#space fall

[spaced-out-reader]

A very interesting security system. Instead of, like, guns or lasers, the alien ship has something like a hallucinogenic flytrap. It reads your mind and then entices you to the mind cloud so it can kill you.

The staff of the prison ship have lost 3 men so far in trying to salvage it, so one of them has the bright idea to send over Blake, Jenna, and Avon.

It works well on the trio, but Blake shakes it off not long after. Perhaps the Federation shouldn't have mucked with Blake's head so much; he's got too much experience with that kind of thing now.

(Although, it does make me wonder just what exactly the aliens engineered with this kinda thing in mind...)

So Blake snaps the other two out of it, and Jenna finds she can pilot the thing well enough.

JENNA: We're on our way.

BLAKE: What course have you set?

JENNA: Name it. We're free. We've got a ship. We can go anywhere we like.

BLAKE: Follow the London to Cygnus Alpha. Then we can free the rest of the prisoners. [To Avon] With a ship like this and a full crew, then we CAN start fighting back.

[Avon looks less than pleased] (lol)

I REALLY wish Blake said "No, we're going back." A good nod to the first epsiode.

But now our hero has a ship; he's soon to have a crew; and a mission finally capable of being fulfilled.

Quite a windfall isn't it? Well, there's no wind in space, so maybe just a--

[greencheekconure27]

BTW does the show ever mention anything about Avon's brother again?

Why was he the one Zen showed him in Space Fall? Why does Avon say he's the only thing that could've lured him closer? I'm intrigued.

[mrs-underhill22]

Shallow post. Just a bit of beautiful Avon from Season 1 of Blake’s 7.

[glyptolite]

Glyphs used in the second episode of Blake’s 7, ‘Space Fall’ (1978). In the previous episode, some English was projected on a screen, so this is not the only writing system used by the Federation.

[spaced-out-reader]

Episode 2 of Blake's 7, "Space Fall" picks up right where we left off: Blake's on a prison ship (sorry, "civil administration ship") with a horde of fellow "criminals" on its way to a penal colony to Cygnus Apha. Some talk among his fellows suggests they might just dump them all into space halfway through the trip.

Not if Blake has anything to say about it.

The episode wastes no time in showing us exactly how Blake became such a thorn in the Federation's side. It's likely been less than a week on this supposed 8-month flight, and it seems he's already assembling a sizeable crew for staging an uprising.

Key figures here are:

Jenna: the best candidate for flying the prison ship once they take it over (also the only woman on the ship)

Vila: a petty thief and bloody good at magic tricks--he distracts the gurards for Blake and his fellows three times in this episode

Avon: apparently the best hacker in all of known space. also something of a moral foil to Blake

There's plenty to mention in this episode, but I'd like to focus on Blake himself for this post.

Initially, the plan to take the ship goes off with only a few hitches (a couple fights, and a fellow prisoner being buried alive in hull sealant), but once the guards threaten to start killing prisoners, Jenna, Blake, and Avon are stuck in the computer room with few options. Which is where we get this:

JENNA: Assuming they do land us somewhere, what then? BLAKE: Find a way of getting back to Earth. JENNA: Back to Earth? BLAKE: Yes. That's where the heart of the Federation is. I intend to see that heart torn out. AVON: I thought you were probably insane. BLAKE: That's possible! They butchered my family, my friends. They murdered my past and gave me tranquilized dreams. JENNA: At least you're still alive. BLAKE: No! Not until free men can think and speak. Not until power is back with the honest man. AVON: Have you ever met an honest man? JENNA: [Glances at Blake] Perhaps.

In such a miserable setting as this, Blake is this frightfully attractive figure of leadership and honor. And we're not the only ones who think that. The people around him have distinctly human motivations, but Blake himself is unwavering in his dedication to tear down the Federation, and that makes him easy to follow, makes him seem so much... bigger.

Good characters in fiction are the very devil. Not because most authors have little material to make them of, but because we as readers have a strong subconscious wish to find them incredible. — C. S. Lewis, The Novels of Charles Williams

(I'll be talking about the rest of the episode in another post. I like to keep my discussions on a theme.)

[mrs-underhill22]

Scheme of the “London” prison ship from official B7 technical manuals. There are 48 seats (for 48 prisoners), but only 24 sleeping places on 8 3-level bunks. Meaning prisoners had to hot-bunk and sleep in turns.

Guard room has 3 3-level bunks, meaning it was 9 guards total? This is not counting ship’s crew I assume. Leylan would have his own captain cabin, probably. 

Note there are 2 washrooms in the prisoners’ compartment, each with a toilet, shower and sink. I hope there was some futuristic way to dry-clean one’s clothes while showering, maybe a slot in the wall? 

[octopusdreamsofaquaticsheep]

Rewatching Blake's 7 and it just hit me. In Space Fall (and probably for the whole first season but I'm a little wobbly on the timings of the seasons so idk) AVON'S STILL MOURNING ANNA. Like that's not a hazy moment from his past. She died last week/month depending on how long he was in interrogation. He's not just being antisocial. He's actively grieving. I just. Someone needs to hug him dammit.