The Liberator comes across a damaged Galaxy Class space cruiser called the Ortega, which is flying around in uncontrolled circles in space. It is an old type of spacecraft, which has been out of production for at least fifty years. Blake, Jenna and Avon teleport across to it and find that one of its crewmembers has been murdered, while the rest of its crew has been rendered unconscious and its flight control systems have been deliberately disabled.
When the rest of the crew awaken, their leader Doctor Kendall explains that they have been sent out from the planet Destiny to obtain and deliver an extremely valuable energy source called a neutrotope back to their home world. Once they do this, they hope to halt a fungal contamination in their colony’s food supply. Blake decides to deliver the neutrotope to Destiny himself in the Liberator, while Avon and Cally remain behind to help repair the Ortega and identify who is behind the murder of the crewmember and the sabotage of the spaceship. However, when he later realizes the neutrotope container is empty, Blake turns the Liberator around and returns to the Ortega.
With the only clue being the number 54124, which was written out in the blood of the murder victim, no one has any idea who the killer is. Eventually, Avon realizes that the number is actually meant to be a word. That word is the name Sara and he identifies her as the murderer. All of the surviving occupants of the Ortega are given teleport bracelets to take them across to the Liberator, but just before they teleport, Sara removes her teleport bracelet and is left behind on the Ortega. She waits for her partners-in-crime to arrive, but Blake has rigged an explosive charge on the entry hatch of the Ortega and they are all killed in the resulting explosion.
As with THE WEB, MISSION TO DESTINY is a highly enjoyable episode, which proves that BLAKE’S 7 has more than just one string to its bow. It’s an engaging little murder mystery that makes for an entertaining departure from the main narrative of the TV series. The regular cast are in fine form as usual and the guest cast also do well in this whodunit in space. On a personal note, I am also quite pleased to see that BLAKE’S 7 introduced us to the concept of Galaxy Class space vessels nearly a decade ahead of STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION!
4/5.
