Blake's 7 on Blu-ray!

Turbo

Changeling
Premium Member
Blake's 7 is finally getting a Blu-ray release! Series 1 is coming out in the UK on November 11. Here's the trailer.

It'll be six discs, with a ton of extras.

  • UPDATED SPECIAL EFFECTS – On all thirteen episodes
  • ARCHIVAL DOCUMENTARY – The previously unreleased Making Of Blake’s 7, featuring extensive interviews with cast and crew
  • NEW FEATURE-LENGTH DOCUMENTARY – A new look back at the making of the first series
  • IN CONVERSATION – Matthew Sweet interviews actor Sally Knyvette
  • STEPHEN GREIF TRIBUTE – A look at the life and career of the first incarnation of Travis
  • RARE CONVENTION FOOTAGE – Previously unreleased panels with the cast and crew
  • ARCHIVE TREATS – BBC continuity, TV coverage and music from the Blake’s 7 vinyl record
  • HD PHOTO GALLERIES – With previously unseen images
  • DVD CONTENT – Featurettes, audio commentaries and more
  • WRITTEN ARCHIVE – Production paperwork, scripts, studio floorplans and much more, available for the first time

It's largely being handled by the same team that's doing the classic Doctor Who Blu-rays, which have been a treasure trove of video restoration and special features. I'm quite excited.

The updated special effects appear to be new modelwork and not just CGI. That's really neat.
 
Squee!

That looks incredible and yes I will be buying that! Let's hope they do all four series.

I'm on the fence when it comes to updated special effects, but given I'm unlikely to be getting rid of my DVD boxsets that's not a major issue. (Hell my VHS tapes are still in the loft!)
 
The official descriptions says the updated SFx are optional and available for all episodes. That's awesome because you can watch them however you want.

I've got my preorder in!
 
It's nice that they're putting so much work into these Blu-Rays. Is the show a big deal in the UK?
 
Is the show a big deal in the UK?

I think it's more of a cult classic, but it's from Terry Nation and other Doctor Who creators, so it's got that adjacency going for it.

I've been planning to do a Blake's 7 rewatch on BritBox soon, for my Patreon rewatch series. I guess that will be with the original FX, which is fine. Although didn't I hear that they'd already done a version with updated FX? Or am I thinking of Red Dwarf?
 
Man this is amazing news. It's my favorite UK "home grown" SF series, unlike Space:1999 which was meant for worldwide distribution with an eye on the US market. The show is a masterwork, even in the later more shaky years. It's worth the journey for that devastating final episode.

Here in the states, the show rode the coattails of the massive popularity of Doctor Who in the 80's. It didn't make nearly the same splash, but it did get some popularity here. After a VHS release, the series fell off the home video market. I have the UK DVDs and will absolutely get these. Thrilled!
 
I've been planning to do a Blake's 7 rewatch on BritBox soon, for my Patreon rewatch series. I guess that will be with the original FX, which is fine. Although didn't I hear that they'd already done a version with updated FX? Or am I thinking of Red Dwarf?
Red Dwarf's first three seasons were remastered in the late nineties with new FX, new sound mix, and the aspect ratio was slightly altered to fit the 16:9 format instead of 4:3.

 
Red Dwarf's first three seasons were remastered in the late nineties with new FX, new sound mix, and the aspect ratio was slightly altered to fit the 16:9 format instead of 4:3.

Yes, I'm aware of that, which is why I brought it up. I was asking about whether Blake's 7 had gotten upgraded FX as well.
 
Another thing I'm looking forward to is the In Conversation with Michael E. Briant feature. He did some great work on Doctor Who but it'll be interesting to hear about his work on Blake's 7 and elsewhere. And Matthew Sweet's interviews have long been a highlight of the Doctor Who sets.
 
Blake's 7 is finally getting a Blu-ray release! Series 1 is coming out in the UK on November 11. Here's the trailer.

It'll be six discs, with a ton of extras.



It's largely being handled by the same team that's doing the classic Doctor Who Blu-rays, which have been a treasure trove of video restoration and special features. I'm quite excited.

The updated special effects appear to be new modelwork and not just CGI. That's really neat.

New... model...s... not... C...GI?!!!

:drool::drool::drool::drool::drool::drool::drool::drool::drool::drool::drool::drool::drool::drool::drool::drool::drool::drool::drool::drool::drool::drool::drool::drool:

Heck, I've seen the CGI for the latest classic Doctor Who entries and those have been marvelous. Not to nitpick, but why revert to models? Already drooling over Mission to Destiny, Terminal, et al...
 
It's nice that they're putting so much work into these Blu-Rays. Is the show a big deal in the UK?

It's a cult classic in the UK, with actors having appeared on shows to promote and even debate - e.g. Gareth Thomas reacting to negative feedback over perceptions of what B7 wasn't. I too would like to know how big it really was - bigger than most, certainly. Especially for sci-fi.

It's also much bigger there in the UK than in the US and by some margin, iconic enough given its characters, so I am amazed the show is getting this level of work for the blu-ray. Even the DVD release had mention of the expense to restore it at the time, and it was alleviating that the US never got any releases after VHS. Even then, we had to order from Canada. Wish I still had the VHS tapes, only for the cover artwork - which was really high classy, hand painted stuff -- and for a niche "kids" show*. So the culty is there but strongy it really is. :D


* Series 4 had the leads in a press photo with kids, but even series 4 - as with the other seasons - is definitely more adult in tone and concept. Not to mention, an actor in the series 4 premiere I hadn't known about but it was one of his early works... definitely an underrated season, even if its first half was shaky due to being commissioned late in the day and having to scramble up scripts. The second half is some of the show's very strongest, not to mention its finale - one that was unprecedented at the time. (Paul Darrow (Avon)'s wife plays a character in that story as well and thought it would be fun to do. That's what I'd read recently as well.)
 
Not groundbreaking for BBC drama, but a big surprise for SF. Season one is average, later seasons have higher greats and lower lows.
I sometimes wonder it would survive the pilot in this day age given that most of the main characters don't appear until the end of Ep1, and the Liberator near the end of S2.

Now days everyone in their places by the end of the first episode.
 
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