Blake's 7 (TV Series) Trial (1979) User Reviews

More interesting treatment of the villains than the heroes

[GusF · 8/10 · 8 August 2014]

This is one of those occasional episodes of a series where I was far more interested in what the villains were doing than in what the heroes were doing. Brian Croucher will never be as good as Stephen Grief but he gives a good performance in this episode, particularly in his statement before the court and his confrontation with Servalan. It had a very strong guest cast as well with Peter Miles, John Bryans, Victoria Fairbrother and, in particular, John Savident (in his first of two appearances on the series) all giving great performance.

Blake's scenes on the planet are more "Lost in Space" than "Blake's 7" and I'm glad that they made up only part of an episode as opposed to the whole thing as it would probably have been my least favourite episode. Still, I enjoyed the fact that they devoted a large part of an episode to Blake and the crew dealing with Gan's death. While such episodes are quite common in 2014, they were quite rare in 1979 so it stands out in that respect. I also enjoyed the fact that the Liberator attacks Servalan's space station in the last ten minutes as it gives this episode an extra oomph. Plus I love the irony of Blake saving Travis' life.

Guilty Of Being Very Entertaining

[Theo Robertson · 8/10 · 26 March 2013]

Disgusted by his plan to destroy Control that led to the death of Gan Blake teleports to an unsurvyed planet wondering on his next move only to find he's not alone . Meanwhile Space Commander Travis finds himself on trial for war crimes

What becomes obvious in season two is that many the episodes are not self contained . Episodes tie in , impact and overlap one another . If you're going to causally watch the occasional episode then you'll probably find yourself somewhat lost . This isn't necessarily a criticism and does give the show a structure and continuity . The unfortunate thing is that it was relatively easy to miss a TV show in the 1970s since we didn't have video recorders , catch up TV and power cuts and televisions breaking down were relatively common in those days

This Chris Boucher scripted episode once again sees dual plotting , one featuring a dispirited , brooding introspective Blake mulling over past events and Travis being on trial for his life . The Blake brooding segment suffers down to the serious problem of realising the alien Zil convincingly . Likewise the concept of a planet taking on a Gia type of defence system that recognises sentient beings as a form of bacteria is impossible to achieve on the shows budget so the trial scenes work best though one wonders how much effective this episode would have worked if it'd be produced today with the shadow of Iraq in the background ?

Once again Boucher concentrates on the supporting characters with Trooper Par carrying much of the episode as he subtly states what it's like being a soldier in the Terran Federation . The actor playing him Kevin Loyyd is unrecognizable compared to his most famous role as Tosh Lines in THE BILL . The episode also features John Savidant best known as Fred Eliot from CORONATION STREET . Certainly the cast member with the short straw is Claire Lewis as the alien Zil . If you had Meryll Streep in the role she'd be hard pressed not to come across as something that's just walked in from an edition of PLAY SCHOOL

Travis in the dock, strong episode.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 8/10 · 24 July 2021]

Feeling a degree of guilt for Gan's death, Blake puts himself through a survival challenge on a very bizarre planet, meanwhile, Travis stands trial for the slaughter of innocent civilians.

I think that Trial is a cracking episode, it has many plus points, and only one or two negative points.

I am a little baffled as to why Blake feels the need to land on this planet single handedly, I'm not altogether sure it makes huge sense. I think the story is a little on the weak side, there are many better in this series, it may not be a super strong story, but what was done here, was done incredibly well.

Blake's story is a thoroughly interesting one, I love the ideas and concepts of that planet, very well imagined and realised, I like how surreal it is, and the character of Zil is very intriguing.

As good as Blake's story is, it is secondary to the excellent Travis story, a fascinating setup, and some brilliant characters. Good to learn that The Federation has a code.... of sorts.

Major Thania is a great character, another incredibly strong female character, one where you'd normally just assume a man would have been the natural choice at the time. She's almost like a Junior Servalan.

Lots of familiar faces to look out for here, including Peter Miles and John Savident. Trooper Par, aka Tosh from The Bill also good.

Enjoyed, 8/10.

Trial

[ametaphysicalshark · 4 July 2008]

"Trial" is an interesting episode following up on the events in "Pressure Point", with Servalan covering up for the incident at the Central Control computer complex by sending Space Commander Travis to certain death through a trial at the Federation headquarters. On the Liberator the crew find themselves deserted by Blake, who blames himself for Gan's death and teleports to a volcanic planet where he discovers that he is not alone.

Although the alien on the planet Blake teleports to is a bit rubbish the planet itself is nicely-realized and that side of the story is quite intriguing and entertaining. "Trial" is directed quite well by Derek Martinus, whose work on Doctor Who was generally of a high standard in my opinion. The less interesting portion of the episode is the Liberator crew discussing Blake's disappearance and its aftermath. The trial takes up a relatively short time but works nicely.

8/10

Had a science fiction idea

[bigfootmurf-72304 · 7/10 · 15 July 2020]

Although 'Trial' isn't brilliant it is a nice change of pace from standard action adventure with incompetent villains. Blake's reason for stranding himself is sort of believable on a human level and the planet itself was a good SF idea, if not wholly original. The alien was weird and interesting. The trial of Travis was well done too. Really this was two separate plots that intersected at the end. Different.