Finally, Blake is on the way to Star One. Will he finally be able to go through it: destroy Star One and cause chaos for The Federation? And if he does succeed, will he really hand The Liberator over to Avon? How will the rest of the crew react to that?

Star One!

The Federation is on chaos! With Star One failing, the frontier worlds are experiencing extreme weather, crops are failing and the populations of the world are in turmoil. Servalan at Space Command feels the Federation High Council are unable to tackle the scale of this disaster and so she stages a military coup… can she pull this all off and save the Federation from destruction, in time to become President? Or will she be the president of a ruined empire?

Travis found out the location of Star One well before Blake and his crew. Has he got there first, and if so, what has he been up to?

Could there be alien influences at work on Star One itself? The crew there are behaving oddly and only Lurena has noticed anything untoward. Is she right?

And just what is the satellite generator minefield for- to keep mankind in or something else out of out sector of the universe?

Avon.

He kills Travis. He holds off the alien battle fleet. He ultimately wins the Liberator.

And Servalan,

Who gets the power she desperately craves, and is made president of the Terran Federation.

Blake and Avon both manage to take out Travis between them, but not until after Travis has managed to injure Blake.

Avon kills one of the Andromedans. And does a nice quip with it!

Like Toyah, Avon wants to be free

AVON: I never doubted that. I never doubted your fanaticism. As far as I am concerned you can destroy whatever you like. You can stir up a thousand revolutions, you can wade in blood up to your armpits. Oh, and you can lead the rabble to victory, whatever that might mean. Just so long as there is an end to it. When Star One is gone it is finished, Blake. And I want it finished. I want it over and done with. I want to be free.

CALLY: But you are free now, Avon.
AVON: I want to be free of him.
BLAKE: I never realized. You really do hate me, don't you?

Freedom fighters or terrorists?

CALLY: Are we fanatics?
BLAKE: Does it matter?
CALLY: Many, many people will die without Star One.
BLAKE: I know.
CALLY: Are you sure that what we're going to do is justified?
BLAKE: It has to be. Don't you see, Cally? If we stop now then all we have done is senseless killing and destruction. Without purpose, without reason. We have to win. It's the only way I can be sure that I was right.
CALLY: That you were right?

Servalan takes charge:

SERVALAN: Space Command no longer recognises the authority of the President or of the Council.
DURKIM: I don't think I understand.
SERVALAN: We are the only force capable of handling the present emergency.
DURKIM: I doubt if even we can do that.
SERVALAN: The President and those members of the Council who are unable to accept the realities of the situation are even now being arrested, as are those of our own people whose loyalties may be divided. At a time like this complete unity is an absolute essential.

Durkim chooses which side he’s on:

DURKIM: May I offer you my personal congratulations, and loyalty, Madame President?

Madam President!

Some great Travis/ Avon banter:

TRAVIS: Put the gun down, Avon, it's too late to stop it now.
AVON: Convince me.
TRAVIS: Be polite and I may let you live.
AVON: Be informative and I may let you die. You'll want that after I've shot off an arm and a leg or two.
TRAVIS: I thought you were supposed to be the one with brains?
AVON: Brains but no heart. Now talk or scream, Travis, the choice is yours.

Some more Avon quipping:

LURENA: What are they?
AVON: Unfriendly. Which is fortunate, really. They'd be difficult to love.

Some moments of triumph for Travis:

TRAVIS: My one regret is that they'll never know who really killed them.
TRAVIS: The Final act…

Death!

BLAKE: Is Travis dead?
[Avon fires and Travis plunges to his death]
AVON: He is now!

Travis finally shoots Blake...

...And then plunges to his own death

Blake’s final act:

AVON: Why didn't you stay in the medical unit? Couldn't you bring yourself to trust me just this once?
BLAKE: I thought I might be able to help.
AVON: In that condition?
BLAKE: All right I'll go back.
AVON: Can you manage, alone?
BLAKE: Yes. Avon, for what it is worth, I have always trusted you, from the very beginning.

For what it's worth... our last shot of Blake

And a cliffhanger:

CALLY: One minute to strike range.
VILA: We can't hold all of them.
JENNA: They can't all come through that gap at once.
[Liberator approaches alien fleet]
AVON: Stand by to fire.
VILA: Avon, this is stupid!
AVON: When did that ever stop us? [pause] FIRE!

Star One is the Federation’s Central Computer. Among its many capabilities it is responsible for security, communication, climate control on over 200 frontier worlds such as Palmero, computer flight control on space ships like the unmanned ore carrier that crashes into the Nova Queen at the start of the episode and also controls the anti-matter mine field around Star One itself. The centre itself was built underground, so the teleport was unable to penetrate the base.

The anti-matter minefield is comprised of satellite generators positioned beyond Star One. They have a dual function, acting as both an alarm system to detect any intruders crossing the field and for defence.

Servalan has a flat screen TV in her office, seemingly made of some sort of black material suspended in a white steel frame.

Laser probes are used as standard technology on Star One. These ones fire a green beam of light.

Blake and co have a stock of magnetic time bombs that have a timer that is programmed to trigger detonation after a given amount of time.

Time bomb!

Blake’s two-tone green top has gained a pair of sleeves for this episode. As it’s so cold down on Star One he wears it with both his brown tops: the peasant top and the roll neck one.

Servalan is of course in white. This episode is a very clinging figure hugging dress with wrap around sleeves and shoulders that leaves the area just beneath her neck exposed. Se wears this with silver, strappy high heels. She is well accessorised with 2 rows of pearls and earrings.

Durkim wears a modest variation of the standard Federation uniform. It is black with a Nehru style collar and has a leather V coming down from the shoulders.

The staff of Star One wear well-padded white uniforms. There is extra padding across the shoulders with an extra big collar around the neck. They all wear black polo neck tops underneath this.

Hoodies always mean trouble!

There’s nothing too outrageous by Blake’s 7’s standards this episode. With this in mind the Andromedan costume probably wins out. Blake’s 7 was never too hot on the alien design front, and this one is just a squidgy mess of green and red. Its quite effective in its one scene on the floor, but it’s difficult to make out what it would be like standing upright, and indeed we only get the one brief glimpse of it.

An unfriendly Andromedan

No one eats or drinks anything in this episode. However, tropical fruit is still popular, as Palmero, the planet, which supplies the Federation’s tropical fruit, has been affected by the failure of Star One.

Although we don’t get to see it, Blake is sent to the surgical unit after being gravely injured.

Vila’s control panel at his station has controls to turn down the lights on the flight deck.

Vila teleports Blake, Avon and Cally down to Star One. Orac is ordered to teleport them back if required and presumably does so later on.

No one loses a teleport bracelet this episode.

Orac’s carrier beam is the fastest means of communication, so Jenna uses it to tell Servalan about the Andromedan fleet, despite Orac’s protests that this is not a good use for his talents.

There’s no time for romance in this episode, but there are hints that at one time Durkim and Lurena were together. Servalan uses this to keep Durkim working to find Star One.

She’s at her devious best here. Only Servalan could use the chaos of major computer failure around the Federation to further her own career and stage a military coup grabbing the presidency. Superb!

Her line "I will not president of a ruined empire" really shows her at her steely best. I think she’s doing what she thinks is best to save the Federation, perhaps even over her desire for personal power.

A rare sight: Servalan worried

The panel from the Marshall’s ship in The Armageddon Factor makes an appearance as one of the panels in the Star One control room.

Of the guest stars, Gareth Armstrong has had a role in Doctor Who, having played Guillano in The Masque of Mandragora in 1976 and David Webbe who played Stot had been Leeson in 1971’s Colony in Space. According to IMDB, the voice of the Nova Queen pilot was Michael Spice, who had voiced Morbius in 1976’s Brain of Morbius and was also Magnus Greel in 1977’s Talons of Weng-Chiang. I’d always assumed that Peter Tuddenham did those voices, so that shows what I know!

Although not technically the TV show John Bown who played Durkim was Antodus in the film Dr Who and the Daleks in 1965.

This one is just about as bleak as they come.

Like The Keeper, Star One was a last minute replacement for a Terry Nation script, which reportedly would have featured the Daleks. Unlike The Keeper, Star One is very good. In fact it’s very probably the best episode of the show.

What makes this episode work so well is the attention paid to the characters, not always the case through the season. They’re all brilliantly characterised. Blake takes the mania that has driven him throughout the season to the logical conclusion, with his stubborn single-mindedness leading him to try not to think too hard about what he’s doing. His discussion with Cally where she questions his motives is fascinating. Blake treads a dangerous line between fighting for something he believes in or putting the lives of millions of innocent people in danger by destroying Star One. That he chooses the latter option to prove in his words "I was right" shows just how far Blake has changed from the very moral character we’d seen in season 1, where his moral certainty was never in question. This shows how dangerous fanaticism of any kind can be. Could the crew really be terrorists? Chris Boucher daringly seems to suggest that perhaps they are. That Blake later does the right thing and sides with the Federation against the Adromedans, however, shows that he can still do the right thing when necessary. These shades of grey in the show’s morality is refreshing and very different to the Blake=Good, Federation=Bad black and white world of Terry Nation’s writing.

The Avon-Blake relationship is also explored, with Avon finally admitting he wants to be free of Blake’s influence. There is real tension and hatred between them at the start of the episode but more interesting is their final conversation. This really does shape Avon’s character for the next two seasons. Blake’s confession that he’s always trusted Avon from the very beginning seems to deeply affect Avon. He doesn’t say anything, but the look on his face says it all.

Sowing the seeds of Avon's madness...

And just when you think it can’t get any better, there’s a tremendously tense cliffhanger, with the Liberator bravely standing alone against the 600 ships in the Andromedan fleet. That this is achieved by some slightly dodgy model work, some great music from Dudley Simpson, some great acting and moody lighting on the Liberator flight deck shows that when the show was at its best it was truly great. Blake’s 7 really doesn’t get much better than this.

The Alien Battle fleet

The Liberator moves into action

The Flight Deck is quiet and dark

The Alien Fleet is in sight

"They can't all come through that gap at once"

"Avon this is stupid!"

Cally is ready!

"When did that ever stop us?"

"FIRE!"