Season 3: let the campness commence!
Avon stars and Dayna is introduced, and there’s a ‘have your cake and eat it’ moment when Avon acknowledges the unlikeliness of Servalan turning up. The cliffhanger with Tarrant is pretty good too.
Sun 13 Jul: 28. Powerplay
Is Tarrant ever as good as this again? The plot introducing him is great, with bad guy played by Michael Sheard.
The other plot with Vila, Cally and Servalan is a waste of time though, sadly.
This is Big Gay Longcat’s favourite episode.
Sun 20 Jul: 29. Volcano
Not a very good episode - though the scene where Avon slips instructions to Zen into his speech to the bad guy is pretty well done, even if it’s followed by a pretty poor fight sequence in which Avon should probably have been killed - not good choreography/direction, IMO.
Sun 27 Jul: 30. Dawn of the Gods
The first 25 minutes are great, with the mystery of the Black Hole. But once the guy with the Top Hat appears, it gets silly and much less good. It also seems to me that this was written for Blake, and Tarrant has simply been copy-pasted over Blake to replace him, as the character is far more like Blake than Tarrant.
An uneven episode rather than a truly bad one.
Sun 3 Aug: 31. Harvest of Kairos
Probably the worst episode of B7, it has few redeeming features - some quite nice lines, but those aren’t enough to save it from being awful. It’s the only episode with effects so bad they break my suspension of disbelief - the giant ant-creature.
Sun 10 Aug: 32. City at the Edge of the World
What a great episode. This is really enjoyable, with Vila stealing the show.
Fri 15 Aug: 33. Children of Auron
I’m not fond of this one. The plot’s a bit too stupid and the characters act too stupidly.
Sun 24 Aug: 34. Rumours of Death
A great episode that fits the story well into its run-time.
A key episode in the character development of Avon, he is basically destroyed by the events and I suppose begins the descent that leads inevitably towards the end of the series. It doesn’t stop him being a magnificent bastard along the way.
Tarrant’s also pretty good in this one. He doesn’t do much, but the scene where he impersonates a Federation officer is effective, as is his loyalty to Avon.
Sun 31 Aug: 35. Sarcophagus
Another brilliant episode, one of my favourites. I think this one would stand well as a sci-fi story on its own, but is really helped by the characters we know from the series. Tarrant, Avon and Cally are all really good here. Avon’s line: “Then make me die; it’s the only thing you can make me do,” is a fantastic line of defiance, up there with The Prisoner’s “I’ll kill you!” “I’ll die.”
I love this episode.
Sun 7 Sep: 36. Ultraworld
“Has the bonding ceremony begun?”
In a word: shit. A waste of time with Tarrant and Dayna forced to ‘bond’ (i.e. kiss) and Vila saves the day with crappy riddles.
Admittedly the riddle scenes are quite amusing - but due to the way Vila and Orac play them, not at all due to the riddles themselves. That’s deliberate, I’m sure, but it can’t save this episode from being one of the poorest of season 3.
Sun 14 Sep: 37. Moloch
A big improvement on Ultraworld, but still only an averagely-good episode. Best bit is easily Avon’s ultra-cool line: “Yes, that is how I reasoned you would look.”
Sat 20 Sep: 38. Death Watch
One of my favourite episodes, I think - a cleverly constructed plot, and an effective realisation. The duels are done well, and all the actors are pretty good, especially Vinni, even with few lines.
Sun 28 Sep: 39. Terminal
One of the darkest episodes of Blakes 7, lightened only by Avon’s ironic (?) smile at the end - Blake is dead (supposedly), the Liberator is destroyed (and it’s Avon’s fault), they’re trapped on a planet, and man’s future is a savage ape. This last is pure Terry Nation, and is a stupid, stupid part of an otherwise utterly superb episode.
It makes sense if you think it was originally meant to be the last ever B7 episode (though even then Servalan doesn’t die on-screen, so she could come back). I almost wish it had been.
It makes sense if you think it was originally meant to be the last ever B7 episode (though even then Servalan doesn’t die on-screen, so she could come back). I almost wish it had been.
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