Right, it's the second attempt at this entry after an annoying laptop crash, so I'll try not to sound too pissed off. Which would be a shame, since we are again going back to the early days of BBC Video, which certainly isn't a bad place to be...
Yes, it's "The Robots of Death", which boasted rather a lot of robots, and rather a lot of death as well. (So much of the latter, in fact, that Uncle Terrance famously got a bit confused in the novelisation, and had a character appear in one scene who had been rather notably killed in a previous one).
Not so great in this shot, though. I've never been overly fond of it, and used to get rather upset whenever I saw it. Don't ask me why, I'm just not loving it and never have.
Now, that's much better. (Note Tom checking out the floor, and wondering why the Sandminer seems to harvest Sugar Puffs).
I seem to always end up banging on about design at this stage, so it won't be a great surprise that I'm going to do it again. So, Serial 4R is another one of those stories where everyone basically does their jobs bloody well, and all elements get masterfully co-ordinated to produce a uniquely stunning whole.
Mind you, what with the initial Blake's 7 VHS compilation tapes that were released at a similar time to this story, callow young types like myself could possibly be excused in believing that all late '70s TV was written by Chris Boucher and scored by Dudley Simpson...
Much used to written on Russell Hunter's appearance as Commander Uvanov, yet I don't recall seeing any photos of him in this capacity, back in the day. That honour went to David Collings, who seemed to be getting a fair bit of exposure at the time, looking back. (Mind you, in "Revenge of the Cybermen" and "Mawdryn Undead" he was hardly very recognisable).
What? More robots, you say? Yes let's have some more robots...
And another like the one at the top, but from a different angle...
Although commentators have widely discussed the homages to novelist Agatha Christie embedded in the plot structure and subsequently evident in the design, I'm happy to report that the production team found room for the inclusion of a hooded genocidal terrorist.
But the defining shot for me is the one below. Another source photo for a classic Target cover, and although the novelisation was a bit of a disappointment, I still remember the childhood day when I purchased it from Sokells and eagerly devoured it in one sitting.
Happy times and places, indeed...
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