Blake's 7 - The Federation Music Suite - Series A-D (1978-1981)

A suite of cues to accompany shots of Federation craft and personnel from all four seasons of the BBC science fiction series Blake's 7.
The ruthless, authoritarian Terran Federation was the principal antagonist in Blake's 7, spearheaded by Supreme Commander, and later President, Servalan (before things got complicated in the final season!).
Starting with a corrupt administration, ruthless bureaucracy and rigged justice system in the opening episode, supported by a brutal military, the Federation's actions were scored by Dudley Simpson.
Simpson created a short-lived motif for Servalan in the first season (you can hear it in the episodes 'Project Avalon' - 04:32 in this video - and 'Deliverance') then in later seasons often scored Servalan with low and mid register legato flutes, to emphasise the sensuality of Jacqueline Pearce's iconic performance, which furthered the compelling tension of the character.
The helmeted Federation troops were typically scored by variations of Simpson's stark and insistent 'Federation March', which was founded on a relentless rhythmic thump and low register brass - there's a minimalist brutalism to Simpson's 'Federation March' unlike John Williams' more famous 'Imperial March' from Star Wars. The 'Federation March' was released as a B side accompanying the show's main title theme: • Blake's 7 - Federation... Within the show, you can hear its first extended statement in 'Seek-Locate-Destroy' from Series A and it recurs throughout the rest of the show, especially in Series D (although some times it gets used for other martial threats - the System guards in 'Redemption' or Zerok guards in 'Gold').
For more on Dudley Simpson's music for the show, please see Tim Dickinson's superb Watching Blake's 7 blog:
watchingblakes...
This video is part of a wider project to celebrate the music of Blake's 7. Blake's 7 was created by Terry Nation and broadcast by the BBC across 1978-1981. The clips in the video feature the actors (in order of appearance) Gareth Thomas (Blake), Robert Beatty (Bran Foster), Robert Halsey (Tel Varon), Susan Field (Alta Morag), Jeremy Wilkin (Dev Tarrant), Jacqueline Pearce (Servalan), Stephen Greif (Travis), Jan Chappell (Cally), Julian Glover (Kayn), Kathleen Byron (Clonemaster Fenn), Brian Croucher (Travis), Michael Sheard (Klegg), Steven Pacey (Tarrant), Paul Darrow (Avon), Josette Simon (Dayna), Ben Howard (Mori), Rio Fanning (Deral), Ric Young (Ginka), Michael Troughton (Pilot Four-Zero), Sarah Atkinson (Franton), Lorna Heilbron (Sula), Peter Clay (Chesku), Malcolm Stoddard (Leitz), Robert Morris (Major Hunda), Barbara Shelley (Dr Plaxton), William Lindsay (Captain), Og (David Boyce), Peter Byrne (Justin), Mark Barratt (Captain), David Neal (Gerren), Daniel Hill (Chasgo), Peter Craze (Assistant), Stephen Yardley (Reeve), Glynis Barber (Soolin) and Roy Kinnear (Keiller).
The Stardrive sequence is indebted to Horatio Chinn's outstanding Federation pursuit ship model at:
• Blake's 7 Federation P...

[@1peterclarke]

These Blakes 7 Music Suite videos are excellent.

[@LIAMMAGEE-t4i]

The federation troopers costumes ( the head gear, mainly ) are very impressive.

[@alanrobison4761]

Thank you for this. Excellent compilation of B7 incidental music.

[@Jokie155]

I love that for the segment from 'Stardrive' you replaced the godawful 'scale up a jpeg of 3 pursuit ships' shot for one of the far superior model shots. (Even the POV from the engine section looks better than the one I'm thinking of.) Wish that could've been done for the physical/digital releases too.

[@doctorzerkalosmonitorzone6154]

So glad and am impressed you noticed that!! Yes, the existing model shot of the trio of pursuit ships felt like a natural swap - and then having done that I tried to have a go at replacing the engine section POV shot and the three red wobbly blobs pretending to be pursuit ships in the original. I swapped the starfield so that it gives the impression that we're looking behind the Scorpio (in the original shot the stars are moving sideways instead of receding behind the engine section) and then added in three pursuit ships using the model uploaded by Horatio Chinn on KZbin. I'd done some slight adjustments to the starfields in some of the Liberator music suites (either adding more stars in or replacing an out of focus or outsized starfield in a few shots) but nothing too fancy (I don't have those skills!). Agreed completely about enhancing some of the shots if the show is ever released on Blu-ray - I wouldn't want the lot replaced as there's some outstanding model work in the show - but some of the starfields, CSO fringing, stabilisation and out-of-focus nature of some of the ships could do with a bit of TLC to make the shots more effective - I hope they present that as an option if they ever do a Blu-ray set! Thanks again :- )

[@Jokie155]

Funny coming back to this now that the Series A blu-ray is coming. Already pre-ordered mine to ship from the UK to Australia. While I will concede that the CG models aren't as realistic as they could be, in particular comparing that one gorgeous video tape shot of the Liberator, it's already great to see a real consistency across the effect shots. Just need to wait another 2-3 years at least for Series D to get its turn. At least the original version is set to remain, as with the Doctor Who remasters I believe.

[@Villafarrell]

This is great how you were able isolate theme specific cues, especially the Fed ones. Makes it so much easier to compare and contrast them.. and use them soon! Thanks for all yr hard work here :)

[@doctorzerkalosmonitorzone6154]

Thanks so much as always - am delighted and excited to see what you do with them!

[@bernardmccormick894]

Fantastic stuff. I've really enjoyed all your B7 videos. Thank you for them. Have you heard that there's hopefully going to be a blu-ray release starting from later this year? Exciting times!😊

[@timdickinson7304]

Delicious work as always!

[@flametop93]

Nice work! Thanks for this. :-)

[@doctorzerkalosmonitorzone6154]

Thanks so much Mark - glad you've enjoyed them!

[@HeathcliffBlair]

Really good Simpson stuff here! Well selected and edited. Thanks. 🙂

[@doctorzerkalosmonitorzone6154]

Many thanks Heathcliff - and for the generous comments on the other suite videos too! - having that feedback from you really does mean the world to me as your album of Dudley Simpson's early Tom Baker scores was essential to developing my love and understanding of his music and genuinely sowed the seeds for doing these suites - I wouldn't be doing these without you! I'd love to hear what you might do with some of his B7 work. If you ever had the time to do a rendition of the Space Princess theme from 'Gold' I know there would be immense delight and gratitude from a lot of Blake's 7 and Dudley Simpson fans!

[@HeathcliffBlair]

@@doctorzerkalosmonitorzone6154 You're welcome. 🙂

[@jasonkey3494]

Wonderful! You really have a gift for putting these together with none of the intrusive voices , could you work your magic on some of Dudley's Doctor Who suites? I bet you could work wonders with Spearhead From Space and Terror of the Autons!!

[@doctorzerkalosmonitorzone6154]

Thank you so much Jason - that's really kind of you! You've read my mind too! I'd been thinking of doing some of Dudley's Doctor Who scores - and would love to do something similar for Sapphire and Steel too if there's enough material I can isolate and expand. I've got one more Liberator suite to do for Series C (it's nearly there!) and I've got a couple of short Radiophonic Workshop suites (for 'Mawdryn Undead') on the go but I'm keen to move on to some of Dudley's DW work when I get a chance. One of the key differences with his Blake's 7 scores, it seems to me, is that most episodes of B7 have multiple quite lengthy shots of the Liberator or Scorpio in flight (the first half of 'Voice From the Past' seems to pretty much consist of shots of the Liberator stopping and setting off!) and that gives you quite a bit of dialogue-free material to work with whereas his DW scores don't have as many of those natural breaks in the dialogue where the music gets to take over ('City of Death' is gorgeous but a lot of those Paris music sequences have sounds of the city mixed in). There's some great ones though - sequences like the TARDIS getting caught in the Mandragora Helix is one I've been thinking of. 'Spearhead from Space' and 'Terror of the Autons' are brilliant examples so when I get a chance to do have a go at some of the DW scores I'll make sure they're in the first batch - many thanks again for the vote of confidence and encouragement to keep going!

[@jasonkey3494]

@Doctor Zerkalo's Monitor Zone Great minds think alike! I would love to hear what you can do with Sapphire and Steel, they were such haunting and atmospheric shows, my personal favourites as a child were the ones where Time stole the children's parents, the one set at the railway station and the one that haunted me most for years where Time was trapping people in old photos. I am really looking forward to hearing the two Auton story suites, will you be including some of the sound effects like the humming of the auton spheres and the buzzing sound of the autons? I feel they add so much to the atmosphere of the music! Thanks again for all your hard work creating these pieces!

[@doctorzerkalosmonitorzone6154]

@@jasonkey3494 Those are the Sapphire and Steel episodes that unnerved me the most too! The final assignment in the roadside cafe stayed with me as well (it stuck with Sapphire and Steel too of course!) . Yes to including the Radiophonic Workshop sound effects and atmospheres - there will definitely be some of those in there when they blend in - and agreed completely about them working in partnership with the music (Dick Mills would make sure that his sound design was in the same key as Dudley's music so they really are integrated soundscapes). Elizabeth Parker's work on B7 is every bit as important to the sound of the series as Dudley's music for me - and ditto Brian Hodgson's and Dick Mills' sounds for DW - so yes, if I can blend them in effectively they'll be there! Many thanks again for the kind words!

[@fayinadeprato5467]

*Promo sm* ❤️