Blake's 7 (TV Series)
The Way Back (1978)
Gareth Thomas: Roj Blake
Photos
Quotes
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[Blake is under treatment after witnessing a massacre]
Dr. Havant : Reality is a dangerous concept. Each one of us interprets it in a slightly different way. Every sense impression is filtered by the brain and altered, sometimes just a little, sometimes completely, to fit our individual model of what the world is about. If that model should be challenged...
Blake : [chanting over and over to himself] I am *not* insane. I am *not* insane...
Dr. Havant : No. You must put that thought completely out of your mind. You've had a shock.
Blake : [stops chanting] Yes.
Dr. Havant : We must work together to uncover what that shock was. I'm going to prescribe a mild sedative ...
Blake : No drugs!
Dr. Havant : A mild sedative to help you to sleep. You must rest.
Blake : No! No drugs.
Dr. Havant : All right, no drugs. Now try not to think an more. Don't worry, we'll get it sorted out.
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[Blake has been invited to a rebel meeting several years after his brainwashing]
Bran Foster : Now, I want you to listen to what I have to tell you. After that you can do whatever you like.
Roj Blake : All right. Now what do you know about my family?
Bran Foster : Well, I'll come to that. There are other things you should know first.
Roj Blake : Forget the other things. Just what do you know?
Bran Foster : They're dead. Your brother and sister are both dead. I'm sorry, I didn't intend you to hear it like that. They were executed four years ago just after your trial.
Roj Blake : [disbelievingly] Executed? No, that's not true. I hear from them regularly. I had a vistape only a month ago.
Bran Foster : Those tapes are fakes. Part of the treatment to keep your memory suppressed. Now, this isn't going to be easy for you, but I'm going to have to tell you things about yourself of which you have no memory. Will you hear me out?
Roj Blake : Go on.
Bran Foster : Four years ago, there was a good deal of discontent with the Administration. There were many activist groups. But the only one that really meant anything was led by Roj Blake. You and I worked together. We were outlawed and hunted. But we had supporters and we were making progress. Then someone betrayed us, I still don't know who. You were captured. So were most of our followers. They could have killed you. But that would have given the Cause a martyr. So instead they put you into intensive therapy. They erased areas of your mind, they implanted new ideas. They literally took your mind to pieces and rebuilt it. And when they'd finished, they put you up and you confessed. You said you'd been "misguided." You appealed to everyone to support the Administration, hound up the traitors. Oh, they, they did a good job on you. You were very convincing. And then they took you back and erased even that.
Roj Blake : What happened to the others?
Bran Foster : In their benevolence, the Federation allowed them to emigrate to the Outer Worlds. Like your family, they were executed on arrival.
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Roj Blake : Where are we?
Vila Restal : In a transit cell.
Roj Blake : I don't understand.
Vila Restal : You're on your way to the penal colony on Cygnus Alpha. Or you will be when the prison ship's refueled. Try to look on the bright side. It must have something. None of the guests have ever left early. In fact, none of them have ever left at all.
Roj Blake : Why are you going there?
Vila Restal : They didn't give me a choice. I steal things. Compulsive, I'm afraid. I've had my head adjusted by some of the best in the business. But it just won't stay adjusted.
Roj Blake : A professional thief.
Vila Restal : More a vocation than a profession. Other people's property comes naturally to me.
[Jenna sits down next to them]
Jenna Stannis : [to Blake] What's the time?
Vila Restal : [returning Blake's watch] Just taking care of it while you were unconscious. The place is full of criminals.
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Jenna Stannis : What's your story?
Roj Blake : I'm innocent. Of what I was charged with, anyway.
Vila Restal : We have something in common then: we're all victims of a miscarriage of justice.
Roj Blake : [protesting] But it's true!
Jenna Stannis : Of course it is.
Roj Blake : [gets the message] What about the others?
Vila Restal : Oh, a very antisocial bunch: murderers, liars, cheats...
Vila Restal : [pauses, looks at Jenna] ... smugglers...
Jenna Stannis : Thieves.
Vila Restal : ...and they're the *nice* people!
