I got to about the middle of it, and I found myself getting a little bored, and I was. You're always in the back of my head now. That's the problem when I'm watching these episodes, because you've been enjoying it so much.

When we get to an episode like this where it's just not really holding together, I'm thinking, oh, no, I hope Garry's not reaching for his phone or looking at the clock at this point, because I know I am. And, you know, so I am sort of worried about that.

You know, I think we've reached the sort of first episode where it's really not firing on all cylinders. But it's not all bad. For me, it just really falls apart. The M8, I think it's got a interesting concept with the Imipak gun.

Kind of like this idea of marking someone for death and being able to use it whenever you want and manipulating that. I think that's interesting. But, yeah, I mean, you know, you've got this clone of Blake, and I really hate that.

Just the way he's just left on the planet with. What's her name? Rochelle.

Rochelle.

Something about having clones of people being left, because that just means there's another Blake out there. And I don't know why. It just doesn't sit right with me at all. You know, I think they should have blown that clone up. But, yeah.

Anyway, before we sort of get too much into Mate and I'll pass over to you now, I just want to say I think it's got some good ideas. I think it's an okay episode, but I just found myself Getting frustrated with it. I mean, I don't know how.

Rochelle suddenly has the key to the gun at the end.

So one minute, server lands in complete control, then it sort of cuts back, and suddenly the Blake clone and Rochelle have got it, and they're threatening Serverland and they sort of run away, and I'm like, what? It. It really falls apart for me. The end of this episode, it kind of ruins it, really.

So it's not a good one for me, but I don't think it's really, really bad. I just didn't think it was firing on all cylinders. I thought it was a bit of a dud.

Okay. Surprising. Dude, I thought you. I thought this was going to be your.

I thought you were going to like this one because of Serverland and Travis, the good sort of double act. And. And some of the other. The other bits. Like, it's one of those things where it weaves in a few little bits here and there. But I felt.

I felt like it was a little bit more coherent than last week.

Okay.

Just because the. Well, actually, let me rephrase that. I think some of the.

They weaved in some potentially good stuff in this one, which is a little bit more coherent because at least in this one you get some info up front, a little bit of exposition about what's going on with the clones at the beginning. Yeah, yeah, because we have that. What's. So the clone master, Fen, you know, the. The lady who's.

Who's running the show with the clone master that it seems at the moment.

Yeah. What a serve. Lancoola. Let me deal with this dreary woman or something. You know, she's in. She's in hearing distance. But yeah, let's just insult her.

Yeah, it did make me laugh.

Yeah. So Fen, played by Kathleen Byron, she. She.

It was a very purposeful thing that Chris Boucher had included in the script, where she was almost speaking to us, the viewer, as opposed to just directly to Serval, and about the history of the clone masters and some of that stuff.

So we got a little bit of exposition there, a little bit of explanation about why they've created the clone in the first place, how they've done it, what the kind of. What the play is going to be there.

And then from the other side, you have the discussion between Blake and Avon and Jenna and so on Callie on the bridge, where his. Bridge. The right term.

Yeah, I would say bridge.

I guess so. Yeah. On the Liberator. So on the bridge, you've got them discussing the plan between themselves.

So I think that was quite clever from Chris Boucher, where instead of having, like a voiceover, or you just leave the viewer scratching their head like, what's going on?

I think it's quite clever where on the Federation side, you had that conversation between Servalann and Travis quite early on, and then clone the clone master, and she was giving us the rundown of what's going on. And then on the other side, on the Liberator, you've got those guys telling us about.

So again, it was quite clever where they're talking amongst themselves, but really they're just filling you in as the viewer as to what the plan is that Blake and Callie have worked up between them, which didn't please Avon at all, which is about, there's a weapons factory, you know, we're going to go and do the thing. The only thing that was a little bit in the dark until later on is the reason why and who Kosa was with Rochelle and.

And that whole thing with the IMIPAK weapon and stuff like that.

We had to wait further down the line to get an explanation as to that stuff, because previous to that, we had this character called Karnel who Servolan had brought on. He was like this kind of psycho strategist guy who.

Very smug.

Yeah. He examined. Oh, the smugness was off the chart. Yeah. But he was, like, analyzing the Kosa as a character and what he would do.

And in this situation, it's likely he's gone down this path and he's done this all the rest of it. But even so, that was more of a head scratch than anything else. We had to wait later on for that.

So I felt like there was some stuff going on, and it was. It was a kind of a flat episode when you look at it from start to finish.

But at least we got a little bit of explanation as to why things were going on. So that sweetened it a little bit.

But I think, yeah, I'll be honest with you, although there was some cool stuff going on here and there, and some of the performances were okay. Yeah. It wasn't one of those ones where I came away thinking, wow, that was.

For me, that's like the high point of Blake's 7 so far in Series B, in a way, I sort of enjoyed last week a little bit more.

Oh, definitely. I think. I think Shadow is a much stronger episode, I feel a weapon.

It's just one of those stories where I feel like there is a good story in there somewhere. It just hasn't made it out, you know, it's got some good ideas going on. It's got, it has got potential, isn't it?

You've got characters that have got potential, like Koza and Rochelle as a double act have potential, but just none of it really gets reached. I think for me, the guest star of this really is Serval and I think she's the best thing about this episode.

But I'm just curious, what did you think when Blake walked on at the very start and got shot like before you knew what was happening?

I thought he was dreaming.

Did you think it was a flashback or a dream or something? Or something that was to come, like a premonition or something. I just was wondering what was going through your mind at that point.

I thought it was Blake dreaming. I thought he was having a dream about his upcoming. His upcoming death of whoever, because I thought that was going to be one of those things.

Where was it? The.

Yeah, so the very first episode, Redemption, you know, it was all centered around Orax prediction around the Liberator being destroyed and them all dying. I thought Blake was having that sort of thing happening where he's now been. His mind has been sort of scarred by future predictions.

And so in his dream he's, he's. This is the dream of him being killed. And I assumed at some point you'd hear Avon or somebody like Blake, you've been sleeping.

Wake up Blake and Anomaly episode.

So I, I can almost imagine Avon slapping him. Wake up Blake.

He would relish in that, wouldn't he? Any opportunity to give him a slap. Yeah, yeah.

So I thought the dream mate, I thought he was going to wake up and, and then the episode would start proper.

But when we started, they started mentioning clones and all the rest of it and then you could kind of, you could kind of see where, where that was going as well. As soon as Gareth Thomas opened his mouth and the way that he was quite robotic and stuff, you thought, oh, right, okay, can see what they're doing.

Yeah, nice that they managed to clone the exact outfit he's been wearing. They managed to clone his new, his new big sleeve outfit, which was, which was good. Come on then. I can't, I can't wait any longer.

I need to know what your thoughts of Brian Croucher as Travis. Because in series A, Steven Greif, we both really enjoyed him as Travis, didn't we? We liked his performance. We liked the character.

I think you were a little. Well, we both were a little upset that he didn't return for series B, obviously.

I know I've seen Brian Crouch as Travis many times, so I know how his performance goes. But as a first impression, what did you think? And just. I'll talk more after. What did you think?

So I. So far, I prefer our old friend Stephen from. From series A so far.

Okay.

And I. I don't want to just write. I don't want to write off Brian Croucher. Straight away, I felt like he was very intense, very moody, very carried on the. Kind of. Carried on the.

The core traits, if you like, of. Of Travis as a character. Did. Did that very well. I would. Just.

For me right now, then, this might change as we go through the rest of the series, but for me right now, I feel like Steven's performance was a bit more grounded and a bit more just true. A bit truer in terms of his two in and throwing with. With Blake.

Whereas I feel like Brian's chewing the scenery a little bit more at the moment and he's hamming it up a bit more. And he's. And I think Stephen comes across better as a.

In that particular character as a TV performance, whereas Brian, I feel, is more of a theater actor in this episode.

That's interesting. Yeah.

So don't get me wrong. Brian Crouch, he was good. I could see.

I could see, you know, very, very, very, very quickly that Chris Boucher and Stephen Spent, Foster and so on had really clued him up on. On Travis as a character, you know, and they've. They've given him the memo and he's read most of it.

I just felt like, yeah, he was, I don't know, a little bit like. Not as far as, like, he's behind you.

Right. That actually sounded a bit like him.

Then, you know, not. Not so much like that as in. Yeah, I don't know, it's. It's very nuanced.

Like, his delivery was quite theater, whereas I felt Stevens was more, you know, he. He got the timing and the delivery a bit more for tv. I hope I'm making sense with that.

We'll see if he grows new because, I mean, he does play a big part in this series. And I think there's two. Two or three interesting things, really. One, bright Croucher says he. He didn't watch any of Steven's performance.

So I think everything he's put into the character, he's taken from the page to put his own stamp on it. I also know that he did not get on at all with the director. George Spent and Foster, they clashed horns.

It doesn't sound like he was a very popular director with a lot of the cast, actually, or the writer. So a bit of a tense recording session on this episode, it seems.

And that doesn't help, I don't think, when you're introducing yourself as, you know, a character that's already sort of established itself in a show and you're taking over, he's much more of a loose cannon. I feel like he's a bit unhinged, this version of Travis.

I can sort of put that down to all the stuff he's gone through over the years is finally sort of making him crack up. So I don't mind that he's a little bit more aggressive. But, yeah, I mean, obviously, I'll keep my thoughts.

We'll talk more about him once we get towards the end of the series and see how. How it plays out.

But one thing I do like about this Travis is I do find him a bit more scary because Brian Croucher just seems a little bit unhinged in the way he's playing the character. And I think you'll see more of this in other episodes, actually. But there are times when I think he's, like, insane.

Like, I actually feel like he could snap. So I like that edge to it. But also, like I think you were saying about the theater before, so that Steven Greif had a more layered performance.

I feel he seemed to be a bit softer in places, but could also be quite commanding and direct and in charge. So, yeah, we'll see.

It'd be very interesting to see how you feel about them, about Brian Croucher, you know, towards the end of the series and see if you feel like he settled into the role, whether he was as good as.

And just really, I feel, sometimes feel like maybe because he is, I think, quite different in the way he plays it sometimes, whether it would have been better if they just introduced him as a different character. I don't know whether it was a good idea to recast Travis, although I understand why they did it, because Travis was a popular character.

But I sometimes wonder, because of the way that Brian plays it, whether it would have been better if he was just another, you know, another Federation agent or. Or whether we would have just compared him to Travis if they'd done that. Now I'm thinking about it. I don't know. Yeah, but we'll see.

It'd be interesting to see. It's a bit of a journey, I think, with this one. There are some moments that coming up in future episodes where I absolutely love what Brian does.

And there are other moments where I'm like, oh, wow, he's really going for it. So it would be interesting to see how we get, get on with Brian as Travis, I think.

Yeah, for sure. Yeah. So far not terrible at all.

And I agree with you, he is more, he does have a scarier edge to, to how he's delivering lines to especially Serverland. Like you can, you can tell.

And I'm glad that you mentioned actually that he hadn't watched any of, of Steven's performance from series A because I think that would have been a mistake on his part.

Yeah, he says that on the new documentary on the, on the Blu Ray he says, you know, I didn't watch any of Stevens. I wanted to just go in fresh and, and do my own thing because.

Yeah, that would have been a mistake I think because as soon as you do that you've got that, that, that performance of the other actor in your head, even subliminally.

So yeah, as you were going through your own stuff, you were, you probably would lean into that without realizing it because they're established and they've done it already. So I'm glad that he didn't do that.

Yeah, I absolutely agree, mate. I think you're right. You've got to go in and do it your own way. He certainly does.

So I'm not going to criticize him for being different, but I agree with you. One thing I do think, mate, is I do think him and Serverland spark off each other really well.

So straight away I feel good chemistry between those two. He's almost like this out of control child that she's just like, oh, she keeps rolling her eyes and she has to keep him in check.

So I already love the bance between those two and the chemistry that the Brian and Jacqueline Pierce have got. So I will say that.

Yes, agreed. Yeah. And it's good to see Jacqueline Pierce back as Sa Valan. Yes, very cool.

Because she was obviously a very popular character from the whole show and the episodes that we reviewed from the last series, she was, she was a standout in those and very good. So it's good to see, it's good to see her back and just no change whatsoever.

So obviously the big epic failure from last series where she didn't manage to capture Blake or kill him or whatever and the Liberators escapes and all the rest of it, she's. There's no let up. She's just straight back to it, you know. These are the plans for the Federation.

These are the plans to wipe out Blake and the crew and these are the plans to manipulate Travis. And she does have that, like you said, a bit of a. The toing and throwing the bounce off between her and Travis is really cool. And there's a lot of.

I noticed in this episode there's a lot of fake smiles going on between her and Travis and between her and Carnell.

Oh, yeah, those.

Like, there's just loads of smiles and grins. But you can see that behind that is this cunning, you know, scheming kind of. Of character on. On her side.

And that's really evident in the scene towards the end where, unbeknownst to him, she's marked him with the. You know, with the. The imipak weapon.

Travis or Cornell?

Travis. Yeah. And he doesn't know. So there's that. Yeah. What?

You know, when he's in the hallway and he's talking to the guard and she marks him and he doesn't know because she wants to keep him on a leash, basically.

I love it just the way she does it, with a little grin on her face. Isn't it as well? Just, she's so, like. He's so sticky. I said earlier, for me, Jacqueline Pierce is the star of this episode, mate.

I think she's absolutely brilliant in all the scenes she's in. I love how control Serverland is for the most part of this episode. She's one step ahead everybody, isn't she? Until the very end.

That's what I don't get. The ending is just such a mess, the way this all ties up. Like she's. She's. She's in control the whole time and then it just slips out of her fingers.

But it's not even really shown how. Yeah, but she's great in it. I really, really enjoy. Enjoy her performance in this. I mean, I love her.

Anyway. Yeah, there was. We'll get on to the end in a second. Um, but I do want to jump ahead right to the very, very end, if you don't mind.

While we're on the subject. Yeah. On the subject of Serverland, there was one. There was one at the very end. I can't. I still can't make up my mind, mate.

I don't know what your thoughts are, but I can't make up my mind if. If the. The closing line from Carnell, if her reaction is genuine or if it's just because I thought that was a big.

A big moment for her character because, like you said, she has been so in control and calm and strong and she's very. She's not one of those overconfident sort of Evil, cackle, Bond villain type of characters. She's pretty cool, you know, Whereas at the end.

This is so bizarre, this line at the end where Carnell is basically, he knows that he's effed up because he didn't count on. He didn't count on Xosa escaping with somebody else, Rochelle. He thought it was just him on his own. Faked the crash. Faked the.

The crash into the planet and gone off and done stuff. He didn't account for this other person with him. And.

And so that's kind of twisted and taken, you know, the actual line of events off a little bit, and he didn't account for that. So he knows that when Serverland gets back, he's going to get his ass kicked and. And all the rest of it. So to preempt that he's.

He's buggered off, but he's left her this little voicemail, this little video message.

Yeah.

Where he's still very grinny and all that stuff. And at the very end, it's like, by the way, I can't remember the exact line, but basically you're the sexiest commander or something.

What was your thought on that? Because that was a very weird way to end. To end the episode completely. Because I thought the end.

I thought the bit before that was, you know, and it wasn't the greatest end in here, but at least it was a. Like a cutoff point that you could springboard into the next episode. Whereas that was a bit more like, why did we need to hear Carnell saying that?

And her reaction was very. Yeah, he's got a point. I am pretty sexy.

Well, she gives a little grin, doesn't she? She seems to appreciate the compliment. And I think with Sir Valent, she is so. She's as cool as a cucumber, right?

And she's always, you know, that she. If he'd have been in that room, he'd be dead. So she. She's sort of. It's almost like, okay, you got away. She's. She's said the wrong thing, then. She's.

As in I nearly said something that meant something else that I didn't mean. So she would have killed him, basically, if he'd been there. But she almost relishes in the fact in that he got away.

It's like a game to her, I think, is what I was trying to say. She's like a cat with a mouse. You know, the mouse has got away. The. The cat knows. I'll get you later. It's fine. You know, the game Continues.

You know, I could have ended it. It didn't end. I'm going to enjoy still chasing you. Does that make sense exactly. With Serverland?

She's not like beaten or downtrodden about it because she's like, okay, fair play. You got away, but I'm going to get you. Yeah, yeah, yeah, touche.

Yeah, yeah, I read you. Yeah.

And that's exactly what I thought as well, because earlier on in the episode, when they're talking in person and he's laying out very smartly, like he's laying out the. Basically, I'm the cleverest person in the. In the galaxy. Didn't. You know? And everything I'm telling you is bang on. Correct. So don't worry about it.

I've got this covered sort of thing. And she buys into it a little bit then because she. She's quite handsy. She rubs her hand down his chest and you think, okay, you know, what's.

What's going on here? And then obviously it doesn't go to plan and he buggers off and. Yeah, I loved how you described that, mate. She's like the.

Like this cat and mouse and she's. She's not upset or disappointed that he's got away. She's kind of got that, okay, respect, you know, respect that you.

You knew it was coming and you've dodged it, but, you know, I'll get you sort of thing. This is not over. It was just a strange way to end. Yeah.

I think she used to be a bit like that with Travis, but I think Travis is like the cat with nine lives, and he's actually getting towards the end. She's actually getting frustrated now with Travis. I feel like she could lose her rank with him before long.

But with this one, yeah, she's still enjoying the chase. I think Karnel strikes me as a character that had been written that we would see him again.

It feels like the way, you know, because he does escape and. Or he gets away with his life, let's put it that way. He feels like he might pop up again, but I don't think he does. I could be wrong.

I'm pretty sure I don't. I don't remember seeing him in the reference, but. Did you feel that. Did you say, go, we're gonna see him again?

Like, absolutely.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, he does. I hope. Sorry, I won't ruin that for you because it's a sort of character you probably would have forgotten about anyway. But he. Yeah, he.

He doesn't pop up again. And it does feel like A character that had a bit more. Although I don't particularly like him. I don't think you're supposed to do. I mean, he's a smug.

I kind of want to see him get his comeuppance. So I'm a little disappointed that he doesn't appear again. I think he might have turned up in a novel or something.

I think the character's out there somewhere. Surprised. Big finish. Haven't. Haven't brought him back, actually.

Yeah.

Seems perfect for that. Is the actor still alive who played him?

Well, that was Scott Frendricks. Scott Fredericks, Yeah. I. I believe. I don't want to speak ill of. Of. Of the dead, if he is, but I think he is very surprised.

Big finish. Haven't done that.

Yeah. Let me just have a look because I. I don't want to attempt or say anything untoward there. Oh, no, unfortunately, he has left us. Yeah.

Oh, he has. Okay.

Wow. Was he in a Doctor who? Do you know, I feel like I've seen him. Who was he? Because it's annoying me. I recognize him.

Yeah. So he was in. Oh, no, he was in Doctor who audio.

Okay. I feel like I've seen him in something else and I just can't place him. But I'll tell you who was in Doctor who, mate. John Bennett.

Sorry, I forgot his name. John Bennett was in Doctor who in. In a great story.

The talents of Wen Chiang playing Li Hsien Chang under a lot of prosthetics, which, of course, yeah. Controversy these days. But what did you think to see him without the prosthetics and playing a different character and, And. And that outfit?

I mean, could you get over the outfit? Could you see the performance through the outfit?

Just to go back for a second, because I know that there's going to be a few of our listeners who are screaming at their. At their speakers or their headphones or whatever. My apologies, dude. Scott Fredericks, he was in Doctor who. He was on screen two episodes. He was.

He was in Day of the Daleks, his character called Boaz, and he was in Image of the Fendal as Max Stale.

I think that's the one I'm recognizing from.

Yeah, yeah, sorry, dude. Right, sorry. Where were we?

John Bennett.

John Bennett, yeah. Kosa, I. I'm putting him in the same kind of class as. As Brian Croucher in that very intense, very. What's the. What's the word? The best word to use.

Just knows that time is running out. Even though he's quite chill. With Rochelle, they're just camping out on this planet, which is a bit confusing, which I'll come on to in a second.

But I thought his performance was really good. You could really tell that. To begin with, I was unsure of his motivation and what his end game was.

But then, as you got later on into the episode, and when he sees Blake, albeit the clone of Blake, that's when the penny drops that he's actually developed this weapon to use against the Federation.

Yeah.

And he wants Blake to have it in his arsenal so that, you know, it'll help him and so on. Which is heartbreaking because neither of them get to use it, especially Blake and his. His crew, because Rochelle sort of saves the day, if you like.

But. Yeah, so I was unsure about his motivations because he's very mean to Rochelle. He's very. There was some.

There was a little bit of backstory, wasn't there, about. Well, they mentioned it a few times where you've got this kind of hierarchy going on. And I think he. He was listed as like a grade B or a list B.

And the Rochelle, she was essentially a slave, and her. On her. Her side, she thought that. That Kosa had freed her, essentially.

So there's a couple of times where she's confused as to why he's shouting at her and why he's being horrible to her. And she's. She's like, yeah, but you freed me. And he's like, you know, bugger it. You know, I can do what I want.

So very intense, as with every other member in every cast member in this episode, it seems in a mood about everything and everybody, but, yeah, very similar to Brian Croucher, where I thought he was just a little bit theater with it, a bit chewing the wood and a bit OTT in a few places. But as is the case for most things, it seems in this episode, not terrible, not brilliant. What about you?

Yeah, I mean, I just think the problem is he's so horrible to Rochelle that it does make him quite unlikable as a character.

Where, in actual fact, like you said, when we find out more about him and why he's doing what he's doing, you know, you could feel sorry for him because he's like, they all remember my name. He's a bit of an underdog, isn't he?

So I wish he'd toned it down just a little to make him slightly more likable, but I don't know whether it's because he felt like he had to ramp up the performance to overcome that horrendous costume he's got to wear. Because, I mean, it is very Ming the Merciless, isn't it? That big collar.

You know, I mean, I just don't know what they were thinking with that outfit. But, yeah, he's. He's borderline to me. He's sort of almost there of being a really good character, but he just doesn't quite hit the mark.

Maybe I'm comparing him too much to his performance in Talisman Triang. Because he is superb in that. He's so. His performance is so measured and still and menacing. And in this.

Yeah, he's just like a grumpy old man that's selfish and throwing things around and poor. Our Rochelle's trying to be kind and look after him. And, you know, he's having none of it and shouting at her, and it's just.

Yeah, as a parent, it doesn't really work for me, to be honest.

You know, there was. Yeah, there was. Excuse me. There was one scene or one moment where I thought he was very good. He has, like, a tiny little monologue where he's.

Where he's explaining his disappointment that he's basically been forgotten. And this is his way of sort of getting back at the people who dismissed him or. Or whatever. And so his invention of IMIPAK and.

And I guess what he's foreshadowing is eventually he wanted to turn it over to Blake. And then Blake would use that to take out the Federation. And then his name would be associated with the success of Blake taking out the Federation.

And there's a little monologue where he's explaining that to Rochelle, but in a very good way that Chris Boucher does with his script. Where these little moments. And this little monologue that John Bennett has where he's basically telling us as the viewer.

Chris Boucher seems very good at doing that with his scripts. Where it's not heavy on exposition, but it's just enough that you get sort of an insight into what's going on.

And there's a bit where the camera's sort of slowly zooming in on John Bennett's face as he's doing this little monologue. And at the end, there's a nice little pause where he's like, you know, then they'll remember my name.

Yeah.

And you're like, okay, this guy means business. So there was a nice little moment like that where you. You see how serious he is and how committed he is and to all this and so on.

But the problem, like you've just mentioned, is that because he's so, so horrible to Rochelle for most of the story, Even to the point in the clip that I played before we started the review where he's telling the Blake clone about what imipak is, Rochelle says something and he shoves her out the way and you can hear off camera that she's like slammed into a chair or something.

Yeah.

So because of all that, it makes him really unlikable. Even.

Even the bit later on in the story where you find out he's done all this to escape and give this weapon to Blake, even though his intentions were supposedly good, it's made him really, really unlikable.

Yeah.

At that point.

So I was gonna say maybe we should have. Because that little speech he makes is good. And it does turn my opinion around on the character.

You know, do start to feel a little bit of empathy for him. And I was gonna say maybe we should have got that earlier on in the episode.

But then I'm thinking if we'd have had it earlier on in the episode and then he started acting like he does, maybe all the sympathy I had for him would have gone. So I'm not really sure on that. Maybe. Yeah, that's what I mean. He should. I think you are supposed to feel some sympathy for him.

And, you know, and also he is trying to bring down the Federation. So actually he's one of the good guys, but he's just not a very pleasant character. So it's a bit of a conflict, conflicting one, isn't it, that.

Yeah. Performance wise. Not bad, though. Not bad.

Yeah. And also, I mean, Rochelle is so likable as well, isn't she? And I think she gives a nice performance as well.

Yeah, yeah. She's got that very sweet sort of along, along for the ride, knowing that, you know, this is the, I guess, twofold for her.

Number one, she's been freed. So, you know, that's a thumbs up. That's a bonus.

And the second thing is that she obviously buys into Kosa's motivations for doing this somewhere because she's always. Even though he's quite horrible to her, she's.

She's like always asking him how he is and offering advice, and she's always quite optimistic about what's going on. She's like, well, you know, don't worry, you know, it's probably this. And. And that's what I mean. He's always snapping back like, shut up.

You know, I don't want to hear from you. So, yeah, so she's very, very sweet.

And she Gets stay on the planet by with clone Blake and they. They've got the IMMIPAC gun so they can go out there and perhaps fight the Federation themselves.

Yeah, so, yeah. And she was called Can. Can. Candace Gladdening was the actress who played her. And some trivia.

She initially auditioned back before series one for the role of Jenna.

Oh, I didn't know that.

Yeah, Obviously didn't go to her. But yeah, she had a nice little part, actually. She was quite. In a way. It's kind of weird because the story doesn't unfold to anyone's success.

You know, Serverland views this as a failure because Blake has escaped again and this very impressive, powerful weapon is out of her hands. Cornell has escaped. Travis is still a dick. So in her point, from her point of view, it's been a big fail.

Yeah.

From Blake's point of view, it's been a big fail because even though they were on the case, even though Avon was very much against it, they had this plan that hasn't gone either. So in a way. And obviously Corsair's dead, so. So in a way, Rochelle has like, been the one that's kind of got the victory. She's got the W. Right.

Because you're right.

Yeah.

She's been freed. She's on this planet that she can now, you know, unless anyone else turns up, she can kind of call her own.

She's got a friend, the new Blake clone, and together, you know, they can. They can do whatever they want. And she's got this really, really powerful weapon, so not many people are going to mess with her. So, yeah, she's.

She's the one that's come out of it. Almost the winner.

Yeah, that's true. I mean, I like the fact that she does because I like the character, but I also hate all those loose ends that you've just.

You've just pointed out, because I think that's why, although I find this a watchable episode, I think that's the thing that frustrates me about it. Is it when it ends, it's got so many loose ends. You know, you got the clone Blake still alive, which I don't like.

You've got half the crew have been marked for death and could be killed at any minute if someone accidentally presses a button. You know, there's all this stuff about how close do you have to be to them to. For it to work?

A million miles radius, apparently.

Yeah, I just don't like any of that. Just any of it. That is just. Yeah, I'm Not a fan of when loose ends aren't tied up like that. But I think the clone thing bugs me the most, mate.

I really don't like that there's a clone Blake out there. I don't know why it bugs me, but it does.

Yeah.

I just want one Blake.

It's strange, isn't it?

One thing you mentioned is really funny because, you know, when you sit on the remote control, we've all done it, you know, you come back with your takeaway and you plop yourself down on the sofa or the couch and your TV turns over or turns off, you're like, sat on this bloody remote again. That's obviously gonna happen.

Rochelle's gonna do that with that control thing and there's gonna just gonna be loads of people dropping dead everywhere.

Imagine if. Because who gets marked? Gan, Avon and Blake. Yeah. Imagine if they're just chatting away and they just all drop dead.

And she sort of sat there watching Simpsons on the tv. Oh, I've sat on the. I've sat on the key device.

Oh, yeah, the Blake clones. Like, you know, you've just sat on that, right? Ah, yeah. I'm sure they're out of range now. I'm sure they are. But the clone, the.

The clone of Blake to just to wind you up even more, mate.

Oh, no, there could be Blake's 7 spin off. Has he got a big finished spin off?

There could be more clone Blake. Blake clones. Sorry. Because it seems like the. The clone master Fen was able to. To churn these out reasonably quickly, very quick.

So who's to say that she didn't A, warm up with a few before that one and B, after this one's gone. Serverland's like, well, I need a couple more just in case. Yeah. So, mate, there could be five or six Blakes knocking around.

When this went out before you were born. Yeah, I guess clone, you know, I mean, nowadays it's such a.

The concept of cloning and that is just so overused, especially in sci fi and that, isn't it? It's been done to death. So Especially if you watch Rick and Morty. So I think, you know, I've got to give it a bit of slack.

And maybe it would have played out better back then, so I'll give it a bit of slack on that. But yeah, the idea of lots of Blakes running around is. I don't know.

Yeah.

Takes away from the originality of the original, you know, of Blake.

Sure. Yeah. The other thing is that when you do that, you have to be certain that you've kind of written that character off.

I don't mean kill them, but you've just written them off. As in there wouldn't be any need for them to come back in the future. Because that does give you that. We've. We've had this with Doctor who, don't we?

Where any listener.

If you've watched the last, a couple of seasons of Doctor who, you'll know that there's been some very high stakes stuff going on there and there's been no help from the Doctor that's got his slippers on watching TV in Chiswick with, with, with the nobles.

Oh, yeah, yeah.

So that's a. Because of that by generation thing.

You've got David Tennant's Doctor who is the Doctor with his own TARDIS in London and doesn't make an appearance at all to help anybody when all this is going down. So that's what you don't want with this whole, you know, multiple character thing.

So I'm reasonably satisfied, I don't know about you, that this, this clone of Blake is kind of happy where he is with Rochelle. Let's. I guess you can call it that. That's cool. Maybe.

Yeah, Yeah. I was gonna say, I think it's just. Yeah, no, I get what you're saying. I mean, that's what I mean.

You don't want sort of like a big climatic ending to a show where, you know, Blake is shot and he's on the floor and then, oh no, Blake's dead and it's like the face falls off. It's all right, it's just the clone. It was the clone all along, the whole series. Blake's safe in the, in a room in the liray.

You know, it just, it opens up a door that gives, you know, an easy answer to some potentially big cliffhangers. That's what I don't like. And just to reassure you, mate, we don't see the clone again. So you know, that isn't going to happen.

Don't want you to worry.

Well, that's good because some writers write themselves into a corner sometimes and the get out of jail free card is the.

Exactly.

That wasn't really Blake all along, that was the clone. Here's the real Blake, as you said, you know, on with the story, you know, worry over. So I. I read you. Yeah.

I'll tell you one person that might have been happy with the opening scene with the clone, and that's Dudley Simpson. Because he's like, get the. Get the chorus girls in. Let's get some choral music going. We want. Because he.

Let's bring that giant church organ in as well. I need that because we've got a clone scene coming up and we need some really, you know, big music. And it's nice music.

I sound like I'm taking the mickey. I love it, but it's. Yeah, Dudley's. I think he's having fun in that scene, so I think he might have liked the clone.

Oh, for sure. Yeah. So I. Do you know what? I. We've mentioned this a few times before, but I love that Dudley has just grabbed Blake's 7 by the scruff.

Yeah. Oh, yeah.

And it's just made it his own. And it's just so. His music is so applicable to the story that and the. The themes from each episode.

I mean, when you saw that scene, mate, that. That music is. Is. It's like the Murray Gold of today, isn't it? He's really going for it, isn't he?

Absolutely, yeah.

I love it. I will say, though, I didn't notice much other music in the episode, so I don't want to. I don't want to big Dudley up and then go down on him.

But great music in the clone scene, but I didn't notice much else. There was a couple of really quiet moments on location where I felt like, you know, it's almost as if Dudley delivered that bit of music.

He said, there you go, and he went off on holiday. And they're like, oh, Dudley. But we've still got another 30 minutes of episode. Oh, he's gone.

Because there was a lot of quiet moments where I felt like they should have been little bits of music, which probably more down to the director than the. Than the composer, to be fair, or the editor. I don't know.

Yeah, yeah. There was a few bits here and there as we got through the final act, there was a few bits of music there. But the standout was obviously the.

The opening bit with the clone stuff.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And that was quite a. Quite a big dramatic scene as well. You know, the way that Fen walks down the stairs slowly holding the cloak up, and it's quite impressive.

You know, they just. They didn't want to any. Anyone else would have just had a scientist in the corner with a clipboard and they just turn around and. Oh, yeah.

Interested in clones, are you? Watch this. And then. Yeah, so it was quite a big, dramatic, impressive entrance and almost.

Almost magical rather than scientific in its delivery, that whole clone master thing. So. And obviously Dudley read that and was like, okay, we need some big. Some big music here. So. And he delivered. It was very cool.

And also I think a good example of Blake's 7 making a set that, to be fair, is pretty basic look, quite grand. I mean, it looks good on screen, but then when you sort of take a close look at it, it really is just a walkway with some curtains. You know, it's.

Blake's 7 is so resourceful with his budget, mate. Did. I mean, did you think that or did you think it looked bad, that set? I personally, I was like, that's. That's pretty impressive.

But it really is just some curtains and a. And a walkway.

Yeah, I felt it looked okay.

Okay.

All right. But then I immediately thought, I'm just in love with it because that's the charm of it is the low budget stuff.

And nobody who was building that set had a spirit level in sight. All the steps are uneven and curved and there's no straight legs.

But that's the, that's the beauty of these types of show, like the old school classic Doctor who and Blake's 7. It's. Yeah, it just. And I've started watching this other show recently from one of our other team members on. On the Big Blue Box.

They're starting their own podcast about it. It's called Sapphire and Steel.

Mm.

And I've started watching that recently and that's got the same thing. It's got that real sort of, you know, low budget make do with what you've got, sort of old British sci fi. And it's. It's so wonderful.

It is really one. Yeah, I love it.

Did you love the fact that. That Travis shoots Blake straight away? He's like a rabid dog. Can't wait to shoot him. Blake must die.

Yeah. That was so cool because that was part of the bit where I thought he was dreaming.

Yeah.

I thought, oh, no, surely Travis hasn't killed off the main character three episodes in. It must be a premonition or a dream or something. And then he gets wound up, does he? Big time. When he knows he's been played.

Oh, yeah.

By Serval.

And she's just rolling her eyes saying, God, you could have let him, you know, could have at least let him Speak before you shoot him. Oh, I've got go make another one now. I've got go and speak to that old bag sat behind the curtain.

Oh, Travis, that old back. Yeah.

What does she call a tiresome woman or something? I can't.

A dreary old woman or something. Yeah. But, yeah. So just two. Just couple things and then one other quick thing to finish up on the rest of the crew. Then on Blake's side, not so.

Not too much going on on this one, especially from Villa and Cali and Jenna, to be fair. Yeah, there was. There was a couple of conversations towards, you know, near the beginning when they're all deciding if what's going on with the next.

The next plan, basically. And you've got that typical friction between Avon and Blake. So I just want to talk about Avon. Just very quickly loved him in this, as always. But not.

Not in it as much as I would have liked, other than the very fetching red leather outfit towards the end.

Yeah. Well, I was thinking that he was looking very plain to begin with. He's just wearing like a black roll neck and it's almost as if just.

Is Paul in rehearsals? Does he realize there?

Because he's, you know, normally wearing something a bit more fetching, but he more than makes up with it for it with that crab outfit or whatever it is.

It's so funny. He's got the. I think, as well. I could be wrong, but I think he had a pair of matching red leather stacked heels, little boots as well.

He had the whole shebang. Yeah. But he was really good, as always.

And I love the fact that he's also trying to make the crew aware that once again, they're following Blake blindly into a suicide mission and he cannot wrap his head around it. It's so good. So what. And I'm. You know what? I'm so glad more than anything that. That Chris Boucher has taken on that.

That sort of set of outlooks from certain characters and carried them forward post Terry Nation. And one of those things was the. The friction and the contempt of. Of Avon for Blake and. And those two, like, squabbling, you know, siblings from.

From the playground. And it's. Yeah.

So the thing that's interesting, though, is that even though Avon makes perfect sense and is making a perfectly rational observation and he's saying it everybody out loud, he can't get his head around it. He's like, look, this is a bloody awful plan. Oracle has even said, this is not good. Like, I cannot make this any clearer to you.

All this Is bad, bad, bad, bad. But then, you know, I think Jenna's like, well, shut up, because we're doing it. And Gan's like, well, yeah, pretty good idea, to be fair.

You know, I'm on board sort of thing. And then you've got Avon's faces up. Paul Darrow's face is just a picture. He cannot believe it. He's like, what's wrong with all of you?

What is it gonna take?

He's like, it's brilliant, mate. So I just wish there was a little bit more of that because that provides a bit of an anchor to the madness that's going on.

But, yeah, so on Blake's side, mate, not a great deal going on with those guys. It's mainly. It's mainly Gareth Thomas and. And Gan and. Sorry, Gan. And David Jackson and Paul Darrow doing their thing.

But, yeah, a bit of a back seat for the rest of them.

Yeah. I mean, the Liberator crew don't get a lot to do in this one, sadly. There is some nice moments, though, isn't there?

I just love the way Ava waltzes in with that circuit board. He's like, I've discovered Blake is planning something behind our back and you just can't wait to tell him. So lovely moments like that.

I also love Blake getting cross with all Rack when. All right, well, I could find the answer, but it would take a lot of time and it's not worth it. And Blake's like, do it anyway. You know, just.

I've said this before, but I'll say it again. I love the personality they've managed to give a box of flashing lights. You know, he's just a box of flashing lights.

Ulrich's got such a great personality, and it is totally sold to us as a viewer by the way that the cast interact with it. And. Yeah, so, you know, Blake in this episode, for example, when he's getting cross of Ulrich, is a joy to watch. Yeah.

It's just that unfortunately, like you said, not enough of it in this episode. Just those little moments of fun.

Yeah, yeah, definitely. And I'm so glad you've mentioned that, bud. You make such a good point.

Because when you have inanimate objects or computers or puppets or whatever, it relies so much on the reaction of the actors on set to sell that illusion that this little acrylic box of lights is actually a thing that you're conversing with, or Zen. You know, it really relies on.

Because one of the things that could have sent Star wars tumbling down at the path to Failure was in the Empire Strikes Back, that whole really long 45 minutes worth of Luke being on Dagobah with the ODA.

Oh, yeah.

If it wasn't down to Mark Hamill's performance, acting off of a puppet, that would have broken the illusion and it would have been awful. So it's exactly the same thing applied here, isn't it?

You have to have the actors reacting to a voice somewhere and, you know, a non human thing for it to sell the illusion that this is a. An important part or a thing in the. In the plot that's carrying the story along.

So I'm so glad you mentioned that because it's one of those things where I think about it from time to time, but I never remember to say it in the reviews. But the way that Blake loses his rag with. With Aurak, it's brilliant. The way that Avon loses his rag with Zen sometimes. It's all just so good.

It is, mate. And we've got some. Got some really good moments with All Racks at Carl Mattelia where the crew are like, oh, we've got some good stuff.

And yeah, they totally sell it. You're right, it's important. It makes the show work.

Yeah, yeah, definitely. Because otherwise it'd be, oh, yeah, that's obviously a guy with a microphone off camera somewhere.

That doesn't really work because, say, the timing's perfect, their reactions are great. It's. Yeah, it's all good. The last thing I just want to mention is in terms of the.

The story, and I'm trying not to end on a bit of a bummer, but I think it's common knowledge that, and this has been noted down and there's probably, you know, very hardcore Blake's 7 fans who can get in touch and let us know more on this subject. But I've only got the headlines.

But it was kind of common knowledge that Chris Boucher really, really did not like working with George, Spence and Foster. He hated working with him at the time because he just didn't really agree with just the way he directed, basically his methods and so on.

And then fast forward to when this actually went out and broadcast. Chris Boucher was really unhappy with this one.

And his main reason that he gave this being one of his just being very unhappy with it was because of the direction.

And I would say that one of the reasons just to finish up on it, the reasons why I felt like this episode feels quite flat the majority of the time is because, I don't know, I just feel like the actors are not. There's not that sort of twinkle in their eyes, if that makes sense that I've had from the last couple of episodes in this series.

I can just tell that something wasn't quite clicking with them. You know, it's other than like a little line here and there or a little. Little smile here or something. Yeah. Don't. About you. I could just.

You can just tell that something wasn't. Like the cogs weren't turning properly.

Yeah. No performance. Yeah, I agree.

Actually, I was thinking about it when you was talking about Avon earlier, because although he gets the great moments and you talked about that scene when he's telling him about Blake's secret plan and that. I was thinking of other moments where. Yeah, you just feel like.

Like Paul Darry is still giving a great performance, but you just feel like you can't put your finger on it. But there's something not right. There's some.

There's a line, for example, when he says something to Villa, which normally he would deliver just bang on. It would be such a cutting line. But he says something about Villa being stupid or something. It just doesn't quite come off.

And it's just little moments like that where you think, yeah, there's just something a little off about this episode. And I can't put my finger on it because the cast is still doing a great job. Interesting ideas, as I said, but it just doesn't quite.

Like you said, the cogs are not quite turning in. In sync. I don't know. Something's a little off with it. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. I'm glad I'm not the only one that picks up on that.

No, no, you're not.

Yeah. Cool. Alrighty, Anything else on your notes? Anything else you want to mention about. About Weapon from Series B?

No, no, I think we're good.

Good. Right, scores. You go first this week, bud.

Yeah. I'm gonna give this a 6 out of 10. Well, I thought I was being generous, mate. I was sort of hovering around a five because I. I do find it.

I do find it an okay watch. Like, I don't think it's bad, but I just don't think it's up there as an episode that I'm going to reach for that often.

And to be honest, I'll sum it up, they had really good ideas going on in it. It just. They just don't come to fruition.

And in a strange way, mate, this episode is an example of why I love Blake's 7 in a weird way, because even with its faults, there's still a lot to Enjoy in it. And that's. That's what I feel about, you know, a lot of. A lot of the. The show.

You know, there are episodes I love, obviously, but there are episodes like this in Blake's 7 where you just can't put your finger on it. It's just not as good as the rest. But it's still got these moments that are so good that it's. It's worth putting on. Yeah. I mean, it's not an episode.

Let's take Sleep no More from Doctor who's example. You'd never want to reach for that. You know, it's not one of those episodes.

I. I'm struggling to think if there is any episode Blake's 7, there might be one, maybe two that by choice I wouldn't reach for. This isn't one of them. That's what I mean. There's always something to enjoy in Blake's 7, I think, even in a below par episode like this.

Right. It makes sense, dude. Yep. A six. Then I'm gonna give it a 6.5.

Okay. I think that's fair.

I'm gonna edge out from your score just a touch.

Yeah.

Because I feel like it wasn't. It wasn't up there with. I feel I.

Obviously I've not got a very good crystal ball with this stuff, but I feel like we've got way better episodes to come in this series. I feel like, yeah, we're in for some really good stuff.

And in a weird way, even though last week, like, there wasn't as much meat on the bones as this week, provided this episode, I enjoyed that more. I enjoyed the performances a bit more. And I'm giving it that extra 0.5 just because of Serverland and she's back and.

And some of that stuff with Travis and whatnot is very cool. But the rest of it, yeah, not terrible. Not a bad watch at all. Not a bad episode. Just something not quite clicking that we're used to.

And I think, mate, the score would have been high for me. I don't know if you'd agree if it wasn't for the ending.

I feel the ending to this episode, too many loose ends and it just leaves me feeling really unsatisfied with the overall story. I think the ending really lets. Lets the episode down for me.

Yeah. Yeah. Let's finish on an interesting bit of trivia. Chris Boucher later on. You know the character in this Carnell that we've spoken about?

Oh, yes. Yeah.

He used that very character in a novel and a series of audio dramas in the world of Doctor who.

Ah, is that Keldor City?

No idea.

Oh, okay. I know they did an audio series called Keldor City. Um, gosh, I haven't listened to that in years.

And yeah, it'd be interesting if it is that, because I did listen to them back in the day. They were not bad. Some of it was good. Yeah.

Okay. Yeah. So apparently Karnell from this is in the World, the universe of Doctor who.

Ah, there we go. So you made it. Just another interest. Another interesting thing, mate.

Just before we wrap up, I was just looking down the list of episodes we've got in this series and I'm sort of surprised to see that this George Spent and Foster, he's directed a couple in this series. It's going to be interesting to see if. Because one of them is an episode I really like. So it's going to be interesting to see how they play out.

Because I wasn't aware of the fact that he was unpopular with the cast and crew. Not just Brian Croucher, but other crew members spoke out about him on the new Blu Ray set.

So I wasn't aware of this until recently, having watched those documentaries. But yeah, there's a couple of episodes coming up that he's directed and one of them. Well, two or three of them actually. Yeah, pretty good.

So I don't know, we'll see. See how that plays out.

Yeah, I think he does another three stories in the series, so that'll be interesting, won't it? Yeah. Alrighty. So a six from Adam, 6.5 from me. That's a good place to end it for our review of Weapon from series B.

Indeed.

Ready? All right. Pretty middle of the road scores for Weapon. I think we were hoping for a little bit more. I certainly was, with Server and Travis back and.

And all that stuff, but not terrible. I'm still going to watch it again, obviously, when I get around to doing a Blake's 7 re watch, I won't skip it.

I will give it another watch, of course, because it was a reasonably enjoyable one. And this will probably be like your 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th time of watching it, I guess, over the years. So it probably is, yeah.

Next week we will be back for our next review which will be the episode Horizon.

And as always, I will go into this fresh as the newbie and Adam will be the seasoned Blake Sleep 7 hardcore professional fan watching it for the umpteenth time.

And if you would like to hear our reviews on that, if you are listening to this for the first time or you've joined us fresh for series B, make sure you're following or subscribing in your preferred podcast app of choice. That way you'll get a notification when that episode drops and you can join us in our journey through series B of Blake's 7.

You can also find us over on the socials. We are on X and Blue Sky. Just do a search for at Blake's 7 podcast and come and get involved in the Blake's 7 chat.

They're really cool, really good community of Blake's 7 fans and other creators on, on both X and Blue Sky.

It's been really cool to chat with all of those guys and just, yeah, dive into that whole world and speak about the same things and, and fan theories and upcoming Blu ray stuff. So yeah, it's been really cool and we'd love to have you along to carry on all that Blake7 chat.

Also, don't forget to check out my co host channel over on YouTube. It's called the Geek's Handbag.

Yeah, the Geeks Handbag started uploading some new videos recently. All geeky stuff. There is a Blake's 7 convention video on there from way back. So yeah, go and check it out. The Geeks Handbag also under the sun.

Socials under the same name. The Geek's Handbag.

The Geek's Handbag. Go and grab a cup of tea, a snack if you like as well. Fire up the Geek's Handbag. And yeah, loads of really cool geeky stuff from Adam over there.

So go and check that out. Until next time, bud. It's been really cool to chat through Blake7 as always. Loving it. Cheers, bud.

Yeah, even an episode that's, you know, I think sometimes we have more talk about when it's one that's perhaps not as good as the rest. So yeah, it's always fun mate. Always fun.

So until next time, take care of yourselves and thank you so much for checking out another episode of Federation Strike a journey through Blake's 7. Sat.