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BLAKE'S 7 (1978 - 1981)

 
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Gord Green
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PostPosted: Fri Feb 24, 2017 2:09 am    Post subject: BLAKE'S 7 (1978 - 1981) Reply with quote



I'm surprised this series hasn't been mentioned yet. Although visually reminiscent of 70's DR WHO from which it shared Terry Nation's writing talents, this was a much more adult (At least in concepts) than the Doctor's stories were.

The basic storyline is resurrected in FIREFLY and SERENITY plotlines.



Adapted from Wikipedia :

Blake's 7 is a science fiction television series created by Terry Nation and produced by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). Four series of thirteen 50-minute episodes were made, and first broadcast in the United Kingdom between January 1978 and December 1981 by BBC1.

They are set in the third century of the second calendar (mentioned in associated publicity material, not in the series) and at least 700 years in the future. Blake's 7's narrative concerns the exploits of political dissident Roj Blake, who commands a small group of rebels against the forces of the totalitarian Terran Federation that rules the Earth and many colonised planets. The Federation uses mass surveillance, brainwashing and drug pacification to control its citizens.

Blake was arrested, tried on false charges of child molestation, and deported to a remote penal colony. En route he and fellow prisoners Jenna Stannis and Kerr Avon gain control of a technologically advanced alien spacecraft, which its central computer Zen informs is named Liberator.

Liberator's speed and weaponry are superior to Federation craft, and it also has a teleportation system that enables transport to the surface of planets. Blake and his crew begin a campaign to damage the Federation, but are pursued by Space Commander Travis — a Federation soldier — and Servalan, the Supreme Commander and later Federation President.

The composition of the titular "seven" changes throughout the series.
The initial group — Blake, Vila, Gan, Jenna, Avon and Cally — included Zen as the seventh member. At the end of the first series, they capture a supercomputer named Orac. Gan is killed during the second series, after which Blake and Jenna disappear and are replaced by new characters Dayna and Tarrant.

During the fourth series, Cally dies and is replaced by Soolin. After the destruction of Liberator the computer Zen is replaced with a new computer, Slave.

While Blake is an idealistic freedom fighter, his associates are petty crooks, smugglers and killers. Avon is a technological genius who, while apparently motivated by self-preservation and wealth, consistently acts to help others.

When Blake is separated from his crew, Avon becomes commander. At first Avon believes the Federation has been destroyed, and he becomes tired of killing and seeks rest.

But by the middle of the third series, Avon realises that the Federation is expanding again, faster than originally realised, and he resumes the fight.

The BBC had planned to conclude Blake's 7 at the end of its third series, but a further series was commissioned unexpectedly. Some changes to the programme's format were necessary, such as the introduction of a new spacecraft, Scorpio, and new characters, Soolin and Slave.

Blake's 7 was watched by approximately 10 million people in the UK and was broadcast in 25 other countries.

Blake's 7 remains fairly well regarded. A poll of United States science-fiction writers, fans and critics for John Javna's 1987 book The Best of Science Fiction placed the series 25th in popularity, despite then only having recently begun to be broadcast in the US. A similar poll in Britain conducted for SFX magazine during 1999 put Blake's 7 at 16th place, with the magazine commenting that "twenty years on, TV SF is still mapping the paths first explored by Terry Nation's baby".

During 2005 SFX surveyed readers' top 50 British telefantasy shows of all time, and Blake's 7 was placed at number four behind The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Red Dwarf and Doctor Who. A similar poll conducted by TV Zone magazine during 2003 for the top 100 cult television programmes scored Blake's 7 11th.

During July 2012 Deadline reported that a remake for US television networks was being developed by the independent studio Georgeville Television.

On 22 August the Syfy network announced that Joe Pokaski would develop the script and Martin Campbell would direct the new remake.

On April 9, 2013, the BBC reported that a new series of Blake's 7 would be broadcast by SyFy. Other media reported that a full-series order of thirteen episodes had been placed.

During 2015 the Nation Estate ended relations with Andrew Mark Sewell and the Blake's 7 License was awarded To Big Finish Productions. On April 04th 2016, Big Finish announced The Liberator Chronicles Volume 12, due to be released later the same month, which will be the latest and final entry in Big Finish's long-running collection of audio box-sets based on Blake's 7. This becomes the first release from Big Finish with no involvement from Andrew Sewell or B7 Media.



I recently bingewatched all 4 seasons and found them very enjoyable.
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Gord Green
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PostPosted: Fri Feb 24, 2017 2:15 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

All episodes are available on YouTube--



Start here :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXDd1zO9F1I&list=PLhavZM1-Ey4H9NY2rxpsbaCQ8dDLNNs6k
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Mon Mar 13, 2017 4:48 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

__________________________________

Gord, this is one terrific thread you've started! It's laid out perfectly, with just the right blend of pictures, reference info, and your own comments. Very Happy

Here's my contribution to the thread!

Dailymotion has a contributor named "blakes7rocks" who has uploaded several episodes from season 1 and 2 from this series, and the picture quality is much better than the the YouTube versions.

Enjoy! Very Happy
__________________________________


___________________ blakes7rocks video list
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johnnybear
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 13, 2018 9:30 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Although she looked bored as hell in the second series, Sally Knyvette was absolutely gorgeous during the first batch of thirteen episodes! Shame she left at the conclusion to series two but she was under used and knew it!
JB
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 13, 2018 11:17 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

My goodness, Miss Knyvette IS an impressive lady. Cool




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johnnybear
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 13, 2018 3:16 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Until series two where she looked like she was the verge of yawning each and every week and then she sort of just disappeared!
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Gord Green
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 31, 2020 3:12 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

As I may have mentioned, I first became familiar with BLAKES 7 when it was broadcast on my local PBS station along with Baker's DOCTOR WHO. I was struck by the more adult concepts presented and the interesting portrayal of the characters.

There are 142 items mentioned on the IMbD site.
Here are a few of the best....With my comments on some :

Gareth Thomas and Tom Baker always wanted to do a cross-over between Doctor Who (1963) and Blake's 7 (with the two heroes passing each other in a corridor, exchanging greetings) but this was vetoed by producers of both series. Indeed the invasion from Andromeda at the end of the second season was originally going to be invasion by Doctor Who's Daleks, also created by Terry Nation.



In an interview, Paul Darrow called Firefly (2002) and its film follow-up Serenity (2005), "Today's "Blake's 7"".

Gareth Thomas (Roj Blake) had never watched an episode of the series until he agreed to provide a DVD commentary for the series' release.

Marina Sirtis auditioned for the part of Dayna. Lindsay Duncan, Caroline Langrishe, Kirstie Pooley and Debbi Blythe were also under consideration.

That endless corridor that the team were always dashing around the ship in was only about 20 feet long with a short tee on one end.

The series was originally to have ended with the climax to the third season. However, the BBC One Controller of that time, Bill Cotton, was so impressed by the quality of the series that he had the continuity announcer declare that Blake's 7 would return for a new series the following year, which caused some surprise amongst the cast and crew. Chief of the problems this caused was that producer David Maloney had become producer on The Day of the Triffids (1981), meaning that a new producer was needed for the show. After Terence Dudley turned the job down due to his intending to retire, Vere Lorrimer was made producer.

Scaramanga's huge laser gun from the James Bond film The Man with the Golden Gun (1974) was one of many props bought from Pinewood Studios by the BBC, and appears here in the early episodes of Blake's 7 as the main console of the prison ship London.

Paul Darrow resisted attempts to soften Avon's character, as he believed that it was Avon's anti-heroic qualities that appealed to viewers. He was also sceptical of the idea of Avon searching for Blake, considering Avon's oft-stated aim of taking control of the Liberator.

Jacqueline Pearce stated that Blake's 7: Sand (1981) was her favourite episode of the series because it showed Servalan's inviolability as a woman and why she developed her obsession for power.



The series was watched by approximately 10 million people in the UK and was broadcast in 25 other countries.

The pilot episode Blake's 7: The Way Back (1978) premiered in the UK only a week after the premier of Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977), a science fiction film about rebels fighting an evil empire that rules the galaxy.

Paul Darrow was notorious for breaking props. He broke every single gun he was handed, and the props department got so frustrated they made him one with an aluminium core so he couldn't break it. This was later stolen.





The revival of "Blake's 7" has been mooted for some years. Terry Nation raised the possibility on a number of occasions and proposed that a new series would be set some years after the existing one. Avon, living in exile like Napoleon on Elba, would be persuaded by a new group of rebels to resume the fight against the Federation.

Actors in the running for Blake included Maurice Colbourne, Tom Adams,Brian Croucher Peter Egan, Malcolm Stoddard, Warren Clarke, Martin Jarvis, Alun Armstrong, Christian Roberts, and Donald Sumpter. Paul Darrow applied for the part but was viewed as a much better candidate for Avon. Croucher would later play Space Commander Travis in the second season.

In the final season, the BBC demanded that the metal studs on Avon's boots should be removed, as they were "unacceptably aggressive."

Sally Knyvette wore extra hair in the first season to make her blonde hair appear fuller. She was allowed to use her normal hairstyle in the second season.

Servalan was pitched by Terry Nation as a "sinister Queen of the Galaxy".



The series was inspired by a range of fictional media including "Passage to Marseille", The Dirty Dozen (1967), "Robin Hood", "Brave New World", Star Trek: The Original Series (1966), classic Westerns and real-world political conflicts in South American and Israel.

The scene where Federation Guards massacre the Outsiders in the pilot episode Blake's 7: The Way Back (1978) was called by critics as one of the most violent scenes on television.

Servalan was originally written as a man named Shervalan, but Terry Nation, noting that that he had problems writing women, made the character female.



In April 2000, producer Andrew Mark Sewell announced that he had bought the rights to "Blake's 7" from the estate of Terry Nation and was planning to produce a TV movie set 20 years after the finale of the original series. In July 2003, Sewell announced that he, Paul Darrow and Simon Moorhead had formed a consortium called "B7 Enterprises" that had acquired the rights and was planning a TV miniseries budgeted at between five and six million US dollars. Darrow would play Avon and the series was to be televised in early 2005, depending on "...many factors, not least financing". Paul Darrow subsequently left the project in December 2003, citing "artistic differences". The project ultimately never went into production.

Avon was informally referred to as "The Kiss of Death" because every woman that Avon kisses in the series (excluding Servalan) ends up being killed.

SPOLER: The apparent massacre at the end of the final episode provoked a strong reaction from many viewers, who were upset to see their heroes meet a grisly fate. Chris Boucher believed that the date on which the final episode was broadcast - 21 December 1981 - was unfortunate, and has since described himself as "the man who killed Father Christmas".

Creator Terry Nation pitched the show to BBC executives off the cuff, having made no notes or outlines. He started talking about The Dirty Dozen (1967) in space, and made up the rest as he went along.

A disappointed viewer sent negative feedback on the ending of Blake's 7, feeling the series should had a happier ending, than a violent ending and Producer Vere Lorrimer stated that he had wanted to set up the biggest cliffhanger ever and wanted it to be unexpected and that he wanted to shock the dedicated fans and viewers with the deaths of these characters they liked and it was agreed that Blake had to die and it was not very violent. No blood was seen on Vila, Dayna, Soolin and Tarrant and they all die in dream-like slow motion sequences and Vere Lorrimer wanted to leave it open for a possible revival.

Vesper Lynd, the main female character in the James Bond novel Casino Royale (2006) was a strong influence behind the character of Anna Grant in Blake's 7: Rumours of Death (1980).

Post-apocalyptic societies feature in several "Blake's 7" episodes including Blake's 7: Duel (1978), Blake's 7: Deliverance (1978), Blake's 7: City at the Edge of the World (1980) and Blake's 7: Terminal (1980). Although not explicitly stated, some publicity material for the series refers to the Federation as having risen from the ashes of a nuclear holocaust on Earth.

The filming location for Gauda Prime in Blake's 7: Blake (1981), Bourne Woods, Farnham, Surrey, England UK was later the filming location for the opening battle sequence in Gladiator (2000).

An early idea for Series 3 would have the crew searching for Blake and discovering his grave.

David Jackson compared Gan to Lennie from "Of Mice and Men".



Jacqueline Pearce had fallen ill and was hospitalised shortly after Series Three had finished recording. Believing that Pearce may not be available, a new female villain - Commissioner Sleer - was devised. When Pearce indicated her availability for the series, Sleer became Servalan's pseudonym, Servalan being considered dead by the Federation's new regime.

The proposed characters for the series were: Rog (later changed to Roj) Blake, Vila Restal, Jenna Stannis, Kerr Avon, Olag Gan, Arco Trent, Tone Selman and Brell Klein. The descriptions of Blake, Jenna and Gan are similar to those of the developed characters. However, Vila's character is somewhat different, described as "thirty five, good looking athletic", he appears more similar to the popular fictional character Simon Templar than the Vila portrayed on screen. The Arco Trent character was described as a powerful figure in the Administration who had become a scapegoat for a group of corrupt officials involved in arms dealing. Arco would plot against Blake but would gain respect for Blake after Blake saves his life. Arco's sidekick would be Avon, a self-serving, treacherous coward. The characters of Selman and Klein did not appear in the pilot script, which noted that these characters would join the series in a later episode. The characters of Trent, Selman and Klein were removed from the series, although Trent and Selman appear as Blake's fellow prisoners and are then killed in the broadcast version of Blake's 7: Cygnus Alpha (1978). These characters were removed in order to control costs and to give the remaining characters more work. Avon acquired Arco Trent's scheming nature, while Vila, who now acquired the cowardly aspect originally planned for Avon.

In the first series, Travis's leather costume was purchased at a London fetish store.

Originally, 36 teleportation bracelets were made for the series. This number dwindled as the actors frequently misplaced them. The designers made more using a method set by Blue Peter (1958).



The green globe that served as the Liberator's engine in the original production drawing was egg-shaped but was redesigned as a sphere because the power of the internal light that was used to make the engine pulsate would melt the globe if production staff left it on too long (which they often did), and a sphere was faster to reproduce than the egg shape.



In 2014, Paul Darrow (Avon) became disabled and lost both legs when he suffered a aortic aneurysm.



FROM ME : I can well understand this. When I had my aortic aneurysm in the late 90's I lost all use of my body below the waist. Fortunatly, after months of rehab I was able to regain all functions although it took me over a year to learn to walk again. Today, although I may be slow I can get around with little trouble. I really feel for Paul.


During a writer's strike Paul Darrow wrote an episode script for series D in which the crew desert Avon, marooning him, concentrated on Vila being more heroic than he had been for that series and also be the one who saves Avon by convincing the others to go back for him. Chris Boucher said no.

Dayna was modelled on Miranda from William Shakespeare's The Tempest.

Terry Nation wrote all 13 episodes of the first series. Providing a large amount of material in a short time would prove difficult for Nation. Admitting that he had agreed to write every episode out of "ego and supreme confidence", Nation later recalled that he returned home following the commission and told his wife, "I think I've got myself into deep trouble!". Nation informed Chris Boucher that he would only be able to deliver the first draft of each script, telling Boucher, "...you can have rewrites or you can have the next episode: which do you want?". As a result, while Nation created the plots, Boucher provided a great deal of input into the characters and dialogue. According to Boucher, "Terry came up with the characters, he came up with thirteen good stories, but he didn't come up with the dialogue. I remember saying, and I think it's pretty close to the truth, that for a long time, Paul Darrow [playing Avon] never spoke a line that I hadn't written or altered to make the lines sharper"

Terry Nation wanted to make the characters like real people with problems, people who were frightened, who didn't know how to do things and who were escaping from things.

There is no relation between Dev Tarrant, a Federation operative in the pilot episode, and Del Tarrant, a former Federation captain who joins the crew of the Liberator in the third series.

Tarrant was originally intended to be aged between 35 and 55. David Maloney was concerned that casting an older, well-known actor for the final series of an established series would be difficult.

Pip Baker and Jane Baker wrote an unmade episode for the Second Season called "Death Squad", in which Blake, Gan and Jenna would infiltrate a Federation facility attempting to create 'super-soldiers' by administering drugs to humans, leading to Blake and Gan becoming exposed to the drugs and Jenna being held by Servalan as an inducement for the scientist behind the plan. This was scrapped ostensibly on cost grounds, although Chris Boucher had concerns about the quality of the script.



Blake's 7: City at the Edge of the World (1980) came about because Michael Keating's daughter was tired of Vila being a coward and Keating talked to producer David Maloney about it and they agreed to write an episode which Vila is the hero and gets the girl.

In Blake's 7: City at the Edge of the World (1980), Bayban, who is a thief and failed revolutionary, is known as Bayban the Berserker and Bayban the Butcher. This is a nod to the Robert E. Howard fantasy hero Conan the Barbarian.

Josette Simon did not look back on the show with fondness, believing that the showrunners took advantage of her naivety and lack of confidence to get her to play a "hot exotic warrior woman" part that she saw retrospectively as both sexually and racially demeaning.

Ingrid Pitt was considered for the role of Servalan.

For the opening titles, Terry Nation had originally envisaged a vast computer that would print out pictures of each of the characters; these would be deposited in a tray marked "Enemies of the State" before the appearance of the title caption.

Originally, the first character to be killed off was Villa, as Terry Nation was unhappy with Michael Keating's performance. Nation's view was opposed by Chris Boucher and David Maloney because the character was popular with viewers.

During the final season, Vere Lorrimer wrote lyrics, titled Distant Star, for the series theme music with the notion that Steven Pacey would sing them over a new arrangement of the theme by Norrie Paramor. Pacey did not agree with this idea, and Dudley Simpson created a more lively arrangement of the theme for the closing titles.

The series was heavily inspired by westerns, such as The Magnificent Seven (1960), The Wild Bunch (1969) and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969). Chris Boucher incorporated lines from Westerns into the scripts, much to the delight of Paul Darrow, an enthusiast of the genre.

Chris Boucher was inspired by Latin American revolutionaries, especially Zapata, in exploring Blake and his followers' motives and the consequences of their actions. This is most evident in Blake's 7: Star One (1979), in which Blake must confront the reality that in achieving his aim of overthrowing the Federation, he will unleash chaos and death for many innocent citizens.

Stephen Greif wore a girdle under his costume, as he was overweight at the time.

Michael Keating based his portrayal of Vila on Feste from William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night.

Chris Boucher's favourite episode was Blake's 7: Death-Watch (1980), due to the western influences. It was also Stephen Pacey's favourite, due to him playing a duel role.

Josette Simon had never seen the series before joining the cast. Stephen Pacey had seen bits of it and didn't care for it.

Michael Keating played Vila slightly slouched and stooped to make his character look smaller than the rest of the Liberator crew.

It has been claimed that Roger Murray-Leach based the general shape of the Liberator's main hull on that of a cordless microphone, adding the three nacelles to disguise its shape. This may have contributed to the common but apparently unfounded rumour in fandom that the Liberator was originally intended to face the other way, flying with its "engine" section (the business end of the original microphone) facing forward. Another story is that the domes were shaped to be reminiscent of a Persian mosque when the spacecraft was stood on end, thus enhancing its exotic appearance to western audiences.



Four video compilations were released between 1985 and 1990, and the entire series was released on videocassette starting in 1991 and re-released in 1997. Subsequently released as four DVD boxed sets between 2003 and 2006.

Paul Darrow had played The Sheriff of Nottingham in BBC's The Legend of Robin Hood (1975). Robin Hood was one of Terry Nation's influences behind "Blake's 7" and was described by critics as "Robin Hood in Outer Space".

The broadcast of Blake's 7: Mission to Destiny (1978) on 12th February 1978 was interrupted by a temporary fault that lasted 2 minutes/16 seconds and frustrated fans of the series missed around 40 seconds of the program.

Steven Pacey (Tarrant) had never seen Blake's 7 prior to his casting until he watched it with a friend who was a fan of the series.

The characters of Spock, Dirty Harry and James Bond were cited as influences behind Kerr Avon.

2 years before Blake's 7, Gareth Thomas had starred in the short-lived science fiction series Star Maidens (1976) as Shem. The series was about a planet dominated by women that entered the solar system and human scientists are sent to the planet to investigate. Derek Farr whom played Evans in the series played Ensor, Orac's creator in the Season 1 finale.

Paul Darrow later made a cameo in the James Bond film Die Another Day (2002). James Bond had been cited as an influence behind Kerr Avon.

Kerr Avon is an anti-hero.



6 years after the series ended, Gareth Thomas starred in the short-lived ITV futuristic drama series Knights of God (1987) (TV series) playing a similar role to his role in Blake's 7.

Orac is an anagram of 'oracle'. Orac has a predictive capability and can predict the future with great accuracy which in the Series 1 finale, he predicts the destruction of the Liberator. This is considered clever writing by Terry Nation.

The character Dorian in the fourth series episode "Rescue" (1981) was based on Dorian Gray, the title character of the Oscar Wilde novel "The Picture of Dorian Gray".


Spoilers
The trivia items below may give away important plot points.

Gareth Thomas made a final appearance as Blake, and insisted that his character be killed off in a definitive manner. Although the fourth series performed satisfactorily in the ratings, the series was not renewed for a fifth time and the final episode had an ambiguous finale. Except for Blake, whose death was contractual, the characters were shown being attacked in such a way that their survival would had been possible had a fifth series been commissioned.

The mother of a upset younger viewer wrote to Peter Tuddenham (The voice of Zen) who was devastated over the demise of Zen the Liberator computer in Blake's 7: Terminal (1980) and couldn't go to sleep and had written to ask the voice actor, if Zen was alright and the actor wrote back and assured that he was very much alive and that the character of Zen had indeed died.

The fate of Jenna Stannis was not revealed until the final episode, Blake's 7: Blake (1981), when Jenna is mentioned by Blake, when Blake tells Tarrant that she had taught him to use a random flight program and had died self-destructing her ship, also destroying a number of other ships, while blockade running.

The cast and crew developed a running gag (off camera) that Avon's persona was due to his teddy bear having been stolen when he was a child. When the scene which Avon finds Blake in Blake's 7: Terminal (1980) (TV Series) was filmed, Gareth Thomas slowly raised up his hand revealing a teddy palm in the palm of his left hand and Paul Darrow cracked up laughing.

At the end of the 2nd series, Gareth Thomas had decided to leave the series, so he could move on and do other acting roles. Terry Nation and David Maloney tried to work out a way on how the series could on without it's main character. It was decided that at the end of Series 2, which concluded with The Liberator standing alone against the Andromeda invasion fleet. Avon would assume command of The Liberator. However, Thomas would make a cameo in the Series 3 finale Blake's 7: Terminal (1980) and would reappear as Blake for the last time in the finale Blake's 7: Blake (1981), in which the character was killed off.

The first proposal for the series' conclusion, titled Attack, involved Blake returning to lead an assault on the Federation on Earth, finally defeating them. This idea was rejected by Vere Lorrimer, who thought it "...would be like five men trying to defeat the German army". Influenced by Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) and The Wild Bunch (1969), Chris Boucher decided that concluding the series in a shoot-out would provide a more memorable ending.

Jenna and Vila were supposed to be killed off in Blake's 7: Star One (1979). Chris Boucher was aware that Gan's death earlier in the season had upset some viewers, so the decision was made to separate Blake and Jenna from the others. Vila was kept on due to his popularity with fans.

The famous final scene in Blake's 7: Blake (1981) was parodied in the BBC sitcom Bottom (1991). In the final scene in Bottom: Carnival (1995), the sitcom's central characters Richie and Eddie (Rik Mayall and Adrian Edmondson) are surrounded by the Anti-Terrorism Squad and Richie and Eddie are both gunned down in slow motion and it ends in a freeze frame.

In Series 3, characters have a parent or sibling who dies at the hands of Servalan: In Blake's 7: Aftermath (1980), Dayna's father Hal is shot and killed by Servalan. In Blake's 7: Children of Auron (1980), Cally's twin sister Zelda is slain along with their people the Aurons when Servalan unleashes a virus on their planet. In Blake's 7: Death-Watch (1980), Tarrant's older brother Deeta is killed by Vinni, an android working for Servalan.

Vesper Lynd, the main female protagonist of the James Bond novel "Casino Royale" by Ian Fleming was speculated to had influenced the Anna Grant character from Series 3's "Rumours of Death". Both characters were romantically involved with James Bond and Kerr Avon and both Vesper Lynd and Anna Grant dies when they betray James Bond and Kerr Avon and that they are working as agents for villainous organizations (SMERSH and the Terran Federation).

In 2000s, it was announced online Blake's 7 would be returning and that it would be a sequel series and it would take place 30 years after (#4.13) and that Paul Darrow would be the only original cast member returning. However, it was canceled and Paul Darrow passed away in 2019.

At the end of Series 3, The Liberator is destroyed when The Liberator flies through a fluid cloud which Avon ignores Vila and Zen's warning to go through it and to go around it. If Avon had listened to Vila and Zen, The Liberator wouldn't had got severely damaged and The Liberator wouldn't had exploded.






In the ending of Series 1, Orac predicts the destruction of The Liberator which in Series 2, a ship identical to The Liberator explodes. However, The Liberator does get destroyed in the ending of Series 3 and Orac's prediction of The Liberator foreshadows this.


In Series 1's "Bounty", The Liberator is taken over by Amagons (Bounty Hunters). This foreshadows the final episode which Blake is on Gauda Prime masquerading as a bounty hunter as he is testing and recruiting outlaws for an army against The Federation.

In Season 3's Children of Auron, it's revealed the reason why Cally left Auron. It's revealed Cally lied about her people sending her to Saurian Major to help it's people and in-fact she was exiled from Auron for voicing her concerns over the high council's decision to isolate Auron from the rest of the universe. It gets mentioned in dialogue by C.A. One and Franton.

A reviewer, "Gothran" had this comment :
"This has to be one of the best--perhaps THE best science fiction serials ever produced. It is a true serial in that the story goes, stage by stage, through a complete, novelistic sequence. Even though the fourth season was not planned when they finished up the 3rd (originally designed as the finale), the ideas, themes, and characterizations continued as a logical (if sometimes twisted) culmination of the history that had preceded it. Blake's 7 inspired what is undoubtedly the finest American sci fi series ever--Babylon 5, which in some ways surpassed B7, certainly in terms of quality effects and production values. If you look carefully, I believe you can spot a ship closely resembling the Scorpio in some of the battle formations in Season 4 of B5.

My personal favorite performer on Blake's 7 was the extraordinary Jacqueline Pearce--surely one of the most gifted actresses of our day. In one way it is a shame that she will always be remembered for her work on this series, but, from another perspective, her creation of Servalan has a truly legendary quality, larger than life and yet intensely human. Jackie imbued Servalan with a wit, grace, and elegance that made her absolute evil all the more intriguing. Paul Darrow as Avon provided the perfect complement to Servalan's infamy. Coldly self-aggrandizing and exquisitely poised in his own right, Darrow's performance is often tinged with streaks of frighteningly believable psychosis, especially during the memorable final season.

If this series had had a wider airing in the US, it would have attracted a massive cult following over here. Grab this on tape if you can find it!"
I would highly agree. If you haven't looked at it yet pull up a couple episodes on Youtube!


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PostPosted: Tue Mar 31, 2020 3:43 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Gord Green wrote:
The series was originally to have ended with the climax to the third season. However, the BBC One Controller of that time, Bill Cotton, was so impressed by the quality of the series that he had the continuity announcer declare that Blake's 7 would return for a new series the following year, which caused some surprise amongst the cast and crew. Chief of the problems this caused was that producer David Maloney had become producer on The Day of the Triffids (1981), meaning that a new producer was needed for the show. After Terence Dudley turned the job down due to his intending to retire, Vere Lorrimer was made producer.

When I saw Paul Darrow at a convention in 1986 he told a different story, which Michael Keating agreed with. He said that B7 was a very popular show, and the BBC absolutely HATED that their cheap little space opera was on of their most popular shows. At the end of the third series, they were told that the show was to be canceled. That changed when the BBC suddenly needed a show to fill a time slot, but they were told that series 4 was it. No matter what, there would be no series 5.

Paul Darrow was asked why they did away with the Liberator. His reply was that they blew it up. The audience laughed, but he was serious. For the space battle at the end of series 2 they wanted an explosion on the Liberator's bridge. PD said that the explosives expert's most favorite thing in the world was Gelignite, and he was very enthusiastic. He placed the charges, they set the cameras, emptied the set and set the charges off...Every bit of dust and dirt that had gathered in the rafters since the studio opened rained down. When the dust and smoke finally setteld, they found that the set had been blow in-half and was on two different sides of the soundstage! They patched the set together, but it kept deteriorating.

At the con, Paul Darrow and Michael Keating sang the lyrics to the B7 theme. They said that at one time, the cast considered doing a recording of the song. Too bad they didn't.

The Liberator teleport brackets were suppose to be elliptical in shape, but that was considered to be too expensive to make, so they went with round.

When Martin Bower delivered the Trooper guns, they were painted a metallic mauve color like the teleport bracelets. He thought that they were suppose that be the liberator guns, and so painted them an 'alien' color to match the bracelets.

They didn't like how fragile that Liberator teleport bracelets (in one episode, they had an actor crush one in his hand) and guns were. For series 4, they made the Scorpio teleport bracelets and guns out of aluminium, so they would make a solid "CLUNK" when dropped. And hopefully not break and shatter. They also wanted to be able to stun people, so the Scorpio guns used different magazines for different purposes.

The Blake killer gun was made by Bill Pearson. It was a concept prop he made in hopes of it being picked as the Scorpio gun. It was a pistol with add-ons to become a rifle. He liked the U.N.C.L.E. Special. To become the Blake Killer, he added detail and a mechanism to fire flash charges.

Paul Darrow said that Garth Thomas agreed to come back only if they would definitely kill Blake off. They were discussing how to kill Blake, and who should do it, and Paul Darrow said that he told them that he would do it.

Blake's death was the bloodiest death that had ever been done on the BBC at the time.

Paul Darrow said that he didn't see how they could have had a 5th series, as they made Avon more psychotic as the 4th series went on. He laughed that the crazier they made Avon, the more leather they put on his costume.

Michael Keating said that durning the episode "Orbit", there is a scene where Avon is hunting Vila, and Vila is crying because he knows that Avon is going to find and kill him. They had trouble keeping that scene in the show, as the BBC thought it was too intense.

Ron Thornton was one of the model builders on the show. He built the Scorpio and the shuttle used in "Orbit". He liked the shuttle design so much, that he reused it on "Babylon 5".

David.


Last edited by Krel on Thu Apr 02, 2020 10:55 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Gord Green
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PostPosted: Thu Apr 02, 2020 9:06 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I thought it would be a good time to review the basics of this series. Even those of us who were introduced to it on PBS in the 80's didn't get to see all the episodes in correct order.

Four series of thirteen 50-minute episodes were made, and first broadcast in the United Kingdom between January 1978 and December 1981 by BBC1. They are set in the third century of the second calendar (this is mentioned in associated publicity material, not in the series)[2] and at least 700 years in the future.

Blake's 7's narrative concerns the exploits of political dissident Roj Blake, who commands a small group of rebels against the forces of the totalitarian Terran Federation that rules the Earth and many colonised planets. The Federation uses mass surveillance, brainwashing and drug pacification to control its citizens. Blake was arrested, tried on false charges, and deported to a remote penal colony. En route, he and fellow prisoners Jenna Stannis and Kerr Avon gain control of a technologically advanced alien spacecraft, which its central computer Zen informs is named Liberator. Liberator's speed and weaponry are superior to Federation craft, and it also has a teleportation system that enables transport to the surface of planets.

Blake and his crew begin a campaign to damage the Federation, but are pursued by Space Commander Travis—a Federation soldier—and Servalan, the Supreme Commander and later Federation President.

The composition of the titular "seven" changes throughout the series. The initial group—Blake, Vila, Gan, Jenna, Avon and Cally—included Zen as the seventh member. At the end of the first series, they capture a supercomputer named Orac. Gan is killed during the second series, after which Blake and Jenna disappear and are replaced by new characters Dayna and Tarrant. At the start of the fourth series, Cally dies and is replaced by Soolin.

After the destruction of Liberator, the computer Zen is replaced by a new computer, Slave, onboard their new commandeered ship Scorpio.

While Blake is an idealistic freedom fighter, his associates are petty crooks, smugglers and killers. Avon is a technological genius who, while apparently motivated by self-preservation and wealth, consistently acts to help others. When Blake is separated from his crew, Avon becomes commander.

At first, Avon believes the Federation has been destroyed; he becomes tired of killing, and seeks rest. However, by the middle of the third series, Avon realises that the Federation is expanding again, faster than originally realised, and he resumes the fight. The BBC had planned to conclude Blake's 7 at the end of its third series, but a further series was commissioned unexpectedly.

Some changes to the programme's format were necessary, such as the introduction of a new spacecraft, Scorpio, and new characters, Soolin and Slave.

Blake's 7 was watched by approximately 10 million people in the UK and was broadcast in 25 other countries.

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johnnybear
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PostPosted: Sat Apr 04, 2020 9:03 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

When Blake was good it was very good but a number of episodes were a bit off I must say! Each series ended on a cliffhanger and the worst had to be the third series with the destruction of the Liberator and Avon just laughing after being trapped on a savage artificially created world called Terminal! The final series ending was excellent with Blake returning as a seemingly embittered man whose silly games cost him his life and those of his allies and those of the Scorpio crew! Watching it back in 1981 I never really believed it was over but it was and apart from the novel Afterlife that was the end of the show until two BBC radio plays in the nineties and then Big Finish did a few series of it set between the existing stories but with most of the cast now gone it seems silly to continue with it if they are...
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Eadie
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PostPosted: Sun May 03, 2020 12:36 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Just how big is the Liberator? I found this graphic which gives a possible answer:



It claims the Liberator is 300 meters (approximately 984 feet 3 inches) and the Enterprise is 288 meters (approximately 944 feet 10.58 inches).

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