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

Hey, Blake's 7 fans, and thank you for tuning in for our latest episode and our review of Horizon.

Everybody's knackered. The Liberator crew are running on fumes, tempers are fraying, and Blake still wants to go and poke his nose into an uncharted planet. Classic Blake.

Written by Allan Prior in his first script for Blake's 7, it's not the show at its most spectacular, but it's got a quiet confidence to it. A nicely paced story about a colonial ruler being freed from Federation control while the crew are forced into hard labour.

All of them except Avon, who has to decide whether to take the Liberator and disappear into space or go back for the rest of them. This scene stopped Garry dead in his tracks. Amazing.

Listen now for our thoughts and review of Blake's 7 Series B, Episode 4 - Horizon.

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. My name is Garry.

My name is Adam.

And welcome to season two, episode four and our review of Horizon. Never ever get bored of that theme.

No, me either.

We say it pretty much every week, don't we? But I don't care. It's such an amazing theme.

I never skip it either. Like when I'm watching the episodes. Never skip that intro.

Same samesies, mate. Yeah. Welcome everybody to Federation Strike.

It's great to have you here listening to our next episode in our second season as we go through series B of Blake's 7. Sticking the Old Blu Rays in.

Yeah.

Having to get up off the couch to go and put a physical disc into a thing that's a Victorian workhouse or something.

That's right.

I jest, of course. It's great having the old physical media. And before we get cracking with the review, what version did you watch this week, dude?

Yes, I watched the. I watched the standard, of course, and I did have a little look at the new effects just to see.

And yeah, it is fairly minimal on this, on this episode. Some nice. They've done some nice special effects for the kind of the crazy tunnel, the thing that the Liberator goes through, the. What's it called?

The barrier. The electronic barrier.

Magnetic barrier. Yes.

Yeah, they've redone that a little bit and a few other little bits, but not too much on this one. Couple of new Liberator shots which.

Oh, they're a little controversial with me, mate, because I just, I love the original Liberator shots and I think if there's one thing that probably doesn't need redoing, it's the gorgeous model Liberator shots from the original. But there's a couple of new ones in there. They do look good. They do look great. But I don't know, just there's.

There's one particular Liberator shot I've said to you before. They use it a lot. It's like a sort of.

I guess it's the full size model because it's probably the best model shot of the Liberator from the original series. And it looks, you know, they use it a few times to sort of zoom in on it and I think it's like the pinnacle of.

Of the special effects and I think, yeah, that. That just doesn't need replacing ever.

But I think it was in this episode with a new CGI Liberator, which looks nice, but give me the original model shot anytime on that one.

Okay.

What about yourself, mate? Did you Watch this once or twice.

I watched this once and I changed it up a little bit. I went in with the. I went in with the. The. With the new effects turned on on this one.

Very naughty. Very naughty.

Right, I know. I just thought. I was sat there and I thought, you know what, Garry? Let's. Let's change it up a little bit just for this week.

This is not a permanent thing, but I thought, this week I'm just gonna throw. I'm gonna throw caution to the wind, live a little, put the old VFX on, see how we get on.

And thankfully, like you said, it was fairly minimal, this one.

So, you know, and let's be honest, when you watch these episodes in their original form, which is what we usually do before we watch the VFX parts, the new stuff, the model shots, they repeat a lot of them anyway, like the camera passes on the model and that sort of thing. So, yeah, I didn't miss out on the Purist model stuff because they probably would have reused a bunch of.

Because it's just the Liberator going from A to B across space, and there's another shot of it just being in orbit, just there, you know, the planet in the background. So I'm comfortable that I didn't miss out on any, you know, really cool original model work on this one.

I'm just looking through the episodes, actually, to see which episodes might have the most, you know, new model shots inserted for the Blu Rays. And I'm not sure, looking down the list, and a lot of these, because series B did get, you know, a little bit more money back in the day, I believe.

So you definitely see a bit more money spent on the series in series B. So I'm not sure that they needed that much updating.

But, yeah, looking through, I don't think there's anything that's jumping out at me where I think, oh, gosh, yes, that model shot was really bad. I am curious to see perhaps the beginning of Star One. I think that has a sort of straight. If I'm. If I'm thinking right, maybe getting mixed up.

We'll see when we get to it. But I think Star One starts with, like, slightly dodgy spaceship model. But I may be getting mixed up. I don't know, but we'll see.

But that the ship I'm thinking of looks like a big cereal bowl dish with a cross at the front of it. And I think it's in start one. And I'm almost certain that model shot will have been replaced when we get to it.

I'll be amazed if that spaceship has survived and another shots have been updated. So we'll see. I'm pretty sure it's the beginning of Star One that I'm thinking of.

Well, from your description, it sounds like it probably would have been. So we'll see. We'll see. Yeah. So, purest version for your original, newer version for me on this one.

Alrighty, before we get cracking with the review, as I said, thank you so much for Dear Listener, for joining us for another episode of Federation Strike. We hope you listened to the last few episodes as we kicked off series B and you're with us on this journey.

And also you've listened to last season last year, where we went through all of series A and some of those cool bonus episodes as well, where we spoke to people like Chris Thompson who have done the updated model shots and some of the visual effects, etc. So there's lots of cool stuff to go already on the. On the back catalogue.

And so make sure you're following or subscribing to us in your preferred podcast app of choice. That way you won't miss a notification when the new episodes drop. And you can also chat with us about Blake's 7 over on the Socials on X and Bluesky.

Just do a Search for Blake's 7 podcast, you'll find us on there. Or just do a search for Federation Strike. You'll find us and come and chat all things Blake7.

And we've chatted to some really, really cool Blake7 fans already. So hello to you guys and we look forward to chatting a lot more as we go through series B and beyond on on the old Federation Strike.

So, mate, what's up for review this week?

Yeah, so we're on episode four and we've got a new writer in the chair, mate, a chap called Alan Pryor writing this one. And it's called Horizon.

Teleport range is confirmed. All right. Gun, anything on the detectors? Not a thing. We're all alone up here. Make sure we stay that way. I'll try not to drop off.

Well, that's all right. Assuming they haven't got a fix on us from the ground by now.

No, it'd be raining plasma bolts if they had.

Why exactly are we going down?

Resistance needs a base, Jenna. Thank you. Somewhere to operate from.

And this could be it.

That's as good as any other we know the Federation only visit it once a year. It's on the edge of the spiral rim. Oh, hell, I'm tired of running. Jenna. We must get at least one planet behind us.

Why are you taking me with you?

I trust you to back me.

Thanks. But there's more to it than that. You are very deliberate, covering the angles. How do you mean?

Avon might run, but he probably won't without a first class pilot. He plays the percentages. Unlike you.

I'm ready if you are.

Alrighty, the episode Horizon. Coming off the back of an episode that we weren't mega keen on.

I'll be honest with you, last week with, with the episode Weapon, so I don't know about you, mate, but I was hoping for one with a bit more meat on the bones.

Yes, yes. I'm not sure if that's what we got, but.

Yeah, yeah, because last week there wasn't much meat on the. There wasn't that much going around. But we did praise some of the performances and, and that stuff.

And yes, Alan Pryor's now writing the script, overseen by Chris Belcher, who's still the script editor. And this was directed by Jonathan Wright Miller.

And the old synopsis from the old VHS says, just what is the connection between the Federation and the mysterious planet Horizon? Blake is curious and Xen and Aurak have come up with a blank. Could it really be the bolt hole they all need? The only way to find out is to go down.

Yeah, truer words were never written straight off the bat. Dude. I thought this was hilarious how this episode started, what with them all being.

Short tempered and tired.

Yeah, on one hand I thought it was genius writing by Alan Pryor because in, in most TV series and most especially science fiction and so on, it feels like everybody's got superpowers because no one ever sleeps, no one's ever tired. You know, you never see the meat, you never did. They're just constantly on the go.

So I thought it was a really cool, nice way of grounding everybody by just giving it really this real human touch to it all, where essentially they're all just knackered. Yeah, I think Cali describes it as they're all sort of fatigued with space stress, I think, and. And Villa's really playing it up, isn't he?

He's got the, you know, I think his new nickname should be Sick Note. He's really playing it up. And the only one that's still sort of Pushing through is Blake, really. He's still keen.

Especially when they find out what's going on with this new. This new planet that they've come across. And the way that they kicked that off was really cool as well. Where I liked the reuse of the.

Of the ship from the very first episode of Blake's 7. Or the second one.

Sorry, yeah, the Londoner. London.

The Londoner, yeah. It's the same model, isn't it, they use for this freighter ship.

Just as passing ship doesn't know the Liberators there and they piggyback off of it and come across this planet Horizon. So, yeah, I thought the. The. The opening part of it, the first 10 minutes or so was. Was really good.

It was really clever writing because it showed that very human side with the more beings hired, but at the same time hilarious as well. It's like, do we need to. Do we need to see this? Is it adding anything to the story? Probably not, but it's just very cool to see. But, yeah.

What were your. Your thoughts on this one, mate?

Yeah, I mean, you said you were hoping for an episode of a bit more Beat Me on the Bones. I think there is a little bit more meat on this one. I definitely enjoyed it more than Weapon. It's not a story I reach for very often, Horizon.

So when I was putting it on the other day, like you said, the physical disc, when I put it in, I was thinking, oh, is this not a good episode? I don't remember a lot about it. Let's see what this one, you know, is like. Why don't I reach for it very often, in other words? And you know what?

It's not a great episode, but I actually found it quite enjoyable.

I think maybe the reason I don't sort of levitate towards this when I'm looking for an episode to watch is it's for one of a better phrase, it's fun, it's enjoyable, but it's a little bit forgettable. Like, there's nothing really, like you said that it doesn't really add much to the ongoing story. So I wouldn't say it's filler.

I think it's better than that. I think, like you said, there's some great moments in the script.

Once again, the cast are really good in it and there is a lot of fun moments and there is an interesting plot at the center of it.

I do like this idea of, you know, this character Ro being sort of used as a puppet and finally, you know, growing a pair and becoming his own leader, if you like. So I. I think there is a lot more to this than perhaps I'd initially sort of given it credit for in my head, if you know what I mean.

So it's one that I enjoyed, mate. I don't think it's up there as a. One of my favorites, but it is one that I could stick on again and happily rewatch.

You know, I tell you, one person who I think probably did love this script when he got it was probably Paul Darrow. When he read that, he just gets to. When he was, you know, land on the planet and saves the day.

Like, I can imagine he relished in that when he saw that in the script. Like, when it gets to the end and he just goes down and.

All right, then I guess I've got to save all of you, you know, I mean, so I would imagine he enjoyed it. But, yeah, I. I think it's a good episode. It's not great. It's not bad. It's good. It's certainly better than. Than last week's, I would say.

Yes. No, I agree. I think this is a good watch, this one. There wasn't anything too crazy in terms of high stakes with Blake's Lot versus the Federation.

I felt like, even though we didn't rate last week's mega highly, I felt like the stakes were a lot higher with. With the weapon that was up for grabs, imipak and. Yeah. And the potential that that had and all that stuff.

Whereas this one, the stakes aren't quite as high because it's noted a couple of times in the episode that the Federation is out of range for sort of radio communication. So it's like an isolated little thing going on. So the.

The guys that have turned up, you know, the commissar and the assistant commissar that have turned up from the Federation with this yearly visit. That's about as deep as it goes with Federation stuff. And we get a little bit of insight later on about how the Commissar has treated certain people.

So one of the sort of straw that breaks the camel's back, figuratively, as we get further into the story, is when Roe discovers that it was the commissar that killed his father. Yeah. And has sort of brainwashed him a little bit into this way of, you know, the. The Federation way of thinking and of doing things. And so he.

Yeah, he said he loses it towards the end. And very calmly, we'll get onto that ending in a minute. But. So, yeah, there was a. There wasn't. The stakes weren't as high.

There wasn't as much on the line, if that makes sense. But it was a. It was a good watch because you could see. You could see the. The relationship between Roe and the Commissar.

Degrading throughout the story.

Yeah.

So what was once this kind of strong relationship? And Ro has been put in charge of this planet. And it's a fairly simple thing, isn't it? He hasn't. It's not too taxing for him.

He just has to oversee, like, this mining of Monopacium 239, which. I've got some. Yeah, I've got some in the fridge. Yeah. So they're. They're mining that. And that's pretty much it.

You know, that's what the Federation is interested in, is mining the planet, essentially. And Rose just overseeing. It's pretty simple. So.

Which is why they only turn up, I think, every year in that very, very, very cool but simple model, I think. Did we call it the Londoner earlier? I think it's just called the London. The London, yeah, yeah, from Space4. And so, yeah, there was.

There was that going on and that. That, to me was the. The key part of the story, which is really cool, where Blake gets in, gets in Rose head very quickly to.

To basically say, look, you're just a puppet. You know, you're. Don't think of yourself as this great ruler of this planet.

You're under the thumb of the Federation and, you know, you try and forget that or do your own thing or go against that, you're going to be killed. Which then gets the cogs turning in Ro's head.

And when Callie turns up, she then plants another seed about his father being killed by the Commissar and all that. And so, yeah, the relationship side of things, as that falls apart. And then Ro taking charge and going back to his roots, as, you know, he calls it.

You know, in the episode, he's like, I don't want to go back to being a savage and. Yeah, and all that, but, yeah, he goes back to his roots and handles things. So for that reason, I really like the scripts and.

And how that played out throughout the story. It was one of those stories where it wasn't rushed, but it wasn't Paddy either. It was. It just had a nice pace to it then if you found that.

Yeah, I did. And I think that's the thing. I think when, perhaps when I've watched this in the past. Yeah, I wasn't. So I was gonna say.

I wouldn't say it was boring, but, yeah, I. Rewatching this again Last night I'd found it was very nicely paced, actually. And I was much more invested in, like you, that storyline you've just talked about with Ro and how he's being manipulated.

And I like the fact that Blake, you know, tells him about his father. And then you got Selma thrown into the mix as well, you know, his sort of love interest. So it is you do.

I think what I'm trying to say, mate, is perhaps I haven't watched this properly before. Maybe I've kind of put it on. It's not really got my attention, so I've left it sort of playing the background when we do reviews.

I properly watch these episodes and this is an episode I appreciated more on this rewatch, I think. Yeah, I was definitely invested in that story.

I loved it when he appeared at the end in his full regalia, you know, Rom, I'm talking about, you know, like, yes, he's not just coming, you know, in his casuals. He's. He's going. Going for it. He's got the full suit on. And yeah, I was. Yeah, I. I found myself enjoying this a lot more thought.

And I loved all the stuff with Avon, you know, I think that's the bit I remember from the story, from watching it before, is Avon getting the chance to, you know, just take the Liberator and go. You know, the fact that he has, you know, that he resists doing so.

And the bit I'd forgotten about, which I absolutely loved, was when Orac gives in the percentages of survival if he was to leave, leave them all, you know, because that's the thing with Avon. He. He is clever. He's. He plays by percentages, you know, and we get to see that very much in this episode.

He wants to know all the percentages for his actions, you know, which is. I think one of the reasons he stays with the Liberator crew is because he knows he's safer with them than without them.

Otherwise if they were no use to him. He's very calculating. Everyone, you know, he would go for that's.

It's because it's not through love that he stays with Blake and the rest of them, is it? You know, he likes them, but he doesn't stay with them because he wants to be with them.

It's because he knows he's got a better chance of survival with them rather than without them. And I think that comes into play here. And I love that when he's talking to Orak and Aurak gives him a three to one chance, doesn't he?

And he's just about to go, and then he asks then how many pursuit ships? Three. And he has this little grin on his face of, well, what about that? What are the chances of that? Three to one. That's given me my answer.

That's all I needed to know. And I just. I love the little look he gives of like, it's almost as if he. He wanted to go, but he didn't. Do you know what I mean?

And that told him I wouldn't go. He gave him the answer he needed. So I loved all that in this episode as well.

Yeah. Just before I comment on that stuff, I just want to just go back to the character Ro, just very quickly played by Darian and Gandhi.

I thought his performance was.

Was good because it follows the character progression really nicely, where at the beginning he's got this kind of false strongness to him, which you can tell is false. And then the middle part of the episode is him going slightly more against the commissar and the Federation, and he's very quite.

He's quite timid and he doesn't know what's going on and doesn't know who to believe. And then at the end, he comes back as just this badass, you know, and takes out the commissar.

So, yeah, just before we move on, before I forget, just some props to Darien and Gardi. He was. I thought he was really good.

Yeah.

I'm glad you went back about and said that, mate, because that is another part of the story which I enjoyed more, because before I rewatched this, if you'd asked me about those characters, Rowe and Selma, I remember being pretty wet, you know, didn't really care much about them. And. And like I said earlier, I did find myself getting invested in Ro's storyline and the fact that he does finally stand up for himself.

So, yeah, that was something else that was better than I remembered. Those two characters, I believe they were dating in real life when they filmed this. Those two. I think they say it on the Blu ray. Yeah. So nice.

Yeah. Yeah. Soured Faris played Selma. They are both. Both good. She's got the old. She's standing strong in the mines.

You know, she's like, I was due to marry Ro, but I didn't fit in, apparently, with the regime. So they put me down here and I either buck up or I die. She's. I'm gonna die. So there we go. So she stood her ground.

Yeah, they were two characters that were definitely better than. Than I remembered them being.

Yes.

Back to Avon as you mentioned, this, this for me, I think this is going to sound very weird, but this for me is one of the best scenes I've ever seen from Paul Darrow so far.

Oh, okay.

Yeah. And it's only a very small thing, but it was enough for me to. And this is no word of a lie.

It was enough for me to pause this after that scene and say out loud bleep. That word began with A. With an F. Bleep me. Paul Darrow is bleeping good in this.

Yes, he is.

And I'll tell you the reason why I felt that. Because every scene that we've seen him in before, pretty much every scene, he's quite electric. Right. He's got this just this aura about him.

You just, you cannot help but you know, and we've commented on it quite a lot since we started reviewing series B is this heightened tension between him and Blake and this sort of two in and throw in between the two of them. But the fact that he's on his own in this bit and all he's doing is communicating with Orak and this scene could have been really ott.

We could have had.

So Jonathan Wright Miller could have directed Paul Darrow to like be walking around the set and be quite animated during this and, and all the rest of it.

Because I think it would be easy to be swept away in Avon's potential excitement of being able to finally go, Blake's gone, he suspects that he's dead anyway. And now he's sort of weighing up the odds. You know, if I take the Liberator by myself, can I manage it on my own? What's the percentages?

As you said, he's working out all the odds with, with, with Orack.

But the way that he does this scene, he's just staring off into the distance and you can see in, in that moment that Paul Darrow in his own head even is Avon. Because as he's staring off into the distance the cogs are turning in his head. Yeah. And he's doing the maths as well as Orac doing it.

And he's weighing it all up and he's got that glassy eyed kind of staring off because he's doing that great thing that some people can do. I certainly can't do it.

But some people can do this multitasking thing in their head where they're weighing something up over here on this side of their brain but they're also considering other stuff on the other side of their brain. And he's doing that just so, well, yeah, and like, Orax trying to figure out what he's saying as well, because it's just so well written and so.

Is that a question?

Yeah. So Orax, like, you'll have to give me some more context because I don't know if you're asking a question now or not, but he's just motionless.

He's just leaning on Orek, staring off, not looking anywhere. And, mate, I paused it after that and I was just, like, bleeping out.

It is brilliant.

Just so good. Honestly, mate, it's one of those few times where. And I've done this a few times in.

In Doctor Who, when we review that stuff over on the big blue box, where certain. Certain bits, like when we reviewed Vincent and the Doctor, you know, towards the end where they play the song and.

Yeah, and I just pause it and I'm like, bleeping out again. It's just moments like that in. In certain shows that just get you. And that, for me, that scene got me. It's a very simple scene.

It's nothing exciting, nothing going on. It's just Paul Darrow monologuing, basically having a chat with Orek. But, mate. Oh, it was so good.

It is good, isn't it? I was gonna say. I mean, that's the thing. It's sort of.

He manages to convey that, really, he's been handed everything on a plate, but he knows it's wrong to take it. But, you know, if you.

If you were given that sort of dilemma, if someone said to you, there's a truck full of gold bullion there, it's all stolen, but no one's going to know, you could take it. The temptation, you know, that's.

That's going through Avon's mind at that point that we, you know, as I said, you can relate to it in that situation of knowing you could do it. He could have just gone. He would have had the Liberator, he would have had Orac and Zen, almost untouchable, and he could have had it all to himself.

But there's that little bit of, you know, no matter what you say about Avon, there's that little bit of decency inside him that says, you know, it's wrong, you know, you need to go and save these people. Then, you know, these are your.

For want of a better word, friends, whether Avon likes it or not, you know, so there's this sort of loyalty to them, which is why I love that when he does realize the yachts, he gives that little sly smile of. Yeah, I knew it was the right thing to do. But I, you know, but I could have done it.

It's just that knowing that he could have done it, but he chose the right path. If, you know, I mean, to go and save them, like, oh, okay, then I'll come and save you.

You know, he almost relishes in the fact that, you know, that his. His odds are telling him to do that. And I love it. Like you said, it's just the way he acts it and performs it. Yeah, it's brilliant.

Yeah. I also took it as he's kind of laughing in like a Sod's Law kind of way.

Yes, yeah, yeah, I guess so.

Yeah, yeah. Because earlier on he says, how many. How. How many ships could I defend myself against?

And Zen's basically like, look, anything less than three ships and you're good. And then later on he's like, how many ships are in pursuit? And he's like, three. And he's like, all. Of course, it couldn't be two ships, could it?

Yeah, it had to be one ship that I could defend myself. Had to be three. So the lore of sod has. The universe has slapped me back down, given me a truth bomb, and now I have to go and save them.

So, yeah, Avon, mate, stole it for me, just with that one scene.

And, and how does he. How does he get away with those outfits, mate? How does Paul Darrow manage to wear those outfits so well?

I mean, anyone else in the tin foil top like that would look ridiculous. And also last week he had like that sort of crab outfit on, didn't he? Somehow the performance that Paul's giving manages. It just works, doesn't it?

Like, I just can't imagine anyone else wearing, so. And we haven't seen anything yet. Some of the outfits he gets later on, you know, But I just think it's amazing how he carries off the performance.

No matter what he's wearing or no matter what dialogue he's given or whatever.

That's.

Yeah, he's always consistent, you know, Avon.

Yeah. And talking of outfits, let's segue into some other characters. We've got Blake with the big sleeves back.

Well, mate, I can't help but notice, you know, they're all a bit fatigued at the start of this. I couldn't help but notice that his. His arms are getting a bit. That outfits getting a bit deflated.

It's like, need someone to come in with like a bicycle pump and just pump his arms back up. Because remember when he was in the power station in Redemption, that those sleeves Were huge and all puffed up.

But much like the fatigue of the characters, it looked a bit. Looked a bit flat this week, didn't it?

It did a bit, but they did.

A bit of a ruffle up.

Yeah, yeah. They did come back to fashion a little bit when they were. When him and Jenna were teleported down to the planet. I think the teleportation.

Oh, was it. I didn't notice. But was it more puffed up? Was it.

Oh, okay, yeah, Yep. I think it was the. The kick up. The bummy needed to wake himself. And the sleeves up. Yeah, a little bit, yeah. And then they're back to.

He's back to his kind of white chest hair showing top of it later on. But Blake. Blake had a.

This is going to sound really weird because he's in it obviously throughout the episode, but I thought Blake was quite quiet in this episode. That sounds very weird. I felt like it was bookended really well, like at the beginning. He's very forceful, isn't he? As usual.

And he's going against, obviously, Avon. He always goes against Avon. But Avon's basically saying, look, we don't need to do anything. Let this ship pass. They're not causing us trouble.

They don't know we're here. Just let him go. And then we're. We're on our way. And Blake's like, aren't you curious to see what's.

What's going on down there and what planet it is and all that? And everyone's like, no, no curiosity here. Just keep going.

And then, you know, you get the people jumping on the bandwagon sometimes, you know, Jenna's like, yeah, let's go and have a look. We'll be all right. And then there's a bit where Blake's captured and he's tortured a bit, and then later on he's working in the mines. But I don't.

I can't really recall, you know, much of many of the lines that were said, but then at the end, I remember that stuff, but.

Yeah, I know what you mean. I. I mean, I do like the scenes where Blake is getting into Rose Head and talking about his father and he knew him and that little backstory. So that.

That's nice. But apart from that. Yeah, apart from them being in the mine, I can't remember too much from Blake in this.

I mean, actually, having said that, I think I could say the same for most of the other characters. Like, Gan is completely sidelined. I mean, poor old Gan, he just. He goes down, takes a few Darts or whatever. And then he's just strung up.

Yeah, he takes two. Yeah. And then he's just strung up Villa. Oh, he gets put down in the mines, isn't he? So, yeah.

Actually there's one thing that does slightly bug me, mate, and it's a bit of a double edged sword this.

Most of the cast, they are taken out very easily in this and I, I'd like to think, you know, Blake in particular would be a little bit more savvy than. I mean they, they just get taken out almost as soon as they arrive on the planet, don't they? They don't sort of go down very prepared like a.

But then why I say double edged sword is because then when Avon goes down, he is on firing on all cylinders, quite literally, isn't he's got his little tracking device, he takes out the cameras, he shoots people, you know, I mean, that's the way to do it. So, yeah, yeah, I mean, I love all that stuff.

But on the other hand, I was thinking, I think the crew, the rest of the crew need a little bit more credit than that. And I guess it's just a time thing, you know, we just want to move the story on. So they go down, they get captured, Avon saves them.

So I totally get it. But I was thinking they're normally a little bit more savvy before they go down, especially when two people have gone down and seemingly vanished.

You would think then when it's Callie that goes down next, isn't it, you'd think that she'd be a little bit more cautious. But she gets captured pretty much straight away.

I do love the scene between Avon and Callie, by the way, when he's trying to convince her to go, he's like, come on, we haven't heard anything, you know, they must be dead, let's go, come on. And she's like, no know, she just is like, I can't believe what you're saying, like. So that's a nice moment, isn't it, between those two as well?

It is, yeah. Because he's trying to justify it as well, you know, he's trying to, yeah. Get someone else's.

And he's also trying to convince her as well that they're all dead down there. That's, that's his viewpoint. It's like, look, they've not checked in in that long. Gan's, you know, their villa, they're gone. It's just you and me.

So it's cut a loss. So yeah, it's that. That scene was also Very cool. Where he's trying to convince Callie of what's going on. But she's very firm.

She's like, no, not having it. Like, I know they're alive. We can't contact them, but I know they're alive. And, yeah, so she was actually. Kelly was.

Was not too bad in a couple of bits in this. She wasn't in it a lot, but, yeah, I quite liked that firm belief and stood by her guns, you know.

She uses her telepathy a little bit again in this one, doesn't she? Because I think that often gets forgotten about, you know, so it's quite nice when we do get the odd little scene.

You wouldn't want it overused anyway, I guess. But she uses it a little bit with Ro, doesn't she, to sort of tell him that, you know, you need to be very wary of the. What's he called?

The commissar.

The commissar, yeah.

Commissar, yeah. And all that. So, yeah, she gets a few nice little moments.

Yeah. Jenna and Gan are not in it very much, are they? I mean, you know, they. There's a couple of little lines between them in the mines later on and.

And at the beginning, you know, when they're all sort of debating what they're going to do, and Blake's very insistent that they go and explore and find out what's going on, because he's from. I can kind of see what Blake's saying in this at the beginning, because he's. He's like, look, I'm. I'm sick and tired of running all the time.

We have to find some sort of base of operations, if you like. We need somewhere where we can, you know, just ground this operation a little bit more rather than just constantly be on the move. So you can see why.

But then the others are like, yeah, I'm knack. Yeah, let's just. Whatever. And then Jenna's a bit like, I need some rest. Can Gan come and take over? And he's like, nope, stay on manual.

So Blake's really up for it. He wants to go and do it.

And then after that whole bit and they teleport down and stuff, that's when the other cast members should drop off a bit, isn't it? You don't really see them as much. There's a few little bits here and there, but to be honest with you, the bulk of it was.

Was with Rowan the commissar and. And those guys, you know, which is not a bad thing.

It's not a bad thing because it Just reinforces this kind of totalitarian grip that the Federation has got on. Even these outer, you know, outer reach planets where they're only there once a year.

It still shows their, you know, their grip and their control over everything. So it wasn't a bad thing.

No, and I quite. I like that, mate, because I think that's the thing with the Federation is nice to see.

It's almost like a reminder, isn't it, of how they are controlling everything. And you know, I think that that's one of the things I like about story.

I did say earlier it doesn't add much to the overall thing, but I suppose it does in that sense that it's a reminder of the Federation have got their paws into everything, haven't they? And also you were saying about Blake there as well when he gets captured and put in the mine.

One thing I did notice is that he instinctively, and this is the credit to sort of Anna Pryor's writing of the character and knowing what the characters are, Blake instinctively sort of becomes almost like a leader. You know the bit where they bring over the food bowl and he steps in, doesn't he, to say right one.

And I think, yeah, that is so Blake, you know, to take charge and sort of instinctively take over and become the natural leader. So I thought, you know, Anna Pryor gets the characters in this. He gets the character of Avon.

Very much so, so, so credit to him for his first script for the series. You know, getting grips with the characters themselves and I think writing them very well actually.

I think it may not be the strongest story, but it's a good story and it's certainly got some lovely character moments in it.

No, I agree 100%, mate. Yeah. For his first script and from what I understand just from doing some research into him, I think he goes on to write quite a bit. Right?

Yeah, he does, yeah, he writes, he writes a few.

Yeah, yeah, which is good because I'm normally when you have such a, such a prolific writer from the very get go with Terry Nation and I know we've, we've mentioned this a few times that he didn't do it alone, even though he's credited for a lot of the stories throughout series A, especially as being a Terry Nation script, but in reality he's been propped up by some other very talented people. I get that.

But when you come off the, the back of so many stories written by Terry Nation and then into this next series where you've got some other people who are also now taking on full episodes by themselves, so Chris Boucher, last week with Weapon and now this week with. With Alan Pryor. I agree with you 100%.

Even though the stories have not been like, mind blowing, the actual character moments and how the characters are so consistent and we're building on them as well. And those relationships, both Chris Boucher and Alan Pryor just done brilliantly. Yeah, you know.

Yeah, I was just looking forward actually to see. Yeah, I mean, Alan Pryor, because I often think of Chris Boucher as being like the main other writer.

But actually, yeah, I mean, Chris Boucher does write a lot. He certainly helps a lot with the writing. Uncredited a lot of the time. But yeah, Alan Pryor, yeah, he's even. He's still writing for the series.

Even in series D, he said for series D. So he's still. He's still around, you know, later on in the series as well, so. Be interesting to see because some of those episodes.

Yeah, we'll see how they compare and how the, you know, how he deals with the changes between series two and. And four. I mean, bnd. Yeah, bnd.

Shall we finish on just these other two guys then? We've mentioned them a couple of times already, but the, the Federation dudes that turn up on, on the planets, I guess we.

We just still call it Horizon, like, because that's not its actual name, is it? That's just the code name that's been given to it by the Federation. I think ROE does mention the actual real name of the planet.

I can't remember what that was though, but.

Oh, I must have missed that because I thought it was Horizon. But now you've said that. I think you're right. I think, yeah, it's a code name. Call it Horizon.

Let's call it. Let's just stick with that. Yeah, the official fan club took that and ran with it.

So I was gonna say to you about that. I wonder why they chose Horizon as the fan club name. Because not there's anything wrong with it, but you would think, I don't know.

As I said earlier, it's not an episode that jumps to mind as one of the best episodes ever of Blake's 7. But, yeah, I wonder why they chose Horizon as the fan club name. I mean, it works.

It's.

It's great. I love it. But curious to know.

Yeah, so we had the commissar played by William Squire, had that really cool, just sort of stern, in control, but sort of quietly confident about, you know, his ability to control and manipulate rock.

Slightly slimy character, wasn't he?

Yeah, yeah. And. And the assistant commissar, played by Brian Miller.

And for the most part, you think that they're playing it by the book in terms of the Federation. But then there's that one scene where you think, oh, you know, you lot are just a piece of work, you lot. Because Commissar.

The commissar reveals to the assistant commissar that he. He's known all along that that was Blake. And they're, like the most wanted fugitives by the Federation.

And he knows that there's a massive reward for Blake and the liberator being turned in. And there's that bit where the assistant commissar is like, okay, so we turn him in, we get the reward. Happy days.

And he's like, no, I get the reward. He's like, so what do I get? He's like, my continued support. So there's that kind of.

There's that kind of political yet underhanded scheming sort of stuff going on, which is just so typical, isn't it, of certain characters within the Federation and. Because that rolls downhill, right? Because Servalann is like that. She's very scheming and very. You know.

And so, like, with any company, like any organization, when you have that at the very top, you know, bleep. Rolls downhill, you know, that's just the nature of it.

So you have these sort of higher ups in command within the Federation, and you can just tell they're all like it.

They're all out for, you know, a little bit of personal gain here and there, you know, while still, you know, on the surface at least, trying to be true to the Federation and stuff. So I thought those two were. Were pretty good. Especially William Squire, who played the commissary.

Was that real smarmy, overly confident sort of person that you. You just wanted him to get his comeuppance, like any good villain.

Definitely. Yeah, I agree. Because I was thinking at the start, surely this guy would know who Blake is. And then, of course he does.

I loved that moment when it kind of. He revealed, of course I know who they are, and I'm playing my time and I'm gonna get my reward for it.

So, yeah, it's good to see the scheming going on in his mind, I think. I think he was well played. Sorry, what was the actor's name?

William Squire.

Yeah. Yeah. He's got that certain look about him as well, isn't he? That he. He's one of those actors that probably played a lot of bad guys.

He's just got that certain look, you Know.

Yeah.

You know, he's a bad guy before he opens his mouth sort of thing.

Yeah, yeah. Defo. Just a couple of things for me, dude, on my notes, one thing.

This is not a huge criticism, but I felt the direction was a tad static in this one. It's just a lot of, you know, we're on this set, we'll plop a camera here, a camera there. It's. There's no great kind of.

Even when they're on location, you know, I say location when they're on the. Wherever they are in the. In the forest and then the mine and stuff like that.

The camera is kind of planted and it relies on the actors to provide a bit of movement and so on. It's not the end of the world, but I just found the direction a wee bit static.

And talking of, you know, going back to the beginning of this episode, when we spoke about what. Which version did we watch, there's not much in the way of visual effects needed or anything.

So I'm glad that, you know, this was the episode that I chose to, you know, watch the.

The updated effects because literally, I think there's only like three or four sort of establishing shots where you see the Liberator just cruising in. In orbit. And towards the end, when you have those Liberators ships, Federation ships give chase and then explode throughout the magnetic field and.

And stuff like that. So, yeah, it was a. There wasn't a great deal going on in terms of, you know, visual treats and stuff like that. And it was quite static.

So I don't know what. I don't know if you noticed that or if you were like, actually, Garry, this is brilliant.

No, no, I kind of agree because I think that's what I was sort of trying to allude to at the start of this review is that if you. If you were to ask me about this episode before I rewatched it, that was my sort of memory of. It was. It was a bit static. It was. I would.

I pictured the set, you know, that Rose. You know, where they're sort of tortured and Rose. What would you call it? Rose. Throne Room. He's got that weird.

Yeah.

Yeah. If you were to ask me, you know, about this episode, that's what I pictured. Very static shots of that set.

There is obviously a lot more to it now I've rewatched it. As I said, I enjoyed it more than I thought I would, actually. So, yeah, but I would agree about the direction. It is a little bit static.

Nothing too exciting going on, which is interesting. Because we talked about George Spent and Foster, who directed last week's episode Weapon, and there being a very unhappy sort of atmosphere on set.

You know, wasn't very popular director with the cast, so they were probably. I feel like, you know, the cast do seem a lot more happier this week in terms of the performance and just the whole flow of it.

But I would agree it is a little static at times. Yeah. The directions.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And those lovely purple suede or velvet suits, whatever the material is that they were donning as a very fetching.

Certainly toned down from last week with. What was he. What was he called? The guy who had the big collar last week in Weapon. Cosa, wasn't it?

Oh, Cosa.

Yeah. Certainly toned down a little from that. So that's good.

Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Yep. Anything else on your notes, dude, you want to bring up?

No, I just. I noticed that we've still got a full rack Liberator Bracelets, which is good to see. I don't know how long that's going to last, but.

But I am keeping an eye on those. And now I just. The only other thing I've got written down is I did, like, the last line. I think it's Callie that says it where she said.

And we thought we were tired before. And I just thought it's a lovely way to end the episode. Like you said, it brings it. It grounds it a bit. It brings a little bit of realism to it that.

You know, like a lot of programs where they just have a sort of fight and a shootout and be almost killed, and then literally the next scene, they're absolutely fine as if nothing happened. It's. It's nice that we're sort of.

Yeah.

Seeing our cast actually feel a bit affected by what's going on with them. So I thought it was a lovely last line to. To sort of end the episode as well. So. A nice script from Alan Pryor.

Actually, I will say that it was some really good. Good dialogue in this script.

Yeah. Yeah. Agreed. Scores.

You to go first. I think.

I think it's me. I'm gonna give this a. I'm gonna give this a 7 out of 10. My initial thought was a 6.5, but to be honest with you, that.

That 0.5 is just that scene with Paul Darrow.

Yeah.

That brings it up to a seven for me. So I think the majority of the story and the performances were pretty good. And I really like the script, and it was a. It was a decent watch.

It wasn't. It wasn't a bad Watch or a bad story by any means. And it wasn't paced too badly either, but, yeah, it just felt a little bit static. A little bit.

Yeah. Just a decent watch. So I was going to give it a 6.5, but, yeah, that scene with Avon just brings it up just a notch. So a seven for me.

But what about you?

I'm exactly the same. I was towards the end of the episode. I'm thinking this is a 6.5.

But then I. Yeah, I got to the end of it and I thought I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. I think there was some good dialogue, some nice themes being explored.

And yeah, just like you said, just overall, I found it a good watch, so I'm gonna give it a seven as well.

Nice sevens all round. Seven, nice. Alrighty. I think on that note, bud, we're all there. We're letting down our review there of Horizon.

Alrighty.

That was our review of Caesar or Series B. And he said seasoning. I don't want to. Steady, steady. Or Dell St. Patrick's Day. We're recording this. I don't want to come across like I've had a few.

He's had a few Guinnesses.

You Guinness. Yeah.

But that was review of Series B and the episode Horizon and Sevens all round for a reasonably good episode with a couple of really cool standout little moments, I think. And we'll be back next week for our review of the next episode, which will be Pressure Point.

Pressure Point. Now, careful with this one. Careful with spoilers.

Right?

Things happen.

So just.

Just be aware of what you're reading.

Before you watch it. I read you gotcha. Right. I will stay very light on the. On the research for that one then.

Yeah, I would.

Okay, cool. So we'll be back next week to review the episode Pressure Point as we go through Series B.

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Yeah, the Geek's Handbag. Lots of geeky videos. There's a Blake's 7 convention video on there.

There's all sorts of things, Lots of Doctor Who, Prisoner, all that good stuff under the name the Geeks Handbag. Same name on all the socials and.

Most recently a very, very cool Batman collectible unboxing. You don't want to miss that. Yes. So go and check out Adam's channel. Loads of geekery stuff over there. Until next time.

For the next episode, take care of yourselves and we'll see you next time on Federation Strike a journey through Blake's 7. Sam.