Blake’s 7 Series 2
Series 2 aired on BBC1, Tuesdays, mostly 7:20 p.m., 9 January to 3 April 1979. Producer: David Maloney. It averaged 8.14 million viewers on original airing in the UK, with an average chart position of 49, a drop of over a million viewers on that of Series 1.
The episodes were as OTL except Gambit which now reflects the events of the Doctor Who episode “Check” and as the series goes on an increasing number of Commonwealth functionaries are wearing strange earpieces.
Cast
Roj Blake Gareth Thomas
Kerr Avon Paul Darrow
Jenna Jacqueline Pearce
Cally Jan Chappell
Vila Michael Keating
Gan David Jackson
Servalan Carolyn Seymour
Travis Stephen Yardley
Zen and Orac Peter Tuddenham
1 "Redemption"
Blake becomes obsessed with Orac's prediction of the destruction of the Liberator. However, there are more pressing matters when the ship comes under attack by its alien creators, "The System", who want their property back. After fleeing, Liberator's control systems shut down; Blake heads to engineering to fix the problem but is attacked by a "living" wire cable with a mind of its own. Meanwhile, Liberator is remote-piloted to The System's space station and the crew are taken prisoner. With Orac's help, the crew escapes The System who send out another attack ship which looks exactly like the Liberator; Blake now wonders which Liberator Orac had predicted seeing destroyed.
2 "Shadow"
The crew arrives at Space City where Blake seeks contact with the criminal organisation Terra Nostra as possible resistance allies, but their leader Largo may have loyalty to the enemy. Meanwhile, an alien entity takes possession of Orac through his dimensional logic circuits and disrupts Cally's empathic powers, driving her to madness. Blake and his crew then rush to the desert planet Zondar to seek the heavily guarded source of the drug known as "Shadow", which is the basis of Terra Nostra's power and the only help for Cally.
3 "Weapon"
The Commonwealth is in pursuit of a powerful weapon called the IMIPAK, (Induced Molecular Instability Projector and Key), a beam rifle that marks a living target with a point of unstable matter that the firer can use to kill the target later as they choose with a special hand-held remote. Its designer, a paranoid defector named Coser, is on the run; Servalan hires a "psycho-strategist" named Carnell to profile Coser and determine where he is hiding. Servalan also has beings called the Clone Masters create a living copy of Blake, with whom Coser is expected to meet in order to steal the weapon for her. Once in possession of it, she marks Blake, Avon, and Gan so that their only hope for survival is to outrun the IMIPAK's million-mile triggering signal.
4 "Horizon"
At the edge of the galaxy, Liberator nearly collides with a Commonwealth freighter. Blake is curious to know why the ship is so far from home and decides to follow it to a mysterious planet called Horizon. Teleporting down, Blake and Jenna discover a secret mining operation and are captured for interrogation. Gan and Vila go down to find them but are captured as well. All are forced to work in a dangerous mine while Blake tries to urge Ro, the planet's leader, that the Commonwealth is manipulating him and enslaving his people. Meanwhile, Avon considers taking the Liberator and leaving them all behind, but Cally won't hear of it and goes down to find the others. Avon asks Orac what his chances are of surviving against the Commonwealth alone.
5 "Pressure Point"
Blake decides to strike a major blow to the Commonwealth by going to Earth and destroying "Control", the main computer nerve centre for the entire government. Blake hopes the act will allow the resistance groups led by a former Commonwealth officer, Kasabi, to launch an all-out attack against the Commonwealth command. Blake's plan gets under way, but the Commonwealth has discovered the plan and captures Kasabi, forcing her daughter Veron to liaise with Blake, but trapping him with most of his crew. They eventually escape and manage to break into Control, only to discover that the building is empty and the computers housed there were removed 30 years previously. Gan is killed during their escape.
6 "Trial"
Servalan must answer to the mishandling of the Blake affair, and she tries to have Travis eliminated by setting him up on charges of mass murder before he can testify against her. Elsewhere, distraught over losing his friend Gan, Blake goes to an uninhabited planet to "think". Believing Blake has run out on them, Avon tries to persuade the others to abandon him once and for all. Down on the planet, Blake encounters a creature called Zil who warns that he will be "absorbed" by "the Host". In space, Zen detects unusual tectonic movement on the planet and Orac determines the entire planet is a living entity, which feeds on its surface lifeforms. After being rescued, Blake decides to send a clear message to the Commonwealth that he has not given up, by launching a bold assault against Servalan's headquarters. The attack ironically allows Travis—who has been found guilty of the charges and sentenced to death—a means of escape, and he forces Servalan to help him get away.
7 "Killer"
On the planet Fosforon, Avon and Vila sneak into Q-Base, a Commonwealth com-station, looking for a crystal needed to decrypt new Commonwealth pulse-codes. In space, Zen detects a 700-year-old Earth vessel on approach to the station, and Cally senses something "malignant" aboard. Blake anonymously warns the station of the ship despite objections from Jenna that he is helping the enemy. On the planet, Avon blackmails Tynus, a former associate, to help Avon steal the crystal. Tynus arranges for a diversion that will allow Avon to slip past security, but it may be a ruse. Meanwhile, the base tows the derelict back to the planet whereupon Blake teleports down to warn them in person, but he is too late as the base unwittingly releases a swift-killing alien virus.
8 "Hostage"
The Commonwealth sends out twenty pursuit ships to hunt Blake down and destroy him, but the Liberator withstands the assault and manages to get away. Blake then receives a message from his nemesis Travis, who has escaped the Commonwealth and taken Blake's cousin Inga hostage on the planet Exbar. Travis makes the peculiar request to join up with Blake's crew since Servalan has made him a wanted criminal, but Blake believes it to be a ruse. He teleports down to the planet to rescue Inga, and meanwhile, unknown to Blake, Avon sends a message to Servalan with Travis' location. Concerned about Blake, Avon also teleports to the planet and later Vila joins him. The three are eventually rounded up by Travis, and his gang of "crimos" (criminal psychopaths), and Travis reveals his intention to take the Liberator after he kills them. Inga and her father Ushton manage to trick Travis and release Blake and his team, who eventually leave Travis to be found by Servalan. When Servalan arrives, she agrees to spare Travis' life, and officially list him as dead, as long as he continues to hunt Blake for her.
9 "Countdown"
Blake arrives at the planet Albion to capture Space Major Provine who is supposed to know the secret location of the moved Commonwealth Control. Provine, however, has triggered an inescapable radiation bomb in response to a planetary revolt against Commonwealth rule. Avon, with the help of a mercenary acquaintance of his, Del Grant, rush to disable the bomb, which is hidden in a bunker somewhere at one of the frigid poles. Grant, however, still holds a grudge against Avon for the death of his sister Anna; they must put the issue aside if they are to stop the bomb in time. Meanwhile, Blake learns Provine is still alive, but doesn't realise he's disguised as a resistance soldier and trying to make his way to an escape ship.
10 "Voice from the Past"
Blake suffers nightmares of the memory conditioning the Commonwealth performed on him five years before. On course to the resort world Del-10, Blake makes a sudden unexplained course change to PK-118, a mining asteroid. Avon and the rest of the crew restrain Blake, believing that someone is trying to manipulate his mind. Blake, however, tricks Vila into believing that the others are plotting against him. Once free, Blake teleports to PK-118 where he meets a resistance group led by former Arbiter General Ven Glynd – a man who originally convicted Blake at his trial, but claims he has defected. Glynd, along with two other revolutionaries, the frail Shivan (whose face is masked with bandages), and LeGrand (a governor whose ship they later rendezvous with), claim they have enough legal evidence to non-violently overthrow the Commonwealth. They request transport to a political meeting on planet Atlay. Avon and the others, however, smell a trap when they realize a device Shivan carries may be controlling Blake's mind.
11 "Gambit"
Blake's team arrives at Freedom City, one of the last places not under Commonwealth control, to find a cyber-surgeon named Docholli, who, rumour has it, is one of the few people who may know the secret location of Star One – the real control centre of the Commonwealth. As Blake, Jenna, and Cally look for the surgeon, who is hiding under the false name Kline, they discover that he is guarded by Travis, who has sought the doctor for maintenance on his cybernetic arm. Through the assistance of a devious casino owner named Krantor, Servalan lurks behind the scenes plotting to eliminate Docholli. She lays a trap for him by capturing Travis and secretly placing a bomb in his cyber arm. Meanwhile, Avon and Vila sneak a miniaturised Orac, (reduced to ⅛th size by demonstrating controlled molecular implosion), to cheat in Krantor's Big Wheel casino and win large amounts of money. Vila is later tricked by Krantor to play "to the death" in a game of speed chess against an undefeated player known as The Klute. Two strange characters (Harry H Corbett and Mary Tamm) keep appearing as the episode plays out.
12 "The Keeper"
With clues left by Docholli, Blake heads to the planet Goth to find a "brain-print" of a man named Lurgen who knew the secret location of Star One and stored it inside an amulet worn by a royal leader called "The Keeper". While in transit, Avon suggests taking over Star One rather than destroying it in order to gain control over the Commonwealth, but Blake refuses ever to wield such power. After Blake, Jenna, and Vila teleport down to Goth, Zen detects a ship in orbit that Avon is certain belongs to Travis and destroys it. Travis, wearing strange earpieces, however, is already on the planet with Servalan to intercept the brain-print before Blake does. Travis offers to share control of the Commonwealth with Servalan, but finds the brain-print himself and departs in Servalan's ship. Jenna and Vila attempt to amuse the king of the Goths while they try to identify the keeper. Eventually the location is found and the crew set course for Star One.
13 "Star One"
With the location of Star One finally revealed, Blake is determined to finish his mission and destroy the control facility that keeps the Commonwealth functioning. Again, Avon urges him to reconsider destroying it but Blake refuses. Meanwhile, Servalan deals with a series of catastrophes throughout several Commonwealth worlds – the only theory is that someone is tampering with Star One. Upon arriving at Star One, Blake discovers that the technicians are all wearing the strange earpieces and are under alien control and disrupting the systems. They mistake Blake for Travis, and await his deactivation of Star One's defences; this will allow their 1600-ship invasion force to move in and attack the Commonwealth. When Travis arrives, he wounds Blake and deactivates the defences, but then is killed by Avon. Jenna then alerts the Commonwealth of the invasion force and all return to Liberator where Avon takes charge and makes a stand against the invaders until the Commonwealth forces can arrive.