Travis (Blake's 7)

Travis is one of the main antagonists in the BBC science-fiction series Blake's 7. He was portrayed by Stephen Greif in the first season and Brian Croucher in the second. No on screen explanation was given for the change of actor but his first appearance in the second season includes a reference to him seeing retraining therapists, which fans have speculated may account for it.

History
Travis was an officer of the Terran Federation. Years before the series started, he was responsible for Roj Blake's original arrest, learning where Blake and his rebels were going to meet and then waiting at the location for two days so advanced scouts would not see them arriving. After surprising the rebels, Travis ordered them all killed despite them surrendering. During the ensuing melee, Blake shot Travis and believed he had killed him. Travis was saved by a field medic but left with an artificial arm (in which was concealed a lazeron destroyer) and facial disfiguration. He refused cosmetic surgery, insisting he was a field officer.

At the time Blake began his resistance activities again, Travis was a Federation Space Commander and a controversial figure, having only recently been cleared of wrongdoing over the massacre of civilian dissidents on the planet Auros. Despite this, Servalan appointed him her senior executive officer and gave him the sole task of locating and destroying Blake. Travis made a number of attempts, such as using Cally as bait in a trap and attacking the Liberator when it was low on power, but always failed: On one occasion, he claimed he was hampered by orders to capture the Liberator intact. After one failure however, Servalan had him relieved of command.

Travis then functioned as Servalan's henchman for a while, accompanying her on her failed attempts to acquire the super computer Orac and the experimental weapon Imipak. He took more of a leading role in another attempt to capture Blake, using the fake computer complex Control as bait. He briefly succeeded but was forced to exchange Blake and his crew for a captive Servalan. As a result, to stop him testifying against her at an enquiry, Servalan had Travis placed on trial for war crimes, over an incident years earlier when he ordered the massacre of 1,147 dissidents on the planet Zircaster. Servalan had briefed Travis' defence lawyer to ensure he was found guilty. Travis tried to foil her by giving his own closing statement instead, arguing he had behaved as any Federation officer was trained to do, but was sentenced to death. Ironically, he was saved by Blake, who attacked the command station where the trial was being held, allowing him to escape. Servalan freely provided him with a ship and a crew of Mutoids conditioned to obey him, knowing he would go after Blake.

Now a fugitive from the Federation, Travis first attempted to acquire the Liberator by taking Blake's cousin Inga hostage. He failed but Servalan made no attempt to take him into custody and they worked together in foiling an attempted coup by Governor LeGrande and Arbiter-General Ven Glynd. The coup leaders were killed but Blake and his crew escaped. Travis and Servalan's unofficial alliance became increasingly strained, with both betraying the others. By now, Blake was searching for the Federation's real computer complex, Star One, and in the course of their encounters, Travis learned it's location.

Travis' hatred of Blake seemed to have extended to a hatred of all humanity, as he was cast aside by those he had given service to. He allied himself with the Andromedans, a group of extra-galactic aliens plotting an invasion, and helped them use Star One to sabotage computer control throughout the Federation. He requested one thing: That he be allowed to personally deactivate the minefield keeping the Andromedan invasion fleet out of Federation space. Arriving on Star One for a final confrontation with Blake and his crew, Travis shot Blake and deactivated a portion of the minefield, musing "My only regret is they'll never know who really killed them." He was then shot by Blake but recovered enough to take aim at the rebels, only to be shot a second time by Avon, causing him to plummet to his death.