Travis: The Final Act

Title:	Travis: The Final Act
Creator:	Alan Stevens
Date(s):	1991
Medium:	print
Fandom:	Blake's 7
Language:	English
External Links:
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Travis: The Final Act is a fan-produced, for-profit Blake's 7 documentary 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.

The Transcript

The transcript is at: Travis: The Final Act, ^{Archived version}

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".

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.

the cover art is by Pete Wallbank

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Description

The complete transcript of the innovative and surreal audio documentary which provided the background for The Mark of Kane, and ultimately led to the creation of Kaldor City. Through interviews with Chris Boucher, Brian Croucher, David Maloney and Stephen Greif, Alan Stevens, ably assisted by Alistair Lock and Peter Miles, explores the life and background of Travis, the tortured villain of Blake's 7.

Reactions and Reviews

A documentary style tape exploring Travis' background, career and motives. Features interviews with both Brian Croucher and Stephen Greif as well as Chris Boucher (script editor) and David Maloney and is narrated by Peter Miles who played Secretary Rontane.

I'm not a great Travis fan, but I found this tape very interesting to listen to and have played it several times. Some of the tape consists of extracts from relevent episodes. This is in no way a badly assembled patchwork of bits, but a well put together exploration of the character. There's a nice colour picture of Travis 2 on the box as well. Playing time is over 90 minutes.

Travis: The Final Act, is a professionally produced 90 minute cassette tape available from Horizon. The cover is a dynamic color portrait of Travis Two by Pete Wallbank.

The tape is in two parts. The first side covers Travis' life working for the Federation, the second his time spent as an outlaw. The narrator is Peter Miles, who played Secretary Rontane in "Trial", and in this persona, he investigates Travis' life and background. There are extracts from all the relevant episodes (in chronological order), plus interviews with Stephen Greiff (Travis One), Chris Boucher (script editor), David Maloney (producer) and Brian Croucher (Travis Two).

Travis' background is that of a man who was practically brought up by the service. Space Command is his family,he really knows no other. His loyalty is to that family, and to Servalan as the head of the family. He plays by the rules, and he sees himself as a good soldier. Even when he is cast out by the Federation, he is still not totally free of its influence.

We see Travis from both the character's viewpoint and the actor's viewpoint. We see Travis" increasing instability after "Trial" and the fact that he was still not fully free of Servalan's influence. His motivation at Star one is discussed. We also have Chris Boucher's comment to the fact that he spent many hours on the script of "Star One" deliberately working to include the line "I am Travis." so that Brian Croucher would be able to speak the line (and thus say that he wasn't Stephen Greiff).

I enjoyed the tape very much. I felt that it gave me a better overview of Travis as a character, and I under stood him better after listening to it. The only thing I didn't care much for was the music. The tape has a specially composed sound track, and it just didn't happen to be my kind of music. My style is folk, this is more electronic — others may well like it.

"He's probably mad, but certainly not a fool" Servalan, Trial

Not before time, a new piece of quality merchandise associated with one of Britain's most undervalued science-fiction television programmes has finally been produced. Unlike Doctor, the Star Treks and Red Dwarf fans, Blake's 7 fans have not had a great deal of goodies produced for them. Now, at last, something really very good has quietly found it's way into the world. The item to which I refer is a 92-minute audio cassette, entitled, Travis: The Final ACT.

The tape has been written and comiled by Alan Stevens, who has innovatively created a drama documentary based upon the life, times and creation of the character who was the second deadliest enemy of the Liberator crew. Combining actual sections of dialogue from the TV series and many contributions from both the individuals who had a part in the creation of Travis and the two actors who played him, Travis: The Final Act is an original idea and a treaty for all fans of B7.

Presented in two parts, Travis: The Final Act opens with the character of Rontane (played here superbly once more by Peter Miles) seeking out information about the origins of Travis, following Supreme Commander Servalan's decision to choose the unorthodox officer to hunt down Blake. Rontane accesses a Federation computer which then proceeds to give him the facts that he requires, via a series of interviews with the likes of B7 Producer David Maloney, script editor Chris Boucher, Steven Grief and Brian Croucher.

The tape traces the history of Travis, from both a factual and fictional point of view. David Maloney discusses the ideas surrounding the casting of the actors and the general production of the series, but Chris Boucher's contribution is by far the most interesing part of the tape. Boucher talks about what made Travis Travis, and looks at his motives and beliefs. On of the main points highlighted by Boucher is that Travis' main reason for being is because he is a soldier. He has been trained to be a soldier, and that this is all that he knows: that his only family is the military. Another interesting idea concerns his relationship with Servalan - for despite all of the disagreements and conflict between the pair, Chris Boucher tells us that Travis could never have killed the Supreme Commander because he simply could not kill a superior officer due to the type of person that he was.

Both Steven Grief and Brian Croucher talk about playing the role, and it is the latter who makes the largest contribution of the two, quite ptobably because more happened to Travis in Season Two than it did in Season One. Croucher seems to have enjoyed playing Travis, and gives some interesting anecdotes about his time in B7. During the second season we see that the incompetance of Travis leads to his dismissal, trial, and his eventual short-lived alliance with the Andromedans. Boucher likens his removal from service to losing ones family, and adds that his ultimate betrayal of humanity could merely have been a sure way of destroying himself.

Overall, the tape is a well-produced, entertaining look at one of science-fiction's most interesting and engaging villains. Rounded off by a great score by Alistair Lock and some nice Pete Wallbank sleeve artwork, Travis: The Final Act is a must for any fan of Blake's 7.