B10 Voice from the Past

EPISODE: B10 Voice from the Past
BROADCAST: 13/03/1979
WRITTEN BY: Roger Parkes
DIRECTOR: George Spenton-Foster
SCRIPT EDITOR: Chris Boucher
PRODUCER: David Maloney
DVD: Blake's 7 - Series 2

"He's used a number of ploys to get his own way, but "Just try trusting me"? That's weak even by his standards"

The Liberator is on course for planet Del10 for rest when Blake hears a noise an sets course for an Asteroid PK118 without telling the rest of the crew why. Cally & Avon discover Blake having a nightmare about his brainwashing. Avon believes Blake has been subject to some form of conditioning and Orac comes up with a rehabilitation therapy. They resume their original course but Blake convinces Villa to reset the course to the Asteroid and seals the others in a room. Cally believes Blake has been controlled by a telepathic trigger. Blake teleports to the Asteroid where he is taken prisoner. The group introduce him to Shivan, a resistance leader who is now a badly wounded bandaged man, and Ven Glynd, the man who sentenced him to Cygnus Alpha who has now defected. Blake agrees to take them to a governor's summit meeting where they have evidence against Servalan's activities including her attempt to swindle Orac and Blake's fixed trial. They need to make contact with Governor Le Grand. Servalan passes Le Grand rumours that Blake and Shivan pose a threat. Servalan transmits a cryptic coded message to someone. Orac confirms to Avon that Blake is still being influenced. Le Grand is bought aboard the Liberator and meets with Shivan and Blake.Avon & Cally interrupt the meeting at gunpoint and reveal the device controlling Blake but Orac removes Orac's key. Shivan remains on the ship, pleading tiredness, while Blake, Le Grand and Glynd teleport to the shuttle with Jenna & Vila to the conference centre on Atlay. The guard left with Shivan is found murdered and Shivan reveals himself to be a disguised Travis. As Le Grand and Glynd enter the conference room they are presented with a message from Servalan revealing she knew of their plot and that they are surrounded. The Federation troops begin killing those present there. Vila and Jenna save Blake and the wounded Glynd as Blake is subjected to another spell of remote conditioning. Avon is forced to teleport Travis to Blake's location, but then breaks Travis control device. Travis kills Glynd but Avon teleports the rest of the crew back to the ship with Blake back in his right mind and once again set on finding Star One.

Arrgh! More space fatigue to start the episode. We get it, the crew are exhausted. From there on it's obvious what's happening the main question is who's controlling Blake and why: the moment a resistance leader shows up swathed in bandages you should start worrying! And sure enough yes it's Travis. The idea of bringing back the judge from Blake's trial, albeit played by a different actor, now defecting and in possession of evidence against Servalan is a very good one. What happened to said evidence though? A bit of a mixed bag from experienced TV writer Roger Parkes on his Blake's 7 debut. He'll be back for two more episode C7 Children of Auron & D6 Headhunter.

Some nice new model work with the shuttle landing shot and it's descent into the silo. And the use of Wembley Conference Centre adds something to the episode but a big section of the location filming is affected by a very visible tramline scratch. Servalan's appearance on the screen is a fabulous moment, but because these sequences are so washed out it looses something.

When Ven Glynd first appeared in the very first episode of Blake's 7, The Way Back, he was played by Robert James (Lesterson in Doctor Who: Power of the Daleks & High Priest in Masque of Mandragora). This time round he's played by Richard Bebb. Martin Read plays Nagu, the Bodyguard and he had a recurring role in several early episode of The Sweeney as DC Jimmy Thorpe. And yes there's Aitch helping the wounded Shivan out of his chair!

I can't let this episode go without pointing you at This YouTube video!

Voice from the Past was released on video on 3rd September 1991 as part of Blake's 7 tape 12 with Gambit and alongside tape 11 which contained Hostage & Countdown. The Blake's 7 season 2 DVD containing this episode was released on 17 January 2005.