Production Design
The Liberator was, unusually for the time, not designed by a model or special effects unit but by the set designer Roger Murray-Leach, who also designed the interior. Ian Scoones, the special effects supervisor, contracted the building of the models to Space Models in Feltham, Middlesex. Martin Bower then added detail once these were complete. Two models were built: one 3 feet long and one just 20 inches (for long shots).
It has been claimed that Murray-Leach based the general shape of the Liberator's main hull on that of a cordless microphone, adding the three nacelles to disguise its shape. This may have contributed to the common but apparently unfounded rumour in Blake's 7 fandom that the Liberator was originally intended to face the other way, flying with its "engine" section (the business end of the original microphone) facing forward. Another story is that the domes were shaped to be reminiscent of a Persian mosque when the spacecraft was stood on end, thus enhancing its exotic appearance to western audiences.
The green globe that served as the engine in the original production drawing was egg-shaped but was redesigned as a sphere because the power of the internal light that was used to make the engine pulsate would melt the globe if production staff left it on too long (which they often did), and a sphere was faster to reproduce than the egg shape.
Read more about this topic: Liberator (Blake's 7)
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