“A fool knows everything and nothing.” I was not keen on The Keeper, though it starts well with setting up the story and some initial action. I am glad that the purpose of Control/Star One is reiterated in the opening scenes as it’s been a while and I feel it’s important that the stakes are emphasised again. …
“I can provide some very original forms of diversion.” By a significant stretch, Gambit is the craziest episode of Blake’s 7 I’ve watched so far. Even once I thought I had a handle on it, it just kept giving and it has been my favourite episode of Series B so far. Robert Holmes had impressed …
“So much for Blake’s new epoch of peace.” Voice from the Past was an interesting episode as I was intrigued by the plot immediately. The idea of Blake reverting to his pre-The Way Back brainwashed state was fear-inducing as the consequences I imagined were disastrous. I saw him covertly redirecting the Liberator and turning the …
“You wouldn’t understand.” I spent the first scenes of Countdown wondering if any of these masked fighters were our heroes – we’ve had this sort of opening before. There was one fellow with a similar build to Gareth Thomas that had me almost convinced. Federation guards dress more or less the same all over the …
“There’s no need for violence, is there?” Hostage’s title had me imagining one of the Liberator crew kidnapped, or even the ship itself, so the actual victim didn’t interest me very much. Yet Hostage is one of my favourite episodes so far this series as it took me through a variety of emotions and my mind …
“That is self-interest – we need that crystal. Blake takes risks to help other people – sometimes people he doesn’t even know.” After the events of Pressure Point and Trial especially I was excited to continue Series B, although Killer ended up a more isolated episode compared to the last few. Knowing Robert Holmes as …
“You’re not going to use me anymore.” Trial was an odd experience in that I had never felt so indifferent about what the Liberator crew were up to. You could have chopped the regulars out, stuck all the Space Command scenes together, and I would probably have been happy with a half-hour episode that didn’t …
“It is a challenge!” After a few episodes from other writers, I felt bad that the appearance of Terry Nation’s name in Pressure Point’s titles sent a pang of disappointment through me. I had been enjoying different types of episodes and didn’t want that unknown variety to end. Weapon and Horizon had both impressed me, …
First broadcast 11th October 1962 Plot On holiday in Rome, Simon is witness to the kidnap of a US diplomat’s daughter. A mafia man, Tony Unciello, is responsible. His brother is about the be executed in the US and Governor Inverest has the power to stop it. Guest stars Alexander Knox plays the governor and …
The prospect of watching all of The Saint is daunting – there are 118 episodes. In recent years I have discovered more ITC shows, but I have always had a fondness for The Saint and am looking forward to spending more time with him again. Simon Templar travels the world, either being called upon or simply stumbling into trouble as …
“I am not expendable, I am not stupid and I’m not going.” Horizon had piqued my interest the moment I saw it on the DVD title menu as I knew it was the name of the Blake’s 7 fan club. Following the episode, I thought that was a neat idea. The episode’s titles themselves also …
“You can be like God!” I’d had small reservations about Chris Boucher after Shadow but Weapon has alleviated those. His stories have a different style to Terry Nation’s and I’m reluctant to try to define that yet, but I’m finding it interesting. Bonus points for starting an episode by blowing something up. I was thrilled …
“To have total control you must control totally.” While I’ve enjoyed Terry Nation’s Blake’s 7 scripts, I had been intrigued to see what someone else would do with the programme. I wasn’t sure how long I might have to wait so it was nice to get one so soon with Shadow. I’ve been seeing Chris Boucher’s …
“I think we just lost our ship.” Having resisted the temptation to simply plough on with more Blake’s 7, I took a short break to let everything from series 1 sink in. What fun it had been! As I sat down with Redemption, it felt as though I was about to be reunited with old …
Only a machine “I have waited. Far too long.” I was excited for Orac. I’d had a minor spoiler in that I had seen the episode title before I rewatched Deliverance, but it had little bearing, except I knew Orac was going to be significant in the final episode. A week had passed so there …
Power “You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?” “Probably.” Several months ago, Deliverance became the first Blake’s 7 episode I ever watched as part of Transdiffusion’s Back in Time For TV, in which I spend a week with the television schedule of each year. I scored well with 1978. I remember enjoying Deliverance’s story and every single …
Not a chocolate bar in sight “At the expense of your friends?” I had a reticent feeling about Bounty, though I’m not sure why. I have been concerned that the quality of Blake’s 7‘s episodes may drop towards the end of the season, though still hope it will end on a relative high. There are …
The edge of destruction “I’ve just had a comforting thought. We may all be dead before we find out why this is a danger zone.” On the surface, Blake’s 7’s Breakdown may appear to be about Gan. The episode’s plot is built around his urgent need for brain surgery, but as he is unconscious or …
Rebels and rescues “Another idealist. Poor but honest.” Until I encountered this Blake’s 7 episode, Avalon was simply the name of a Roxy Music song and album. Here she is an anti-Federation enthusiast that Travis uses to try to lure Team Blake into a trap – this is becoming a running theme. While Blake has …
A psychopath and bloody Blake the Hero. “I shall enjoy taking your life, Blake.” TRAVIS IS BACK. I had loved the introduction of the sadistic Travis in Seek-Locate-Destroy so was delighted to see him return so quickly. His confrontation with Blake enables us to glimpse further into both Travis and Blake’s characters. Elsewhere, I pondered …
Marple in Space “I don’t like an unsolved mystery.” Someone described Blake’s 7’s Mission to Destiny as ‘Marple in Space’. Avon is definitely playing the role of little old sweet detective. With a spaceship as isolated as any country house, the programme’s step into murder mystery made perfect sense. The episode opens with the murder …
A sadistic sod. “The man who killed 20 of my friends.” This was undoubtedly my favourite story so far, primarily because we meet a marvellous villain called Travis. I was also pleased to see some more worldbuilding as we start to learn about the Federation’s structure when we are introduced to Servalan. Once again Blake’s …
Team Blake They’re fighting for their lives. Who isn’t? We are Blake’s 7 at last! Having seven lead characters in each episode won’t always work. As previous episodes have already been doing, it is easier to split them up and take it in turns to go down to the planet each week. I’ll say one …
The Full Blake’s 7 “I’m just wondering how long we’re going to live to enjoy our newfound skills.” If we were in any doubt, in Time Squad Blake firmly asserts his leadership by dragging The Liberator’s crew to a planet so they can blow up a communications system. I gather this is Blake’s plan from …
Blake’s 5 “I’m free. And I intend to stay that way.“ It’s hard to pick one single aspect, but this was the episode that finally grabbed me enough to say, “This programme is brilliant and I am loving it.” The bizarre Blessed-led religious community, the vileness of Cygnus Alpha, the emerging contrast of Blake and …
Blake’s 3 “Wake up, Blake! You may not be tranquilised any longer but you’re still dreaming!“ With Blake having failed to escape the Federation’s swift and efficient justice, he’s on a spaceship with a group of fellow convicts, on their way to a penal colony on the planet Cygnus Alpha. In Space Fall we meet …
Blake’s 7 is something I have been planning to look into for years but I didn’t actually know much about it – a BBC science-fiction series with a bunch of people on a spaceship. Was it just going to be a duller, dryer, version of Red Dwarf? I’d first come across it in the pages …
Bringing back a popular show can be enormously tempting. It worked once, so why wouldn’t it work well again? I wasn’t keen on the idea of a revival and reviews from others set my expectations low, then lower again, so I had put off watching this for some time. Wet Job does start reasonably well …
Armchair Theatre was one of several anthology series on television during the 1960s and 1970s. Others include The Wednesday Play, Play for Today, Theatre 625, ITV Playhouse and Thirty-Minute Theatre. Upon first hearing about these, I was rather bemused because there is little resembling an anthology series on television today. Also, they are referred to as ‘plays’, which made me imagine them …
A few years ago I stopped binge-watching television. It wasn’t an entirely conscious decision. I had begun viewing a few programmes and they were so good that I wanted to drag out having ‘new’ episodes of them for as long as possible. I didn’t want to race through them, be done with it and then …
