Planet Earth featured in three episodes. In The Way Back Blake, Jenna
and Vila left Earth in the London. Avon and Gan were seen on the ship
in Space Fall, and presumably left Earth as well, as did Arco, Selman,
Porah, Nova, and the ship's crew. Dal Richie, Ravella, and Tel and Maja
Varon lived (and died) on Earth. In Pressure Point Blake, Jenna,
Avon, Vila and Gan set foot on Earth again, as did Servalan and Travis.
Cally did not do so until Rumours of Death, when Dayna also made her
first visit to the planet since leaving as a baby more than twenty years
previously. Of all the regular crew, only Soolin was never seen to land
there.
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References to Earth were numerous, including the following:
Some details of Earth's history were revealed. Four years before The Way Back, Blake had been a prominent leader of a resistance group. Hal Mellanby had led a similar revolt - taking three weeks to quell - some twenty years before Avon landed on Sarran. After the Intergalactic War a revolt had taken place, but the Federation had managed to reassert control.
Those areas of Earth seen were temperate and well vegetated, although Sula referred to her rebels having come from "the wastelands".
Fan lore assumes that almost all of the main characters were born on Earth, but this is only explicitly stated in the case of Dayna. In Pressure Point Jenna said, on looking at the planet, "It's been a long time", and Gan later added "We've waited a long time to come back to Earth". In The Keeper Jenna told Gola: "I come from Earth". In Children of Auron Vila said "We're going home, to Earth" and Tarrant in Death-Watch noted that Deeta "left Earth a long time ago". These statements all hint at these characters originating from Earth. The only member of the crew definitely not born on Earth was Cally.
Attack pattern used by a three-ship flotilla, in which only two vessels were visible at any one time. The Federation attempted this tactic against the Liberator whilst Avon and Vila were gathering a specimen of sopron, but Tarrant recognised their strategy and out-thought them.
A physicist with a reputation as a genius, Egrorian pioneered the theory of parallel matter which was still barely understood ten years after his disappearance. He studied at the University of Belhangria, and was awarded a Beta+ grade for his degree thesis. This grade was later rescinded for "gross misconduct". He went on to work at the Federation's Space Research Institute, but fled with Pinder (and a few million credits) when funding of his tachyon funnel was blocked. This disappearance was rumoured to be assisted by someone at a very high level in the Federation, and it can be inferred that Servalan abetted his escape to enable him to complete the tachyon funnel for her in secret. A number of corpses discovered after his disappearance implicated his involvement in a conspiracy to overthrow the Federation and seize power for himself. His Central Records file (15/8/834) noted that he was a megalomaniac.
Despite having plotted against her, Egrorian adored Servalan, whom he addressed as "My Steel Queen, my Empress", and she offered to make him her chief minister for science when she returned to power. As encountered in the series, Egrorian was living with Pinder in a biodome on the inhospitable planet Malodar, where he had completed his tachyon funnel and was working with Servalan to obtain Orac from Avon. He was seen to be quite deranged, and treated the now-decrepit Pinder in a contemptuous, sadistic fashion, but took quite a shine to Vila. Servalan was planning to take him with her when she left with Orac and the tachyon funnel, but left him behind when his plan failed. Pinder then flooded the biodome with Hofel's radiation, killing himself and Egrorian as a result.
Technician at the Federation communications centre on Centero. He discovered
Cally in the store room after Blake's departure.
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A loss of sensation, especially of pain, induced by an electronic method, developed by Ensor as an alternative to using drugs, towards which he had a particular aversion. Apart from its administration, by fitting a connector on the end of a cable to a plate on his chest, then pressing a green button, Ensor revealed no further details about it.
Dr Wiler on Fosforon checked that Wardin was dead with an EEG.
One of the less hospitable aspects of Space World. Blake was sent to
elimination chamber two, the rest of the crew to chamber four.
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Worn around the neck of the bogus Shivan, the Emblem of Liberty was seen to be a pink disc with a transparent rim. |
French for "grey eminence", first used to describe Father Joseph (1577-1638 AD), the confidential agent of Cardinal Richelieu (1585-1642), chief minister of France (1624-1642). It was later used to describe a person who exercises real as distinct from nominal power.
It was in this latter context that the false Shivan, in Voice from the Past, described Ven Glynd, accusing him of wanting to be the real master of the planned new regime, making Blake a puppet while he would "enjoy the real fruits of power".
See FRENCH.
References to a galactic empire were few, and almost invariably referred to the Terran Federation. "The Helots are back in the Empire!" noted Avon, after hearing that Helotrix had been re-annexed by the Federation, and Tarrant earlier noted in Rescue that Xenon was well outside Federation territory "now that their empire's contracted".
A more intriguing reference was made in Traitor, when Avon noted that Helotrix was one of the first planets to gain independence from the Empire. This may simply refer to the planet's secession from the Federation after the Intergalactic War, but may be a possible reference to a pre-Federation power.
Servalan was referred to by Practor as 'the supreme Empress' in Traitor.