Blakes7 Discussion

Valentine · Posted: Fri Oct 15, 2004 3:38 pm Post subject:

Davecabs

callyfan · Guest

In the DVD extras it has a deleted scene where Vila kills his first guard.

Davecabs · Posted: Sun Jan 16, 2005 8:38 pm Post subject:

Steve Rogerson · Joined: 16 May 2004 Posts: 8942 Location: Nottingham

Janov Seldon · Posted: Wed Jan 19, 2005 4:48 am Post subject:

I feel it's a good thing that they did cut it, because although Vila did have a rarely seen darker, callous edge, he simply wasn't a killer - look at the horror he displays after stabbing that gadgy in Cygnus Alpha.
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thunda · Joined: 27 Jun 2005 Posts: 1371 Location: Kaldor City

A pretty good episode,a bit overrated,but still good.Some things I noticed:

Federation security is pretty bad.

Apparentlt the Federation does have scruples,they draw the line at killing civilians.

The interrogation unit has a very odd way of transporting prisoners,dragging Cally on the floor by her feet?

The robot might have looked better if they could have made it look like it was hovering.

Travis has a very,very small gun.
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pna · Joined: 15 Aug 2005 Posts: 609 Location: Cygnus Alpha

I just watched this last week.

Did anyone think it odd that whilst the gate to the site had a sophisticated voice recognition system, the control panel to the gate's lock didn't have any form of protection - not even a padlock.

I liked the writing around the part where the President's men were talking to Servalan questioning her decision to use Travis, and when she insisted, they effectively said she would have to take full responsibility herself. You would think that being the 'Supreme Commander' they would support her, but it appears its every one for themself - much like today.

I thought it odd that Blakes people didn't bother to make their 'prisoners' lie down or at least tie them up!

I thought that Cally's fight scene was very good.

white afro in space · Joined: 07 Oct 2004 Posts: 3283 Location: Afrovia

thunda · Joined: 27 Jun 2005 Posts: 1371 Location: Kaldor City

white afro in space · Joined: 07 Oct 2004 Posts: 3283 Location: Afrovia

BLAKESCREWE · Joined: 16 May 2004 Posts: 21196 Location: 1977!

Travis was very stupid in this episode - just how did Servalan think he was the best in the service ?

Fancy not remembering that old `I GOT THERE BEFORE YOU TRICK` that Blake pulled on him at the end - HE SHOULD HAVE GOT THE BOOT soon after !

thunda · Joined: 27 Jun 2005 Posts: 1371 Location: Kaldor City

Cockroach Boy · Posted: Sun Feb 05, 2006 10:44 am Post subject:

A terrific episode especially for Grief who's peformance shows why they should never have tried to replace him with Croucher (or anyone else for that matter). He's sinister, obsessed, grimy and fascinating. In fact all the best scenes are those with him in them and you could almost forget the programme is meant to be about Blake.

It's also an interesting indication of the attitudes to disability in SF and Nation's in particular. He had already given crippled mad scientists like Davros and Saymon. Here he presents us with a villain who's disability isn't just used as an 'indication' of their evil but a cause of it. Of course this kind of thing isn't limitited to Nation (though it's significant that in The Dalek Invasion of Earth, the wheelchair bound Dortmun is a useless leader who is killed and replaced, just as Davros is in Genesis) and it occurs throughout both Blake and Doctor Who (Magnus Greel, the Borad, the Pirate Captain, El Akir to name but a few).

The most extreme example was Wyndham's Day of the Triffids where the blind are as much a threat as the walking plants and are presented as a threat to mankind's survival. (personally I think Wyndham was overly simplistic. It's quite possible that the blind would simply adapt and with the numbers on their side, would replace the sighted)

If Blake's 7 were made today would such attitudes persist? I think it's quite possible. Part of the loathsome Daily Mail's campaign against Cronenberg's addaption of 'Crash' was their 'disgust' that that main character had - gasp! - had sex with a crippled girl.

Richard1978 · Joined: 25 May 2006 Posts: 32

This episode shows why most Federation troopers have those gaskmask like attachments to their helmets.

It's a bit daft that the lock Vila picks has a panel that just opens so you can fiddle with the workings.

Ron · Joined: 14 Feb 2006 Posts: 3116 Location: A town, UK

The action scenes while breaking into the base are great. Director Vere Lorrimers use of close-ups (as mentioned on the commentary track) is a factor, but it's also Terry Nation's skilled screenplay, like telling Vila and Cally when to peer round the doors, that creates much of the suspense; and it's all brilliantly executed.