Travis (Blake's 7)

Blake's 7 Character


caption = Stephen Greif as Travis
bgcolor = #fc0
fgcolor = #000
name = Travis
race = Human
gender = Male
affiliation = Terran Federation
portrayed = Stephen Greif and Brian Croucher
firstappearance = Seek-Locate-Destroy
lastappearance = Star One

Travis is a fictional character from the British science fiction television series "Blake's 7", played by Stephen Greif and Brian Croucher.

Travis was a Space Commander in the Terran Federation. He was known for his extreme brutality and ruthlessness. He rose to fame with the initial capture of Roj Blake, a major resistance figure. In a pattern that would define his career, he found out where Blake's resistance movement was meeting, hid for two days and then ambushed the rebels. When Blake surrendered, Travis simply ordered his men to open fire. During the struggle, Blake wrestled a gun away from a trooper and shot Travis, severely injuring him. A field medic called Maryatt repaired Travis's face and he later had his destroyed left arm replaced with a cybernetic one equipped with a Laseron destroyer. But Travis refused to have cosmetic surgery and remained scarred for life. He began to prefer to be served by mutoids - cybernetically rebuilt humans.

Eventually, his massacres of resistance fighters put him on the brink of dismissal and trial. But Servalan, needing a ruthless officer to pursue Blake, had him assigned to her to "seek, locate and destroy" the resistance figure once and for all. He set several traps for Blake but his efforts were hampered by the Federation's insistence on capturing the "Liberator" intact. During the attack on Earth Control, Travis threw a grenade that killed Olag Gan.

His continuing failure eventually frustrated Servalan, who had him put on trial for a massacre of civilians (partially to cover up her own misdeeds). However, before the sentence of death could be pronounced, Blake launched an attack on Servalan's headquarters. Travis escaped to pursue Blake on his own while Servalan pursued them both.

Realizing that Blake was seeking Star One, Travis began to seek it himself, frequently crossing swords with both Servalan and Blake. However, in the end, he betrayed the Federation to aliens from Andromeda - a "final act" against humanity. During the struggle at Star One, he was wounded by Blake and then finished off by Avon.

While Travis was ruthless and determined, he did show flashes of humanity. He was extremely loyal to the soldiers who served under him and earned their devotion. But as the series wore on, his paranoia and hatred made him increasingly erratic, culminating in his final betrayal.

Travis was played by Stephen Greif throughout the first series. When Greif proved to be unavailable for series two, the part was taken over by Brian Croucher in the second serial episode "Weapon". The change in appearance was never directly referenced in the series but the Croucher Travis in "Weapon" did make a reference to being unsure of things after his "rehabilitation". The nature of this rehabilitation has never been explained but it may have involved a change of appearance.