Forgive me for posting this weeks after everyone else; I wasn't present in the group at the time. I'd intended to go straight onto a discussion of 'Gambit', but as they share the same tape I couldn't bring myself to fast-forward through a whole episode without watching it! Forgive also any repetition of what other people may already have said - I've been scrupulously avoiding reading the discussion in order not to influence my own observations.

Synchro-Watch - Series 2, Episode 23, 'Voice from the Past' (LONG) =================================================================

I didn't remember 'Voice from the Past' as being a particularly enjoyable episode, partly at least because I'm a Blake fan and don't like watching Blake behaving unreasonably. (And before all you Avonites start breaking out into hollow laughs, just bear in mind Avon's own acknowledgement in this episode that Blake does not normally set off in a random direction with no justification at all - although "Because I'm curious" (Horizon) runs it pretty close, and is for the same reason fairly implausible!)

However, yet again the Synchro-Watch worked its magic, and in the process of commenting on the episode I found myself revising my opinion of it upwards as usual. I have to admit, though, that even with my new-found rosy spectacles I can't help feeling that there are a number of basic improbabilities in the plot.

The whole thing hinges on the development of artificial telepathy by the Federation, aided by renegade Auronar. Apparently, they were originally working on a method of influencing computers before, as Orac so complacently puts it, concentrating on a 'weaker point' - the brains of the humans controlling them. So far, though, they haven't managed to transmit telepathic compulsion or even coherent speech; only simple sound patterns, the "oscillating tone" that Cally also hears. Presumably the transmission is not focussed as tightly as it might be...

Given this limitation, the only way to influence human behaviour via artificial telepathy is by pre-conditioning the subject's brain so that this particular sound triggers off a programmed response. (Avon initially states that exposure to the conditioned stimulus would simply launch the victim into a hypnotic trance, but since even using current-day techniques it is perfectly possible to hypnotise someone into performing a series of actions when exposed to a predetermined trigger, one would assume that the Federation have at least this level of control at their disposal.)

This is plausible enough when the command in question appears to be along lines as basic as "Come to asteroid P-K118" - the elaborate paranoid fantasies that Blake produces can be assumed to be the product of his conscious mind trying to rationalise the subconscious compulsion he feels to reach the asteroid, despite the attempts of his crew to prevent it. (If a man is hypnotised to scratch his ear when the hypnotist clicks his fingers, when the click is heard his conscious mind will transform this into experiencing an itch at that precise moment, as an explanation to himself of his sudden need to scratch.)

It doesn't explain why he appears to forget all about Avon and Cally's supposed treachery as soon as this ceases to be needed for the progress of the plot, or how Ven Glynd's supposed continuing control is being exerted. Or indeed of what this control is supposed to consist - it doesn't seem to make him unnaturally co-operative towards the conspirators' plans, since he has to be persuaded every step of the way, but also it doesn't seem to be needed, since though his actions after reaching the asteroid revert to being normally 'Blakish' he still agrees to help. In fact, the only way we can tell that he remains under control is that this period is wiped from his memory with the rest once the control box is broken.

While 'Shivan' claims that Glynd is planning to enthrone Blake as a puppet, with the ex-Arbiter General as the 'eminence grise' behind the scenes (and Glynd does not deny it), this would imply a continuing level of sophisticated control which earlier statements of its limitations simply do not support. Post-hypnotic suggestion is one thing, but ongoing telepathic manipulation is something quite different.

It just doesn't seem convincing that any 'program' of instructions flexible enough to cope with a developing situation could be attached to a single trigger sound - unless along lines as basic as "trust Ven Glynd and do whatever he says", of course! It seems particularly unlikely when we bear in mind that these instructions were supposedly implanted under cover of Blake's pro-Federation brainwashing ("Renounce! Renounce!") A corrupt criminotherapist might slip something small in along the lines of "Come to asteroid P-K118" without anyone's noticing, but a complete political coup against the Terran Administration would be a little difficult to miss.

Here we come to the second plot-hole - timing. I feel that Roger Parkes (the scriptwriter) unnecessarily undermined the credibility of his own plot here by insisting that Le Grand's coup and all its associated schemes have been so long in development. For a start - if Travis is Shivan, for just how long is he supposed to have been present in disguise in Outer Gal? I was given the impression that he had been part of the planning for the coup, if not from the beginning, then at least for some time; and also part of Servalan's scheme to thwart it. But this could have been arranged no earlier than when they met on Exbar after his court-martial. However much time we assume to elapse between episodes (I favour twelve to eighteen months per series - we are told here in Episode 23 that the first episode occurred "two years ago", but several of the earlier episodes clearly follow directly on from each other, thus invalidating any precise figure of one 'adventure' per month) the duration of 'Countdown' alone doesn't really seem adequate.

Ven Glynd and the Governor of Outer Gal, meanwhile, have apparently been scheming together since well before Blake's trial "two years ago". The plot-reasons for stating this were presumably the necessity for Blake's hypnotic conditioning to have taken place before he left Earth; in fact it sounds from the fragments of nightmare that we hear that the conditioning was linked to his original capture and brainwashing, four years before 'The Way Back' - six years earlier. To my mind, that is pushing the boundaries of plausibility back a little too far! Le Grand tells Blake that when the 'course interceptor' was acquired it provided 'a means of contacting you' - but first he must have had to be conditioned. In the period after his first trial he was hardly the legendary figure of rebellion that she required, and the machinations of her dear friend Ven Glynd had ensured that after his second trial he would have been permanently resident on Cygnus Alpha, with no means of reaching her even if he survived the theocracy (a proviso open to doubt.) And just how far back are those defectors supposed to have left Auron?

The Glynd we saw in 'The Way Back' (and whom I have to say I find more convincing as a character) was a smooth and utterly corrupt operator. It was clear that Blake's was not the first trial that he had fixed. We are now asked to believe that he was secretly on the side of virtue all the time - or at least on the side of ambitious opposition to the current rulers - and simply 'biding his time' while framing innocent men! Admittedly he is depicted as less than spotless, manipulating both Le Grand and Blake for his own benefit, but when such a man claims to have defected "in the name of justice" it is impossible to take him at his word. (It might have been better if Glynd had been revealed as Servalan's mole, with 'Shivan' left out of it altogether.)

It doesn't help, either, that two different actors were used to play the part in the two episodes, bearing not even a cursory resemblance to each other. Admittedly by the time 'Voice from the Past' was transmitted, viewers would not be able clearly to remember the original appearance of the character from 'The Way Back', let alone to recognise him unprompted; I myself cannot visualise accurately the appearance of the original Glynd, despite having seen the episode twice, but I think he had more hair, less beard, a less pudgy face, and a general air of sinister distinction rather than one of oleaginous sleaze. There was of course nothing to stop the character having grown a beard in the interim - just as there was nothing to stop Travis from acquiring a new uniform and a smaller eyepatch during his 'retraining therapy' in the interval between 'Orac' and 'Weapon' - but in both cases it seems a somewhat gratuitous breach of continuity.

But... all those improbabilities aside, the episode is still on the whole effective. If it had been written with Ven Glynd as the traitor and the influence of his magic box restricted to bringing Blake to the rendezvous plus a single scrambled pulse at the end, it might even have made sense What's more, it would have given us the wonderfully paranoid image of Avon continuing to insist that Blake was under mind control while Blake quite truthfully pointed out that he wasn't!

More general remarks:

I was trying to guess at what point the original viewers (without the benefit of foreknowledge) would have worked out that something was really wrong with Blake. It's interesting to compare and contrast this episode with Star One, in which one individual comes up with unbelievably paranoid claims against colleagues... which prove in that case to be absolutely justified.

I think it probably doesn't become clear until he starts to have nightmares. Before that, all we really see is that he suddenly remembers something and rushes off to the flight deck to change course, totally ignoring Vila - and it's arguable that ignoring Vila's prattle is relatively normal behaviour

By the stage when Blake first comes up with his elaborate explanation that Avon and Cally are planning unspecified "betrayal, treachery, piracy", it's pretty clear to the audience that what he is saying is probably not true - but it's perhaps not fair to call Vila an idiot for believing him. After all, Vila is the one person who has neither witnessed Blake's nightmares nor been privy to to the discussion of hypnotic triggers.

Incidentally, Blake's claim in this episode that Avon and Cally have "paired up" (and he makes it pretty clear that he means sexually - "after all, they're only human") has originated perhaps more fanfic than any other single line. For the salacious-minded, it is perhaps interesting to speculate whether Blake, shorn of his normal reserve on the subject by his conditioning, has in fact divined the truth - or whether he is at this point demonstrably deluded on all counts!

(One pairing that is I think without question in this episode is that of Nagu and his 'lady Le Grand'. His concern for her undoubtedly appears to go beyond the purely professional, and her tenderness at his devotion suggests that she reciprocates.)

Presumably this whole scheme to maroon the others on the asteroid is Blake's own confused rationalisation as to why he feels he has to go there, rather than a detailed indoctrination dating back several years... He certainly seems to forget about it very quickly later on (although it's noticeable that it's still Jenna and Vila he teams up with when it comes to dealing with the shuttle and the conference - possibly, of course, because the other two will have nothing to do with it!)

The special effects work on the asteroid is rather odd. First of all we get a shot (of short duration, wisely...) of Blake standing against an obvious painted backdrop, and later we see him walking cautiously through the mining base - this is much more convincing, due to the low light levels and his almost weightless movements. (I would have thought that a chalk quarry after dark would have passed for a very acceptable asteroid surface, but maybe the budget didn't run to a location shoot for this episode - that backdrop really is painfully obvious. For all the talk about 'wobbly sets', I find that "Blake's 7" sets usually create an almost flawless illusion, and this is one of the few cases where exterior work is obviously faked.) Finally, we see him entering the airlock in a red-lit gloom which didn't seem to have any particular justification. If they'd used that all the way through it could have been the natural light levels on the asteroid, but why turn on the red light just for that one shot? It's like the mysterious 'green' shot of the Altas in 'Redemption'.

Vila suspects that the asteroid may be occupied by 'mutants' - I assumed at first he meant 'mutoids', but coupled with Servalan's code phrase "Behold the mutants shall wither" it suggests that mutants are an accepted art of life (at least metaphorically) in this universe. However, it is not at all clear what or who they are, other than apparently being generally undesirable!

Down on the asteroid, having been 'whistled up like a service robot' (nice futuristic imagery!) Blake seems to have snapped back into character - and I find it increasingly difficult to accept that from now on he remains under mental control. He overrides Avon to insist that Ven Glynd and his colleagues be teleported up to 'Liberator', true, but he does it in the manner to which we have grown accustomed; arguing his case with an impassioned speech full of what sounds like very genuine frustration at their lack of progress so far, and his desire for a real solution that embraces more than just blowing things up. It's very hard to believe that these very Blakish words come from the same Glynd who mouths platitudes about having defected in the name of that same justice which he has spent years in perverting.

Servalan's interview with Le Grand is a wonderful piece of bitchiness on both sides. It's clear that the two women hate each other - the mutual contempt of the military and the civilian as well as opposing political loyalties, perhaps? There seems to be a slightly threatening whine that regularly changes pitch in the background of Servalan's office; I assume this is a normal space station interior noise.

I enjoyed Orac's cumulative denials that he could be damaged in any way by attempting to access the 'course interceptor' - "No, negative, denied, incapable of damage." In a very human response, he is evidently insulted by the mere suggestion. Of course, without him Avon hasn't got a hope of getting in to alter the programming of the box - in the end he resorts to the very low-tech solution of smashing it on the floor!

There are more exterior planetary shots as we see the shuttle landing on Atlay, of a detail that I don't remember seeing since we lost sight of the 'London' back in Episode 3. Presumably the invention of the teleport saved the BBC from having to film vast amounts of this type of thing... The conference centre is an interesting location - I wonder where this was filmed? - and there is genuine menace in the moment when Le Grand arrives for the conference only to find a vast and empty hall with no sign of her fellow delegates, the lights go out one by one, and her enemy's face appears vastly magnified and mocking upon the screen. Not only has she been trapped, but Servalan has been playing with her from the start. It's no wonder that her self-possession breaks down.

Why does Glynd trigger Blake's conditioning again at the last, though, incapacitating him? Is it an attempt to make sure that if he can't escape, the others can't either? If so, it's ironic that his attack on Travis gives Blake and Jenna the chance to get away...

One wonders what happens to Travis. His position at the end of the episode doesn't look very healthy - the Federation troops catch him trying to wedge the door to keep them out (it's not very clear why) and he is in effect the last surviving member of the conspiracy. Unless Servalan backs him up, he is likely to have a lot of explaining to do. But she clearly (and uncharacteristically) does get him out of this one, because he turns up again in Freedom City a short time later.

Again, the timing is all wrong - he appears to have been with Docholli for some considerable time in 'Gambit', yet if he has been posing as 'Shivan' how did he manage to get taken on as Docholli's bodyguard? All that can really be concluded is that clearly a lot more time elapses 'between episodes' than one would instinctively assume - good news for fan-fiction writers, what with all those 'missing adventures' to fill in

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