Ok, just joined the rewatch, not entirely because ois thrad, but it's nice to be able to join the discussion... The Way Back: Still a great one-off SF play even without any connection to a follow-up series. Space Fall: Better than I'd remembered - a lot harsher than something I loved first time out as a 9 year old, but had thought since was a bit of a fall off from the toughness of the first episode. Cygnus Alpha: SOme over-acting, but still very good thoughtful harsh SF. Time Squad: Ok, I'd remembered this as the first serious let down. I guess it still is, but still a lot better than I'd recall from my last watch - the alien feel to the Saurian Major is very effective, and there's stil amajor grittines to it all. The Web: Again... the alien planet is both silly and surreal, and the morality play aspect is very effective. And FX-wise... I quite like the cartoon space shots.. they work in an expressionist sort of way. What makes them odd is that there's also some excellent genuine model work, so the two approaches clash... And on the model work... it has to be said, it's been done without any thru-thinking of how big the ships are supposed to be. Just work out how big the London must be given the size of the transfer tube (which we see in model work and live action), and also that it supposedly supports 30 to 50 people for eight months on the trip to Cygnus Alpha, and up to 20 on the trip back, without supply. Then work out from that how big Liberator must be as a result. Then work out how big the Starburst-class pursuits ships must be on the basis of the shot of Liberator ramming one in Duel. And then try to work out how squadrons of pursuit ships can dock at Space Command given how tiny it must be considering the size of the windows we see on the 'wheel station' model... You could never have had a Blake-tech forum on the Blakebbs!
BRIAN BLESSED DOES NOT OVER ACT!! He's just a bit loud is all. (I might actually have chance to watch another couple tonight)
A07 MISSION TO DESTINY Quite an enjoyable episode. A classic 70s whodunnit with cool scheming by Avon. The guest cast are well portioned, the story holds it's own, the only let down it Avon is forced to write the murderer's name on a bit of paper rather than tell the others about it. A08 DUEL Douglas Camfield's only contribution to the series is a tight episode, with a space battle no less and the first appearance of the Federation Pursuit Ships and mutoids. Stephen Grief gives Travis a lot of depth in this episode, which is in contract to the performance of Brian Croucher in the same role in series B. The only downside is the ramming scene, which is filled with typical 70s BBC effects.
A thought which came to mind at the Tavern tonight, chatting with Tat Wood... isn't it convenient that the London was ready to head for Cygnus Alpha with a full load of prisoners just as Blake was convicted? Could it be that some of the prisoners on the London got sentenced to deportation (rather than execution or shorter prison sentences) because the judgement machine had been 'told' to ensure there was a full shipload of prisoners ready to launch ASAP?
Well alternatively it could just be that the Federation were deporting so many citizens they had transport ships leaving daily! Also we don't know how long Vila, Jenna and (Ar)co were waiting? There is another judicial option open to the Federation of course, and I've often toyed with doing a fanfic set before The Way Back where Jenna almost ends up being sent off to Mutoid camp... I really like Mission to Destiny, it's a great story for both Avon and Cally, although not sure you'd get away these days with a TV character saying he quite enjoyed hitting a woman! The only daft thing about the episode is how obvious the radio thingymajig is under the mattress Duel is also very good, even if it just feel a trifle more Star Trek than many B7 eps it doesn't have a Star Trek ending, unlike Kirk and the Gorn Blake and Travis aren't friends at the end. The planet (initially) is very errie and Sinofa and Giroc are quite tragic figures.
He is a hoot as Bayban, I like him much better in B7 than I ever did as Doctor Who! Vila probably the only Blakes 7 character to categorically have got his end away, although one imagines Servalan did get Tarrant's sympathy
Doesn't quite fit with Cygnus Alpha, where the arrival of 'New Souls' is treated as a rare event. So either there's an entirely separate colony elsewhere on the planet, away from Vargas's control, or there's more prison planets and the next flight just happened to be going to Cygnus Alpha rather than Beta or Delta, or deportation flights are a rarity. In Weapon, the slave girl says that 'a disobedient slave can be sent for Mutoid modification'. While script editing the fan audio The Mark of Kane, I suggested that, as Travis mentions that the family of an officer who deserts become slaves, then the wife of the surgeon who Servalan sets up to take the blame for her scheme in Deliverance/Orac, who Travis feels guilty about because he'd saved Travis's life, might then be disobedient enough to be converted, and eventually assigned to Travis's crew as a cruel joke on Servalan's part...
To be honest, Jenna was a pretty blank character IMO. She was not very outspoken and rarely smiled. There are just not a lot of memorable performances with her.
Now up to Project Avalon. A nice touch is how the final shots sort of convey the ongoing plot: for the first five episodes, it's always a defiant comment from Blake about the need to fight back. Eps 6 & 8 end with Travis reiterating that he's going to get Blake eventually. Then Project Avalon ends with Servalan in control, giving the orders and stripping Travis of his rank as he's lying on the ground after saving her life (if she'd knifed him in the groin after spitting on him the symbolism couldn't be clearer). And of course Mission to Destiny, the only real total stand-alone so far, ends with a comedy comment from Vila. Never mind. On which subject... Vila really is underused this season. Almost aways on the ship, being lazy and cowardly. Gan's got a stronger role beyond the first three episodes. I can see why, once they'd decided to kill someone in season two, Terry Nation wanted to go for Vila. Anyway, at nine episodes in, the only episode I'd remembered as being poor (Time Squad) was much better than I'd recalled. As I'd remember the next four as pretty poor (with occasional redeeming moments), I'm hoping they'll also give me a pleasant surprise.
I'd never really considered that, I guess because he's my favourite character, and because he's ever present, the initial plan to kill Vila never made any sense, but when you put it like that... Of course if they'd been making that decision at the end of series 2 I suspect Jenna would have been the prime target!
I'm gonna get some time tomorrow for Project Avalon and hopefully Breakdown as well. I've found it really funny that so far the crew seem to fall asleep rather easily on the Liberator, something other shows haven't really bothered about; Blake in Time Squad, Vila in Duel, Gan even uses his walkman in The Web! Quite a contrast to the second season when we have episodes like Horizon indicating how exhausted the crew are!
And Cally's using it in Deliverance, too. The way they use that video walkman for entertainment, particularly as I think it was before the actual walkman had been invented, is the short of nice little realistic touch a lot of series tend to overlook.
Some of you guys might find these of interest: http://skororu.deviantart.com/art/stock-geometry-construction-exercise-361227196 http://www.therpf.com/f11/titan-find-liberator-blakes-seven-182119/ http://www.therpf.com/f11/blakes-7-liberator-titan-find-165648/ http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/blakes-7-...D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557
A09 PROJECT AVALON A neat little episode but does have a lot of filler, and seems very padded. The M16 rifle is a very silly; you'd think they could've given him another futuristic looking weapon! Travis seems to have put on weight in this episode; his suit seems a little more filled out than normal. The sets are good despite the money starting to run out at this point.
Well modern Who makes use of anachronistic weapons and has a way bigger budget, so I’m forgiving of Blakes 7 over this. It might be as well that ancient guns are all the resistance can get! Project Avalon; not an episode I can really find much fault with, and the toxin stuff is nasty, yet for some reason it never ranks very high when I’m choosing an episode to watch. I think the android stuff does seem a bit of a stretch. I can’t think of any other examples within the show where we’ve seen such a realistic looking robot. Of course interesting for a pre-Soolin Glynis Barber as one of the mutoids…
I just watched Muloch, pretty interesting. I will refrain from talking to much it since some of you are still in season 1 or 2.