DP Tool Club 15/CD_ASCQ_15_070894.iso/vrac/stlb0494.zip/BLAKELOG.TXT

Text File | 1994-05-02 | 84KB | 1,241 lines

 ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
 │                   The BLAKE'S SEVEN "Liberator LogBook"                    │
 │                         "The Way Back" - "Blake"                           │
 └─ 1978 ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── 1981 ─┘
                             written by Earl Green

                     "Blake's 7" created by Terry Nation


   This is a complete episode guide to the British Broadcasting Corportation's
science-fiction drama series "Blake's 7," which was broadcast between 1978 and
1981 in England.  The creator of "Blake's 7" is Terry Nation, the creator of the
infamous Daleks on the BBC's other major SFTV property, "Doctor Who."  This show
has a surprisingly complex history for a relatively short program.
   The original star of the show, Gareth Thomas, was intrigued by the earlier
scripts, but wanted a way back to his theater career by the end of the first
season in 1978.  His contract prevented him from doing so, forcing Blake to
continue his mission in 1979, although there was no distinguishable
deterioration in Thomas' portrayal of Blake.  As Thomas said in a Starlog
interview, "In the beginning, we were ruthless, vicious killers.  I actually
killed a man in the first series, I had to break his neck.  After that, it got
pedantic.  'Oh look, there's a convenient room on this ship full of costumes
that happen to fit us!'"
   Paul Darrow, the man who was Avon, has proven himself to be probably the most
enthusiastic supporter of the show and a consummate professional at the same
time.  Gareth Thomas was a victim of Darrow's acting skill as well as his sense
of humor.  During the filming of "Time Squad," the actors were being filmed on
location in a chalk pit ("as usual for 'Blake's 7'," Thomas noted), and Darrow
was delivering his lines just as the slope he was standing on began collapsing
slowly, taking him out of frame, yet Darrow kept speaking.  And during the
filming of the third season's "Terminal," a close camera shot on Gareth Thomas
meant that Darrow's presence was not required, yet he stood off camera and cued
Thomas - while holding up a teddy bear!  Darrow is still working in England,
having appeared in a Doctor Who episode ("Timelash," 1985 - his second, the
other being "The Silurians" in 1970, before "Blake's 7") among other television
projects and working heavily in the theater.  Among Darrow's recent stage roles
was that of Elvis Presley in "Are You Lonesome Tonight?" and the actor appears
at "Blake's 7" and other sci-fi/fantasy-oriented conventions.  Darrow has also
written the story of his character's life in novel format: the hardcover book
"Avon: A Terrible Aspect" covers the life of Avon from his birth to the time he
joined Blake en route to Cygnus Alpha.  Upon reading the book, series creator
Terry Nation commented, "It ain't literature, but it is good reading."  ("A
Terrible Aspect" has recently been reprinted in paperback - if you go looking
for it, be forewarned that the spine simply reads "Avon - Paul Darrow."  And,
with apologies to Paul Darrow, Terry Nation was being pretty charitable in his
opinion...don't quit your day job, Paul!)
   Michael Keating, as Vila, proved to have the most integrity of any character
in the entire show - Vila is the ONLY character to appear in all 52 episodes.
Blake, of course, disappeared after the second season, and the other contender
for most appearances, Avon, was missing in the first episode.  Mike Keating is
himself quite tall, which makes one realize how well his portrayal of Vila made
him seem much smaller as a character.  Keating also does the "Blake's 7" con
route and was a prime contender for the role of The Doctor in 1986 when Colin
Baker lost his stint on "Dr. Who."  Both Keating and Darrow have said numerous
times that if, in the future, a fifth season of "Blake's 7" is produced, they
would return without a moment's hesitation - which is hardly surprising, since
their two characters are fan favorites.
   Jan Chappell, Jacqueline Pearce, Stephen Grief, Brian Croucher, David
Jackson and Steven Pacey still act overseas as well, the latter two being known
for their singing skills in stage musicals as well (and Pacey recently surfaced
again on TV in an episode of "Lovejoy," which is now seen in the States on the
Arts & Entertainment Network).  Jacqueline Pearce appeared in a 1985 "Dr. Who"
installment, the 22nd anniversary special "The Two Doctors."
   Terry Nation, the man who created "Blake's 7," lives in Los Angeles, where he
works for Columbia Pictures.  One of Nation's hopes, that "Blake's 7" would make
a huge mark a la "Dr. Who" in America, possibly resulting in a continuation of
the show with U.S. backing, was not realized yet, but Nation's other joy is
conventions.  In 1989, he expressed hopes to begin a touring show that would
serve as a "Blake's 7" convention and a drama workshop as well: Nation would
host panels dealing with aspects of script writing and story development, while
Paul Darrow, Michael Keating and Gareth Thomas - all depending on professional
commitments - would conduct acting classes at many levels.  This prospect has
thus far, sadly, failed to materialize.



                            ┌───────────────────┐
                            │ Series "A":  1978 │
                            └───────────────────┘

01      THE WAY BACK                                                      1/2/78
        written by Terry Nation
        directed by Michael E. Briant
    Roj Blake is summoned by an old friend to an illegal meeting outside of
    a city dome on Earth.  The meeting is held by a ragtag band of citizens
    plotting the downfall of the Administration, the arm of the Terran
    Federation that governs Earth.  At that meeting, Blake is told that he
    has been brainwashed and has been unwittingly drugged ever since five
    years ago, when he had been the leader of the anti-Administration group
    and was captured, put up to trial, and forced to confess.  Federation
    guards arrive at the meeting and massacre everyone there except for
    Blake and a man called Dev Tarrant.  Blake slips out and returns to the
    city under cover of darkness, and, upon entry, is arrested by more guards.
       Corrupt members of the Administration's "justice" department decide to
    use mental-implantation techniques to brainwash three children and put
    false memories in their mind.  The next day, Blake meets his attorney
    for the first time and discovers that his charges deal not with leaving
    the city or attending the meeting, but with child molestation.  At his
    trial, Blake is hopelessly defeated with no chance for appeal and is
    sentenced to spend the rest of his life on the Federation penal colony,
    Cygnus Alpha.  In a holding cell, Blake meets Jenna Stannis and Vila
    Restal and awaits further word from his attorney.  When Blake tells his
    attorney of the meeting and the Federation slaughter, Varon and his
    wife leave the city themselves to check on it.  They are about to return to
    the city with enough evidence to topple the Administration, but as Blake's
    ship to Cygnus Alpha departs with him on board, defense attorney Varon,
    along with his wife and his evidence of the massacre Blake witnesses, are
    destroyed by Federation troops under special agent Dev Tarrant.
  Cast:  Gareth Thomas (Blake), Sally Knyvette (Jenna), Michael Keating (Vila),
    Robert Beatty (Bran Foster), Jeremy Wilkin (Tarrant), Michael Halsey
    (Varon), Pippa Steel (Maja), Gillian Bailey (Ravella), Alan Butler (Richie),
    Magaret John (Arbiter), Peter Williams (Dr. Havant), Susan Field (Alta
    Morag), Rodney Figaro (Court), Nigel Lambert (Computer Operator), Garry
    McDermott (Guard)

02      SPACE FALL                                                        1/9/78
        written by Terry Nation
        directed by Pennant Roberts
    On the "civil administration ship" London en route to Cygnus Alpha, the
    prisoners are shown their small accomodations.  Subcommander Raiker, the
    first officer, chastises Blake, propositions Jenna, and basically gives the
    other prisoners hell.  Blake is introduced to some of the other prisoners,
    including the colossal giant Gan, young Nova - not very experienced, but
    willing to fight - and Avon, a computer hacker sentenced to Cygnus Alpha
    after an attempt to bleed the Federation banking cartel dry.  Blake, using
    the others for cover, gets deep into the ship and locates the main computer.
    During his reconnaissance, the London is buffeted by energy waves from a
    nearby space battle.  Blake sends Avon to sabotage the computer and to open
    every door on the ship so the prisoners can hijack her.  After the ship is
    in the hands of the prisoners, things start to go wrong.  Through a careless
    mistake on Vila's part, many of the prisoners are recaptured, and Raiker
    starts executing them.  Blake, Jenna and Avon, in the main computer area,
    surrender to the crew of the London and are put in restraints.  The London's
    sensors return to normal function after being knocked out by the energy
    waves and indicate a gigantic starship nearby.  The London crew send three
    officers across to the ship to investigate, but they are all killed.  Not
    ready to give up the prize money that would come from salvaging an alien
    ship, Raiker suggests sending Blake, Avon and Jenna across.  They discover
    that the ship's self-defense mechanism is responsible for the officers'
    deaths and deactivate it before it kills them as well.  Raiker tries to
    board the ship and manages to graze Blake with a laser gun, but the alien
    ship disengages from the London, and Raiker is swept out of the airlock into
    open space and dies.  Blake returns to the flight deck and orders a heading
    for Cygnus Alpha to rescue the rest of the prisoners.
  Cast:  Gareth Thomas (Blake), Sally Knyvette (Jenna), Paul Darrow (Avon),
    Michael Keating (Vila), David Jackson (Gan), Glyn Owen (Leylan), Leslie
    Schofield (Raiker), Norman Tipton (Artix), David Hayward (Teague), Brett
    Forrest (Krell), Tom Kelly (Nova), Michael MacKenzie (Dainer), Bill Weston
    (Garton)

03      CYGNUS ALPHA                                                     1/16/78
        written by Terry Nation
        directed by Vere Lorrimer
    On Cygnus Alpha, a religious cult under Vargas and Kara is preparing
    for a new batch of recruits: the incoming prisoners on the London.  In
    the meantime, Blake, Jenna and Avon are investigating their new ship,
    and inadvertently activate the ship's computer, Zen.  With Zen online
    and responding to voice commands, they make their way to Cygnus Alpha.
    On arrival, they decide to try the teleport system, which puts Blake
    down in the middle of a group of cult members.  Avon figures out how to
    pull Blake back to the newly-christened Liberator just before Blake
    becomes a sacrifice.  Blake later goes down, armed, and discovers that
    Vargas has recruited Gan and the others and that the atmosphere of the
    planet supposedly is toxic and works its way into the bloodstream, and
    that a dose of a special drug is required once a day for the rest of
    the victim's life to survive.  Blake is captured by Vargas, and, before
    being tortured, is told that the drug is a placebo, and the disease is
    a myth - and Vargas wants to comandeer the Liberator.  Blake refuses
    and gets a handful of supporters among the prisoners, including Gan,
    Vila and Arco, to revolt.  Most of the cult is destroyed, along with a
    good deal of the prisoners.  Gan and Vila manage to escape to the ship
    with Blake - and Vargas follows, armed with Blake's gun.  Blake teleports
    Vargas into open space, killing him, and the Liberator, now almost fully
    manned, leaves Cygnus Alpha.
  Cast:  Gareth Thomas (Blake), Sally Knyvette (Jenna), Paul Darrow (Avon),
    Michael Keating (Vila), David Jackson (Gan), Brian Blessed (Vargas), Glyn
    Owen (Leylan), Norman Tipton (Artix), Pamela Salem (Kara), Robert Russell
    (Laran), Peter Childs (Arco), David Ryall (Selman), Peter Tuddenham (Zen)

04      TIME SQUAD                                                       1/23/78
        written by Terry Nation
        directed by Pennant Roberts
    Blake and the crew are en route to Saurian Major, where they plan to
    destroy a major Federation communications station.  On the way, they
    find a derelict space capsule, which Blake and Jenna teleport into to
    investigate.  Avon, in the meantime, pilots the Liberator to bring the
    capsule into a docking bay.  The capsule appears to be unmanned but actually
    contains a couple of alien life forms in suspended animation.
       Blake, Avon and Vila teleport to Saurian Major and encounter Cally, a
    telepathic Auron and the sole survivor of the Federation's attack on
    the last freedom fighters there.  While Blake and company reach the
    communications station, Jenna and Gan are attacked by the aliens, who are
    thawing out.  It is discovered that Gan is incapable of killing due to a
    limiter implant in his brain that prevents murderously violent impulses -
    leaving Jenna on her own to defend the ship and her huge colleague.  Blake,
    Avon, Vila and Cally manage to set charges in the communications station and
    Gan, weakened by the contradictory impulses from his wish to help Jenna and
    his limiter implant, teleports them out just before the charges explode.
    Blake kills the last alien before it gets to Jenna and then invites Cally to
    join the crew.
  Cast:  Gareth Thomas (Blake), Sally Knyvette (Jenna), Paul Darrow (Avon),
    Jan Chappell (Cally), Michael Keating (Vila), David Jackson (Gan), Peter
    Tuddenham (Zen), Tony Smart (Alien), Mark McBride (Alien), Frank Henson
    (Alien)

05      THE WEB                                                          1/30/78
        written by Terry Nation
        directed by Michael E. Briant
    Cally begins sabotaging the Liberator and attacks Vila.  Blake and Avon
    rush to stop her as the sensors go inoperative and it rapidly becomes
    apparent that Cally is not in control of her actions.  The Liberator
    enters a huge, spaceborne web that slows the ship down and brings it to
    a planet inside the web.  Blake teleports down and is injured by a tiny
    creature's spear.  A couple of humanoid beings appear, kill the animal,
    and miraculously heal Blake's wound.  It transpires that the animals -
    ten-function, artificial slaves callled the Decimas - were created by
    Geela and Novara, who are under the control of Saymon - whose telepathic
    impulses had been controlling Cally - and the Decimas have now become
    independent and their creators are attempting to destroy them.  They leave
    Blake no choice: they demand power cells in exchange for the release of the
    Liberator.  But as Avon arrives with the cells, the Decimas attack the
    control building, killing their creators.  Blake and Avon return to the
    Liberator as the web dissolves and continue their journeys.
  Cast:  Gareth Thomas (Blake), Sally Knyvette (Jenna), Paul Darrow (Avon), Jan
    Chappell (Cally), Michael Keating (Vila), David Jackson (Gan), Peter
    Tuddenham (Zen), Richard Beale (Saymon), Ania Marson (Geela), Miles
    Fothergill (Novara), Deep Roy, Gilda Cohen, Ismet Hassam, Marcus Powell,
    Molly Tweedly, Willie Sheara (Decimas)

06      SEEK-LOCATE-DESTROY                                               2/6/78
        written by Terry Nation
        directed by Vere Lorrimer
    The Liberator crew mounts an attack on a Federation base on Centero, their
    main objective: to procure a decoder for the Federation's top priority
    military communications channel.  They manage to get the unit and set
    explosive charges, but Cally is attacked and loses her teleport bracelet.
    The others return to the ship and discover there that she must still be on
    Centero.  They learn through the decoder that Supreme Commander Servalan of
    the Federation has assigned the notorious Space Commander Travis to the
    "Blake affair," and that Travis is already on Centero in charge of the
    investigations.  Blake returns to Centero to save Cally, realizing that
    Travis - his arch enemy from the earlier revolt against the Federation -
    will stop at nothing to see the Liberator crew dead.  Blake uses one of
    Travis's old strategies to slip into the base, free Cally, and escape.
  Cast:  Gareth Thomas (Blake), Sally Knyvette (Jenna), Paul Darrow (Avon), Jan
    Chappell (Cally), Michael Keating (Vila), David Jackson (Gan), Peter
    Tuddenham (Zen), Stephen Grief (Travis), Jacqueline Pearce (Servalan),
    Peter Craze (Prell), Peter Miles (Rontane), John Bryans (Bercol), Ian
    Cullen (Escon), Ian Oliver (Rai), Astley Jones (Eldon)

07      MISSION TO DESTINY                                               2/13/78
        written by Terry Nation
        directed by Pennant Roberts
    The Liberator stops to aid a damaged spacecraft whose crew is entirely
    asleep when Blake, Cally and Avon arrive.  The ship's guidance systems
    and life support system have been sabotaged.  When Blake and Avon get
    the life support system back online, the crew has no idea what has
    happened.  Kendall, the captain of the ship, reveals that he and his
    people are from the agricultural world Destiny, whose ecosphere has
    become unviable.  The ship was dispatched to get the neutrotope, which
    would render Destiny fertile again, and with its damage, the ship has
    no hope of reaching Destiny in any time under five months, and that
    delay could set the planet's harvest back by another year.  Blake makes
    Kendall an offer: Avon and Cally will stay aboard to help repair the
    ship's systems, and the neutrotope will reach Destiny in four days via
    the Liberator.  Avon and Cally slowly unravel the mystery of numerous
    occurring murders on the ship and finally find that a message written
    by the dying pilot - 54124 - is actually the name of the murderer...
  Cast:  Gareth Thomas (Blake), Sally Knyvette (Jenna), Paul Darrow (Avon), Jan
    Chappell (Cally), Michael Keating (Vila), David Jackson (Gan), Peter
    Tuddenham (Zen), Barry Jackson (Kendall), Beth Morris (Sara), Stephen Tate
    (Mandrian), Nigel Humphreys (Sonheim), Kate Coleridge (Levett), Carl
    Forgione (Grovane), John Leeson (Pasco), Brian Caprion (Rafford), Stuart
    Fell (Dortmunn)

08      DUEL                                                             2/20/78
        written by Terry Nation
        directed by Douglas Camfield
    The Liberator is nearing an uncharted planet and is under attack by
    three well-armed Federation pursuit ships.  As the attack depletes
    Liberator's energy supply, Blake decides to wait for the two ships he
    predicts aren't Travis's to run out of energy and then tries to ram Travis's
    ship.  But as the Liberator prepares to rip through the pursuit ship's hull,
    time is frozen by the two guardians on the planet below, who pit Blake and
    Jenna in hand-to-hand combat to the death against Travis and a vampire-like
    mutoid from his crew.  But as Jenna defeats the mutoid and Blake traps
    Travis, before the eyes of both ships' crews, Blake relents and the
    Liberator is released, while Travis returns to his ship in shame.
  Cast:  Gareth Thomas (Blake), Sally Knyvette (Jenna), Paul Darrow (Avon), Jan
    Chappell (Cally), Michael Keating (Vila), David Jackson (Gan), Peter
    Tuddenham (Zen), Stephen Grief (Travis), Isla Blair (Sinofar), Patsy Smart
    (Giroc), Carol Royle (Mutoid)

09      PROJECT AVALON                                                   2/27/78
        written by Terry Nation
        directed by Michael E. Briant
    The Liberator arrives at an icy Federation outpost so Blake can make contact
    with Avalon, the rebel leader on that planet.  But Avalon has been captured
    by Travis and duplicated with an android who returns to the Liberator after
    a narrow escape by Blake and his crew, who rescue "Avalon" from a
    high-security cell block.  The android is carrying a tiny sphere with just
    enough of a lethal virus to kill the entire crew of the Liberator and leave
    the ship unaffected and, after 24 hours, habitable again.  Blake returns
    with the android and the sphere to get the real Avalon out of danger,
    leaving Travis with an android that drops the sphere inside the Federation
    base - and Travis catches the sphere.  Servalan is infuriated with Travis's
    performance and takes charge of the hunt for Blake personally.
  Cast:  Gareth Thomas (Blake), Sally Knyvette (Jenna), Paul Darrow (Avon), Jan
    Chappell (Cally), Michael Keating (Vila), David Jackson (Gan), Peter
    Tuddenham (Zen), Stephen Grief (Travis), Jacqueline Pearce (Servalan),
    Julia Vidler (Avalon), David Bailie (Chevner), Glynis Barber (Mutoid),
    John Baker (Scientist), John Rolfe (Terloc), David Sterne (Guard), Mark
    Holmes (Guard)

10      BREAKDOWN                                                         3/6/78
        written by Terry Nation
        directed by Vere Lorrimer
    On the flight deck of the Liberator, Gan suddenly attacks Jenna, and, after
    nearly killing the entire rest of the crew, it is discovered in a medical
    scan that Gan's limiter is malfunctioning and sending vicious, murderous
    impulses to his mind.  If Gan doesn't receive treatment in 72 hours, he
    could die, so Blake has Zen list all the locations where he could receive
    proper medical attention.  Avon points out space station XK-72, a neutral
    scientific research station that Liberator would have to cross what Zen
    calls a "forbidden area of space" to reach.  Avon overrides Zen and Jenna
    pilots the ship through that area, finding a black hole-like gravity vortex
    that the Liberator almost doesn't survive.  Once at XK-72, Gan is treated by
    Dr. Kayn - but not before Kayn alerts the Federation to Blake's presence.
    Kayn returns to XK-72 and murders station administrator Farren when he
    reprimands Kayn for getting the Federation involved.  A stray plasma bolt
    from one of the Federation pursuit ships destroys the station as Blake and
    his friends escape, with Gan and the Liberator intact.
  Cast:  Gareth Thomas (Blake), Sally Knyvette (Jenna), Paul Darrow (Avon), Jan
    Chappell (Cally), Michael Keating (Vila), David Jackson (Gan), Peter
    Tuddenham (Zen), Julian Glover (Kayn), Ian Thompson (Farren), Christian
    Roberts (Renor)

11      BOUNTY                                                           3/13/78
        written by Terry Nation
        directed by Pennant Roberts
    Blake and Cally contact Sarkoff, former president of planet Lindor, who has
    been relegated to a Federation world where, after losing a fixed election on
    Lindor, he has been kept prisoner under light security.  His daughter Tyce
    is also there with him, disgusted with her father's broken spirit.  Blake
    talks them in returning to Lindor, but on returning on the Liberator, which
    had broken orbit to investigate a derelict space vessel, Blake and the
    others find a band of space pirates in control - and Jenna has apparently
    switched sides to aid Tarvin, the pirates' leader.  The crew escapes with
    Jenna's help, and Tarvin, preparing to kill Sarkoff after Tyce assaults him,
    is killed by Blake, and the ship returns Lindor's rightful ruler to his
    planet.
  Cast:  Gareth Thomas (Blake), Sally Knyvette (Jenna), Paul Darrow (Avon), Jan
    Chappell (Cally), Michael Keating (Vila), David Jackson (Gan), Peter
    Tuddenham (Zen), T.P. McKenna (Sarkoff), Carinthia West (Tyce), Marc Zuber
    (Tarvin), Mark York (Cheney), Derrick Branche (Amagon Guard)

12      DELIVERANCE                                                      3/20/78
        written by Terry Nation
        directed by Michael E. Briant
    The Liberator spots a spaceship as it crashes on Cephlon.  Avon, Jenna, Gan
    and Vila teleport down to the planet to search for survivors from two life
    capsules that eject from the ship at the last moment.  They find one dead
    and the other badly injured.  The crew teleports back up with the survivor
    but do not realize that Jenna has been attacked by natives of the planet.
    While Blake and Cally try to help Ensor, the shipwreck survivor who says to
    tell his father that the Federation will pay a hundred million credits for
    something called Orac, the others return to Cephlon to rescue Jenna.  An
    underground chamber conveniently opens for them as they barely escape from
    the natives, and there they meet Meegat, a lone civilized woman guarding a
    rocket loaded with the gene banks of the last civilization on Cephlon who
    regards Avon as a god.  On the Liberator, Ensor takes Cally hostage and
    demands that the ship be set on a course for Aristo, his father's home
    world.  Jenna is rescued by Avon, Gan and Vila, and they manage to
    reactivate the launch system and send the future progeny of Cephlon on its
    way.  Ensor dies from sheer exhaustion and Blake and Cally set the ship back
    to Cephlon to pick up the others.  Blake is very much intrigued by Ensor's
    information: a fortune for something called Orac and a box of power cells
    for his father's artifical heart.  The Liberator is soon back on course for
    Aristo...
  Cast:  Gareth Thomas (Blake), Sally Knyvette (Jenna), Paul Darrow (Avon), Jan
    Chappell (Cally), Michael Keating (Vila), David Jackson (Gan), Peter
    Tuddenham (Zen), Stephen Grief (Travis), Jacqueline Pearce (Servalan), Tony
    Caunter (Ensor), James Lister (Maryatt), Suzan Farmer (Meegat)

13      ORAC                                                             3/27/78
        written by Terry Nation
        directed by Vere Lorrimer
    Gan, Avon, Vila and Jenna have fallen ill with potentially lethal radiation
    sickness after spending too much time on the irradiated surface of Cephlon.
    Their only hope is that the mysterious Ensor that Blake plans to contact on
    Aristo has a supply of drugs to cure the illness.  On the surface, however,
    Travis and Servalan have arrived early and make their way slowly and
    clumsily to Ensor's underground installation.  Blake and Cally teleport to
    the surface as well and are accosted by a flying object that gives them
    precise instructions to reach a hidden lift leading directly to Ensor's
    laboratory.  They find old Ensor dying slowly - he needs the power cells his
    son was trying to deliver implanted soon.  Blake and Cally take Ensor and
    his invention, Orac, through the tunnels to reach the surface, but a
    skirmish with Travis slows progress and Ensor dies of shock en route to the
    surface.  Avon and Vila arrive to save Blake and Cally from Travis, and
    teleport back to the Liberator while Servalan vows to Travis that his career
    as Space Commander is finished.  On the Liberator, Orac is activated and the
    crew discovers that Orac is actually an incredibly advanced computer capable
    of making short-term predictions.  When asked to do so, Orac projects an
    image of the Liberator being destroyed in a huge fireball onto the screen...
  Cast:  Gareth Thomas (Blake), Sally Knyvette (Jenna), Paul Darrow (Avon), Jan
    Chappell (Cally), Michael Keating (Vila), David Jackson (Gan), Peter
    Tuddenham (Zen), Derek Farr (Ensor and Orac),  Stephen Grief (Travis),
    Jacqueline Pearce (Servalan), James Muir (Phibian), Paul Kidd (Phibian)


                            ┌───────────────────┐
                            │ Series "B":  1979 │
                            └───────────────────┘

14      REDEMPTION                                                        1/9/79
        written by Terry Nation
        directed by Vere Lorrimer
    The crew of the Liberator have begun extensively checking the ship for any
    defects that could result in Orac's prediction, but no one can find a cause
    - except for Avon.  In the recording of Orac's prediction, a starfield
    unique anywhere in the universe is seen behind the Liberator just prior to
    her predicted destruction, and according to Avon, all the crew has to do is
    make sure the ship never goes near that point.  But before any more can be
    said, two ships similar to the Liberator in design approach from out of
    nowhere at unimaginable speed and attack - carefully knocking out specific
    systems, such as weapons and flight control.  When Blake and Avon try
    overriding the computers, the ship fights back, lashing out with live power
    and locking Avon in a room where he has just set an explosive charge.  Zen
    even goes offline, and the ship is boarded.  Gan is attacked and disappears,
    while Vila and Cally are the next to go.  Blake orders Orac to influence the
    computers and bring them back online, and the flight deck is suddenly taken
    over by aliens who pilot the Liberator inside a gigantic, world-sized space
    station, again similar in design.  It becomes clear that the minions of the
    computer-controlled entity called "The System" were the original builders
    and owners of the Liberator and want her back.  Blake notices, during an
    interrogation by System custodians, that the System's computers are
    gradually having difficulty operating, and correctly guesses that Orac is
    responsible.  Avon, while waiting in a prison cell for execution, looks out
    a porthole and sees the very star configuration that he noticed behind
    Liberator in Orac's prediction.  One by one, the crew escapes and they make
    their way back to the Liberator.  As they escape from the System, a sister
    ship is launched, and, due to a computer overload caused by Orac, the sister
    ship and not the Liberator itself is destroyed.
  Cast:  Gareth Thomas (Blake), Sally Knyvette (Jenna), Paul Darrow (Avon), Jan
    Chappell (Cally), Michael Keating (Vila), David Jackson (Gan), Peter
    Tuddenham (Zen), Sheila Ruskin (Alta One), Harriet Philpin (Alta Two), Roy
    Evans (Slave)

15      SHADOW                                                           1/16/79
        written by Chris Boucher
        directed by Jonathan Wright Miller
    Blake and the crew decide to enlist the help of the Terra Nostra, a
    spaceborne equivalent of the Mafia, in their campaign against the
    Federation.  Largo, the representative they meet, is a vicious animal who
    also distributes the highly addictive drug known as "shadow."  After almost
    getting killed by Largo and his underlings, Blake decides to destroy the
    Terra Nostra's source of "shadow" and discovers that the President of the
    Federation in fact runs the underworld as well.  In the meantime, an alien
    entity is using Orac to manifest itself in the real world and it renders
    Cally unable to help the crew.
  Cast:  Gareth Thomas (Blake), Sally Knyvette (Jenna), Paul Darrow (Avon), Jan
    Chappell (Cally), Michael Keating (Vila), David Jackson (Gan), Peter
    Tuddenham (Zen, Orac), Derek Smith (Largo), Karl Howman (Bek), Adrienne
    Burgess (Hanna), Vernon Dobtcheff (Chairman), Archie Tew (Enforcer)

16      WEAPON                                                           1/23/79
        written by Chris Boucher
        directed by George Spenton-Foster
    A Federation weapons expert has defected from the Federation and gone into
    hiding, taking his most ingenious weapon and a slave girl with him into
    hiding.  In the meantime, Servalan and Travis - newly released from a labor
    camp - are enlisting the aid of Clonemaster Fen in creating a clone of Blake
    for use in retrieving the weapon.  When the real Liberator crew arrives and
    the weapon is put to work for and on nearly everybody, the last surviving
    clone of Blake takes the weapon from Servalan and guards it with his life.
  Cast:  Gareth Thomas (Blake[s]), Sally Knyvette (Jenna), Paul Darrow (Avon),
    Jan Chappell (Cally), Michael Keating (Vila), David Jackson (Gan), Peter
    Tuddenham (Zen, Orac), Brian Croucher (Travis), Jacqueline Pearce
    (Servalan), Kathleen Byron (Fen), John Bennett (Coser), Scott Fredericks
    (Carnell), Candace Glendenning (Rashel), Graham Simpson (Officer)

17      HORIZON                                                          1/30/79
        written by Allan Prior
        directed by Jonathan Wright Miller
    The Liberator crew is growing tired and must stop off for some form of
    natural relaxation soon.  As they try to find somewhere to meet those
    specifications, the Liberator passes through a force barrier around the
    planet Horizon, which is very soon to be annexed by the Federation.  On
    Horizon, a simple native is being manipulated as a puppet governor by a
    Federation Kommissar into enslaving his people - and Blake and the crew
    unwittingly walk right into every trap on Horizon and become part of the
    labor force while Avon is tempted to leave in the Liberator on his own.
  Cast:  Gareth Thomas (Blake), Sally Knyvette (Jenna), Paul Darrow (Avon), Jan
    Chappell (Cally), Michael Keating (Vila), David Jackson (Gan), Peter
    Tuddenham (Zen, Orac), William Squire (Kommissar), Darien Angadi (Ro), Souad
    Faress (Selma), Brian Miller (Assistant Kommissar), Paul Haley (Chief Guard)

18      PRESSURE POINT                                                    2/6/79
        written by Terry Nation
        directed by George Spenton-Foster
    Blake decides to mount a raid on Central Control, the heart of the
    Federation on Earth.  He has contacted Kasabi, the rebel leader on Earth,
    and made arrangements for liasons with her troops, but before the Liberator
    arrives, Kasabi and her troops are captured and Travis forces her daughter
    to comply with his plan, which involves leading Blake and Gan into a trap
    and stealing their teleport bracelets.  Avon and Vila soon arrive, and the
    crew is off again, working its way through a minefield of traps and finally
    reaching Central Control: an empty room where Travis and his guards wait.
    Jenna rescues them by holding Servalan hostage with the help of Kasabi's
    daughter, and the crew flees.  Travis lobs a percussion grenade at them
    while they are all still underground, and the explosion triggers a collapse
    of the roof which kills Gan while the others escape.
  Cast:  Gareth Thomas (Blake), Sally Knyvette (Jenna), Paul Darrow (Avon), Jan
    Chappell (Cally), Michael Keating (Vila), David Jackson (Gan), Peter
    Tuddenham (Zen, Orac), Jacqueline Pearce (Servalan), Brian Croucher
    (Travis), Jane Sherwin (Kasabi), Yolande Palfrey (Veron), Alan Halley
    (Arle), Martin Connor (Berg), Sue Bishop (Mutoid)

19      TRIAL                                                            2/13/79
        written by Chris Boucher
        directed by Derek Martinus
    Overwhelmed with remorse for Gan's death, Blake teleports himself down to an
    unidentified planet to serve his penance, leaving no clues for the crew to
    locate him.  Meanwhile, Servalan has brought up a charge of mass murder to
    file against Travis to have him discharged from space service, and she has
    also seen to it that Travis has no chance of an innocent verdict or an
    appeal.  Blake discovers that his planet is not as uninhabited as Zen has
    postulated and is forced to find his way back to the ship when the planet
    turns out to be a living organism - and a hungry one at that.  Once back on
    the Liberator, Blake decides to attack Space Command Headquarters, and the
    attack is a devastating one with one oversight: the confusion of the attack
    allows Travis to escape with his own ship, now a renegade himself.
  Cast:  Gareth Thomas (Blake), Sally Knyvette (Jenna), Paul Darrow (Avon), Jan
    Chappell (Cally), Michael Keating (Vila), Peter Tuddenham (Zen, Orac),
    Jacqueline Pearce (Servalan), Brian Croucher (Travis), John Savident
    (Samor), John Bryans (Bercol), Peter Miles (Rontane), Victoria Fairbrother
    (Thania), Claire Lewis (Zil), Kevin Lloyd (Par), Graham Sinclair (Lye),
    Colin Dunn (Guard Commander)

20      KILLER                                                           2/20/79
        written by Robert Holmes
        directed by Vere Lorrimer
    While Vila and Avon call in a debt from an old acquaintance of Avon to
    acquire a new Federation decoding crystal, Blake and the others locate an
    ancient sublight vessel on its way to the same planet.  The science
    department of the Federation base there sends up another ship to salvage the
    ancient ship and bodies are found inside.  But while Avon and Vila discover
    that Servalan has been alerted to the Liberator's presence, the long-dead
    remnants of the ancient ship's crew spread a lethal plague that wipes out
    the entire planet.
  Cast:  Gareth Thomas (Blake), Sally Knyvette (Jenna), Paul Darrow (Avon), Jan
    Chappell (Cally), Michael Keating (Vila), Peter Tuddenham (Zen, Orac), Paul
    Daneman (Bellfriar), Ronald Lacey (Tynus), Colin Farrell (Gambril), Colin
    Higgins (Tak), Michael Gaunt (Bax), Morris Barry (Wiler)

21      HOSTAGE                                                          2/27/79
        written by Allan Prior
        directed by Vere Lorrimer
    Travis has taken Blake's cousin and uncle hostage and claims to want to join
    the rebellion, but when Blake arrives, Travis informs Servalan of the
    Liberator's presence.
  Cast:  Gareth Thomas (Blake), Sally Knyvette (Jenna), Paul Darrow (Avon), Jan
    Chappell (Cally), Michael Keating (Vila), Peter Tuddenham (Zen, Orac),
    Jacqueline Pearce (Servalan), Brian Croucher (Travis), John Abineri
    (Ushton), Judy Buxton (Inga), Kevin Stoney (Joban), Andrew Robertson (Space
    Commander), Judith Porter (Mutoid), James Coyle (Molok)

22      COUNTDOWN                                                        3/6/79
        written by Terry Nation
        directed by Vere Lorrimer
    A Federation installation on the planet Albian is taken by rebels as Blake
    arrives, but before dying, the last Federation officer activates a mechanism
    that will destroy all life on the planet, but leave the Federation bases and
    other structures intact.  Avon and Del Grant teleport to the ice cap to
    deactivate the bomb, but while there, the only thing Avon can think of is
    the death of his lover, Anna Grant - and the only thing on Del Grant's mind
    is why Avon allowed his sister to die.  Meanwhile, Blake finds a Federation
    officer called Provine and interrogates him: Blake wants to know where the
    real Central Control is located.  This week's clues: it's called Star One,
    and a man known as Docholli knows where it's at.
  Cast:  Gareth Thomas (Blake), Sally Knyvette (Jenna), Paul Darrow (Avon), Jan
    Chappell (Cally), Michael Keating (Vila), Tom Chadbon (Grant), Paul Shelley
    (Provine), James Kerry (Cauder), Lindy Alexander (Ralli), Robert Arnold
    (Selson), Geoffrey Snell (Tronos), Sidney Kean (Vetnor), Nigel Gregory
    (Arrian)

23      A VOICE FROM THE PAST                                            3/13/79
        written by Roger Parkes
        directed by George Spenton-Foster
    Blake is summoned telepathically to a rebel base where he meets the former
    Arbiter General of the Federation and rebel leader Shivan, who was rumored
    killed but appears bandaged head to toe.  They are going to take Blake to a
    meeting of outer world governors to depose Federation rule and install
    Blake, Shivan and Governor Le Grand as a civilian triumvirate.  But Servalan
    and Travis have known of the scheme all along, and Travis, who has been
    disguised as Shivan from the outset of the plot, uses the telepathic homing
    device used on Blake to slow down the crew's escape from the meeting.
  Cast:  Gareth Thomas (Blake), Sally Knyvette (Jenna), Paul Darrow (Avon), Jan
    Chappell (Cally), Michael Keating (Vila), Peter Tuddenham (Zen, Orac),
    Jacqueline Pearce (Servalan), Brian Croucher (Travis), Frieda Knorr
    (Governor Le Grand), Richard Bebb (Glynd), Martin Read (Nagu)

24      GAMBIT                                                           3/20/79
        written by Robert Holmes
        directed by George Spenton-Foster
    The Liberator crew tracks Docholli down to a frontier town on a distant
    planet.  Blake, Jenna and Cally teleport down to find him, and they do find
    him, hiding behind a false identity and drinking heavily in a local bar.
    Travis is there as well, acting as Docholli's bodyguard.  Meanwhile, Avon
    rounds up Vila and Orac, using the latter to teleport down to the computer
    controlled casino to break the bank.  Krantor, the owner of Freedom City,
    tries to drug Vila and lull him into a game he can't win, but Avon and Orac
    save Vila from certain death and leave with every cent in the casino, while
    Blake saves Travis from a scheme by Servalan to destroy him, the Liberator
    crew, and Docholli in a single explosion.  Docholli tells Blake that Lurgen,
    a surgeon whom he knew while still in the Federation, knows the location of
    Star One, and that the location is hidden somewhere on the planet Goth on a
    person of royal blood...
  Cast:  Gareth Thomas (Blake), Sally Knyvette (Jenna), Paul Darrow (Avon), Jan
    Chappell (Cally), Michael Keating (Vila), Peter Tuddenham (Orac),
    Jacqueline Pearce (Servalan), Brian Croucher (Travis), Aubrey Woods
    (Krantor), Denis Carey (Docholli), Nicolette Roeg (Chenie), Sylvia
    Coleridge (Croupier), Paul Grist (Cevedic), John Leeson (Toise), Harry
    Jones (Harry Jones), Michael Halsey (Zee), Deep Roy (Klute)

25      THE KEEPER                                                       3/27/79
        written by Allan Prior
        directed by Derek Martinus
    Blake, Jenna and Vila visit Goth, leaving Avon and Cally on the ship.  Cally
    detects a ship that is most likely Travis's, so Avon sets off to destroy it,
    leaving Blake and the others in the lurch when savages attack them on the
    planet.  Jenna is captured and betrothed to Gola, Charl of the Tents of
    Goth, while Vila becomes the court jester.  Blake is almost not rescued from
    death by Avon on the Liberator's return.  He returns and encounters Rod,
    Gola's brother and a prime contender to be Charl.  Gola and his sister, both
    of royal blood, are checked by Jenna, and neither of them has the secret of
    Star One's location.  After a battle with Gola, Rod is killed, and Vila
    finds nothing on him.  Gola is poisoned by his mystic sister and dies.  She
    tells Blake and the others that the truest royal person on Goth is locked
    away in the dungeons below: Gola's and Rod's father, the deposed Charl.
    Blake goes to the dying old man, who passes away just after telling Blake "a
    fool knows everything and nothing."  Blake repeats the phrase to the dead
    king's grieving jester, triggering a brain implant that gives them the
    coordinates of Star One.
  Cast:  Gareth Thomas (Blake), Sally Knyvette (Jenna), Paul Darrow (Avon), Jan
    Chappell (Cally), Michael Keating (Vila), Peter Tuddenham (Zen, Orac),
    Jacqueline Pearce (Servalan), Brian Croucher (Travis), Bruce Purchase
    (Gola), Freda Jackson (Tara), Shawn Curry (Rod), Cengiz Saner (Fool), Arthur
    Hewlitt (The Old Man), Ron Tarr (Patrol Leader)

26      STAR ONE                                                          4/3/79
        written by Chris Boucher
        directed by David Maloney
    The Liberator leaves the Milky Way galaxy in search of Star One.  The
    coordinates lead them to a cold planet orbiting a white dwarf star on the
    edge of the galaxy, and getting there, the crew realize that they are on the
    route that anyone desiring to reach the nearest galaxy, Andromeda, would
    take.  Star One turns out to have an underground base manned by conditioned
    engineers from the Federation who maintain an antimatter satellite minefield
    designed to keep someone or something out of the Milky Way.  Blake and Cally
    are captured on the surface, but Blake discovers that Travis is expected to
    arrive and assumes that identity.  Cally, in the meantime, plants bombs.
    Avon watches on the planet as Travis arrives, but Travis escapes when Avon
    is distracted by a woman who claims that everyone else on Star One is out to
    kill her.  Avon finds that this is indeed true, because everyone but Lurena
    is in fact an alien in the shape of the engineers they killed.  Star One's
    defense barrier is designed to keep out a possible invasion from the
    Andromeda Galaxy - and that invasion force arrives on the Liberator's
    detectors.  Jenna uses Orac to warn Servalan of the impending danger while
    Travis seriously wounds Blake.  Avon kills Travis and the rest of the aliens
    on Star One, but the damage has been done and the zone will be deactivated
    on schedule, allowing the Andromedans to invade.  The nearest Federation
    vessels are hours away from Star One, and the Liberator, with Avon in
    command, remains to fight off the invasion...
  Cast:  Gareth Thomas (Blake), Sally Knyvette (Jenna), Paul Darrow (Avon), Jan
    Chappell (Cally), Michael Keating (Vila), Peter Tuddenham (Zen, Orac),
    Jacqueline Pearce (Servalan), Brian Croucher (Travis), Jenny Twigge
    (Lurena), David Webb (Stot), Gareth Armstrong (Parton), John Bown (Durkim),
    Paul Toothill (Marcol), Michael Maynard (Leeth)


                            ┌───────────────────┐
                            │ Series "C":  1980 │
                            └───────────────────┘

27      AFTERMATH                                                         1/7/80
        written by Terry Nation
        directed by Vere Lorrimer
    The Liberator is damaged heavily in the ensuing war and starts away from the
    main battles.  The life support system begins to fail and the crew must
    abandon ship.  Avon is knocked out when debris from a hit near the life
    capsule launch area collapses on him, and Cally and Vila get him into a
    capsule.  Landing on the planet Serran, Avon is saved from vicious natives
    by a young woman called Dayna, who takes him to her father's underwater home
    base.  On the way there, they encounter Servalan, who has deposed the High
    Council, declared herself President, and has topped all this by getting
    herself marooned.  Servalan attempts to seduce Avon, but he resists and uses
    Orac to signal the Liberator.  In an attempt to steal Orac and slip away,
    Servalan is stopped by Dayna's blind father, who is killed by Servalan.
    Dayna vows vengeance and she and Avon set out to find Servalan.  After
    "rescuing" Servalan from the restless natives, Avon recovers Orac, and with
    Dayna he returns to the Liberator when it arrives, while Servalan hides away
    in the undersea installation.  On returning to the ship, Avon and Dayna find
    a full squad of Federation shock troops in control...
  Cast:  Paul Darrow (Avon), Jacqueline Pearce (Avon), Jan Chappell (Cally),
    Michael Keating (Vila), Peter Tuddenham (Zen, Orac), Josette Simon (Dayna),
    Cy Grant (Mellanby), Alan Lake (Chel), Sally Harrison (Lauren), Richard
    Franklin (Trooper), Michael Melia (Trooper), Steven Pacey (Tarrant)

28      POWERPLAY                                                        1/14/80
        written by Terry Nation
        directed by David Maloney
    Avon and Dayna are interrogated by the Federation officers, who are under
    the command of Del Tarrant.  Avon, using the pseudonym Chevron, fakes an
    attempt to draw a concealed weapon and is knocked out by Tarrant.  Dayna
    attacks with the same end result, and both are locked into a cabin.  As soon
    as they manage to get out again, Avon contacts Zen and learns that the ship
    is en route to pick up Vila, who has been marooned on a jungle planet where
    a primitive faction and a race of advanced humans fight each other for any
    new arrivals on the planet.  After that, Avon and Dayna discover that
    someone is killing off the Federation troops one by one.  Avon sets out to
    learn who, while Dayna stays behind armed but is captured.  Avon discovers
    that Tarrant is not a Federation Captain, but an outlaw who had been wanting
    to join Blake and his crew and had to disguise himself as a Federation
    officer.  He and Tarrant overpower the other Federation troops and rescue
    Dayna, as Vila and Cally, who has also arrived on that planet, are about to
    be killed.  The ship automatically teleports them aboard, and Zen is
    instructed to respond to Dayna and Tarrant, as they are now members of the
    crew.
  Cast:  Paul Darrow (Avon), Jan Chappell (Cally), Michael Keating (Vila),
    Jacqueline Pearce (Servalan), Steven Pacey (Tarrant), Josette Simon (Dayna),
    Peter Tuddenham (Zen), Michael Sheard (Clegg), Doyne Byrd (Harmon), John
    Hollis (Lom), Michael Crane (Mall), Primi Townsend (Zee), Julia Vidler
    (Barr), Catherine Chase (Nurse), Helen Blatch (Receptionist)

29      VOLCANO                                                          1/21/80
        written by Allan Prior
        directed by Desmond McCarthy
    Dayna and Tarrant's first assignment as Liberator crew members is to visit
    the planet Obsidian and investigate two things: rumors that Blake had fled
    to that planet after evacuating the Liberator, and the possibility of using
    Obsidian as a base from which to fight the Federation.  But Servalan and her
    troops arrive to take over the world, and the people of Obsidian reveal the
    weapon which has kept them safe from the Federation all this time.
  Cast:  Paul Darrow (Avon), Jan Chappell (Cally), Michael Keating (Vila),
    Jacqueline Pearce (Servalan), Steven Pacey (Tarrant), Josette Simon (Dayna),
    Peter Tuddenham (Zen, Orac), Michael Gough (Hower), Malcolm Bullivant
    (Bershar), Ben Howard (Mori), Alan Bowerman (Battle Fleet Commander),
    Russell Denton (Milus), Judy Matheson (Mutoid)

30      DAWN OF THE GODS                                                 1/28/80
        written by James Follett
        directed by Desmond McCarthy
    Orac, curious about an unusual black hole, takes control of the Liberator
    and swings her too close.  The ship is swallowed up by the black hole, and
    it is discovered that this particular black hole is indeed unusual because
    it is artificial constructed by an outcast "god" from Cally's home planet of
    Auron who seeks a powerful ship, brilliant slaves - and Cally.
  Cast:  Paul Darrow (Avon), Jan Chappell (Cally), Michael Keating (Vila),
    Steven Pacey (Tarrant), Josette Simon (Dayna), Peter Tuddenham (Zen, Orac),
    Sam Dastor (The Caliph), Terry Scully (Groff), Marcus Powell (The Thaarn)

31      THE HARVEST OF KAIROS                                             2/4/80
        written by Ben Steed
        directed by Gerald Blake
    Servalan's new right-hand man and tactical advisor takes Tarrant on in a
    battle of strategy in space and on foot on the deadly planet of Kairos, but
    Avon's obsessive search for an elusive new weapon hinders the Liberator
    crew's efficiency - but saves them in the end.
       In a 1986 interview with TimeScreen magazine, Paul Darrow said that this
    episode was "the one that made Jan Chappell decide to leave."
  Cast:  Paul Darrow (Avon), Jan Chappell (Cally), Michael Keating (Vila),
    Jacqueline Pearce (Servalan), Steven Pacey (Tarrant), Josette Simon (Dayna),
    Peter Tuddenham (Zen, Orac), Andrew Burt (Jarvik), Frank Gatliff (Dastor),
    Anthony Gardner (Shad), Charles Jamieson (Guard), Sam Davies (Carlon),
    Christopher Douglas (First Leader, Third Leader), Hywel David (Interceptor
    Captain, Second Leader)

32      THE CITY AT THE EDGE OF THE WORLD                                2/11/80
        written by Chris Boucher
        directed by Vere Lorrimer
    Vila is bullied by Tarrant into assisting an unknown party on Keezarn, a
    remote planet, in exchange for some weapons crystals needed on the
    Liberator.  The unknown party shortchanges Tarrant, sending a bomb instead,
    which is what Avon anticipated.  As he and Cally teleport down to rescue
    Vila, the thief discovers that he is to be working for a criminal known as
    "Bayban the butcher" - a man with a reputation for mayhem "second only to
    Blake" (a comment to which Bayban himself reacts badly).  Bayban wants Vila
    to break into an impossible door, which is what Vila does, taking Bayban's
    attractive gunhand with him.  They discover an infinite-range teleport
    system that sends them to the planet the real people of Keezarn are destined
    to reach and there Vila discovers the type of crystals Tarrant needed.  On
    returning to Keezarn, they find that Avon and the others have captured
    Bayban's forces.  Vila has a chance to go off with Kerril or return to the
    Liberator - and then Bayban himself prepares to destroy the city.
       This script was written by Chris Boucher especially for Mike Keating when
    Keating's young daughter, watching an earlier Blake's 7 episode, turned
    around and told her father he was stupid!  It also set the stage for a
    rematch between Paul Darrow and Colin Baker in the arguably forgettable 1985
    Dr. Who episode "Timelash."
  Cast:  Paul Darrow (Avon), Jan Chappell (Cally), Michael Keating (Vila),
    Steven Pacey (Tarrant), Josette Simon (Dayna), Peter Tuddenham (Zen, Orac),
    Colin Baker (Bayban), Carol Hawkins (Kerril), John J. Carney (Sherm),
    Valentine Dyall (Norl)

33      THE CHILDREN OF AURON
        written by Roger Parkes
        directed by Andrew Morgan
   Cally's twin sister, Zelda, sends out a telepathic distress signal when the
   planet Auron is ravaged by a plague which has, in fact, been unleashed on the
   pacifist Aurons by Servalan in an attempt to capture the Liberator and its
   crew.
 Cast:  Paul Darrow (Avon), Jan Chappell (Cally, Zelda), Michael Keating (Vila),
   Jacqueline Pearce (Servalan), Steven Pacey (Tarrant), Josette Simon (Dayna),
   Peter Tuddenham (Zen, Orac), Rio Fanning (Deral), Ric Young (Ginka), Jack
   McKenzie (Patar), Beth Harris (CA Two), Ronald Leigh-Hunt (CA One), Sarah
   Atkinson (Franton), Michael Troughton (Pilot Four-Zero)

34      RUMOURS OF DEATH                                                 2/25/80
        written by Chris Boucher
        directed by Fiona Cumming
    Avon sets out to avenge the death of his lover, Anna Grant.  He kidnaps a
    Federation "prison psychologist" (torturer) whom he believes is responsible
    for her execution, but information gained from that encounter leads Avon and
    the crew back to Earth in a raid on Servalan's mansion - which has been
    taken by a rebel group already - where Avon discovers that Anna was never
    killed...nor was she, in fact, alive!
  Cast:  Paul Darrow (Avon), Jan Chappell (Cally), Michael Keating (Vila),
    Jacqueline Pearce (Servalan), Steven Pacey (Tarrant), Josette Simon (Dayna),
    Peter Tuddenham (Zen, Orac), John Bryans (Shrinker), Peter Clay (Chesku),
    Lorna Heilbron (Sula, Anna), Donald Douglas (Grenlee), David Haig (Forres),
    Philip Bloomfield (Balon), David Gillies (Hob)

35      SARCOPHAGUS                                                       3/3/80
        written by Tanith Lee
        directed by Fiona Cumming
    After visiting a derelict alien "tomb-vessel," Cally is inhabited by the
    soul of a long-dead creature who begins to take her shape, draining her of
    her energy, and takes over the ship and, one by one, the crew - except for
    Avon, the one member of the crew who is determined not to surrender into
    slavery...
  Cast:  Paul Darrow (Avon, spirit of death), Jan Chappell (Cally, the Alien,
    spirit of life), Michael Keating (Vila, the fool), Steven Pacey (Tarrant,
    the defender), Josette Simon (Dayna, the bard), Peter Tuddenham (Zen, Orac)

36      ULTRAWORLD                                                       3/10/80
        written by Trevor Hoyle
        directed by Vere Lorrimer
    The Liberator is captured by an artificial planet whose inhabitants wish to
    use the ship as the centerpiece of a sort of galactic museum.
  Cast:  Paul Darrow (Avon), Jan Chappell (Cally), Michael Keating (Vila),
    Steven Pacey (Tarrant), Josette Simon (Dayna), Peter Tuddenham (Zen, Orac),
    Peter Richards (Ultra), Stephen Jenn (Ultra), Ian Barritt (Ultra), Ronald
    Govey (Relf)

37      MOLOCH                                                           3/17/80
        written by Ben Steed
        directed by Vere Lorrimer
    The Liberator crew follows Servalan's star cruiser to a cloaked planet on
    the edge of known space, where they discover a band of rogue Federation
    troops who are inviting criminals to join their new world and have designed
    a computer which decided it was superior and killed its own creator.
  Cast:  Paul Darrow (Avon), Jan Chappell (Cally), Michael Keating (Vila),
    Jacqueline Pearce (Servalan), Steven Pacey (Tarrant), Josette Simon (Dayna),
    Peter Tuddenham (Zen, Orac), John Hartley (Grose), Mark Sheridan (Lector),
    Davyd Harries (Doran), Sabina Franklin (Chesil), Debbi Blythe (Poola), Deep
    Roy (Moloch)

38      DEATH-WATCH                                                      3/24/80
        written by Chris Boucher
        directed by Gerald Blake
    Tarrant's brother, Deeta Tarrant, first champion of the planet Teal, is
    killed in a gunfight which decides the fate of two warring worlds who use
    gladiators instead of conventional weapons to fight their battles.  Tarrant
    challenges the victor, which Avon and Orac discover to be an android placed
    in combat by Servalan, who hopes the two governments will suspect each other
    of cheating, resulting in a real war which would allow the Federation to
    take over both planets.
  Cast:  Paul Darrow (Avon), Jan Chappell (Cally), Michael Keating (Vila),
    Jacqueline Pearce (Servalan), Steven Pacey (Del Tarrant, Deeta Tarrant),
    Josette Simon (Dayna), Peter Tuddenham (Zen, Orac), Stewart Bevan (Max),
    Mark Elliot (Vinni), David Sibley (Commentator), Kathy Iddon (Karla)

39      TERMINAL                                                         3/31/80
        written by Terry Nation
        directed by Mary Ridge
    Avon takes the Liberator on a wild goose chase to pursue a signal he has
    received from who he believes is probably Blake.  He reaches the artificial
    planet Terminal and teleports down alone, telling the others he will kill
    anyone who follows, but Tarrant and Cally follow him anyway.  He finds an
    underground complex where he is knocked out, drugged, and is taken to a lab
    where an image is implanted in his mind that he sees and speaks to an
    injured Blake who relies on his life support systems.  Avon is then taken to
    Servalan, who soon captures Tarrant and Cally as well.  Meanwhile, on the
    Liberator, due to a careless charge through a cloud of corrosive fluid en
    route to Terminal, the ship is falling apart: Zen "dies," leaving just
    enough power to operate the teleport system.  Servalan takes hostages,
    contacts the ship, and has Dayna teleported down.  Servalan and her troops
    are taken aboard by Vila, who then is teleported down himself, saving Orac
    at the last moment as well.  As Avon, Tarrant, Cally, Vila and Dayna watch
    from the control center inside Terminal, the Liberator leaves orbit with
    Servalan in control - and explodes in a massive fireball.
  Cast:  Paul Darrow (Avon), Jan Chappell (Cally), Michael Keating (Vila),
    Jacqueline Pearce (Servalan), Gareth Thomas (Blake), Steven Pacey (Tarrant),
    Josette Simon (Dayna), Peter Tuddenham (Zen), Gillian McCutcheon (Kostos),
    Heather Wright (Reeval), Richard Clifford (Toron), David Healy (Sphere
    Voice)


                            ┌───────────────────┐
                            │ Series "D":  1981 │
                            └───────────────────┘

40      RESCUE                                                           9/28/81
        written by Chris Boucher
        directed by Mary Ridge
    The survivors of the Liberator on Terminal begin to make horrible
    discoveries.  First, Avon and Dayna discover that the escape craft Servalan
    left them was booby trapped as a native animal enters it and it explodes.
    That simultaneously detonates explosions in the control center underground
    on Terminal.  Vila escapes after heroically rescuing Tarrant, but Cally is
    killed.  The space vessel Scorpio arrives, with the enigmatic Dorian in
    charge.  He takes the crew and Orac away from Terminal just as the planet
    begins to undergo a massive volcanic outbreak, but Avon takes him prisoner
    and hijacks the ship.  Scorpio, however, is automatically set to take Dorian
    to his home base, where his gunhand and consort Soolin is waiting.  It soon
    transpires that Dorian has been working on a teleportal and has also devised
    a near-perfect all-weather handgun.  He also repairs Orac and reveals that
    he is over 200 years old.  Dorian plans to sacrifice Avon and the others to
    a creature that renews Dorian when Dorian gives it lives to feed on.  Avon
    kills the creature, thus killing Dorian, and Vila, whose sharp wit amidst a
    sea of Dorian's fine wine actually saved the crew again, vows to quit
    drinking.
  Cast:  Paul Darrow (Avon), Michael Keating (Vila), Steven Pacey (Tarrant),
    Josette Simon (Dayna), Peter Tuddenham (Orac, Slave), Geoffrey Burridge
    (Dorian), Glynis Barber (Soolin), Rob Middleton (The Creature), Jan Chappell
    (voice of Cally)

41      POWER                                                            10/5/81
        written by Ben Steed
        directed by Mary Ridge
    The launch silo doors needed to reach Scorpio and leave Dorian's base are
    locked by some means even Vila doesn't know how to open, and Avon's mission
    to gather raw materials for a teleport system gets him captured by the
    Hommiks, the male faction of the planet's people.  Vila is visited by Pela,
    one of the last three surviving Seska, who are the women of Xenon, and he is
    told that unless the door is opened every 48 hours which will soon come to
    pass since Dorian is dead, a nuclear compression charge will destroy the
    base.  Tarrant and Dayna find Avon and, with the help of the Seska, free him
    from the Hommiks.  Avon then reveals that he in fact has the teleportal
    worked out, but Pella, driven by a hunger for power, uses telekinesis to
    open the door and board Scorpio, taking off.  Avon boards using the
    teleportal and kills her.  At this time, the others also come to Scorpio,
    ready to begin the fight anew, now with Soolin at their side.
  Cast:  Paul Darrow (Avon), Michael Keating (Vila), Steven Pacey (Tarrant),
    Josette Simon (Dayna), Glynis Barber (Soolin), Peter Tuddenham (Orac,
    Slave), Dicken Ashworth (Gunn-Sar), Juliet Hammond Hill (Pella), Jenny
    Oulton (Niria), Paul Ridley (Cato), Alison Glennie (Kate), Linda Barr
    (Luxia)

42      TRAITOR                                                         10/12/81
        written by Robert Holmes
        directed by David Sullivan Proudfoot
    Tarrant and Dayna teleport to Helotrix, which Orac has informed the crew as
    being the latest Federation acquisition in an unprecedented new period of
    expansion and conquest.  Tarrant and Dayna discover that a new pacification
    drug, Pylene-50, is being used to control the normally ruthless Helots while
    the Federation takes over.  They also discover that the inventor of the
    drug, "Commissioner Sleer," is, in fact, Servalan, having miraculously
    escaped from the destruction of the Liberator.  Avon, however, doesn't think
    highly of that miracle...
  Cast:  Paul Darrow (Avon), Jacqueline Pearce (Servalan), Michael Keating
    (Vila), Steven Pacey (Tarrant), Josette Simon (Dayna), Glynis Barber
    (Soolin), Peter Tuddenham (Orac, Slave), Malcolm Stoddard (Leitz),
    Christopher Neame (Colonel Quute), Robert Morris (Major Hunda), John Quentin
    (Practor), Edgar Wreford (Forbus), Nick Brimble (General), David Quilter
    (The Tracer), Neil Dickson (Avandir), Cyril Appleton (Sgt. Hask), George
    Lee (Igin)

43      STARDRIVE                                                       10/19/81
        written by Jim (James) Follett
        directed by David Sullivan Proudfoot
    Scorpio is disabled in an attempt to hide from detector beams behind an
    asteroid and limps back to Xenon Base.  On the way, the ship is approached
    by three Federation pursuit ships which suddenly explode for no apparently
    good reason, which is what they investigate back at base.  The cause of the
    ships' destruction is a space-chopper, the orbital equivalent of a Harley-
    Davidson, with the significant exception that this one moved at time-distort
    15 and was well-armed.  The repaired Scorpio visits the base of the
    space-chopper, where Plaxton, once one of the best minds of the Federation,
    is devising powerful stardrives for an interstellar motorcycle gang.  Dayna
    and Vila manage to distract the gang long enough to get Plaxton and her
    biggest and best stardrive out of the base safely.  Scorpio is approached by
    a flotilla of Federation ships while Plaxton is in the engine room
    connecting her drive.  Out of time, Avon starts the engine as soon as
    Plaxton connects the final wire, which allows Scorpio to escape but kills
    Plaxton.
       Scorpio apparently used the new stardrive to escape danger in "Animals,"
    the next episode, but afterward it seemed as though the new engine system
    was nowhere to be found - you'd imagine it would have helped them out of a
    few scrapes such as...crashing on Gauda Prime?
  Cast:  Paul Darrow (Avon), Michael Keating (Vila), Steven Pacey (Tarrant),
    Josette Simon (Dayna), Glynis Barber (Soolin), Peter Tuddenham (Orac,
    Slave), Barbara Shelley (Dr. Plaxton), Damien Thomas (Atlan), Peter Sands
    (Bomber), Leonard Kavanagh (Napier)

44      ANIMALS                                                         10/26/81
        written by Allan Prior
        directed by Mary Ridge
    Dayna visits a friend of her father's, who she discovers is conducting
    needlessly painful experiments on some intelligent animals on that planet.
    Meanwhile, Scorpio is attacked after Dayna teleports, and it barely gets
    back to Xenon Base.  When Avon and the others return to get Dayna, they find
    Servalan in control of the animals and of Dayna's mind.
  Cast:  Paul Darrow (Avon), Jacqueline Pearce (Servalan), Michael Keating
    (Vila), Steven Pacey (Tarrant), Josette Simon (Dayna), Glynis Barber
    (Soolin), Peter Tuddenham (Orac, Slave), Peter Byrne (Justin), William
    Lindsay (Captain), Max Harvey (Borr), Kevin Stoney (Ardus), David Boyce (Og)

45      HEADHUNTER                                                       11/2/81
        written by Roger Parkes
        directed by Mary Ridge
    Tarrant and Vila are sent to pick up a scientist whose cybernetic genius
    could help the crew of Scorpio fight the Federation, but they slowly begin
    to uncover the truth - the cybernetic progeny of Muller, a student of Orac's
    creator, has assumed its creator's identity and is on a murderous rampage to
    find the only other computer worthy of its attention and join with it: Orac.
  Cast:  Paul Darrow (Avon), Michael Keating (Vila), Steven Pacey (Tarrant),
    Josette Simon (Dayna), Glynis Barber (Soolin), Peter Tuddenham (Orac,
    Slave), John Westbrook (Muller), Lynda Bellingham (Vena), Douglas Fielding
    (Technician), Nick Joseph (Android), Lesley Nunnerley (Voice)

46      ASSASSIN                                                         11/9/81
        written by Rod Beacham
        directed by David Sullivan Proudfoot
    Avon and the others discover that they are being hunted by a top notch
    killer whose services have been paid for by Servalan.  Avon and Tarrant
    fight the odds and sometimes each other to survive, but in the end, it turns
    out that Avon, underestimating the opposite sex, has been fooled by Servalan
    and a brilliant female killer - and it is Soolin who saves him.
  Cast:  Paul Darrow (Avon), Jacqueline Pearce (Servalan), Michael Keating
    (Vila), Steven Pacey (Tarrant), Josette Simon (Dayna), Glynis Barber
    (Soolin), Peter Tuddenham (Orac, Slave), Caroline Holdaway (Piri), John
    Wyman (Cancer), Richard Hurndall (Nebrox), Peter Attad (Benos), Betty
    Marsden (Verlis), Adam Blackwood (Tok), Mark Barratt (Servalan's Captain)

47      GAMES                                                           11/16/81
        written by Bill Lyons
        directed by Vivienne Cozens
    The crew of Scorpio set out to plunder an infinite energy source, only to
    find that Servalan has her mind set on the same prize and a series of games
    designed to stop any potential thieves from every gaining the energy source
    requires the skills of Soolin, Tarrant and Vila to pass - and on Avon's
    turn, it is learned that the entire thing is a hoax.
  Cast:  Paul Darrow (Avon), Jacqueline Pearce (Servalan), Michael Keating
    (Vila), Steven Pacey (Tarrant), Josette Simon (Dayna), Glynis Barber
    (Soolin), Peter Tuddenham (Orac, Slave), Stratford Johns (Belkov), Rosalind
    Bailey (Gambit), David Neal (Gerren), Michael Gaunt (Computer), James Harvey
    (Guard)

48      SAND                                                            11/23/81
        written by Tanith Lee
        directed by Vivienne Cozens
    Avon decides to investigate something Servalan is investigating - a
    mysterious new source of energy on a distant planet.  The sand-covered world
    is not what Tarrant and Dayna expect, nor is it expected that the sand
    itself is a vampire that feeds on all the unnecessary human males that
    arrive there, leaving any females and the strongest male as human breeding
    stock for future nourishment.  And Tarrant becomes trapped there with
    Servalan.
  Cast:  Paul Darrow (Avon), Jacqueline Pearce (Servalan), Michael Keating
    (Vila), Steven Pacey (Tarrant), Josette Simon (Dayna), Glynis Barber
    (Soolin), Peter Tuddenham (Orac, Slave), Stephen Yardley (Reeve), Daniel
    Hill (Chasgow), Jonathan David (Keller), Peter Craze (Servalan's Assistant),
    Michael Gaunt (Computer)

49      GOLD                                                            11/30/81
        written by Colin Davis
        directed by Brian Lighthill
    An old acquaintance of Avon joins forces with the Scorpio crew to pull off
    an interstellar heist from a luxury ship whose undercover cargo is
    transmuted gold.  They then go to have the gold re-transmuted for a bargain
    with Keiller's employer - who turns out to be Servalan...and she has already
    made sure of her own wealth in the end.
       Music video fans will recognize Roy Kinnear as the band manager who needs
    a miracle in the Mike + The Mechanics video "All I Need Is A Miracle," among
    other roles.
  Cast:  Paul Darrow (Avon), Jacqueline Pearce (Servalan), Michael Keating
    (Vila), Steven Pacey (Tarrant), Josette Simon (Dayna), Glynis Barber
    (Soolin), Peter Tuddenham (Orac, Slave), Roy Kinnear (Keiller), Anthony
    Brown (Doctor), Dinah May (Woman Passenger), Norman Hartley (Pilot)

50      ORBIT                                                            12/7/81
        written by Robert Holmes
        directed by Brian Lighthill
    Avon and Vila visit the planet Malodar to strike a deal with the
    megalomaniac scientist Egrorian for a new weapon he has devised that could
    ensure total power over the Federation.  But only a slip of the tongue by
    Egrorian's grotesque lab assistant warns Avon of impending danger: Servalan
    is behind Egrorian in an attempt to kill Avon.  And he's ready to sacrifice
    Vila to save himself.
       Michael Keating, as Vila, got a chance to shed tears as Avon was
    searching for him to kill him, but higher powers at the BBC prevented the
    scenes from making it to the final episode, making it appear is if Vila is
    sweating in hiding.
  Cast:  Paul Darrow (Avon), Jacqueline Pearce (Servalan), Michael Keating
    (Vila), Steven Pacey (Tarrant), Josette Simon (Dayna), Glynis Barber
    (Soolin), Peter Tuddenham (Orac, Slave), John Savident (Egrorian), Larry
    Noble (Pinder)

51      WARLORD                                                         12/14/81
        written by Simon Masters
        directed by Viktors Ritelis
    Avon calls a summit meeting of the most powerful non-Federation-aligned
    worlds' leaders to devise a plan to combat the Pylene-50 pacification drug,
    but his most powerful ally, Zukan, turns out to be an underground informant
    for Servalan and plants explosives in Xenon Base.  The base explodes while
    Avon and Soolin are en route to rendezvous with a source of vital raw
    material.  Zukan later discovers that his own daughter has stayed behind on
    Xenon to remain with Tarrant, and Avon manages to save his crew just in
    time, but Zukan's daughter dies while reactivating the Xenon Base life
    support systems.
  Cast:  Paul Darrow (Avon), Jacqueline Pearce (Servalan), Michael Keating
    (Vila), Steven Pacey (Tarrant), Josette Simon (Dayna), Glynis Barber
    (Soolin), Peter Tuddenham (Orac, Slave), Roy Boyd (Zukan), Bobbie Brown
    (Zeeona), Dean Harris (Finn), Simon Merrick (Boorva), Rick James (Chalsa),
    Charles Augins (Lod), Brian Spink (Mida)

52      BLAKE                                                           12/21/81
        written by Chris Boucher
        directed by Mary Ridge
    Scorpio takes off as timers detonate bombs that destroy Xenon Base or any
    evidence that the crew had been there - the crew is on the run again.  But
    Avon reveals that he has found the man they need to lead the rest of the
    rebel forces in the galaxy in a final triumphant battle with the Federation;
    he has found the real Roj Blake.  The ship travels to Gauda Prime, where
    Scorpio is attacked and loses control.  Tarrant crash lands the ship while
    the others begin trudging toward what they hope is the home of a new
    revolution, and Tarrant is "salvaged" by a bounty hunter - Blake.  After
    bluffing through a conversation to find out if Tarrant is Federation or not,
    Blake draws a gun on him and Tarrant lashes back and escapes.  Avon and the
    others arrive just as personnel on the base attack Tarrant, and Blake
    emerges.  Believing Tarrant's report that Blake has joined the Federation
    instead of Blake's protests to the contrary and offers of an alliance, Avon
    kills Blake and one of Blake's new recruits reveals herself to be a true
    Federation officer and shoots Dayna down.  Vila knocks the officer out and
    is seen to fall as a squad of Federation troops enter the base.  Soolin and
    Tarrant are the next to fall, leaving Avon to stand over the dead body of
    Blake, alone to face a Federation squad...
       Janet Lees Price, who portrays a member of Blake's team who is killed by
    Avon, is in fact Paul Darrow's wife!
  Cast:  Paul Darrow (Avon), Gareth Thomas (Blake), Michael Keating (Vila),
    Steven Pacey (Tarrant), Josette Simon (Dayna), Glynis Barber (Soolin),
    Peter Tuddenham (Orac, Slave), Sasha Mitchell (Arlen), David Collings
    (Deva), Janet Lees Price (Klyn)


                    ┌───────────────────────────────────┐
 ───────────────────┤ THE STORY CONTINUES...OR DOES IT? ├──────────────────────
                    └───────────────────────────────────┘

   There are only 52 episodes of "Blake's 7," but the tradition for a yearly
cliffhanger ending left us with a big one - the shootout on Gauda Prime, leaving
only Avon standing amidst a circle of armed guards, and then a fade to the end
credits under the sound of an exchange of gunfire.  Okay, maybe big is an
understatement here - would "unsurpassable" do better?
   Lots of explanations have been presented to try to save the characters and
still believably get things back to normal for a possible fifth season.  Terry
Nation, of course, has smilingly hinted for years that he knows what happens
next - and he's not talking.
   Tony Attwood, author of the "Dr. Who Companions" novel "Turlough and the
Earthlink Dilemma," wrote a similarly convoluted and grammatical-error-ridden
"Blake's 7" follow-up titled "Afterlife," which opens with Avon's interrogation
in a Federation prison on Gauda Prime, Vila helping him escape, and their
commandeering a freighter with a mysterious woman who may or may not be allied
with the Federation, but seems helpful enough.  Along the way, Avon and Vila
encounter yet another friendly talking computer or two - one portable analysis
device named KATT, and a helpful ship's computer whom Vila christens "Blake"
simply to make Avon feel guilty; they discover massive plots and conspiracies,
they build a teleport almost from scratch (something which the episode "Rescue"
established as a highly unlikely feat in a short period of time), meet the
miraculously recovered Tarrant (whom Attwood, in his own "Programme Guide,"
claimed would be an unlikely survivor due to the fact that he was already
injured by the crash in Scorpio, and the shots fired by the Federation troops
probably didn't help either); they then find Orac's long-lost twin unit Caro,
re-locate the artificial world Terminal and begin flying it around like a
massive ship, and finally they wind up on a gigantic ship piloted by Avon's
long-lost sister.  The ship, incidentally, is called "Blake's 7."  Why ask why?
Just put the following letters together:  C-O-N-T-R-I-V-E-D.  Many fans seem to
agree on that point, at least.
   I've encountered numerous fan-written tales which include such strange
concepts as Avon & company winding up in an alternate universe, the Blake killed
by Avon on Gauda Prime actually being the clone-Blake seen in "Weapon," Cally
being resurrected (and usually falling in love with Avon shortly afterward), and
even the crew rebuilding the Liberator from scratch!  Funny they didn't
undertake this task as soon as they had spare time on Terminal...
   Far be it from me to put down the efforts of other writers, but I've got my
own theory as to what the finale of "Blake" meant.  And like Terry Nation, I'm
not talking (I'd actually love to send him my idea just to get a yes-or-no
answer - is it the same idea he has in mind?).  I am, however, working on the
story and will include it with this file in the future.
   The approach I tend to lean toward is the one that a television producer
might consider (tempered, of course, with every fan's desire to explain what in
the world it all meant - y'know, I wouldn't advise anybody try this exercise
with "The Prisoner"...) - try to keep things down budget-wise (or take the BBC's
approach to "Blake's 7" - do EVERYTHING you want, but do so very cheaply).  As
an example of the kind of style I'd take to begin "series E," look at series C's
"Aftermath," one of my personal favorites.  It introduces Dayna's character as a
function of the story, unlike some instances in Doctor Who in which you can spot
the new-companion-to-be in a crowd of guest stars from thirty kilometers away!
It also sets up some new conflicts to be resolved, such as the reoganization of
the Federation under Servalan, cleaning up after the war with the Andromeda
invaders (something which is mentioned even in series D, when someone in
"Traitor" comments that Servalan was rumored killed during the war - evidently,
her "widespread rule" stopped just outside the hull of her command ship!), and
finding the other members of the crew.
   One point on which I'll admit Tony Attwood was correct is the fact that even
though Blake says, in the final episode, that Jenna was killed while running a
blockade, it's not necessarily true; I would not choose to bring her back
myself, but it's worth pointing out to any would-be fan writers out there that
Zen noted in "Aftermath" that Blake and Jenna evacuated Liberator and wound up
in two very different places.  Blake may have mentioned Jenna's name to see if
he got a reaction out of Tarrant.  In fact, one of the few really neat ideas
I've seen in fan written stories is the concept that Jenna, somehow having heard
of Blake's death and who killed him, would go looking for Avon.
   Anyway, the example of "Aftermath" merely suggests the general flow of the
story I'd start out with - establish new characters to replace the ones who
don't survive "Blake" (I'll go out on a limb and publicly state, here and now,
that I'm letting Soolin and Tarrant die, and I'm not ashamed of it in the
least!), set up a couple of new problems to deal with, and generally complicate
our heroes' lives further yet!  I'll let everyone know when the story's ready.
Until then, thanks for reading the file and feel free to make any suggestions
you wish to me c/o Walter Wilbury at Paradox of Arkansas!

   (I am still working on a bit of original Blake fiction which may appear in a
future LogBook/Chronicle release - I'll let you know!)

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  all text in this file copyright 1992, 1994 Earl Green - all rights reserved