Terran Federation (Blake's 7)
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The Terran Federation, sometimes simply called The Federation, is the primary stellar government featured in the Blake's 7 science-fiction television series. It is portrayed as a ruthless, fascist, totalitarian state, and bears similarity to both the benevolent United Federation of Planets of the Star Trek universe, and the vile Galactic Empire of the Star Wars universe.
The Federation maintained control of its citizens through fear and in some cases brainwashing and mind control, the later brought about by the use of pacification drugs. The Federation's main seat of power is located on Earth, the capital world where most inhabitants serve with drug-induced loyalty. The Federation was supposedly commanded by the President of the High Council, (Supreme Commander Servalan), however it appeared that the members of the High Council were true leaders of the government and Servalan just a figurehead.
How the Federation came to power was never clearly stated in the series, through in the episode "Countdown" it was mentioned that it was formed some 200 years before the main rebel attack on "Control" (see below). The Federation primarily expanded its territory though conquest, enslaving weaker worlds and exploiting their resources to fuel the military. In other cases, the Federation would infiltrate more distant worlds where they would help a local tyrant achieve power. These puppet leaders would rule over their own planets, but under the constant shadow of the main Federation. How far the Federation's power spread was never clearly indicated either, as mentioned in the series there were many "neutral worlds" in existence.
Federation law was strict and punishment severe. Crimes were rated by category, for instance the unauthorized leaving of the main city complex was a Category-4 infraction. Category-9 crimes, such as child molestation, (as Roj Blake was accused of), was stated by the arbiter at Blake's trial as the most severe. In any case, criminals were commonly tried unfairly in Federation courts, where a list of mock charges were sometimes added to a defendant's original charge. Sentences were typically life imprisonment, torture and/or execution. Probably the worst fate would be "re-education" under the pacification programme. If the Federation saw use for keeping the criminal alive, they would undergo brainwashing in an attempt to reform them into content citizens and put them back into society as mindless slaves.
Religion of any form is also known to have been eradicated under Federation law. Possibly because of this, the Federation had changed the Earth's Gregorian calendar (the so-called "Old Calendar") to the "New Calendar" for date keeping. In the first episode "The Way Back" a date was given as "52.6.8" suggesting by the New Calendar the year was either 152 or 252. It is uncertain when the "New Calendar" was set in place, but it was possibly established at the founding of the Federation.
The Federation is the main adversary of Roj Blake, captain of the Liberator and the ad-hoc leader of a small group of rebels who oppose Federation rule. Blake - an outspoken rebel - was captured and tortured for spreading sedition. His family was also executed for his crimes, but instead of executing Blake, (and making a martyr of him) the Federation tried to brainwash him into a content citizen. Blake later overcame the brainwashing, remembered who he really was and what the Federation had done to him, and vowed to bring them down and free the galaxy.
The Federation maintains their power from a secret spacestation known as Star One, which is the nerve center of the military network. Although Star One is well defended, it is the Federation's "weak spot", for if it was ever destroyed, the Federation would break down and could be easily overthrown. Thus finding and destroying Star One was Blake's primary goal throughout the series. The Federation also has a duplicate control facility, simply called "Control" that Blake originally targeted, but found it was a decoy.
After the destruction of Star One the Federation fell apart. The start of the "Intergalactic War" began between the separated regimes still loyal to the Federation who fought against the alien armada from the Andromeda galaxy. As the war waned, the Federation began to reform by the end of the series.
| Blake's 7 |
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| Blake's 7 – The Television Series |
| History of Blake's 7 | List of Blake's 7 episodes | Blake's 7 actors |
| The Blake's 7 Universe |
| Terran Federation | Liberator | Scorpio | Planets |
| Roj Blake | Kerr Avon | Vila Restal | Jenna Stannis | Olag Gan | Cally | Zen | Orac | Dayna Mellanby | Del Tarrant | Soolin | Slave | Servalan | Travis |
