Blake’s 7
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Just wondering… has anyone here seen Blake’s 7, and what’s it like?
And can I get spoilers?! [img]images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]quote:
Originally posted by the chameleon:
Just wondering… has anyone here seen Blake’s 7, and what’s it like?
And can I get spoilers?! [img]images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]
What !!!??? You haven’t seen this fantastic series??? Admittedly the sets and props were a bit dr whoish (cardboard walls and blasters that fizzed) but the actual plots and execution was top!!! I can’t believe you haven’t had any replies to this question….I’ll look on the net, there must be a u.k. site out there somewhere.
Love this site BTW, ’bout time sad people had a release from the mindless tedium of the other existence ( i think it’s called life)‘one cool hoopy frood who knows where his towel is’
quote[quote]You haven’t seen this fantastic series??? [/quote]
I have now – it came on UKTV on Austar – but when it first showed over here in Australia, I don’t think I was even born!
Unfortunately we had UKTV cut (grr) so I have to rely on my sister who does get UKTV (and who lives in another state) to tape it for me.
That’s one of the reasons why I can’t wait til Thursday 12!
I’m almost dying from suspense waiting for my tapes! [img]images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]Try this site for a start:
[url=http://www.blakes7-guide.com/]Blake’s 7 Guide[/url]
There’s quite a few others. It’s been years since I saw this show, but I loved it! It was so different from the sci fi stuff we were getting in the US at the time.
elmey
quote:
Originally posted by the chameleon:
Just wondering… has anyone here seen Blake’s 7, and what’s it like?
And can I get spoilers?! [img]images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]
What’s it like you ask?…well probably the best sci-fi show around at the time, in my view better than Dr Who, as it was a lot more gritty, whereas Dr Who sometimes tried to appeal to really young children and on some occasions that would make it pretty bad (see Bonnie Langford eps!!!), but Blake’s Seven never lost that coolness about it.
But you gotta see past the awful 70’s clothing and sets to see how good this programme really was.
Look out for Servalan, the original queen bitch, she really does an excellent job of being the nemesis of the Blake’s Seven crew, and of course Avon….kind of like the Chandler for the 70’s, just without the humour, but his dry wit and dour look made him a brillant character.
The one person I never got to see was Blake himself, I think he made an appearance in the first ep, but I don’t remember seeing him again.
BTW, wasn’t the Liberator like the Lexx, in that it was a mega-powerful ship with it’s own personality?, and like Lexx it was stolen by mercenaries…I might be wrong.
ADMYep, ADM has given a pretty cool account (excepting Blake was in all of the first series).
I used to have amazingly cool dreams about Servalan – which I could never understand considering she was a complete bitch! I guess it was the figure hugging white dresses that she wore [img]images/smiles/icon_wink.gif[/img]
This was a scary thing for the BBC to get involved with. The lead actor (Blake) was a serious drama actor and I got the impression
from interviews with him that he wasn’t keen on doing such a dodgy (ie. sci fi) show [img]images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img]The whole concept though was wonderful and as a teenager growing up during that period, I found it facinating!
It didn’t have the staying power of Dr Who, the breadth of Babylon 5 or the innovation of LEXX, but it was still pretty cool.
I saw the first three eps and I thought they were very good. It’s very different to sci-fi nowadays – but have you noticed the similarities between B7 and Farscape?
There’s a whole article on it somewhere and from the sounds of the article, Farscape is basically just a rip-off.quote:
Originally posted by Chamileon:
I saw the first three eps and I thought they were very good. It’s very different to sci-fi nowadays – but have you noticed the similarities between B7 and Farscape?
There’s a whole article on it somewhere and from the sounds of the article, Farscape is basically just a rip-off.
Is there a Sci-fi show that Farscape doesn’t rip off!!!
????
I’ve never actually seen Farscape myself (by the time I’d heard about it, we had Austar and normal TV stations didn’t come through and THEN Fox8 got Series 1 – except that we got it cut a week beforehand and normal TV isn’t airing Series 3) but my tapes are coming up with my sister (who does get Fox8) on Friday 13. Yay!
She’s also bringing up my Blake’s 7 tapes.Travis needs vocal surgery. [img]images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]
The article:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In the late 70’s, there was a UK TV show called “Blake’s 7” which takes place in the future, where the galaxy is ruled by a very oppressive totalitarian government, headed by a smart, sassy, sensual and ruthless woman with short black hair named Servalan. The main characters in the story are a group of prisoners who escape and steal a spaceship, trying not to get caught, and doing what they can to oppose the government. The show was unique in that all the characters had major flaws and often did selfish actions that sometimes imperiled their traveling companions.
A few years ago, Sci Fi channel and Henson productions started a new SF TV series where ALL of the above is true, called “Farscape” – except that there was no character like “Servalan”. Instead, the chief baddie was a sadistic ******* who was half reptile. (Also, in Blake’s 7, all of the characters are humans, because in the 70’s, it was difficult to do aliens on a low budget – witness how Original Star Trek made Klingons “alien” solely by their hair style and goatees.)
HOWEVER, in the most recent episode of Farscape, the half-reptile baddie is replaced by a new character who is an exact copy – physically, mentally and spiritually – of “Servalan”. Perhaps they felt that after
several years, the coast was clear to steal more from “Blake’s 7”. Will Terry Nation (creator of “Blake’s 7”) sue? I tend to doubt it…I remember seeing Blake’s 7 when it was first shown in the UK. Superb. It has dated BADLY, but so has Star Wars to a certain degree…
I don’t think it was as good after Blake left (he decided he was losing credability as a serious actor or something so he jacked it in). The veiwing figures started to drop of a bit so they tried a few things to regain interest, but they didn’t really work out. It’s one of those series that started great, but they didn’t know where to take it or how to maintain the story (and I may be being over critical here, especially when compaired to some of the arse scrapings we get today).
Check out the first series!!! It’s on vid (and DVD now I think). The second series starts off ok, but drops. But the finale is TOP quality entertainment. They pulled out all the stops and made up for the… um… parts of less excellence in the 2nd series. One of the best last eps I have seen!!!
Well, I can now say that I’ve seen (most of) all the series!
My impression of Series 4: WHAT HAPPENED TO BLAKE??? I mean, he had a BEARD in one cameo appearance! And in Blake, he just did not look like himself!
That was a weird episode.Well, for those of you who were hanging on the edge of your seats, waiting for the Blake’s 7 film, it looks like you’ll have to wait a bit longer (like a lot longer). Paul Darrow pulled out of the project in October (Yes, I know, I’m a crap fan and should have noticed earlier 😳 ).
For those who are interested, his statement is on the Paul Darrow fan site where he gives his reasons (the one dated the 9th of October)
[url]http://www.avon-paul-darrow.co.uk/news.htm[/url]
😥 😥 😥
Very disappointing, sad news. 😥 Thanks for the info.
Yeah, what’s more, it looks like this new series stuff is screwing up our chances of getting some kick-arse Blake’s 7 DVDs.
Now, this new company owns the rights to the title, while the BBC retains rights to the images used in the original series. As a result, no DVDs until both the BBC and this new company can come to agreements with each other on $.
I personally loved all 4 seasons of Blake’s 7, and while it was a bit disappointing to see Blake mostly absent for the second half, I think Avon made a more interesting leader.
Blake’s 7 is also one of the few shows I’ve ever seen where the protagonist in the show is a self-professed psychopath.
Man, Orbit was great.
Wow. How incredibly f—ing awesome!
And how incredibly disappointing (for me) that the release is only in the UK, and not in the US!
Anybody know when/if Blake’s 7 will release over in the US?
I keep hoping we’re going to get that awesome special edition Predator dvd you guys have got, but as Pvt. Hudson would say, “so far zippo.”
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