Blakes 7: Cygnus Alpha
May 10, 2016 12:37 AM - Season 1, Episode 3 - Subscribe

Blake, Jenna, and Avon commandeer the alien ship, which is surprisingly easy to fly, and decide to jet off to the fearsome Cygnus Alpha, the prison planet they have just escaped being sent from to find a crew for the newly-named Liberator, but what is the fearsome mystery of Cygnus Alpha, who will survive, and what is BRIAN BLESSED shouting about?

Jenna and Avon consider abandoning Blake after losing contact! Division! Avon advises mutiny! Jenna finds gold, jewels and new clothes (and probably a future hair styling kit)!

Blake and Gan launch a rescue!

They find some of the coolest guns in the cosmos! And a working teleporter, technology the Federation seems to lack.

And the Federation pursuit ships come a'callin'.

Guest stars Pamela Salem (Toos in The Robots of Death and as Professor Rachel Jensen in Remembrance of the Daleks from Dr Who, Countess de Ricordeau from The Tripods and Belor from Into the Labyrinth!)
posted by Mezentian (6 comments total)
 
I love the line "the architectural style is early maniac" and "Cold as a corpse's armpit" (both Vila this week).

I did wonder now Zen knows the names of all the human planets, but I'm guessing he telepathically read their minds.

The story feels like a bit of a cast-off from Dr Who, and it seems as if Cygnus Alpha should have been settled more than five generations ago, but it might be a clue if we're trying to work out what happened to the Federation.

But at least the end for Blessed's character (basically King Ycarnos from Mindwarp) is gruesome enough (and starts a trend of the teleporter bracelets going missing), and there is a satisfying number of redshirts dying, rather than joining the crew.

But, for a guy in charge of a ship called Liberator, Blake doesn't seem too keen to help liberate the prisoners on the planet, and not the ones he came with, but the generations who have struggled under the yolk of the Federation for no crime beyond being born.
posted by Mezentian at 1:01 AM on May 10, 2016


The last part of the opening trilogy and another good story. This was a nice way to wrap things up and get the majority of the crew together on the Liberator, and the whole idea of a prison planet that has developed its own strange religion is kinda cool. Brian BLESSED is fantastic in this, he is at the height of his acting career and he comes in and plays a religious leader exactly how you imagine he would - and it works so well too.

The ship is named by Jenna after some sort of mind-meld with Zen via the pilot console, and then it reveals itself to them and there is the display we all know and love! They find the cool weapons, and that they can only have one at a time, which is an interesting saftety feature. One wonders why they designers of the Liberator felt this was needed.

And then they find the teleport, and it turns out that both Blake and Avon worked on a teleporter project for the Federation. Avon is sorta understandable, but I did wonder what Blake did on the project.

Meanwhile, on the surface, Gan and Villa and a bunch of new arrivals wander around the surface, finding evidence of the callousness of the new place. Eventually they are caught, and put in the cells, but not before Gan gets a kiss. When she kisses him, you wonder whether it is a kiss of death or maybe something else.

Blake teleports down and gets captured while Avon and Jenna mind the ship; Jenna finds a walk-in wardrobe and treasure chest. So it will soon be bye bye tabards and hello new outfits. Also they have funds which they can use if they need to pay for things. Again, why did the designers of the Liberator put these things there, or maybe they are the spoils of war.

Finally Blake is brought before BRIAN BLESSED, and it is a wonderful scene, two great actors playing roles in sci fi is a rarity, and they both work well with one another. Blessed has a sense of menace about him, and Blake is just biding his time, looking for an out.

And then Blake releases the prisoners, and there is a big fight, and Brian Blessed is killed, and Blake takes Gan and Vila back to the Liberator.

I did wonder now Zen knows the names of all the human planets

Why would the designers not have programmed him with this information? The ship is lightening fast, so quick that they are at Cygnus Alpha before they realise, so surely it would make sense for it to be programmed with the locations of as many places as possible?

But, for a guy in charge of a ship called Liberator, Blake doesn't seem too keen to help liberate the prisoners on the planet,

Blake wants to attack and damage the Federation and free as many people as possible from its yoke, so this is outside of his thinking. Also he knows the Fed are going to be after them, so he needs to get going, not start ferrying the prisoners around!

Overall, I felt this was a great way to wrap up the opening story arc, and using someone like BLESSED as the high priest of the prison planet religion helps give the show a certain feel to it - actors who can act even when it is all slightly absurd.
posted by marienbad at 8:17 AM on May 10, 2016


Ah the teleporter. The beginning of Jenna having to chirp "G'luck Blake!" at least once in every single episode!
posted by Naberius at 11:05 AM on May 10, 2016


Avon is sorta understandable, but I did wonder what Blake did on the project.


He likes bossing people around, doesn't have his own specialism, is a top bullshitter and likes to have his name out front, so project manager seems a safe bet.
posted by biffa at 2:17 PM on May 10, 2016


Why would the designers not have programmed him with this information?

Given Zen's origins, at least for a certain number of systems, his names may not match the Federation's names, so his ability to obtain information from the crew's minds would help to avoid the occasional discrepancy, but that would only be of use when the topic is about a place someone in the crew already has knowledge of. So that wouldn't explain the total sum of Zen's knowledge.

By the same token, the Federation and its predecessors would have seen the value of having a navigational network throughout occupied space that would provide basic information to the public (forbidden/restricted/dangerous areas) and a more detailed database under restricted access (for security purposes) available either at certain ports or through the same network, but encrypted. Additionally, any spacecraft Zen's creators may have "interacted" with over the years would also contain a wealth of navigational data as well.

While navigational data is valuable strategically and would be protected to a certain degree, that desire has to be balanced with the practical needs of a large spacefaring civilization. There's no point in declaring a certain planet 'forbidden' or 'restricted' if nobody knows its off limits (under most circumstances), as eventually ship after ship just gets blown up for no good reason. To maintain a reasonably efficient trading economy, hazards, and for lack of a better term, 'space weather' (coronal mass ejections from suns in certain systems, black holes spraying intense beams X-ray radiation, etc) needs to be updated and broadcast regularly. Mining and other resource extraction claims need to be marked to prevent undue conflict and waste of resources. There's no use wasting time organizing a survey expedition to a system only to find that it's been claimed with some small marker or bouy that's only detectable once you get there. Those markers would only be useful as placeholders until a formal claim was submitted, or a reminder for those that may not have the most up to date information.
posted by chambers at 8:50 PM on May 10, 2016


And then Blake releases the prisoners, and there is a big fight, and Brian Blessed is killed, and Blake takes Gan and Vila back to the Liberator.

That's no what happened. No' quite. I think this is the show's only death by teleporter.

Ah the teleporter. The beginning of Jenna having to chirp "G'luck Blake!" at least once in every single episode!

She still gets more lines than Gan.
posted by Mezentian at 1:20 AM on May 11, 2016


« Older Bates Motel: Forever...   |  Blakes 7: Time Squad... Newer »

You are not logged in, either login or create an account to post comments