You’ve Probably Never Seen… Blake's 7

[@gregm6940]

Loved blake's 7 as a kid. Watched reruns of it in the mid 80s when I was 7 or so. It scared the hell out of me, characters regularly died! i was a big fan, it was far more thought provoking to my 7 year old self than star trek ever was. It was very ahead of its time. Man I'm old

[@AyebeeMk2]

Saw the last episode (s4 e13) in 1981 with 3 other people it was jaw dropping. Saw it a few years ago for the second time; it is still jaw dropping. Brilliant cast, writing, stories.

[@daviniarobbins9298]

The shock value doesn't fade. Even after the 40+ watch it is still brutal and shocking.

[@daviniarobbins9298]

@Stefano Pavone I was 7 at the time. We are getting old.

[@formlessentity]

Its so brilliant and tragic

[@Problembeing]

Grew up watching it and love it again through re-watching it. Blake's 7 is in my DNA.

[@FightCollective]

B7 was the greatest. I think you had to be there at the time to truly appreciate this wonder.

[@Villafarrell]

Great series review of an often forgotten gem! Good spotting with Servalan's control room set ending up on Dr Who.

[@jazzx251]

We all used to play "Blake's 7" at school (I was always Tarrant, my sister's best friend was Cally ... we're talking series 3 here ... 'Ultraworld' was awesome - [later to be adapted into The Borg on Star Trek]). There were two shows we always "played" ... Star Wars (obviously - I was Han Solo) ... and Blake's 7. None of us played at Star Trek. (interesting). Although we all watched it religiously every Thursday on BBC 2.

[@carls7860]

Same... Star Wars, Dr Who and Blake's 7 in the playground never Star Trek haha... I was always Avon 😂

[@daviniarobbins9298]

I was Cally even though I wasn't the right gender.

[@rollerballchampion]

don't forget Water Margin

[@chrismoody8148]

Love this. Great show. It deserves much more attention as a trail blazer for sci-fi and drama going forward.

[@Channel73]

Agreed Chris!

[@sasa-ke2024]

Love that enigmatic line: "Its an old wall, Avon. It waits. I hope you don't die before you reach it."

[@Problembeing]

Blake’s 7 was actually a very popular show back in the day, it’s ratings were consistently good. It’s lowest was 6.3 million during the second season, but the 1st season averaged between 8-9 million (highest being 10.9 million), 3rd season averaging around 9-10 million, and the final season averaged around 8.5 million. It’s a shame it’s been left on the shelf for so long when it was easily a superior show to say Star Trek TNG (IMO). Paul Darrow embodied Blake’s 7 to it’s core, so it would be very difficult to recast any modern reboot for TV now... but we never know. I only hope that in time it resurfaces from it’s relative obscurity and regain popularity as the cult classic it truly is. It deserves it.

[@sasa-ke2024]

And its fandom was enormous. The story of that is also fascinating. The Blake's 7 Wars...Fanlore has the whole story. It imploded..or rather exploded... over the slashfic...and because Paul Darrow had created in Avon something so special he couldn't leave him alone. He became a.fan himself without really understanding fandom. And felt shocked and utterly betrayed (have you betrayed me?) to discover that fellow fans he thought were friends were creating male/ male porn about his creation, Avon. A lot of it is so violent theres even a subsection called BUARA...Beat Up And Rape Avon. Usually Blake raping Avon. "Why is Gareth always raping me?" asked Paul....you see how deep he'd gone, how identified with Avon. RIP to both Blake and Avon, Servalan too, Peter Tuddenham..

[@Problembeing]

fiona beswick oh gawd... when shipper fan fic nut jobs go dark. What the hell is wrong with them? Fantasism is an all-consuming disease, wallowing in a mind pit like that benefits no one and making connections with people reading that filth... gawd only knows. No wonder Paul Darrow was so shocked. I haven’t heard about any of this. It’s a show I adored as a kid and grew up watching and as a mature person now, and having rediscovered it, I fell in love with it all over again, so I’ve missed all of the drama in the intervening years, and just as well by the sounds of it! But alas I’ll never get to meet 4 of the greatest characters committed to TV. I was all consumed by Doctor Who really, but I voted for Blake’s 7 in the Radio Times poll over classic Doctor Who to bring back to BBC 1.

[@exexpat11]

@@sasa-ke2024 I don't think he could have been too shocked. The acting profession has a lot of gays in it who act. Maybe the violence of the fictional sex acts shocked him. Star Trek TOS had Tijuana Bibles Kirk SLASH Spock fiction. Some things never change.

[@wtrollkin]

Fans finally did get their Blake’s 7 doctor who crossover in Chris Bouchers Kaldor City audio dramas. With Avon going into hiding on the planet from Doctor who’s Robots of death. It’s excellent.

[@Ulysses3473]

"INFORMATION " A very good sum up of a much beloved show of many people's childhood...and mine.

[@bowl4u]

Confirmed.

[@daviniarobbins9298]

This is the only TV series I don't get sick of watching from beginning to end. I even watch the bad ones. Even after more than 40 viewings of the final episode the end is always shocking. I feel cheated. It has a special part in my heart. I got the "Of all the things I have known myself to be I never recognised the fool" line memorised just in case.

[@Eltonlaleham]

Having an awesome arch-vilain Servalan in B7 was the best thing about B7

[@Eltonlaleham]

I loved Servalan Blake,s arch-enemy Servalan herself

[@robisaac8481]

Loved it as a kid, bought it on DVD a few years ago :)

[@tsmith7146]

Watched every episode of Blakes 7 on original transmission. Absolutely loved it. The final episode of S4 at Christmas 1981 was and still is the most shocking and unexpected ending to a tv series ever. I have to admit though - whilst i loved the Liberator and Zen, i didn't like Scorpio and Slave... and i prefer the stories with Blake in... and i prefer the original Travis..... Before B7, i'd worshipped DW. Jon Pertwee is still my favourite doctor but it's understandable why many people refer to the Philip Hinchcliffe years as the golden years of DW - the first 3 years of Tom Baker's era as DW are stunning. Loved them. When i watched S15 DW on original transmission, i enjoyed the Horror of Fang Rock but the programme started to become childish, hollow and silly after this (for me). I still watched it but didn't enjoy it as much as i had previously. K9 was cute but exemplified the dumbing down of the programme. I loved Hitchhikers and the writing of Douglas Adams but didn't like his tenure as script editor of DW - the comedy and OTT character of Tom Baker became a caricature of Tom Baker in S12 to S14. I've never liked City of Death either. For me personally, the long decline of DW started during S15 - B7 premiered on UK television midway through S15 DW. I'm sure its no coincidence but it's almost like the BBC consciously dumbed down DW to make way for B7, which took over as the BBC's flagship sci fi tv programme. I felt that at the time - and still feel that now.

[@sasa-ke2024]

Why don't people have beautiful voices like this now

[@promiscuous5761]

Thank you..

[@brianmacdougall9200]

In Australia, the series debuted on a Friday night, right after”All Creatures Great and Small” ....in 1979!.. Which meant that the cliff-hanger at the end of Season 1, the following week went straight into Season 2 ( as announced in the credits of the cliff-hanger)... 26 episodes straight of the series... Awesome stuff...👍 ----

[@rollerballchampion]

lucky buggers

[@richiehoyt8487]

In Ireland it went out on a Sunday night - right _before_ All Creatures Great and Small, iirc! (and up against The Muppet Show, which always won out in our household unfortunately - not that The Muppets were a bad show, in fairness, but _was_ I ever sore at being outvoted by my younger siblings at the time!!)

[@megamako2795]

I saw it on PBS in the 90's. It was, and remains one of the very best sci-fi series ever.

[@CaminoAir]

Thank you for your great review. Excellent work.

[@Channel73]

You're welcome.

[@voiceover2191]

Blake's 7 was a seminal tv series and as a kid I loved it and hated, what seemed like, the long wait between seasons, but like Dr. Who, what was great about it were the characters and story lines and yes, the at time the rather extremely low budget special effects not only did not detract from that but actually made it more endearing to me. It influenced many scifi shows since like Babylon 5 and Farscape. I must say however that I suspect that the young generation of today would not appreciate it much, so if a reboot would be considered it would be possible only with a lot of modernization, but it would still hinge on a cast with a bucket load of charisma, but who knows?

[@simonbeaird7436]

It was a superb series with great characters (especially Avon) and one of the best theme tunes ever. It's now available on Britbox so give it a chance.

[@richardbooker670]

An excellent overview of the series, I’ll add my voice to those who suggest giving it a go. I’m old enough to remember the show first time around, it was, alongside Dr Who, my ‘must watch’ TV. Fair enough, I was only around 7 years old when it started and so didn’t understand some of the themes, but it was still able to create a lasting impression and some strong memories (aided by some well thumbed annuals and book adaptations of a few of the episodes). Since the release of the dvd box sets and the Big Finish audio adventures, which I have watched and listened to multiple times, I’ve really been hoping for enough interest from a new audience to spark a reboot. Alas not yet :( Quite probably the original ‘space opera’, seasonal story arcs before they were popularised by Buffy and similar, a group of anti-heroes as the main characters and some stunning performances from the entire cast put the series well ahead of its time. It even manages to be a gentle dig at certain other series... I’ll give you a clue... Think of the symbol used by the series’ oppressive organisation. Now rotate it 90 degrees and see if it reminds you of the symbol of an organisation of the same name in another show......? Got it? Yes, it was deliberate, Terry Nation apparently had a low opinion of that particular series.

[@sasa-ke2024]

I am with you: watched as a child...it was supposed to be for kids and was in the Saturday evening slot of Doctor Who. For kids, honestly. The first episode has brain wipes, rebellion, massacre, and a man framed for child molesting. No wonder I never really got it. About 5 years ago came across a compilation of Avons insults...Avon...I remember Avon. So I watched, and how cool he is...watched The Way Back and am still hooked. It gets under your skin. I dont know why , except that Paul Darrow and Gareth Thomas have such intensity....so much that some people cry "get a room, for heavens sake, guys" much to Darrows displeasure. I think it's cheap to just say they desire each other. It's far deeper. ..and, there, you see, it's like Shakespeare, that depth....but this is so inexplicable. Somehow, it affects you. People say "it broke my heart". I'll just say that Avon is real...a fictional character who came to life...

[@richiehoyt8487]

Coming a little late to the conversation here, but yeah, having been a kid at the time, I was a little confused by the Star Trek parallels... "So lemme get this straight - this 'Federation', are they supposed to be the Good Guys or the Bad Guys?"!

[@gentlepersuader]

I watched this show as a kid growing up in the 70's and 80's. One episode in particular with Gan and his malfunctioning inhibitor gave me serious nightmares which I still vividly remember to this day.

[@zootopiawilson]

I live in the US and I had never heard of this show until the late 80s when it came on my local PBS station at 11 PM. I began watching it and I loved it! I used to tell my friends it had more interesting characters than Star Trek TNG, and yes, Avon was my favorite. I'd get the DVD box set but when I look them up they always seem region specific so I don't know if I could actually play them.

[@brucepulver8358]

B7 great show and an all time best sci-fi. 🧡🧡 Reboot 1: Farscape 🧡 Reboot 2: Firefly 🧡 Both great shows and loved them. Would love to see a Re-do.... Battlestar Galactica worked!!!!

[@jerobriggs6861]

Terry Nation actually stated that Blake's 7 takes place at least 700 years in the future, which is not the 23rd century.

[@DavidTSmith-jn5bs]

I first heard about the show nearly a year after it went off the air. The two actors who talked about it at a convention that I attended were...Elizabeth Sladen and Jon Pertwee! Liz mentioned that her husband appeared in an episode ("Horizon."). I managed to buy the last copy of a hard-cover edition of The Episode Guide and read it from cover-to-cover, A few months later, I found out about a store in New York City that sold comic books, SF/Fantasy novels and SF memorabilia from both sides of the Atlantic: Forbidden Planet! From there I bought a few Blake's 7 Monthlies, a novelization of a few episodes from the 4th and final season and a 45 single that played the theme song! The final ingredient that confirmed my status as a fan was seeing at another convention the episode "Shadow." While not my favorite, it reeled me in hook, line and sinker!

[@angelus4282]

I first found out about Blake's 7 many years ago thanks to an ad for some of the novels in an issue of Starlog Magazine. But I never had the chance to watch he show until just recently. I started Series 3 last night.

[@gorymarty56]

Boy is this show over the top. A crew of people who seem to hate each other?

[@forearthbelow]

I was 25 when the series first aired. I have always been a sci-fi fan and this series just blew me away. The quality of the writing [exception Vila's constant over patheticness and whining], the superb characters especially Avon, Servalan and Travis [Stephen Greif], somewhat um appealing female cast - Sally Knyvette 😍😘, Jacqueline Pearce 😘😍❤ and [OMG] Josette Simon ❤😍😘💖- made this an unmissable show for me. In fact, the one character I never really took to was Blake!!! Always thought he over-acted. GREAT review, really enjoyed your analysis!!!!

[@sapphoculloden5215]

Oh, I probably have ... So much so that I wrote a fan fiction (lost to the mists of time) to the book that continued the story after the final episode ...

[@helenwood8482]

Me too.

[@ethan2384]

First saw B7 in the late 80's on public television. Unlike Dr. Who, they only ran the show 1 time so I bought the entire series on VHS

[@martinodoni8943]

8:53 This really isn't true - or at least the idea that the Daleks were going to appear in Blake's 7 is often massively exaggerated. It seems to be put about by Blake's 7 fans who are trying to drum up new interest in the show among the new generation of Doctor Who fans that has sprung up since 2005. But it's so massively overblown it's barely worth mentioning. All that really happened was, in the spring of 1978, while the last few episodes of season 1 were still being broadcast, the second season was commissioned, and so there was a pre-production meeting among the three main members of the production crew - producer David Maloney, script editor Chris Boucher, and lead writer Terry Nation, to plan out the direction the series would move in. The idea was soon arrived at that there should be a story arc running through the season of the Liberator crew trying to find and destroy the Federation's main Central Control computer complex. After several false starts, they would eventually find it on a very remote planet beyond the edge of the Galaxy, but while there, they would discover an alien race about to invade from Andromeda, intent on the extermination of the human race. And so, after spending two years trying to destroy the Federation, the Liberator crew found themselves having to risk their lives to defend it, and the season would close on a cliff-hanger waiting to see whether they survived the conflict. There was unanimous agreement on that structure, but then discussion turned to, "What should these aliens be?" Nation spoke immediately, suggesting, "Why not make them the Daleks?" Maloney and Boucher were both aghast at the very suggestion, because there were plenty of reasons why not. It would open up a huge can of worms legally if the Doctor Who and Blake's 7 universes were established as one and the same. There'd soon be people screaming for a showdown between Avon and the Cybermen, then a demand for a spacewar between the Federation and the Sontarans, and then for a duel between Blake and the Master, maybe an alliance between Servalan and the Silurians etc. All these stories would probably be cheesy as hell, because they would just be excuses to have characters from different series meet each other, which would be bad enough. But the legal ramifications for some of them would be horrendous as a lot of the monsters on Doctor Who did not belong to the BBC but to the writers who invented them, and so it would become enormously expensive to use them on another series. Both Maloney and Boucher very firmly said "NO!" straight away, and that was the end of it, then and there. That was it. The idea is often put about that the story was agreed and even went into development before being abandoned quite late on, one reason often suggested for that being the Dalek models were supposedly "unavailable." (Clearly nonsense. The only reason they would be unavailable was if they were being used for a Doctor Who story. The last Dalek story had been 'Genesis Of The Daleks' back in 1975, and the next one, "Destiny Of The Daleks" wouldn't be made until September 1979, almost a year after 'Star One' was filmed.) The idea of the Daleks being involved in Blake's 7 died seconds after it was first voiced, and they were never really "going to be" the alien race at 'Star One.' It was all just a passing suggestion immediately shut down, it was never on the cards at all.

[@richiehoyt8487]

Thanks (un~ironically) for clearing that one up.

[@toby9999]

Yeah, I've seen it.

[@daviniarobbins9298]

80 audio adventures available via Big Finish. All amazing listen.

[@patdbean]

In one episode 'killer' they talk of the first earth ships reaching deep space 700 years ago. So set in at least 2700.

[@daviniarobbins9298]

I think it is meant to be at least a 1000 years in the future. We are no where near reaching the stars and I can't see that changing any time soon. Well unless we get help from aliens.

[@patdbean]

@@daviniarobbins9298 yes I should have said at least 2700 so 3000+ . We never really know because they talk of the federations new calendar , so 'last century of old calendar ' or ' first century of new calendar ' etc.

[@daviniarobbins9298]

@@patdbean The Federation has been around for at least 252 years according to the medical records in The Way Back. And before that the Atomic Wars.

[@brucewayne7838]

hi i am american and i love blakes 7, yeah its a low budget show but it makes up for that with interesting characters, great imagination and hey even the ships computers have their own personality !! , the british really know how to make great shows and i feel blakes 7 is very unique. have a nice day from the caped crusader.

[@leodouskyron5671]

Two years late but excellent review.

[@Problembeing]

Leodous Kyron 3 days behind you. Watched this when I was around 4-5 years old until it ended. Loved rewatching it. AVON LIVES!

[@Channel73]

Thanks Leodous!

[@sasa-ke2024]

@@Channel73 it is a very good review and so what its 2 years ago.

[@antonycharnock2993]

I've just realised. Games Workshop seem to have used a lot of the shows themes for WH40K. One of many sci-fi IPs they've "borrowed" from. Brilliant show. Never missed it as a kid. Some of the episodes were downright disturbing.

[@andrewhuckle803]

Soolin , what a babe ❤️

[@patrickwebb7311]

Interesting....I'll have to watch the show some day.

[@rotherbirdo]

Did you?

[@sasa-ke2024]

@@rotherbirdo yes, did he?

[@ThatJunkman]

Great show

[@antonmassopust568]

One of the best sci-fi shows ever next to Doctor Who

[@foxyshabazz]

Of course I've seen it. Grew up on it and loved it, though as a small child I actually found it much more scary than the supposedly 'scary' Doctor Who.

[@dennislogan6781]

We need a Blake 7 sequel, not a remake, now.

[@RajBlake7]

Watched this series as a child, grew to love it as a man. Avon was as a man part made god, with all the failings and attributes of both. Oh why don't they write sci-fi like this anymore ... :-)

[@richardevey2698]

I am watching the series now for the 20th time

[@erichoward6006]

I lake villa

[@jcortese3300]

Oh honey, I'm middle-aged. I've seen tons of it.

[@dogwalker666]

Still going strong on big finish,

[@rickyj5547]

It's on forces tv on weekdays

[@vladpewt5896]

I've seen it cause I'm old

[@count69]

Still, if it were Blake's 7, then there should have been 8 of them in total, otherwise it's Blake's 6.

[@richiehoyt8487]

This is one of those shows that is a bit like the little girl in the nursery rhyme - you know, "...When she was Good, she was Very, Very Good - but when she was Bad, she was Horrid"! OK, maybe that's a little unfair... 'best forgotten' might be better. The show's shortcomings are well known, foremost among them, the cheap sets and special effects. Still, give me cheap practical effects over cheap CGI effects any day. The costumes (with the obvious exception of Servelan's 'numbers') were generally lousy, even by '70's standards, the extras looking alternately like they'd been poached from a Hawkwind crowd, or a Punk gig. The acting sometimes felt a bit 'Shakespearean' - the BBC house style, I suppose, and, no doubt, in the fashion of the time. The dodgy storylines, to be fair, were few, and I think can for the most part be put down to the fact that I suspect the BBC were unsure what audience they were after, or it might be better to say they were pretty catholic with regard to who they were targetting - adults, children, Sci~Fi fans... or those that simply didn't fancy watching 'Mind Your Language', or whatever it was that ITV was offering in the corresponding slot! It has to be said that there was one or two scripts that felt a bit like homework done on a Sunday night, 'I'm looking at _you_ here, Mr. Nation..!' Even for a Science Fiction programme aimed at a generalist audience, the writing and the plot devices _could_ feel a little hand wave~y at times - how is it that space invaders always seem to come from either Mars/Alpha Centauri... or the _Andromeda Galaxy?!!_ That's a bit like having to worry about being invaded by Russia... or Liechtenstein! And then, let us not forget about (just off of the top of my head), the Incredible Shrinking Orac..! Episodes tended to alternate between the overarching general storyline and more - or - less stand~alone "weird - sh1+ - in - space" stories; I seem to remember the former were almost invariably excellent, while the latter were more up - and - down... Some of the most outstanding were in the second category, but so also were the more 'phoned - in' feeling efforts. The way I'm critique~ing the show must itself come across as a bit 'up and down~y', I realize, but then, one will understand, like Comic~Book Guy, it's always the biggest fans who are the must nit~picky - I expect anyone who's read this far has very likely come across me in other threads, being nothing but effusive in my praise of the show, and like I said at the outset, when this show was good, it was very, very good. For people who've seen the, em... 'bugs' (I've forgotten, ok! Sue me!) in 'Harvest of Kairos', I realise this might sound a bit laughable but as well as having some very thought provoking notions befitting of good Science Fiction, the very best episodes, like the one where Avon seeks to find out what become of his girlfriend Anna Grant when he 'failed to make the rendezvous' (sorry, again I've forgotten the title, blame family members who threw out my boxed set, long story!) or the Season 4 closer, 'Blake' feel closer to WW2 Resistance dramas, or deserving of being classed with the better kind of Cold War spy stuff, on the same lines as Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and The Spy who Came in from the Cold, or the fondly remembered Channel 4 nuclear thriller mini - series, Heart of Darkness. Yes, if you've got to here, I implore you, snout it out. I must see, myself, if that link is still good!

[@mhoppy6639]

Marvellous seminal series which many others ripped off shamelessly. Nation has form for this as well : “duel” clearly plagiarised “arena” but overall, it had plenty of originality

[@steveross8364]

I HATE Big Finish. Create you own stuff, don't exploit the work of others.

[@Channel73]

I would argue that they are creating their “own stuff” - telling their own stories within pre-existing worlds. Granted, not everything they put out is to my (or maybe your) taste, but it is still an expression of creativity.

[@steveross8364]

@@Channel73 That's not their own stuff. Using predefined 'worlds' and mimicking established characters and relationships is the laziest form of creativity. Big Finish is basically exploiting the hard work and success of other creators. Think we'll have to agree to differ on this one.

[@jillwilliams3180]

Think you might want to reflect on whose 'own stuff' it is. Terry Nation (and later his estate) were happy for others to take the potential stories forward, and as the creator handed over writing effectively at the end of S2E1, he was happy for others to create within the world that he initially sold to the BBC. Even the scripts of the time (in S1) had to be fleshed out by additional writers, such as script editor Chris Boucher. Guest writers were used - are you perhaps suggesting that the late, great, Tanith Lee, a fine writer on her own account ( Episodes Sarcophagus and Sand) who wrote in canon was exploitative/exploited? For the ongoing audio stories, proper licenses were obtained by Big Finish to get these published (for B7, Who etc) and in the case of Who, liaised with the production team for the reboot to ensure there was not likely to be conflict with the stories/canon going forward This sounds pretty respectful to the original and potential material to me . They also take care to use available original cast, who, by all accounts, report that the stories are very true to the original. Paul Darrow, who was Avon, has written books about the characters - is he allowed as he was part of the original creative process? Incidentally, if you use the argument that no-one should ever re-write or take a different view on a written story or series of characters, can I just point out that we have a huge tradition of it. Shakespeare mumped stuff off other writers and has in turn been utilised over the last 4 centuries, e.g. Forbidden Planet. More recently, we have the modern Sherlock Holmes, Worzel Gummidge, musicals and definitely all the covers of original songs. Not sure Hugh Martin/Ralph Blaine have ever complained about what Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland, Bing Crosby, Ella F, Michael Buble and John Legend among others have done with Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, to say nothing of its use in the anti-war film, The Victors. That having been said, you are, of course, entitled to your own opinion. That is also a lift.

[@steveross8364]

@@jillwilliams3180 Too long to read.