Blake's 7: Aftermath

“You were with Blake?”

“Yes, but it hardly seems to matter now, if it ever did.”

Ooh, brand new opening titles! Not very good, are they? I’m surprised to see this episode is written by Terry Nation; hadn’t he gone to America by now?

The opening scenes, with lots of spaceships shooting at each other, look great, and epic, and very, very Star Wars-y, as per last episode. Blake’s 7 is still very much in epic mode, right to the end of this episode, at least, but things are a bit calmer, and there’s a lot of reflection on what the new status quo is going to be.

We’re told in just one line of dialogue that Jenna has “gone with Blake”, and it’s clear that both of them have suddenly left the series. Everything’s in flux, though; the Liberator is very badly damaged and the remaining crew- Cally, Vila and Avon have to get on the lifeboats. This being Terry Nation, there’s a countdown, and they make it only at the last second. But that’s the last we see of Cally or Vila- this episode is all Avon.

The planet below is not safe, though. We get a quick scene where two Federation redshirts (one of them played by Richard Franklin) get to spout some brief exposition, to the effect that the Federation has won the war and destroyed all the aliens, but only at the cost of 80% of the Federation fleet being destroyed. Having fulfilled this brief function, these two characters are no longer needed, and are duly killed by the planet’s resident mediaeval warriors, who really do look rather cool.

Avon, too, comes a cropper in this way, until he’s saved by Dayna, a rather cute young lady with a bow and arrow. During his descent he was clearly not expecting things to turn out well, but soon he’s being looked after by a gorgeous girl with an obvious sense of fun, who tells him he’s beautiful and slowly kisses him out of “curiosity!” It’ll be interesting to see, as the series goes on, whether the two of them come across as a couple or not.

It seems that Dayna and her father are from Earth, the only people from “civilised” territory to be living on this planet. Having stopped off to collect Orac, Dayna takes Avon to her home, under the sea. But, as we see, Servalan is also marooned on this planet, alone and unable to communicate to her underlings. She unexpectedly pulls a gun on an unsurprised Avon, only or Dayna to turn all this into a Mexican standoff, which soon gains an extra layer of complication as the natives attack. Forced to co-operate, Servalan cheerfully admits that her gun isn’t loaded anyway.

They’re taken to Dayna’s rather stylish home, where Avon meets her father, Hal Mellaney, with his afro and cool shades. Mellaney is some kind of rebel, exiled from the Federation, and he’s somewhat awed to find that Avon was with Blake. Servalan, meanwhile, pumps Dayna for information in an extremely sinister fashion. Is it me, or is Jacqueline Pearce basing her performance more on the equally sinister Margaret Thatcher than she used to?

Mellaney further reveals that Dayna, in spite of her penchant for old-fashioned bows and arrows, is something of a genius when is comes to weapons engineering. He reveals that, after being caught running weapons to some rebels, he lost his sight after being tortured by the Federation, and needs a special device to give him partial vision. His position as an exile may no longer be necessary, though; the Federation’s military has been decimated, and it is falling apart. As Avon says, it seems as though Blake has won both of his wars.

We briefly meet his adopted daughter, Lauren, and Avon hears from Zen, via Orac. Jenna is on a hospital ship being taken away from the series, Cally and Vila are missing, and an unknown ship is trying to dock at the Liberator.  Servalan, of course, overhears all this, and we get a simply awesome and erotically charged scene between her and Avon. Servalan starts by articulating her deep misunderstanding of Avon’s personality, assuming that the surface cynicism, rather than being the defence mechanism of a passionate and principled man, is who he is. She’s making an obvious miscalculation in assuming that he will ever agree, now that Star One has been destroyed, to make use of Orac and the Liberator to restore the Federation and share power with her. As Avon wisely notes, “I’d be dead in a week.” But still, before he refuses we get that kiss! There’s real sexual chemistry between them, although they’re always going to be enemies. There’s something rather exciting about that!

Hal mentions to Avon that he’d like Dayna to leave (the implication is with Avon) to see the universe. This has something of the last wish about it- we know at this point that he won’t survive the episode. And, sure enough, he catches Servalan sneaking into the room to steal Orac. Servalan taunts him quite nastily before killing him. This episode demonstrates more clearly than ever before that she really is a textbook psychopath.                                      

Dayna is devastated, and she and Avon set off to find Servalan. And, just to make her day even worse, her sister Lauren has been crucified by the natives. Suddenly she has nothing but Avon. She promises Servalan to her face that she’s going to kill her.

There are further stand-offs between the two of them Servalan and the natives. We end with Servalan about to shoot the two of them, but they are both rather fortuitously teleported aboard the Liberator as Avon has pre-programmed. All is not well, though; there’s a stranger aboard. He declares the ship to be Federation property and threatens them both with summary execution…

Doctor Who: The Visitation

Part One


“Poor old Adric- always in trouble!”

We’re plunged straight into the seventeenth century, which instantly feels very comfortable. It looks excellent, of course- one thing the BBC’s always been good at is historical drama. There’s rather a long prologue featuring some death rays and some doomed Restoration type people with great clothes and great hair.

We get another new writer in Eric Saward. It’s always hard in this Marathon to try and ignore everything from after the story you’re watching but in the case of someone who would become so controversial. Still, this time round his story feels very traditional Who, although really it shouldn’t- Doctor Who doesn’t actually do alien invasions of historical periods very often. In fact, the only previous straightforward example I can think of is The Time Warrior.

Anyway, The Visitation. Our initial TARDIS scene has, by now, obviously become part of the show’s format, with an obligatory reference to the previous story (how the authors of the Missing Adventures and PDAs must have hated this) and a bit of inter-crew conflict. Worryingly, it’s already starting to feel tired at this early stage. It’s not yet getting to the point where you suspect the TARDISeers don’t actually like each other thatr much, but that’s something the writers need to watch.

Tegan wants to leave, and is very upset that the Doctor’s three centuries out from her own time. There’s also dialogue indicating she’s now beginning to realise the Mara effectively raped her. None of this is written with any particular depth; such things are simply mentioned once to give the illusion of character but not developed in any way. This doesn’t really work. This dysfunctional TARDIS crew doesn’t compare at all well to the original from back when this Marathon started, and this seems down to the lack of a David Whitaker to oversee the development of the characters.

That’s a shame, as there’s a lot going on between the characters which could be developed interestingly. Tegan and Nyssa seem to have struck up a friendship, fior example, whereas Adric seems to have difficulty relating to both Tegan and the Doctor. None of this really goes anywhere.

The whole situation with Tegan wanting to get home is problematic; the TARDIS is not what it was in Hartnell’s day. Recently the Doctor’s been able to control it perfectly most of the time, it’s been stated that he’s getting better at “short hops”, and at this point the TARDIS is often shown to be completely accurate when the plot requires it. It’s just not plausible any more for the Doctor to be unable to get Tegan home. Still, the situation has one saving grace; Tegan’s still wearing the same clothes because she expects to start work at Heathrow. What excuses have the other three got then?

Our heroes leave the TARDIS and are attacked. This new Doctor seems to handle himself well ion a fight, showing some almost Pertweeish combat skills. And oddly, he’s still referring to humans as “Earthlings”. Adric drops his homing device in the struggle, a nice bit of continuity- presumably this is the same device from Full Circle.

Obviously, what we need most of all at this point is an extra companion for this story, as four is clearly too few. And we get Richard Mace, who is admittedly pretty cool, but there’s no depth to him whatsoever. Still, I admit he’s entertaining- I love his “I would risk anything for an hour’s good conversation”, followed by an awkward silence.

We finish with a “haunted house”. Much as I may mock, this is admittedly quite entertaining.



Part Two

“Why are Earth people so parochial?”

There’s an early bit of tiresomeness as the TARDISeers have to convince Mace that they’re from outer space, but there’s plenty to entertain us here. We get to see the alien, and Tegan, captured alongside Adric, deflects his questions about the Doctor by claiming that “He talks a lot about Guildford” in a nod to the work of a certain former script editor.

The most shocking thing in this episode, of course, is that the Doctor and Nyssa actually have bit of a falling out! It wouldn’t have surprised me with any other combination of TARDISeers, but those two…! Oh, and the Doctor’s a bit harsh on Richard Mace too.

The Terileptil looks good, if a little obviously latex, with his animatronic mouth and his scar. It’s nice that he’s a criminal who’s escaped from prison, and not just a bog standard alien invader.

I love the Doctor’s “Oh no, not again!” as he’s about to be beheaded…


Part Three

“I feel my mind slipping into a bottomless pit of gloom and despair.”

We get to see Nyssa’s room in the TARDIS! How very domestic things are getting these days. Sadly, an escaped Adric arrives and immediately proceeds to act like an utter twonk. These last couple of stories have ensured the character is not at all likeable.

By now it’s clear that, although enjoyable enough, this story is essentially a bunch of set pieces stitching together a rather basic plot, and even with the presence of Richard Mace it’s all rather humourless. At the same time, though, there’s nothing particularly bad about it either. There’s a real threat- especially with the revelation that other Terileptils are waiting in London- and some nice backstory with the Tinclavic mines. It’s just that the story never really catches fire. And the historical setting is somehow not evoked well by the script, probably because all the seventeenth century characters- even Mace- are little more than superficial plot functionaries.

Adric, meanwhile, continues to be an arse. This is the first story which gives me serious concerns about the handling of such a large TARDIS crew- none of the companions come out of this story at all well. There are too many characters to follow (yes, I know, not a problem in the 60s, but there are problems here) and there’s too much bickering. Still, with Tegan mind controlled that’s one less character for Saward to keep track of.

Ooh- the sonic screwdriver’s been destroyed! Hardly surprising given the changed tone of the show since JNT took over. I’ll miss it, though. It was a harmless piece of silliness that added to the fun of the show, and I never bought any of this guff about it being a magic wand to get the Doctor out of scrapes. Sometimes a good narrative shortcut like that can avoid putting some tiresome stuff on screen.


Part Four

“I like long walks!”

Nyssa manages to destroy the android, the TARDIS arrives in the house, and everyone (including Mace- there’s been a disturbing recent trend for every Tom, Dick and Harry to be invited aboard the TARDIS taxi service) is off to London for the climax.

It’s a nice touch that the Terileptils are all multi-coloured and all look so different. The Pudding Lane ending is nice too, although it sets up a bit of a paradox.


I’m not sure what to make of that. Everything worked, I can’t really pick holes in it, and aside from ongoing concerns about the characterisation of the regulars I can’t find much fault with it. The plot and structure worked very well. But all the same, it seemed to lack charm. Perhaps a bit more humour, local character would have been nice. The epitome of average, I suppose: 3/5.