Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

No! Not the MindPROBE!

@droho.bsky.social

190 followers 230 following 620 posts

A dude who reads & watches far too much sci-fi & cult TV/cinema. Massive Doctor Who, Blake’s 7, Star Trek, Star Wars & Bond fan & co-host of the Who Corner to Corner Doctor Who podcast.

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Pinned

No! Not the MindPROBE! @droho.bsky.social · 11d

Blake’s 7 series 2 blu ray out soon so now feels like a good time to catch up with series 1.
I’ve watched this a few times over the years but this is my first time on shiny BluRay with new FX and cleaned AV.
Given how bright & sharp the iconic intro looks (and sounds!), this is gonna be great!

1 8

No! Not the MindPROBE! @droho.bsky.social · 2d

Time Squad isn’t a bad episode. It’s notable for bringing the crew to 7 & giving Jenna some action. But if it weren’t for Cally’s introduction I think this would be what’s known in modern parlance as a ‘filler’ episode. Sadly my final pic didn’t turn out, so here’s Jan Chappell looking brilliant!

No! Not the MindPROBE! @droho.bsky.social · 2d

Anyhoo. The Federation installation gets blown up and Gan just manages to pull it together long to teleport the guys away from the chaos they caused down below.

No! Not the MindPROBE! @droho.bsky.social · 2d

And heavy man Gan isn’t much use. Turns out he’s got an implant grafted into his brain designed to limit his actions to a level of violence a notch below actual murder.

No! Not the MindPROBE! @droho.bsky.social · 2d

Anyway. While the guys are off having fun with their new friend, Jenna creeps about the darkest places of the Liberator fighting off the homicidal crazies awakened from the alien pod. Seems all they want to do is kill anything which isn’t their own kind and protect their brood bank.

No! Not the MindPROBE! @droho.bsky.social · 2d

Incidentally, the OB film sequences show their age the most. The restoration team have done a cracking job, but there’s only so much they can do. Especially as some kind of lens treatment seems to have been applied in-camera to help sell these scenes as being on another planet. Rather than Bristol.

No! Not the MindPROBE! @droho.bsky.social · 2d

Cally is all that remains of the resistance group Blake hoped to contact. The others don’t trust her but she knows her way around, so they pick up their coolbox and head off to blow something up! The first of many industrial factories repurposed as Federation installations we’ll see in this show.

1 1

No! Not the MindPROBE! @droho.bsky.social · 2d

Meanwhile Blake continues to Saurian Major, where he’s attacked not by a ventriloquist, but a telepath. It’s Cally!! From Auron. And I’ve never been clear on whether the Auronar are actual aliens or an offshoot of some human colony that developed mind powers. And I’d forgotten she was in this ep.

No! Not the MindPROBE! @droho.bsky.social · 2d

There’s a nice sequence - even better with the new FX - where Avon manually pilots Liberator to pick up the pod. Excitement over, Jenna senses something isn’t right with it…

No! Not the MindPROBE! @droho.bsky.social · 2d

They discover that the capsule contains a bunch of weird-looking dudes in cryogenic suspension. Thankfully there’s also oxygen - well, until it starts running out, that is. Gotta hand it to ole Terry, he never passed up the chance to introduce a frisson of jeopardy whenever things looked a bit dull.

No! Not the MindPROBE! @droho.bsky.social · 2d

En route to Saurian Major, where Blake hopes to meet up with a sizeable resistance group, the Liberator picks up a distress call from a drifting capsule of unknown origin. Zen is cagey about it so Blake & Jenna teleport across for a closer look.

1 1

No! Not the MindPROBE! @droho.bsky.social · 2d

Btw I was going to post all these under one thread but after 3 episodes it’s already unwieldy, so I’ll break them up a bit. Anyway, Time Squad, in which the recently expanded Liberator crew familiarise themselves a little more with their strange, shiny spaceship. Though Avon’s not impressed…

No! Not the MindPROBE! @droho.bsky.social · 2d

My Blake’s 7 rewatch of Series 1 (or Series A) continues with… Time Squad! Which sounds pretty magnificent! And after the quality of the previous 3 stories, this must be another good one, right?

1 1

No! Not the MindPROBE! @droho.bsky.social · 2d

Yay Haribos!!!
Um… sorry… what..?

Reposted by No! Not the MindPROBE!

Tim Foley @verbatimfoley.bsky.social · 9d

New tour dates! It’s Walking to Leeds, 27th and 28th Feb! www.leedsplayhouse.org.uk/event/it-wal...

It Walks Around The House At Night - Leeds Playhouse

A ghost story by Tim Foley · Directed by Neil Bettles. From the company behind Driftwood and How Not To Drown.

www.leedsplayhouse.org.uk

1 1 2

No! Not the MindPROBE! @droho.bsky.social · 3d

Blake is lucky. Chance granted him a powerful starship he can use to take the fight to the Federation and become an empowering - but also destructive - symbol for those who can only use what they have at hand. We’ll meet them soon and discover that there are no easy solutions to humanity’s problems.

No! Not the MindPROBE! @droho.bsky.social · 3d

However, maybe enough people are corrupt, powered by self-preservation and a greed disguised as ‘survival’ in a system that rewards betrayal, and maybe that’s all it really takes to quash the chance for freedom and human rights.

No! Not the MindPROBE! @droho.bsky.social · 3d

There is consistency in the themes of control, power and coercion, common to all three stories. We start to sense the scale of the enemy Blake wants to fight. It is immense, deep-rooted and seemingly impenetrable. But there are cracks he ‘could’ exploit: not everyone in the Federation is corrupt…

No! Not the MindPROBE! @droho.bsky.social · 3d

There’s also a mixture of sci-fi story styles: conspiracy thriller, space adventure and post apocalyptic hell. As of yet, there’s no consistent style that typifies the series, it’s as though they’re ‘experimenting’ to see what will land.

1 1

No! Not the MindPROBE! @droho.bsky.social · 3d

These first 3 episodes set up a good foundation for Blake’s 7, a story that pits an honest hero type against an oppressive, corrupt government. He gains a powerful ship but has to work with a crew of criminals. There’s plenty of conflict and although we know who the good guys are, can we trust them?

1 1

No! Not the MindPROBE! @droho.bsky.social · 3d

… Oh, and Vargas, who likes his jewellery. Seems he wants the Liberator too and the whole space virus thing is a sham. Unfortunately he shouts his demands whilst standing in the teleport area and Jenna’s at the controls.
Bye bye Vargas.
WeeeeeWeeWeWeWeee…argh…BOOOM!

No! Not the MindPROBE! @droho.bsky.social · 3d

Blake’s having none of it. He starts a riot and hopes that the prisoners will take a bracelet so they can be teleported away. It’s quite brutal. Only Gan and Vila (hiding under a table) manage to do so…

No! Not the MindPROBE! @droho.bsky.social · 3d

Religion can be used as a control system too, and Cygnus Alpha’s leader - shouty Brian Blessed who gives Roj Blake a full blast of it (Gareth Thomas looks like he’s genuinely wincing lol!) - is a master of it. He’s the latest in a line of cultish autocrats keeping order here.

No! Not the MindPROBE! @droho.bsky.social · 3d

Side note… I love the fact that even in the future, clean, sensible shoes are a must!

No! Not the MindPROBE! @droho.bsky.social · 3d

Anyway… back to the story, in which Blake, creeping through an old castle. learns that his fellow prisoners can’t leave Cygnus Alpha because immediately on arrival they contract a nasty virus that will kill them if they don’t get their daily vaccine pill. Yet another oppressive system of control.

No! Not the MindPROBE! @droho.bsky.social · 3d

Love the updated teleport effects!!
The haven’t messed with it too much - it still goes wibbly-wobbly and we still get a white outline when they materialise. Just a few little embellishments that help sell it.
Great job!

1 1