I liked the concept of this episode, without the computer to take care of all the little problems that would spring up, those problems would overwhelm the crew, but I didn't care for how the writer chose to have it come about. Zen tells them that the region of space is dangerous, but refuses to tell them why, then when they enter the region Zen shuts down, but leaving manual controls active. Zen could have explained the danger, or Zen could have overridden manual control to keep them out of the danger zone. A much better way to explore that aspect of the story would have been to have something disable Zen instead.

I believe this episode showed that the ship was 'living' and that the internal mechanisms of Liberator could attack if it felt it was threatened. This is an aspect I wish they had explored in later episodes.

Some views & nitpicks:

Cally can here the conversation from the bridge through the earphones, they seem to be patched into the intercom. Are these Avon's because in a few stories he walks into the control room & knows what's being said.

The Medipack finds it's way into the computer room, or are there many dotted around the ship?

XK 72 uses a BBC stock wall, with a triangular pattern. (As used in several Dr Who adventures & Red Dwarf.)

The Teleporter could have been affected by Avon's fiddling as it uses the wrong effect when bringing Kayn over. Also more then the normal switches are used.

Renor sounds just like George from Blackadder goes fourth, when spotting Jenna & Cally.

This episode seems to be the first to use CSO for modeling.

Renor refers to Jenna as Stannis, Her surname. Most Men use their surname, (Some lower class men like Vila use the first name.) & most Women use their first name, though in 1 episode Jenna is described as coming from a high grade, so she could have been known by her surname & downgraded for smuggling.

Is there something in the air or do Blake & Avon seem to be a lot ratty than usual. At least when they get to XK72 Blake manages to keep his temper when dealing with Kayn, & Avon is a bit honorable by asking Farran to keep quiet about the others, & warns them when he finds out the Federation have been informed of their location.

OK, I remembered wrong. Zen did not have any information on why the region was dangerous. Still, why wouldn't there be some records, if only Federation records? Was Liberator outside of Federation explored space? Was XK-72 near the 'rim'? I should think that if you had one of these magnetic vortexes close by: 1. There would be ships & probes exploring it; & 2. It would be on record, somewhere.

Considering that this vortex was bigger than any they had seen and how bright red it was, why did space appear to contain nothing? At the very least a red spot or blotch should have shown up on the scanners.

So what happened to the matter that this vortex pulled into itself? If it's pulling matter into itself then Liberator should have smashed right into it all. If the matter is being transported somewhere, then Liberator should have been transported somewhere as well. If the matter is being converted to something else, then the Liberator should have been converted as well. Any ideas?

It sounded to me like they pronounced the second doctor's name as Renal, not Renor.

I didn't think the character sounded much like George (Hugh Laurie) from the Blackadder series.

So what was the point of the surgical masks? The room doesn't seem to be sealed off & sterilized as several people come & go. The masks are taken down several times in the room. Either there is some kind of sterilizing field around the top of Gan's head, at which point the masks are just a secondary precaution, or they serve no real purpose whatesoever and are merely decorative.

I was wrong about this episode showing the ship as 'living'. That was shown in Redemption.

How did Avon get back to the Liberator? When he teleported over to the station, he only had the bracelet he was wearing - there was no sign of him taking a spare with him. He then must have given his bracelet to the second doctor, and I assume this was intentional as he didn't mean to come back to the Liberator. Yet when he decided he would come back, he had a bracelet.

Avon must keep a hidden spare, he finds one for Dayna in Aftermath

Zen says "Meteorite storm" instead of meteoroid, or asteroid, storm.

Gan is dragging an unconscious Jenna, drops her legs and her arms move closer to her body.

That Limiter seems to be sticking pretty high out of Gan's skull. Did it look like their was hair growing under it to anyone?

When talking about restraining Gan, Cally says that "Among my people, such things are considered barbarous." Are these the same people that refuse to allow people to come home when they have failed a mission? The same people who sent Cally to fight with a group of people on another world?

Avon tells Blake, "You'll have to use the radio scanner." and to get a good picture Blake has to move the scanner around. I guess the people who built Liberator never thought of inventing things like CAT (CT) scanners, MRI, or PET scanners, all of which, I believe, can give a 3-dimensional image of the interior of someone's body.

Why do they need a neurosurgeon? If the Limiter is giving faulty signals, why not disconnect the power source? I admit it's possible the power source could be implanted, or the Limiter could need to be active to regulate a vital function of the brain, but nothing is ever said in the episode why they couldn't do this.

The Liberator is shown flying by quite a few stationary planets.

After Gan escapes, why did Cally walk to the bridge to warn them? 1. She could use the intercom. 2. She's a telepath!

After leaving the anomaly, they again pass by quite a few stationary planets.

Zen says, "All systems are normal." Really? Even after Avon's tampering?

The credits spell the name Renor, but it sounds like they are saying Renal.

Kayn calls Blake's people murderers, who are destroying the Federation. Again I say, Blake & co. must be doing quite a few impressive missions between shows to have garnered their reputation.

Avon is told the pursuit ships will arrive in 3 hours, but when he gets on Liberator, he says they have 45 minutes.

While Avon is overriding Zen did anyone notice the object in his tool case that looked like a sonic screwdriver.

Zen's programmers need a good smack in the head. Get the ship to warn if a course runs through a dangerous area--good--then have the main computer shut down if you actually enter that area--bad--so there's even less chance of surviving.

Zen does try to warn them not to head that way, & I presume Zen shutting down would be a warning to turn back.

Could the sugeon be a future incarnation of Scaroth? By this time he realizes he has no chance of preventing the accident, so he decides to take up the most challenging occupation he could think of to bide his time. :-)

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Zen does try to warn them not to head that way, & I presume Zen shutting down would be a warning to turn back.
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Or it's the computer equivalent of hiding under the covers until it's all over

Did the defence station on XK-72 really need to wait for the commanders orders to raise it's own shields? That's some bureaucracy.

the computer equivalent of hiding under the covers until it's all over
All over being that moment when the ship, computer & the covers are destroyed. ;-)

I still like the premise of the situation (the crew having to handle all the little things that Zen does automatically), but just wish they had come up with a better way for it to happen (computer virus, computer overload/short circuit, something other than what they did use.)