Liberator

Written by: James Swallow
Directed by: Andrew Mark Sueall
Episode Length: pending
Originally uploaded for broadcast: pending

Availability: Try Amazon

Starring: Derek Riddell (Roj Blake), Colin Salmon (Kerr Avon), Daniella Nardini (Servalan), Craig Kelly (Commander Travis), Carrie Dobro (Jenna Stannis), Dean Harris (Vila Restal), Owen Aaronovitch (Oleg Gan), India Fisher (Lora Mezin) and Alistair Lock (Zen).

Guest-Starring: Doug Bradley (Nico Ballantine), Jake Maskall (Lt. Jorge Garcia), Kevin Jon Davies (Councillor Adrius Singh), Evangelo Kloussis (Lieutenant Rix), Robert Maloney (Operator), Barbara Joslyn (Security Monitor Voice), Colin Ravey (Captain) and Jonathan Rhodes (Crewman).

Crew: James Swallow (Writer), Ben Aaronovitch (Script Editor), Alistair Lock (Sound Design/Post Production/Title and Incidental Music), David Hall (Casting Director), Simon Moorhead (Executive Producer) and Andrew Mark Sueall (Director). A B7 Production in association with Sci-Fi Channel (UK). Based on the original television series Blake's 7 created by Terry Nation.





Viewpoint:
"I'm playing the long game and you can't see the board from where you're standing."

Ugh. What a terrible line. The third Blake's 7 audio from B7 Enterprises is yet more of the same � bad lines, miscast actors and misplaced macho bombast. Actually, no, it's not "more of the same" � it's worse. Preachy, overwritten and flowery dialogue meets tedious technical sci-fi jargon, with none of the charm or insight that the original series had in spades.

Three stories in, and the characters aren't developed in the slightest. If anything, they've become even more two-dimensional, with Craig Kelly's wooden take on Travis uttering "You can run, Blake... but you can't hide" as the climax to the fourth chapter, Dead Or Alive. If such trite, banal dialogue was intended as a tongue-in-cheek spoof it would maybe amuse. Sadly, having a quote from 1946 in a supposedly cutting edge SF audio sixty years later does little, while Dean Harris's Vila is possibly the most irritating character in the entire genre.

Little interest, little genuine characterisation, and any plot elements, such as Avon's betrayal, are brought up and dealt with in minutes. Ultimately, despite the lofty claims of those involved that this would be a superior piece of drama, the new Blake's 7 audios are flat and uninspired.