This occured to me while I was watching 'Orac' - I noticed that Ensor has a mechanical bird in his lab. OK, he's a nice guy who doesn't want to keep a real bird in a cage - but is there anything more to it? Then I realized it wasn't exactly a bird. It has the body of an animal and the head and wings of a bird. It could be a griffin.

That made me think, and I realized that the whole imagery of this episode is suggestive of ancient Greece. I don't know if Aristo means anything in old Greek, but it appears in names such as Aristotle or Aristophanes. The central motif of the story - journey underground - is really a commonplace in Greek mythology. Griffin (someone please correct me if I'm wrong) ought to be the guardian to the underground world or the realm of the dead. Ensor's abode is underground. This is the realm of Hecate, who is also the goddess of medical herbs. The whole episode is about healing ill people - Ensor and the four members of the Liberator crew. Also, there are traces of another famous myth: an old artificer who builds (or, in this case, hides inside) a large labyrinth and then becomes imprisoned in it. (Ensor couldn't teleport from his lab because of the protective force field, which it would take five hours to disconnect; he couldn't reach the exit to the labyrinth in time, either.) His son dies of burns he got while flying. Sounds familiar?

But let us go back to the journey underground. This is not the first nor the last time Blake undertakes such a journey. It occured to me that, whenever he does, he gains certain knowledge. In TWB, there is a maze of sub-level tunnels which take him outside the dome, where he finds out the truth about his past. The whole first part of this episode is suggestive of some initiation rite: the initiant has to abstain from food and drink, he crosses a stream (a kind of baptism), he gains new knowledge about himself. In 'Orac', Blake acquires Orac as the 'sum total' of human knowledge. Then there's 'Pressure Point', yet another journey underground. The obelisk which Blake notices in 'Orac' appears here again, inexplicably. It ought to symbolize the mastery over the four corners of the world and the zenith. Ironically, Blake doesn't gain such mastery by reaching 'Central Control'; but he certainly learns a lesson regarding his own quest in that empty room.

All three journeys, also, are connected with death and loss. I'm not sure whether 'Star One' could qualify as the fourth.

N.