Spoiler alerts

An episode that largely follows the plot of classic Star Trek’s Arena. A very tense space battle sees the Liberator surrounded by three Federation space battle cruisers, in the charge of the formidable tactician, Travis.

Blake is reduced to trying to suicidally ram Travis’s ship to break free from the trap, but the ships are frozen in their tracks a few feet from collision. Te freezing is due to interference by two ghostly witches straight out of Macbeth, on a forest World full of the graves of ancient mighty warriors.

The witches invite Blake and Travis to fight a duel to the death in the woods, to teach them valuable lessons in war. Travis relishes the potential for bloodshed while Blake is more concerned for his ship and crew.

The crews of the vessels are left on helpless ships, watching events unfold on TV screens. However, the witches to both aid and complicate the duel as the men pursue one another through the forests take one member of each crew.

Blake’s assistant is Jenna, while Travis is given one of his mutoids as a companion. Though mentioned in an earlier episode this is the first real look at the mutoids in the series. They are genetically enhanced vampires, fed by synthetic blood in tubes they carry in their chests, which need changing daily, though they can drink fresh blood straight from human and animal veins when it is available.

There is a great touch of macabre humour when the mutoid refreshes her temporarily by feeding on the vampire bats that attack her and Blake in the woods at night.

The episode captures a rare insight into Travis’s softer side. Despite his air of indifference to his expendable mutoid forces, he strikes up a bond of affection with his mutoid pilot in the woodland chase. He knows the forgotten past she had erased from her memory when turned from human to mutoid and tries to tell her about it, only to find she is genuinely uninspired by the story.

Jenna kills the mutoid in self-defence, but Blake spares Travis, partly from his convenient and unconvincing conviction that he knows how Travis thinks and that he likes to have someone weak enough to defeat in pursuit of his crew.

The witches applaud Blake’s humanity and reasoning and set him free first, giving The liberator crew a head start on the Federation forces who give chase again once their own ships are released from the power of the witches.

Silly, and sometimes dark, not to mention derivative, with unexpectedly soft moments, especially between Travis and his mutoid friend.  

Arthur Chappell

One of the Seven’s oddest adventures and again, a detour from their planned major surprise assault on the Federation that is hunting for them.

On a remote World, some gothic, tinfoil clad vampiric figures are chanting a summons for assistance. A foetus in a glass tank of fluid accompanies them, though the foetus has the head of a full-grown man.

On The Liberator, the newly acquired crewmember, the telepathic Cally, is possessed by the alien beings and attempts to sabotage the ship. Jenna, acting as their pilot is also affected.

The ship runs into a giant spider’s web in space, which won’t let them free. The crew are communicated with by the weird vampiric beings that request some synthetic fluids to enable them to continue to survive.

Blake and later, Avon go down to the planet, to find the vampires living in a building that seems to be composed of portacabins and bouncy castles. The vampires are besieged by squealing entities looking somewhat like a cross between the Zygons from Dr. Who and The Creature From The Black Lagoon.

Blake learns that the vampires and these monsters are both products of genetic experiments by the embryo-man, who is actually all six surviving telepaths from Cally’s own people. Blake only learns all this as the monsters attack and kills the vampires, as the crew return to The Liberator and finally break free from the space web.

A silly often-surreal episode full of lost opportunities. Cally wants to find her people but isn’t told of the creature in the lab. There is a hint of the conflict between the Eloi and Morlocks in the struggle between the two genetic races, and Avon sees the savagery of their conflict as representative of where the fight between rebels and Federation will lead. Overall though, the episode is just plain odd.

Arthur Chappell

The second episode of Blake’s seven sets the pace and brings in more key components of the series than the previous darker edged episode carried. The show was clearly now settling down into a freedom fighters versus their oppressors space opera.

My father was never a fan of science fiction, but he had been impressed by episode one. Minutes into episode two, he decided they had ruined the show, and never tuned in to it again. His judgement was flawed in some respects. The show still had a great deal to offer, but Space Fall was the first to highlight both what is great and what is silly about Blake’s Seven.

The prisoners bound for the colonial World, Cygnus Alpha, are now seen in more detail. We meet two more of the Seven, Gan, a giant of a man, with a Tommy Cooper smile, and enormous strength is one. The other is Avon, Paul Darrow, who would come to dominate the series to the point that many think it should have been relabelled Avon’s seven. Avon is a calculating, ruthless and utterly self-motivated computer hacker, who seems intent to betray and abandon his allies at any time in order to save himself. That he maintained this tone to the end of the fourth season is impressive. Even a glimpse of him in the previous episode would have given him a place alongside Villa for a complete series attendance.

The crew and prison guards are harsh and mean, but mostly seem intent on completing their eight-month voyage to Cygnus Alpha. Blake fears rumours that the crew dump their human cargo in deep space and then simply go home claiming the loss of the prisoners was due to an accident or punishment for a rebellion. The crew do execute prisoners for insubordination and rebellion.

Jenna, (Sally Knyvete), is particularly vulnerable as the only female convict on the transport ship, and one member of the crew seems intent on making her life hell. .

Blake persuades the prisoners to join him in a take over bid, which dominates the first, half of the episode, but his attack fails, resulting in the execution of many of the prisoners, and a tense hostage situation ensues. Blake is forced to surrender and seems doomed to die, but the prison ship is caught in crossfire from a space battle that takes place round them. This is the first indication in the series that there are other species in the universe, and other galactic powers as well as the earth based Federation’s own empire.

An abandoned super-space-ship is discovered, as its crew seem to have left it in mid-battle. The prison guard-crew decide to capture it as salvage to gain a fortune from the Federation in reward. However, the ship is booby-trapped with defences that leave any trying to board it insane or dead.

The solution the crew of the prison ship come up with is extremely unlikely. They arm three prisoners, Blake, Avon and Jenna, and send them on a mission to defeat the strange ship’s defences. That the trio might actually make use of the formidable vessel as their own once taking it seems to only strike the prison ship crew as likely after Blake starts doing just that. The taking of the ship (later known as The Liberator) is one of the show’s most contrived and unfeasible plot developments.

The Liberator itself looks truly magnificent, a fabulous space ship that looks designed for both speed and battle – it may be TV SF’s greatest space ship since Star Trek’s Enterprise.

The defence mechanism amounts to being a mind control devise able to tap into an intruder’s inner-fears to drive someone insane. It fails on Blake due to the brainwashing he suffered on earth, but almost claims Avon & Jenna before Blake saves them.

Jenna, a skilled pilot, manages to master some of The Liberator’s controls and flies the Liberator clear of the prison ship. Blake vows to pursue the ship to the prison planet to liberate the prisoners there, and start his rebellion in earnest. With that, episode two ends. The pitch of the series is now defined. Blake is an outlaw using a super-space-weapon to take on the evil Federation, in a series of cat and mouse encounters.

There are many daft moments here. The foam that is supposed to be sealant for hull breaches, which seals an unfortunate prisoner into the walls as he tries to assist Avon in seizing the prison ship. We are left with the sight of a man half buried in washing up detergent.  Then there’s a man blasted out into open space when the ship airlocks separate. He is visibly held up on wires. The real daft-ness however is the idea of letting convicts who have already tried to take over one ship, run loose and fully armed on board another one that looks like a formidable battle cruiser. The series never reveals why her crew abandoned the completely operative, undamaged Liberator in the first place. She is The Marie Celeste of space drama. 

I can see why my Dad disliked the change in pace from the intriguing opener, but I stayed with the series through its many great and disappointing episodes. There was top be many startling surprises along the way.

Arthur Chappell

·         A minors license

·         Miners had to pay a license fee even if they didn’t find gold and so were stuck on the same piece of land

·         In 1954, governor Hotham ordered that the fee be collected twice a week

·         The minors began raids

·         An ex-convict and hotel owner, Bently, murdered a free settling minor – James Scobie

·         An inquiry led to Bently remaining free of charge

·         Anger from minors led to the burning down of Bentley’s hotel

·         A series of riots followed, as rioter were arrested – the conflict strengthened

·         The BALLARAT REFORM LEAGUE was founded with Peter Labour as their leader

·         The diggers wanted a right to vote, abolition of licenses and revolted by burning them

·         The Eureka stockade was attacked on a Sunday by soldiers. 5 soldiers dies – 30 miners dies

·         Result – miners were beaten

Although the Eureka Stockade was a complete failure, it led to changes in the law. The license fee was abolished by a miners right, the miners were allowed to vote and this was seen as the first step to democracy

The Industries

Gold had opened up a new era turning the colonies into a proper nation. The money from the gold meant that many skilled migrants came from countries such as China to provide cheap labour, skilled craft and manpower to the countries. They helped to raise the standard of education, culture and refinement.

The increase in money, manpower and culture led to the university of Sydney to be founded in 1853, the university of Melbourne in 1856. Between 11850-1870, gold was Australia’s major export. The money helped to expand the wool industry and railway building. This opened up country areas and made transport cheaper. The lowered transports costs also opened up the wheat industry and the created a demand on iron – that became the largest industry of Melbourne.

·         Railway, manufacturing, building construction, wool production and agriculture were fastest growing

Technical inventions led to wheat industry moving into drier areas, this also saved labour eg, harvesters. The technical advantages also led to the development of the meat and dairy industry – the ability to freeze meant butter could be churned and it could travel further and further.

Australia became seen as the working man’s paradise in front of all European countries. The 8 hour day was introduced in 1856. While the Australian man worked less than any other European man, he had been known to spend the most, making them seem to be in a place of envy.      

 Towards Federation

 In the late 1880s, few believed that the idea of federation would be real in less than just over a decade. Federation had its own obvious advantages

·         Defence

·         Ability to attract loans

·         Less reliance on Britain

·         No fear of Germans and Russians

·         Common identity

·         Nation feeling

·         Unition of people who shared a common Anglo-Celtic heritage

·         Fear of Chinese and demands for a ‘White Australia’ policy

·         More control on immigration

·         Trading Policies

The unification of Germany caused nervousness, fear and alliances among the Great Powers as they saw the rapid development that this aggressive new Great Power had. In 40 years of federation, the German population had shot up by 25 million people, and had become the greatest economic power on the continent. They also had one of Europe’s largest armies. This caused jealousy and fear on the part of all the other Great Powers, which also resulted in the alliance system. Fear, revenge and hatred of Germany caused France to ally with Russia, who also feared Germany. Britain felt threatened by the naval power of Germany, which caused it to join alliances. All of these reasons for alliances link back to Germany, which goes to show that Germany was responsible for the alliance system, and the size of World War One.

Germany’s aggressive stance towards the other Great Powers and its ambitious goals fueled the arms race and World War One. After Germany’s federation, they led the arms race with aggressiveness, such as going into direct competition with Britain in the building of dreadnoughts race. Germany most likely knew that this would be seen as a threat from the British perspective, and may have even intended for it to be construed that way. Germany does not have much sea to defend, and had shown on previous occasions that it did not mind angering other Great Powers, such as with the invasion of France. The aggressive attack and stealing of French provinces Alsaces and Lorraine caused France to actively seek out alliances, and search for opportunities to fight against Germany again and win back their territory.

In promising Austria-Hungary unconditional support in any war that would occur due to the ultimatum sent to Serbia, Germany directly caused the war by giving Austria-Hungary the confidence to declare war. Germany’s involvement prompted and motivated countries that otherwise may not have gotten involved in the issue to join in, causing the size of World War One. The fact that Germany embraced the idea of war can also be seen in the issue of Belgium, when Germany ignored Britain’s threat that they would be willing to fight to protect Belgium’s neutrality. In ignoring this, Germany sent a clear message to the world; they don’t care who they anger. However, Germany did not want the whole of Europe involved. Even though Germany went to no lengths to avoid conflict, they liked playing the role of the bully: picking fights they are confident they’ll win such as against France in 1871. When Germany realised that Russia was actually going to fight, the fact that they pleaded with France to stay neutral shows that they had realised the magnitude of what they had done, and realised it wasn’t going to be the pushover fight that they had been expecting. However, this last-minute attempt at salvaging the situation does not excuse nor redeem Germany, who set the wheels in motion and were responsible for the outbreak of war.

All events leading up to the war can be linked back to Germany, either directly or indirectly. Germany’s federation caused nervousness and drove the Great Powers apart, creating the need to speed up the arms race. Germany’s invasion of France and the taking of Alsaces and Lorraine triggered both the want for revenge and the creation of the alliance system. Germany’s promise of support to Austria-Hungary during the July Crisis gave Austria-Hungary the confidence to initiate war. For these reasons it is obvious that Germany was responsible for World War One.

The word anarchism is a combination of the Greek prefix an (or, a) which means ‘not’ or ‘without’, as in anaemia (without blood), atheist (without God), agnostic (without knowledge) or apolitical (not political), and the word archos, which means ‘master’, ‘ruler’. So, anarchism literally means ‘without a ruler’, and that is what it essentially stands for: The absence of any form of authority and hierarchy. Anarchists believe in a classless society without authority, coercive power and without government itself.

Although such idea has existed for a very long time – the ancient Chinese philosopher Lao Tse sometimes being considered the precursor to anarchism -, it wasn’t until the 19th century that the word anarchism was used. The French political philosopher Pierre-Joseph Proudhon was the first person in history to call himself an anarchist, popularising the expression thereafter.

Deeply embedded in the anarchist ideal is the utter importance of freedom, which is the main reason why all forms of authority are rejected. In fact, there exist so many anarchist schools of thought that rejection of authority and government is virtually the only thing they all have in common – and even so a few types of anarchism tolerate the existence of a minimal government in order for society to function. Anarchist philosophy is so diverse that it ranges from individualist to collectivist and from anarcho-communist to (quite surprisingly) anarcho-capitalist, though the definition of the latter as anarchism is disputed.

Broadly speaking, the ideal anarchist society would include: participation of all citizens in the decision-making process; absolute individual freedom; no military, police or other type of coercive forces; the absence of any hierarchical structure, including organised religion; total equality among sexes and races; collective ownership of the means of production and equal share of profit (where profit is acceptable); abolition of private property; rejection of capitalism (except for anarcho-capitalism); lack of nationalism (a natural consequence of rejection of the State). State bureaucracy would be eliminated and society would be organised and administered locally through direct democracy in workers/local councils. Local autonomous communities, in turn, would form a loose federation among themselves. As we can see, the true meaning of anarchism is far from what its popular meaning has come to represent. Far from preaching chaos and disorder, anarchism actually proposes a simplification of that order in a way that our freedom within society is maximised while injustice is reduced or eliminated.

Of course, anarchism is not without its problems. Predictably, such an idealistic society which it defends leads to the questioning of whether its realisation is feasible or not. As a result, one of the charges often brought against anarchism is that it is utopian, that it can only exist on papers and peoples’ minds but not in reality. It is indeed difficult to imagine how an anarchist society would deal, for example, with crime. One anarchist view is that because it is the very problems of non-anarchist societies that prompt people to commit crimes, once those problems are gone and an anarchist society is established, crime will no longer exist. Such view takes us back to the question of utopianism, since it seems over-optimistic to assume crime is exclusively inherent to social problems. On the other hand, the just, egalitarian and free nature of anarchism means that its realisation remains desirable and, though seemingly difficult, is not impossible. After all, it has been successfully tried a few times before (albeit on a limited scale), the Spanish example of the 1930’s being the most notable and significant of all.

However, it is not my aim to make an analysis of anarchism here, as this will be done on another occasion.

The Greek riots did not begin as an active anarchist movement nor are intended to bring about an anarchist revolution, but they do underline the growing discontent and distrust of the system as a result of the collapse of capitalism and show us that the anarchist ideal remains very much alive in the 21st century.

During World War I, British Foreign Secretary Arthur James Balfour wrote the following letter to Lord Lionel Walter Rothschild of the Zionist Federation in England:

Foreign Officer

November 2nd 1917

Dear Lord Rothschild,

I have much pleasure in conveying to you on behalf of His Majesty’s Government the following declaration of sympathy with Jewish Zionist aspirations, which has been submitted to and approved by the Cabinet:

“His Majesty’s Government view with favor the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish People and will use their best endeavors to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine or the rights and political status enjoyed by the Jews in any other country.”

I should be grateful if you would bring this Declaration to the knowledge of the Zionist Federation.

Yours Sincerely,

Arthur James Balfour

This letter was the result of over three years worth of negotiations between Britian, France, Italy and USA. The Balfour declaration was issued with the support of these governments and a special session from the US Congress lead by President Woodrow Wilson. President Harding approved the declaration on September 21, 1922.

The Balfour Declaration led to the mandate that created the state of Israel, a Jewish Homeland, in the land of Palestine (or the ancient name of the land -Eretz Israel). This mandate was approved and given to Britain by the League of Nations and the Declaration sends a wave of joy and revival in the Jewish Community.

At the end of World War, in the Treaty of Sevres, the allies included the Balfour Declaration in the wording of the Treaty to ensure fair treatment of people within the territories of the former Ottoman Empire. Meanwhile, after a year, during the celebration called Balfour Day (celebrated on November 2nd) the Muslim-Christian Association sent a lengthy memorandum and petition to the British governor at Jaffa, protesting the Zionist intrusion in Palestine.

Up goes the price of fuel. Manufacturing (industry) in America and American employment verses working pay graft indicates a premature move of American industrial operations. The Arab Nations are saying Democracy isn’t the best way to run a nation, and they are using the Bush Presidency as their example. That is a laugh! The Bush Administration’s paranoia is their reason to change the United States’ government, because paranoia is the drive of all fascist states. The failures of a Fascist Empirical movement have the combined blowback effects noticed before in each failed layman systems. We experienced them in the past, but still they were combined. The definition of absolute stupidity will have a picture beside the word in the New American Dictionary. History isn’t the brain’s strong point. Oh yeah, his brain is walking around and not in the White House and longer.

Here is an URL for The Constitution of the United States: . The George W. Bush Presidential Administration, under the guise of Conservative Republicans indicates to “We the People” specific questions. “Has the United States been infiltrated by foreign national sleepers with non-American ideals?” European groups before the 16th century used this mentality to control countries economies and armies. They obviously were not destroyed. That would explain the lack of law enforcement in immigration. They are simply sneaking more sleepers into the United States to perpetuate their mass. Using the Republican Party as a cover — also using it as an excuse to stalemate Congressional actions, purposely preventing changes to America’s situation. Republican Conservatives call it a show of unity. It is unity for a band of non-American ideals, but not idealist for the American people! Like usual, they are partly right, and it is only a show. Unity is the cover to stall the effects of propriety. The governmental balances lost will not be returned until Bush is gone. Loses of American’s Bill of Rights may never be returned as needless spying on U.S citizens is legal now. No FISA requirements or legal regress against Telephone Companies giving your information to any agency. Just by giving you a name, your legal representation no longer exists. “Foreign combatant!” His Administration flagrantly assaults other countries — unity or Imperialism, you choose the correct term.

For logic’s sake, their stalemate is to prevent losses of Executive Powers, which they’ve gained through legal manipulations of Democracy. You remember Homeland Security operating without warrants. In WWII, the Germans had specific words for this operation specialist. Suspicion is enough in any body’s make-believe spin for propaganda to bend the minds of their citizens’ needs. The fulcrum is offset, giving Executive authority much more power in our Democracy’s Branches of Power. A Democracy is the name of our Government, and it is outlined (see the URL above). By changing the government’s economic base from physical wealth (what is held in hand) to consumerism (what is passed between hands) isn’t a change Americans should agree with. Any con game to move your dollar becomes legitimate, and “We the People” lose social accountability of the Political Hierarchy. Politicians are PUBLIC SERVANTS. We the people, in our mass, are their masters. It is outlined in the American Democracy. Patrick Henry stood fast until James Madison wrote the American Bill of Rights before the States gave more authority to the Federation Government with the 14th and 15th Amendments. Capitalism is not the name of a Governmental style. Rubles were passed inside the USSR, but not outside the USSR. Capitalism is an economic plan or method to support a nation, but there is no Government called capitalism. Capitalism has been the sword wielded between governments. Now it is the sword wielded against the American people by this Administration.

Freedom allows capitalist to make money, but in the American Democracy it is the people who own the government. Unfair capital maneuvering was the cause of the Revolutionary War. The British made the colonialist pay for the French and Indian War. Consumerism as an economic system is like our Politicians, passing the buck while pushing away responsibility. The people have no security as we revert to a caveman society with the shift in power. If you are too old to gather firewood, you can’t eat, and your story has come to its end. Social Security failure is immanent; as Bush sacked our Social Security three times all the combined presidents previously. Recession is the path to an economic depression, but the media reports solely the information feed to them because of the physiological self-protection instinct in the people. In other words, if everyone’s self-protection acted at the same time they, the people, would force an economic depression. Selective reporting is propaganda making illusions not actuality. The Bush Administration was found guilty of media manipulation, and propaganda earlier in Bush’s first term.

We the People have another question. “Why are things being done this way inside The White House?” “We the People”, the owners of the United States are asking. We can no longer trust the laws because they aren’t being upheld, and statements “The Constitution is up to Interpretation,” spoken by Alberto Gonzales, the one time Attorney General, of President Bush. Those who spoke the words can answer the question of why our immigration laws are undermined by the Attorney General’s State Attorneys. State Attorneys that didn’t do as the Bush Administration dictated were fired. That too cannot be simpler. Could this be an attempt to consolidate intelligence sleepers located within the Americas to manipulate the population inside the United States? This purpose would destroy Democracy by infecting the mass of the United States? American social changes — we are to grasp the extended family concept for survival, which is used by the impoverished Spanish Inquisition countries. They are cheap labor, but more importantly they can influence American lifestyle.

Think about our system, and about how things are done. If more people, in mass, were to come into an already controlled government, further changes to the Fascist Movement known as the Bush Administration can continue into perpetuity. Who will be the controlling group? This group must be the legacy Bush wants to leave, and be known a hundred years from 2008. The New American Government of 2118 will compare George Washington’s fatherhood to George W. Bush, and pass the torch of fatherhood as every state becomes overwhelmed with oppressed compliant followers. The sleepers from other nations are being enticed by America’s successes compared to their current government’s failures. The world could be molded into capitalism faster by force using the strongest national power in the world. The coffers of the United States needs a new tally before President Bush leaves office to see if other pilfering has been going on under his fascist class ideal.