Blake's 7 - Dawn of the Gods

 

Dawn of the Gods

It's so fantastic to watch Blake's 7 with no preconceptions about fan consensus on episodes. Dawn of the Gods seems like a potentially divisive one because it is vastly different from the usual action adventures. While there is plenty early on, it's much slower and stranger once they enter the other universe.

In some ways, Dawn of the Gods is the most science-fiction-y episode I've experienced so far. Everything was fairly normal, even if I was noticing the scientific space babble more than usual, with some fictional, some not: having Orac explain how black holes work, only for Avon to respond, "Yes, we know all that," was some blatant swiftly-explained physics. Then they travelled through the black hole, I didn't have a clue what was going on anymore, and it went utterly bizarre.

I found Series B exciting, especially early on, because having different writers produced such a variety of story types. I wasn't expecting much variation again for Series C, thinking the production might just go with what worked well previously, but I am pleased with this result from James Follett. It feels some considerable time since Blake's 7 has had a story that doesn't impact on the series arc; the second half of Series B was almost completely geared towards the search for Star One. Opening up the idea of accessible alternate universes provides a wealth of options for Blake's 7, including more plots that don't need to relate to Servalan or the Federation.

The episode started to seem like it might be entirely set on the Liberator - and I get excited during those episodes because I enjoyed Breakdown in Series A so much. Yet every time it's looked like happening again the crew do eventually leave and I am a tad disappointed. Admittedly, there must be a limited number of plots that could be thrilling and/or interesting, but I am curious to see them try again.

One small aspect worthy of praise in the earlier part of the episode is the moment when Vila begins protesting that he is absolutely not going to don a spacesuit and explore outside the ship. For regular viewers it's a predictable response, as is the result, so I liked the fade - of both sound and image - to Vila's preparations in the decompression chamber, narrated by his resigned monotone, with us having skipped the insistent/persuasive discussions in between.

Just a machine
Orac stunned me by intentionally dragging the crew into such danger and some choice words were spluttered. Orac may be the only computer to ever give you cheek back yet this has been amusing and never really to the crew's detriment.

He's like a petulant child at the start of the episode while they are playing a board game and in retrospect, it is apparent that he hoped to keep the crew distracted from his influence on the navigation. It's a good contrast now to have Zen loyal to the crew, while Orac is entirely indifferent with no programming to prevent him harming them and both characteristics make perfect sense; Zen is part of the ship so keeping the Liberator and its occupants in one piece is essential, yet Orac was designed to be autonomous.

Orac's actions are understandable but it remains hard not to anthropomorphise him (always a 'him' not an 'it') when he's been given an increasing amount of personality. I was bloody annoyed with him, and yet he's too useful and too valuable to ever get rid of.

Tarrant - not a new Avon
I finally felt like I got to know Tarrant a tad more too and concluded that he's a bit of a dick. Although I've seen Tarrant as a replacement for Avon's old role, it's becoming clear that they are markedly different.

One difference is that Tarrant is more aggressive. We saw it during his 'negotiations' with the Obsidians in Volcano, with Dayna having to remind him, "These people are our friends." In Dawn of the Gods, Tarrant's attitude has unfortunate consequences when it earns him an experience of the neuronic-whip. In contrast, Avon silently listens and observes, with a desire to hold all the information before making a decision. He has a patience that Tarrant lacks.

As the ship looks set to be ripped apart going through the black hole, Avon dives for a conveniently-close spacesuit. Tarrant then tries to stop him, insisting that if they're going to die, they can all go together. It was this that helped me decide that Tarrant is a bit of a dick. Just... why? This may be a team that looks after one another but self-sacrifice has never been on the agenda - well, unless Blake was forcing a reluctant effort. If Tarrant had had the chance to get to that suit first, I'm sure he would have.

I'm still baffled why Tarrant sought out the Liberator. If he wanted to join up with a resistance movement, he was going to have to work with other people. He clearly isn't comfortable with Avon in charge, so how would it have been different with Blake?

I originally thought Avon was a sod, but even at their antagonistic heights, I don't think he ever told Blake to his face that he might kill him. I enjoyed Avon's swift brush off, "It has been tried," and the accompanying grin shows that his and Tarrant's clashes are not so large as that early chasm between him and Blake. Avon seemed to look for any opportunity to argue with Blake and always planned to get rid of him. With Tarrant, Avon is the experienced man being challenged by the new one and feels no immediate need to rise to it because he's confident in his own abilities.

The one and only Avon
I don't think it is necessarily a bad thing to have people around to question Avon because he has been shown to be over-arrogant before. As Tarrant asks Zen to scan for traction beams, Avon states, "There is no known power in the universe that can operate a traction beam over that distance," to which Tarrant replies, "Just because you don't know how to build a high energy traction beam doesn't mean no one else knows how to build one." I like these occasional reminders that even Avon's logic can be fallible because sometimes he is like a computer - all the information we have says it cannot be possible, therefore it cannot be possible. While in this instance the change of course is down to Orac, Avon's wording actually misses out the one thing he could have been thinking about: what if the power came from another universe? From now on, he should certainly be considering it.

Cally and the Thaarn
Both Tarrant and Dayna round on Cally when they believe Auron's people may be causing the issues with the Liberator. While I instantly felt defensive for Cally, it's a reminder that the two new crew members don't know the others so well yet and mistrust can go both ways.

I was intrigued by the idea that Auron's fairy tale of its people's beginnings had its place in facts that had been passed down and muddled over the centuries. It was nice to learn more about the Aurons, who have been defined only by their telepathic powers up until now. I was also pleased that there has clearly been a concerted effort to develop Cally's character this series and she has plenty to do in this episode, including holding scenes alone when she is speaking to the Thaarn.

My main gripe is that I don't think we should have seen the Thaarn. When Cally is lying down, with music and lights twinkling, I was reminded of hypnosis scenes in On Her Majesty's Secret Service. Like Blofeld, the Thaarn is a disembodied voice speaking to the young woman, but while Telly Savalas delivers some menace once we pass the mystique, the Thaarn is distinctly underwhelming. He's a small fellow with a big brain - so what? Is the sight of him supposed to be horrifying, disgusting? I felt neither and was unsure why Cally later lied about seeing him.

Delightful and dreadful design
It's been a while since I've commented on the costumes in Blake's 7. I am disappointed that Avon still has his red lobster outfit as I've always thought it looks dreadful. Vila and Tarrant are wearing fairly similar shirt styles but Tarrant's has been combined with green velvet trousers and a belt with a large buckle, something so absurdly bold and vaguely period that it reminded me of a pantomime. This old-fashioned style continued with the Caliph in his top hat and breeches. Cally and Dayna are both in dresses, an immediate signal that they shouldn't be doing much running around or fighting because my first thought is: that's not very practical.

The sets were fairly simple, with little time to admire them. My favourite was the simplest of all: the huge empty space where the Liberator lands. This great expanse of darkness was wonderful for conveying the complete unknown and placing Vila in it first helped instil some fear.


I enjoyed Dawn of the Gods for providing something unlike any episode before. We had action, intrigue, then - what?! James Follett seems an interesting writer for the series and I liked numerous small elements, like the way the crew used the anthropomorphising of Orac to hide him from the Caliph, and "only the technology of the Lord Thaarn prevails on Krandor" was an original way of losing the advantages of the teleport bracelets. I'll be curious to see if other universes are ever explored again and what other types of stories Series C will offer next.

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.