Servalan allows Jarvik , a former associate of Tarrant to hatch a plan to capture The Liberator , a plan that is met with great success . The Liberator crew find themselves marooned on the Planet Kairos , a planet that has a short harvest period where the Federation exploit a naturally occurring crystal . Unfortunately any expedition staying on the planet after this short period disappear never to be seen again and the harvesting period has just ended
It's becoming very clear by now that Season three of BLAKES 7 is by the far the worst produced . Where as the tail end of season one was rather boring and insipid it was never painfully bad and Terry Nation could defend himself by stating that he was overworked and in fairness to Nation he at least knew what the show was about . This season however is totally aimless any suggestion that it might involve a futile search for Roj Blake has been totally forgotten about as is the pyrhic victory over the Andromedans that has left the Terran Federation in ruins . One wonders if the production team were aware that season two's running theme of Blake's quest to locate and destroy Star One might have alienated a potential audience and have instead concentrated on totally stand alone disposable episodes ? Regardless you get the feeling this season is going nowhere
The Harvest Of Kairos sees another débutant writer for the show Ben Steed who like every other writer on the show not called Nation or Boucher doesn't really understand the quirky unique character of the show but to give Steed his due it is a very entertaining episode , perhaps not due anything intentional but it's still very entertaining . This is mainly due to a terribly dated and sexist attitude running through the episode which might have been bad enough in 1980 but watching in 2013 comes close to car crash television . You'll hate yourself for loving this episode but love is never having to say you're sorry . Andrew Burt as Jarvik plays the role in much the same way as a porn star would play Tarzan and I kept expecting him to swing through some trees with Servalan tucked under his arm . We also get to see one of those sadistic scenes of poetic justice where a Federation trooper sneers to some miners who are going to be left behind to die on Kairos only to have the smug smile wiped off his face as he turns round to see the mining ship leave without him
Of course sexism and sadism can be justified on the grounds that firstly it's only a television programme and secondly it's very entertaining . Some of the aspects of the episode can't be justified on the grounds that they're cheating the audience while failing to entertain them . Much the plotting relies totally on unlikely contrived elements . It's very convient that Jarvik and Tarrant know each other . Likewise Avon having a rock like life form at hand called Sopron which is a get out of jail free card. It's not a leftfield plot device because Avon possessed it earlier in the episode . In fact all Avon really does in the episode droll over the Sopron and explains its mysterious qualities , again , and again and again especially if it ties in with a long abandoned space capsule that's just been left lying around Kairos . This foreshadowing becomes so laboured you're left thinking the entire script might have been written backwards and Steed is a precursor to Christopher Nolan
Once seen The Harvest Of Kairos will burn itself upon your memory for the rest of your life . It contains the one of the most daft looking monsters BBC television has ever produced , is full of a misogynistic subtext and is this is reflected in the outrageous dialogue and yet - or because - of this it's impossible to hate . It'a very entertaining which is not something you can say about several episodes this season
It's becoming very clear by now that Season three of BLAKES 7 is by the far the worst produced . Where as the tail end of season one was rather boring and insipid it was never painfully bad and Terry Nation could defend himself by stating that he was overworked and in fairness to Nation he at least knew what the show was about . This season however is totally aimless any suggestion that it might involve a futile search for Roj Blake has been totally forgotten about as is the pyrhic victory over the Andromedans that has left the Terran Federation in ruins . One wonders if the production team were aware that season two's running theme of Blake's quest to locate and destroy Star One might have alienated a potential audience and have instead concentrated on totally stand alone disposable episodes ? Regardless you get the feeling this season is going nowhere
The Harvest Of Kairos sees another débutant writer for the show Ben Steed who like every other writer on the show not called Nation or Boucher doesn't really understand the quirky unique character of the show but to give Steed his due it is a very entertaining episode , perhaps not due anything intentional but it's still very entertaining . This is mainly due to a terribly dated and sexist attitude running through the episode which might have been bad enough in 1980 but watching in 2013 comes close to car crash television . You'll hate yourself for loving this episode but love is never having to say you're sorry . Andrew Burt as Jarvik plays the role in much the same way as a porn star would play Tarzan and I kept expecting him to swing through some trees with Servalan tucked under his arm . We also get to see one of those sadistic scenes of poetic justice where a Federation trooper sneers to some miners who are going to be left behind to die on Kairos only to have the smug smile wiped off his face as he turns round to see the mining ship leave without him
Of course sexism and sadism can be justified on the grounds that firstly it's only a television programme and secondly it's very entertaining . Some of the aspects of the episode can't be justified on the grounds that they're cheating the audience while failing to entertain them . Much the plotting relies totally on unlikely contrived elements . It's very convient that Jarvik and Tarrant know each other . Likewise Avon having a rock like life form at hand called Sopron which is a get out of jail free card. It's not a leftfield plot device because Avon possessed it earlier in the episode . In fact all Avon really does in the episode droll over the Sopron and explains its mysterious qualities , again , and again and again especially if it ties in with a long abandoned space capsule that's just been left lying around Kairos . This foreshadowing becomes so laboured you're left thinking the entire script might have been written backwards and Steed is a precursor to Christopher Nolan
Once seen The Harvest Of Kairos will burn itself upon your memory for the rest of your life . It contains the one of the most daft looking monsters BBC television has ever produced , is full of a misogynistic subtext and is this is reflected in the outrageous dialogue and yet - or because - of this it's impossible to hate . It'a very entertaining which is not something you can say about several episodes this season
