Recap / Blakes Seven S 2 E 1 Redemption

Just for once, we've all made it back from the summer break.

Written by Terry Nation.
Directed by Vere Lorrimer.
Airdate: 9 January 1979.

As the crew of the Liberator worry about Orac's prophecy of its destruction, they find themselves pursued by the very aliens who built the vessel.

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This episode has the following tropes:

• A.I. Is a Crapshoot:
  • The System was a Master Computer created by one of three constantly warring planets. It ended the conflict by taking over the other planet's computers and enslaving their inhabitants.
  • On the other hand, removing the System's Override Command stops Zen from suffering unexplained breakdowns whenever the plot requires it.
• Air Vent Escape: A different take on this trope — Blake is apparently cornered when a slave opens a hidden door and urges him inside. "It's an old service lift. Those young guards, they don't even know it exists."
• Agony Beam: The guards use weapons similar to those on the Liberator as shock batons to inflict different levels of pain for recalcitrant prisoners. Alta 2 warns that they can be set to Destruction Level. She experiences that herself.
• And the Adventure Continues: At the end of the episode Blake orders Zen to set a course for Earth sector, to continue their battle against the Federation.
• Aside Glance: "We are the cause. It is rejecting us."
• Attack! Attack... Retreat! Retreat!: Our heroes manage to escape into the launch bay holding the Liberator. A squad of Faceless Goons get the Slow Doors open and charge after them, only to come running back out when they're scorched by the blast of the Liberator taking off.
• Attack of the Killer Whatever: A live power coil menaces Blake when he tries to turn off the auxiliaries manually, then stops him from leaving the room.
• Attack Hello: Avon karate-chops the first man who opens the door to their cell. It happens to be Vila, who's been able to unlock the doors.
• Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: After engaging in Passive Aggressive Combat with his Fearless Leader, Avon throws Blake to the ground and covers him with his arm when they're suddenly attacked.
• Canned Orders over Loudspeaker: Our heroes are captured by the computer-controlled dystopia that built the Liberator. Despite not being in the Federation they have all the standard tropes of a sci-fi dystopia: black-clad Faceless Goons, bases that look like British nuclear power stations, and this trope calling on guards to capture and eliminate a group of rogue slaves (it serves a foreshadowing when one of these slaves turns up to help them).
  Alta 2: Attention all guards. Security report: Slave Group Number 7 have attacked their escort and escaped. They are to be recaptured and eliminated. Repeat: recaptured and eliminated.
• Chekhov's Gun:
  • Avon wants to fix a fault in the intermediate range detectors. When they're suddenly attacked, Zen is unable to reveal who is attacking because of the fault.
  • The gun handles are hot when the crew try to take them from the armoury, as shown in "Cygnus Alpha".
  • A guard throws a grenade at the escapees, foreshadowing their use later on.
• Collapsing Lair: An ambiguous version; the last we see of Alta 1 is her chanting, "Destruct...destruct...destruct..." after the grenades go off in the control room, but it's not clear if Spaceworld is destroyed.
• Conveniently Timed Attack from Behind: Alta 2 has just ordered a guard to execute our heroes when Blake and the slave suddenly attack them.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Despite being beaten up by the guards, it's Vila who's the first to escape.
• Deadpan Snarker
  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?
• Do Not Go Gentle
  Jenna: Even if we do get out, we're in space, Avon — we've got nowhere to go.
  Avon: So you're just going to sit here and wait for them to eliminate us? You saw the size of this place. If we get out of here, we can run and we can hide. If they're going to kill us, let us at least try and make it difficult for them.
• Dwindling Party: The pursuers teleport a Boarding Party over to the Liberator, where they hide and capture the crew one-by-one to avoid a potentially catastrophic shootout.
• Electronic Speech Impediment: When Orac starts to work his mischief on the System.
  Alta 1: State any further information you have regarding...regarding...regarding...
• Exact Words: In its prediction Orac said the "space vehicle will be destroyed". It never specified that the Liberator would be destroyed.
• Failed a Spot Check: The crew of Liberator fail to notice the pursuing spacecraft have design similarities to their own vessel.
• Faceless Goons: The System guards.
• Fake Kill Scare: Thanks to the prophecy the crew of the Liberator figure there's no point in even fighting when a pursuing DSV comes after them. Cue spacecraft blowing up...which turns out to be the pursuer.
• Fan Vid: Benny's Seven.
• Forgot About His Powers: The ability of Orac to predict the future and detonate the missiles inside a hostile warship would be very useful abilities in the fight against the Federation, but we never hear anything further about it.
• From Bad to Worse: Avon and Jenna are in a cell awaiting execution, when Avon realises the star pattern outside the window is exactly the same as in Orac's prediction.
• Future Spandex: The Altas wear tight blue bodysuits. Maybe that's why they're all young and female?
• Grenade Hot Potato: Altar 1 teleports two Faceless Goons over to the Liberator. Fortunately Cally and Gan are in the teleport room, so as the goons are about to throw their grenades they teleport them straight back. Realising they're holding a pair of live grenades, the goons throw them away, blowing up Spaceworld's control room.
• Hell-Bent for Leather: Avon's black leather outfit with silver studs.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Orac has the missiles in the pursuing sister vessel blow up when fired.
• Hyperspace Arsenal: Despite his Painted-On Pants, Avon is carrying a handy Time Bomb.
• I Choose to Stay: The unnamed slave gives a rather rushed version to show why he's not joining the crew on the Liberator. Then he's shot moments later trying to push the hatch shut.
• If I Wanted You Dead...: With their own ship turning against them, it's obvious their pursuers want them alive as they could easily shut off life support. As it turns out they only want Blake, and only to ask how he got hold of their spacecraft in the first place.
• It's the Only Way: The crew decide to escape in the Liberator despite Orac's prophecy, because what other choice do they have?
• It Won't Turn Off: Blake tries to shut down the controls manually. Explosive Instrumentation ensues and the lever moves back into place, turning them on again. When he tries once more, he's attacked by a live power cable.
  Avon: I'm going to try and brake the circuit. [cable blocks his path]
  Blake: It knows. It knows what you're trying to do, Avon.
• Living Ship: Though Avon claims this is only a metaphor, unlike in "Cygnus Alpha".
• Mechanistic Alien Culture: The System, a civilization controlled by the Master Computer of the three inhabited planets of their solar system, which built the starship DSV-2 (aka the Liberator). The System is administered by Altas (either cyborgs, androids, or augmented humans) and black-armoured guards that appeared to be cybernetically augmented humans. There are also thousands of human slaves, descendants of the people who had built the computers that had taken over their civilization.
• The Nameless: The Liberator's original designation is Deep Space Vehicle II. The Altas are called Alta 1 and Alta 2, while the slave who helps Blake is only listed as 'Slave' in the credits.
• Never Give the Captain a Straight Answer: In this case the captain isn't giving his Number Two a straight answer. When he's being held by the live power coil, Blake orders Avon to come and help but apart from telling him not to rush in, fails to explain why. Good thing Avon had a handy Time Bomb with him.
• Nothing Personal:
  Vila: So why did they pick on me?
  Avon: I doubt if it was personal, Vila.
  Vila: It felt personal. It always feels personal when someone tries to kill me.
• Override Command: Orac is eventually able to remove Zen's override command, enabling them to escape.
  Avon: There's a command code programmed into every system. Key that code, and the computers will only respond to orders from source.
  Jenna: But who would know the code that operates Zen?
  Blake: It's obvious, isn't it?
  Jenna: The people who built the Liberator?
  Blake: Just taking back what's theirs. Redemption.
• Prophecy Twist: It's actually an identical sister vessel of the Liberator that is destroyed.
• Railing Kill: From a long way up, too!
• Red Alert
  Avon: Attention, we are under attack! BATTLE stations!
• Rewind, Replay, Repeat: Blake going over Orac's prophecy.
• Screen Shake: When the Liberator is fired upon.
• Self-Offence: Vila opens the lock on Avon's cell, steps through and is punched in the stomach. On the plus side, Avon actually apologises to him.
• Self-Plagiarism: The cable attacking Blake is similiar to the root scene in Doctor Who's "Death to the Daleks", which was also written by Terry Nation.
• Slave Liberation: We see the aftermath with bodies being piled by the guards, and a survivor helps Blake escape.
• Slow Doors: The slave performs a Heroic Sacrifice getting it shut.
• Space Station: Spaceworld
• Stock Footage of an airport runway at night is used for the interior of Spaceworld as the Liberator is drawn inside.
• Strange Salute: The Altas touch a silver disc on their foreheads when greeting each other.
• This Cannot Be!: The crew's reaction when told the pursuing alien vessels are matching the Liberator's speed.
• Time Bomb: Avon sets a bomb on an instrument console, then finds he's been locked in the room with it. Fortunately the explosion doesn't harm him.
• Unusual User Interface: The Altas place a hand on a glowing white dome on a pedestal to connect with the System.
• The Unreveal: The System never reveals what circumstances led up to the Liberator being acquired by our heroes: What enemy was Deep Space Vehicle II fighting? Why did the crew abandon ship? Why was it carrying a fortune in jewellery and a full wardrobe? Why is Zen withholding its help in episodes like "Time Squad", but not on other occasions?
• Walking in Rhythm: The scene where Blake and the others are marched off by their captors was set to the ticking of a metronome timed to the beat of the martial music the director was planning to dub onto the scene later. Unfortunately a practical joker thought it would be funny to increase the ticking rate so everyone would have to march faster, so it didn't match.
• We Will Use Manual Labour in the Future
  Slave: The System uses people. We are flexible, adaptable... expendable.
• You Can't Fight Fate: Avon and Blake have a discussion on the matter. The problem is that having predicted their apparent destruction, Orac refuses to provide any further detail, as they could then avoid the situation and the prophecy would therefore be invalid.
• You Didn't Ask: Avon points out that all they have to do is avoid the star sector shown in the background of the prophecy. When Blake asks why he didn't tell them earlier, Avon smugly gives this trope, adding that it will teach the crew not to blindly follow Blake's orders.
• You Owe Me
  Blake: That is one I owe you.
  Avon: Don't worry. At the right time, I will remind you of it.