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Classic Season 16 Doctor Who

The Androids Of Tara

Doctor WhoThe Doctor and Romana arrive on the planet Tara, searching for the fourth segment of the Key to Time, but this time around the Doctor feels he’s entitled to some vacation time. Romana goes on to find the fourth segment herself while the Doctor does some fishing, but this places them both in danger. Romana encounters the conniving Count Grendel of Gracht, a duplicitous duke who aspires to Tara’s throne, and he promptly takes her prisoner, apparently believing her to be an android. The Doctor, in the meantime, is found by a small band of men loyal to Prince Reynart, the rightful heir to the throne, who is in hiding due to Grendel’s machinations. Reynart has one defense – a perfect android replica of himself – which isn’t working. The Doctor accompanies Reynart’s men and his newly repaired android to the prince’s coronation while the prince himself waits in seclusion. But it gets much more complicated than that when each side tries to outfox the other with android replicas – and Count Grendel may hold the winning piece, for he intends to replace Princess Strella, unwilling to be forced into a marriage to Prince Reynart, with her identical twin: Romana.

Order the DVDDownload this episodewritten by David Fisher
directed by Michael Hayes
music by Dudley Simpson

Guest Cast: Peter Jeffrey (Count Grendel), Neville Jason (Prince Reynart), Simon Lack (Zadek), Paul Lavers (Farrah), Lois Baxter (Madame Lamia), Declan Mulholland (Till), Martin Matthews (Kurster), Cyril Shaps (Archimandrite), Mary Tamm (Strella)

Broadcast from November 25 through December 16, 1978

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green

Categories
Classic Season 16 Doctor Who

The Power Of Kroll

Doctor WhoArriving on the third moon of Delta Magna, the Doctor and Romana are forced to leave K-9 in the TARDIS as they explore the swampy marshes in search of the fifth segment. The Doctor runs afoul of human miners who seem to have mistaken him for the notorious gun runner Rohm Dutt, while Romana is abducted by the displaced indigenous population of Delta Magna. Dubbed the “swampies” by the employees of the human mining colony, the natives have contracted with Rohm Dutt for weapons and training, hoping to boost their fight to free themselves from servitude to the human interlopers. The swampies worship Kroll, an enormous, squid-like being measuring almost five miles across, though the miners don’t believe a word of it…until it appears. When the Doctor and Romana learn that Kroll isn’t holding the fifth segment, but is the fifth segment, to say that they have a large problem on their hands is a bit of an understatement.

Order the DVDDownload this episodewritten by Robert Holmes
directed by Norman Stewart
music by Dudley Simpson

Guest Cast: Neil McCarthy (Thawn), Philip Madoc (Fenner), Grahame Mallard (Harg), Glyn Owen (Rohm Dutt), John Leeson (Dugeen), Terry Walsh (Mensch), Carl Rigg (Varlik), John Abineri (Ranquin), Frank Jarvis (Skart)

Broadcast from 23 December 1978 through 13 January 1979

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green

Categories
Blake's 7 Season 2

Redemption

Blake's 7The crew of the Liberator have begun extensively checking the ship for any defects that could result in Orac’s prediction, but no one can find a cause – except for Avon. In the recording of Orac’s prediction, a starfield unique anywhere in the universe is seen behind the Liberator just prior to her predicted destruction, and according to Avon, all the crew has to do is make sure the ship never goes near that point. But before any more can be said, two ships similar to the Liberator in design approach from out of nowhere at unimaginable speed and attack – carefully knocking out specific systems, such as weapons and flight control. When Blake and Avon try overriding the computers, the ship fights back, lashing out with live power and locking Avon in a room where he has just set an explosive charge. Zen even goes offline, and the ship is boarded. Gan is attacked and disappears, while Vila and Cally are the next to go. Blake orders Orac to influence the computers and bring them back online, and the flight deck is suddenly taken over by aliens who pilot the Liberator inside a gigantic, world-sized space station, again similar in design. It becomes clear that the minions of the computer-controlled entity called “The System” were the original builders and owners of the Liberator and want her back. Blake notices, during an interrogation by System custodians, that the System’s computers are gradually having difficulty operating, and correctly guesses that Orac is responsible. Avon, while waiting in a prison cell for execution, looks out a porthole and sees the very star configuration that he noticed behind Liberator in Orac’s prediction.

written by Terry Nation
directed by Vere Lorrimer
music by Dudley Simpson

Cast: Gareth Thomas (Blake), Sally Knyvette (Jenna), Paul Darrow (Avon), Jan Chappell (Cally), Michael Keating (Vila), David Jackson (Gan), Peter Tuddenham (Zen), Sheila Ruskin (Alta One), Harriet Philpin (Alta Two), Roy Evans (Slave)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Blake's 7 Season 2

Shadow

Blake's 7Blake and the crew decide to enlist the help of the Terra Nostra, a spaceborne equivalent of the Mafia, in their campaign against the Federation. Largo, the representative they meet, is a vicious animal who also distributes the highly addictive drug known as “shadow.” After almost getting killed by Largo and his underlings, Blake decides to destroy the Terra Nostra’s source of shadow and discovers that the President of the Federation, in fact, runs the underworld as well. In the meantime, an alien entity is using Orac to manifest itself in the real world and it renders Cally unable to help the crew.

written by Chris Boucher
directed by Jonathan Wright Miller
music by Dudley Simpson

Cast: Gareth Thomas (Blake), Sally Knyvette (Jenna), Paul Darrow (Avon), Jan Chappell (Cally), Michael Keating (Vila), David Jackson (Gan), Peter Tuddenham (Zen, Orac), Derek Smith (Largo), Karl Howman (Bek), Adrienne Burgess (Hanna), Vernon Dobtcheff (Chairman), Archie Tew (Enforcer)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Classic Season 16 Doctor Who

The Armageddon Factor

Doctor WhoIn one of the better stories of the late 1970s, the Doctor, Romana and K-9 stumble into the middle of a fierce interplanetary nuclear war. The Atrios war effort is faltering, its population demoralized, because unknown to them, the Zeon war machine lives up to its name in the most literal way. Zeos is controlled by a computer, and there are no Zeons, just remote controlled attack ships. Somewhere in the darkness between the two planets lurks a third party, pulling the strings of both sides in the war. The hand of the Black Guardian becomes visible in moving the pieces in this game, and the Doctor is horrified to discover that he will have to take a life to complete the Key to Time.

Order the DVDDownload this episodewritten by Bob Baker & Dave Martin
directed by Michael Hayes
music by Dudley Simpson

Guest Cast: Lalla Ward (Princess Astra), John Woodvine (Marshal), William Squire (The Shadow), Ian Saynor (Merak), Davyd Harries (Shapp), Valentine Dyall (Black Guardian), Barry Jackson (Drax), Ian Liston (Hero), Susan Skipper (Heroine), John Cannon, Harry Fielder (Guards), Iain Armstrong (Technician), Pat Gorman (Pilot), Stephen Calcutt (Super Mute)

Broadcast from January 20 through February 24, 1979

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green

Categories
Blake's 7 Season 2

Weapon

Blake's 7A Federation weapons expert has defected from the Federation and gone into hiding, taking his most ingenious weapon and a slave girl with him into hiding. In the meantime, Servalan and Travis – newly released from a labor camp – are enlisting the aid of Clonemaster Fen in creating a clone of Blake for use in retrieving the weapon. When the real Liberator crew arrives and the weapon is put to work for and on nearly everybody, the last surviving clone of Blake takes the weapon from Servalan and guards it with his life.

written by Chris Boucher
directed by George Spenton-Foster
music by Dudley Simpson

Cast: Gareth Thomas (Blake[s]), Sally Knyvette (Jenna), Paul Darrow (Avon), Jan Chappell (Cally), Michael Keating (Vila), David Jackson (Gan), Peter Tuddenham (Zen, Orac), Brian Croucher (Travis), Jacqueline Pearce (Servalan), Kathleen Byron (Fen), John Bennett (Coser), Scott Fredericks (Carnell), Candace Glendenning (Rashel), Graham Simpson (Officer)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Blake's 7 Season 2

Horizon

Blake's 7The Liberator crew is growing tired and must stop off for some form of natural relaxation soon. As they try to find somewhere to meet those specifications, the Liberator passes through a force barrier around the planet Horizon, which is very soon to be annexed by the Federation. On Horizon, a simple native is being manipulated as a puppet governor by a Federation Kommissar into enslaving his people – and Blake and the crew unwittingly walk right into every trap on Horizon and become part of the slave labor force while Avon is tempted to leave on his own in the Liberator.

written by Allan Prior
directed by Jonathan Wright Miller
music by Dudley Simpson

Cast: Gareth Thomas (Blake), Sally Knyvette (Jenna), Paul Darrow (Avon), Jan Chappell (Cally), Michael Keating (Vila), David Jackson (Gan), Peter Tuddenham (Zen, Orac), William Squire (Kommissar), Darien Angadi (Ro), Souad Faress (Selma), Brian Miller (Assistant Kommissar), Paul Haley (Chief Guard)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Blake's 7 Season 2

Pressure Point

Blake's 7Blake decides to mount a raid on Central Control, the heart of the Federation on Earth. He has contacted Kasabi, the rebel leader on Earth, and made arrangements for liasons with her troops, but before the Liberator arrives, Kasabi and her troops are captured and Travis forces her daughter to comply with his plan, which involves leading Blake and Gan into a trap and stealing their teleport bracelets. Avon and Vila soon arrive, and the crew is off again, working its way through a minefield of traps and finally reaching Central Control: an empty room where Travis and his guards wait. Jenna rescues them by holding Servalan hostage with the help of Kasabi’s daughter, and the crew flees. Travis lobs a percussion grenade at them while they are all still underground, and the explosion triggers a collapse of the roof which kills Gan.

written by Terry Nation
directed by George Spenton-Foster
music by Dudley Simpson

Cast: Gareth Thomas (Blake), Sally Knyvette (Jenna), Paul Darrow (Avon), Jan Chappell (Cally), Michael Keating (Vila), David Jackson (Gan), Peter Tuddenham (Zen, Orac), Jacqueline Pearce (Servalan), Brian Croucher (Travis), Jane Sherwin (Kasabi), Yolande Palfrey (Veron), Alan Halley (Arle), Martin Connor (Berg), Sue Bishop (Mutoid)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Blake's 7 Season 2

Trial

Blake's 7Overwhelmed with remorse for Gan’s death, Blake teleports himself down to an unidentified planet to serve his penance, leaving no clues for the crew to locate him. Meanwhile, Servalan has brought up a charge of mass murder to file against Travis to have him discharged from space service, and she has also seen to it that Travis has no chance of an innocent verdict or an appeal. Blake discovers that his planet is not as uninhabited as Zen has postulated and is forced to find his way back to the ship when the planet turns out to be a living organism – and a hungry one at that. Once back on the Liberator, Blake decides to attack Space Command Headquarters, and the attack is a devastating one with one oversight: the confusion of the attack allows Travis to escape with his own ship, now a renegade himself.

written by Chris Boucher
directed by Derek Martinus
music by Dudley Simpson

Cast: Gareth Thomas (Blake), Sally Knyvette (Jenna), Paul Darrow (Avon), Jan Chappell (Cally), Michael Keating (Vila), Peter Tuddenham (Zen, Orac), Jacqueline Pearce (Servalan), Brian Croucher (Travis), John Savident (Samor), John Bryans (Bercol), Peter Miles (Rontane), Victoria Fairbrother (Thania), Claire Lewis (Zil), Kevin Lloyd (Par), Graham Sinclair (Lye), Colin Dunn (Guard Commander)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Blake's 7 Season 2

Killer

Blake's 7While Vila and Avon call in a debt from an old acquaintance of Avon to acquire a new Federation decoding crystal, Blake and the others locate an ancient sublight vessel on its way to the same planet. The science department of the Federation base there sends up another ship to salvage the ancient ship and bodies are found inside. But while Avon and Vila discover that Servalan has been alerted to the Liberator’s presence, the long-dead remnants of the ancient ship’s crew spread a lethal plague that begins to wipe out all life on the entire planet.

written by Robert Holmes
directed by Vere Lorrimer
music by Dudley Simpson

Cast: Gareth Thomas (Blake), Sally Knyvette (Jenna), Paul Darrow (Avon), Jan Chappell (Cally), Michael Keating (Vila), Peter Tuddenham (Zen, Orac), Paul Daneman (Bellfriar), Ronald Lacey (Tynus), Colin Farrell (Gambril), Colin Higgins (Tak), Michael Gaunt (Bax), Morris Barry (Wiler)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Blake's 7 Season 2

Hostage

Blake's 7Travis has taken Blake’s cousin and uncle hostage and claims to want to join the rebellion, but when Blake arrives to rescue them, Travis informs Servalan of the Liberator’s presence.

written by Allan Prior
directed by Vere Lorrimer
music by Dudley Simpson

Cast: Gareth Thomas (Blake), Sally Knyvette (Jenna), Paul Darrow (Avon), Jan Chappell (Cally), Michael Keating (Vila), Peter Tuddenham (Zen, Orac), Jacqueline Pearce (Servalan), Brian Croucher (Travis), John Abineri (Ushton), Judy Buxton (Inga), Kevin Stoney (Joban), Andrew Robertson (Space Commander), Judith Porter (Mutoid), James Coyle (Molok)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Blake's 7 Season 2

Countdown

Blake's 7A Federation installation on the planet Albian is taken by rebels as Blake arrives, but before dying, the last Federation officer activates a mechanism that will destroy all life on the planet, but leave the Federation bases and other structures intact. Avon and Del Grant teleport to the ice cap to deactivate the bomb, but while there, the only thing Avon can think of is the death of his lover, Anna Grant – and the only thing on Del Grant’s mind is why Avon allowed his sister to die. Meanwhile, Blake finds a Federation officer called Provine and interrogates him: Blake wants to know where the real Central Control is located. Before dying, Provine tells Blake that Control is now called Star One, and only a man known as Docholli knows where it is.

written by Terry Nation
directed by Vere Lorrimer
music by Dudley Simpson

Cast: Gareth Thomas (Blake), Sally Knyvette (Jenna), Paul Darrow (Avon), Jan Chappell (Cally), Michael Keating (Vila), Tom Chadbon (Grant), Paul Shelley (Provine), James Kerry (Cauder), Lindy Alexander (Ralli), Robert Arnold (Selson), Geoffrey Snell (Tronos), Sidney Kean (Vetnor), Nigel Gregory (Arrian)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Blake's 7 Season 2

A Voice From The Past

Blake's 7Blake is summoned telepathically to a rebel base where he meets the former Arbiter General of the Federation and rebel leader Shivan, who was rumored killed but appears bandaged head to toe. They are going to take Blake to a meeting of outer world governors to depose Federation rule and install Blake, Shivan and Governor Le Grand as a civilian triumvirate. But Servalan and Travis have known of the scheme all along, and Travis, who has been disguised as Shivan from the outset of the plot, uses the telepathic homing device used on Blake to slow down the crew’s escape from the meeting.

written by Roger Parkes
directed by George Spenton-Foster
music by Dudley Simpson

Cast: Gareth Thomas (Blake), Sally Knyvette (Jenna), Paul Darrow (Avon), Jan Chappell (Cally), Michael Keating (Vila), Peter Tuddenham (Zen, Orac), Jacqueline Pearce (Servalan), Brian Croucher (Travis), Frieda Knorr (Governor Le Grand), Richard Bebb (Glynd), Martin Read (Nagu)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Blake's 7 Season 2

Gambit

Blake's 7The Liberator crew tracks Docholli down to a frontier town on a distant planet. Blake, Jenna and Cally teleport down to find him, and they do find him, hiding behind a false identity and drinking heavily in a local bar. Travis is there as well, acting as Docholli’s bodyguard. Meanwhile, Avon rounds up Vila and Orac, using the latter to teleport down to the computer controlled casino to break the bank. Krantor, the owner of Freedom City, tries to drug Vila and lull him into a game he can’t win, but Avon and Orac save Vila from certain death and leave with every cent in the casino, while Blake saves Travis from a scheme by Servalan to destroy him, the Liberator crew, and Docholli in a single explosion. Docholli tells Blake that Lurgen, a surgeon whom he knew while still in the Federation, knows the location of Star One, and that the location is hidden somewhere on the planet Goth on a person of royal blood…

written by Robert Holmes
directed by George Spenton-Foster
music by Elizabeth Parker

Cast: Gareth Thomas (Blake), Sally Knyvette (Jenna), Paul Darrow (Avon), Jan Chappell (Cally), Michael Keating (Vila), Peter Tuddenham (Orac), Jacqueline Pearce (Servalan), Brian Croucher (Travis), Aubrey Woods (Krantor), Denis Carey (Docholli), Nicolette Roeg (Chenie), Sylvia Coleridge (Croupier), Paul Grist (Cevedic), John Leeson (Toise), Harry Jones (Jarriere), Michael Halsey (Zee), Deep Roy (Klute)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Blake's 7 Season 2

The Keeper

Blake's 7Blake, Jenna and Vila visit Goth, leaving Avon and Cally on the ship. Cally detects a ship that is most likely Travis’s, so Avon sets off to destroy it, leaving Blake and the others in the lurch when savages attack them on the planet. Jenna is captured and betrothed to Gola, Charl of the Tents of Goth, while Vila becomes the court jester. Blake is almost not rescued from death by Avon on the Liberator’s return. He returns and encounters Rod, Gola’s brother and a prime contender to be Charl. Gola and his sister, both of royal blood, are checked by Jenna, and neither of them has the secret of Star One’s location. After a battle with Gola, Rod is killed, and Vila finds nothing on him. Gola is poisoned by his mystic sister and dies. She tells Blake and the others that the truest royal person on Goth is locked away in the dungeons below: Gola’s and Rod’s father, the deposed Charl. Blake goes to the dying old man, who passes away just after telling Blake “a fool knows everything and nothing.” Blake repeats the phrase to the dead king’s grieving jester, triggering a brain implant that gives them the coordinates of Star One.

written by Allan Prior
directed by Derek Martinus
music by Dudley Simpson

Cast: Gareth Thomas (Blake), Sally Knyvette (Jenna), Paul Darrow (Avon), Jan Chappell (Cally), Michael Keating (Vila), Peter Tuddenham (Zen, Orac), Jacqueline Pearce (Servalan), Brian Croucher (Travis), Bruce Purchase (Gola), Freda Jackson (Tara), Shawn Curry (Rod), Cengiz Saner (Fool), Arthur Hewlitt (The Old Man), Ron Tarr (Patrol Leader)

LogBook entry by Earl Green