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 Original Message Follows:

    Area : REC.ARTS.SF.TV
   Dated : 03 Sep 93  04:24:26
    From : st1lw{at}Rosie.UH.EDU, 3:632/400{at}fidonet
      To : All
 Subject : Pt 1/2: Blake's 7
 ---
From: st1lw{at}Rosie.UH.EDU
Organization: University of Houston


     This post is intended for people who have already seen the British
television series "Blake's 7" but have missed the first few episodes and
want to know what happens in them.

                         Warning!  Spoilers Ahead!

     This post contains summaries of the first six (6) episodes of the
British television series "Blake's 7."  If you have not seen all these
episodes and you do not want to know the endings of the episodes before you
watch them, then do not read this post.  You have been warned.

(*************************************************************************)

     These are all the "Blake's 7" regular characters who appear in the
first six (6) episodes.  Other regular characters are added in later
episodes.

     the heroes               episode of first appearance
     ==========================================================
     Roj Blake                episode 1:  "The Way Back"
     Jenna Stannis            episode 1:  "The Way Back"
     Vila Restal              episode 1:  "The Way Back"
     Kerr Avon                episode 2:  "Space Fall"
     Olag Gan                 episode 2:  "Space Fall"
     Zen (a computer)         episode 3:  "Cygnus Alpha"
     Cally                    episode 4:  "Time Squad"

     the villains             episode of first appearance
     ==========================================================
     Servalan                 episode 6:  "Seek-Locate-Destroy"
     Travis                   episode 6:  "Seek-Locate-Destroy"

     The starship *Liberator* first appears in the second episode, "Space
Fall."  However, the computer Zen, which is onboard the *Liberator*, does
not appear until the next episode, "Cygnus Alpha."

(*************************************************************************)

     "Blake's 7" was on the air for four (4) series from 1978 to 1981.
Each of the four series has thirteen (13) episodes.  Therefore, "Blake's 7"
has a total of fifty-two (52) episodes.

(*  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  *)

Episode  1:  "The Way Back"             Aired   :  2 January 1978
Writer    :  Terry Nation               Director:  Michael Briant

     Roj Blake meets two colleagues who persuade him to go illegally
outside the dome in which they live on Earth.  The aim is for Blake to meet
former colleagues of whom, strangely, he has no memory.  Blake's friends
inform him that he was once a major resistance leader, but after his
capture Blake had his mind re-programmed so that he would renounce his old
colleagues and give evidence against them.
     Blake goes outside and attends a rebel's meeting, but hides when
guards appear and kill everyone present.  Blake escapes only to be
recaptured upon re-entering the city, where he is put on trial for a series
of crimes against children.  Despite the fact that the evidence is
completely fabricated, he is found guilty and sentenced to transportation
to the planet Cygnus Alpha.  Blake's defense attorney starts to investigate
on his own.  He gradually comes up with evidence to prove not only Blake's
innocence but also the complete fabrication of the evidence against him by
senior Administration officials.  Blake's defense attorney takes the
evidence before a superior, who turns out to be fully implicated in the
invention of the evidence against Blake.  Whilst continuing to try to
gather information to clear Blake, the attorney is murdered by Federation
guards.
     Whilst Blake is waiting to board the space ship to Cygnus Alpha, he
meets Jenna Stannis and Vila Restal for the first time.  Blake is still
hoping for a reprieve when time runs out and the ship takes off.  As the
ship leaves Earth, Blake vows to return one day.

(*  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  *)

Episode  2:  "Space Fall"               Aired   :  9 January 1978
Writer    :  Terry Nation               Director:  Pennant Roberts

     Blake and the others are on the space ship *London* en route for
Cygnus Alpha.  Blake organizes a rebellion with the help of some of his
fellow convicts.  Kerr Avon breaks through to the computer room and
temporarily puts the computer out of action whilst Blake and the others
break free from their quarters.  However, due to Vila's inability to follow
Olag Gan's straightforward orders, the rebellion is quashed.
     Blake, Jenna, and Avon barricade themselves temporarily in the
computer room, finally give themselves up when Raiker, one of the ship's
officers, starts killing other prisoners.
     Meanwhile, the ship *London* has been buffeted by very severe shock
waves from what is presumed to be a space battle between two alien fleets.
Eventually, one of the ships from the battle drifts unpowered and unmanned
alongside the *London* and Leylan, captain of the *London*, sends three of
his crew across to investigate it.  Two of them die and one goes mad.
Raiker then persuades Captain Leylan to send Blake, Avon, and Jenna across.
They experience the alien ship's defense mechanism, which implants in their
minds images from their past in order to disorientate and kill them.
Blake, however, is able to resist, possibly through his recollection of
having been interfered with mentally by the Federation.  He destroys the
defense mechanism and the three close the outer hatch, thus stopping anyone
else from boarding the alien ship.  Jenna then manages to get the alien
ship under way.
     Of course, the alien ship is later named the *Liberator* by Jenna, but
this does not happen until the next episode, "Cygnus Alpha."

(*  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  *)

Episode  3:  "Cygnus Alpha"             Aired   :  16 January 1978
Writer    :  Terry Nation               Director:  Vere Lorrimer

     Blake, Avon, and Jenna explore the space ship *Liberator* which they
have just taken over and establish contact with the master computer Zen,
enabling them to fly the ship.  They also discover the teleport system,
which Blake uses for the first time when the ship arrives at Cygnus Alpha.
A further discovery is a set of hand guns of immense power.
     Meanwhile the space transporter *London* has unloaded its passengers
and lifted off again to return to Earth.  The prisoners arriving on the
planet are greeted by the priests and priestesses who rule Cygnus Alpha.
Blake uses the teleport system for a second time in order to find the
prisoners and rescue them.  He leaves instructions that he is to be
recalled with four hours.
     Blake discovers that the prisoners are suffering from a sickness which
infects everyone who is on Cygnus Alpha for more than an hour, and he is
told that there is no cure for the sickness apart from regular doses of a
serum available only on Cygnus Alpha.  Meanwhile back on the *Liberator*,
Avon and Jenna discover rooms full of clothes and immense hoards of
precious jewels.
     Blake's attempt to release the prisoners fails and he is captured.
Vargas, the ruler of the planet, demands that Blake hand over the
*Liberator* so that he, Vargas, can travel through the galaxy, spreading
his religion.
     On the *Liberator*, Avon is trying to convince Jenna of the
pointlessness of waiting for Blake.  However, Jenna persuades him to wait,
and with just a few minutes of the four hours remaining, Blake calls in for
teleportation.  After further argument, Jenna teleports Blake, Gan, and
Vila up.  However, she also unwittingly teleports Vargas, who reveals that
the sickness from which everyone has been suffering is merely a passing
thing and that no antidote is required at all.  Blake teleports Vargas into
space, where he dies immediately.  Zen then reports that some federation
pursuit ships are homing in on the *Liberator*, and Blake and the new crew
begin their escape flight.

(*  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  *)

Episode  4:  "Time Squad"               Aired   :  23 January 1978
Writer    :  Terry Nation               Director:  Pennant Roberts

     Blake is determined to attack the Federation and thus change the
status of his crew from minor irritants into a major problem.  He decides
to strike at the communication complex on the planet Saurian Major.  Whilst
en route for the planet the crew of the *Liberator* answer an emergency
signal and take on board a small projectile which appears to contain three
aliens in cryogenic suspension.  One of the aliens has died through a
malfunction of his chamber, but two remain and the *Liberator*'s crew take
steps to revive them.  Blake, Vila, and Avon teleport to Saurian Major in
order to locate the resistance forces on the planet, with whom they hope to
launch a strong attack on the Federation complex.
     Once on the planet, they are attacked by Cally, a native of the planet
Auron who has telepathic ability.  She reveals that she is the only
survivor of a guerrilla force that was attacking the Federation.  She joins
Blake and the others and they break into the communications complex.
     Meanwhile, on the *Liberator*, Jenna and Gan are keeping watch on the
ship and on the aliens.  Gan explains to Jenna that he is unable to kill
because of the limiter placed in his head by the Federation after he had
killed a Federation guard.  Gan goes to check on the aliens and discovers
that the two have already left the capsule.  They overpower him, because
his limiter prevents him from killing them.  Zen identifies the aliens as
guardians of a set of genetic banks carried in their projectile.  The
guardians and gene bank together represent a complete invasion force, and
the guardians will attack anyone and everyone who is seen as a threat to
their genetic banks.
     Whilst Jenna and Gan are struggling with the aliens, Blake and the
rest of the crew, with Cally, set explosive devices within the computer
complex. However, when Blake tries to get the *Liberator* to teleport them
back, there is no response.  At that very moment, Jenna comes under attack
from a previously unsuspected fourth alien.  Gan, still suffering from his
previous experience, is unable to help her.
     Eventually, Gan manages to teleport the four back to the *Liberator*
and to overpower the fourth alien.  Cally then agrees to join the
*Liberator*, thus making six crew members, with Zen bringing it up to
seven.

(*  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  *)

Episode  5:  "The Web"                  Aired   :  30 January 1978
Writer    :  Terry Nation               Director:  Michael Briant

     After a very short time on board the *Liberator*, Cally has already
attempted to sabotage the ship.  However, her sabotage attempt appears to
have brought severe injury upon herself; and although she does not give any
outward signs, the crew conclude that she must be suffering intense pain.
The sabotaged *Liberator* rushes out of control through space until it is
trapped in a web surrounding an unknown, unnamed planet.  The crew make
several unsuccessful attempts to free the *Liberator* from the web until
the drain on the energy banks becomes too great to permit escape.
     Jenna begins to speak in a strange voice and relays to Blake an
instruction to land the ship.  Instead, he teleports down to the planet
alone.
     Blake meets what appear to be the survivors of a centuries-old
experimental project in the forbidden field of genetic engineering.  The
experiment was run by outlawed members of Cally's people, the Auronas, who
have used their telepathic powers to communicate with her and thus force
her to bring the ship to their planet.
     They have created two types of beings:  one humanoid and apparently
intelligent; the other, the Decimas, a race of machine-animals created to
undertake basic menial tasks.  However, the Decimas appear to have gotten
out of control:  they are able to breed and are now breeding in emotions
and violent habits which were never programmed into them originally.
     The two genetically engineered people on the planet are under the
control of the withered humanoid suspended in liquid who seems to contain
the memories of the six original members of the experimental expedition.
He wishes to have his energy banks replaced, after which he promises to
clear a way through the web.  But he also reveals that he plans to use the
energy to wipe out the Decimas.  Blake objects to this on moral grounds.
     Avon teleports down with the energy reserves, and Blake realizes that
Avon has teleported to an area thick with Decimas.   Fearing for Avon's
safety and rather than teleporting him back to the ship, Blake takes the
two humanoids out with him to search for Avon.
     Whilst the research project remains unguarded, the Decimas begin an
attack.  Blake attempts to negotiate with the humanoids, but without
success.  They are marched back to the dome, and the new power sources are
put in place, but the Decimas' attack overpowers the Auronar.  Blake and
Avon use the power source to destroy the web and the *Liberator* escapes
just ahead of a group of Federation Pursuit Ships.

(*  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  *)

Episode  6:  "Seek-Locate-Destroy"      Aired   :  6 February 1978
Writer    :  Terry Nation               Director:  Vere Lorrimer

     Blake decides to launch a raid which will enable him to steal a
message decoder from a top security installation on Centero.  The plan
involves blowing up part of the installation so that the Federation will
not realize immediately that that particular device has been stolen and
thus will not be tempted to change their coding system.  All of the crew
except Jenna teleport down, set the charges, and remove the decoding
device.

--- Squish/386 v1.10 BETA/5a