Blake's 7

[Quatermass]

Well, I just had a quick flick through the forum, and I couldn't find any threads, especially posted by yours truly, on this underrated series (besides an argument I had with Pip, I think, on a thread about Firefly), so...I might as well post this one.

So...Blake's 7. One of the more adult series for its time, and yet with a budget that makes Doctor Who look like a blockbuster. Filled with more moral ambiguity than you can shake a blaster at, some wonderful acting (kudos especially to Paul 'Avon' Darrow, Michael 'Vila' Keating, and, of course, Jacqueline 'Servalan' Pearce), and some of the weirdest stories...

Well?

 

[jaeger]

It was awful A very very poor rip off of Star Trek , Dr Who and any other sci-fi of the time. Even Gareth Thomas had the good sense to abandon ship . . . . And he was the main character (Blake) .

 

[Jan Van Quirm]

For the time and the budget it was far more original than Star Trek and more avant garde than Dr. Who in that it dared to look on the dark side (what could be more bleak than framing your hero for child molestation in the very first epi? ).

Like Dr. Who they had a Twurp's Peerage of British Luvvies queuing up to guest star on there and it was written by Terry Nation - anyone who says it was pants doesn't know their TV pedigrees from their fundaments

Sorry - as pooh isn't around atm I'm commandeering the skull ring! :twisted:

 

[Jason]

I agree Jan, Blakes 7 is a TV classic. Not sure how well it will have aged. Haven't seen it for a couple of decades.

 

[Tonyblack]

I loved Blake's Seven, but I did think it started to lose itself towards the end. I may be the only person who preferred the Scorpio to the Liberator though.

I still can't believe the last episode. I was emotionally shocked for ages.

 

[Quatermass]

For the time and the budget it was far more original than Star Trek and more avant garde than Dr. Who in that it dared to look on the dark side (what could be more bleak than framing your hero for child molestation in the very first epi? ).

Agreed. And doing it in 1978, when Mary Whitehouse was at the height of her powers...

Very bleak stuff.

I agree Jan, Blakes 7 is a TV classic. Not sure how well it will have aged. Haven't seen it for a couple of decades.

It's...not exactly aged well as far as production values are concerned. Stories are, more often than not, quite good, though.

I loved Blake's Seven, but I did think it started to lose itself towards the end. I may be the only person who preferred the Scorpio to the Liberator though.

I still can't believe the last episode. I was emotionally shocked for ages.

Agreed, but the first series wasn't as good either. It took a while to find its feet. Series 2 and 3 were the better ones.

It's a good ending, even if it was intended in a way that they could bring back anyone they needed to. Except for Blake. Gareth Thomas made it very clear that Blake should die for good. Hence the blood bags. He needed to look like his guts were blown out.

 

[The Mad Collector]

I liked Blakes 7 but it really hasn't aged well. The sets and effects looked bad at the time but now are a joke. If it was relaunched with the sort of budget behind the new Doctor Who I could see it doing well.

 

[Tonyblack]

I liked Blakes 7 but it really hasn't aged well. The sets and effects looked bad at the time but now are a joke. If it was relaunched with the sort of budget behind the new Doctor Who I could see it doing well.

And a cast with more commitment.

 

[Penfold]

My memory of Blake's 7 was that I rather enjoyed the fact that the cast members unexpectedly got killed off from time to time, allowing for some genuine suspense not knowing if your favourite character was going to make it through unscathed.

 

[jaeger]

. . . . it was written by Terry Nation - anyone who says it was pants doesn't know their TV pedigrees from their fundaments

Sorry - as pooh isn't around atm I'm commandeering the skull ring! :twisted:

That would be me then huh

Just because something is written by a person well regarded in their field, does not always necessarily follow that it should automaticly be good.

Still it's horses for courses and wouldn't it be boring if we all agreed all the time

Here comes the shallow bit
Bearing in mind I was a young hormonal teenager at the time . . .all I did like at the time was servalan and her risque costumes

 

[chris.ph]

i was the same with leela

 

[David Brown]

I loved Blake's 7, at the time. Or, at least, I loved series two...

I saw the very first episode, but then Scouts started up again, and I missed the rest of the series. Some months later, they repeated the last two, as an edited together, feature length, wossname, but I forgot until half way through, so only caught episode 13.

I thought series two was let down by the recasting of major villain Travis, and was always very disappointed that Tarrant (not the curly hero from series three and four, but the very blond nasty from episode 1) never re-appeared.

Series three was, I thought, on a downward spiral, and the only episode I found any good at all in series four was the last one, where they all died.

And now for the controversial bit. I've just watched "Planet of the Daleks", and I have to say that Terry Nation was very capable of writing stilted dialogue for formulaic characters in weakly plotted stories.

 

[Tonyblack]

Terry Nation's original series of The Survivors was my favourite.

I must get that on DVD one of these days.

 

[chris.ph]

hint hint for hogswatch

 

[The Mad Collector]

Terry Nation's original series of The Survivors was my favourite.

I must get that on DVD one of these days.

That also has not aged well I loved it at the time but saw the DVDs and they were rubbish

 

[Tonyblack]

Maybe I won't get it then.

 

[The Mad Collector]

Maybe I won't get it then.

Enjoy the memories Tony, don't spoil them by actually watching the program again

 

[Tonyblack]

Maybe I won't get it then.

Enjoy the memories Tony, don't spoil them by actually watching the program again

It's like when my kids were small, I saw a video of Watch With Mother favourites so I rented it thinking the kids would enjoy them as much as I did.

It was awful!

Although the Tales of the Riverbank episode was still pretty good.

 

[Tiffany]

I enjoyed Blake's 7 & The Survivors at the time they were on. Not seen the latter since, but Blake's 7 hasn't aged well in the effects & acting departments.
See for yourselves here...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIPt1YQdiQA

 

[Quatermass]

And now for the controversial bit. I've just watched "Planet of the Daleks", and I have to say that Terry Nation was very capable of writing stilted dialogue for formulaic characters in weakly plotted stories.

What controversy? Planet of the Daleks is the second-weakest of the Terry Nation-plotted Dalek stories that I have watched, or at least recently. It's only above Destiny of the Daleks, and between them is the absolutely brilliant Genesis of the Daleks. Which, I might add, shares a lot of cast and crew that would later go on to do Blake's 7.

But Planet of the Daleks wasn't all bad. It just was basically a re-run of Terry Nation's greatest hits, not to mention with rather flat characters on the Thal end. But it was exciting enough with some nice concepts, and David Brown, you cannot deny that whatever role he plays, Bernard Horsfall is excellent.

Terry Nation wasn't that great a writer all the time. You only have to look at The Chase (which, while highly entertaining, is still thin on the ground) or The Keys of Marinus, not to mention some of his own Blake's 7 stories. But he had a gift for more hits than misses.