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The spaceship Liberator is a fictional starship featured in the first three seasons of the BBC television series Blake's 7. The ship was originally built by The System, where it was referred to as Deep Space Vehicle 2 (DSV2), a designation suggesting it was specifically designed for long-range forays outside the territory controlled by The System. 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 (It is not clear whether this was its official name under The System, or whether Zen later chose this name for itself). After being involved in a space battle (of which no further details are known), DSV2 was apparently abandoned by its crew and left derelict in space, where it was encountered by the Federation prison ship London. The captain of the London decided to try and salvage the ship, but the first few crewmembers sent in were killed or disabled by DSV2's automated defence systems. At the suggestion of his second-in-command, the Londons captain then ordered his 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 Liberators 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 Liberator was armed with three powerful neutron blast cannons as its main armament. 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 planetside ground targets. Liberator's hull was comprised of pure 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. Zen was Liberator's main computer which had master control over all of the ship's functions. 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 he could also gather information by telepathy and frequently read the minds of the crew; sometimes confirming an order or agreeing to a crew member's decision before that individual opened their mouth. Zen however, was less than helpful at times and frequently disobeyed orders, usually giving the "silent treatment" when he disagreed with the crew's commands. If need be, Zen could be overridden on certain functions. However, because 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 he was able to take control of Zen, suggesting Zen used similar devices. 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 which even Orac had dismissed as "impossible" despite witnessing its function numerous times. The teleporter 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 20 bracelets on the Liberator, and 11 of them were lost, destroyed or damaged throughout the series. The teleporter 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. Personal weapons were also available aboard the ship. A weapon 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). The ship supposedly had a continuously self-regenerating power supply that 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 measured on the Federation's standard "Time Distort" scale. Liberator's alien control systems however, measured its speed on a different scale that was never specifically compaired to that used by the Federation. Cally believed the ship could easily achieve a velocity of "Standard 12" (or TD-12) and was considered one of the fastest ships in the galaxy, however Liberator's maximum speed was boasted as TD-20 but at some risk to the ship. Most Federation cruisers had a maximum speed of TD-10 and the Liberator could easily outrun them. TD-6 became the Liberator's standard crusing speed in deep space. Speeds of less than TD-0 were considered sublight speeds. Liberator could function as a self-contained habitat, and carried enough food supplies to last a crew 1000 "human" years. The ship also recycled waste with 100% efficiency. It had at least five cargo holds plus a vast "strongroom" vault containing enough riches equal to 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. Why such human clothing was aboard an alien vessel to begin with was never explained in the show, since The System were not humanoid. The ship was also equipped with numerous emergency life capsules (aka escape pods); however, many of them had been launched by its previous crew prior to Blake's team taking possession of the ship. 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. 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 Liberators 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 rumor 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. Models There have been several commercially produced models of the Liberator: | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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