Mastermind - Blake's 7

Specialist questions on the BBC tv series Blake's 7 answered by Steve Goddard on Mastermind tx 19 October 2020.
Questionmaster John Humphrys

[@braxxian]

I got all the questions. But I have been a die hard B7 fan for over 40 years and didn’t have the stress of being on live tv. The gent did a good job.

[@christopher11morris]

Me too :-)

[@sixstanger00]

I can't believe he missed _"Time Squad."_ Like, come on dude.

[@billbaggins1688]

Are you the real Blake, or a clone?

[@michaelperkins4854]

Those weren't questions, they were essays.

[@Villafarrell]

Lol! Yeah, the questions cld have been read out at x1.5 speed

[@kaiserjoe2316]

Or advertisement. In my book Farscape filled a sort of gap. Dated as it is visually on B7, the writing was pretty cool. Great characters. Like a cool space rpg. Paul Darrow is irreplaceable. His interaction with the crew especially Avon/Blake/Villa, with an almost James Bond coldishness with the female leads. Could be re-imagined. Should be done. I thank my brother for introducing me to the series. I baulked at first but damn... great characters.

[@daverage4729]

Yeah, they were ridiculous. Could easily have been written much shorter.

[@Dunk1970]

@@kaiserjoe2316 Paul Darrow tried to reprise it a few times with the help of others. They came close, but failed I think through wanting slightly different things from the project. When he gave up, he said that it was no longer necessary as Firefly / Serenity was the natural successor.

[@gilgameshofuruk4060]

@@daverage4729 Some of the specialist subjects are so narrow in scope now that they can only come up with a handful of questions. So the questions have got longer to fill the time. That's also why interruptions aren't allowed; they could run out of questions.

[@crazyd4371]

Orac would have been able to answer all questions ahead of them even being asked, while concurrently interrogating Federation computers for research data on improving Scorpio's drive systems!!!

[@darryljf7215]

I got five but I thought some questions were overly long and convoluted.

[@Villafarrell]

Finally, a topic worthy of Mastermind

[@GFSTaylor]

He wasn't the first. I did Blakes 7 in a semi final back in about 2008. The questions were shorter then, so although I get a couple wrong, I still scored about 15.

[@HariSeldon913]

@@GFSTaylor Are you allowed to answer before he finishes reading?

[@GFSTaylor]

@@HariSeldon913 No. If you interrupt, the question master will still finish reading the question before confirming if you are wrong or right, so you won't save any time.

[@hopebgood]

I'd watched just over a minute of this vid and thought "These questions are a bit long-winded. I bet there are one or two comms saying the same thing." I paused it to have a look and they're practically all saying that.

[@daviniarobbins9298]

I got 9 right. Easy questions, at least for a fan who has watched the series over 40 times.

[@daviniarobbins9298]

12 easy questions though I would have answered them sooner than him. Would have interrupted the questioner.

[@patdbean]

@@daviniarobbins9298 I got 12 and yes, most were interupatible . Them again he was in the black chair I wasn't. I probably wouldn't have been able to remember my name. 😃

[@daviniarobbins9298]

@@patdbean Well I think the questions were insultingly too easy. It sounds like the question researcher thought Blake's 7? What's that? and Googled it and looked at the wikipedia page. If it had been me writing the questions there would have been the following which don't sound like they are meant for children(well 45 year old children but you get the point): What planet is known as The Green Planet? What was the class of ship that was said to be 700 years old? What is the crime for going outside the city on Earth? What is the name of the planet where Justin resides? The Space Rats last known base is on what planet? Name the commander of the London? How is the Liberator finally destroyed? What is the strongest known metal in the Galaxy? From Ceflon to Aristo is how many days? What was the Federation's central control's new name? Who was the original owner of the Scorpio? Logan was said to gone to ground on what planet? There is 12 questions that are not written for children.

[@epiendless1128]

@@daviniarobbins9298 OK, I wouldn't have got most of those, whereas I got most of the Mastermind questions despite only watching a few youtube clips since the original broadcast. I agree most of the questions were interruptable, but depending on which series of Mastermind this is, interrupting may not be allowed (and the question-master finishes the question even if you do).

[@neo433]

Best TV series ever. Orac rules !!!

[@eddherring4972]

Could have asked ‘Who played Bayban The Butcher?’ Not given his life history.

[@grimupnorth]

I'd have deliberately given the wrong answer to the final question so I could have scored 7.

[@andreww4473]

I haven't seen Mastermind in some time, but I have to ask... how unnecessarily long were some of those questions?

[@vapourmile]

It's a timed round. How can you possibly win if the questions take about two minutes each to ask?

[@sixstanger00]

Yeah, a lot of information crammed into each question was entirely irrelevant. For example, the question about Cally's introductory episode includes details about the plot and Cally's first interaction with Blake. The question should've just been, "Which episode was the telepath Cally introduced?"

[@SimonLeicester]

He could have answered twice as many questions if they hadn't been so verbose. Watching Blakes 7 again, shown nightly on Forces TV here in the UK, and enjoying it

[@HariSeldon913]

Are you allowed to answer before he finishes reading the question?

[@richardscott6896]

They time the questions so that each contestant gets the same number if they answer promptly- they don't all get the same amount of time.

[@Eltonlaleham]

Awesome in billions of ways

[@yannatoko9898]

At least tens, maybe hundreds... not billions, though.

[@junior1138]

The soliloquous nature of the questions did not lend themselves to a high scoring round.

[@Villafarrell]

He needed Orac in braclet for a few of the tough questions

[@eddiethehead4791]

Or an earring to put on his ear to tell it to him in his ear.

[@richardclarke376]

if the questions werent so long he could have got 20

[@Ensign_Cthulhu]

I used to watch Mastermind in very close proximity to episodes of Blake's Seven. I had no idea Mastermind was still going!

[@leokimvideo]

Definition of a Question is this : a sentence worded or expressed so as to elicit information. These are not questions!

[@commandingjudgedredd1841]

I read that in Zen's voice.

[@richardgregory3684]

If anyone is wondering: the questions are designed so that the same number get asked within the two minutes, any time wasted is by the contestant hesitating, asking for a repeat, or getting a wrong answer. Interruptions are not allowed, this stops contestants interrupting with an answer they know to be wrong, in the hope of moving quickly on to a new question. Essentially the number of questions within two minutes is fixed so there's a maximum numbe rof points you can score, even with unhesitating perfect answers.

[@iaincameron8056]

Questions way too long

[@carlesq.]

thank you for sharing

[@leeparnell7822]

I got bored listening with the length of those bloody questions.

[@ianmillerphotography]

I got 9 too. Not bad for a programme I haven't seen for many years and we are only up to Volcano on Forces TV

[@eddherring4972]

I didn’t fully hear the question where the answer was Spacerats and I said puppet master rather than puppeteer so I got 2 wrong. I didn’t think I’d get any wrong as I’ve watched all the episodes so many times. EDIT: I forgot, I’d have passed on Timesquad, I couldn’t remember that one so I got 3 wrong.

[@Wulfyr]

The Spacerats were awesome! Interstellar punk rockers!

[@ba55bar]

6. Happy with that

[@marleypumpkin4917]

Mastermind has been dumbed down.

[@ChanWalrus]

He's damn good!

[@deceptivepanther]

Genius. 🪐

[@barneygoogle3277]

Smeg!

[@commandingjudgedredd1841]

Most... Illogical.

[@adriantownsend2317]

... Probably easier to answer watching them than it would be in the studio, sat in that chair!

[@carlesq.]

5 for me

[@GavinScrimgeour]

NEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRDD!

[@gilgameshofuruk4060]

The reason these questions are so long winded is that contestants are allowed to pick any subject they like now. Some of which are so fatuous that the question setters can come up with only a handful of sufficiently difficult questions. So the questions get longer to fill the time and to make sure everyone gets the chance to answer the same number of questions.

[@eddherring4972]

Who played Bayban the butcher? In what episode did Cally join the programme? What gang was Atlan the leader of? Who was Shrinker? How was Gan killed? Which character wore an eyepatch? What planet was Blake found on in the episode Blake? These questions are just as viable.

[@gilgameshofuruk4060]

@@eddherring4972 I wasn't implying that B7 was a fatuous subject. _Never_ ! What I mean is that someone else in the same show may have picked "The history of Mow Cop folly", for which I know there would be only about half a dozen viable questions. So those are padded out to fill the time. But to make the number of questions for each cintestant fair, a subject with lots of potential is restricted to the same number of long winded questions. PS I only picked "half a dozen" at random for Mow Cop, but now I think about it there are only six questions. Where is it, what is it, who built it, who wanted to knock it down, for which jubilee was a beacon lit there, and how long does it take to walk to it from my house. Watch out for me on the next series of Mastermind.

[@eddherring4972]

@@gilgameshofuruk4060 I get you 👍🏻

[@HariSeldon913]

@@eddherring4972 Colin Baker, Time Squad, Space Rats, interrogator in Rumours of Death, A foam I-beam fell on him escaping Central Command, Travis, Gauda Prime.

[@eddherring4972]

@@HariSeldon913 perfect! 😀👍🏻👌🏻

[@1701Starfish]

OMG!!! Are there not any restrictions on how long the questions are? All that waffle before the actual question is asked.

[@redblade8160]

All these questions are so long!

[@markdunstan8277]

Well done Steve

[@Ashworth6]

I got 9.

[@daverage4729]

Just as well the contestant was a college professor...those questions were practically lectures. Stupidly long and badly written. No wonder the guy only got to score 8 points. Fair play to him though.

[@stegatops1]

Is he allowed to interrupt the speaker before the question is finished?

[@barryclarke9815]

the questions were way too long

[@TALKCalgary]

Any fool could have answered those questions.

[@andrewhillis9544]

As Avon Would Say,"That's Any Fool Within Reason!!!"👍👍👍👍👍👍👍