User Reviews

Having heard rumours that a certain Space Major Provine knows the new location of the Federation Control Bleke orders The Liberator to the Planet Albion only to to find that a revolution by the population has overthrown the Federation led by mercenary Del Grant . However Blake still needs to find Provine and Grant has a reason for hating Avon

On the surface this seems like a relatively disposable episode and would have done on its initial broadcast but that's not the full story . It does tie in to the season's running thread that The Liberator crew are trying to find the location of the Terran Federation's main control centre - destroy that and the Federation is defeated but the episode also foreshadows the season three Avon=centric episode Rumours Of Death

On its own merits it's a relatively good episode even though it doesn't really aspire to being a classic but is far better than many of the more mundane episodes that Terry Nation wrote for the opening season . It's strong on character especially the space mercenary Del Grant and Space Major Provine who is portrayed as intelligent , calculating and ruthless , almost like a Federation version of Avon . Terry Nation receives a lot of uninformed criticism that'she's merely a journeyman hack type of writer but this is entirely erroneous and can write effective drama when he tries

The beauty of Avon's characterisation is this episode is that it is so simple yet so effective in that the audience learns that he once cared about someone other than himself. Paul Darrow gives a wonderful performance. The radiation bomb is a great plot device to create tension and the fact that it kills millions but leaves buildings and technology untouched is perfectly in keeping with the Federation's tactics. Tom Chadbon is very good as Del Grant - it's a shame that he never returned - while Paul Shelley is even better as Space Major Provine. Although he has less screen time than many villains on the series, Provine is perhaps my favourite one-off villain. After Andrew Robertson in "Hostage", Shelley is the second guest star that I wish had been cast as the second Travis instead of Brian Croucher. The best episode of Series Two so far and one of my three favourites overall, the others being "Seek-Locate- Destroy" and "Project Avalon".

My only real criticism is that "Countdown" is the third consecutive episode in which Jenna and Cally are sidelined. At least they attempt to justify it somewhat by having Blake, Avon and Vila putting their distinctive skills to work while on Albion. This episode is also interesting in that I think that it's the only episode after the first two in which Peter Tuddenham doesn't supply any voices.