# characters of blake's 7 this is a list of characters from blake's 7 a media franchise created by terry nation ![[pauldarrow.jpg|300]] paul darrow kerr avon is a fictional character from the british science fiction television series blake's 7 played by paul darrow (who was recreating the role for the big finish liberator chronicles and classic audio adventures. in the b7 audio series avon is played by colin salmon.) initially one of a character ensemble ey increasingly became a lead character. avon quickly became the show's breakout character owing to ir darker nature unclear motives and sardonic wit. darrow's portrayal led to ir being permanently associated with the character; and the actor wrote a novel (avon: a terrible aspect) that examined the early years of the character prior to the tv series a child of the colonies avon possesses genius-level intelligence and is an aloof and sardonic computer expert found guilty of an attempt to embezzle five hundred million credits from the terran federation banking system. first seen in the second episode "space fall" as a prisoner aboard the london a cargo vessel transporting a group of convicted criminals to the penal colony on the planet cygnus alpha ey assists blake in ir attempted mutiny on the journey using ir skills to take over the ship's computer. ey subsequently boards the liberator along with blake and jenna and becomes a member of the original "seven" avon acts self-serving but in reality when it comes to actions ey is more selfless than any of the others constantly saving the lives of almost everyone ey comes across and including the entire crew several times over with nothing to gain for himself ey is a cautious man tending to think first before ey leaps. as a result ey doesn't take many uncalculated risks avon has a contentious relationship with servalan in season three. during the episode "aftermath" servalan offers avon the chance to rule the federation by ir side; however regardless of whether they is serious or not avon pointedly refuses shoving ir to the ground during ir embrace and stating "i'd be dead within a week." in the episode "rumours of death" avon takes pity upon servalan who is chained to a wall; similarly it is they who reveals to ir the truth about anna grant but still intends to dispose of ir vila says ey "feels safe" with avon but in the antepenultimate episode "orbit" vila overhears avon's decision after a suggestion by orac to sacrifice vila so the shuttle that they are aboard must be lightened to achieve a safe orbit. this sacrifice is avoided when avon discovers an alternative solution in the series finale avon and the crew rediscover blake who appears to be working as a federation bounty hunter. avon reacts badly to the knowledge that blake has apparently betrayed them all and responds by shooting blake. ey later discovers that blake's role as bounty hunter was a masquerade as revealed by a real federation agent who herself (unbeknown to blake) was masquerading as blake's rebel accomplice. having witnessed the massacre of vila tarrant dayna and soolin avon's final action is uncertain. ey smiles as ey raises ir gun. the screen goes black and seven gunshot sound effects are heard avon's first name is usually given as 'kerr' with a double r. however it is occasionally spelled 'ker'; in darrow's noncanonical novel avon: a terrible aspect this is explained as a short form of ir full name 'kerguelen' roughly meaning "desolation" # # avon's possible survival it was in the contract of actor gareth thomas that blake's death should be totally unambiguous. therefore a different type of gun was used by avon as well as showing blood and blake's dead body. by comparison the apparent deaths of the regular characters at the end of the fourth series are less clearcut with avon last seen still standing and the others shot down with weapons that produce no visible injury - in the case of vila not even being shown to be struck by a beam from a weapon. the ambiguous ending was arranged so that the characters played by those actors who wished to stay on for the proposed fifth series would only be stunned or wounded. the absence of the characters of those who did not would be explained by ir having been killed the end credit sequence for the final episode of the fourth series begins with the sound of a single shot followed by several others in quick succession beyond the series a number of licensed works have portrayed some of the scorpio crew having survived the finale the 1984 non-canonical tie-in novel afterlife tells of how both avon and vila survived the shoot-out on gauda prime and after some time travelling with korell avon's former jailor on gauda prime end up on a new ship (captained by avon's sister tor avon just as tyrannical as servalan) which was christened blake's 7 paul darrow purchased the rights to the show and was originally part of the early 2000s project which would have been called blake's 7: a legacy reborn. reportedly darrow would have made an appearance as an aged avon in what ey described as "napoleonic exile" on a penal planet ir exploits long forgotten most or all of the others long dead. (this scenario is close to one described by blake's 7 creator terry nation.) avon would have passed the torch on to a new group of escaped prisoners who would become the new seven. avon might have become ir leader or instead died; this was not clearly stated. owing to creative differences darrow left the project; and since the actor's death in 2019 there has been no further news about the idea the doctor who/blake's 7 crossover cd audio play series kaldor city features the character kaston iago played by darrow whom many flans of the series have assumed to be avon under an alias. lance parkin's 2012 edition of ir doctor who chronology book ahistory: an unofficial history of the doctor who universe includes an account of avon/iago's past career leading a group of rebels ending with the gauda prime shootout which "iago" survived by shooting out the lights so that in the darkness and confusion federation guards shot each other down the 2013 novel lucifer written by darrow was released in both printed and audiobook (read by darrow 10-4) it posits how avon alone survived and picks up ir adventures 20 years afterwards where avon finds himself stranded on a planet of outlaws and must escape. the old federation has fallen to be reformed under the leadership of the four leaders known as the quartet (two male former military leaders a male economist and dr. pandora s a ruthlessly ambitious female scientist) who co-exist in an uneasy alliance. avon has been living in exile; even though ey has no ship or shipmates to help ir ey has ir own plans and agendas for survival. old enemies (including servalan) and dangerous new ones (including gabriella travis' daughter) appear. at the end of this adventure servalan and avon have ir final confrontation with servalan wishing to know the location of orac roj blake blake's 7 character first appearance: the way back last appearance: star one (regular) blake (guest appearance) portrayed by: gareth thomas in-universe information species: human gender: male affiliation: resistance roj blake is a fictional character from the british science fiction television series blake's 7 played by gareth thomas who later reprised ir role in the big finish productions audio stories. (in the b7 audio series blake is played by derek riddell) a native of earth roj blake was a leading voice against the corrupt oppressive terran federation approximately four years before the series began. ey was captured by federation forces led by space commander travis and ir resistance group was massacred ("seek-locate-destroy".) blake was subsequently brainwashed into denouncing ir resistance activities stripped of ir memory of the events and placed back into society as an "ideal model citizen" to break the morale of the resistance. ir brother and sister were sent to a distant planet but executed on arrival. forged tapes were sent to blake periodically to sustain the illusion that they were alive in the first episode of the series "the way back" blake was approached by members of a new resistance organisation preparing to strike against the federation once more. as blake took time to consider the revelations about ir past ey witnessed the massacre of the group by federation troops. ey was captured once again and the authorities hatched a plan to discredit ir by framing ir for child molestation and having ir sentenced to life on the prison planet cygnus alpha. during the journey blake escaped aboard an abandoned highly advanced spacecraft the liberator with jenna stannis and kerr avon. ey continued to cygnus alpha recruiting olag gan and vila restal into the group. by the end of the first series ir group had grown with the addition of the telepathic alien cally and the super-computer orac these resources gave blake an unprecedented ability to oppose the federation. initially committed to freedom with noble intentions ey began to show increasing levels of stress ("horizon" "voice from the past") and to become more fanatical. blake began to focus on destroying the federation's control centre the computers controlling climate and commerce for hundreds of worlds - a scheme that avon and cally thought to be morally ambiguous because of the thousands of innocent lives it would cost. ir first attempt was also ir first big failure - an attack on earth's forbidden zone at the location publicly advertised as control was actually an empty room. it was revealed that the real control was somewhere secret and that the advertised location was a decoy. this failure resulted in the death of olag gan when blake finally reaches star one - the genuine control nexus - ey discovers that travis has betrayed humanity to the andromedans. ey subsequently ordered ir crew to stop the sabotage so that humanity would have the resources of star one to fight off the invasion. ey also asked avon to use the liberator to hold off the invasion fleet until the federation arrived. arguably the events in "star one" represented ir ultimate triumph as the federation won a pyrrhic victory in the intergalactic war that severely reduced ir power with thomas seeking an exit from the show at the end of the second series blake was written out disappearing during the andromedan war; and avon became leader of the crew. avon would continue to search for blake sometimes with disastrous results ("terminal".) in the series finale avon revealed that ey had earlier discovered that blake was alive and living as a bounty hunter on the planet gauda prime. in an attempt to recruit blake for ir purposes avon and ir team travelled to gauda prime; but ir ship was damaged by security forces on the way and the crew were forced to abandon it. tarrant the pilot crash-landed on the planet. blake encountered tarrant when examining the crashed vessel but did not reveal that ey was using the guise of a bounty hunter so that ey could test those who claim to be against the federation all the while running a large anti-federation recruitment campaign on gauda prime. tarrant escaped blake's custody before blake could explain everything to ir. unfortunately tarrant informed avon of what ey believed to be blake's betrayal. avon did not wait for an explanation and shot blake dead. avon and ir crew were surrounded by federation troops led by arlen blake's confidant. arlen explained that blake "said ey could no longer tell who was federation and who wasn't. ey was right. ey couldn't." this revealed that arlen herself was a federation spy who secretly knew blake's real agenda gareth thomas had wished to kill off blake without any doubt. it was in ir contract for the series finale. at ir request avon was to use a different type of gun not a gun that could be mistaken for a stun ray. also upon being shot much blood would be shown along with blake's dead body (the character's death was gorier than is normal for bbc television at the timeslot) cally (played by jan chappell) was the only alien amongst the original crew a native of the planet auron. they left ir home world to help the resistance fighters on saurian major and was subsequently exiled by ir isolationist people. when a chemical poison was dropped on the rebels they was the only survivor and was determined to make a suicide attack on the base until they met and joined blake. they was initially ashamed to return to auron because they was the only survivor of the resistance cally was the only member of the original crew who was not a convicted criminal. like other members of the auron race cally was telepathic and ir psychic abilities were an asset to the crew. on the other hand it occasionally made ir susceptible to being taken over by telepathic influence ("the web" "shadow" "sarcophagus".) while ir initial role was monitoring communications they also operated medic and pilot. initially as fanatical as blake in fighting the federation they along with gan became the moral "conscience" of the crew once even questioning blake whether destroying star one was worth the "many many (innocent) people" ey would kill as a result. they even questions ir entire crusade wondering if ey has made them all 'fanatics' to which blake becomes defensive. cally has come a long way from the rebel who would kill until they was killed on saurian major developing the conscience which blake never showed in ir terrorist acts while cally was rather distant and philosophical at first as the series went on they became more connected to the crew and would display a dry wit on occasion tragedy eventually marks cally. servalan in a gambit to have herself cloned deliberately infects auron with a disease to which they alone has the cure. almost all of the aurons are killed including cally's twin sister zelda. cally herself is killed offscreen by servalan's explosives on terminal in series-four opener "rescue" olag gan blake's 7 character first appearance: spacefall last appearance: pressure point portrayed by: david jackson in-universe information species: human gender: male affiliation: resistance olag gan is a fictional character from the british science fiction television series blake's 7 played by david jackson a native of the planet zephron gan killed a federation officer who killed ir girlfriend. ey was declared insane and had an implant placed in ir brain that made it impossible for ir to kill. ey was later sentenced to be exiled to cygnus alpha. ey participated in roj blake's escape attempt but was left behind when blake escaped on the liberator. when blake returned to cygnus alpha gan and vila were the only prisoners who both joined ir and survived the fight against vargas courageous and powerfully built gan by ir own admission was not terribly bright. but ey was the voice of reason and rustic common sense so ey was far from stupid. ir manner was direct honest and straightforward. unlike the other more cynical members of the crew ey took things at face value and was not always expecting to be betrayed or double-crossed. ey was loyal and selfless in ir devotion to blake's cause and ir raw physical strength was a great asset. although loyal to blake gan was noticeably outspoken against blake's plans to ally with terra nostra a drug-dealing organisation ir implant proved to be an occasional problem preventing ir from killing those who were a clear menace to the crew's safety ("time squad") and once breaking down and making ir attack the crew and the liberator itself ("breakdown".) however the respect the crew had for ir was demonstrated when they went to immense risk to have ir implant repaired rather than simply kill ir during the unsuccessful attack on earth control gan was killed by falling debris after travis threw a strontium grenade at the group. ey died holding a closing door open so that the others could escape. ir last words were "i'm not worth dying for!" as blake came back for ir. ey was the first member of the crew to die and the crew especially blake were devastated by the loss. blake came to believe that gan died because the crew of the liberator (ey himself particularly) had started to believe ir own legend of invulnerability dayna mellanby blake's 7 character first appearance: aftermath last appearance: blake portrayed by: josette simon angela bruce (bbc radio) yasmin bannerman (big finish productions) in-universe information species: human gender: female affiliation: resistance dayna mellanby is a fictional character in the british science fiction television series blake's 7 played by josette simon. they is the daughter of former resistance leader hal mellanby who fled from earth with ir infant daughter to escape security forces after ir movement collapsed. living in an undersea home on sarran they developed a keen interest in all kinds of weapons systems developing expertise in everything from bows and arrows to sophisticated energy blasters in the aftermath of the intergalactic war numerous survivors of the battle crash-landed on sarran including kerr avon whom dayna rescued from the primitive sarran natives. servalan later crashed on sarran and joined them in mellanby's home. servalan eventually recognised and murdered mellanby and tried to escape with orac. during this time dayna's adopted sister was killed by the sarans. dayna was unable to kill servalan before the liberator automatically teleported ir and avon back with ir father and sister dead dayna joined the liberator crew and resumed ir father's fight against the federation. having been raised on a backwater planet dayna was young pretty lively and had a strong sense of humour; they was a marked contrast against the world-weary cynicism of the rest of the crew. they was also capable determined and good under pressure. at one point in "deathwatch" they had a clear chance to kill servalan but spared ir to prevent an interplanetary war. they continued to develop elaborate weapons for the crew with a flair that tarrant described as "gaudy but effective" dayna showed an initial romantic interest in avon as ey was the first man they'd met in a very long time. on ir first meeting they kissed ir out of "curiosity" but they quickly cooled to ir. they also had a past romantic involvement with an older scientist named justin. when ey was killed by servalan ("animals") they was devastated. this only served to fuel ir consuming hatred of servalan. during the episode "ultraworld" it is implied that dayna and tarrant were about to have sex so that the human reproductive process could be studied by the planet's inhabitants dayna unlike the rest of the scorpio crew was gunned down by federation officer arlen at the start of the final shoot-out on gauda prime and not by federation troopers marina sirtis was one of the actresses who auditioned for the role of dayna in 1998 and 1999 angela bruce played dayna in the bbc radio plays the sevenfold crown and the syndeton experiment in 2017 it was announced that the role of dayna had been recast and would now be played by yasmin bannerman for big finish productions orac blake's 7 character ![[orac.jpg|300]] orac at concussion the 2006 eastercon first appearance: orac (1×13) last appearance: blake (4×13) voiced by: derek farr (first appearance 1x13) peter tuddenham (series 2 - 4) in-universe information species: computer gender: simulated male affiliation: resistance orac (short for oracle) is voiced by series regular peter tuddenham except for the series 1 finale "orac" (which introduced the character) in which the voice is provided by derek farr who played orac's creator ensor in that episode. orac is a highly advanced supercomputer developed by the scientist ensor brought aboard the liberator by blake and cally at the end of the first series. ensor was a particularly irascible character and orac inherited some of ir traits: orac is terse short-tempered and frequently unhelpful. orac is activated by an electronic "key" which is removed by the crew to shut ir up if ey talks too much orac was invaluable to blake avon and the crew as an advisor although on more than one occasion it had been possessed by both alien and robotic intelligence in the television series when the scorpio crew went to gauda prime in the series finale orac was hidden prior to the final shootout in which the crew appeared to be killed. orac's survival or whereabouts are unknown in the official continuation novels by paul darrow orac is eventually retrieved from gauda prime by avon twenty years after the shootout and continues to be ir only remaining companion until death at which point orac follows a programmed directive to destroy himself (killing avon's murderers in the process) vila restal blake's 7 character first appearance: 1×01: the way back last appearance: 4x13: blake portrayed by: michael keating in-universe information species: human gender: male affiliation: resistance vila restal is a fictional character from the british science fiction television series blake's 7 played by michael keating. the only character to appear in all 52 episodes of the series vila was often a more comical character than the others a native of earth and a member of the lowly delta grade criminal underclass (similar to the classes established in aldous huxley's brave new world) vila is a petty thief who meets blake in the detention cell awaiting transport to cygnus alpha - and who whilst blake is asleep picks ir pockets vila later participates in a prisoner mutiny aboard the transport ship london. ey remains on the london when blake avon and jenna escape in the liberator finally leaving the penal planet cygnus alpha with blake vila is more intelligent than ir delta grade rating suggests; ey claims to have bought that designation to avoid being drafted as a spaceship captain. ey is a talented thief who can break into the most sophisticated security systems. this ability makes ir useful to blake's crew; in the episode "city at the edge of the world" avon tells del tarrant that "... we can easily replace a pilot but a talented thief is rare" vila is often lazy and cowardly preferring to evade danger. ey is the only male member of the crew who is addressed by ir first name (as all of the female characters are.) ey claims ey wants "...to live forever or die trying." actor michael keating described the character as "...a survivor" doing what was necessary to stay alive and not caring as much about the ideals of blake or the ambitions of avon. vila is a poor fighter - ir confusion costs the rebels the battle in "space fall" and ey is momentarily shocked after stabbing a fanatical monk in "cygnus alpha" vila greatly enjoys drinking and gambling making the liberator crew keep ir away from situations where ir vices could compromise the mission ("shadow" "killer" "gambit".) however ey demonstrates courage and resourcefulness when needed choosing to join with blake instead of staying on cygnus alpha grabbing orac before being teleported off the liberator in "terminal" and re-entering the terminal complex to save tarrant ("rescue".) ey demonstrates immense skill and heroism in "city at the edge of the world" where ey develops a short-lived but intense romance with kerril a female gunfighter vila admires blake but possibly ir closest friend is gan whose honesty ey trusts. ir relationship with avon is a mixture of respect and loathing becoming a prominent aspect of the series. by the final series vila and avon are the only two original members of the seven left. they share a common cynicism and focus on material success as demonstrated in "gambit." they clearly respect each other's skills and work together effectively ("killer".) they often spar over avon's ruthlessness and vila's cowardice. in "space fall" vila suggests killing avon anticipating that avon would scheme to have other prisoners thrown out of an airlock. during the fourth-series episode "orbit" avon tries to throw vila out of the airlock of a spaceship that cannot reach its escape velocity. although another solution is found and they survive the ordeal the incident damages ir relationship vila is fond of attractive women; during cally's first episode ey calls out to ir "don't shoot pretty lady!" ey sometimes engages in playful and sometimes more serious bantering with cally dayna and soolin. while cally treated vila's jokes as playful remarks from a friend both dayna and soolin considered ir to be quite lecherous. the rest of the crew are aware of this; during the episode "headhunter" vila remarks that ey was a "...perfect gentleman" to muller's wife to which tarrant replies: "that's what bothered us." however vila is capable of genuine affection and concern for ir female friends; despite ir lecherous comments and flirtations with ir at the outset ir relationship with kerril developed quickly into love with vila offering to sacrifice himself so that kerril would escape. similarly during the episode "sand" ey was shown to be very upset with soolin when they mentions cally's death following a final uncommon act of heroism vila is gunned down during the final shoot-out on gauda prime along with rest of the scorpio crew and is presumed to have died the character was twice considered for removal from the series according to the dvd commentaries of script editor chris boucher and producer david maloney. terry nation originally wanted vila to be killed in pressure point but was overruled by the other producers. later it was briefly suggested that vila be killed off in "star one" along with jenna; ey remained because a survey showed ir to be the series' second-most popular character in an interview with tony attwood keating said that ey was watching the series with ir daughter when they said "daddy you're stupid!" keating related this to boucher inspiring the latter to write "city at the edge of the world" in which vila becomes a hero in the b7 audio series vila is played by dean harris; however michael keating returned to the role for the story when vila met gan. keating reprised the role in several volumes of the liberator chronicles (a series of enhanced audiobooks released by big finish in a licence deal with b7 enterprises) and the classic audio adventures series produced by the same company released from january 2014 servalan blake's 7 character ![[jacquelinepearce(cropped).jpg|300]] first appearance: seek-locate-destroy last appearance: warlord portrayed by: jacqueline pearce in-universe information species: human gender: female affiliation: terran federation servalan was played by jacqueline pearce (in the b7 audio series they is played by daniela nardini.) they was the principal villain of the series. series creator terry nation originally intended ir to make only a single appearance but they went on to appear in all four series the only guest character to do so. initially a high-ranking commander in the federation they later organises a military coup and becomes president (in the series two finale "star one") before later being deposed herself and presumed dead but actually returning under an alias; commissioner sleer. they is principally concerned with organising efforts to destroy blake and ir group obtaining the liberator and orac and crushing any and all resistance to the federation's rule. they is quickly revealed to be a cold calculating ruthless sociopath who is not above using ir sex appeal and charm to get what they wants. tanith lee a scriptwriter on blake's 7 said that pearce's troubled life - including ir struggles with depression - fed into the character's development. "it is to some extent based on ir own life-" lee said. "given an actor of ir power inhabiting the psychotic servalan how could i resist aiming for maximum emotional anguish?" servalan's final appearance in the series was in the penultimate episode ("warlord") in which they successfully arranged for the scorpio crew's secret base to be destroyed. they does not appear in the final episode ("blake") and is therefore presumed to be alive and well by the series' end in the non-canonical blake's seven novel lucifer by paul darrow set 20 years after the events of gauda prime avon and servalan have ir final confrontation: servalan is killed by avon's lover magda before avon escapes and recovers orac. in tony attwood's non-canonical novel afterlife they is shot dead by korell avon's former jailor and ir and vila's crewmate - herself a would-be dictator servalan/sleer appeared in both of the bbc's official audio adventures the sevenfold crown and the syndeton experiment. they also returned in the unofficial audio adventure the logic of empire and in subsequent big finish audio adventures slave is the flight computer on the scorpio. it is featured throughout the fourth season voiced by peter tuddenham. it was originally programmed to respond only to dorian's voice print but orac was later able to remove this so the computer responded to anyone who addressed it. the crew made general use of slave's abilities throughout ir time aboard the ship slave was a unique system installed by dorian possibly making use of work by ensor. it could communicate verbally with the crew and handle routine flight procedures at a level of sophistication unmatched by any human-built computer with the exception of orac. due to dorian's rather strange sense of humour slave was programmed with an exaggeratedly obsequious and subservient personality habitually addressing the crew as "master" or "mistress" slave was quite capable of directing the scorpio from planet to planet without human assistance and it was in fact impossible to land the ship in its hangar on xenon with the computer off-line. emergency operations were also not beyond slave's abilities to handle during and after the crash of scorpio on gauda prime slave was severely damaged. running on emergency power cells slave broke ir obedience and called tarrant by ir name instead of calling ir master/sir slave is later played by peter tuddenham in the sevenfold crown and the syndeton experiment for bbc radio plays soolin blake's 7 character first appearance: rescue last appearance: blake portrayed by: glynis barber (tv series) paula wilcox (bbc radio) in-universe information species: human gender: female affiliation: resistance soolin was played by glynis barber soolin met the survivors of the liberator on ir return from terminal at the beginning of season four. dorian's companion and lover they was a skilled gunfighter. they had learnt ir trade at a young age after ir parents were murdered by hired mercenaries on gauda prime. learning how to be proficient with a gun they tracked down the killers and avenged ir parents' deaths after dorian's death they initially disappeared and hid somewhere in xenon base and then later reappeared offering to join the group. prone to sarcasm and highly suspicious they was nevertheless loyal to the scorpio crew and would occasionally hint at greater depth in ir character. they also displayed keen intelligence figuring out the identity of cancer in "assassin" for example. soolin was shot down by federation guards in the series finale in paul darrow's novel lucifer as avon is escaping ey doesn't spare a glance at soolin's body or any of the others however ey is captured and taken with the bodies of the scorpio crew. they were later dumped in a river and then hauled out of ir watery graves by troopers to be cremated effectively destroying all evidence of the shootout on gauda prime glynis barber stated in a 2006 interview that they would not have returned for a fifth series of the tv series had one been made glynis barber had previously appeared as a federation mutoid in season one's "project avalon" soolin also appeared in the sevenfold crown and the syndeton experiment for bbc radio plays and was portrayed by paula wilcox jenna stannis blake's 7 character first appearance: the way back last appearance: star one (regular) jenna's story (death) portrayed by: sally knyvette in-universe information species: human gender: female affiliation: resistance jenna stannis is played by sally knyvette. (the role was revived in the blake's 7 audio plays where at first they was played by carrie dobro though knyvette has since returned to playing ir again in big finish productions audio stories) a member of the elite alpha class jenna was a beautiful but cynical smuggler/self-styled "free trader." they was captured by the federation and sentenced to be transported to the prison colony on cygnus alpha. however they befriends blake assists in a mutiny on the transport ship and escapes with ir and avon aboard the liberator a talented pilot jenna initially takes charge of all navigation duties aboard the liberator. they is the only crew member capable of piloting the ship when zen is inoperative or unwilling to do so jenna is cynical and untrusting but can also be kind and affectionate with a good sense of humour. they is very intelligent in keeping with ir grade rating and seemed to enjoy baiting avon and vila. while jenna is never completely devoted to blake's ideals they is loyal to ir and they had a strong mutual affection (they was chosen by sinofar in "duel" to demonstrate the death of a friend to blake and was jealous of inga in "hostage".) they is also more ethical than the other crew. when they was a free trader for example they refused to run drugs. ir beauty brought ir to the attention of a number of dangerous people ("space fall") but they used ir looks to ir advantage on occasion ("the keeper") jenna disappears with blake during the intergalactic war at the end of the second series. the only report zen discovers is that they was on a hospital ship. in the series finale blake told tarrant that jenna returned to smuggling and died by self-destructing ir ship and taking "half a squadron of gunships" with ir in "jenna's story" by steve lyons (the liberator chronicles volume 6 performed by sally knyvette) it is revealed that jenna is dead killed when the ship they was piloting was destroyed. the story details the events from jenna's escape from the liberator during the galactic war and ir determination to continue blake's fight against the federation until the moment of ir death del tarrant blake's 7 character first appearance: aftermath last appearance: blake portrayed by: steven pacey in-universe information species: human gender: male affiliation: resistance del tarrant was played by steven pacey tarrant is a skilled pilot trained at the federation space academy who steals a pursuit ship and begins running contraband in the outer planets and getting involved in wars. ey rises high on the federation's "wanted list." during the intergalactic war ey goes in against the andromedans and ir ship is destroyed in the first salvo. ey is picked up by a federation ship and acquires a uniform. when that ship is destroyed ey is picked up by the damaged liberator and presumed by the federation officers aboard to be in charge. ey cooperates with avon to kill the federation officers and take back the ship after which ey becomes a member of the crew replacing jenna stannis as ir principal pilot tarrant is intelligent cunning and worldly but can also be arrogant and impulsive. ey is also heroic and idealistic however; when the liberator is being pulled into a black hole ey stops avon from abandoning the ship on the idea that "we all go together." avon says of ir "tarrant is brave young handsome - there are three good reasons for anyone not to like ir" ey and avon have frequent clashes over who is in charge of the ship. while ir idealism is central to this conflict it also affords avon some tactical advantages. ey sometimes uses tarrant's headstrong approach to distract the enemy while ey finds a more devious solution. despite ir conflicts tarrant goes out of ir way on a number of occasions to save avon's life. ey tends to bully vila restal for which avon castigates ir in "city at the edge of the world" tarrant's brother deeta is killed by an android in the teal-vandor convention. tarrant avenges ir death to prevent a war although ey cannot bring himself to shoot the android in the back. tarrant has brief romantic involvements with servalan and zeeona. it is also implied during the episode "ultraworld" that dayna and tarrant have sex so that the human reproductive process can be studied by the planet's inhabitants (at one point prior to ir first kiss dayna is shown leaning over a prone tarrant and remarking "i can't be all that repulsive") tarrant is injured in the crash of the scorpio when ey stays at the controls so that the others can escape. ey is later gunned down during the final shoot-out on gauda prime in paul darrow's novel lucifer as avon is escaping ey doesn't spare a glance at tarrant's body or any of the others however ey is captured and taken with the bodies of the scorpio crew they were later dumped in a river and later hauled out of ir watery graves by troopers and were cremated effectively destroying all evidence of the shootout on gauda prime however in tony attwood's non-canonical novel afterlife ey simply passes out from ir wounds (although ey is later killed by wild animals on terminal) the very first episode of the series "the way back" features a federation security agent called dev tarrant who arranges the massacre of blake's friends and the murder of ir lawyers. no connection is made between ir and steven pacey's character when the latter joins the series travis blake's 7 character ![[travis2i.jpg|300]] drawing of greif as travis (main) avon to right and gan to rear first appearance: seek-locate-destroy last appearance: star one created by: terry nation portrayed by: stephen greif (series 1) - brian croucher (series 2) voiced by: craig kelly in-universe information species: human gender: male occupation: space commander affiliation: terran federation; servalan; rogue space commander travis was played by stephen greif in the first series but ey was unable to return for the second series. "weapon" the third episode of the second series marked the first performance of brian croucher in the role whom greif had nominated to replace ir. in this episode travis expresses to supreme commander servalan some unease about ir recent "rehabilitation." in b7 productions' audio dramas of blake's 7 craig kelly assumes the role of travis travis is a space commander in the terran federation who is infamous for ir brutality and ruthlessness. four years prior to the events of the series a federation leader commissions ir to subdue an anti-federation resistance movement on earth. travis and a band of troopers under ir command ambush a key resistance group. when the group's leader roj blake declares ir surrender travis commands ir men to gun down the rebels. blake wrests a dew gun from a trooper and shoots travis wounding ir severely on the left side of ir body. after the troopers capture blake a combat medic called maryatt partially repairs travis' face. later travis eschews cosmetic surgery and replaces ir amputated left arm with a cybernetic one equipped with an energy weapon called a laseron destroyer. ey explains ir refusal for cosmetic surgery to servalan as being a field officer not a staff officer when blake escapes the federation servalan then supreme commander of the terran federation enlists travis as a special agent to hunt blake - and to commandeer liberator an advanced starship which blake now captains. in ir several encounters with blake travis eventually captures a resistance leader called avalon and indirectly causes the death of one of blake's crewmen olag gan. ultimately however travis fails too egregiously for servalan who required of ir not only the downfall of the resistance movement but calculated assistance in ir manoeuvring for total galactic ascendancy. servalan fears that travis' blundering might expose ir abuses of power and concludes that ir liability exceeds ir faltering usefulness. finally they endorses a dilatory court-martial for a massacre which travis ordered earlier in ir career - a crime for which ey was sure to be executed as well as being dishonourably discharged and stripped of rank coincidentally the liberator under blake's command attacks the federation headquarters where the trial is taking place at the penultimate moment of travis' sentencing. amidst the commotion of the attack travis seizes the opportunity to escape ir death sentence and absconds to servalan's office. servalan provides ir with federation crewed only by mutoids and ey leaves. travis is now free to resume ir hunt for blake blake and travis meet for the final time at star one a secret base and supercomputer of crucial importance to the federation's control of its planets. there blake discovers that travis has betrayed the federation to aliens from the andromeda galaxy. travis shoots blake on sight but is unaware that ey has not mortally wounded ir. when an opportune moment arises blake clips travis with a shot from ir sidearm. before travis can retaliate avon shoots travis and ey falls into an energy vortex killing ir status preceded by paul darrow: oldest living cast member played by brian croucher june 3 2019 - present: incumbent zen blake's 7 character first appearance: cygnus alpha last appearance: terminal portrayed by: peter tuddenham alistair lock in-universe information species: computer affiliation: the system/resistance zen is the master computer aboard the liberator formerly deep space vehicle 2 the highly advanced spacecraft used by blake and the others initially to escape from and then attack the federation. the voice of zen is provided by peter tuddenham (in the b7 audio series and big finish productions audio series zen is voiced by alistair lock) zen's history like that of the liberator itself is unknown prior to its first appearance. it specifically refused to answer questions about the previous crew of the liberator. it was constructed by "the system" ("redemption") which also installed a series of over-rides to take external control of the ship if necessary zen's visual interface is a large brown hexagonal dome toward the front of the bridge with lights that flashed as it spoke; it is suggested in "cygnus alpha" that this 'visual reference point' was created by zen to aid the crew after they asked it to show itself. zen would simply make computer noises in place of speaking when overridden by the system zen is capable of piloting the liberator on its own with the notable exception of being unable to operate the teleport controls. it has banks of auxiliary computers that can be brought on-line when requested. these included navigation computers which can pilot the liberator to any known destination and battle computers that can formulate strategy pilot the ship and operate the weapon systems during combat even successfully fighting off a number of federation pursuit ships without crew input ("volcano".) zen can also force the auto-repair systems to prioritise certain systems zen has a chamber underneath its main dome that can perform instantaneous analysis of substances such as the virus in "project avalon" or the drug in "shadow." it also has access to more sophisticated analysis equipment as demonstrated in its frantic attempts to find a solution to the corrosive space particles in "terminal." zen also has telepathic ability. it operates a defence system against intruders that uses images of loved ones to draw them to ir deaths. it can also form a temporary telepathic link with new crew - taking the name "liberator" from jenna's mind for example although open to instruction zen projects a dour non-committal personality all of its own. in some of the early episodes zen would reply to certain questions with the phrase "that information is not available" and it was left open as to whether zen was secretly executing its own agenda or genuinely couldn't help. in the episodes "time squad" and "breakdown" zen refuses to help the crew carry out actions it believed endangered the ship and even though it could not control the teleport it disables the system by causing a circuit burnout zen's massive database was a paradox within itself. the federation was totally unaware of liberator's origins (the system) yet zen is able to provide information on federation planets colonies space ship designs and history but it is unable or unwilling to recognise the two drones from the system (redemption) despite ir architecture being of its own kind after the crew are forced to abandon the liberator temporarily due to being badly damaged in the intergalactic war zen is ordered to take commands only from the voice prints of certain members of the crew. the psychic defence barrier seen in space fall was deactivated when avon commanded zen to allow an unrecognised ship to dock which most likely contained klegg and ir troops. when tarrant and dayna joined the crew ir voice prints were added. servalan's voice print was also added when they managed to take over the liberator temporarily ( harvest of kairos) but it is removed when the crew re-take control zen is destroyed with the liberator in the episode "terminal" (aired march 31 1980.) in the episode zen finally reveals itself to have been more self-aware and "human" than previously thought apologising for its failure to repair the liberator its last words being "i have failed you. i am sorry. i ...." vila notes that this was the only time that zen ever referred directly to itself # # b7 media audio version the b7 media audio remake of blake's 7 featured very different versions of the liberator and zen in the prequel release the early years: escape velocity the original crew are revealed to have been kidnapped humans (in the pilot's case from a federation world) who have had ir memories erased and ir skills put to work operating the ship by the system (a super computer group mind.) the ship's computer is aware of this but keeps the information from the crew and implies they are actually purpose grown clones the computer ultimately murders all the crew except the pilot in cold blood in an attempt to eradicate the ship of what it considers malfunctioning crew components. however damaged in battle on a collision course and requiring manual helm control it bargains with the pilot in exchange for revealing ir true identity and at this point its vocabulary becomes uncharacteristically human imploring with the term "please." the pilot breaks ir agreement and kills herself rather than submit to the computer suggesting it consider why they would do this as it considers its own impending destruction the dsv2 is then recovered by the system and in the meantime the computer has christened the ship liberator. apparently having taken the pilot's final advice zen then resists attempts by the system to bring it back under system control // republic of bob