It completely changes the scene, doesn't it? It's when the show went from possibly being just a serial to being a full-on series, reminding us of the background to why our heroes are out there in the first place.

I do like the way Blakes 7 uses shabby industrial architecture.

I was a bit sarky about the writing earlier on, but this episode is a triumph. The introduction of Servie and Travis is used to remind us of Blake's conflict, what he is fighting for, and why the bad guys want him gone.

Works for me, I’ll check with Douglas.

Travis is a bit more a stereotypical baddie, down to the black leather, but Steven plays him with such panache.

Douglas said he’s got a couple of things to work around, but he’ll try to make it.

Exactly.

Many thanks Obsidian for posting this. I don’t know why I can’t do it from my phone.

Unfortunately for Uncle Tel's cast of thousands.

Because it's a pain load of application jumps.

Define 'bad guys'!! The Federation brings peace and order, citizens!

David Maloney's interview on the Together Again tapes is a gem. I remember speaking to Judith Smith at Cygnus Alpha 4.0. She said David was a lovely man. She also spoke highly of Chris Boucher, although she said he was completely paranoid. I think you can see that in his writing.

I don’t understand how none of them can count to 6. There’s only 6 of them. It shouldn’t be too hard to realise there’s only 5 back on board the Liberator. They’re all supposed to have a pretty high level of intelligence particularly Blake, Avon and Jenna. So why can’t they count more than the number of fingers on one hand?

Do you want me to sneak in onto the News page?

Hello everyone. Late as usual, I'm afraid.

Hi JD. Glad you made it!

I still find it how to believe Stephen is longer with us. He was so full of life at conventions.

They are excellent tapes! I'm a huge fan of CB.

She also spoke highly of Chris Boucher, although she said he was completely paranoid. I think you can see that in his writing.

You'd think so, but -- the same thing happened it real life. They got back to the hotel after filiming in the nuclear power station, then realised the last time they'd seen David Jackson was when he was off scoffing all the sandwiches. He arrived hours later having to have got a lift from one of the people who worked at the station! Life imitating art...

He was an incredible writer. The depth of the characters on B7 and how they develop is very much down to him.

He was a lovely man, though (as someone once said to me), slightly Eeyorish.

You'd think so, but -- the same thing happened it real life. They got back to the hotel after filiming in the nuclear power station, then realised the last time they'd seen David Jackson was when he was off scoffing all the sandwiches. He arrived hours later having to have got a lift from one of the people who worked at the station! Life imitating art...

Hi, Joe. Servalan's here!

On the board or on the telly?

And heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeere's Servalan!

Do you want me to sneak in onto the News page?

It goes with the art, I think.

But then I suppose if you want to start getting technical, the whole premise of the number of Blake’s 7 is wrong. Even if Blake counts Zen they’re still only 7 of them because Blake can’t count himself when he’s referring to his gang. But he could add one when Orac comes on board but then GAN dies so we’re back to Blake’s 6. All in all somebody’s got some serious maths problems going on with this show. LOL.

Most of the time it holds water - Blake has seven when Gan's with them, then in series 3 & 4 he's not involved, so all seven are his seven. It's just between Gan karking it and Aftermath that the maths isn't mathing.

Bit it does remind me of the "Maximum Power" book blurb - "A is for Avon, Z is for Xenon Base".

[Yeah, I think it helped make him a terrific writer.