| One of the guards on the London. Vila distracted him with a performance of sleight-of-hand to allow Blake to gain unseen access to the ship's service tunnels. He was seen to shoot two prisoners during the attempted breakout, one of them being unarmed. | |
Originally meaning to condemn, the word soon took on a theological meaning of condemning to hell. For that reason, it, or different versions of it, was used profanely, then later as an expression of irritation or annoyance. It was used by 15 characters 33 times in the series: Avon (7), Del Tarrant (6), Blake (4), Vila (3), Travis (including as Shivan) (3), and Jenna, Leylan, Kayn, an unnamed member of a Federation rescue team, Dr. Bellfriar, Servalan, Grenlee, Grose, Deeta Tarrant, and an unnamed Federation general (1 each).
Popular name for 61 Cygni.
The alien force that took control of Orac in Shadow described itself thus: "I am the Darkness. Orac brings my Darkness". To call it the Darkness is probably inaccurate but a useful term of reference. Existing in another dimension, it used Orac's carrier waves as a bridge into the universe, draining energy from the Liberator to effect its entry. After bribing Vila to hide Orac, it put Cally into a catatonic state to stop her acting against it. Aided by the moon discs, she telekinetically deactivated Orac before the Darkness could complete its arrival, which would have entailed the destruction of the ship. Avon later fitted Orac with a disruption bomb to prevent any further invasion attempts.
The origin and purpose of the Darkness was never made clear, although it was obviously malevolent. It is also unknown whether or not it would have assumed physical shape if its invasion attempt had proved successful.
The name of the viscast presenter who missed the arrival of the champions on UP-Death-Watch, albeit through no fault of his own. His commentary began: "Space: the final frontier - as it was once called".
| Servalan's advisor on her space station in Lipterion. |  |
Tel Varon used a tape camera to collect evidence of the massacre on Earth, and in Seek-Locate-Destroy microtape was mentioned twice. Data storage on discs was seen on a number of occasions: the clinical records Maja picked up from Dr Havant were held on a thin disc several centimetres in diameter, and Varon could apparently check their contents by visual inspection (although he might merely have been reading a label). Similar devices were seen in Power, when records of the Seska, presumably made by the Seska themselves, were consulted on the "chronicle discs" in Xenon Base. Ven Glynd's evidence against the Federation was held on twin discs set in a rectangular block. Large cylindrical items in the store room on Centero may have been storage discs or reels of tape, though exactly what they are is unclear.
 in Shadow |
Crystaline storage was first seen in Shadow, when Bek played back a data
cylinder containing a recording of his voice to convince Largo that he
still had the latter at gunpoint. In Killer, Bellfriar handed Blake a
number of transparent datablocks containing details of more than 5,000
paratype organisms. In Death-Watch Cally was seen holding some form
of crystal under the portable bookscreen.
|
| In Gold audiovisual recordings were stored in translucent rotating cubes - they held views of the Space Princess" itinerary, and one was additionally used by Keiller and Avon to conceal their activities in the cargo bay. In Blake records of listed criminals were seen to be stored on large transparent sheets and small green datacards. |  |
 |
Dayna was born on Earth but left as a baby with her father, Hal Mellanby.
This was about twenty years before her first appearance. When she first met
Avon she described her education as having been by computer tutorial, but Hal
somehow arranged for tutors to visit Sarran to advance Dayna's education, one
of these being Justin whom she later visited on Bucol-2. Known relatives: Hal Mellanby was killed by Servalan on Sarran. Dayna's mother was killed some twenty years earlier on Earth, being one of the rebels who surrendered and were then massacred by the security forces. Her name was never given. Dayna's adopted sister Lauren, a Sarran by birth, was captured by Chel and subsequently found dead.
|
|
Bodycount: Dayna claimed that she preferred "the ancient weapons - the spear,
the sword, the knife", but showed no aversion to using modern firepower. In
Aftermath she shot two Sarrans dead with a bow, and claimed a fair few
more kills thereafter: Klegg in Powerplay; Mori and a trooper on
Obsidian; two of Bayban's men with a heat-seeking bomb; two troopers in
Rumours of Death; the General in Traitor (in a hand-to-hand
struggle); two of Justin's creations on Bucol-2; four troopers in
Games (3 shot, one with a Mecronian throwing knife); shot a guard on
Zerok and killed up to three more with a grenade. She failed to outshoot
Arlen on Gauda Prime and was shot, presumably fatally.
|  |
 In Dawn of the Gods |
Captured by: Klegg's troopers in Powerplay, Mori's men in
Volcano, the Caliph in Dawn of the Gods, Servalan in The
Harvest of Kairos, the Ultra in Ultraworld, Grose and Lector in
Moloch, Servalan again in Terminal, trapped with Dorian's
creature in Rescue, captured by Hommiks in Powerplay and used
by Pella as a hostage in the same episode. She was later caught by the space
rats in Stardrive, Servalan in Animals (where she was
conditioned to first hate and then love Justin), and by Belkov in
Games.
|
Significant injuries: Dayna was in fact very rarely injured. She was hurt but evidently not seriously when Bayban escaped from her in City at the Edge of the World; thrown off a cliff by Og in Animals, found unconscious by Servalan's mutoids and tortured by Servalan; knocked unconscious by Muller's android; shot in the arm by Reeve in Sand, whereupon Tarrant insisted she return to Scorpio; and suffered what appeared to be a fatal shot from Arlen in Blake.
Places visited: She was seen to set foot on Sarran, Obsidian, Crandor, Kairos, Keezarn, Auron, Earth, Ultraworld, Sardos, UP-Death-Watch, Terminal, Xenon, Helotrix, Caspar, Bucol-2, Domo, Mecron II, Virn, Zerok, Beta-5 and Gauda Prime, a total of 21 planets.
The weapons she designed made occasional appearances. A green handgun in her bedroom locker on Sarran was used by Servalan to kill Hal Mellanby and later fired by Chel in Aftermath. It was seen again (probably a different weapon of the same design) with Cally in City at the Edge of the World, where it was said to have a killing range of "only 200" (presumably metres, since other metric measurements were stated in the episode). It was also given by Servalan to Deral in Children of Auron. Another of her inventions was used by Tarrant to vaporise the android Vinni in Death-Watch. A heat-seeking grenade that moved along the ground killed two of Bayban's men in City at the Edge of the World and distracted the Ultra from Tarrant in Ultraworld. In the same episode she blew an escape route for herself and Tarrant with micro-grenades concealed in her mouth.
|
She was seen to fire the Liberator's main armament just once, in
Dawn of the Gods. In Headhunter she was seen supervising the
medical treatment of Vila and Tarrant.
|  In Moloch |
 In Terminal |
She kissed Avon in Aftermath and told him he was "very beautiful".
Her only other romantic moments were with Tarrant (for the benefit of the
Ultra), and with Justin, whom she was induced to first hate and then love by
Servalan. She appeared to recover from his death fairly quickly, though.
|
|
Despite her avowed intention to kill Servalan, she never managed to do so and
in fact rarely tried, though they met in a number of episodes after Servalan
killed Hal: The Harvest of Kairos, Death Watch (where she
resisted killing her on Avon's express command), Terminal,
Traitor, Animals, Assassin, where she was taking aim
when the gun was kicked out of her hand by Benos, and finally on Beta-5 in
Gold, where she took no action against her.
|  In Animals |
In Sarcophagus she was seen with an electronic lyre-like instrument, but her interest in music appeared to be no more than a passing whim at this time.
Death was a frequent occurrence throughout Blake's 7, and only three episodes can tentatively claim to be deathless: Duel, in which Keera died but was restored to life by Sinofar; Sarcophagus, which featured an alien being that was arguably already dead anyway; and Ultraworld, where the exact nature of the Ultra was obscure and the menials were animated corpses rather than alive as such.
|
Most deaths were a result of shootings or explosions, but there were also
stabbings (a temple guard by Vila in Cygnus Alpha, Nagu by Travis, Rod
by Gola, and a trooper by Soolin in Warlord), electrocutions (a
programmed guardian in Time Squad, Tynus, and a trooper in
Games), falls (a Crimo on Exbar, and Mori into the volcano on
Obsidian), asphyxiation (Nova), a lethal overdose (Kasabi and Bershar),
radiation (two guards on Zerok, and Egrorian and Pinder), poisoned (Gola),
and various other causes. Raiker and a guard on the Space Princess
were sucked out into space, and Vargas and Molok were teleported there.
|  |
 The demise of a member of the presidents personal security force in Shadow |
The main characters accounted for quite a lot of these deaths, and are listed
here in order of increasing lethality. This is based on the number of
definite kills divided by the number of episodes in which the character
appeared.
|
| Character | Kills | Average |
|---|---|---|
| Gan | 0 kills in 17 episodes | 0.00 |
| Orac | 1 kill in 40 episodes | 0.02 |
| Vila | 2 kills in 52 episodes | 0.04 |
| Cally | 3 kills in 36 episodes | 0.08 |
| Zen | 4 kills in 37 episodes | 0.11 |
| Jenna | 7 kills in 26 episodes | 0.27 |
| Servalan | 14+ kills in 29 episodes | 0.48 |
| Blake | 16 kills in 28 episodes | 0.57 |
| Tarrant | 16 kills in 26 episodes | 0.62 |
| Travis | 8 kills in 13 episodes | 0.62 |
| Avon | 36 kills in 51 episodes | 0.71 |
| Dayna | 20 kills in 26 episodes | 0.77 |
| Soolin | 16 kills in 13 episodes | 1.23 |
The above figures should be taken as approximations only, since it is not always easy to decide what constitutes a kill. Do mutoids count for example? Or androids? The tallies given do not include clearly incidental deaths, unquantifiable deaths as a result of ship-to-ship and similar combat, and deferred responsibility. On the last point alone, Servalan was easily the most lethal character in the series, accounting for the deaths of thousands if not millions of people on Auron alone.
| Tarrant described Klegg and his troopers as "the Federation's Death Squad", with "a record of brutality hard to match". Klegg et al were presumably part of this notorious unit, rather than being the whole Death Squad in themselves. |  Harmon, Klegg, Troopers and Tarrant |
One of three children allegedly assaulted by Blake (the others being Renor Leesal and Payter Fen). Deca was apparently born on the date 43.6.2, was a patient of Dr Hamer Painter, and attended school ZL-14 Level 552.
| Artificially created by the Lost, the Decimas were 10-function (hence their name) menial creatures. An earlier, four-function, version had been passive, but the Decimas were intelligent and aggressive towards their creators, and made frequent attacks on the compound on UP-The Web. They had constructed crude weapons, and one injured Blake's hand with a spear. Breaking into the compound, they destroyed the power system that maintained Geela and Novara, and then moved on to destroy Saymon. One Decima was killed by Novara with a spear-like energy weapon after pleading for help from Blake in Terran, and Geela might have killed a few more before her "death". Geela and Novara informed Blake that over 50 Decimas were present in the area. |  |
Zen was fitted with decoders, but they took a long time to make much headway with the autonavigational units taken from the programmed guardians" craft. The decoders may or may not have been the translator units under a different name.
| At least two DSVs were built by the System, since Alta 1 referred to the Liberator as DSV-2. A sister ship to Liberator, unnamed, was destroyed by Orac as Blake made his escape from Space World. This ship was capable of a speed of Standard by 14 and was armed with missiles (perhaps equivalent to the seekers in Liberator, mentioned earlier in the same episode). Orac scrambled the launch systems, predetonating the missiles and destroying the DSV. |  |
|
Defence mechanism generated by Liberator's computers. Found by Blake, Avon and
Jenna during Space Fall. It took images out of a victim's mind and projected
the images back at them, in order to draw them in. One the victim was in range,
he was attacked. Wallace and Teague, the only two victims killed, were found,
one by Blake in the hatch to the Liberator the other on the flight deck by Avon.
There was no apparent evidence as to the method of execution. The third victim,
Krell, escaped but arrived back at the London foaming at the mouth and tried to
strangle Raiker. The Sphere was able to handle at least 3 people at once and,
whilst it was doing so, emitted a screeching sound to further confuse the
victims. The sphere may have been a solid object, as opposed to a projection,
since Blake was able to destroy it by shooting it with his handgun.
|  |
Part of the damage sustained by the London from the shock waves encountered en route to Cygnus Alpha was a buckled port deflector shield. The fact that it was buckled suggests it was a form of physical protection rather than a form of force field.
Planet to which Liberator was destined before Blake changed course to Asteroid P-K118. Vila described it as an "ultra-planet", with mountain scenery, gravity so low one could almost float, and added that it was the galaxy's richest known source of "atmospheric vita particles". This last appears to contradict the comment about gravity, since a planet with gravity that low would have little in the way of an atmosphere.
Oracle of the god Apollo in Delphi, Greece, on the planet Earth. An oracle was a form of Greek divination given by a god or hero when consulted at a fixed oracular site. The Delphic oracle's origins are dated to the very end of the 9th century BC, it eventually becoming the most important Greek oracle. The god's responses were made via religious personnel and were ambiguous in nature. This ambiguity often led to the responses being misinterpreted by those who had consulted the oracle.
Orac used this oracle to explain his difficulty in obtaining data from Belkov's computer, Gambit, on the programming of the booby traps on Orbiter. While he could extract the information, he had problems in interpreting it, due to the logic of the computer's creator.
| Delta 706 classification subset 205 was Zen's identification of the pathogen brought on board Liberator by the android Avalon. It was also known, incorrectly, as the Phobon Plague. The artificially mutated variant used in Project Avalon killed in little more than twenty seconds and was self-neutralising almost as quickly. As well as being lethal it was, according to Servalan, very expensive to develop. |  |
A blind sun on the edge of Sector Six, and the location of the planet Terminal.
Vila claimed in
Grade-4 is another term for Delta
See GRADE
Possible rank within the Federation. The only Deputy Commander to be named
was Galt, in charge of security at the Governors conference on Atlay.
Title temporarily (and none too seriously) bestowed on Vila when Blake
appointed him to escort Governor LeGrand from her transporter to
Liberator.
Officer under Servalan with the rank of Captain. Deral was accepted for
command whereas Ginka was not, fostering resentment in the latter. Deral was
chosen by Servalan to take the Liberator from Vila, but was captured
and held as hostage by Vila, Dayna and Patar. Avon returned him to Servalan,
who killed him.
Planet on the edge of the galaxy, with two continents. It was colonised 100
years before Blake encountered the circling Ortega. The economy was
primarily agricultural with some trade with nearby planets. A fungal disease
appeared during the growing season prior to Blake's encounter, and buried
half the planet in slime within three months. Dr Kendall discovered that
Destiny's sun was deficient in certain wavelengths, a shortcoming the
neutrotope was intended to rectify. The Ortega was on its way to
Destiny before Sara sabotaged the ship. The remainder of the crew were taken
there with the neutrotope by Blake on the Liberator.
Mentioned by Escon to Travis, presumably heavy weapons of some sort with a
"wide firing spread".
Sometimes referred to as sensors or scanners. Various detection instruments
were carried by Liberator, operating at different ranges. The
extra-range detector was said by Cally to put a heavy drain on the energy
banks in The Keeper. Other references to detectors are:
Few details were given as to how the various detector systems worked, but
Blake mentioned etheric detector beams in Cygnus Alpha. When the aft
scanners were used to scrutinise Wanderer K47, Jenna noted that the
"spectro says it's ferrous", indicating one capacity of the
Liberator's detector systems. Spectro-analysis was mentioned again in
Terminal.
In The Harvest of Kairos Tarrant ordered a parallax scan whilst in
orbit over UP-Sopron. This revealed a fourth pursuit ship lying in wait for
the Liberator.
The command for a "360 orbital scan" was given on a number of occasions,
presumably to scan all around the ship in every direction.
Few references were made to Scorpio's detector systems. Main
detectors were reduced to 50% operational capacity after an attack by pursuit
ships in Animals.
Other ships had detectors as well, of course, and Liberator was first
scanned by detector beams at the end of Cygnus Alpha. The pursuit
ships changed course "towards this system". A mutoid on Servalan's star
cruiser in Volcano reported detecting surface tremors on Obsidian with
long-range sensors.
In Mission to Destiny it took Liberator 16.1 minutes to reach
the Ortega at Standard by 4: if there was any indication as to how
fast SB-4 might be, it would be possible to calculate a lower limit to
maximum detector range. In Dawn of the Gods Tarrant commanded
detector sweeps at ranges of up to 20 million spacials. The interceptors in
The Harvest of Kairos were detected at a range of 8 million spacials.
The Federation freighter headed for Horizon was operating minimum scan and
could not detect the Liberator at 150 spacials.
The Federation had installed detector screens around the unnamed city on
Helotrix. Avandir talked of Igin being picked up on the detector screen as
soon as he entered the city, suggesting that what was referred to was a
perimeter surveillance system rather than a screen against
detectors.
A name called out by Krell soon after boarding the Liberator and
encountering the flight deck's defence system. Devor was thus someone
important to Krell, probably a relative, but no further details were given.
A piece of equipment in Liberator's medical facilities, used by Blake
to confirm that Gan's violent behaviour was due to the limiter
malfunctioning.
Dice were seen to be used in the Monopoly-like game played by the crew at the
start of the episode.
See also JEWELLERY.
Part of Liberator's navigational system. Their function was impaired
by interference from the energy barriers around Sardos. Also mentioned were
the forward navigation probes and starboard navigation probes; presumably
there were port and possibly aft navigation probes as well.
Populated planet mentioned by Zen during Liberator's journey to Terminal.
Explosive device, apparently of small burst radius, fitted to Orac by Avon.
It was primed to detonate if Orac's energy levels ever deviated from very
precise limits, preventing Orac being utilised by an alien force such as the
Darkness.
A prisoner held on UP-Project Avalon, in cell A12.
Written By Murray Smith
The joining of a space vehicle to another in space. The first docking
operation between two space vehicles seperately launched from Earth
happened on 16 March 1966, between Gemini 8 and Agena 8 of the United
States. Ten docking operations were wholly or partly shown during the
series:
A feature of Freedom City and doubtless many other places as well. The
docking cradles were very close to the loading bays: Chenie referred to a
fifty yard walk for Docholli.
See also DOCKING.
No information is given to us about the dome's size. There are
references to a 'Level 38' by the public address system; we see 'L/37' and
'SL/34', perhaps Level 37 and Sub-Level 34, and are told that Blake left
the dome by 'Sub 43', perhaps short for Sub-Level 43; but no indication is
given as to the size of a level or how many sub-levels it contains.
Also, we see that leaving the dome is forbidden, except presumably
on official business; Tel Varon, a loyal Federation citizen, only went
outside once. Otherwise, going outside is a Category Four crime; and it is
illegal for inhabitants of the city to have contact with those living
outside, the 'Outsiders'.
The dome acts as a backdrop to The Way Back, and to the entire
Blake's 7 series, setting the entire scene; so when we, the viewers,
learn about how the Federation 'treated' Blake, and see its massacre of the
rebel meeting called by Bran Foster, we are not surprised. It is the
symbolic apologia for the future actions of Blake and his crew against the
Federation.
The enclosed city, with movement outside forbidden or severely
restricted by state repression or conditioning or both, has been frequently
used in science fiction, beginning with E.M.Forster's "The Machine
Stops" (1909). A few more recent examples of this are in Isaac Asimov's "The
Caves of Steel" (1954), Arthur C. Clarke's "The City and the Stars" (1956),
and in the film "Logan's Run" (1976). The reasons for such cities were
various; but whatever the reasons, they are portrayed as being, in the end,
repressive environments for their inhabitants.
See also ADMINISTRATION, FEDERATION.
A planet on the edge of the 6th Quadrant. Ten years prior to
Scorpio's visit it was colonised by a band of pirates who auctioned
their prisoners off as slaves. Servalan used the planet for her rendezvous
with Cancer, timing her visit to coincide with one of the slave auctions held
every three months. Avon, Vila and Dayna also landed on the surface.
One of at least six convicts on Kalkos taken to Sardos on a T-16 troop
transporter. Doran had been imprisoned for fifteen years, in all of which
time he had never seen the sun since he had been locked in his cell. He was
told he would never see the sun again, so was presumably sentenced to life
imprisonment. His problem, so he claimed, was women, and when Vila asked him
if he liked women he replied with an emphatic "No!". He also said that he
dreamed of committing "every crime in the book", though this lost some of its
appeal when he was actually told to break them. He adopted Vila as his
"pal", and went with Chesil to meet Vila and Tarrant as they penetrated the
Sardoans" city. He casually killed two of Grose's men before he was himself
killed, together with Chesil, by Moloch.
Describing himself as a salvage operator when he rescued the survivors of
Liberator from Terminal, he was in fact something else entirely.
Discovering the underground chamber on Xenon, he left his partner to die
there whilst he himself lived an effectively eternal life. Over the course
of nearly two hundred years he constructed the underground base on Xenon,
built Slave, designed the clip guns, and made four attempts to develop a
working teleport system. He supplied the Seska with nutrients from Onus 2.
At some point he met Ensor, presumably before Ensor went into hiding. Avon
described his taste in wine and women as "impeccable", although his
relationship with Soolin was never fully clarified. He disintegrated after
Avon shot dead the creature in the underground room.
Engineer on the Ortega, initially suspected of killing Rafford but in
fact murdered by Sara. After killing him she tried to drag him to the life
rockets, found this too difficult, and so launched an empty life rocket and
hid his body in the stores. He was found by Cally and Sonheim.
Along with unicorns, mentioned by Cally as Earth-mythology equivalents of
Auron's legend of the Thaarn.
Term applied to addicts of shadow, used by Largo. See also
DRIFT
Mentioned by Finn, suggesting that Zukan take them to help him sleep with his
guilty conscience. Zukan replied that they did little to help him.
Term used by Hanna to describe the effects of taking shadow, analogous to the
present-day concept of a "trip".
Several drugs, medicinal or otherwise, were mentioned. Vargas supplied his
subjects with a placebo, ostensibly to stave off the Curse of Cygnus. Cally
prescribed adrenalin and soma to alleviate fatigue shock in Horizon.
Vila asked for a relaxant in Hostage, this presumably being a generic
term for a number of drugs. Dr Bellfriar began to list the formula of a
vaccine against the plague on Fosforon, but lost the ability to read before
he could finish. Blake referred, in Killer, to personnel of
infraluminal space craft taking "hibernation pills" to help them cope with
the stress of long voyages. Decontaminant drugs supplied by Ensor were taken
by Avon, Jenna, Vila and Gan to cure them of the radiation sickness
contracted on Cephlon - they could apparently effect a cure in 1-2 weeks.
Ensor's son was given analgesics when brought aboard the Liberator.
Gerren needed drugs of some sort to keep him on his feet after being shot on
Orbiter. Gan was seen to take an unspecified medication in Project
Avalon, possibly an indication of his limiter beginning to malfunction.
Finn mentioned dream suppressants, and Zukan admitted to taking them.
An anaesthetic was forced on Blake when he protested at the way his trial was
conducted in The Way Back. A truth drug was administered to Kasabi by
Servalan in Pressure Point. The natives of Horizon captured Blake,
Jenna, Vila, Gan and Cally with drug-tipped darts, and the Kommissar was
killed with a poison dart fired by Ro. Avon was hit by an anaesthetic dart
in Terminal and later injected with a stimulant to wake him.
Proscribed drugs were shadow, extracted from the xerophytic moondiscs of
Zonda in Shadow, and exobriddian, also addictive, the withdrawal
symptoms of which were simulated by Dayna in Gold.
The Federation used unspecified suppressants on the population of Earth in
The Way Back. Suppressants were also used on the London to
keep the prisoners docile and drugs were used on the passengers of the
Space Princess in Gold to keep them contented (and gullible).
Pylene-50, developed by Forbus as a muscle relaxant, could be used for the
same purpose when dosage was increased a hundredfold. It was injected by
chemical laser to subdue the populations of Tarsius, Luba, Helotrix, and
Porphyr Major. Forbus had perfected an antidote that could provide immunity,
but large-scale manufacture only became possible when Zukan revealed the
presence of a plant on Betafarl that could supply the antidote (a claim that
was never verified).
Soporific sono vapour was used by Sara on the crew of the Ortega, and
by Veron against Blake, Avon, Vila and Gan in Pressure Point. The
Amagons used an anaesthetising spray of some sort to overpower the crew.
Bershar used a harmless narcotic to capture Tarrant and Dayna on Obsidian,
and was later killed by a lethal dose of presumably the same drug.
See also EXOBRIDDIAN, PYLENE-50,
SHADOW, SONO VAPOUR.
Space hazard, and encountered by the Liberator when approaching the
Thaarn's black hole. Zen described the cloud as of "density 6", suggesting
they were common enough to have a density rating system applied to them.
Tarrant's best subject at the Federation Space Academy, at least by his own
account, and integral to the vast amount of calculatory work necessary to
keep Crandor running. Tarrant and Avon performed dynamic flux equations for
Groff until the energy isolaters were switched off, at which point they found
more interesting things to do.
Dynamon crystals were sought by Avon on Xenon as a necessary part of the
teleport system, but he was told by Gunn-Sar that they had "all been dug up".
Gunn-Sar regarded them as nothing more than "expensive baubles" anyway. The
crystals were worn in neck collars by the Seska, and when the collar was
removed then the wearer became, according to Pella, "no longer Seska", and
lost her psionic powers. Avon retrieved the dynamon crystal from Luxia's
collar after she had been operated on by Nina, and fitted it into the
teleport control to regain control of Scorpio from Pella.
See also JEWELS
DEPUTY COMMANDER
(B-10: VOICE FROM THE PAST)DEPUTY LEADER
(B-10: VOICE FROM THE PAST)DERAL
(C-7: CHILDREN OF AURON)DESTINY
(A-7: MISSION TO DESTINY)DESTRUCTORS
(A-6: SEEK-LOCATE-DESTROY)DETECTORS
(various episodes)
Detector systems on the Liberator included aft scanners
(Killer); detector scanners (The Web); forward detectors;
forward scan detectors (Dawn of the Gods); forward sensors; full range
detector; extra-range detector; hull sensors; inboard sensors; intermediate
range sensors; medium range detectors; main detectors; manual (!?) detectors
(Horizon); long-range detectors; visual detectors. Some of these may
be the same detector system under a different name.
As for detector range, the course change of the pursuit ships in Cygnus
Alpha suggests that detectors could operate over very long, possibly
interstellar distances. In The Web it was mentioned that passing
pursuit ships could detect the Liberator when they came within two
million spacials, and this same range was cited again in Project
Avalon. In Hostage, on the other hand, pursuit ship detector
range was stated to be just 900 spacials (with the detector shield
non-operational). The Federation ships in this episode had detector shields
of their own and were first picked up when just 500 spacials away. Later in
the episode, Servalan's approach (presumably at Time Distort 10) in C-26 was
detected whilst 15 minutes away from landing on Exbar, and Zen stated that it
would be 12 minutes before Liberator was in detector range of C-26 - a
significant difference in range!
In Trial Blake intended to relocate the homing beacon he took with him
down to the Host using a "hand detector". Other hand-held directional
devices were seen in various episodes. 
A Hand DetectorDETECTOR SCREEN
(D-3: TRAITOR)DETECTOR SHIELD
(B-6: TRIAL / B-8: HOSTAGE / B-13: STAR ONE)
It was not working in Hostage, having broken down with
some necessary parts unavailable, and the Federation at this time revealed
that they too had developed such a device, using it to launch a surprise mass
attack on Blake. This seemed to annoy Avon, who said he had been planning to
sell them the details of his own version. The detector shield was
functioning again by the time Blake journeyed to Star One, as mentioned by
Jenna when Travis" ship arrived. No subsequent reference to it was made.
Avon perfected a detector shield for Liberator soon after Gan's death.
He modestly described it as "a highly sophisticated technological
breakthrough", and claimed it could keep Liberator off everything but
the Federation's close-range visual scanners. It enabled Blake to make a
surprise attack on Servalan's HQ, and was still in operation in
Killer.
In TrialDEVA
(D-13: BLAKE)
Blake's assistant on Gauda Prime, co-ordinating Blake's bounty hunter
activities. Although less than happy with Blake's methods, he never swerved
in his loyalty. He broke the access codes to an unspecified central computer
(Gauda Prime? Federation security?). Deva might thus have been an extremely
competent hacker. He was shot by Arlen shortly after Avon killed Blake. 
DEVOR
(A-2: SPACE FALL)DIAGNOSTIC ANALYSER
(A-10: BREAKDOWN)DICE
(C-4:DAWN OF THE GODS)DIME
(various episodes) by Murray Smith
The type of dime seen mounted onto the band of Jenna's ring was minted in
the period 1916-45, and called the Winged Liberty Head dime. This was
because the obverse of the coin, clearly seen in Cygnus Alpha, depicted
Liberty wearing a winged cap, intended to symbolise freedom of thought.
Because the Roman god Mercury also wore a winged cap, as well as wings on
his feet, this type of dime was popularly called the Mercury dime. It was
replaced by a new design, issued in 1946 with a portrait of the late
President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
A coin of the United States of America, valued at ten cents, or a tenth of
a dollar, one of which was part of a ring worn by Jenna on the fourth
finger of her left hand from The Way Back to Seek-Locate-Destroy. The
coin was established as one of the denominations of the currency of the
United States in a Coinage Act passed on 2 April 1792. Section 9 of the Act
originally called such coins 'dismes', pronounced 'deem', an English word
for tenth, taken from Old French. 
DIRECTIONAL INDICATOR
(C-13: TERMINAL)
Self-explanatory. The directional indicator Avon was given on Terminal was
spherical, programmed to check user identity by palm and voice print, and
presumably tuned into a continuous, fixed position, homing signal.
DIRECTIONAL PROBES
(C-11: MOLOCH)DISENTASTRA
(C-13: TERMINAL)DISORIENTER
(B-4: HORIZON)
Interrogation device, used on Blake and Jenna, and probably Cally, on
Horizon. From comments made by Ro, intensive, protracted experience to the
effects of a disorienter could be fatal.
DISRUPTION BOMB
(B-2: SHADOW)DISTAR
(A-9: PROJECT AVALON)DOCHOLLI
(B-9: COUNTDOWN/B-11: GAMBIT)
Zee called him a "drunken butcher", Blake said that he had had "Servalan on
his heels since he escaped", and Travis mentioned not having seen him for two
years. This is somewhat at odds with his earlier claim (in Pressure
Point) that Control had been moved from Earth thirty years previously.
For his own part, Docholli claimed that he tried "to keep out of politics",
and considered the thirty technicians he had operated on had every right to
want to kill him.
First mentioned by a dying Provine on Albian as the only man who knew where
Star One was located. A Federation cybersurgeon, Docholli operated on the
technicians who built Star One, removing all trace of its whereabouts from
their memories. Realising that he would in turn be operated on in case he
had found out the location for himself, he faked the operation on another
cybersurgeon (Lurgen) and fled. He finally arrived on Freedom City in the
company of Travis, having risked his life to save people trapped by the
explosion on the Bari. An habitual drinker, he was hidden by Chenie, who
arranged for him to be shipped off planet by a Trantinian planet hopper.
Travis persuaded him to repair his prosthetic arm, booby-trapped by Servalan,
after which Blake appeared. Docholli was last seen leaving for the planet
hopper with its pilot. 
DOCKING
(various episodes)
See also DOCKING CRADLES.
The Liberator with the Kairopan
transporterDOCKING CRADLES
(B-11: GAMBIT)DOME
(A-1: THE WAY BACK)
From the information given to us, a tight and repressive control is kept on
the inhabitants of the dome. The first thing we see is a sterile white
corridor monitored by a security camera. There are references to the closure
of the Level 38 walkways for an hour; 'Level 38 cardholders' have to report
to Central 'immediately'; the food and water are treated with suppressants; a
'Limited supplies of protien cultures' from Ganymede are said to be available
from the 'sorbet section of the food dispensing unit'; while Dev Tarrant
outlines his plan to cause ration cuts by making as much disruption as
possible in the food manufacturing division.
An unidentified domed city on Earth, within and near to which the events in
The Way Back happened. While not explicitly stated, the tone of the
episode presumed that it is one of a number of cities within which the
majority of Earth's population live and are controlled by the Terran
Federation's administration. 
DOMO
(D-7: ASSASSIN)DORAN
(C-11: MOLOCH)DORIAN
(D-1: RESCUE)DORTMUNN
(A-7: MISSION TO DESTINY)DRAGONS
(C-4: DAWN OF THE GODS)DREAM HEAD
(B-2: SHADOW)DREAM SUPPRESSANTS
(D-12: WARLORD)DRIFT
(B-2: SHADOW)DRUGS
(various episodes)DURKIM
(B-13: STAR ONE)
One of Servalan's advisors, who informed her of the breakdown of Star One's
functioning but failed, despite her insistence, to discover its location. He
had had a previous relationship with Lurena, Servalan describing them as
"more than acquaintances".
DUST CLOUDS
(C-4: DAWN OF THE GODS)DYNAMIC FLUX MATHEMATICS
(C-4: DAWN OF THE GODS)DYNAMON
(D-2: POWER)
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