This is a continuation of "not what happened, exactly, but more what grabbed my interest" style of episode reviews I started last week with TWB.

Space Fall (why do I think of Mark E. Smith every time I see this title :-), I can almost hear him droning the words now!)

Gan is the next crewmember we see, standing in profile in front of Blake and Jenna (so we just know he will be involved somehow ;-)).

Once again we are told of the societal decay (prevelant in late 70's UK) by the captain of the London when he says in a very resigned way "nobody bothers anymore.". This attitude was also shown by the computer technician in TWB who is quite happy to be listening to music instead of working. These are simply reflections of the times B7 was made where the commonly held view was that indolence was at its height (with respect to "working") and management was completely incompetent (not able to see what was going on or providing any encouragement to reduce these attitudes).

Finally we get to see Avon for the first time. Interestingly, Vila already knows Avon (or at least knows about him). But we never get another hint of backstory for these two. Vila certainly becomes Avons only friend (even before Blake leaves, they are good pals who do naughty things to gether like secretly going out gambling), and visa-versa (well . until a certain episode in season 4 .).

Jenna shows her "space captain" background. She knows that the company (actually, its the civil administration - maybe the prison ships owners are on contract to the CA and the contract allows the ship to use CA authority?) is on a fixed price contract to run the prison ship. There is speculation that their bodies could just be dumped in space and the company just pockets the cash. So there must be some sort of system of checks and balances here - i.e. the federation does not like to get ripped off - it wants the services it has paid for, otherwise this is exactly what they would do. The "prisons for profit" idea turned out to be a good prophesy for 20 years into the future though (by this I mean 2001, not 20 years into the B7 future)! Another good bit for Jenna is that she can tell that the drives for the ship need repair (too bad that in later episodes she looses all this knowledge about space flight :-().

The criminals on this ship are all pasty faced middle aged guys none of whom look like a menace to society! But it could all be the suppressant drugs. Maybe this is a ship full of guys who pulled banking scams or insurance fraudsters. And on the subject of money, what is a credit worth? Raiker says the Liberator is worth millions. Avon's 5 million fraud is supposed to be unbelieveable wealth. Based on these two facts I think a credit must be worth about a million pounds (or dollars). But this contradicts later episodes (a ten credit ouch becomes very expensive). Probably there were currency devaluations ???

Time zooms by in this episode because Blake tells Avon he has had four months to think about his plan to fake the running log (did they avoid the food and water for four months to not be drugged? This doesn't make sense to me). The timeline in this episode is hard to follow - but I take this to imply that the London is near the end of its flight at this time (which means something is wrong later in the episode!).

During the "space battle" scenes we find out that quite sensibly that the London has seat belts. This is a step up from the Liberator (unless those round things on the Liberator seats are to suck the occupant in) and most other fictional space ships. Other nice "spacey" touches are teh requirement to get clearance to fly (just like in a real airplane) and the reference to "spacemet" who track space conditions, like meteorite showers. And Jenna says hyperdrive running is expensive. There aren't that many SF shows where space ships that cost money to run, just like IRL. Plus the sealing gel is a great idea.

We are made to "dislike" Ryker as the captain of the London glares at him when he panics about the scanners. Of course Ryker must be a weak and scared bully. And the captain wishes he could get better staff - like Arix, who is studying so he can get a better job!

Then lots of action as the ship is taken over. But why are the crew so lax about safety when the show is being bashed by shockwaves, they are sahring conjouring tricks with Vila. A good bit is Gan saying "we only need the hand". Vila drops the gun - what a nervous Nellie - but why entrust him with the gun in the first place - this is simply bad management. The scenes between Blake and Avon in the computer control room really sizzle. I love the "What a fiasco.." from Avon.

There is more of the "other side" of federation life in this episode with the scenes between the crew members of the London. Even though he works for a private company in the employ of the federation the captain is shown to be a "good" man. He says he wants no unnecessary violence, saves Jenna from molestation, remains calm during the space battle scenes and the rebellion, he isn't stupid, he doesn't like Raiker, he is not prepared to allow Raiker to get away with the "you said I could" defence, etc., etc. (I bet he is a good shot too, we don't get to find out. Better yet - a great cook). Too bad he didn't join the crew to help prevent their many failures. They should have brought him back instead of Tarrant. He certainly showed the potential to turn against the federation.

Without Raiker sending them across they would never have got the Liberator - it was his idea to use them. A bit lucky, eh? Also - I would never have sent the pilot Jenna over to the other ship. The Liberators "mind probe" self defense is a bit silly (how is it supposed to work - will it scan a mind and find out if it is from the system? But why is this security system stopped by Blake shooting it - isn't that rather obvious), but it gives us more insight to the mind tampering in Blake's head. He knows the detected memories are false. The administrations mind tampering is what allows him t o fight the mind control. In effect the federation created their own problem in Blake & the Liberator.

- Iain W.

P.S. Polish those tennis shoes, true belivers, its Cygnus Alpha next.