Welcome to the tenth episode of Down and Safe (tenth! That’s double figures, people!), where Michael, Liz, Scott, and Amal discuss Bounty, the eleventh episode of Blake’s 7 wherein we do absolutely definitely eventually get around to discussing the episode, I promise, but there’s a slight detour via Doctor Who on the way (you should see what I had to cut about Harry Potter…and Dune…and Clement Attlee.)
As well as a new episode, we’re also launching our Patreon, where listeners can support the podcast, and if we hit some goals, there’ll be extra content for all. Please do take a look.
This is a useful reminder that this podcast is very probably not safe for work, and may contain mild spoilers for the rest of the Blake’s 7 series throughout the episde (we keep major spoilers to a spoiler section of the podcast that we give warning is going to be particularly spoilery.)
Download Episode 10 or listen now:
Down and Safe 
The title of the episode also has a confectionary connection, it’s the name of a chocolate covered bar with a coconut filling.
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Another great episode! As I’m re-watching along with you, I was struck by how much Bounty feels like it was written by two different people who’d had a huge row and were now writing in separate rooms and not speaking to each other.
Also, Vila and Avon sum up the internet:
Vila: I’m entitled to my opinion.
Avon: It is your assumption that we are entitled to it as well that is irritating.
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Hey š Wanted to say, I really enjoy this podcast. Both generally, and this particular episode.
I have to say, out of the entire run of episodes of Blake’s 7, Bounty is the only one I positively do not like to watch. I think I almost considered skipping it entirely, a few years ago when I was doing a re-watch to introduce it to my S.O. I found the ethnic stereotype so intensely grating, I actually didn’t remember the A plot clearly until you guys discussed it again. (And even then, the silliness of that rope they end up using is the big thing that sticks in my head.) And on top of that, I don’t know if I just didn’t look closely enough but I always assumed the “Space Arabs” had to be white guys in blackface makeup.
To the political discussion in the podcast: doubtless there are fans that will complain about it, but I’m glad it was there. (Though of course, I tend to agree with what Amal said so that’s probably a factor in my enjoying it). British (and one might hope, Canadian and Australian) TV has, I think, gotten a lot better about this, but the whole “Space Arabs” thing reminded me rather painfully of what large swaths of American TV has been and continues to be. And not just the entertainment channels…
There is a rather glaring unintentional irony to have an episode that positions itself to critique colonialism, and then proceeds to drown the point it’s making in awful (and frankly, racist) stereotyping. I’d like to imagine how much better this episode would be, if the pairs of actors for the space pirates and the governor and his offspring were swapped (particularly, without any sort of costume change.)
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The B7 Appreciation Society had a group outing to the Bounty location (Quex Park, Kent, UK) earlier this year. See forum thread (and scroll down) for present day pics compared with screen grabs from the episode:
http://www.blakes7online.com/forum/viewthread.php?thread_id=413&rowstart=100
NB The owners don’t like Waterloo Tower being called a ‘folly’ – it’s a 19th-century 12-bell tower, unique among secular bell towers for its size and location, and of which they’re very proud.
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I love you guyz! I was maybe a little skeptical after the first one but you’ve really grown on me… please don’t miss any more entries!
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By coincidence, “Professor President Zarkoff Zaroff” is what I’m planning on naming my first-born.
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When the crew are in the cooler and Jenna visits them, she audibly nudges with her foot, the pile of their handcuffs that they have removed and left on the floor… and says “I’m glad to see you’re behaving yourselves.” Obviously they have her approval in trying to escape and take back the ship and she’s really on their side. Could Blake have been the only one who noticed that? Odd.
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