Down and Safe


by Simon Hart
Blake is contacted by Ravella on behalf of the Outsiders, who want him to join with them to stand against the Federation. They believe that his presence will encourage many others to stand with them against the Federation. Bran Foster is an old friend of Blake’s who worked with him before his mind was wiped of his previous involvement with the dissidents. He manages to break down some of the mental conditioning performed on Blake, so that Blake begins to remember a little of his past. The Federation are worried that Blake could become a figurehead for dissident groups. "Some younger members of the population" believe that Blake was forced into saying he has renounced his dissident ideals. The authorities are worried that even a natural death could make Blake a martyr for the dissident groups, and they plot a way to discredit him forever. The Federation justice department devise a devious plot. After he has been imprisoned after illegally leaving the city, they implant memories into three children, who then testify that Blake molested them. It’s rather nasty and brutal, but it works. Blake is sentenced to spend the rest of his life on the penal colony Cygnus Alpha. To make certain he is removed before Blake’s defendant, Varon, can uncover the truth of the plot, they speed up the departure of the penal ship. Blake has been well and truly stitched up. Blake isn’t very proactive in this episode. He’s certain of his innocence, but he’s swept along by the plotting of both the Outsiders and the Federation. His main concern is that he can’t remember his past. He sees glimpses of his past; his capture and torture in particular, but as of yet he’s not very sure about what he used to be, and what that means for his future. He eventually realises he’s being set up for a crime he didn’t commit, and then manages to convince Varon that he’s innocent of the molestation charges. He does not want to be sent to Cygnus Alpha. This action unwittingly sends Varon and his wife Maja to their deaths when they investigate his claims of the massacre of the Outsiders. The Federation Blake has been discredited, and sent off to Cygnus Alpha on The London, the plotting of Ven Glynd, Dr Havant and Alta Morag remains hidden after the deaths of Varon and Maja and they’ve managed to wipe out the Outsiders. It’s a convincing win. However, Blake has seen a glimpse of his past and his memories are beginning to resurface, which could be a problem… The Federation troopers massacre the Outsiders, totalling 15 kills. Later Tarrant kills Varon and Maja, bringing the Federation total to 17. Blake and his associates do no killing this episode. Blake’s very first scene shows him to be rather cynical about all Ravella’s claims and even a bit of a sense of humour that seems to leave him when his memory comes back! RAVELLA : And eating and drinking -- you've managed to do without? BLAKE : Well, since you were so insistent I've done without food or drink for thirty-six hours. RAVELLA : How do you feel? BLAKE : Hungry and thirsty, of course. Bran Foster fills Blake in on his past… FOSTER : Four years ago, there was a good deal of discontent with the Administration. There were many activist groups. But the only one that really meant anything was led by Roj Blake. You and I worked together. We were outlawed and hunted. But we had supporters and we were making progress. Then someone betrayed us, I still don't know who. You were captured. So were most of our followers. They could have killed you. But that would have given the Cause a martyr. So instead they put you into intensive therapy. They erased areas of your mind, they implanted new ideas. They literally took your mind to pieces and rebuilt it. And when they'd finished, they put you up and you confessed. You said you'd been "misguided." You appealed to everyone to support the Administration, hound up the traitors. Oh, they, they did a good job on you. You were very convincing. And then they took you back and erased even that. Ven Glynd, Alta Morag and Dr Havant discuss this from the point of view of the Federation and show what Blake’s reappearance could mean for them all: HAVANT : We don't eradicate memory, of course, merely make it inaccessible. But in the normal healthy mind the barriers are impenetrable. Should he suffer anything like a nervous breakdown, where all the mental circuitry malfunctions, as it were, then he might just possibly find a route into his past. GLYND: Mm. That might just possibly prove something of a problem. HAVANT : Can’t he be eliminated? MORAG : No, he's a symbol of opposition to the Administration. HAVANT : So? GLYND : We’ve done cross-sectional psych readings, which show that a high percentage of people, particularly the younger ones, believe that Blake's trial was a showpiece, that his statements were rigged. MORAG : His death could be used by the dissidents. They need a hero. Alive or dead, Blake could be it. The first scene between Blake, Jenna and Vila is very good, with Vila in particular coming across very well… VILA: They didn't give me a choice. I steal things. Compulsive, I'm afraid. I've had my head adjusted by some of the best in the business. But it just won't stay adjusted. BLAKE : A professional thief. VILA: More a vocation than a profession. Other people's property comes naturally to me And finally the last scene on the London features a great last line for a suddenly determined Blake. GUARD Take a long look. That's the last you'll ever see of it. BLAKE No, I'm coming back. Fed-Tech We see the surveillance cameras from the title sequence working in the domed city. They’re a nice design, black with a red flashing light and flashing lens to indicate they’re working. Federation soldiers travel to the outside base on electric trolleys, so obviously the Federation have also conquered the stigma of the electric car. Most of the keyboards seen, notably in the records office and on Ven Glynd’s communications unit are very chunky indeed. It seems that in the future miniaturisation will be going the opposite way to the technology we have now and everything will be much bulkier. Everything the Federation uses is functional rather than aesthetically designed. There are also large vid-screens (mostly supplied by CSO) in the offices of the Justice Dept. The Courtroom has computerised data submission from the prosecution and defence advocates. They input their data from glass spheres with circuitry inside, which are submitted in nasty pink Perspex boxes and the flash while the data is submitted to the judgement computer, which is rather effective. The charges are shown on a large screen behind the Arbiter of the Court. The records officer uses a rather chunky video-walkman, which has dark sunglasses over the eyes to play the images. The records that Veron and Maja pick up from Dr Havant’s office are on little black and white discs. Blake has a digital watch. Obviously they’re still a really good idea in the second century of the third calendar. Maja and Varon own a Vidi-Tape recorder, which is like a mini-spyglass that records images, and they also use a standard 20^th century rubber torch. Fashion For a series later renowned for its outrageous costumes, this is a rather subdued start. Most of the costumes seen for the city dwellers are different coloured tabards worn over shirts or blouses, worn with either flared trousers if you’re male or an A-Line skirt if you’re a woman. There are few variations of this look although Blake’s tabard is in green velour worn over a beige shirt (buttoned to the collar) with grey flares and Maja wears a paisley blouse beneath her pink tabard and all the justice dept characters have cloaks attached to their tabards for the courtroom scenes. Other than this basic look, a couple of other characters get different clothes. Bran Foster gets a truly unique outfit, red trousers, worn with a top with patches of plum and green with yellow patterned sleeves. This is topped with a checked silver shawl. He gets the award for wearing Blake’s 7’s first ever truly hideous costume! Jenna and Vila appear for the first time in this episode. Jenna wears a top and trousers in iridescent purple material, closely fitted at the waist with some lovely flowery motifs on the top, above the plunging neckline. She also wears some fabulous knee high purple boots. Vila’s first outfit is functional featuring a patchwork effect top in subdued colours with grey trousers. It’s rather dull, except for the magnificent use of plastic tea stirrers put to use as some neat decoration on the top left hand side of the top! Food All food and water in the city is dosed with suppressants to render the population docile and easy to control. Blake says, when tasting untreated water that at least this makes it taste better! Dal Ritchie and Ravella share a quick, blink and you’ll miss it, peck on the cheek as they meet each other underneath walkway 7. Jenna flirtatiously strokes Blake’s hair in their first scene together. It’s uncertain what she feels for Blake at this point but she does seem quite taken with his curls. In what is tantamount to full on screen sex in Blake’s 7, we see Maja and Veron share a passionate bedroom clinch while they talk about the problems with the evidence presented for Blake’s trial. They are, of course, fully clothed while this takes place, which makes it ok. They also hold hands in most of their scenes together. The sharing of actors, behind the scenes staff and props gets off to a great start in The Way Back. Firstly, the show is written and created by Terry Nation, who of course, created the Daleks and had written ten scripts for the show before starting Blake’s 7. On the production side, he is joined by Producer, David Maloney who directed eight Doctor Who stories, including two of Nation’s scripts, and script editor Chris Boucher who wrote three scripts for Doctor Who in 1977/8 and the episode was directed by Michael E. Briant who had directed seven Doctor Who stories prior to joining this show. The show’s terrific theme music and the incidental music for this episode and all but two others (Duel and Gambit) were written by Dudley Simpson who provided the majority of incidental music for Doctor Who from Planet of Giants until The Horns of Nimon. The Way Back was designed by Martin Collins who later worked on several Sylvester McCoy stories, with lighting by Brain Clemmett who had worked on stories such as The Deadly Assassin. Ian Scoones was the special effects designer, having done the same job on Doctor Who stories including Masque of Mandragora and The Invisible Enemy. Make Up was designed by Eileen Marr who later worked on Resurrection of the Daleks and Marianne Ford, was dating Tom Baker at this time. Barbara Lane designed the costumes. She worked on many stories between The War Machines and Hand of Fear. The Federation helmets she designed were later re-used in the Doctor Who adventure, Frontios. In the cast we see Michael Keating as Vila who had been in The Sunmakers, Robert Beatty as Bran Foster who was General Cutler in The Tenth Planet. Robert James as Van Glynd was Lesterson in Power of the Daleks and the high priest in Masque of Mandragora, Jeremy Wilkin as Tarrant was Kellman in Revenge of the Cybermen, Margaret John as the Arbiter was in Fury from the Deep as Megan Jones and was also the Gran in The Idiots Lantern and finally Nigel Lambert as the computer operator was Hardin in The Leisure Hive. Phew! You also might spot part of BOSS from The Green Death in the walkway leading to the exit from the city. This story is one of the very few unremittingly grim episodes of the show and there’s not a hint of camp. As such it gets the full on bleakness rating. This is a superb opening episode, despite being completely atypical of the show as a whole. In some ways it’s like a prologue that sets up the premise and setting of the show really well. We need to see what it is that Blake will be fighting against, and it’s presented really well here, with the subdued population handled in an interesting way. There’s no clichéd drugged population on view here; the population go about their business almost normally, just a little more peacefully than you’d expect, if the glimpses of city life are anything to go by. There are some interesting ideas in The Way Back. The exploration of what Blake stands for in the eyes of the Federation is a good example: he’s someone that gives hope to the people, a hope that needs to be stamped out. This is something that will be built up over the first two seasons, but at the moment he doesn’t seem to stand for anything in particular despite his past being referred to by both the Federation and the Outsiders. Instead he’s the victim of circumstance, dragged along by events out of his control. I’m still not sure what to make of the child molestation charges that are brought against Blake. It does show just how corrupt the Federation are that’d go to these lengths to get rid of Blake, but it seems rather nasty and casual and I’m not sure that is something that the show would do if it was being made now. It’s also brilliantly made, with some rare directional flair which makes it something special when compared to most episodes of Blake’s 7. Michael E. Briant makes great use of cross fades throughout the episode, for instance, especially in the scenes where Dr Havant meets Blake and they try and establish if Blake is actually going mad or not. There are also the close ups of Blake’s eye and Foster’s lips as Foster tells Blake of his past, a very stylish touch for a series often mocked for it’s "point the camera and shoot" method of getting the episodes to the screen. This coupled with some interesting use of sound, particularly while Blake is in the cell makes this a somewhat unsettling episode to watch. Also of note are some very fine special effects. The matte shots of the domed city in the background as Blake goes outside are really well done, and the model work of the London at the end is really well filmed. Compared to some later examples of both techniques, this is high quality stuff. We’re off to a great start!