johnnybear
Member: Rank 6
Well in their first encounter upon Sinofar's planet, Travis easily defeats Blake and utters the immortal line of "Come on, Blake, you don't want to die on your back!"
JB
JB
Review BLAKE'S 7: DUEL - Episode 08
- Thread starter Doctor Omega
- Start date
That's because Giroc blinded Blake with psychedelic lights. She revelled in death unlike Sinofar who seemed to represent peace and diplomacy and realised Blake passed the test by stating he would have enjoyed killing Travis and therefore refrained from doing so. Travis just can't see this, his life is service to The Federation , he is actually a sad individual as is demonstrated by his actions at the end of series 2, but no more on that now.
johnnybear
Member: Rank 6
But Brian Croucher's portrayal was more amusing than the brutal take on the character by Stephen Grieff! They should have postponed work on the second series just to get him back!!!
JB
JB
This was one of the episodes I came into with prior memory of seeing. It's probably stuck in my brain because it's also one of the episodes that I've got the novelisation of.
It's a bit of a cliched plot. Enemies forced to fight in single combat representing their people. Star Trek did it in Arena and it had been done even prior to that. So the episode immediately loses something due to its lack of originality. Even the ending with Blake sparing was predictable. However it was well acted and the performances by Gareth Thomas and Stephen Greif were excellent. It was also good to get some focus on individual characters, although that came at the cost of most of the rest of the cast just sitting around with nothing to do. I was a little disappointed in Jenna's characterisation. In the initial episodes she came across as a fairly strong, self-reliant character. In this she's reduced to damsel in distress, only managing at the end to fight off the Mutoid who was running low on energy. She was captured way to easily for someone as intelligent as she is supposed to be. It was also disappointing that Blake and Travis were again portrayed as clichés of good and evil. @Mad-Pac suggested early on that it would be interesting to see the Federation vs Blake as a bit more of a grey vs grey conflict rather than the black and white it's turning out to be (although we can only see the Federation through Travis so that might be a bit unfair). Nevertheless it was interesting seeing him chat with the Mutoid about her past and I found myself wishing they'd written it as him having known her before her conversion, making the "losing a loved one" a bit more relevant to him. And it would have developed his character from just the one dimensional Blake hater he seems to be. It also might have been nice to see Blake really push the boundaries of the "good guy" he seems to be, making his enmity with Travis more two sided.
Overall it was an enjoyable episode to watch, but lacking enough originality or character development to really make it outstanding. I'll give it 7 out of 10.
It's a bit of a cliched plot. Enemies forced to fight in single combat representing their people. Star Trek did it in Arena and it had been done even prior to that. So the episode immediately loses something due to its lack of originality. Even the ending with Blake sparing was predictable. However it was well acted and the performances by Gareth Thomas and Stephen Greif were excellent. It was also good to get some focus on individual characters, although that came at the cost of most of the rest of the cast just sitting around with nothing to do. I was a little disappointed in Jenna's characterisation. In the initial episodes she came across as a fairly strong, self-reliant character. In this she's reduced to damsel in distress, only managing at the end to fight off the Mutoid who was running low on energy. She was captured way to easily for someone as intelligent as she is supposed to be. It was also disappointing that Blake and Travis were again portrayed as clichés of good and evil. @Mad-Pac suggested early on that it would be interesting to see the Federation vs Blake as a bit more of a grey vs grey conflict rather than the black and white it's turning out to be (although we can only see the Federation through Travis so that might be a bit unfair). Nevertheless it was interesting seeing him chat with the Mutoid about her past and I found myself wishing they'd written it as him having known her before her conversion, making the "losing a loved one" a bit more relevant to him. And it would have developed his character from just the one dimensional Blake hater he seems to be. It also might have been nice to see Blake really push the boundaries of the "good guy" he seems to be, making his enmity with Travis more two sided.
Overall it was an enjoyable episode to watch, but lacking enough originality or character development to really make it outstanding. I'll give it 7 out of 10.
johnnybear
Member: Rank 6
I thought Grief played Travis in this episode as a character devoted to his duty and the Federation but with some kind of conscience while Croucher's performance in the second series was much more cartoonish! You can understand Grief's hatred of Blake causing him his facial and limb injuries in their previous encounter and when Travis nearly kills Blake earlier on in the episode it's too close for comfort!
Star Trek did a wonderful version of the story with Arena and then later on with other similar styled episodes but it was The Outer limits that did it first with Fun and Games which starred Nick Adams and Nancy Malone as two humans transported to a jungle planet where they must fight two alien inhabitants of the planet Calco or earth will be destroyed! The male creature kills his own mate so that he will not be hampered by her slower speed and weaker form! This story was also based on Fredric Brown's original story!
JB
Star Trek did a wonderful version of the story with Arena and then later on with other similar styled episodes but it was The Outer limits that did it first with Fun and Games which starred Nick Adams and Nancy Malone as two humans transported to a jungle planet where they must fight two alien inhabitants of the planet Calco or earth will be destroyed! The male creature kills his own mate so that he will not be hampered by her slower speed and weaker form! This story was also based on Fredric Brown's original story!
JB
ant-mac
Member: Rank 9
Space Commander Travis and the three Federation pursuit ships under his command have doggedly chased the Liberator across the galaxy - and it seems, out of it - to an uncharted planet. As a result of this, the Liberator has four exhausted energy banks and enters orbit around the mysterious planet to give the energy banks the time they need to fully recharge. Blake, Jenna and Gan take the opportunity to teleport down to the surface of the planet to investigate the ruins of an ancient civilisation, but they quickly return to the Liberator when they see the three pursuit ships closing in to attack it.
With the power reserves of the energy banks of the Liberator at critically low levels, Blake decides against trying to run and chooses instead to stand and fight the three pursuit ships. Just as Blake prepares to ram Travis’ space vehicle with the Liberator, two aliens on the planet below - two women named Sinofar and Giroc - extract them both from their space vessels - and place the Liberator and the three pursuit ships in a stasis field.
In order that they might better understand the nature of aggression and its consequences, the aliens arrange for a battle to take place between Travis and Blake, with only basic hand tools and weapons allowed. Blake is given Jenna to assist him and Travis is given a Mutoid crewmember. Blake wins the battle, but he refuses to kill Travis, because he knows that as long as Travis is alive he will be the one chasing him and he knows he can defeat Travis. The aliens return Blake and Jenna to the Liberator and allow it to leave. Later, they return Travis and the Mutoid back to his pursuit ship, where he muses that Blake made a fatal mistake in not killing him…
Whilst the guest cast of Isla Blair, Patsy Smart and Carol Royle all have their moments - as do the regular cast - this is primarily the story of Blake versus Travis. And whilst it does superficially resemble the STAR TREK episode ARENA, it ventures much deeper into the psychological makeup and motivations of the two primary protagonists. It also gives them both a companion to cooperate with and care for - although this second part only seems to apply to Blake.
One thing I would have liked explained in more detail was the actual location of the planet on which the main part of the story takes place. Travis makes a passing remark referring to the fact that they - along with other patrols - have chased Blake into this galaxy. Which galaxy? A small satellite galaxy that orbits the main Milky Way Galaxy? I would have liked more details please.
And finally, whilst the actual battle ground where Blake and Travis conducted their "duel" looked rather like a generic English woodland, at least the stone circle where Sinofar and Giroc were located looked suitably alien and eerie... Complete with apparently nippy weather.
5/5.
With the power reserves of the energy banks of the Liberator at critically low levels, Blake decides against trying to run and chooses instead to stand and fight the three pursuit ships. Just as Blake prepares to ram Travis’ space vehicle with the Liberator, two aliens on the planet below - two women named Sinofar and Giroc - extract them both from their space vessels - and place the Liberator and the three pursuit ships in a stasis field.
In order that they might better understand the nature of aggression and its consequences, the aliens arrange for a battle to take place between Travis and Blake, with only basic hand tools and weapons allowed. Blake is given Jenna to assist him and Travis is given a Mutoid crewmember. Blake wins the battle, but he refuses to kill Travis, because he knows that as long as Travis is alive he will be the one chasing him and he knows he can defeat Travis. The aliens return Blake and Jenna to the Liberator and allow it to leave. Later, they return Travis and the Mutoid back to his pursuit ship, where he muses that Blake made a fatal mistake in not killing him…
Whilst the guest cast of Isla Blair, Patsy Smart and Carol Royle all have their moments - as do the regular cast - this is primarily the story of Blake versus Travis. And whilst it does superficially resemble the STAR TREK episode ARENA, it ventures much deeper into the psychological makeup and motivations of the two primary protagonists. It also gives them both a companion to cooperate with and care for - although this second part only seems to apply to Blake.
One thing I would have liked explained in more detail was the actual location of the planet on which the main part of the story takes place. Travis makes a passing remark referring to the fact that they - along with other patrols - have chased Blake into this galaxy. Which galaxy? A small satellite galaxy that orbits the main Milky Way Galaxy? I would have liked more details please.
And finally, whilst the actual battle ground where Blake and Travis conducted their "duel" looked rather like a generic English woodland, at least the stone circle where Sinofar and Giroc were located looked suitably alien and eerie... Complete with apparently nippy weather.
5/5.
johnnybear
Member: Rank 6
The comments made by Travis at the beginning of the episode must obviously be a mistake especially once you see the finale to the second series, Star One! In that episode it is revealed just as it is in Star Trek TOS that the Federation occupies a small area of the Milky Way and the nearest galaxy to ours is the Andromeda galaxy which in both shows contains a hostile enemy force intent on invading our space! In the episode Horizon a planet close to the edge of the galaxy is mining an ore so that the Federation can send men into new galaxies So what Travis actually means to say is this space rather than galaxy! If there had been no second series then you could say that the Federation has conquered not only the Milky Way but Andromeda and maybe many other galaxies as well!
JB
JB
johnnybear
Member: Rank 6
Strange isn't it how Julian Glover and his wife Isla Blair seem to turn up in television shows a few episodes apart or even in together? They appeared together in an episode of Dixon of Dock Green in 1975 but they were both in Space 1999s first series and Blakes 7 as well! Isla in Duel and Glover in Breakdown! Maybe they don't like to be too far from each other?
JB
JB
ant-mac
Member: Rank 9
Yeah, I know all of that, but I like to try and fit what actually is said or appears on screen into the on-going in-universe canon.
I used to do that same for DOCTOR WHO, back when I was a fan.
It seems to have been a common issue among BBC sci-fi writers in that era. I don't think they were completely clear on the differences between galaxies, constellations, and solar systems. Remember in The Daleks Master Plan when the Daleks created an alliance of multiple galaxies to take on one single solar system?
ant-mac
Member: Rank 9
Well, as far as solar systems go, we do have a pretty overinflated opinion of ourselves.
The Daleks probably ran into a Human expedition at the pub on a Saturday night and afterwards thought: "Shit! We're going to need backup!"
ant-mac
Member: Rank 9
There are a few other couples like that.
Or at least there were...
Martin Landau and Barbara Bain, as well as James Bolam and Susan Jameson.
Well it's a pretty ordinary human that can't drink a dalek under the table.
johnnybear
Member: Rank 6
Extermilate..Extermilate..hic!
JB
JB