< Escape to Mother Ship

The Forgotten World John and Mick fall foul of some extreme potholing

TOPIC 2 The one where it all kicks off

TERM 1 A day-by-day account of Waen’s first term at Fairburn School

TERM 2 The birth of the 1980s - Blake’s 7, Blondie and battles in space

Great Space Battles Three mighty empires take their first steps into outer space

Waen Shepherd 2 Waen’s heroic antics in the far-flung future of 2007 AD!

Ward’s 7:

Death Planet

Wednesday February 6th, 1980

The date at the top tells me it’s February 7th but the following piece in the book was written on February 6th. The black Berol I wrote this in matches the following couple of pieces, but if you look closely, I actually started this page in pencil, writing the logo and title and drawing the picture, before continuing in pen. So what I think happened is this: I started the piece in pencil on Tuesday February 5th, continuing straight on from Escape to Mother Ship, then ran out of time before I could actually write any words. The next day, we were asked to write a factual piece about something we enjoyed. But I wanted to finish the piece I started, so I wrote the new piece on a new page, then returned to finish this the following day, writing over the original pencil so the whole page might at least make some coherent visual sense. So even though Blake’s 7 comes later in the book, it was written earlier. Phew. Now that’s out of the way… What in the name of Actual Fuck is going on in this story? It starts fairly coherently I suppose, with John proving that he does know how to operate the ship he said he knew well. We’re finally introduced to Argos the Computer, completing the cast of characters we were promised way back in the first episode. There are still only four of them of course - John, Argos, Matthew and Louise - but the sudden reappearance of Waen suggests there might actually be a plan behind this otherwise random mess - splitting the characters up, then reintroducing them one by one, just like they do on real telly. But what happens then? Waen says he’s on a space station, “to the Mother Ship’s left.” John disputes this, saying there’s a planet on the left, which presumably a space station can’t possibly be orbiting. He even goes as far as to say Waen must be lying. John’s already shown he knows what he’s on about when it comes to the Mother Ship - he also probably knows Waen better than anyone else - so we have to trust him on this point. When Action Matthew goes down to the planet to rescue Waen - which he manages rather easily - it turns out Waen must have been mistaken at the very least. But what’s really happening here? Is Waen mistaken? Is John mistaken? Am I cleverly trying to set up a sub- plot in which Waen has been brainwashed, and at some point he’ll reveal that he’s an agent for the Federation? And what is the Federation exactly? Is it the same Federation as the one in Blake’s 7? Or the one in Star Trek? Or is it an entirely different Federation I completely made up myself independently of any outside influence? Sadly, none of these questions will be answered. The only things we know are: Waen gets back to the Mother Ship, so now they are five; Matthew is the only person in this story who seems capable of actual bravery; and just like Blake’s 7, all the women in the cast are instantly relegated to switchboard duty and teleport operation. But at least Louise has lines. Weirdly, it actually says “THE END” in capital letters at the end of this page - a rarity for the young Shepherd - but I continued the story almost immediately with The Hunt. Maybe I realised I hadn’t actually finished the story, and wouldn’t until the seven were finally united? Let’s hope that actually happens then, and I don’t let it fizzle out halfway through without a proper resolution…

Blake’s 7 >

Superman the Movie Souvenir programme from when I went to the pictures with Louise