Liberator (Blake's 7)

Infobox Fictional Spacecraft
name = "Liberator"

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caption = "Liberator" AKA DSV2
first = "Space Fall"
last = "Terminal"
status =
fighters =
auxcraft =
armaments = Neutron blast cannons
Plasma bolts
"seeker" missiles
defense = Herculanium hull
Force Wall
propulsion =
power =
length =
width =
height =
mass =

The spaceship "Liberator" is a fictional starship featured in the first three seasons of the BBC television series "Blake's 7".

Background

The "Liberator" was a deep space battle cruiser, equipped with powerful weapons, force field protection, and a system of "battle computers". The ship was originally built by a race of beings known as "The System". The System referred to the ship as "DSV2" ("Deep Space Vehicle 2"), a designation that suggests it was specifically designed for long-range forays outside the territory controlled by The System, and confirming more than one such ship had ever been made. 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 the computer's official name under The System, or whether Zen later chose this name for itself. During the episode "Redemption" the System's controllers, (referred to as "Altas"), had boarded the ship and also referred to the computer as Zen. It was never clarified if the sister ship that Roj Blake encountered was "DSV1".

"DSV2" first appeared in the series after it was involved in a space battle, (of which no further details were ever given), and apparently abandoned by its crew as a result of severe battle damage. It was demonstrated later in the series that temporary abandonment of the ship may be necessary until the auto-repair systems can restore life support after serious damage. "DSV2" was encountered by the Federation prison ship "London". The captain of the "London" decided to try to salvage the ship, but the first few crew members 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 the 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".

Systems and equipment

Control systems

"Liberator" was controlled, by and large, by the computer system called "Zen". Zen had master control over all of the ship's functions and acted as a coordinating central point for the crew on board. 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 it could also gather information via telepathy, although it only used this latter ability after it had read Jenna's mind (when she touched a control console for the first time, as part of its internal defence system). Zen however, could be less than helpful at times and usually gave the "silent treatment" if it disagreed with the crew's commands or attitudes.

If need be, Zen could be overridden on certain functions, however because the "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 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. Throughout its life, Zen never made reference to itself in the first person until it was failing under the corrosion onslaught in "Terminal" in which its last words were "I have failed you. I am sorry. I ..."

Offensive and defensive systems

"Liberator" was armed with three powerful neutron blaster cannons with one cannon mounted at the end of each of the three nacelles (turrets or pylons). 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 planet-side ground targets. "Liberator's" hull was covered with a material called "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. Herculanium was explained as an alloy, but also referenced as an element.

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 Blake to make a daring attack on the Federation's military headquarters space station causing extensive damage before the defending ships could respond.

By the time of episode "Hostage", The Federation had apparently copied Avon's idea, (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 defences. 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 extensive use of the neutron blasters).

ecurity system

"Liberator" was protected by a telepathic security system which was the first device encountered by Blake, Jenna and Avon before they could take control of the ship. Seen used on the flight deck, the system projected a mental image of someone the target trusted, or loved. In Blake's case, he saw members of his murdered family and friends. In creating the images, the system attempted to lure the target closer to a deadly sphere of energy. Blake remembered that his family was executed and didn't believe what he was seeing. As a result, he blasted the images with his weapon which disabled the security system. Prior to this, the system managed to kill almost all the "London" crew sent aboard to seize the ship.

Teleport

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.

The teleport 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 teleport 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.

Although the "Liberator" had a hangar bay, she carried no shuttle craft and appeared unable to land which made the teleport a necessary piece of equipment. The closest evidence of the ship ever "landing" was "Dawn of the Gods" in which it was gravitationally held on an artificial floor by the being called Tharn who sought to drain the ship of herculanium alloy for his gravity generator. The "Liberator" was properly docked when recovered by the System within a hangar in "Redemption". The third closest landing was in "Ultraworld" where the ship was conveyed into a hanger and restrained by huge metal bars interlocking between the nacelles and the main hull. The "Liberators"'s power was sufficient to break out of this restraint and escape.

There is no evidence that she successfully landed or took off from a planetary surface.

Power and drive systems

"Liberator" has a continuously recharging power supply that supposedly 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; speeds were always stated in the form "standard by...", followed by the relevant number to multiply the "standard" "Liberator" speed by. It was never specified in the series what the "standard" speed was. In "Space Fall" when the new crew tell Zen they want a course for Cygnus Alpha, and Zen asks for the speed, Blake's answer is half a question. "Standard?"

The Federation used a "time distort" scale, but this term was never a term used by Zen or the "Liberator's" crew. Cally believed the ship could easily achieve a velocity of "standard by 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. Standard by 6 became the "Liberator's" standard cruising speed in deep space. Speeds of less than TD-0 were considered sub-light speeds.

It appears that the Time Distort scale was exponential so that 'Standard by 12' equalling TD-20 would have been far in excess of double TD-10.

Crew equipment and amenities

Personal weapons were also available aboard the ship. A weapons 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). This heat effect also prevented the crew from arming themselves for defense against the ship being seized by The System in "Redemption".

"Liberator" could function as a self-contained habitat and carried enough food supplies to last one "human" a thousand years, as Avon learned when he was contemplating stealing the ship for himself and going into hiding. The ship also recycled waste with 100% efficiency.

"Liberator" had at least five cargo holds plus a vast "strongroom" vault containing riches estimated (by Avon) to equal 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 rockets" (aka escape pods); however, many of them had been launched by its previous crew prior to Blake's team taking possession of the ship. The number and positioning of these pods suggests that many had been replaced by the auto-repair system.

Although the crew of six people with help of Zen were able to operate the ship, the full stock of 28 teleport bracelets and the available number of handguns along with the sheer size of the ship (it could be resolved in low orbit by the naked eye from the ground) suggests the "Liberator" was intended to carry a much larger crew--that number remains unknown.

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, Middlesex. 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. Another story is that the domes were shaped to be reminiscent of a Persian mosque when the spacecraft was stood on end, thus enhancing its exotic appearance to western audiences.

The green globe that served as the engine in the original production drawing was egg shaped but was redesigned as a sphere because the power of the internal light to make the engine pulsate would melt the globe, and a sphere was faster to reproduce than the egg shape.

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.