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This is as hard-core science-fiction as you ever find on TV, revolving around an insoluble problem in mechanics, and capping the always simmering tension between Vila and Avon which continued since the second episode of the first series. Avon and Vila were Blake's 7's longest serving duo, Vila appearing in the first episode (and therefore the only character to appear in every episode) and Avon in every episode from the second on. This episode expertly levers the character flaws in the two anti-heroes. I'm struggling to find other TV SF episodes to compare with this. Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra, from Star Trek TNG, Blink, from Doctor Who, perhaps the pilot episode from Lexx, but all of these are space-fantasy, not science-fiction in the way that Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke or William Gibson would have written it. When it comes to hard core mechanics, this episode is, to my mind, unbeaten.

This is a lighthearted (by Blake's 7 standards) heist episode which comes at a good place in the series, before things start getting very bleak indeed with the final three episodes. There are plenty of thrills and spills on the way, and a lot of care obviously went into the scenario, including exemplary modelling of the Space Princess. Vila gets to play the hard man on this one, which is part of the overall tautening up of characters ready for Orbit, Warlord and Blake. Blake's 7's sharp-witted verbal duelling, bleak politics and cynical undertone went out of fashion in the post-Cold War 1990s, when the show was frequently derided, but in today's climate it plays very well and often seems prescient. Politics, big business and crime all swirl together in this enjoyable episode which doesn't seem like much of a brain-teaser--until the end, when you realise it's too late, and you should have been paying closer attention.

Tanith Lee's first Blake's 7 episode, Sarcophagus in series 3, was scary, but had no particular function in the overall story arc. This episode is crucial to the development of the characters of Tarrant and Servalan, and leaves the crew of Scorpio as powerless as they ever are at any point since Space Fall. This, alongside Orbit, is one of the outstanding episodes in series 4 from my perspective. It brings to a conclusion Tarrant's personal storyarc which began with the murder of his brother in Death Watch. It was worth waiting for.