Blake's 7 (TV Series) Seek-Locate-Destroy (1978) User Reviews

The Debut Of Servelan And Travis

[Theo Robertson · 7/10 · 23 March 2013]

This episode of BLAKES 7 sees the debut of the two long running villains Supreme Commander Servelan and Space Commander Travis . You can understand the pros and cons of having two recurring baddies in the show . In its favour Servelan does show the audience how the Terran Federation exists and develops along the course the series but the problem is that she's constantly over used and puts herself in more and more unlikely situations as the series continues . Ask yourself how credible it would be if Hilary Clinton joined a navy SEALs team on a mission to bump off Osama Bin Laden ?

As an introduction both characters work well enough with Travis being slightly to the fore played well by Stephen Grief playing Travis in much the same way as a Naval intelligence officer( A euphemism for chief torturer ) from Franco's Spain or a Junta republic in South America would be played . The episode is rather simplistic plot wise featuring The Liberator crew trying to steal a decoding machine in a mission that goes fubar . This allows the episode to flesh out what sort of system Blake is fighting and the character interaction between Servalan and Travis isn't all that different than the one between Blake and Avon . Another point to notice is how many Federation bases resemble oil refineries . Not a criticism because the functionalism of these type of locations is convincing

The arrival of a ruthless, beautiful monster.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 9/10 · 22 January 2020]

A slightly more standard format episode, with The Liberator Crew landing on a Federation planet, causing havoc by wrecking a communications base. It is perhaps a little drawn out in parts, but it has a trump card up its sleeve.

I particularly love this episode, for one reason only, the first appearance of Servalan, every show needs a great villain, up until now the show hadn't had one, in her, they had one of the best. She was unique, a role that would stereotypically have been played by a man, she was glamorous, cold, strong and incredibly beautiful, Pearce was terrific. Notable also for the introduction of Space Commander Travis, he made for a worthy adversary, but perhaps was in too many episodes.

Vila is given more of a story, generally cowardly, he shows he's capable enough here, he was good fun in the show, Michael Keating seems to be having great fun here.

The robot guard looks suspiciously like a Quark from Doctor Who episode The Dominators, and equally lacking brightness.

It's a game changer. 9/10

Seek-Locate-Destroy

[ametaphysicalshark · 22 May 2008]

In "Seek-Locate-Destroy", the Supreme Leader Servalan assigns Space Commander Travis to eliminate Blake and his company on The Liberator. Travis takes Cally captive when Blake and crew steal a message detector from a Federation security base on Centero.

This is a good episode of "Blake's 7" which is let down by lethargic pacing, which is really a shame as there's a lot to love about this episode such as us seeing more of the mechanics and politics behind the Federation. There is really some fine characterization and writing in this episode but I found that it dragged in spots.

7/10