Blake's 7: Weapon

“And the other mistake I made was not getting an advance on my fee…”

So, after fourteen straight scripts by Terry Nation we get at least two in a row from Chris Boucher. Can he possibly beat the record of his illustrious predecessor? We shall have to wait and see.

After some stock rocket footage, we see two fugitives scrabbling about in a quarry. One of them, Coser, is dressed rather oddly and played by John Bennett, and the other, Rashel is a slave, freed by him after his escape. She starts out very much in this role, but it’s nice how she becomes gradually more assertive as the story continues.

We then get a rather dreamlike sequence in which Travis apparently kills Blake. Except… it’s not Travis. Yes, I know that the character is subtly different, rather emasculated, and scripted far more for comic effect than we’ve seen before, but Brian Croucher is rubbish, isn’t he? It’ll be interesting to see whether my opinion shifts over time, but right now he seems rather one-dimensional, shouty and camp, far from the genuine menace exuded by Stephen Grief.

That was just a clone, of course; the real Blake is aboard the Liberator where he’s arguing, as he often does these days, over a particularly suicidal plan of his, or rather Cally’s (she has fanatical tendencies too, of course), to attack the Federation’s Weapons Developmental Base, an absurdly high profile target.

The relationship between Servalan and Travis is evolving in interesting ways, beyond being much shoutier; it’s clear that Travis has lost all of his menace and is basically her gimp. I suspect she keeps him around at least partly because she enjoys her power over him. This script certainly brings out the best in Jacqueline Pearce, who is fantastic here. We get some exposition, too; the “clonemasters” apparently have a monopoly on cloning, and the whole subject of cloning is generally treated as something exotic, which is not quite so much the case in these post-Dolly the Sheep days.

Orac informs Blake that his plan just isn’t a goer, as security around the Weapons Development Base is currently sky high; a bloke called Coser has escaped, with a brilliant new weapon he’s invented, called “IMIPAK”. It’s all exposition at the moment, aboard the Liberator as well as on the Clonemasters’ planet. We even learn that Blake is 34, just like me.

It’s not long before the plot gets going, though, as we see Coser and Rashel take refuge in a building. Interestingly, for the second Chris Boucher script in a row we have a heavy emphasis on social class, with Rashel being a slave and Coser being the sort of “B grade” technician who isn’t supposed to be clever enough to invent something like IMIPAK. It seems the Federation operates quite a rigid caste system.

We’re introduced to Carnell, played by the excellent Scott Fredericks, a psychostrategist or “puppeteer”, a kind of uber-smug version of Hari Seldon from Isaac Asimov’s splendid Foundation novels. He’s also, of course, one of the main characters in Magic Bullet’s excellent Kaldor City audios. And yes, I know I keep going on about them! He’s great here; flirting outrageously with Servalan and showing what a massive genius he is by casually thrashing the best chess computers of his time. He really must be a genius, considering Garry Kasparov’s –performances against a computer which would presumably be far less advanced. But he lets slip that he may have made a mistake- he assumes Coser is alone. And when he later charms an underling to let him see a report, he remarks that this has “saved his life”.

We switch to an industrial location, so often seen in Blake’s 7, for the denouement. The clone tricks Coser into handing over IMIPAK to Servalan, and it seems that it consists of a gun, with which you can shoot someone to “mark” them, and then press a button to blow them up. Coser makes it sound all good and everything, what with the power one would hold over someone who’s been marked, but why not cut the crap and just shoot them? We get a rather ridiculous scene in which Blake, Avon and Gan, having teleported down, all stand still long enough to be “marked” by Travis. Why doesn’t he just shoot them?

Servalan gives them all a chance to run, for plausible and rather clever reasons; after she blows them up it will be assumed that they have IMIPAK, whereas in fact Servalan does. I love the way she has her own agenda, rather than just acting on behalf of the Federation. She’s a deliciously ambitious woman.

Fittingly, it’s Rashel who saves the day, in a pleasingly assertive manner, and ends up alone on a planet of her own with a clone of Blake as her own sexual plaything. Fittingly, this episode sees her evolve from the lowest origins possible to being the most important person in this episode. And Carnell gets away before Servalan can kill him, but not before recording a message to Servalan telling her that she’s “undoubtedly the sexiest officer I have ever known”. She can’t resist a smile.

Not quite up to last week’s standards, but this is another good ‘un.

Doctor Who: Image of the Fendahl

Part One

“You must have been sent by Providence.”

“No, I were sent by the council to cut the verges.”

After the car crash that was The Invisible Enemy it’s a huge relief to see Chris Boucher’s name popping up, and once again he doesn’t disappoint. We start with a mysterious skull, but in spite of the obvious parallels with Quatermass and the Pit there’s a lot more going ion here than just a rehash. And fittingly for a Chris Boucher story Scott Fredericks appears, again reminding me of the excellent Kaldor City audios. K9 only gets fleeting appearances at the start and end of the story, but he’s have jarred with the story’s tone in any case.

It’s immediately noticeable how much better written the Doctor and Leela are compared to the previous story, which should come as no surprise from Leela’s creator. And the story, atmosphere and guest characters are all brilliant from the start. It’s a clever touch that Thea and Adam, the sympathetic characters amongst Fendelman’s group, are implicated by being persuaded not to tell the police about the corpse found by Adam. And I just love the Doctor’s “Good morning, ladies!” to a herd of cows. We also get a self-referential moment that’s much wittier than usual: “You’ve both escaped from somewhere, haven’t you?” “Frequently.”

Part Two

“Alas, poor skull.”

We get to see a glimpse of the Fendahleen here, and we’re given the beginnings of a backstory- it seems the fifth planet of the solar system broke up about twelve million years ago, the same age as the skull. And Thea is mysteriously claiming to have planned the whole thing. This is all excellent stuff, with a mystery developing nicely and a threat which may be a little nebulous but somehow feels defined in the way it didn’t in Horror of Fang Rock.

It’s noticeable the Doctor isn’t around much in this episode, mind.

Part Three

“Dr Fendelman, I think you have an industrial relations problem.”

Leela saves the Doctor’s life, and we get a moment that could be sexual tension between them if not for the fact that there hasn’t been any other sign of any such thing. We get another excellent episode, with even the use of sci-fi concepts to explain second sight being just about passable. Stael’s agenda becomes clear, and Scott Fredericks really is excellent here. Arguably the Quatermass and the Pit connection starts to get a bit much here, what with Mrs Tyler’s “race memory” and all, but it’s all so good I don’t really mind.

We get drip fed some more backstory; apparently the fifth planet was erased from existence, War Lord-like, by the Time Lords. And the situation is nicely summed up by Fendelman just before Stael shoots him: “I have been used! You are being used! MANKIND HAS BEEN USED!”

Part Four

“…Or, on the other hand, it could all be just a coincidence.”

A simply staggering conclusion to a simply magnificent story, with elements from folklore turning out to be essential to the plot- the use of salt here is clever, and in many ways shows how this story in some ways parallels The Dæmons, only done much better.

Oh, and the Doctor fires a gun. Again. He’s always doing that!

I love the Doctor’s explanation to Adam, which at the same time explains what’s going on but remains just ambiguous enough for the Fendahl to retain its mystery. Apparently it destroyed Mars on the way, but it’s not as though Doctor Who has ever featured any Martians!

Utterly superb. An easy 5/5, and a new entry to my top five. After a wobbly start the Graham Williams era suddenly pulls an all time great story out of the bag.

Doctor Who: Day of the Daleks

Part One

"Yes, a most good-humoured wine. A touch sardonic, perhaps..."

A story by Louis Marks, whose one and only previous story was back in 1964! And as we'll see, while fully in tune with the programme as it is in 1972, in a number of ways this is written like a Hartnell story- and that's no bad thing.

Another bleeding peace conference looms, but at least this time the apparent presence of the paranormal means there's a reason for UNIT to be involved. And in spite of such allusions to the recent past there's something forward-looking about this season opener, not the least of which is a growing impatience with the series' now well- established Earthbound format.

The Doctor and Jo discussing the events of Colony in Space, and the Doctor's irritation with the Time Lords ("No one's going to turn me into an intergalactic puppet.") isn't just a nod to the events of last season- it's looking forward to an immediate future in which the Time Lords will use the Doctor to carry out missions on other planets in two of the next three stories. Plans are being laid. But it's not just that; already it feels as though the UNIT family is no longer a full time fixture.

There's more foreshadowing, of course, with the silly time accident with the Doctor and Jo, but this time looking forward to the events of this story. For now though, this is an excellent build-up; strange futuristic paramilitaries, alien gorilla people, and best of all, after four and a bit years and for the first time in colour, a Dalek. It's such a more powerful moment in the context of the marathon than it has been my many previous viewings.

The Doctor seems much mellower and much likeable in this story- arrogant, certainly, and prone to be somewhat patronising to Jo, but the nasty edge he has acquired of late seems gone. Perhaps it's the writing. This is a good, old-fashioned script with all the hallmarks of the best of mid-sixties Who; a clever plot, great ideas, good characterisation and fast pacing.

The Doctor with his wine and cheese is one of my few favourite moments of the Pertwee years so far. It's so perfect for this Doctor. I also like the "RHIP" scene between Jo, Benton and Yates, although it seems to be there to give Yates and Benton at least one scene where they do something that's not utterly functional to the plot. Nice though it is, it's a sign of the UNIT family starting to become decentred from the programme.

There's so much happening in this episode, and just to top it all, the Third World War's about to start. But the last five minutes ratchet things up even further. The Doctor's attacked, uses some Venusian karate on his attacker, finishes his wine (classy, although a little early in the day!) he and Jo are captured- and then we cut to three Dalek. And that noise pulsating just like it used to. I'm pleased they brought the sound back- i hadn't registered before the marathon that it was in this story. But never mind that- the Daleks are back! In colour! Shame about the voices...



Part Two

"Changing history is a very fanatical idea, you know."

Hang on, something's wrong. Something's very wrong. Yes! That's it! No cardboard cutout Daleks! How could they? Now Doctor Who is ruined for me forever. The voices really are a bit crap: "en-e-my of the Daleks". Still, the plot thickens. This is still good; an intriguing mystery plus excitement. I'm trying to see this from the point of view of someone who doesn't know what happens, probably not very well, but I remember being impressed when I first experienced the twists and turns when I first saw this story. Twenty years ago.

Interestingly, although Louis Marks certainly gets the Third Doctor right and certainly has a handle on the show's current style, there's a Hartnellesque quality to the way he writes the Doctor, which seems to make him more likeable. Other interesting things are the first mention of the Blinovitch Limitation Effect and the Controller's line "Now, you've told me the year...", so brilliantly useless for purposes of UNIT dating.

Part Three

"Doc-tor? Did you say 'Doc-tor'"?

The first bad thing I really have to say about this episode is something very odd- the "sting" to the cliffhanger is still there with the reprise for the second episode in a row. Very odd. And while it's great to hear the music from the Dalek city in Skaro again, why is it used for the tunnel by Auderley House?

There's a nice scene where the Daleks snap at the Controller by using the same line he used earlier with the Ogrons: "Wait! You have not been dismissed!" There's a clear pecking order here. Also interesting is the Dalek line "production targets must be maintained!" This story seems to have had an uncanny influence on senior management techniques in the public sector. This theme turns more serious with the exchange between the controller and the factory boss though, establishing very effectively, as much in this story does, the human reality of a totalitarian state.

There are some great Doctor scenes in this episode, not least his exchange with the Controller about the true nature of this society. The Controller is very well written, if no more than competently acted, and his arc works well.

Interesting that this time around the Daleks don't recognise the "new" Doctor. And so for the first time ever we get to see some pictures of the other two Doctors! Never before in Doctor Who has there been so much nostalgia.



Part Four

"You, sir, are a traitor!"

An odd line from the Daleks: "We have invaded Earth again." it's subtle, but nevertheless it's an actual reference to a story from seven years ago. Extraordinary.

More nice developments in this episode, not least of which is a satisfactory dénouement to the Controller's arc. His character illustrates something central about this story; the Daleks don't get much screen time and are often represented by proxies, but the story is about them, and the things they've always represented, so in a sense it doesn't matter.

"Vain to the point of arrogance, a trifle obstinate perhaps, but basically a good man." Sorry, but who's the Doctor talking about here again? Pot, kettle...

We manage to squeeze in a quick fight scene between UNIT and the Daleks before everything's wrapped up very nicely indeed. Not only is it a great twist that it was the guerrillas themselves who paradoxically caused everything in the first place, but Marks even manages to find a plausible way of quickly blowing up the Daleks at the end.



A magnificent story, a 5/5 and no ordinary one at that. Perhaps the most satisfyingly plotted story yet to be seen, with a nice use of time travel, an unusually fast pace for this era and nice handling of the regulars. All the same, I can't help notice that yet again a story manages to be excellent only by escaping the show's Earthbound format...