Liberator (Blake's 7)
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| Liberator | |
|---|---|
 Liberator AKA DSV2 |
|
| First appearance | "Space Fall" |
| Last appearance | "Terminal" |
| General Characteristics | |
| Armaments | Neutron blast cannons Plasma bolts "seeker" missiles |
| Defences | Herculanium hull Force Wall |
The spaceship Liberator is a fictional starship featured in the first three seasons of the BBC television series Blake's 7.
The ship was originally built by The System, where it was referred to as Deep Space Vehicle 2 (DSV2), a designation suggesting it was specifically designed for long-range forays outside the territory controlled by The System. It had at least one sister ship, which was destroyed by Orac in the episode "Redemption". The ship was controlled by an advanced AI computer calling itself Zen, although it is not clear whether this was its official name under The System, or whether Zen later chose this name for itself.
After being involved in a space battle (of which no further details are known), DSV2 was apparently abandoned by its crew and left derelict in space, where it was encountered by the Federation prison ship London. The captain of the London decided to try and salvage the ship, but the first few crewmembers sent in were killed or disabled by DSV2's automated defence systems. At the suggestion of his second-in-command, the London's captain then ordered his prisoners Roj Blake, Kerr Avon, and Jenna Stannis to enter the ship. These three succeeded in taking control of the ship and making good their escape.
The name Liberator was then applied to the ship by Zen based on a telepathic suggestion by Jenna. Blake proceeded to use Liberator's superior technical abilities in his bid to attack and defeat the Federation until he disappeared during the battle of Star One. Avon then took over command of the Liberator and continued to harass the Federation until Liberator was destroyed after passing through a cloud of corrosive micro-organisms in the third season final episode Terminal.
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[edit] Systems and equipment
[edit] Offensive and defensive systems
Liberator was armed with three powerful neutron blast cannons as its main armament. The weapons were so powerful that a radiation flare shield had to be raised before activation to protect the crew and most targets were vaporized with a single hit. The ship could also fire plasma bolts and a salvo of "seeker" missiles which could decimate planetside ground targets. Liberator's hull was comprised of pure herculanium which was impervious to almost all but the heaviest weapon fire. Liberator could easily withstand the assault of several warships before taking serious damage.
Using technology on board the Liberator, Avon developed a practical "detector shield" for the ship by the episode "Trial". The shield made Liberator effectively invisible to any sensors save for a close range visual scan, allowing her to make a daring attack on the Federation's military headquarters space station causing localized, but extensive damage before the defending ships could respond.
The Federation by the time of "Hostage" had apparently copied the idea in at least a limited form, using it to launch a massive attack on the Liberator with upwards of twenty pursuit ships. Liberator was pounded with at least ten plasma bolts in rapid succession, but her superior speed let her break out of their attack pattern and retreat, albeit with severe damage to her defenses. The Liberator was also equipped with a defensive "force wall" capability, but its usage resulted in a heavy drain on the energy banks (as did the use of the neutron blasters).
[edit] Control systems
Zen was Liberator's main computer which had master control over all of the ship's functions. Zen typically relayed ship status and information from the detector arrays, and contained a vast archive of navigational data. Zen was normally voice activated, but he could also gather information by telepathy and frequently read the minds of the crew; sometimes confirming an order or agreeing to a crew member's decision before that individual opened their mouth. Zen however, was less than helpful at times and frequently disobeyed orders, usually giving the "silent treatment" when he disagreed with the crew's commands.
If need be, Zen could be overridden on certain functions. However, because Liberator was such a complex ship, without Zen's precise balance, the ship could easily go out of control. Orac had the ability to take over computers with processors called "tarial cells", and he was able to take control of Zen, suggesting Zen used similar devices. Orac was also essential in deleting the System's "root access" to Zen and the Liberator's computers, which had been used to retake the Liberator for a short time.
[edit] Teleporter
The ship was also equipped with a valuable matter teleportation system (similarly used like the transporters in the Star Trek series), a technology which the Federation was trying to develop on their own without success. Blake indicated that the device sends matter along energy signals similar to radio waves. Little was known about the technology itself which even Orac had dismissed as "impossible" despite witnessing its function numerous times.
The teleporter system was located in a small room and consisted of a slightly elevated platform and a large control console for setting teleport coordinates and activating the system. The teleport created a shimmering effect on the subject which quickly faded away. Teleported personnel had to wear a bracelet device to leave and return to the ship. The bracelets also served as communicators and contained a material called Aquitar (or "something similar" as indicated by Blake), which was believed to be necessary for the teleport to function.
Although Servalan had captured some of these bracelets, the teleport required the machinery aboard the Liberator to function. Likewise, unworn bracelets will not teleport without being attached to someone. There were at least twenty bracelets on the Liberator, and eleven of them were lost, destroyed or damaged throughout the series. However, the Liberator was evidently capable of creating more, as a full bank of 28 bracelets was shown in Redemption. The teleporter signal could be blocked by energy screens and electronic jamming equipment. Usually the signal simply had to be adjusted outside the frequencies of such devices in order to get through.
[edit] Power and drive systems
The ship supposedly had a continuously self-regenerating power supply that would last forever without the need of fuel. However, if the ship operated with every system activated it would drain the power supply down within two hours causing shut down until sufficient power was recharged. The ship could repair itself when damaged. During such critical repair times, Zen would prioritize the survival of the Liberator over the well-being of the crew, going so far as to deactivate life support in order to reroute power to repair devices. The auto-repair systems themselves would even attack anyone trying to keep them from their work.
Liberator's main drive consisted of a dimensional engine with ultralight speed capability measured on the Federation's standard "Time Distort" scale. Liberator's alien control systems however, measured its speed on a different scale that was never specifically compared to that used by the Federation. Cally believed the ship could easily achieve a velocity of "Standard 12" (or TD-12) and was considered one of the fastest ships in the galaxy. In the episode "Hostage", Liberator engaged with a fleet of Federation ships was observed accelerating away at a speed of TD-20. The fastest known Federation pursuit ships of the Starburst class had a known maximum (emergency) speed of TD-10 and the Liberator could easily outrun them. TD-6 became the Liberator's standard cruising speed in deep space. Speeds of less than TD-0 were considered sub-light speeds.
[edit] Crew equipment and amenities
Personal weapons were also available aboard the ship. A weapon locker on the flight deck contained alien designed laser weapons and recharge equipment. The weapon locker would only allow a character to handle one weapon at a time. If they tried to grab a second while already equipped with one, the handle of the second weapon would become too hot to touch (although once removed from the locker, weapons could be handed to other crew members without this effect occurring).
Liberator could function as a self-contained habitat, and carried enough food supplies to last a crew 1000 "human" years. The ship also recycled waste with 100% efficiency. It had at least five cargo holds plus a vast "strongroom" vault containing enough riches equal to 300 million Federation Credits. Other areas contained a landing bay and hangar, an advanced surgical bay with resuscitation capsules, and a vast wardrobe filled with human-tailored outfits. The ship was also equipped with numerous emergency life capsules (aka escape pods); however, many of them had been launched by its previous crew prior to Blake's team taking possession of the ship.
[edit] Production design
The Liberator was, unusually for the time, not designed by a model or special effects unit but by the set designer Roger Murray-Leach, who also designed the interior. Ian Scoones, the special effects supervisor, contracted the building of the models to Space Models in Feltham. Martin Bower then added detail once these were complete. Two models were built: one 3 feet long and one just 20 inches (for long shots).
It has been claimed that Murray-Leach based the general shape of the Liberator's main hull on that of a cordless microphone, adding the three nacelles to disguise its shape. This may have contributed to the common but apparently unfounded rumour in Blake's 7 fandom that the Liberator was originally intended to face the other way, flying with its "engine" section (the business end of the original microphone) facing forward.
[edit] Models
There have been several commercially produced models of the Liberator:
- Corgi produced two versions (one white and one blue, though the latter was not labelled as Liberator) in 1978. The white version was re-released packaged with a limited edition of the region 2 DVD set of Blake's 7 series three in 2005.
- Comet Miniatures produced two versions of a plastic assembly kit (white (1988) and transparent (1999)).
- Titan Find produced an assembly kit in 2005 (14 inches in length) which was made for sale in America and has limited distribution in Europe.
| Blake's 7 |
|---|
| 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 | Intergalacic War |
| Roj Blake | Kerr Avon | Vila Restal | Jenna Stannis | Olag Gan | Cally | Zen | Orac | Dayna Mellanby | Del Tarrant | Soolin | Slave | Servalan | Travis |
