Back on the offensive, Blake travels to Space City, planning to enlist the help of the criminal syndicate, the Terra Nostra to help in his battle against the Federation. Just how much will this cost Blake?

Blake plays it cool

Is there some shady connection between the Moon Disc production and the president? Could the Federation really be in league with a criminal syndicate? What do you think?

Orac is being even more unhelpful and superior than is usual. His torturing of Cally is even more unusual for the super computer? Could something malevolent be using Orac in some way?

Cally imprisoned!

Cally.

She defeats the entity that is using Orac’s carrier beam to break into our dimension, by using the contact of the telepathic Moon Discs. Not alone any more, she uses the power of telekinesis to remove Orac’s key and free herself from the mental prison Orac had trapped her in.

Cally and the Moon Discs

Avon kills two of the president’s special guards in this episode and discovers just whom it is they work for.

Orac’s electrified key causes Hanna’s death. This might be his only direct kill.

The crew discuss their destination:

BLAKE: So. That is Space City.
VILA: Also known as the satellite of sin.
AVON: By whom?
VILA: Me.
AVON: It had to be someone of limited imagination.
VILA: Pick a pleasure, any pleasure.
JENNA: And you'll find it for sale in Space City.

Space City aka The Satellite of Sin

Gan has objections to using the Terra Nostra:

BLAKE: Think, Gan, think what they've got: men, material, information. Think what we could do with a fraction of the resources they control.
GAN: No, YOU think, Blake. Think what it is they control. Everything dirty, degrading, and cruel on just about every colonized world.

Vila gets annoyed with the Liberator’s two computers:

VILA : Miserable alien. I just want to see what it's like.
ZEN : Information. Main visual is available. [displays Space City on screen.]
VILA: So?
ZEN : You expressed a desire to see what it is like.
VILA: Very funny, Zen. Chuckle chuckle. If you were a decent computer you'd be able to operate the teleport system like Orac can. Like Orac can! Key, key, ah key. [Inserts Key] Orac? Orac? Are you in there, Orac?
ORAC :Am I in where? What precisely do you imagine I am? Some sort of tame rodent in a cage?
VILA: That's precisely what I imagine you are. A rat in a box.

Avon gets sentimental:

LARGO: They’re beautiful stones. I'm a bit of a collector, in a modest way. I could make you an offer.
AVON: They have a sentimental value for me.
LARGO: Oh, family heirlooms, eh?
AVON: No, I'm just sentimental about money

The heat and company get to Jenna:

JENNA: It's enough to fry your eyeballs.
AVON: Daintily put.
JENNA: It must be the company I keep.

Avon sums up Vila’s explanation:

VILA: So you see, Bek, this thing tapped into Orac's channels, sucked up all his energy, so that it could come squirting out and swallow us all.
AVON: The plain man's guide to alien invasions.

Where have all the good guys gone?

BLAKE: It's quite logical. To have total control, you must control totally. Both sides of the law. The Terra Nostra, the Federation: two sides of the same power. The same man of power.
AVON: Ironic, isn't it? We were hoping to use the Terra Nostra to attack the Federation only to discover that it is already being used to support it.
VILA: Where are all the good guys?
BLAKE: You could be looking at them.
AVON: What a very depressing thought. [Blake chuckles.]

Space City is a massive space station where it is said every pleasure is available to you, if you happen to have enough money. It has docking bays for shuttlecraft and storage areas (useful for hiding out in if you happen to be on the run from the authorities) and is the home of the criminal syndicate, The Terra Nostra.

Bek is seen using a voice recorder. This consists of a revolving disc of some sort on the left hand side, with 5 buttons on top and on the right there is a little tube into which the recording cylinder can be inserted. It immediately starts to play when the cylinder is inserted.

Shadow is a drug derived from the xerophytes catalogued Alpha 2/5 known as the Moon Disc. Largo added a compound, which had a controlled particle emission, to the Shadow he supplied. This enabled him to track all the users of the drug.

Largo's shadow

Blake dishes out some detectors to Jenna and Avon. They look suspiciously like tent pegs, though who can say what forms future tech might take?

Blake has a variation of his clothes seen in Redemption. He wears a zip up Lincoln green peasant shirt underneath a green leather waistcoat.

Avon wears a top that looks to be made of tin foil, but is actually silver leather over a black turtleneck sweater and a big black belt with reflective sequins on it. He has knee high black boots.

Jenna again wears a black Lycra body stocking with a mini dress draped over the top in shades of pink and purple.

The three of them, uniquely, have a second set of clothes for when they teleport down to Zonda. These are white cotton loose fitting safari suits, gis with loose trousers. Jenna wears hers with silver boots, Avon has brown boots and Blake has black boots to go with his.

Blake and Co find the Moon Discs

Cally wears a predominantly white dress with a cape attached to the back. There is a central panel down the middle, which features a blue flower design and the sleeves are made of netting material. She wears this with long white boots.

Vila is dressed in a yellow gi that ties around the middle with matching yellow trousers.

Gan wears a blue shirt with a tunic in dark blue and browns, with gold braiding around the edges. It is tied with a huge belt and worn with dark blue trousers.

The Seven

Largo and the other members of the Terra Nostra wear plush brown velvet suits over frilly shirts with ruffled sleeves.

Bek and Hanna again wear variations of the Gi and trousers look favoured by some of Blake’s crew this episode. Theirs are more ragged and in brown- grey material.

In a fairly tame episode by the costuming standards of June Hudson, the most outrageous costumes are those of the security guards on Zonda. They are dressed head to foot in silver quilted plastic material coveralls with visors over their heads.

Silver guards!

Cally goes off to a get a drink, though we don’t see her drinking it. When Vila goes across to Space City he gets himself blind drunk, though again we don’t see this.

Bek has a glass of water. We see that.

Cally teleports various members of the crew back and forth between The Liberator and Space city three times. Orac teleports Vila over to space city. Vila later teleports Blake, Avon and Jenna down to Zonda. Orac teleports the terrified Cally down to Zonda, while Vila then brings them Blake, Jenna and Avon back up, as well as Cally a little while afterwards.

Cally drops her bracelet shortly after arriving on Zonda, but luckily finds it and picks it up again before she leaves.

Orac uses special communication waves, which pass into another dimension. It is the same dimension that allows thought transference. He drives a beam through this dimension. During this, an entity jumped aboard the carrier beam and used it as a means of gaining entry into this dimension. The power that would be created by crashing the Liberator into the planet Zonda would be enough to allow it’s transfer, and so Orac takes control of the Liberator’s systems to make this happen.

There’s very little intimacy in this episode. Obviously there’s a deep bond between Bek and Hanna, but this is a familial bond. And there’s also an obvious love shown by Avon for the gemstones he presents to Largo, but that’s about it.

Three of this episode’s guest stars appeared in Doctor Who. Adrienne Burgess was Veet in The Sun Makers (playing opposite Michael Keating) and Vernon Dobtcheff was the scientist in The War Games in 1969. More recently, Derek Smith played the doorman in Human Nature.

Dreamheads Hanna and Bek

The quarry that doubles for Zonda was used many times in Doctor Who, most notably in Death to the Daleks and Caves of Androzani.

Back to seriousness this episode. There’s not much camp I’m afraid.

Shadow is the first episode of the show not to be written by Terry Nation. Chris Boucher, the show’s script editor writes his first episode, and it’s one of the finest for a long time. He takes the bare bones of the universe Terry Nation has created and adds new levels to it, in a way that manages to compliment and expand the work Terry Nation had already done. The references to the different grades of humans on Earth and further corruption within the Federation just help to give the show a greater canvas from which to work. You can really sense Chris Boucher’s imagination is fired up by the concepts of the show and he’s been itching to get his hands on the show and write for it in his own way.

His script is witty and complex. The idea of Blake hiring Terra Nostra help in his battle against the Federation is another sign that his judgement is becoming increasingly impaired. He ignores the very sensible reasons for not using them that Gan puts forward and later continues with his plans despite only just escaping with their lives the first time. It’s interesting that Gan is the voice of reason here. He’s always been happy to follow Blake no matter what, so this must be something he really feels strongly about. Blake also seems oblivious to what’s going on between Cally and Orac, as if anything that is outside of his plan doesn’t matter. We’d seen this in Orac and it’s an interesting part of Blake’s character that will be further explored through this season.

The twist that the Federation and the Terra Nostra are actually two parts of the same organisation is very good too, showing just how desperate the Federation is to control every aspect of the lives of its citizens.

The production is generally very good again, with some inspired direction. The scenes of Cally being mentally attacked by Orac are really eerie and nicely surreal. Even the very safe flight deck becomes a creepy place as Orac’s working sound effect engulfs all other sounds. The lighting is very subtle in this episode, which makes a change! Some scenes are very similar to the scenes of Tegan being attacked by the Mara in Kinda a few years on. Jan Chappell gets lots to do and does it well for the most part, especially emphasising how alone Cally is.

Mental torture

Again there’s some decent model work, and a fairly convincing attempt to create a desert planet. The sunshine helps, as does the nice glass shot of the extra sun in the sky.

Sunny Zondar

This is a great episode and one of the finest in the whole run of the series.

In orbit around Zondar