Blake and his band of would-be dictatorship-toppling cohorts returned to the BBC’s airwaves in January 1979 as a bona fide hit. This meant that they could finally throw off their low-budget shackles a bit – though a lot of the money seems to have gone to June Hudson’s extravagant costume design, dressing many of the cast in head-to-toe leather – and for the first time, writers other than series creator Terry Nation had a chance to guide the Liberator crew’s adventures. (more…)

featuring the episodes Spock’s Brain and Is There In Truth No Beauty?

If there’s anything the fans wanted from another season of Star Trek, it was more Spock…but for Pete’s sake, did they want to get it like this? Perhaps the ultimate low point of the entire original series in the eyes of fandom (though personally, I thought there were worse episodes than this by far), Spock’s Brain has the venerable Vulcan in nearly every scene – well, okay, his magically-lobotomized body, at any rate. (more…)

featuring the episodes Fire & Water, May, Gametown and Boomtown

Kicking off a season-long story arc, although spread out across a shorter-than-usual season, this first volume of Lexx’s third season kicks some apple carts over early in the proceedings, and doing something typically Lexx in picking up the story several thousand years after the end of the last season. Fire & Water sets the stage for the season by introducing Nigel Bennett as the formidable villain Prince (hey, at least he’s not The Villain Formerly Known As Prince), and serving up a flashback to explain why our unlikely heroes have been out of commission for so long. (more…)