How good are "Blake's 7", "Odyssey 5", and "Space: Above and Beyond"?

[Starkers]

Re: How good are "Blake's 7", "Odyssey 5", and "Space: Above and Beyon

The only science fiction show that I can ever remember, where the main character is a convicted paedophile......

He was framed damn it!




Never seen Odyssey Five, but I liked SAAB, just never seemed able to pin itself down to anything, making the cast fighter pilots who were also ground troops made no sense, but its a shame it didn't continue. Loved the episode with Chiggy Von Rictofen!

As for Blakes 7...BEST. SHOW. EVER

For me anyway. I love Who, love much of Trek, love quite a few other shows to, but if I had only one series to last me on a desert Island it'd be B7.

Avon is quite possibly the greatest sci-fi character ever, as is Villa. Best sci-fi duo for me, just edging out Kirk and Spock, if only cos Kirk and Spock didn't share a mutual distain tempered by grudging respect.

And yeah Sally Knyvette was hot, although I always prefered Cally, obviously have a thing for slender mind readers...

All this plus Orac, Tarrant, Blake and the Liberator, coolest space ship ever.

Oh, and of course Servalan.

 

[Candlelight]

Re: How good are "Blake's 7", "Odyssey 5", and "Space: Above and Beyon

The ship, which Blake names the Liberator...

Actually it was Jenna who named it. Or rather, Zen, who took the name from her mind.

Nitpick #4257 for the day.

For the OP:

Blake's 7 - Yes, one of the best sci fi shows ever to come out of the UK. Extremely gritty and dark, parts of it make NuBSG look like Play School. Due to the woefully inadequate FX budget, the show was a character driven piece, and became all the better because of it. Out of the 52 episodes made, only a handful are clunkers, although season one looks very dated now. The finale is shocking (I won't spoil it) but when you think about, extremely appropriate given what the show is about. Some people hated it, but it was written at a time when a fifth season *might've* been on the cards, and considering Blake's 7 was one of the first shows to introduce seasonal cliffhangers, they put all their cards on the table and walked away with the best and most enigmatic ending this side of The Prisoner.

Odyssey 5 - Only saw the pilot and a couple of other episodes before it got buried in the midnight slot. Not bad, but hardly Shakespeare. There were a lot of boobies from memory too...

Space Above and Beyond - I watched the first five episodes and decided to part ways with it. The FX was great, but the hyped military aspect of the show was a turn off.

 

[Captain Gandalf]

Re: How good are "Blake's 7", "Odyssey 5", and "Space: Above and Beyon

Just a few pics to wet the appetite...

http://i43.tinypic.com/mmsmpy.jpg
The Liberator

http://i40.tinypic.com/2s6362t.jpg
left to right : Gan, Avon, Cally, Blake, Jenna and Vila

http://i40.tinypic.com/9j1uvn.jpg
L to R : Tarrant, Vila, Servalan, Avon, Cally and Dayna

http://i39.tinypic.com/2psorxx.jpg
Dayna, Tarrant, Avon, Vila and Soolin

And again the lovely Glynis Barber as Soolin

 

[chrisspringob]

Re: How good are "Blake's 7", "Odyssey 5", and "Space: Above and Beyon

I've read that there's a lot of Blake's 7 influence on Farscape. Or at least, people have inferred that. I don't know if the creators have ever actually commented on that.

 

[Chaos Descending]

Re: How good are "Blake's 7", "Odyssey 5", and "Space: Above and Beyon

Yes, what little of Farscape I have seen had a great Blake's 7 vibe to it.

 

[Candlelight]

Re: How good are "Blake's 7", "Odyssey 5", and "Space: Above and Beyon

Just a few pics to wet the appetite...

You need to post pics of all the computers, especially Orac so people can see how technologically advanced fish tanks have become in a thousand years' time.

 

[bigdaddy]

Re: How good are "Blake's 7", "Odyssey 5", and "Space: Above and Beyon

What was Blake 7 and Odyessy 5 about?

Odyssey 5 is not an action sci-fi show, that's why there is no action in it. it's a very intelligent, you need to be a tech geek at times, sci-fi show. The show starts off in outer space on the space shuttle Odyssey on August 7, 2007, within 10 minutes the Earth is blown to bits, an alien send the crew back in time about 5 years. So the crew has 5 years to stop the planet from blowing up, and tries to fix their personal lives along the way, but end up messing things up more.

There are a few really wonderful episodes that shows off the large universe the show takes place in. The 12th or 13th episode is really a heart breaker, and the last episode is a cliffhanger for the ages.

 

[Stevil2001]

Re: How good are "Blake's 7", "Odyssey 5", and "Space: Above and Beyon

I'm working my way through the first season of Blake's 7 now. It's a bit rubbish, to be frank. Aside from the first two episodes and "Seek-Locate-Destroy", there hasn't been much I would recommend. "The Web" was better than it had any right to be, though.

Vila's my favorite, but I've always had a thing for the cowardly thief character. He doesn't get much to do though. (But more than Cally or Gan. Thank goodness Blake never actually had seven followers; there's barely enough to do with five!)

I did name my new flash drive ZEN, though.

 

[Orac Zen]

Re: How good are "Blake's 7", "Odyssey 5", and "Space: Above and Beyon

Blakes 7 - as my username would indicate - is my favourite ever SF series. It influenced several shows that followed and there's even a very pale imitation out there. Quite brilliant.

Never seen Odyssey 5, although I've heard good things about it. S:AaB is okay but not as marvellous as it's made out to be.

YMMV, of course.

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

Re: How good are "Blake's 7", "Odyssey 5", and "Space: Above and Beyon

Captain Gandalf, please avoid posting inline images that will cause the page to stretch.

I've converted the larger ones to links.

 

[Captain Gandalf]

Re: How good are "Blake's 7", "Odyssey 5", and "Space: Above and Beyon

Captain Gandalf, please avoid posting inline images that will cause the page to stretch.

I've converted the larger ones to links.

Oops. When you have a widescreen monitor with a resolution of 1680x1050,
you tend to forget about the stretching thing.
Sorry.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

Re: How good are "Blake's 7", "Odyssey 5", and "Space: Above and Beyon

I'm working my way through the first season of Blake's 7 now. It's a bit rubbish, to be frank. Aside from the first two episodes and "Seek-Locate-Destroy", there hasn't been much I would recommend. "The Web" was better than it had any right to be, though.

Vila's my favorite, but I've always had a thing for the cowardly thief character. He doesn't get much to do though. (But more than Cally or Gan. Thank goodness Blake never actually had seven followers; there's barely enough to do with five!)

I did name my new flash drive ZEN, though.

I thought the same thing, I watched the first disc and then cancelled the rest of it off my rental list, later I went back and watched the series from start to finish and rather enjoyed it.

 

[Starkers]

Re: How good are "Blake's 7", "Odyssey 5", and "Space: Above and Beyon

I'm working my way through the first season of Blake's 7 now. It's a bit rubbish, to be frank. Aside from the first two episodes and "Seek-Locate-Destroy", there hasn't been much I would recommend. "The Web" was better than it had any right to be, though.

Vila's my favorite, but I've always had a thing for the cowardly thief character. He doesn't get much to do though. (But more than Cally or Gan. Thank goodness Blake never actually had seven followers; there's barely enough to do with five!)

I did name my new flash drive ZEN, though.

I thought the same thing, I watched the first disc and then cancelled the rest of it off my rental list, later I went back and watched the series from start to finish and rather enjoyed it.

The first season probably isn't always B7 at its best. I think season 2 and 3 are the pinnacle. Personally 3 is my favourite. 4 is at times the weakest but I actually love many of the S4 eps, it's just obvious that their tiny budget got even tinier. Well that or they just didn't have as much time to prep. The bridge of the Scorpio compared to Liberator is shoddy (ok it's supposed to be but it should be shoddy yet substantial- it just looks like its made out of cardboard)

 

[Angel4576]

Re: How good are "Blake's 7", "Odyssey 5", and "Space: Above and Beyon

Never seen Odyssey Five, but I liked SAAB, just never seemed able to pin itself down to anything, making the cast fighter pilots who were also ground troops made no sense, but its a shame it didn't continue. Loved the episode with Chiggy Von Rictofen!

As for Blakes 7...BEST. SHOW. EVER

For me anyway. I love Who, love much of Trek, love quite a few other shows to, but if I had only one series to last me on a desert Island it'd be B7.

Avon is quite possibly the greatest sci-fi character ever, as is Villa. Best sci-fi duo for me, just edging out Kirk and Spock, if only cos Kirk and Spock didn't share a mutual distain tempered by grudging respect.

And yeah Sally Knyvette was hot, although I always prefered Cally, obviously have a thing for slender mind readers...

All this plus Orac, Tarrant, Blake and the Liberator, coolest space ship ever.

Oh, and of course Servalan.

Joe Straczynski's a fan of B7 as well. There are certain themes in B5 that are very obvious nods to the show.

Re Space Above & Beyond, 'Who Monitors the Birds' is still one of science fiction's finest hours IMO.

 

[Forbin]

Re: How good are "Blake's 7", "Odyssey 5", and "Space: Above and Beyon

Servalan was one of the greatest villians in sci fi, IMHO.

I hold S:AAB as one of the best expressions of military sci fi ever on TV, but only after the early crappy episodes.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Re: How good are "Blake's 7", "Odyssey 5", and "Space: Above and Beyon

"Blake's 7" is conceptually great, with a couple of really good actors (or, at least, well-suited to their roles): notably, Paul Darrow as Avon and Jacqueline Pearce as Servalan.

The plotting is often pedestrian, cliche and repetitious. It's one of those things you watch for the general tone and the characters.

There are exceptions to the plotting issues, of course. Season Two is probably the best. It's hard to beat "Star One" as a cliffhanger.

 

[FredH]

Re: How good are "Blake's 7", "Odyssey 5", and "Space: Above and Beyon

Blake's 7 is certainly the most influential of the three; and it forms a complete and ultimately very dark saga.

The funny thing about Space: Above and Beyond is that most of the first half of the series is godawful-to-fair, with war-movie cliches (and X-Files-era SFTV cliches) galore, while much of the second half--certainly the last third--is great. Which one wouldn't see if one quite reasonably ditched the series during the first half. (I would go so far as to say that if you watch "Mutiny," "Who Monitors the Birds," "The Angriest Angel," "And If They Lay Us Down to Rest..." and "...Tell Our Moms We Done Our Best," you've hit the best of the series.) And like Blake's 7, it has what may have been intended as a cliffhanger ending, but serves as an appropriate ending to the story.

Odyssey 5 is very short and has no conclusion, IIRC. Its pilot episode is pretty strong, though (which is more than I can say for SAAB!).

 

[Frontier]

Re: How good are "Blake's 7", "Odyssey 5", and "Space: Above and Beyon

Space: Above and Beyond rocks.

It's also one of the few one-season wonder shows from FOX that had a good finale, IMHO. The producers knew ahead of time it was going to be axed, so they gave it a good send-off.

 

[captcalhoun]

Re: How good are "Blake's 7", "Odyssey 5", and "Space: Above and Beyon

Never watched the other two but Space: Above and Beyond is great.

QFT

 

[Angel4576]

Re: How good are "Blake's 7", "Odyssey 5", and "Space: Above and Beyon

Space: Above and Beyond rocks.

It's also one of the few one-season wonder shows from FOX that had a good finale, IMHO. The producers knew ahead of time it was going to be axed, so they gave it a good send-off.

AMF