User Reviews

Blake acts strangely and convinces Vila that there's a conspiracy against both of them by the rest of the crew . Vila imprisons the crew and Blake imprisons Vila and takes the ship to an atsteroid base where he meets the person responsible for imprisoning him Van Glynd and a rebel leader Shivan

This had the potential to be a classic episode but never quite manages to pull it off . It is enjoyable for the first half as the crew worry about Blake having a mental breakdown and always Michael Keating is fun to watch as the cowardly indecisive Vila who is easily manipulated by Blake but it's definitely an episode of two halves one half good and one half bad

There's several problems with the second half and that's it's difficult to make a convincing asteroid base on a 1970s BBC budget . The exteriors are very obvious CSO and the interiors are a London conference centre which is a shame since the locations have always been a major strength of this series . The second problem is not having the original actor from the opening episode Robert James as Van Glynd which wouldn't be so problematic on transmission and Richard Brebb does the best he can but if you've seen The Wy Back several times you're painfully aware the role has been recast . Thirdly you'll probably be able to work out the true identity of Shivan before it's revealed on screen and it's revealed to be you know who the idea seems laughable and would never work in reality

I don't know if I felt this when I first started watching this series, aged 6 or 7, but at some stage I started to prefer the Avon character to Blake.

As I've grown older I soon became pretty anti-authoritarian, which means I simply can't abide bossy people - those who assume leadership status over me based on nothing. The Blake character epitomises this trait. People - it is sometimes thought - need a leader to motivate and inspire them*, and to get them moving or otherwise they wouldn't achieve anything.

Blake's previous conditioning is exploited to lure him to another rebel group - and he becomes even more insufferable, announcing that "I run this ship"

The female resistance leader is quite good - trying to smile as horribly back at Servelan. It's rather tragic to see her tears when she sees she has been fatally outwitted by her hated adversary, and all her hopes in ruins

For some reason Avon saves Blake again. I wouldn't blame him if he just quietly dumped him at this stage

* I know people who say "you're either an employer or an employee" - I disagree.

Not only is it deathly dull but there is a rather massive plot hole: the Liberator crew accept that "Shivan" is who claims to be at face value without performing any sort of medical examination on him. Orac mentions that his height, weight and gender corresponds with the information that they have on Shivan, really conclusive criteria for verifying someone's identity there, and even suggests obtaining a tissue sample from him but Avon - Avon - dismisses the suggestion. We learn is this episode that two years have passed since "The Way Back". Haven't they learned a thing or two about the Federation's modus operandi in that time?

The "revelation" that Shivan is actually Travis doesn't exactly come as a surprise. Brian Croucher's performance is a bit silly, particularly the hoarse Eastern European-ish accent that he uses for him. The idea of a severely incapacitated leader who is nevertheless a source of inspiration for his people during a war is a belter - it was probably inspired by Baldwin IV, the leper King of Jerusalem who died at the age of 24 - but it's wasted here. Frieda Knorr is rather over the top as Le Grand - "To destiny, my friends!" - and Richard Bebb failed to impress as Ven Glynd. Jenna and Cally were given more to do than in the previous three episodes but what they were given to do wasn't terribly interesting so it's not really much of an improvement.

The premise is not very believable in the first place, but the worst part is that Shivan, with his obviously fake visible "eye" even though the rest of him was completely bandaged, was really Travis who has a patch on the same side. The fact that this is blindingly obvious completely ruins any possible suspense the plot has, which isn't much in the first place. The only reason I watched this episode was because I waited 35 years for it to be visible in the US (aside from a couple VHS I was able to find here and there), and I wanted to say I saw the whole series. When I watch the series again, will I skip this one? Probably. No, make it definitely.