Blake's 7: Zen - Escape Velocity

Ever wondered what happened to the Liberator before Blake and his rebel crew took command? Well I like many others have certainly wanted to know and this title attempts to piece together possible events leading up to it being abandoned in deep space ready for the Federation convict ship London to find it. It seems a little bit confused early on with The System (those whom created the ship) questioning Zen about a past association with our heroes whom named him and the ship which makes you wonder just how this fits into the established chronology of the series. Unwilling to accept the familiarity of a name the technicians refer to Zen as Shipmind 5393 which they believe is merely wounded. We find the ship (back with the original designation of DS2) is docked at Outpost 6 in the Spinwood Rim and it is here that the story presents us with our two main characters. There are no personal names used instead as befitting members of The System (memories of the Season 2 opening TV story… more »

Ever wondered what happened to the Liberator before Blake and his rebel crew took command? Well I like many others have certainly wanted to know and this title attempts to piece together possible events leading up to it being abandoned in deep space ready for the Federation convict ship London to find it. It seems a little bit confused early on with The System (those whom created the ship) questioning Zen about a past association with our heroes whom named him and the ship which makes you wonder just how this fits into the established chronology of the series. Unwilling to accept the familiarity of a name the technicians refer to Zen as Shipmind 5393 which they believe is merely wounded. We find the ship (back with the original designation of DS2) is docked at Outpost 6 in the Spinwood Rim and it is here that the story presents us with our two main characters. There are no personal names used instead as befitting members of The System (memories of the Season 2 opening TV story REDEMPTION with the emotionless Alta One and Two come to mind) they are merely known as Pilot and Healer. Atypically they are quite expressive about the events they are involved in but (and I certainly would not spoil it for you) this will become clear at the end of the story. Fans of the new series of Doctor Who will notice amongst the cast members Tracy-Ann Oberman whom appeared in the Season Two finale Army of Ghosts-Doomsday as the ultimately doomed director of the Torchwood Institute based in Canary Wharf. Initial timeframe placing problems aside Escape Velocity is a very enjoyable and dramatically engaging piece of audio drama which in particular comes alive in the sixth chapter called Conflict where DS2 joins other DS craft in a major space battle. Despite its fairly minimal running time of about 56 mins (plus just under 5 mins of an incidental music track) this is satisfyingly detailed in the narrative it covers and it is certainly a pleasing and well worth acquiring new audio title from the ever expanding Early Years range (I think there will probably be at some point another two or three to complete the collection) offered by B7 Media.