Blake's 7 - Volcano

Volcano

We return to a regular type of Blake’s 7 adventure with a planet of the week that even Cally gets to visit now.

The opening act of Volcano had me solely by the intrigue of having no idea what was going on plot-wise, which I thought was better than the crew finding a planet and Blake telling us that he’s had a plan for three days but he’s only revealing it now. Once the Liberator came under attack, I was hooked for the rest of the episode. The combination of the interesting location filming and the exciting events on the ship worked perfectly for me. I remained gripped as I was seriously worried that the episode would end without Cally or Orac returning to the Liberator.

What the plot
I did feel like we had skipped an episode. Where did they hear the crew hear the rumour of Blake being on the planet? It appears that Servalan purposefully spread a false rumour, but it does feel like we've missed an adventure with them finding out this information.

I am also lacking an explanation for why they are going after Blake. What is the plan? Find Blake and hope he has a plan? Blake is a prick. He does not have enough redeeming features to overcome the rest: he kept important information from the crew; he placed them in unnecessary danger; he had an absurd number of chances to kill Travis and it wasn't until he was almost literally dying on his arse that he tried it; worst of all, he was obsessed and selfish, with his desperation to find Star One partly still coming down to having to know if he was right. Letting Travis live was perhaps Blake's way of proving to himself that he was a good person, but his all-consuming drive seemed to overcome his other decisions. Blake was not a good leader on the Liberator, yet he may still make a decent resistance leader, so I'm not entirely against finding him - just so long as it's clear that this is Avon's ship now.

Despite Tarrant and Dayna being the newbies on board, it's these two who head off alone to the planet. The others have known Tarrant five minutes, so this is irresponsible as far as I'm concerned - what's happened that Avon suddenly trusts him enough? A separate issue, and a minor plot hole, is that Avon has sent two people to find Blake who have never met him before: if I was one of the most wanted people in the galaxy, I wouldn't trust two strangers, even if they did have Liberator teleport bracelets.

INVASION

While I continue to find any invasion of the Liberator shocking, it has happened several times now: Bounty’s bounty hunters, Zen’s creators, Travis, last episode’s Federation Death Squad, and now more Federation troops. Though it's come close, no one has ever been seriously hurt in any of the previous encounters, with the crew’s knowledge of the Liberator’s design and features often being used to their advantage. The Liberator's familiarity has ensured it remained safe in a way, compared to a neutral ground, so shooting Avon stripped that away. It seemed highly unlikely that even Blake’s 7 would kill off its new lead three episodes into the series, but nonetheless, seeing Avon drop down unconscious, looking in such pain, instead of just clutching his arm and carrying on fighting back was concerning.

Avon does a cracking job alone on the flight deck, leading the battle, but he still needed back up. I was tearing my hair out, desperate for Cally or Vila to contact him, or for Avon to stop, turn around and realise something was wrong. I did like his little trick with Zen that gave him the chance to grab his gun. Avon now seems to have been hurt more than Blake. We may know he was far from perfect, but still, Blake’s almost mythical status is a contrast to Avon, who is starting to be presented as much more ordinary.

I’m finding this slight change in Avon’s character interesting. It feels significant because, when the circumstances have been right, Avon has thrown himself into a fight. Yet the series appears to be trying to show that Avon definitely isn’t a superman: he’s penetrable and vulnerable just like everyone else. He’s been exceptionally guarded both emotionally and physically up until recently but it’s falling away, crumbling a little. It's such a strong aspect of his identity that I am increasingly curious where the character will go this series.

Location, location, location
I'd whoop with joy if Blake's 7 suddenly got to film abroad and we had far more extreme ranges for locations, but my expectations are only slightly above rock bottom. I'll take it all back if they show up in the Grand Canyon next week. While it's nice to be wowed, I take enormous joy in the creativity of ambitious productions on more limited budgets.

Volcano has another great location that’s used effectively, and with the combination of wind, smoke and coloured lights the live effects are grand. I KNOW it's all being mashed in with stock footage, but it works as well as it can - bonus points for using the same eruption footage as seen in 007's You Only Live Twice (1967) and Doctor Who's Inferno (1970), as this clearly hasn't been bettered in at least 13 years. Minor points deducted for the unrealistic shot of the bloke falling into the volcano.

Like Vila's forest clearing, we are again getting scale to these location scenes. There is no attempt to stick to closer shots and avoid showing this vast, empty expanse - Volcano embraces it, with a distant shot of two native men approaching Servalan in a time-lapse. The population living below ground is a justifiable way of explaining why we see so few of them on the surface (The Keeper did this too on Goth, so I certainly won't be accepting it every time, Mr Prior). This surface seems huge and I liked its variety, with Servalan coming down on a flat plain but Dayna, Tarrant and Avon all teleporting near rocks on a hill, while we also see Cally in a small cave.

Missing pieces – Dayna and Tarrant

I want to see more of Dayna and, even more so, Tarrant. After Powerplay I was distrustful of him and there wasn’t enough in Volcano that made me feel like I knew him much better. His negotiating skills need some work as he came across a bit forceful and I was interested that Vila has already voiced his uncertainty about Tarrant. It was a wonderful three-hander moment when Vila told Cally that he "hadn’t really noticed" whether Dayna was pretty and Avon replied, “We’ve seen you not really noticing – frequently.” Despite what I’ve previously said about Dayna and Avon, Blake’s 7 has rarely so directly acknowledged such feelings – either lustful or romantic.

Not all Federation officers
There are at least a couple of things to note about Tarrant. His movement into Avon’s old position is cemented further as he tells Dayna, “I don’t trust anyone except myself. That’s why I’m still alive.” It’s also mentioned that he was previously a Federation Captain, which I must have missed or forgotten from the last episode.

It has been easy to see the Federation’s forces as one enormous entity as Travis is the only individual depicted more closely. I would expect a screening process to rule out anyone with even a glimmer of potential to let them down. The fact that Tarrant made it through in the first place makes me trust him even less, but it’s interesting to see someone like that who has successfully turned against the Federation.

Servalan’s underling in Volcano is Commander Mori, another officer who does not perfectly fit the Federation model. He seems so suited initially, but when Servalan orders him to kill the two Obsidians, Mori hesitates. He’s deeply uncomfortable with murdering the men in cold blood and though he does carry it out, his face turns grim as he stares at the bodies. Servalan’s expression also switches – to one of disgust. She needs loyal, unquestioning people with her and unfortunately for her, I don’t think she’s likely to find any who take the same sort of sadistic pleasure with as little disregard for life as Travis did.

I’m concerned that we might not see Travis again. It’s occurred to me now that I was certain we would but I’m no longer sure. I’ve enjoyed having both him and Servalan as villains because they each offered something different. I like having Servalan to smile as she hurts you, for delicious moments like the conclusion of Voice from the Past. But her threat only works from afar. If our heroes turn a corner and see Servalan, I gasp. If they suddenly spot Travis, I swear and imagine them reaching for a gun. For the series to work as well with just Servalan, I would like to see more of a physical threat from her. Her quite nasty murder of Mellanby was an excellent start, so I suppose what I really want is extra violent bloodshed.

Blake's 7 - Powerplay

Powerplay

For those viewers new to Blake's 7, Series C continues as a lovely introduction. There are similarities to the first series as we essentially spend two episodes getting the crew together, ready to head off for adventures. Though I missed seeing Vila and Cally in Aftermath, introducing everyone across two episodes enables those two to have decent screentime and I liked that they both had their own little plots in Powerplay. This episode has a lot to do: Avon and Dayna are still getting to know each other, we need to reach Vila and Cally, plus include a plot that brings Tarrant in. It's impressive that on top of this, Vila and Cally are given a well-structured separate plot of their own.

Tarrant
To an extent, the fact I knew Tarrant would eventually be joining the Liberator affected my viewing. However, I was more inclined to believe he was a real Federation officer who would turn rogue and I was initially very convinced by his performance.

Despite my foreknowledge, I think I may still have rumbled him anyway. The murder of the first guard made me suspicious and there were more obvious hints that Tarrant was not all he seemed: we found out he arrived separately from the other guards, then when Avon and Dayna were hiding below the corridor, Tarrant paused over the hatch and clearly knew they were there, yet said nothing.

I do not trust Tarrant. I am unsure of his motivations for seeking the Liberator out. I remain doubtful of his backstory and think he is more of a criminal than an aspiring freedom fighter. I feel this, but acknowledge that I am hypocritical: I would have summarised most of the original Liberator crew this way when we first met them, especially Avon and Vila. Circumstances brought them together and it seemed enough to bind them. Like Jenna, Tarrant was a smuggler, but we quickly established that Jenna was a nice – too nice – smuggler. Tarrant now occupies the place of Avon in my view, as he’s the one I would expect to screw the others over. I need to see more of him though as it is currently all just vague distrust.

Avon and Dayna
It's great to watch Avon use his knowledge of the Liberator against the guards as it's so rare for the crew to have this type of advantage. It is also a good way of demonstrating to Dayna that he knows what he's doing - perhaps building up the trust between them; she has just run off with a complete stranger.

While Avon takes the lead, Dayna doesn't look left out and I enjoyed watching them together. Avon hasn't had particularly friendly relationships with any of the crew apart from Vila - his exchanges have often been functionary, issuing orders or plain hostile - so this is an interesting change. There is the potential for something more romantic between Avon and Dayna, but, as I said following Aftermath, I think such things would end badly. Having given it more thought since then, I would expect the series to kill off Dayna rather than let that carry on. So far though, she's continuing to impress me by getting involved with the physical fights. She has far less regard for life than Avon and isn't at all bothered or even interested in the death of the first guard.

Without ascribing any flirtatious connotations to their conversations, Avon is more relaxed with Dayna compared to when he first met the other Liberator crew. She might think he's secretive yet his overall demeanour is different. "Perhaps I'm just shy," is a lovely line and it appears a rushed response because Avon is suddenly realising that he now has little cause to be so secretive: he was understandably guarded originally, but no longer needs to be and his confidence is there in his firm declaration: "This is my ship." It was a comment that caught me for a moment until I realised that the Liberator really is all Avon's now. Powerplay's plot serves this nicely as well because Avon has fought for and earned the ship by the end.

Jenna and Blake
Jenna really has gone with no desire to be followed and I don’t blame her. It appears my belief following Aftermath was wrong - Blake cannot have deliberately disguised his destination because Zen was able to tell Avon where he had gone. I wondered why we have been given this information. My only conclusion is that Avon is going to try to find Blake, which would mean that despite the destruction of Star One, Avon still isn’t free of Blake after all.

Only a machine
Zen essentially disappeared as a substantial character during the last series. But as I spent so much of Series A critiquing him, it is only fair that I take a moment to commend him now, even if he is only a machine.

Despite a whole series of calling him a useless tosser, Zen’s betrayal – as I saw it – in Redemption remained hurtful - how dare he do this to our crew? However, I was pleased by his loyalty in Powerplay as he provided no control to the intruders. I don’t think we have previously established the idea of voice keys for Zen. It's something that seems as though it could come in useful in the future. Adding Dayna and Tarrant's keys is a suitable way of welcoming them on board, but I did think it seemed a bit premature in Tarrant's case. I want to yell: not all anti-Federation people are good guys!

Location, location, location
The location filming in this series has already been more impressive than in previous ones. Aftermath's visit to an actual sunny beach seems phenomenal as it would normally be inevitable for British weather to conspire against such plans and deliver grim, overcast days, even at the height of Summer. Blake's 7 may have used forests before, but Powerplay's setting is still different; Vila's clearing next to the stream with its rocks and vapour provides more variety than previous forest scenes.

Vila and Cally
It felt like it took forever to see Vila and Cally as I was still concerned - I later discovered it was a mere seven minutes until Vila appears! Vila's message that he was hurt was a nice bit of dragging out the suspense for those lengthy minutes. Knowing Vila, half of me expected him to have only a relatively minor injury. Once we saw his fire next to his escape capsule, it was clear he hadn't been able to move far for several days. I enjoyed the scene with Vila putting on voices to deter would-be attackers and it's the sort of tailored comedy gift for Michael Keating that can be provided now we are a few series in.

As Vila was led off to the facility, I was unsure whether or not to trust the Hi-Techs. Dudley Simpson's incidental music had wonderfully subtle notes that enabled a sense of foreboding to emerge. While this is a common technique in both film and television, it was just done so delicately here that I was really impressed. I've liked Blake's 7's sounds and soundtrack throughout but this episode in particular caught my ear. I especially enjoyed a small section when Avon and Dayna surfaced from the below the corridor, as it reminded me of a piece from the ITC series Man in a Suitcase (1967), for which I adore Albert Elm's soundtrack.

Cally has more focus in Powerplay than she did across most of the last series. Her backseat as teleport operator and occasional nurse has coloured my view of her as I expected her to be meek but I liked how she stood up to Servalan. It reminded me that in The Keeper she also refused to follow Avon's order to attack a second ship, so there has been something there and it would be good to see her character built on.

Servalan's gleeful reveal of the facility's purpose is so perfectly in character for her. The revelation that they were at an organ harvesting facility turned my stomach as nastily as it did Vila's face. Instantly, images flashed across my mind's eye of an episode of Waking the Dead (2000-2011) - the only one I've ever seen - in which a man had volunteered to sell one of his kidneys, but had then had his eyes stolen as well. That was the first time I became aware of the practice and I've continued to find it horrifying.

I wasn't clockwatching but I was sure we must be near the end of the episode so both immediately following the revelation and when Cally and Vila lay on the operating tables I was panicking, worried that the episode would end on another cliffhanger. I was so relieved when they teleported up - it felt like one of the worst last-second rescues yet.

Looking forward
There is some more Federation lore added when Tarrant tells us the guards on the Liberator are part of a Death Squad. It's extra information for those of us who have been watching for a while, as well as an easy way of telling the new audience that Blake's 7's bad guys are properly evil. Servalan's presence adds a tad more too.

A running theme throughout Series B was how undefeatable the Federation seemed, especially in the first half of that series, and I began to feel frustrated as the crew were repeatedly knocked back. Aftermath told us that the Federation was on its knees, barely surviving. But this did look like it could be a bluff and Powerplay shows the Federation comfortably holding on. The Death Squad survived the Battle for Star One and even after finding herself on a 'neutral' planet, Servalan has managed to wrangle a lift out of there. She is President now, presumably with even less to hold her back and with even more resources at her command, so, with a certain amount of trepidation for the new Team Avon, I am looking forward to what Servalan will do next.