The Liberator from Blake's 7

[stuart_tetley]

The forums told me I haven't posted in a loooong while, and would I like to remedy that?

So here's a WIP from close on 10 years ago I think. I dabbled with (firstly) Inspire 3D, later LW for bits Inspire couldn't do (such as the spline cage, for the engine housing.)

This was my first attempt to model anything significant in LW. I was (mostly) reasonably happy with way the mesh turned out, but the texturing was another matter entirely, though I thought the plasma effect on the drive unit looked kinda cool. Apologies for the gratuitous overuse of lens flares as well - these are 'of their time' for sure.

I'm an amateur hobbyist that had a bunch of evenings stuck in hotels while working miles away from home. Figured I'd one day have time to finish this, but have stayed way to busily employed in a far less fun capacity.

Just stumbled across a few renderings and figured I should pop a few up here. I have an avi or two, but they're a bit on the monster side.

Took me 3 years Eugene, but I finally got ya a reply! :lol:

Cheers

Stuart

[brian.coates]

Always loved this ship and you've definitely done it justice.

It may look a bit cheesy now but compared to the original physical effects on the show, it's freakin' awesome!!!

[starbase1]

Yep, me too! The design looks like an accident in a hairdryer and microphone factory, but it comes out supremely cool! Who needs warp nacelles and saucer sections?

[stuart_tetley]

looks like an accident in a hairdryer and microphone factory

hehe!

I remember some fans being interviewed on TV around when the BBC started releasing the full series on VHS. One of the stated reasons for their enthusiasm was (I'm probably paraphrasing a bit) "seeing 60s hairdryers masquerading as spaceships." Some of the designs really didn't work IMHO, but this one was a triumph.

I just found the mesh and other bits, so I'm going to see what I can do with it with LW9 at my disposal.

[starbase1]

hehe!

I remember some fans being interviewed on TV around when the BBC started releasing the full series on VHS. One of the stated reasons for their enthusiasm was (I'm probably paraphrasing a bit) "seeing 60s hairdryers masquerading as spaceships." Some of the designs really didn't work IMHO, but this one was a triumph.

I just found the mesh and other bits, so I'm going to see what I can do with it with LW9 at my disposal.

I think the real strengths of the show were the stories - frequently MUCH darker than anything else had done at the time. The final episode where Avon kills Blake and they just start shooting down the crew was genuinely shocking. And Avon had so many great one liners throughout the series - brilliantly played as a genuinely intelligent character (as opposed to someone who speaks pure techno babble and makes amazing devices that are never seen again...)

Captain! If I reverse the polarity on the photon beam generator it should theoretically absorb the energy!

(Translation: Captain! If I put the batteries in backwards maybe my torch will become a dark sucker! Seriously, just try watching star trek and replacing "reverse the polarity" with "put the batteries in the wrong way round")

The liberator was a seriously cool design, unfortunately the really weak bit was the costumes, where the BBC was really scraping the bottom of the dressing up box...

[starbase1]

Getting back to your model, I'd really like to see you bring it up to date, I think some fairly simple things could make a big difference...


Better starfield.
Gentle rounding of the some of those very sharp edges.
Tone down the green on the round ball.
Add normal mapping on the ridges on the green ball, for better relief.
Feed some of those panels into a normal channel for relief on the fine details.


Give it a go!

[adrian]

The liberator was a seriously cool design, unfortunately the really weak bit was the costumes, where the BBC was really scraping the bottom of the dressing up box...

Erm... well, I think the special effects were a bit crummy as well. The Liberator was awesome though and I was genuinely upset to see it blown up by that green slime stuff (how sad is that?!)

I agree that the pic definately needs a better starfield because at the moment it's too distracting.

[stuart_tetley]

Thanks for the feedback and ideas!

Yep, that starfield has a bad case of 'glow gone bad' or something. I came across a more recent render which isn't so egregious that way (I think this is from a newer version of LW too, but it's the exact same objects.)

I was never satisfied with the texturing. I actually made most of them using CorelXara/Xara X, but then had to save them as targas or some other bitmap format for LW, thus losing their vector format. I wondered about trying to create a plugin for the Xara .web format that would automatically render the Xara file at an appropriate size for whatever output resolution I was aiming for.)

Time to read up on normal mapping and other stuff. DSV2 refit now underway...

[starbase1]

Time to read up on normal mapping and other stuff. DSV2 refit now underway...

I was very impressed with how easy it is. I think you would see an immediate improvement is you just converted the panels textures to grey scale, and fed them through DP's free bump-to-normal node.

[starbase1]

Looks like they are going to remake it!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/apr/25/bskyb.television?gusrc=rss&feed=uknews

[adrian]

Well let's hope they bring back the Liberator as well - remember it was only in for 1 or 2 series wasn't it? Yet when you think of B7, you automatically think of that ship.

Zen was pretty cool too, as was Orac.

[UltraViolet]

Damn, that's a good news, I really enjoyed that show when I was a teenager. What's next ? Space 1999 ??? (Ok, maybe 2999, lol)

Good job on the ship Stuart. Looking forward to see more :)

[starbase1]

Damn, that's a good news, I really enjoyed that show when I was a teenager. What's next ? Space 1999 ??? (Ok, maybe 2999, lol)

Good job on the ship Stuart. Looking forward to see more :)

As has been observed before, the problem with Space 1999 compared with Captain Scarlet was that the acting was more wooden in Space 1999...

But surely they must use the Liberator! They can't dump the crew in 'Slave' again! But perhaps this opens up some opportunities for us modellers, to come up with a souped up Liberator!

And the next obvous questions:
Who is cool and mean enough to play Avon?
And who is arch and camp enough to get away with playing Servelan?

Nick

[Qexit]

Looks like they are going to remake it!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/apr/25/bskyb.television?gusrc=rss&feed=uknewsThis has been on the cards for quite a while, as the article says. I'm not to happy to hear that Sky 1 will be behind it though :thumbsdow I hate to think of Blake's 7 done with the same interminal doom and gloom that permeates the whole of Battlestar Gallactica :help:

Adrian, the Liberator was in the first three series and got blown to pieces in the final episode of series three. The junkheap with the curved corrigated steel decor that replaced it, Scorpio, just wasn't in the same league. 'Slave', it's equivalent of Zen, never quite held my affection the way that Zen did. Trivia point, the voices of Zen, Slave and Orac were all done by the same actor and the exchanges between them were done in realtime. I remember seeing an interview with the actor about it a while back. he said it was easier to do it that way than to try and record them separately :D

[starbase1]

This has been on the cards for quite a while, as the article says. I'm not to happy to hear that Sky 1 will be behind it though :thumbsdow I hate to think of Blake's 7 done with the same interminal doom and gloom that permeates the whole of Battlestar Gallactica :help:


I'm not a fan of new or old Battlestar... But a degree of darkness is essential, and what made B7 special for me. I really loathe the chirpy bonhomie that permeates the Trek franchise. I like it that the crew are not goodies - except Blake who is clearly portrayed as naieve. Consider the cynical calaculating nature of Avon, who not only killed Blake but attempted to kill Villa in another episode. Whenever a trek character was tempted towards a less than 100% moral decision it would always end in a valuable lesson for the person in question.

I remember one particular exchange between Avon and a woman he had just shot dead:

"Violence! That's always the answer for a man!"
"If you knew the answer, you shouldn't have asked the question."

Here's hoping it's good!

[Qexit]

I'm not a fan of new or old Battlestar... But a degree of darkness is essential, and what made B7 special for me. I really loathe the chirpy bonhomie that permeates the Trek franchise. I like it that the crew are not goodies - except Blake who is clearly portrayed as naieve. Consider the cynical calaculating nature of Avon, who not only killed Blake but attempted to kill Villa in another episode. Whenever a trek character was tempted towards a less than 100% moral decision it would always end in a valuable lesson for the person in question.Agreed. Blake's 7 needs an a dark under-current, just not the horrendous great tidal wave that inhabits Battlestar :D Of course, there is the small problem of selling the whole idea to the American Networks (not the viewers...just the Networks). One problem with Blake's 7 in present times is that fundamentally it is the tale of a group of terrorists flying round the galaxy destroying things and causing general disruption in their fight against the oppressive Federation. Not exactly an easy concept to sell these days. Hm, wonder if they will have Servalan in the new version and who might they get to play her ?

Here's hoping it's good!I would like to see it done well but in the hands of Sky 1 I'm not going to get too optimistic. Now if the BBC were doing it (as long as they didn't put Russell T Davies in charge), I would actually be quite excited :D

[meshpig]

You mean Orac lives?

I haven't seen it since 1979 but the success of the most recent Dr.Who proves it's possible to get the essence right.

Um, Servalan might be played by Joanna Lumley?

m

[Qexit]

You mean Orac lives? Of course :D

I haven't seen it since 1979 but the success of the most recent Dr.Who proves it's possible to get the essence right.I'm biased but while I think the BBC might get the essence right, I very much doubt if Sky 1 will. They will be using BSG as the model after all :thumbsdow

Um, Servalan might be played by Joanna Lumley?Hm, I think she is a bit too old to play the part to be honest. Plus, I would be hard pressed to think of her as 'dangerous', something essential for that particular character. Much as I hate BSG in its current form, I think the actress who played Admiral Cain in it would be perfect for the part.

[starbase1]

Agreed. Blake's 7 needs an a dark under-current, just not the horrendous great tidal wave that inhabits Battlestar :D Of course, there is the small problem of selling the whole idea to the American Networks (not the viewers...just the Networks). One problem with Blake's 7 in present times is that fundamentally it is the tale of a group of terrorists flying round the galaxy destroying things and causing general disruption in their fight against the oppressive Federation. Not exactly an easy concept to sell these days. Hm, wonder if they will have Servalan in the new version and who might they get to play her ?

I would like to see it done well but in the hands of Sky 1 I'm not going to get too optimistic. Now if the BBC were doing it (as long as they didn't put Russell T Davies in charge), I would actually be quite excited :D

I think they must have a Servalan figure - there was a lot of milage in her being about the only person Avon respected, (but was too smart to trust!)

Terrorism a problem? Just give the federation Arabic accents, and the crew of the Liberator Texan accents! :devil::devil::devil:

Hmmm... RTD doing the scripts. He has a great way with a story, but you would probably end up with Tarrant being gay, Servalan being played by Pam Ayers, and Orac having a geordie accent.

Nick

[starbase1]

I just did a web search and found a rather good quote by Paul Darrow on remaking B7:

"(In his December 2005 video interview "Forever Avon", on the question about the possibility of a Blake's 7 revival)
Paul Darrow: Well, it's been done really, hasn't it? The movie Serenity is a little bit - in fact, a lot like Blake's 7. Which is, I think was called Firefly originally, the series. Very good. Serenity is a very good picture. Yes, so I think that's your Blake's 7 of today. So I suspect that it wouldn't come back. "

And another great Avon quote:
"I'm not stupid. I'm not expendable. I'm not going."