Review BLAKE'S 7: TIME SQUAD - Episode 04

Doctor Omega

Doctor Omega

Member: Rank 10
The subplot seems a bit pointless and filler, with the crazy popsicles waking up on the Liberator.

Some good moments for Gan, though, and his "limiter".


That crazy book LIBERATION suggests that Gan was waiting in the space capsule to attack Jenna when the limiter kicked in.

Distinctly average episode overall though, in my opinion..


5 out of 10.
 
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M

michaellevenson

Member: Rank 8
This episode cast list

Gareth Thomas....Blake
Paul Darrow......Avon
Sally Knyvette......Jenna
Michael Keating.....Vila
David Jackson......Gan
Jan Chappell.......Cally
Peter Tuddenham.....Zen
Tony Smart , Mark McBride,
and Frank Henson.....Aliens

Written by Terry Nation
Directed by Pennant Roberts
Transmitted 23 January 1978
 
chainsaw_metal1

chainsaw_metal1

Member: Rank 8
The "aliens found in stasis" plotline? That is so overdone. As a television snob, I certainly don't approve of something so cliche. Actually, the main plot of Blake, Avon and Vila teleporting to the surface to destroy the communications center is really good, but not enough time is spent on it. Instead, we get them meeting up with Cally and seeing her become the newest member of the Seven. The thawing out of the mysterious aliens only gives us that moment of uncertainty about whether or not they can get the crew members back up to the ship. Other than that, it doesn't give us anything else except for a cheap bit of drama, and Jenna's comment later on about being wary of bringing aliens aboard. We're starting to get a real back and forth between Avon and Vila - both talented in their own way, but one is more a low level criminal while the other is an intelligent man who deems himself better than his peers. And Gan gets a nice bit of backstory leading up to the revelation that he has an inhibitor installed in his melon. The idea that Blake is going out of his way to get the attention of the Federation instead of laying low and hiding is a nice way to progress the story.

I think this one gets 7 brain-altering non-murder chips out of 10.
 
M

michaellevenson

Member: Rank 8
Two plots for the price of one , the attack on Saurian Major and the frozen aliens(?)
Not sure if they were aliens. We have to remember this is set so far in the future, it is implied later that it's a thousand years hence, that any humanlike beings may have in the distant past originated from Earth, having a lineage traceable to Earth.
Cally ,our new crew member though telepathic and considers herself Auronar, Auron could and probably was settled hundreds of years ago by Earthers. This all becomes clear as we learn about this *Federation Era*.
Back to the Saurian Major plot, it was terrific , I especially like the alien look the planet gets by simply filming through a tinted lens, and the strange clammy intelligent plant.
Vila shows his usefulness to the team, and at last we have our seven, Blake,Avon,Jenna,Cally, Vila, Gan and of course Zen.
The frozen guardians plot was a bit pointless, didn't really go anywhere, but we had a nice scene of Avon rescuing Blake and Jenna, and we learnt that Gan has a limiter, a brain implant as punishment for killing a Fed who in turn killed his woman. The question is , is the decent pacified Gan we've seen up to now only the result of the limiter? Is he really a psycho?
8/10
 
M

michaellevenson

Member: Rank 8
This is where we start getting the wonderful quotes from Avon and Vila.
BLAKE -" You have to be careful of the plant life around here, some of it's carnivorous, some even have an intelligence quotient"
VILA-" That's a comfort, I'd hate to be eaten by something stupid"

VlLA-" I intend to live forever, or die trying!"

AVON-" he's useless, as he says he was"
VILA-" Armless was the word I used"
AVON -" You couldn't even get that right"
 
Brimfin

Brimfin

Member: Rank 3
Looks like I was wrong about Blake already having his six team members as of last week. I could have sworn I saw more than just Vila and Oleg join him from Cygnus last week, but even if there were he could have easily dropped them off on another planet at their request. He starts out two members short of his seven.

Two stories this week. First, on the way to a mission to cripple the Federation’s communications center, they encounter a derelict ship. Blake and Jenna beam aboard only to become trapped there when Zen throws a fit and has to reboot the transporter. When Avon first tells him the transporter’s acting up it looks like he’s lying – he wasn’t keen on secret attacks or rescue missions – but he was telling the truth. To his credit, he skillfully maneuvers the ship so that they can bring the small ship into the cargo bay. saving their lives.

It turns out the ship has a crew in cryogenic suspension on a one-way mission. I was rather intrigued to find out what it was about, but we eventually learn that it was to find life forms they didn’t like and destroy them, or something along those lines. Might as well have just been killer robots or assassins. Most of the story hinged around them attacking and then being shot with the ship’s guns.

We did find out that Gan has an inhibitor in his head that doesn’t allow him to kill (he was convicted of murder, but it was self-defense.) Honestly, at first I thought he meant the aliens had put it there, but now as I write this, it would make more sense that the prison officials did that. The aliens just would’ve killed him. Zen did mention that there were four beings on board the ship, but only three were killed. Is the fourth supposed to be lurking around in hiding still? I guess we’ll see – or not see, if I misunderstood.

The other story – the attack on the communications outpost at Saurian Major – was much better. It’s Blake, Avon and Vila for the attack. First they meet Cally, an alien with telepathic abilities. (She can send thoughts, but not receive them.) She is the sole survivor of an earlier resistance movement so she is able to help them infiltrate the base. Vila proves his usefulness by cracking open a heavy door blocking their plan. He’s going to be more than just the mildly complaining comic relief. There’s a tense moment when they need to transport out and their shipmates are occupied. Fortunately, Oleg knows that to activate the transporter you flip the two tiny levers on the far side and then push the white button on one of the multi-button switches. Snatched out just in time. Cally ends up joining them becoming the sixth member of the seven. Hey, they did find room for another female on the team after all!

Vila had the best line of the week, when Blake pointed out that some plants on Saurian Major were carnivorous and had some intelligence. “Good,” Vila replied, “I’d hate to be eaten by something stupid.” Also liked the line after Blake outsmarted Cally to get her gun. “You can’t read minds,” he says, “or you’d have seen that coming.”

I’ll give this one a 7 based mostly on the stronger of the two stories.
 
M

michaellevenson

Member: Rank 8
Brimfin said:
Looks like I was wrong about Blake already having his six team members as of last week. I could have sworn I saw more than just Vila and Oleg join him from Cygnus last week, but even if there were he could have easily dropped them off on another planet at their request. He starts out two members short of his seven.

Two stories this week. First, on the way to a mission to cripple the Federation’s communications center, they encounter a derelict ship. Blake and Jenna beam aboard only to become trapped there when Zen throws a fit and has to reboot the transporter. When Avon first tells him the transporter’s acting up it looks like he’s lying – he wasn’t keen on secret attacks or rescue missions – but he was telling the truth. To his credit, he skillfully maneuvers the ship so that they can bring the small ship into the cargo bay. saving their lives.

It turns out the ship has a crew in cryogenic suspension on a one-way mission. I was rather intrigued to find out what it was about, but we eventually learn that it was to find life forms they didn’t like and destroy them, or something along those lines. Might as well have just been killer robots or assassins. Most of the story hinged around them attacking and then being shot with the ship’s guns.

We did find out that Gan has an inhibitor in his head that doesn’t allow him to kill (he was convicted of murder, but it was self-defense.) Honestly, at first I thought he meant the aliens had put it there, but now as I write this, it would make more sense that the prison officials did that. The aliens just would’ve killed him. Zen did mention that there were four beings on board the ship, but only three were killed. Is the fourth supposed to be lurking around in hiding still? I guess we’ll see – or not see, if I misunderstood.

The other story – the attack on the communications outpost at Saurian Major – was much better. It’s Blake, Avon and Vila for the attack. First they meet Cally, an alien with telepathic abilities. (She can send thoughts, but not receive them.) She is the sole survivor of an earlier resistance movement so she is able to help them infiltrate the base. Vila proves his usefulness by cracking open a heavy door blocking their plan. He’s going to be more than just the mildly complaining comic relief. There’s a tense moment when they need to transport out and their shipmates are occupied. Fortunately, Oleg knows that to activate the transporter you flip the two tiny levers on the far side and then push the white button on one of the multi-button switches. Snatched out just in time. Cally ends up joining them becoming the sixth member of the seven. Hey, they did find room for another female on the team after all!

Vila had the best line of the week, when Blake pointed out that some plants on Saurian Major were carnivorous and had some intelligence. “Good,” Vila replied, “I’d hate to be eaten by something stupid.” Also liked the line after Blake outsmarted Cally to get her gun. “You can’t read minds,” he says, “or you’d have seen that coming.”

I’ll give this one a 7 based mostly on the stronger of the two stories.
Click to expand...
Some answers to.points raised;
The mission of the capsule aliens was to protect genetic banks, and there was indeed four of them all accounted for.
One never survived in the first place, one of the cryogenic units didn't function, we saw a frozen corpse. The two the Liberator crew recovered both came to life and tried to murder Jenna and Gan, but both died. The fourth was hidden in the locked compartment and emerged at the end only to be electrocuted.
Only Gan and Vila were teleported up at the end of the previous story, along with Blake of course. Arco , Selman etc died in the attempted attack on Vargas and his cronies.
Finally we do now have our final seven; Blake, Avon, Gan, Vila, Jenna,Cally, and not forgetting Zen.
Avon " you're not counting that machine as a member of the crew!?"
Blake " whoa, what d'you say to that Zen?"
Zen " please state course and speed"
Blake. " very diplomatic"
 
ant-mac

ant-mac

Member: Rank 9
Blake decides to carry out his first major strike against the Federation by destroying a Federation communications base, so the Liberator travels to the planet Saurian Major in star sector 42.61. With all Federation communication signals beamed there, boosted and redirected out, it appears to be the perfect target. However, along the way to their destination, a distress call leads the Liberator to intercept and take onboard a small space vehicle that contains cryogenically frozen passengers.

Arriving in orbit around Saurian Major, Blake teleports down with Avon and Vila to search for other resistance fighters to help him attack and destroy the Federation communications complex. They meet a lone resistance fighter, named Cally. She is a telepath from the planet Auron, who can only project thoughts, not read them. Blake eventually convinces her to help them. Back on the Liberator, the cryogenic capsule that was brought aboard has been successfully reactivated and the aliens inside promptly try to kill Jenna and Gan. Despite his size and strength, Gan cannot fight back against the aliens due to a behavioural limiter in his brain.

Down on the planet, Blake and his team successfully infiltrate the Federation installation, where Avon overrides the safety protocols on a power reactor before they are all teleported to safety by an injured Gan, seconds ahead of a massive explosion. Blake rescues Jenna from the aliens - who turn out to be dangerous killers conditioned to protect the genetic banks aboard their space vessel - and they dispose of them and the space capsule into deep space. Referring to Cally, Jenna expresses unease after her recent experience about bringing aliens aboard the Liberator. However, Blake still offers Cally the chance to join the Liberator crew and she accepts. He then instructs Zen to set a course for the planet Centero at standard by two.

I found this to be a fine and very strong episode, where all of the main cast are given something to do. Gareth Thomas, Paul Darrow and Michael Keating are in particularly fine form, as is the final member of the regular cast to join, Jan Chappell. The seven are now finally established. Blake, Avon, Jenna, Vila, Cally, Gan and… Zen? Really? Personally, I think it’s a bit odd to include the spaceship’s computer as one of the gang, but I’m not the one who made this TV series.

5/5.
 
M

michaellevenson

Member: Rank 8
Returning to the subject of Gan and his limiter; the Federation authorities put it there as a punishment for Gan killing a Fed guard, I suppose a sort of humane alternative to just executing him. But one has to wonder what exactly this device does. It obviously cuts in when Gan tries to kill the Aliens , preventing him, but is the limiter inert at other times. Surely you'd only put such a device in someone dangerous and prone to violent outbursts regularly.
So is there a continuous low level activating of the limiter that keeps him pacified. Is Gan really a psycho?
 
Cloister56

Cloister56

Member: Rank 3
A really like the idea of abandoned ships/space stations/pods. I like how it is very cramped and seemingly very functional.
We also learn that the teleporter seems to be able to adapt and change the persons position to accommodate the space, unless Avon did it.
We get a nice locked box mystery with the pod.

Brimfin said:
It turns out the ship has a crew in cryogenic suspension on a one-way mission. I was rather intrigued to find out what it was about, but we eventually learn that it was to find life forms they didn’t like and destroy them, or something along those lines. Might as well have just been killer robots or assassins. Most of the story hinged around them attacking and then being shot with the ship’s guns.
Click to expand...
michaellevenson said:
Some answers to.points raised;
The mission of the capsule aliens was to protect genetic banks, and there was indeed four of them all accounted for.
One never survived in the first place, one of the cryogenic units didn't function, we saw a frozen corpse. The two the Liberator crew recovered both came to life and tried to murder Jenna and Gan, but both died. The fourth was hidden in the locked compartment and emerged at the end only to be electrocuted.
Click to expand...
I would have liked to have something a bit more interesting that what boils down to 3 killers get released from the pod but at least they had a purpose. It is interesting Villa implies that all the race if revived from the race bank would be homicidal maniacs, surely just the guardians were built this way but perhaps that does reflect on the species.

I think I would get a bit annoyed at Blake. He spends a lot of this episode ordering the others around and making them do stuff they don't really seem to want to do. Avon and Villa give him a pained look when he suggests a small fire to attract the rebels and then they move off to do this. Blake stands serenely looking out into the distance.

We learn more about Gan including why he was a prisoner. I really like Gan, he seems so world weary in this episode and it's quite sad when he says he can't leave as he can't be on his own. He seems most pleased when he heals Jenna's arm which was a nice moment. The limiter gives him a nice extra dimension with some nice ways they could go with it.

Cally seems like she will be a good addition to the crew. She is similar to Blake in that she is a committed freedom fighter. Her telepathic ability would open an number of good options. I did find it odd they made it so she can't read peoples thoughts, I think that would be more interesting, maybe allowing her to predict peoples actions but we shall see how it works out.

Avon seems to be stroking his hand during the docking sequence. I wonder if this was a nervous tick the actor added for him, it will be interesting to see if it pops up again.
A consistent thing in most of these cramped space stories is that the thing that will kill you is the oxygen running out. In most cases it would likely be the CO2 accumulating and killing you long before the Oxygen would.

So the Liberator crew strike their first big blow against the Federation. It does seem that the teleporter is going to be very useful. As in the Federations tech it hasn't been developed then none of it's defenses will be set up to stop it.

A good but not great episode.

7 is the number of the crew we have, out of 10.
 
Cloister56

Cloister56

Member: Rank 3
I was wondering if the inhibitor for Gan was a later addition.
In episode 2 "Space Fall" we see Gan grab the guard by the throat without any problems.
In episode 3 "Cygnus Alpha" we see him defend himself during the fight and in one brief section as Blake and Villa grab him to make a run for it he appears to be stabbing down with a spear. You can't see what he is doing completely and when the shot switches the spear is gone.

I guess you could explain it "in universe" by saying maybe Gan is only inhibited if he intends to kill the person but then why does he not just try to subdue the guardians including the last one where he is pointing a gun at him.
 
M

michaellevenson

Member: Rank 8
I'm mindful not to give anything away , but future episodes throw some doubt about Gan's true personality, is the gentle giant we know a result of the limiter pacification only. An episode to come will throw light on all this.....but not yet awhile.
 
Brimfin

Brimfin

Member: Rank 3
michaellevenson said:
Some answers to.points raised;
The mission of the capsule aliens was to protect genetic banks, and there was indeed four of them all accounted for.
One never survived in the first place, one of the cryogenic units didn't function, we saw a frozen corpse. The two the Liberator crew recovered both came to life and tried to murder Jenna and Gan, but both died. The fourth was hidden in the locked compartment and emerged at the end only to be electrocuted.
Only Gan and Vila were teleported up at the end of the previous story, along with Blake of course. Arco , Selman etc died in the attempted attack on Vargas and his cronies.
Finally we do now have our final seven; Blake, Avon, Gan, Vila, Jenna,Cally, and not forgetting Zen.
Avon " you're not counting that machine as a member of the crew!?"
Blake " whoa, what d'you say to that Zen?"
Zen " please state course and speed"
Blake. " very diplomatic"
Click to expand...
Thanks for the explanations. Now I won't be wasting time:
a.) wondering if the fourth alien will show up or
b.) waiting to see who the seventh member of Blake's team will be
 
M

michaellevenson

Member: Rank 8
Okay folks, we have a returning Sage, Simian Jack, with us and he's playing catchup. A welcome addition too, and Gavin and Mad Pac are yet to do this episode, but everyone else has completed the four episode intro , so most of us move on to ;
episode 5 The Web
Throughout the 52 episodes occasionally the writers throw in a "Star Trek" type pure Sci Fi episode for Blake and his followers, in Avon's case reluctant follower, to get their teeth into. Such is our next episode, with The Munchkins from Oz !!!
 
Gavin

Gavin

Member: Rank 6
VIP
Been a busy couple of weeks so I'm playing catch up now. Some initial thoughts as I watch the episode.

Finally we get to see the crew starting to learn about how to control the Liberator, even if it is only a brief mention.

Once again Avon makes perfect sense, while being ignored by all the others. Blake wants to start attacking the Federation (which is fine) but is just assuming command and refusing to discuss options with the others.

Is that an esky I see storing the teleport bracelets? I think I used to own one like that.

Ah the old "find a ship with cyrogenically frozen people from centuries ago" story. Well it may not have been such a cliche when Blake's 7 was done but it's certainly been done to death since. It had certainly been done previously on Star Trek.

Hey, Vila is useful for something other than being scared and offering snarky comments.

What's going on with Zen? There's clearly more to come with that storyline.

It was a bit stupid of Jenna not to tell Blake there were potential problems with the crew of the ship. That resulted in Blake and the others nearly blowing themselves up because they assumed Jenna and Gan were just sitting around waiting for their call. Surely it would have made more sense for Blake to call the ship and confirm that everything was ready to go before setting the array to an unstoppable explosion, especially given they'd already experienced transporter issues in this episode.

Poor timing on the filming of Blake saving Jenna. She's got a bad guy sneaking up on her and suddenly turns in shock a good 2 seconds before Blake calls to warn her.

And we've finally got our 7. Including Zen, despite his apparent issues at the moment.

Overall it was a pretty enjoyable episode, despite being a bit of a cliche. The split storyline between Jenna and Gan on the Liberator fighting the aliens (who we never find out anything significant about) and the others on the planet, meeting Cally, and blowing up the communications array, kept the episode moving and entertaining. Cally's telepathy should come in handy for covert communications. Let's hope that ability doesn't get ignored in future episodes.

michaellevenson said:
The question is , is the decent pacified Gan we've seen up to now only the result of the limiter? Is he really a psycho?
Click to expand...
That's an interesting point, leading to the question - what happens if the limiter breaks down? It's good to see we're getting some back story and character development.

I'll give this one 7 out of 10.
 
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