Recap / Blakes Seven S 1 E 4 Time Squad

Last in the Debut Queue

Written by Terry Nation.
Directed by Pennant Roberts.
Airdate: 23 January 1978.

Having worked out how to pilot the Liberator, Blake decides to contact La Résistance on Saurian Major and enlist their help to destroy an important communications relay there. On the way they answer a Distress Call from a small craft whose crew are in suspended animation.

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This episode has the following tropes:

• Aborted Arc: Jenna's snide comments toward Cally at the end of the episode suggest they're going to be rivals on board. Apart from one line in the next episode, this never comes up again, and they mostly appear to be good friends (especially compared to some of the others on board), to the extent the very idea of them having a Cat Fight is Played for Laughs in "Gambit".
• Absolute Xenophobe: To protect the genetic bank, the Guardians are conditioned to attack anyone who is not one of them.
• Action Girl: Jenna and Cally.
• All Planets Are Earthlike: A Saurian day is around 36 hours. Still has a breathable atmosphere though.
• Almost Out of Oxygen: While answering a Distress Call Blake and Jenna get sealed inside a tiny spacecraft whose oxygen has already been used up. Despite being barely familiar with the Liberator at this point in the series, and their Ace Pilot stuck on the spacecraft with Blake, the others have to scoop the craft into their cargo bay so it can be broken into.
• Auto Doc: Gan runs a medical device over Jenna's arm after it's bruised by a Wrench Whack.
• BBC Quarry: Though there's an attempt to make it look alien with a red tint and red styrofoam plants among the gravel piles. The quarry was also covered in buddleia flowers which had to be spray-painted to make them look alien.
  Cally: The security forces kept hunting us, but we knew the hills and jungles too well.
• Big Damn Heroes: Gan saves Jenna, then Jenna saves Gan, who does a Teleportation Rescue Just in Time. Blake then rushes to the hold to warn Jenna just as she's about to be stabbed In the Back.
• Blatant Lies: Jenna claims to those down on the planet that everything is under control on the Liberator.
• By the Hair: Would you believe one of the Guardians does this to Jenna?
• Cassandra Truth: Despite the restrictions of its programming, Zen tries to warn the crew not to go over to the projectile.
• Characterization Marches On: Cally's rather aggressive introduction contrasts with her later portrayal as The Heart.
• Chekhov's Skill: The episode opens with Jenna showing the others how to pilot the Liberator manually. Avon, Gan and Vila have to use that skill shortly afterwards.
• Chronic Hero Syndrome: Blake answers a Distress Call from the projectile. Unfortunately No Good Deed Goes Unpunished.
• Classical Anti-Hero
  Cally: He fears death?
  Vila: I plan to live forever! Or die trying.
• Combat Clairvoyance: Averted, else Cally wouldn't have fallen for the Look Behind You trick.
• Cryonics Failure: Of four programmed guardians in a capsule carrying them and genetic stock, three survived stasis.
• Deadly Dodging: The last Guardian fries himself when his lunge takes him into an electrical panel.
• Death Seeker: Cally is introduced as the Sole Survivor (due to her alien biology) of a planet where the Federation wiped out La Résistance with biological weapons. Due to a combination of Survivor Guilt and You Can't Go Home Again, she plans to attack the nearest Federation base and destroy everything she can until she's killed. "There will be companions for my death." The arrival of Blake gives her another option, and she becomes the final member of the Seven.
• Democracy Is Bad: Blake promised to consult with his crew before acting against the Federation, but this appears to consist of him deciding what they're going to do and then telling the others. Avon is not happy.
• Dying Alone: Cally's curse to Blake when she thinks he's about to kill her is "May you die alone and silent!" For a telepath loneliness is a Fate Worse than Death and Cally intends to commit Suicide by Cop so she'll at least have some "companions for her death".
• Electronic Speech Impediment: Zen trying to work around its programming and warn the crew.
  Zen: (with difficulty) It is in... in... in...
  Avon: I'll have to overhaul that... thing.
  Zen: ...saaaaaaaane!
• Establishing Character Moment: Knocking Blake over with her gun, then speaking to him telepathically combines Cally's fighter nature with her dislike of actual violence, and demonstrates her telepathy.
• Every Scar Has a Story: There's a shot of a surgical scar across Gan's head before the reveal about his limiter. Before this he discussed his Dark and Troubled Past where he was convicted for killing a guard who killed "his woman".
• Fantastic Racism
  • The Guardians: "They kill. Anyone, everyone who isn't theirs."
  • When Cally joins their crew, Jenna makes a snide comment about them learning a lesson about not letting aliens on board the ship.
• Faux Action Girl: Despite being introduced as a kickass Action Girl, Cally is easily outfoxed by Blake and Avon (though she mentions that she was a Communications Officer rather than a guerrilla soldier). Averted with Jenna who's a better fighter than the supposedly murderous Guardians.
• Finger-Twitching Revival
• Gallows Humour: While Almost Out of Oxygen, Blake quips that he's breathless with anticipation.
• Human Aliens: Cally is of the Auronar.
• Human Popsicle: The crew of the projectile. This is regarded as ancient technology for a society that has Faster-Than-Light Travel.
• Hydra Problem: Once the projectile is connected to the Liberator's power system, the genetic bank starts to create another Guardian to replace those killed. Rather than be overrun with homicidal xenophobes the crew decide to dump the projectile in space.
  Avon: A single cell from those genetic banks can be incubated into fully grown adult in one point six minutes.
• If I Wanted You Dead...: Avon to Cally.
  Avon: I had a gun on you the whole time. You were dead as soon as you broke cover.
• It's a Small World, After All: Blake plans to make contact with the rebels by landing on the Saurian Major and waiting for them to contact him. As there's only one rebel left alive on the entire planet, it's a Contrived Coincidence that Cally is in the area.
• It's the Only Way: With the teleport shut down and Zen refusing to help, the crew must manoeuvre the Liberator to scoop the projectile into their hold.
• Just a Machine
  Blake: Seven of us can run this ship properly.
  Vila: Six surely.
  Blake: You forgot Zen.
  Avon: You're not counting that machine as a member of the crew?
  Blake: Oh, what do you say to that Zen?
  Zen: Please state course and speed.
  Blake: Very diplomatic.
• Just in Time: The reactor is Going Critical and Federation soldiers have blasted down the door by the time an injured Gan is able to activate the teleport.
• Kicking Ass in All Her Finery: Jenna kicks ass in a flower petal top, pink slacks and high-heeled calf boots. Averted with Cally, who wears a baggy red camouflage uniform to blend in with the local plant life, which is also red.
• The Lancer: Avon isn't happy over how the crew are placidly going along with Blake's plan, and makes his feelings known.
  Vila: (to Blake) I don’t follow you.
  Avon: Oh, but you do! And that’s the problem.
• Look Behind You: Blake pretends to glance to the side, then hits Cally when she turns to look. Turns out there really is someone there, as Avon has been covering Cally the whole time.
• Master of Unlocking: Vila gets through the massive door protecting the control room with just a few seconds fiddling with Cow Tools.
• Never Bring a Knife to a Gun Fight: The Guardians prefer their knives to any firearm they capture.
• No Kill like Overkill: Faced with a declaration of independence on Saurian Major, the Federation killed half the population with biological warfare and deported the other half.
• Plant Aliens: Vila is squicked when he touches a plant and realises that it's warm and fleshy. Blake warns him that some plant are carnivores with basic intelligence.
• Plot-Demanded Manual Mode: With Zen on the blink, the crew have to pilot the Liberator manually.
• Retro Rocket: The projectile.
• Restraining Bolt:
  • Gan's limiter prevents him from killing (though not using or threatening violence, as we saw in the previous episodes).
  • Zen is unable to warn the crew for unknown reasons that apparently have something to do with his programming.
• Sealed Evil in a Can: The projectile is a genetic bank, and the Guardians are conditioned to protect it against any outsiders. At the end of the episode, our heroes decide to dump it in deep space because it's too dangerous.
• Security Cling: Blake and Jenna Holding Hands as they face asphyxiation.
• Self-Healing Phlebotinum: The teleport console fuses out, but Avon says it is self-repairing.
• Series Continuity Error: Gan is shown apparently spearing a cultist in the previous episode, despite his limiter. Perhaps the spear was stuck in the floor and he was trying to get it out?
• Ship Tease: When Cally first lays eyes on Avon, she can be seen checking him out with visible appreciation.
• Scotty Time: Lampshaded when Avon says he needs five minutes to make the reactor blow up. As Federation soldiers are trying to blast their way through the door he adds without prompting, "Yes I know — make it two."
• Sleeper Starship: Both the suspended animation version and the seedship version in one tiny vessel.
• Slow Doors
  • Chased by a homicidal Guardian, Jenna barely gets the hatch closed in time.
  • The door to the control room to the "paraneutronic generator" is the genuine article, as the scene is filmed inside a nuclear power station.
• Sole Survivor: Cally was immune to the bioweapons because she was an alien. She's likely suffering from Survivor Guilt, as she plans to give her life in a Suicide by Cop until our heroes turn up.
• Sour Supporter
  Gan: How are they going to catch us?
  Avon: I'm sure Blake will manage it somehow.
• Stealth in Space: The Liberator approaches Sauron Major from Federation space, given that their attention will be towards neutral space. So they don't have a space traffic control system?
• Styrofoam Rocks: Subverted with styrofoam plants among real rocks.
• Suddenly Shouting
  Blake: Enough, Avon!
• Suicide Attack
  Cally: ...there will be companions for my death. I plan to raid the complex. To destroy until I am destroyed.
• Tainted Veins: On the Guardians.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork:
  Avon: Are you sure you can trust me?
  Blake: For as long as we're useful to each other.
• Telepath: Cally. However she can't read minds.
• Two Lines, No Waiting: Events on the planet surface versus events on the Liberator.
• When Props Attack: Thanks to bad framing the campfire appears to be roasting Blake's crotch.
• Wham Line
  Zen: There are four Guardians, repeat, there are four Guardians.
• Woman Bites Man: Jenna bites a Guardian who thrusts his arm through a hatch to grab her.
• You Can't Go Home Again: Cally joins the Ragtag Bunch of Misfits because she can't go back to Auron, having failed her mission. Or so she claims — we hear a different explanation in "Children of Auron".