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Blake's 7 - Aftermath / Powerplay [VHS]

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"Aftermath" follows up from the cliffhanger ending to "Star One." Dayna is introduced as one of the new regular cast members. This episode is critical for understanding the state of the Federation in future episodes. The plotline focusing on Dayna is interesting, but the most value from this episode comes from finding out what has happened to the crew of the Liberator and Servalan. "Powerplay" is a superior story to "Aftermath" and lays the foundation for the new crew. These episodes start the show in a new direction and are critical for any serious fan of "Blake's 7."

Volume 14 of the "Blake's 7" video series contains two more episodes of this classic British science fiction television series. These episodes, "Aftermath" and "Powerplay," constitute the first two episodes of the 3rd season, and continue the story of an interplanetary band of rebels who wage a campaign against the tyrannical Federation.

"Aftermath" is the conclusion to the cliffhanger episode "Star One," in which humanity faces an invasion of an armada from another galaxy. The crew of the rebel ship Liberator flees in escape pods when the ship takes on heavy damage. Most of this episode follows the adventures of Avon after he is stranded on a primitive planet. This episode also introduces a new regular character: weapons expert Dayna Mellanby, who has lived in exile from the Federation with her father. The tough, but somewhat innocent Dayna is a compelling character who has some great chemistry with Avon in this episode.

"Powerplay" is essentially the third part of a three-part episode that began with "Star One." This episode is the substantial introduction of Tarrant (briefly seen in "Aftermath"), who will also become a regular character in the series. This is a violent and suspenseful episode in which Avon struggles to regain control of the Liberator while Cally and Vila remain separated from the ship. Vila has some fun comic sequences that complement the dark elements of the story. Great line: "It sounds big and bad-tempered. I just hope it's vegetarian" (Vila, stranded on a planet, upon hearing growls coming from the woods).

These episodes exemplify some of the best characteristics of B7: memorable characters, sharp dialogue, and suspenseful plotting. If you're a fan of other sci-fi sagas like "Babylon 5" and "Farscape" but have not yet discovered "Blake's 7," check out this video series.

The next vol of Blake's 7 enetitled AFTERMATH and POWERPLAY

In the epsidoe entitled AFTERMATH
Star one has been destroyed and an unknown alien armada has come to wage war on Federation space. The Liberator escapes but not without taking heavy damage. Blake and the others escape from the Liberator and are hurled into the cosmos. Avon along with Orac land on the planet Sarran. A primative planet with war like people. They regard Avon as target and begin to hunt him down. Avon is soon befreinded by a young woman named Dayna. She is not from the planet Sarran she came from Earth along with here father a famous engineer and weapons maker to this planet to get away from the control of the Federation. What Avon doesn't know is that Servalan has also come to the planet Sarran as well but not by choice. Servalan taking the chance of Star One destuction has made herself president of the Federation but before she could take office the Federation fleet was attacked by the alien armada and her own ship shoot down. Now Avon must find a way back to the Liberator find the rest of the crew and take advantage of the Federation dissaray. This signals the end of Blake role as a rebel leader and the beginning of Avon time as a much darker and far more dangerous leader then Blake ever was.
In the next episode entitled POWERPLAY
Avon along with Dayna have gotten back to the Liberator but not without finding some new passengers Federation soliders lead by Captain Del Tarrant. Avon and Dayna are taken captive. Zen has found where Villa is and is homing in on his signal. None of the Federation soldiers can take control of the ship. Captain Tarrant thinks Avon might be the key. Before any of that could be done federation soldiers begin to die off one by one. Avon thinks something else maybe on board, Dayna thinks its one of the people on baord. Captain Tarrant thinks its them loose on the ship and the section leader under Captain Tarrant thinks its him. Will Avon figure out what is killing them? Will the Liberator get to Villa before the Federation takes total control of Zen? This marks the next thrilling episode in which a new player in the Blake's 7 universe is shown