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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 This grade was later rescinded for "gross misconduct".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.
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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.
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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.
Young Ensor's pistol was fitted with an energiser, which could be set to automatic, discharging the weapon if he relaxed his trigger finger. Energisers might have been a feature of most or all energy weapons, although the automatic fire feature may not have been.
Liberator had at least seven energy banks, since Dayna mentioned bank seven in Terminal.
Some information was given in The Web. Once caught in the Web, Liberator had enough power for 100 hours of thrust (presumably sublight flight at full power?). Each shot fired by the neutron blasters reduced this time by three hours. Power banks 1 and 2 were drained after two shots, but the prior state of the ship's energy reserves was not stated and they may have been almost drained or full before these shots were fired.
Further information on the energy banks (or power banks, as they were sometimes called) was given in Duel. At the start of the episode, four banks were exhausted and required 48 hours to recharge (implicitly, 12 hours per bank, but this could be a gross oversimplification). Low power reserves restricted ship speed, since Standard by 2 was stated to be the best manageable speed, and even then not for long with reserves so low. When the ship came under attack, banks 5, 6 and 7 were on full power, the rest on zero (confirming the presence of no more than seven banks on Liberator). The ship was then subjected to a number of hits by plasma bolts, the force wall activated only for the period of impact. Bank 5 was reduced to 70% power after one hit, to 40% after 3 hits and to 0% after 6 hits. If nothing else, this implies that a hit is never simply a hit.
In Hostage the Liberator was hit by at least 12 plasma bolts, after which the energy banks were reduced to 45% capacity.
Also in Duel, it was noted that a pursuit ship had insufficient power to keep firing after loosing seven plasma bolts. This was the only reference to power reserves and consumption in such a vessel.
A feature of the planet Sardos, whose stratosphere comprised two energy fields. The inner one was impervious; the outer one was refractive to all medium-pulse emissions. In short, no medium-pulse energy, including light, could get in or get out. This measure was the result of the Sardoans deciding to avoid any form of social contact which might lead to genetic change.
A feature of Crandor, to which only the Thaarn and the Caliph had access. They were apparently selective in what they affected, since electronic equipment was seen operating on Crandor (doors, for example) but Avon and the others found their weapons useless. When talking to the Thaarn, Cally complained that the energy isolaters made it difficult for her to trust her own sense of judgement, since she could detect their activity telepathically. She persuaded him to turn them off, allowing the crew and Liberator to escape.
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A device developed by the isolated community on Sardos that could record the
molecular pattern of any object and recreate it as many times as desired.
Rock was used as a raw material ("Precious stones," commented Servalan),
converted to energy and then back to mass in the desired pattern. Living
matter could be physically replicated but the duplicates were dead. Some of
the transformers on Sardos were large enough to duplicate buildings, and
Grose and Lector intended to use them to build themselves a fleet of battle
cruisers.
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| An agent of Largo in Space City, probably a title within the hierarchy of the Terra Nostra. Largo's enforcer tracked down Bek and Hanna in their escape attempt. He later killed Largo and, with the Chairman's approval, secured possession of Largo's assets. He used the same kind of pistol as Tynus in Killer. |  |
[1] Renowned computer expert who, at the age of 18, developed the Tarial Cell, leading to a whole new generation of computers. He also developed other radical new concepts in the field of computer technology. He suffered a massive heart attack whilst on vacation on a frontier planet, and the medical facilities there were unable to give him a new heart. Instead he was fitted with a prosthetic organ, powered by microcells with a life span of 40 years. Shortly afterwards he disappeared, having fled to Aristo.
Before his disappearance he tutored the young Muller, instilling a fanatical work drive that led to the development of the megalomaniac android Muller built on Pharos. Orac called Ensor "a tyrant for self-discipline". Ensor also met Dorian at some time, and Dorian later described him to Avon as "never a gracious man".
On Aristo he designed and built Orac, his ultimate achievement, and attempted to sell it to the Federation for 100 million credits. He accepted Blake and Cally when they arrived on Aristo, and gave them the decontaminant drugs they needed for the other members of the crew suffering from radiation sickness. When Servalan and Travis arrived, Ensor led Blake and Cally out through a secret exit, but died in the tunnels before reaching the surface. Blake left him there.
Ensor lived far underground, where he kept tropical fish and a number of potted plants. He also frequently listened to a recording of a cardinal singing.
Some confusion surrounds the length of Ensor's exile. In Deliverance Ensor's son referred to "thirty years of independence" when talking to Maryatt, and in Rescue Avon told Dorian that Ensor had spent the last twenty years of his life in hiding. Ensor himself mentioned not having left his underground complex for "more than forty years".
[2] Ensor's son, who went with him to Aristo at the age of four and later approached the Federation with his father's offer to sell Orac. Young Ensor journeyed back to Aristo with Space Surgeon Maryatt, but their journey was interrupted when a bomb planted by Servalan forced them to crashland on Cephlon. Ensor, badly injured, was brought aboard, and took Cally hostage to force Blake to take him to Aristo. He died of his injuries on the way.
On reboarding the Liberator after the Intergalactic War, Avon was informed by Zen that Blake was on his way to Epheron in the Loritol system. No further information was given, save that it was home to several primitive life forms.
| One of the possible sources of treatment for Gan's malfunctioning limiter. Although it had the appropriate level of technology, the inhabitants were stated by Jenna to be hostile to humanoid life "and Homo sapiens in particular". It was 200 hours away from the Liberator's position at the time. |  |
| Base Commander on Centero, who informed Travis of the molecular shift detector monitoring the communications centre for arrivals by teleport. |  |
The Federation space fleet unit with which Servalan visited the battle zone in the closing stages of the Intergalactic War. The escort group was destroyed in the alien counterattack, leaving Servalan stranded on Sarran.
Once the Liberator was parked in a trial of crew performance, Blake asked Zen to check for any space traffic in the vicinity, requesting "etheric detector beams on maximum".
| A planet, probably in Sector 4, with a thin breathable atmosphere that ran short of oxygen at relatively low altitudes. Vegetation was minimal. Zen specifically mentioned escarpments made of chalk. The Federation had used Exbar as a penal colony for Grade-4 offenders, who were allowed visitors and special privileges: the planet might be regarded as an open prison. Ushton had been sent there for an unspecified crime at some time. As a boy, Blake visited Exbar, presumably to see Ushton, suggesting that Ushton had been there for twenty years or more at the time of Blake's second visit. |  |
 The communications Tower | Inga may have gone to Exbar with Ushton, joined him later, or been born there. The Federation later abandoned Exbar, leaving the prisoners behind, and those that were left looked after themselves, competing for what little food and other resources there were. Travis, when he arrived, took possession of a previously unopenable communications tower which also functioned as an oxygen and power plant. It was also revealed to contain large stocks of food concentrate. Inga said there was enough to feed everyone on the planet, suggesting that total population was relatively low and probably restricted to a fairly small area. |
One of the stars, along with Cynra and Aristo, shown on the star chart on the flight deck as Blake journeyed to meet Ensor.
An adverbal phrase, meaning 'in virtue of one's office', derived from the Latin words ex 'out of' and officio, the ablative of officium 'duty, office'. Used either as a noun or as an adjective, it was used as the latter by Bercol in Trial, when he identified himself as 'Head of the Information Bureau. Ex officio member of the High Council'.
A drug, exact details of which are hard to infer. Keiller noted that it was used in "psychological tests for security", but also apparently taken, probably illegally, by others. Exobriddian was addictive, and withdrawal could be fatal. Dayna was supposed to fake withdrawal symptoms as part of the plan to steal the Earth-bound gold from the Space Princess, but a change of ship's doctor forced her to take the drug for real. Dr Slaten noted that Dayna would not be given drugs on Earth, suggesting that exobriddian was illegal on Earth if not elsewhere. Reference was also made to "exobriddian poisoning", suggesting that exobriddian might have been a withdrawal-related by-product rather than the name of the drug itself.
Term used by Dr Bellfriar in reference to aliens. This might be a blanket term for any form of alien life, or a specific reference to non-humanoid alien species.
Avon suggested, before the Liberator reached Horizon, that the planet might be used by the Federation as an experimental war zone. This implies that the Federation may indeed have used whole planets for such purposes.
There were many significant explosions throughout the series, some of them are here:
| The first explosion on the Liberator, before it completely disintegrates in Terminal. |  |
| The demise of Zen from Terminal |  |
| The end of the liberator from Terminal |  |
Explosives were used or referred to on a number of occasions during the series, usually with a built-in timer delay.
The Web: Cally, under the influence of the Lost, attached an explosive device to the Liberator's primary power channel in Hold Three, Access Duct Seven. In appearance, the device was rectangular in shape, black and metalic in colour.
Mission to Destiny: Blake placed an explosive device on the entry hatch
of the
Ortega, rigged to go off when used by the crew of the ship that had come
to collect Sara and the neutrotope.
Seek-Locate-Destroy: The B7 crew placed a number of explosive charges
around the cypher room on Centero. The charges were cylindrical and black in
appearance and could, via magnetic or other means, be stuck onto a metal
surface. 
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Deliverance: Servalan told Travis that she had placed a 'small explosive
device' aboard Ensor Jr's Space Master craft.
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Redemption: When he and Jenna were imprisoned in the System cell, Avon said that he could have broken out using a heavy metal cutter and 'a couple of explosive charges'.
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Star One: Explosive charges were hidden by Blake and Cally around the
control complex on Star One; but they were removed when the alien presence
was discovered and were then detonated in safety by Cally, with one
exception, which was used by Lurena against the aliens. While similar in
size to those used in Seek-Locate-Destroy, the explosive charges were
black and white in colour, with a different timing device.
|  Lurena with explosive |
Ultraworld: Dayna produced a small but powerful explosive device that she had concealed in her mouth. The device had a ten second timer that was activated by biting.
Rescue: Servalan planted explosive charges aboard her ship and in the base on Terminal, in the hope of killing the B7 crew. The charges in the base had ultrasonic fuses keyed to activate once the charges aboard her ship were detonated.
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Traitor: Explosives are mentioned three times during this episode. First,
Igin told the Federation that Hunda's fourth column of freedom fighters on
Helotrix planned to destroy the Magnetrix terminal with explosive charges.
Second, Forbus told Tarrant and Dayna that he had the ability to detonate
700 kilos of nitroglycerine, which he planned to use to destroy Servalan.
Third, the Federation laid eighteen explosive charges in the old monorail
tunnel, which could be detonated either simultaineously or independently.
Leitz, acting as a double spy, had persuaded Hunda that the tunnel could be
used by his column to gain access to the city.
EXTRA RANGE DETECTOR(B-12: THE KEEPER)Avon commanded Liberator's extra range detector to be used whilst in orbit around Goth, at which point Cally mentioned the drain it would put on the energy banks. It was referred to in the singular rather than plural.
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