Blakes 7 Re-Watch: Shadow

                         Shadow

Where can I watch it?

https://youtu.be/u8Gq-K5rj40

Welcome to a review almost a year in the making. I'm sorry it's taken me so long to finish it. Life has been busy and is just now slowing down a little. Little being the key word. It didn't help that this episode was not my favorite. It's also highly likely that I'll be moving this series of reviews to my website and completing it there. Ok, without further ado, I present Shadow. 

Synopsis:

Shadow is the first episode in my opinion that shows Blake's growing obsession with the destruction of the Federation. In this particular episode we see him attempting to strike a deal with a criminal outfit known as the Terra Nostra, a play on Cosa Nostra. The Terra Nostra is a large syndicate with their slimy little fingers in many a rancid pie. Their primary act of evil however is the drug Shadow. Thus the title. Shadow is essentially space meth. 

You got any more of that space meth?

Everyone is more or less on board with Blake's plane except for Gan. Imagine that. The slow one is the only person who can see that this isn't going to end well. 

Blake, I don't think that this will end well. 

Vila is onboard with negotiating with the Terra Nostra as long as he gets to visit Space City, or as he refers to it as The Satelite of Sin. As you can guess the crew thinks that's the worst plan since Bugs Bunny's Crazy Castle 2. Just wait though, hijinks will ensue. 

The episode actually opens with two addicts robbing Largo, a Terra Nostra operative, of his supply of shadow. What's interesting in a sci fi show of this time is the bleak outlook on the future. We see people still selling and taking drugs. People ruined and even dying from it's use. In Star Trek addiction has long since been stamped out. Not here in the Blake verse. 

And there is the crux of the episode. Blake is willing to make a deal with essentially the space mob to overthrow the federation. A case of the cure possibly being worse than the disease. Blake, Avon, Gan and Jenna teleport down to meet with Largo. Meanwhile Villa is unsuccessful in convincing Callie to help him sneak down himself. Until he remembers that he can use Orac to operate the teleport. An Orac who makes some sinister remarks that Villa is oblivious to. 

We learn that Jenna was arrested shortly after refusing to carry Shadow for Largo. The implication being that they can even influence officials if you cross them. Of course Largo quickly betrays our crew and captures them.

Who would think that this man couldn't be trusted. 

If only someone had remained on board to possibly rescue them. Too bad Villa has teleported down to the planet and hidden Orac somewhere in the Liberator. An Orac who is starting to interfere with Zen and the ship. 

Through some telepathic shenanigans Blake let's Cally know that trouble is afoot. Luckily Callie is smarter than Villa. She regains control of Liberator just as Blake and his crew escape. After some consideration they decide to save a pair of junkies when they escape. Blake, however still isn't convinced that the Terra Nostra is bad news. He's just prepared to force them to help. Sure. That'll work well. 

About now Callie, who is searching for Orac, gets "a bad feeling" and winds up in a bit of a pickle herself. Orac traps Callie mentally inside his boxy, glowing mind. No. Seriously. 

Didn't I see this in an Aha video once?

Blake decides that the quickest path to get his way is to attack the Terra Nostra's chief product Shadow. Hurray for space cartel wars! They track the drugs origin back to a desert planet where moon discs are grown and processed. You read that right. Moon discs. Not just moon discs though. Telepathic moon discs.

No, seriously. 

Blake, Jenna and Avon teleport down to yet another quarry to scope it out and make snarky comments to each other. Villa wakes up from an alcohol induced coma and proceeds to lumber around like a zombie. And Callie sleep runs, at Orac's bidding, through the ship to teleport down to the planet where she collapses from the heat. 

It's about this time that Villa and Gan finally realize something is going on with Orac. Orac takes over the Liberator and sends it spiraling towards the planet. Unfortunately trying to unplug him kills the female junkie whose name isn't important enough to remember. We knew she was going to die. Extras very rarely survive the episode. 

It seems an Interdimensional alien is using Orac to invade our universe. What's the answer to all of this? Moon discs of course! Telepathic moon rocks. Between Callie and the Moon Discs, great band name by the way, combined power they are able to defeat the Dark Lord. Er, Interdimensional alien.  Whatever. 

Telepathic moon rocks. It's the new it thing in California. 

Hurray! All is well! Sorta. Avon rigs Orac to blow if another attempt to take over happens. Oh, and we learn that Avon took an ID card off of a guard on the planet that identifies him as Federation security. What?? Twist! Mind blown. 

Final Thoughts:

While the episode had some good points, the aforementioned new obsessive Blake, overall it was a little confused. Blake shows in this episode that he is willing to make deals with the devil and is showing less concern for the safety of his crew. The twist that the federation has control of the major criminal organization was nice although it could have been explored more deeply. That's a clever way to deal with a possible source of trouble though. Control it. And it's showing to me that both the villains and the heroes are willing to go to the same lengths to win. The subplot just doesn't work well however. Neither does Orac's apparent superpowers that never show up again. And come on, moon rocks ?

Rating: 2.5

Memorable Quote:

Gan: I Can't find Orac. Even tried calling his name.

Avon: Oh, I'm sorry I missed that. It's the kind of natural stupidity no amount of training could ever hope to match.

Coffee of the Day:

Starbucks Cafe Verona. From their website. 

The Story of Caffè Verona®
This is a coffee of one true love, and three names. We created it just for a Seattle restaurant in 1975, naming it Jake’s Blend. And people loved it. So many, in fact, that we began hand scooping and blending it to order in our stores, where it was known as 80/20 Blend, for the recipe. The love was so strong we finally made it official, calling it Caffè Verona® after the city that inspires so many. By any name, this is a thing of pure romance.

Body: Full
Acidity: Low
Processing: Washed & Semi-Washed

By any name this blend is dark with a hint of cocoa. Just the way I like it. With a splash of almond milk and a level scoop of coconut sugar it's freaking delicious. 

B7 Re-Watch: Redemption

                  Redemption

Where can I watch it?

http://youtu.be/xJYCx5bFUCY

Synopsis:

Season 2 picks up right where season 1 left off. Blake is busy analyzing Orac's prediction trying to find a way to prevent it. He enlists Avon's grudging help. I say grudging because systems are starting to act up on Liberator beginning with the long range sensors. Avon casually points out that the location of the ships destruction can be ascertained from the background of the video. All they have to do is never go there and everything will be A ok. Because it's just that easy. 

Remember those malfunctions? Well it's not going to be that easy. The ship has more malfunctions than a new Windows update including taking off at full speed across the galaxy. At the same time tiny hypodermic needles attack them. 

Resistance is futile. You will be inoculated. 

The alien ships manage to knockout most of the ships systems before boarding. The crew is easily incapacitated and the ship is captured. It turns out their attackers are the Liberators builders The System. At which point they take Deep Space Vehicle 1, their name for Liberator, home. 

Again with the sexual symbolism guys?

Who is the System? I'm still not completely sure honestly. We do learn that they are a highly computerized, technologically advanced race from a tiny little star system. No really. We learn that there are only three planets on their system. Now, with such limited resources we're expected to believe that they're churning out ships like Liberator. Sure. Oh, they also look like angry space pixies. 

I've got your fairy dust right here. 

They take time to interrogate, some would call it torture, members of the Blake. The rest of the crew is locked in seperate cells to contemplate their fate. Luckily Vila has magic powers and picks the lock with no tools whatsoever. 

Blake's O face. 

Blake meets a slave of the System who gives him what little information we learn about the System. He helps them escape back to Liberator and of course gets killed in the process. Hey, that's just what we do in B7. 

The system slave retirement plan is shite but the dental plan is excellent. 

Liberator blasts off but the System's ships are in hot pursuit. DSV2 is launched to pursue them and the rebel crew decides that they just can't win and might as well give up. Blake is in a tizzy trying to facilitate an escape but the crew is feeling particularly nihilistic today. 

Although honestly this chick would scare me silly too. It's the snake eyes. They mesmerize you. 

Luckily Orac saves the day by blowing up DSV2 and therefore keeping his prophecy from being invalidated. He's still a D bag however. 

Who left the oven on?

The crew makes good their escape and never again shall we hear of the system. Next up is Shadow. A story of drugs, betrayal and rebellion. 

Final Thoughts:

I enjoyed Redemption quite a lot but would have liked more out of it. I think several questions never get answered that should have been. As I've been asking, how does Zen know so much about the Federation? Who was the System fighting when Liberator was originally abandoned? What took them song to come looking for it? These are things that could have been explored better I think. Still, what we do get is a pretty good story.

Rating: 4 out of 5. 

Memorable Quote:

Vila: When you get Zen working, ask him to prescribe something for a headache, will you? I've got this shocking pain right behind the eyes.

Avon: Have you considered amputation?

Coffee of the Day:

Tully's Hawaiian Blend. Good blend. Medium roast. Not as good as the Community French Roast but a nice change of pace. 

B7 Re-Watch: Season 1 Roundup

Series Overview:

Originally running from 1978-1981 the show was pitched as a combination Dirty Dozen/Robin Hood in space. It featured the eponymous Blake and his motley crew of criminals as they fought against the despotic Federation. 

The Ship:

Liberator

Liberator is a large, extremely advanced alien warship. The crew lucks into its possession and it becomes their most capable weapon in their war for freedom. 

Zen

Zen is the main computer of the Liberator. He is extremely knowledgable but prone to refusing to aid the rebels when they least expect it. 

The Crew:

Blake

A political dissident who is framed with heinous crimes and deported to Cygnus Alpha. 

Avon

Computer genius and highly functioning sociopath. He clashed constantly with Blake. 

Jenna

Smuggler and expert pilot she often serves as the voice of reason. 

Cally

A telepathic alien she was the final survivor of a resistance cell. Rescued by the crew she becomes a crucial member. 

Vila

Thief. Lock pick. Coward. 

Gan

A gentle giant who is restrained from acting violently by his limiter. 

Orac

Genius computer. Complete tool. 

The Villains:

The Federation

Servelan

Supreme Commander of the space force. 

Travis

Space Commander. Psychopath. 

The story thus far:

Framed for crimes he didn't commit Blake is deported to the penal colony Cygnus Alpha. En route he and his not so merry band escape aboard the Liberator. Waging a guerrilla war against the vast and Totalitarian Federation they continually match wits against Servelan and Travis. Along the way they find new tools such Orac. The show garnered a reputation for handling relatively dark subject matter. The final scene of the first season showed Orac predicting the destruction of the Liberator. 

Best to Worst:

1. Seek-Locate-Destroy

2. The Way Back

3. Cygnus Alpha

4. Orac

5. Mission to Destiny

6. Space Fall

7. Duel

8. Project Avalon

9. Bounty

10. Deliverance

11. Time Squad

12. Breakdown 

13. The Web 

B7 Re-Watch: Orac

Where can I watch it?

http://youtu.be/JpsnKdNIvmU

Synopsis:

Orac picks up where Deliverance left off. Blake is reviewing the footage of Ensor's ship crashing. He and Avon realize that it was the victim of sabatoge. Deciding that whatever Orac is they should get to it before the federation does they head off to rescue Ensor's daddy Ensor Sr. 

Servelan and Travis are already on their way however and arrive shortly before the Liberator does. Luckily for all involved Ensor has constructed a very large, very powerful force field around his base. This forces the evil duo to take the longest through underwater passages. The passages were seemingly built by long dead natives however an race of amphibians is evolving to take their place. 

Back on the Liberator we have learned that the landing party from Deliverance is suffering from radiation poisoning. No big deal we'll take anti radiation meds. Except that's the ONE THING they don't have on board. Hoping to trade power cells for the necessary drugs they've raced to find Ensor.

When they arrive at Aristo, Ensor's planet, Zen is taken over by an outside force that gives coordinates for teleport. Upon teleporting down Blake and Cally are confronted by a drone. 

Who really got Bin Laden?

The good guys are disarmed and taken to meet Ensor who is the typical mad scientist. He mixes up colors. Or is that spelled colours? Cuts people off. Typical genius stuff. He's upset about his sons death in a ho hum kinda way. But of course he has the drugs they need and agrees to leave with them to have his new power packs installed. 

Mad scientist? Check. Power pack for a heart? Check. Tony Stark eat your heart out. 

Now, has Blake picked up a doctor between episodes? Nope. Not even one in a blue box. They'll just ask Orac to talk them through the procedure. What is Orac? We finally learn about Orac. He is apparently a super computer that can hack any computer built using Tariel cells which are another of Ensor's inventions. Since Ensor is the Steve Jobs of his day every computer has Tariel cells. You can see how this might be beneficial. The question to me is how did Orac take over Zen if he doesn't use Tariel cells?

It also doubles as a Christmas ornament. 

Ok. I digress. The baddies arrive so the trio make a dash for it back through the caves. You know, instead of ambushing and shooting them. Sigh. At one point Blake sends Cally and Ensor ahead while he tries to cause a cave in. With his bare hands. Heaven forbid he grab his gun on the way out the door. Or they deploy the freaking drone. 

Of course Ensor dies before they escape because they have to fill the daily quota and since they won't kill Travis or Servelan he was really the only choice. None of that stops them from taking Orac and heading for the surface. Too bad they are ambushed by the bad guys.  It seems that tactics are only used by bad people. Yeah. 

It's a good thing Avon has stuck around. Realizing that things must have gone wrong he forces Vila to suit up and they teleport down to the rescue. He blows up Travis' laser hand just as he's about to kill Blake. See Blake? Avon can remember his freaking side arm and he's got like all the cancer by this point. Too bad he was actually aiming for Travis' head and just missed. 

They leave Servelan and Travis alive, again, but not before mocking them and head back to the Liberator. This is starting to reach Batman/Joker levels of ridiculousness. Just cap the guy and call it a day. Sheesh. They unbox Orac and learn that he is just as rude as Ensor. But he can apparently make predictions. When they finally goad him into making one he predicts the Liberators destruction. 

Is it too late to get our money back?

Final Thoughts:

And that wraps up season 1. Not a bad ending. I have a few minor quibbles with some characters actions but overall a nice episode. We have a race to get Orac before the Feds do compounded with an illness from last episode. The continuity has been fairly tight throughout this season. Once we finally get Orac we get a nice little cliffhanger for season 2. 

In the next several days I'm going to finish my season 1 roundup. Afterwards I'll most likely do a one off review of something unrelated just to change gears a little bit. Then it will be back for the season 2 premier Redemption where we will finally get a few answers about Liberator. Stay tuned!

Rating: 4 out of 5

Memorable Quote:

Vila: Die? I can't do that!

Avon: I'm afraid you can. It's the one talent we all share, even you.

Coffee of the Day:

Gevalia dark roast. Oh. My. Gosh. It's everything you could hope for in a gourmet dark roast. The K-Cups were like $12 a pack, so not cheap, but delicious. 

B7 Re-Watch: Deliverance

                      Deliverance

Where can I watch it?

http://youtu.be/_N_1rbJkvKU

Synopsis:

This episode starts off with a bang. Literally. The opening shot is of a small craft in space. There are two occupants onboard who very soon make a rapid exit when it explodes. 

Something about the rockets firing too soon. I dunno. It's late. 

The Liberator just happens to be in the area and sees them go down. Avon, Gan, Villa and Jenna go down to look for survivors. One died on impact and the other is very badly wounded. They teleport him back aboard only to discover that Jenna is missing. Yeah, they have a horrible record of keeping up with female crew members.

Oops. My bad. 

It's that tramps turn to get caught anyway. Don't bother me while I update my iCloud. 

Back on the planet we see that she has been captured by cavemen. The landing party goes back down only to be attacked themselves. Luckily they are rescued by a young woman in a diaphanous gown. I just wanted to use that word. That there is an SAT word. 

This old thing? I picked it up at the Renn Fair.

For some convoluted reason she thinks Avon is a god. That makes two of them. She is waiting for him to launch a rocket containing essentially embryos to colonize a new world. A reference is made to the similar technology from Time Squad. A nice little throwback there. 

Back on the Liberator the survivor, Ensor, awakens and takes Cally hostage demanding that they take him to his father who is dying. Obviously a wounded man is more than a match for Blake and Cally. They're only hardened criminals after all. 

Hold it or the Auron buys it!

Avon and Co rescue Jenna, always tied up isn't she, and they even manage to fire off a rocket before they go. They then proceed to leave said young woman alone on a dying planet and teleport back up. In the interim Ensor has died saving Blake from having to kill him. 

There is a brief subplot where we see Servelan bring Travis back into the fold and explain her master plan. Ensor was named after his father, Ensor Sr, who needs new power packs for his heart. Kinda like Iron Man. Too bad Ensor is a brilliant scientist who has created something called Orac. What is Orac? We don't have a clue yet. But she wants it and she refuses to pay for it. So she sabotaged Juniors ship to kill him and hopefully let daddy die before she swoops in. 

All of this leads us into the season Finale Orac. The race will soon be on to retrieve the whatever it is. Stay tuned for the finale review and the season one roundup. 

Final Thoughts:

Overall I was a little let down honestly. Avon and his team were armed the whole time but never took a shot at the attacking Neanderthals? That just seems far out of character for Avon at least. And it just seemed to ramble a little bit. Never mind the weak subplot about his holiness Avon the wise or whatever his title is. Let's hope the second part redeems this one a little. 

Rating: 2.5 out of 5. 

Memorable Quote:

Nothing. It was so weak it didn't have a memorable quote. 

Coffee of the Day:

Jack Daniels. Two knuckles worth. I'm hoping it helps kill what ever is in my chest and throat. 

B7 Re-Watch: Mission to Destiny

Mission to Destiny

Where can I watch it?

http://youtu.be/r6yhmej5cBI

Synopsis:

Mission to Destiny is a mystery episode. It's a departure from the Alien of the week episodes and the overarching rebellion. Be prepared for a few spoilers. 

The episode opens on the bridge of the Ortega. The pilot, who has a truly impressive collar, turns to speak to someone over his shoulder only to be bludgeoned to death. It's a hard knocked life in space. 

We cut to the Liberator flying through space looking all sexy. Our merry little band of outlaws have detected the Ortega flying in circles. Zen determines that it's an old Galaxy Class ship. So, chew on that TNG. Blake, Avon and Cally teleport onboard to find everyone asleep at the wheel. Blake figures out that a sleeping agent is being pumped into the ventilation system and we're treated to a scene of the trio staggering around like drunks. 

It says wheat free/gluten free so at least it's Paleo sleeping gas. 

On the bridge they find the dead pilot who has written a message in his own blood. 

Uhm, Bingo?

They wake up the crew and try to determine who could have killed the pilot and why. Suspicion falls on the one crew member who is missing and presumably abandoned ship on a life rocket. 

Who could betray a crew with such magnificent collars?

The ship is from the planet Destiny where things just aren't working out. A fungus is busy wiping out their crops and they've been sent to bargain for the only substance that can save them. Something called Nutratope. It sounds like a breakfast bar. It just happens to be the rarest most expensive compound in the galaxy. 

With the ship repaired except for their FTL they can get under way. The only problem is that it'll take at least five months to get home and a years worth of crops will be lost. Taking a desperate gamble they give the material to Blake to take and keep Avon and Cally as hostages, er guests I mean. 

Keep it secret, keep it safe. 

The Liberator races away to Destint. Through an asteroid storm. Of course. 

They're eventually forced to decide, due to power constraints, whether they must sacrifice speed or the force wall. Blake opts to sacrifice safety for speed to reach Destiny ASAP. Except once they've exited the asteroid belt he opens the container to find the vial of super expensive, super rare Nutratope is missing. 

Back aboard the Ortega another murder takes place. Avon reasons out that the pilot wrote the killers name in blood. Initially everyone thought it was random numbers. Instead it was just sloppy handwriting. Something about dying in agony wrecks a mans penmanship. The killer is revealed to be Sara. She had arranged for a buyer for the Nutratope. The ship was sabotaged to keep it in one place long enough for the buyer to catch up. 

She barricades herself on the bridge but is fooled into coming out. The Liberator arrives just in time to save the day. Everyone, save for Sara, teleports off the Ortega as the approaching ship docks. And BOOM!! Blake has rigged a charge on the access hatch that goes off destroying both ships. Because screw those guys. The episode ends with Vila requesting they take the easy way around this time. 

Final Thoughts:

Overall a good episode. It's starting to find it's space legs. A little techno babble but not too much. A decent enough mystery. We see Blake showing a little compassion of his own. Avon and Cally get their first chance to work alone together and their banter is great. The characters that suffer are Jenna and Gan. They wind up stuck on the Liberator as usual. Something that eventually leads to Sally Knyvette and David Jackson leaving the show. I thoroughly enjoyed this rewatch. Next up is Duel. 

Rating: 4 out of 5

Memorable Quote:

Cally: My people have a saying: A man who trusts can never be betrayed, only mistaken.

Avon: Life expectancy must be fairly short among your people.

Coffee of the Day:

More Community Coffee French Roast. I love dark roasts and I really enjoy Community Coffee especially since it's a Louisiana brand. It also mixes very well with almond milk and coconut sugar for my paleo friends. 

Blakes 7 Rewatch: The Way Back

When I was growing up we caught four channels. One of those channels was PBS. Now, PBS' normal fare is Sesame Street, Nova, educational type stuff. Except on Saturday nights. Late that night they would show British Sci Fi. I would stay up hours past when everyone else went to bed and huddle in front if the TV to watch these shows. Mostly it was reruns of Doctor Who but occasionally they'd branch out. I got exposed to Red Dwarf, Star Cops and my all time favorite show Blakes 7.

Blakes 7 originally ran from 1978-1981. Yeah, it ended when I was about two months old. But man what an ending! Let me not get ahead of myself though. The heavy hitters in the Sci Fi world were Star Wars and the original Battlestar Galactica. Movies and shows with deep budgets. Blakes 7 had a budget of about £40 a week. The costumes were crap. The sets wobbled. Some of the scripts were Swiss cheese in the plot department. And it was still groundbreaking. 

Since they couldn't go head to head with other shows in the special effects dept. they chose to focus on strong characters. That became their bread and butter and the source of their enduring cult following. It was also unique, at the time, for it's uber dark tone. These days it's nothing to have highly flawed main characters or sympathetic villains. Blakes 7 in many ways pioneered those style shows. Heroes that have questionable reasons for doing what they do. Heroes that don't always win. Even heroes that die trying while their comrades have to keep going. Initially B7 was pitched as the Dirty Dozen in space. They scaled that back to seven people following a rebel named Blake. Except, they ran out of money. As you'll see it's more like Blake's five. But who is really counting. 

I've been in the market for a show to rewatch and blog about. I debated Star Trek for a while. I recently re watched the franchise or at least the vast majority of it. But that show is lengthy and very often reviewed. Likewise so is Doctor Who. I toyed with the idea of BSG. The remake not the original. That still didn't grab me although I love that show. Today I forced a coworker to watch the pilot episode of B7 and all of a sudden this just felt right. B7 doesn't have much of a following in the states. At least not like across the pond. As a matter of fact it's completely unavailable except on old VHS. No DVDs, iTunes or Amazon Prime for us yanks. Damn snobby Brits. Still, where there is a will there is a way. The first episode, The Way Back, can be found here http://youtu.be/Km9GdKM9pa4. 

Let's get started shall we? Be forewarned, there will be spoilers. 

Synopsis:

Who couldn't take that curly haired British Adonis seriously?

Roj Blake, our eponymous hero, is lead outside of a domed city by a pair of characters who's names won't matter in the next ten minutes. He has been told not to eat or drink for 48 hours. Surgery? Nah. The Federation, do not think Trek here, uses drugs in the food and water to control it's subjects. We're also told that going outside is a category 4 offense. How bad is that? No idea. Why would we bring that back up later?

Outside he meets with a dissident group who are using civil unrest to protest the Feds totalitarian regime. It's revealed that Blake was once a leader in the movement but he was captured and brainwashed into supporting the Government. He's also told that in retaliation his family, who are supposed to be colonists on another planet, we're executed. 

The face of a revolution. 

While he is wandering around what appears to be an abandoned subway station, sans graffiti, Federation Troopers arrive because surprise surprise there is a traitor in their midst. This is where things start taking a turn for the holy crap. Unarmed citizens who surrender and ask to be treated like the citizens they are get brutally gunned down by faceless soldiers. 

Oh crap! Were these supposed to set to stun?

Blake is captured and taken back to the city where the Ministry of Justice is left trying to decide how to get rid of him. The ministry apparently consists of two stuffy British men and a chubby woman who looks like she should have a tub of chicken and a pack of menthol lights. It's revealed that the only way his memories can return, which they are, is if he has a nervous breakdown, which he has, so they figure that he gots to go. Realizing that killing him will only him a martyr they trump up charges of child molestation to frame him. Yeah, our hero has mental issues and has been accused of pedophilia. Did I mention that this was dark?

Blake is appointed a public defender, because that's gonna help even if this wasn't a kangaroo court, but succeeds in convincing him to dig further. The "justice machine" declares him guilty by way of flashing lights and cheap doorbell sounds and Blake is carted off to a holding cell. Said holding cell is a waiting point before being deported to the penal planet Cygnus Alpha. There he meets two of our future characters Vila Restal a thief and Jenna Stannis the smuggler. Sounds like a bad D&D game doesn't it?

Who brought the ten sided dice?

While Blake sweats it out his defender, who's name I can never remember, proves that Blake was framed and that he was telling the truth about the massacre. He learns this just in time for he and his wife to be assassinated. In the mean time they've moved up the launch of the London, the penal transport, and Blake immediately pisses off a guard. It must be his people skills cultivated as a political leader. As he watches Earth fall away he swears that he'll be back. 

Let's run down the list of darkness in this first episode. 

Massacre? Check

Totalitarian Regime? Check

Hero with a case of the crazies? Check

Charges of pedophilia? Yeah, got that. 

More murder? Of course! Why wouldn't we?

So, how does this episode hold up? Pretty good to be so dated. It suffers from what a lot of sci fi shows at the time did. They were sure all doors would swish open and clothes would be polyester. Because why not? But the story itself is fairly solid at least as a psychological thriller. Future episodes will obviously be more of a space opera but this episode already sets the tone of dark characters doing dark things. I give it a 4 out 5. Stay tuned for episode 2 Space Fall.