The Terry Nation Drinking Game.

God bless Terry Nation, as the creator of Blake's 7, Survivors, co-creator of the Daleks(1) and writer of The House In Nightmare Park his influence on television science fiction can still be felt today. It would however not be unfair to say that Terry had certain plot points that he liked to make repeated use of. But fear not, for we can turn these quirks of writing to our advantage and ensure that a knowledge of his works will make us a whiz at parties, because ladies and gentleman I present: 

The  Terry Nation Drinking Game. 

Now obviously some of these will apply to certain programmes more than others but there should be enough to make sure that no matter what your choice of viewing you'll end up pleasantly tipsy(2). The rules are exceptionally simple, every time you see one of the following on-screen take a shot of your favourite alcohol beverage

• A character called Tarrant.
• The story takes place in a hostile jungle.
• There are parallels between the villains and Nazis.
• Every time plague or disease is mentioned.
• A Dalek make a 'surprise'(3) appearance at the end of episode 1.
• There an exciting countdown at the end.
• A character make a heroic sacrifice.
• The story take place in a post apocalyptic wasteland.
• A race been reduced to savagery because of technological failure.
• There is a traitor in the heroes' midst.
• The Daleks subdued the local population and forced them into slavery.
• A villain have a physical deformity. 
• The story takes place in a domed city. 
• There a race of invisible creatures.
• There are mutants(4). 
• Every time the word 'space' is inserted in front of a normal job title, for example Space Captain, Space Security Agent or Space Gynaecologist.     
• A seemingly villainous/sinister character actually turn out to be heroic.  

 Feel free to add any other suggestions in the comments below and please remember that 50 freedom fighters die every year from drunken teleportation accidents, so be safe.

 


1 I'm sorry but if you don't think Raymond Cusick deserves equal credit ask yourself why we're not demanding that the Voord come back for Doctor Who's 50th anniversary.
2 I deny all legal responsibility if you should attempt this while watching the entire first series of Blake's 7. 
3 It counts as a surprise even if the story has the word Dalek in the title or even in the case of Planet Of The Daleks when the Doctor is expecting to find them.  
4 You can also count the mutoids from Blake's 7 if you really want more liver damage.