Blakes 7, Countdown: Blake & Avon Script Fragments

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Blakes 7
Script Fragments

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Hostage

Countdown

Voice from the Past

Blake comes to Albian to find Space Major Provine who supposedly knows the real location of Central Control, now called Star One. But the bomb that kept Albian's population under control has been triggered, and it's up to Avon to help defuse the bomb. But the person he has to work with is the brother of Avon's dead lover, Anna Grant. The brother blames Avon for having left his sister behind to be tortured and killed. While they attempt to defuse the bomb, Avon explains that they were betrayed, and that he was unconscious and couldn't do anything for Anna. Blake is fascinating in this episode, watching Avon and Grant very closely and, when it looks like the bomb will go off, staying on the planet and trusting Avon to defuse it.


Blake:	You mean you hired a mercenary?
Cauder:	Yes. He organized the revolution on the planet Arcos. Others before that. He had a good record. I made contact. He agreed to help, but demanded a very substantial sum.
Avon:	Mercenaries generally do.
Cauder:	No, I think the price was to satisfy his ego - to prove he's the best in his field.
Blake:	He's certainly very good at his job to get your men in here. Where is he?
Cauder:	He should be back. I'll fetch him.
Blake:	Oh, what's his name?
Cauder:	Grant. Del Grant.
.	[Avon drops his tool]
Blake:	What's the matter?
Avon:	Nothing, it's not important. I was a little surprised, that's all.
Blake:	Why? Do you know him?
Avon:	I once knew somebody called Del Grant, but it was a long time ago. I doubt that this is the same man.
Blake:	You don't seem very eager to find out. Why?
Avon:	There are matters that remain to be settled between us.
Blake:	Like what?
Avon:	I told you: it's not important.
Blake:	If it is not important, then why did his name have such a strong effect upon you?
Avon:	Because the Del Grant that I knew said that if we ever met again, he would kill me.
.	...

Avon:	Hello, Del, it's been a long time.
Grant:	I heard you were dead.
Avon:	I heard the same about you. Wishful thinking perhaps.
Grant:	I'm glad the stories were wrong. I felt cheated. We have some things to settle.
Blake:	You two can talk about the old days some other time. Right now we have a problem that's just a little more pressing.
.	...

Avon:	That last day, when it was all over, did they hurt her?
.	[Blake walks by in the background, noticing them talking]
Grant:	They kept her under interrogation for nearly a week. They tried everything but she never broke. If she'd spoken - told them what they wanted to know - she'd be alive now.
Avon:	She should have told them.
.	[Blake starts to walk by in the other direction, then stops and watches them talking]
Grant:	She held on because she believed in you. She didn't know that you'd run out and leave her to face it alone.
Avon:	That was not the way it was.
Grant:	I know exactly how it was. She died under federation torture, but it was you who killed her.
.	...

.	...
Grant:	I'll come with you.
Avon:	No.
Grant:	I can help.
Blake:	[standing beetween them] Look, I don't know exactly what it is between you, but there's enough danger without letting personal grudges interfere.
Grant:	That's something we can settle in our own time. Cauder, what matters now is that I can give this man backup. I've worked with timing devices; I know the mechanisms.
Blake:	Alright, it's your decision, Avon. Do you want him?
Avon:	Give him a bracelet.
Blake:	Vila. [agreeing to the bracelet] Just one thing. If that countdown goes below fifty, and the device is still primed, you will be teleported out. Vila and I'll do the same.
Avon:	Understood.
Blake:	Jenna, Cally, prepare thermal equipment. Stand by to teleport. Avon's coming up. [stops Grant with a hand to his chest, his tone menacing] One more thing. If anything happens to Avon, I will come looking for you.
.	...

Grant:	There's one thing I never understood. Why did you leave her alone?
Avon:	I'd arranged to buy some exit visas, but I had to go right across the city to collect them. It was safer for Anna to stay out of sight. Separator.
Grant:	What happened then?
Avon:	There were patrols out everywhere looking for us. I was late at the rendezvous, and then the man from whom I was buying the visas increased the price. He wanted ten times what we had agreed. He said he could get even more if he turned me in, and collected the federation reward.
Grant:	You should've killed him.
Avon:	I did. Link clamp.
Grant:	So you got the visas. Why didn't you go back for her?
Avon:	Killing the dealer wasn't quite so straightforward. He was expecting something and fired first. I started back, but I was losing a lot of blood. Somewhere along the way I passed out. I was lucky. Some people found me and got me under cover.
Grant:	You could have got a message to her, told her to get out.
Avon:	I was unconscious for more than thirty hours. I need to hold this flap back. Get your hand in here. That's good. You can get at the main now.
Grant:	You used the visa, and got out of the city. You left her there.
Avon:	That's right, but that was a week later. Anna was already dead.
Grant:	You're lying. You left the city the same day, before the federation found Anna. You could have got her out.
Avon:	No, she came looking for me. The patrols found her. It was only after we got word that she was dead that I left.
Grant:	You expect me to believe that?
Avon:	Not particularly, but it happens to be the truth. If there had ever been a time when I could have given my own life to save her, I would have done it. The only grain of consolation that I have is that Anna knew that.
Grant:	She died because of you, that's all that matters. There's nothing changed between us.
Avon:	I didn't really expect that it would be.
.	...

Grant:	63. Can we do it?
Avon:	It's still possible.
Grant:	Blake said he'd pull us out at 50. We won't do it in that time.
Avon:	Are you willing to chance it?
Grant:	That's what these people are paying me for.
Avon:	Then give me your bracelet. [Avon takes both teleport bracelets and throw them away] Now he can't pull us out, can he? Right.
.	...

Blake:	Liberator, this is Blake. Do you read me?
Jenna:	We hear you.
Blake:	Any news from Avon?
Jenna:	There's been no word at all.
Blake:	Alright, teleport them up. We dropped under the safety margin I gave him.
Jenna:	We can't.
Blake:	What do you mean?
Jenna:	We can't make teleport contact.
Blake:	[to rebellion leader] They must have taken their bracelets off. Alright, remain on standby. We'll stay down here a little while longer.
.	...

Vila:	39, 38, 37. Blake.
Cauder:	Blake, go, leave us.
Vila:	Blake.
.	[Vila is about to call for teleport but Blake stops him.]
.	...

.	[back on the Liberator after Avon defuses the bomb in time]
Blake:	You gonna tell me about Anna?
Avon:	You wouldn't understand.
Blake:	Wouldn't I?
Avon:	I doubt it.
.	[Avon leaves teleport area as Blake leans on cart and smiles]
.	...

BLAKES 7 EPISODE DVDs
The Blakes 7 episodes are available in PAL DVDs through Amazon.com UK. For people in the US, these DVDs will play on your computer, but NOT on your TV. The only safe way to play them on your computer is in an external DVD player devoted ONLY to PAL DVDs. When you put a DVD into a DVD drive, it's able to tell whether the DVD is PAL or NTSC (US standard) and play the DVD correctly. But it will ONLY SWITCH BACK AND FORTH something like 7 times. After that, it stays on whatever was played in it last. So if you only have a single DVD player, you could get it stuck being ONLY able to play PAL DVDs. But you're safe if you attach an extra DVD player to your computer and use it exclusively for PAL DVDs.