behind the scenes

Nov

2018

Episode 45: Metallic But Flexible (Headhunter)

You ever notice that all metal is flexible? No? Just me?

This week we get a much much better episode of Blake’s 7 than last week. Which is honestly a huge relief. Was really expecting us to be in the dumps for the next five weeks. But good old Roger Parkes is here to save us. It’s Headhunter, written by Roger Parkes and aired on November 2, 1981.

Show-notes:

3:40 It looks like the latest info estimates a 1.3:1 ratio of bacteria to human cells in the human body.
5:39 Here’s the full Pointless Celebrities episode featuring Paul Darrow and Michael Keating. It also has some other no-name actors from small-time franchises that nobody’s heard of like Star Wars, Harry Potter, and Doctor Who.
7:38 It was @chrisridd. Thanks @chrisridd.
8:44 Foundation is a book series by Isaac Asimov. Books are lame though, so I haven’t read it.
22:43The Rocketeer
28:36 Making Blake’s 7 is the best account on twitter.
54:37 Space Fall is another Blake’s 7 podcast done by fans who are a lot more knowledgeable than we are.
58:52 Janet Fielding and Sarah Sutton

Blake’s 7 © The BBC
Any other references belong to their respective owners, no copyright infringement is intended by this podcast.
The Blake’s 7 title music was originally composed by Dudley Simpson.

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Oct

2018

Episode 44: Showing People This Episode is Against the Geneva Conventions (Animals)

But do it anyway.

Hold on to your butts, this is about to get weird. Everyone else seems to hate Animals. Then again, everyone else seems to love Orac. That’s not to say we loved Animals. No far from it. Just. Well just listen for yourself. It’s Animals, written by Allan Prior and aired on October 26, 1981.

Show-notes:

19:54 Creme de menthe recipe.
24:14 Here’s a picture of the Raza from Dark Matter.
29:35 Kevin Stoney was in tons of other stuff. Here’s the full list according to imdb.
38:23 Bla bla bla, Doctor Who podcast, bla bla bla
47:16 Ultraforce is currently owned by Marvel. Ultraforce movie when.
1:06:16 Argy, who discussed Sarcophagus with us, was on our Doctor Who podcast Trust Your Doctor to discuss The Doctor’s Wife.

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Oct

2018

Episode 43: Black Hair Holder (Stardrive)

It’s called a headband. Oops.

This week we move away from a podcast over to our new venture! We’re proud to announce that we’re going to be starting our very own biker gang. The Decorative Vegetable Biker Gang will be staring operation in the next week in the downtown Antarctica. It’s Stardrive, written by Jim Follett and aired on October 19, 1981.

Show-notes:

12:00 This is the millionth time I have linked to this chart, and I have become exceedingly efficient at it.
29:20 The Superconducting Super Collider was America’s answer to the Large Hadron Collider. XXL sized for American sensibilities.
30:58 More about Nasa’s research into an engine similar to Plaxton’s.
43:01 Dark Matter is a tv show that draws a lot from Blake’s 7.
50:18 Barbara Shelley played Sorasta in Planet of Fire.
56:56 Babylon 5 is another show that draws a lot from Blake’s 7.
59:45 It is.

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Oct

2018

Episode 42: Bleak’s 7 (Traitor)

It’s even bleak visually, it’s all brown.

One of the two of us is a dirty, dirty traitor who sold out the podcast. Can you guess which one of us two it is? It’s probably pretty obvious but you know, why not try and guess anyway? It’s Traitor, written by Robert Holmes and aired on October 12, 1981.

Show-notes:

7:01 Killer was the one with the virus, not the one with IMIPAK. Still a great episode.
10:24 Check out Trust Your Doctor, our Doctor Who podcast. We’ve been watching Doctor Who in order from the beginning for almost 5 years now.
18:44 I just chucked Chuck onto the list of shows I’m going to watch someday.
47:02 According to the 5 seconds I just spent on Google, “south” in Afrikaans can be either “zuid” or “suid.”
49:59 I’m glad the Crush, Texas incident took place in the 1800s. Makes it more funny for some reason.

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Oct

2018

Episode 41: Healthy and Holistic (Power)

Blake’s 7 is an integral part of a healthy diet!

This week we run through another Ben Steed story. Which means that we’re gonna deal with a lot of sexism and misogyny. And since he actually wrote two good stories before this that means someone somewhere said “maybe we should just let him do whatever the hell he wants” and so we got this. Power. Written by Ben Steed and aired on October 5, 1981.

Show-notes:

9:54 I don’t see the resemblance.
52:01 Follow Sanden_Jurgen on Twitter.
55:10 The episode is A Taste of Armageddon.

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Oct

2018

The Predator

By which I mean, the Predator franchise killer is this movie.

I think it’s about time to give up on the Predator franchise. If The Predator shows the direction of the franchise, then we should really just. Pack it in. I’m not really exaggerating here. Go and watch it if you don’t believe me. No really. Go. Then come back and listen to us talk about The Predator, directed by Shane Black and released on September 14, 2018.

Show-notes:

2:24 The Nice Guys was the last movie that Shane Black directed and is probably at least five times better than The Predator.
3:13 Fred Decker’s filmography includes some “cult hit” horror movies from the 80s, like The Monster Squad.
5:33 I’ve seen stranger things than Stranger Things.
6:37 I’ve seen things more expansive than The Expanse.
6:42 Our other podcasts, Trust Your Doctor and Zenith, have been recognized for being the two greatest podcasts of all time.
7:26 I’ve seen things chuckier than Chuck.
7:46 And The Book of Henry wasn’t book-y or henry-y enough. Come on, Colin.
10:48 Here are trailers for Aquaman, Shazam (starring Zachary Levi), Venom, Serenity (not Plymouth, dunno why I thought it was called that), Overlord, and Alita.
15:13 Props to Henry Jackman for making a good soundtrack for this shitty movie.
20:31 I’ve been meaning to watch Arrival for 2 years.

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Oct

2018

Episode 40: Throttled by Colin Baker Ft. Making Blake’s 7 (Rescue)

They’re not good people apparently but I’m a bit concerned actually.

The final season of Blake’s 7 beings, and so too begins the final 13 episodes of Zenith. Bit of a sad thought that, but on the bright side we get joined yet again by Jon, of Making Blakes 7. What better way to start off our farewell tour so to speak? It’s Rescue, written by Chris Boucher and aired on September 28, 1981.

Oh yeah, by the way, Jon sings at about 1:45:00 ish. Just wanted you to make sure you hang on until then. 🙂

Show-notes:

2:11 Jon runs the amazing Making Blake’s 7 twitter account, detailing the production of Blake’s 7 in real time +40 years. And the good news is he’s decided to continue posting for the time being.
6:41 It’s ok that Jon hasn’t seen any of the K9 tv show considering how horrendous they made K9 look. (I think the human character in this screenshot expresses my disgust pretty well.) And I’m not holding my breath that the new series will do any of these characters justice either.
13:43 Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is a 1979 tv series based on a 1974 book. It’s only seven episodes long so it’s now high on my list of old British stuff to watch. Also apparently is has Alec Guiness in it. There’s also a movie version, which came out in 2011.
14:03 Here the title sequences for Hitchiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Day of the Triffids, When the Boat Comes In (not sure whether this was the series 4 intro that Doug Bird did, or the original series 1-3 intro, but this was all I could find), and Triangle.
1:06:47 Kaldor City is an audio series by Chris Boucher. It ran from 2001 to 2012. It combines a bunch of of concepts (and sometimes actual characters) from Blake’s 7 and Doctor Who.
1:32:47 John Clute is a Canadian writer and theorist who writes a lot about “genre” fiction like horror, science fiction, etc.
1:41:53 If you’ve ever wanted to sing along to the Blake’s 7 theme, here are the lyrics to Distant Star (with bonus lyrics for Dayna’s song from Sarcophagus).

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Sep

2018

Episode 39: Spoilers Find a Way (Terminal)

Well, at least Kiyan doesn’t really care about spoilers anyway.

We made it! Almost. We reached the original end of this show. But then, well, it was such a big success so they decided to do another season because I guess why not? Also, if the show is good, why not make more? Although there is an argument to be made to end it when it’s still good. It’s Terminal, written by Terry Nation and aired on March 31, 1980.

Show-notes:

1:46 Making Blake’s 7 is a Twitter account that’s been detailing the production of Blake’s 7 for the past year and a half-ish. It’s going on indefinite hiatus soon, but might be back some day.
17:10 Here are just a few of the weird things slime molds can do.
44:17 Person of Interest isn’t a tv show that ran from 2011-2016.
46:30 This is official apparently. Just wait until we get to Series D.

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Sep

2018

Episode 38: Steven Pacey and the Rules of War (Death-Watch)

Rule 1. We only allow clones of Steven Pacey in our army.

This week we time travel back to Ancient Rome, or we would, if this was Doctor Who. Instead we bring Ancient Rome into the future, because this is Blake’s 7 where everything is in the FUTUREEE. It’s Death-Watch, written by Chris Boucher and aired on March 24, 1980.

Show-notes:

9:55 Well the New York Times seems to think its a problem.
19:34 Why is the Princess Bride such a cult hit? It’s not even that good.
28:04 The Purge is a pretty recent movie franchise that asks the question “What if crime was legal for 24 hours?” It’s really not as interesting as it sounds. We discussed it a couple months ago for our movie trilogy podcast, Triple Play.
50:16 Flight Through Entirety is a Doctor Who podcast that does the same thing our Doctor Who podcast does (watch all of Doctor Who in order), only much better.

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Sep

2018

Episode 37: Blake’s 7 Version of Drax (Moloch)

Drax the Destroyer obviously, the Marvel one.

Wow kind of weird how many computers we’re starting to get on this show isn’t it? Orac, Ultra, Moloch, Zen. That’s four already right there, two of which were introduced in the last two weeks. Weird. It’s Moloch, written by Ben Steed and aired on March 17, 1980.

Show-notes:

1:43 Moloch looks like a pretty cool bull just hanging out in the desert.
2:35 Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency is a tv show based on a book Douglas Adams wrote like 600 years ago.
3:46 This is a Thing.
21:51 Here’s that listicle.
38:18 Moore’s law, also I quoted it as 5 years but Moore’s law actually indicates it as 2.
47:37 Orwell, I guess named after George Orwell.

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