The Mark of Kane

You may be looking for the Star Trek: TOS zine, The Mark of Cain.

Title:	The Mark of Kane
Creator:
Date(s):	1996
Medium:	print
Fandom:	Blake's 7
Language:	English
External Links:
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The Mark of Kane is a fan-produced, for-profit Blake's 7 play on audio cassette.

Originally created and produced by Alan Stevens and "Kaldor City," then beginning in 2001, "Magic Bullet," the audio tape was also promoted and sold by Horizon, a Blake's 7 fan club.

Transcript

The transcript is here.

Related

• Travis: The Final Act (1991)
• The Mark of Kane (1996)
• The Logic of Empire (1998)

Straddles a Line

Alan Stevens, later of Magic Bullet Productions, produced three unofficial audio cassettes between 1991 and 1998.

This project straddles a line between "fannish" (non-profit) and "pro" (for profit).

It utilized many official sources, such as the original actors.

Like many tie-in novels, it was written by fans, but these fans had a monetary plan.

It is part of a shared universe called "Kaldor City."

Ultimately, as fannish as they are, they are still pro works.

Doctor Who is a fandom that also has many novels and other works that occupy this netherworld of "fan," "amateur," "pro," "official," and "fanwork." In fact, Stevens, the creator of these Blake's 7 audio tapes also produced a series of audio dramas named Kaldor City, created by Chris Boucher. They link the Blake's 7 universe into Boucher's Doctor Who serial The Robots of Death via the character Carnell, who appeared in the Blake's 7 episode, "Weapon".

Doctor Who is a fandom that also has many novels and other works that occupy this netherworld.

About Magic Bullet:

Magic Bullet Productions is an independent audio-production company formed in 2001. While we were originally set up to produce the Kaldor City audios, we've also been known to turn our hand to magazines and (in collaboration) books as well. In 2004, we acquired the rights to produce Lawrence Miles' Faction Paradox audio CDs. This site provides information on all our current, past and future projects.

About Kaldor City: The Kaldor City audios are an ultraviolent tale of power, sex and intrigue set in the universe of Chris Boucher's Doctor Who: The Robots of Death, Blake's 7: Weapon and Doctor Who spinoff novel Corpse Marker. Boasting a star-studded cast headed by Paul Darrow, Scott Fredericks and the late Russell Hunter, the CDs are produced by Alan Stevens, writer and producer of several acclaimed radio documentaries and sci-fi dramas, with sound design, effects, music and direction by Alistair Lock. The series has the full approval and written permission of Chris Boucher.

Listeners will be catapulted into an intelligent and surreal series of adventures set on a corrupt world governed by an all-powerful Company, where the rich scheme in mansions filled with robot slaves, the poor scrabble for survival in the Sewerpits, the Security forces are out of control and terrorism is a daily fact of life. Although the CDs do form a loose "story arc," most can be enjoyed on their own as standalone stories.

Description

From the company that sold it:

A Kaldor City Exclusive-- Set in the Blake's 7 universe, "The Mark of Kane" tells the story of Travis, the disgraced soldier, and Blake, the revolutionary leader, whose fates are linked through the disturbing quest of the bounty hunter Kane. As both Blake and Travis follow their respective courses to destruction, they discover that revenge is never total, and that no one is ever quite what they seem.

Blake's 7: The Mark of Kane is a 1996 full cast audio drama written By Alan Stevens and David Tulley, with sound design by Alistair Lock.

Cast in order of appearance:

Brian Croucher (Travis), Christina Balit (Mutoid Pilot), Tracy Russell (Valisha/Blossom), Bruce McGilligan (Alien), Steven Allen (Stenner), Alistair Lock (Customer), Terry Molloy (Kane), Pete Wallbank (Royce), Alan Stevens (Morik), Peter Halliday (Barkeep), Gareth Thomas (Blake), Daniel Bowers (Tando) and Peter Miles (Lafayette).

Fan Comments

The tape consists of two stories, one on each side of the tape. The first story involves Travis before he reaches Freedom City and looks at some events relating to the Andromedans. It also involves a mutoid and a bounty hunter called Kane.

The second story involves Blake and takes place shortly after Jenna's death. There are some links to the first story - Kane and the mutoid reappear. We also get to meet Tando (one of Blake's fellow bounty hunters).

To be honest, these aren't really stories as such, they are more like vignettes - we see a scene in time rather than an entire plot. However, they are very well done.

The production quality is excellent. The cover art for the tape is by Pete Wallbank and we get a colour portrait of GP Blake, the mutoid and a black and white picture of Travis and Kane (Kane is carrying his Boucher automatic rifle and has a little badge saying 'I love GP').

The sound quality and incidental music all feel professional.

Brian Croucher sounded absolutely spot on. It's as though he had never stopped playing Travis.

Blake was a disappointment in one way. He too, was exactly right, but this is the Blake we see in the last episode, the man who has acquired an extra layer of cynicism, who says that he used to be more trusting than he is now. If I'm going to have more Blake, I'd like to have had him earlier on, but I'll take any Blake I can get if the cards are down.

Voices are very evocative. Actors change physically, but voices tend to stay the same. Listening to this tape, I don't see Gareth Thomas, I see Blake. The speech patterns are Blake's.

As I said, this a very professional production all round. In fact, there's only one thing that gives it away as a fan production. It's too accurate! (I hasten to add that that is a compliment, not a complaint) Having listened to it once, I haven't spotted a single continuity error and if you realise that these stories fit between other episodes and refer to events going on in the world at large, then you'll soon realise that anyone who wasn't totally immersed in the series would never have got it all right.

There are continuity references that are important to the series as a whole such as how Travis contacted the Andromedans and there are ones that are completely incidental, do no harm if you miss them and add a little extra if you spot them. "It's as easy as shooting zombies off an elevator."

There's some in jokes as well. I'm sure somebody took great delight in the fact that the term 'Trekkers' is used in 'Gambit', thus making it canonical in Blake's 7. If you want to know what happens to the Trekkers in this story, go buy the tape!

The really interesting question is whether this tape is canonical. Up till now, I've only considered the actual episodes to be canonical - I have ignored BBC publicity blurb (which frequently contradicted the episodes), I've ignored the Hoyle novelisations (which I believe were done from the draft scripts), I've disbelieved 'Avon a Terrible Aspect' and I felt 'Afterlife' wasn't close enough to the series either.

'The Mark of Kane' has two claims to being canonical. Firstly, it has Gareth Thomas and Brain Croucher. That wouldn't have been enough if it was a botch job, but it most definately isn't. It's well written, well produced and well acted.

I've deliberately tried not to say too much about what happens in these stories, but I've always felt that certain events on Jevron took place the way they are suggested here. On the other hand, I've got to think about Gan... The version here is certainly possible (and one I've considered on occasion), but I haven't yet decided if I want to go along with it or not.

All things considered, there is only one drawback to this tape. You MUST know the series, and you must know it well, otherwise, the events taking place will be irrelevent to you. These are 'fill in the gaps' stories and unless you know the gaps being filled, the stories won't make much sense.

For example, Blake's closing line only rings home if you've seen 'Deliverence'.

Do I recomend it? Yes. Wholeheartedly, provided that you have seen most of the second season episodes leading up to and including 'Star One' and 'Blake'.