Blake's 7 on Blu-ray!

[Marc]

The planet is dominated by religious fanatics, whose leader ALWAYS YELLS. EVERY. SINGLE. WORD. Doesn't he ever get tired?

That's the one and only Brian Blessed for you
(but yes he can do quiet and do it very well)

 

[Set Harth]

No one doubts the "alien disease" story for a moment. For a moment I thought the prisoners believed it because they had been fed some drugs, but no, Blake immediately believes it unconditionally too. The bad guy eventually had to literally spell out that it was just a ploy to ensure the loyalty of the new arrivals.

 

[Starkers]

To be fair if you arrive on another planet and within a few hours start feeling sick, and then the local inhabitants give you a drug which appears to alleviate the symptoms, you're likely to believe that.

 

[Christopher]

The other weird thing about Cygnus Alpha of course is that Brian Blessed seems to have initially teleported up to a second teleport pad!

Yeah, the staging there made little sense. I guess he teleported up first and then stepped out of the chamber, but it seems as if Jenna just ignored his presence and brought the others up, and he just let her, which is weird under the circumstances.

They do have a great ship, the teleport and fabulous wealth (which they never use) but they are just one ship and they aren't invulnerable. The Federation have near infinite resources. Throw enough Pursuit Ships at them and they can be blocked in/taken down. The force wall won't last forever in a prolonged battle.

Granted, but the heroes are still absurdly lucky to just stumble onto all this bounty. It kind of goes against one of Pixar's rules of storytelling -- that it's fine if coincidence or luck makes things harder for the heroes, but not if it makes things easier for them.

On the other hand, though, having the Liberator makes them a target, since plenty of others want to take it from them. So that does help cancel out the deus ex machina aspect, since it creates as many problems for them as it solves.

The series' attitude towards its female characters is almost schizophrenic at times. There are some fantastic roles for women here, but some of those initially great roles get diluted horribly (though in once case it does wind up being built back up again).

The consequence of having different writers with different attitudes. Although

Spoiler: Series B

the marginalization of Jenna and Cally was a continuing problem throughout Series B, which seems like it falls on Boucher rather than any of the freelancers.

Having watched the opening trilogy again recently I really do think it's a shame that Jenna was sidetracked. That initial trio of characters (Blake, Avon, Jenna) is the dynamic to build the show around. The believer, the cynic, and the cynic who wants to believe. Once it's mainly Blake/Avon you lose a bit of the nuance that Jenna brings to the mix.

Very good observation. I don't think it completely vanished, but it wasn't explored as often as it deserved.

 

[DarrenTR1970]

The series' attitude towards its female characters is almost schizophrenic at times. There are some fantastic roles for women here, but some of those initially great roles get diluted horribly (though in once case it does wind up being built back up again).

Having watched the opening trilogy again recently I really do think it's a shame that Jenna was sidetracked. That initial trio of characters (Blake, Avon, Jenna) is the dynamic to build the show around. The believer, the cynic, and the cynic who wants to believe. Once it's mainly Blake/Avon you lose a bit of the nuance that Jenna brings to the mix.

Which is one of the reasons both Sally Knyvette and Jan Chappell would eventually leave the series; both felt marginalized as the series progressed. Especially Sally Knyvette during the second season.

 

[Starkers]

Jan Chappell was better served in Series C thankfully, but had clearly had enough.

Sally Knyvette says she didn't even meet Nation until after she'd left the show, and he apologised that he didn't write her better, and said that if he'd known her he'd have written Jenna better.

One of the more ludicrous explanations for the marginalisation of

Spoiler

Sally and Jan I've heard is that their hair and makeup on location was a complete nightmare compared to the male actors

Of course who was treated worse? Sally and Jan, or poor old David Jackson?

 

[Christopher]

Which is one of the reasons both Sally Knyvette and Jan Chappell would eventually leave the series; both felt marginalized as the series progressed. Especially Sally Knyvette during the second season.

Sadly, all too common a complaint for women in series TV, perhaps particularly SFTV.

The one really strong Jenna-focus episode in Series B is "The Keeper," which unfortunately is otherwise terrible. And even there, her role is still largely defined in terms of her beauty and desirability, though she transcends being objectified and takes control of the situation.

 

[Starkers]

She is great in The Keeper. Although not part of the main plot in Star One she does get some agency and makes a very tough call. Also whilst one one level their treatment in Gambit is awful, I've heard both Jan and Sally say how much they loved their scenes in that episode, and hey, at least they were allowed off the bloody ship!

 

[matthunter]

Sadly, the one female character who got much agency in this show is:

Spoiler

Servalan, and even she's hit with the 70s stick when it comes to her slap-slap-kiss moments with Avon and Tarrant. And Jarvik in Harvest of Kairos

About the suggestion that:

Spoiler

Female criminals are subject to Mutoid conversion. Not sure. Travis implies the Mutoid he's paired with (and wants to pair with) in Duel "volunteered" for conversion. This might be a Federation euphemism, but he does claim she was "much admired" and she herself seems to think records of her old personality would have been removed from the databanks, implying some prior familiarity with the process.

That said, Rashel (Weapon) mentions "modification" as a punishment for rebellious slaves. But these may not be the same thing.

 

[Skipper]

If I remember correctly from the first episode, Blake's mother and sister were sent to another planet as punishment. I know it was a fiction and they were actually dead, but at least it's a hint that deportation for women wasn't a completely unheard of thing.

 

[Christopher]

If I remember correctly from the first episode, Blake's mother and sister were sent to another planet as punishment. I know it was a fiction and they were actually dead, but at least it's a hint that deportation for women wasn't a completely unheard of thing.

No, Blake believed his brother and sister had voluntarily settled on Ziegler V, one of "the Outer Planets." That was the cover story for them having been executed after his trial. So it had nothing to do with the exile of criminals, since he didn't remember he was a criminal and thought he was just an ordinary guy with a contented family sending him regular postcards from offworld.

We do learn later in Series B that he has an uncle and female cousin living on a minimum-security penal planet that he visited when he was much younger, but which had since been abandoned, so that he'd believed they were dead (wrongly, as it turns out). But at the start of the series when his memory was wiped, he probably didn't remember that.

 

[Skipper]

No, Blake believed his brother and sister had voluntarily settled on Ziegler V, one of "the Outer Planets." That was the cover story for them having been executed after his trial. So it had nothing to do with the exile of criminals, since he didn't remember he was a criminal and thought he was just an ordinary guy with a contented family sending him regular postcards from offworld.

I'm old and forgetful

 

[Christopher]

I'm old and forgetful

So am I, but I look things up when I'm unsure. I'm doing a Blake's 7 rewatch review series for my Patreon, so I've been consulting the reference sites and episode transcripts a lot.

 

[JD]

Maybe the lack of women was just a British sci-fi movie & TV issue, the original Star Wars only has two women, Leia & Beru, and that was mostly filmed in England, and while some have more, I think there some Doctor Who serials from that era who have about the same number of women.

 

[Christopher]

Maybe the lack of women was just a British sci-fi movie & TV issue, the original Star Wars only has two women, Leia & Beru, and that was mostly filmed in England, and while some have more, I think there some Doctor Who serials from that era who have about the same number of women.

As I said, there are plenty of prominent female characters in Blake's 7. Episodes 2-3 were light on women because of their specific settings, but episode 1 had five speaking female characters in it -- in order of appearance, the resistance member Ravella, the prosecutor Morag who conspired against Blake, the court arbiter, Jenna, and the defense attorney's wife/investigating partner Maja. Some episodes will have more women in them than others, to be sure, but episodes 2-3 are not indicative of the entire series.

 

[bdub76]

Ordered. Once I saw it drop to $30, I snagged it. Should get it in time to watch over the next week. I've only ever seen it on BritBox, so I look forward to new special effects.

 

[JD]

As I said, there are plenty of prominent female characters in Blake's 7. Episodes 2-3 were light on women because of their specific settings, but episode 1 had five speaking female characters in it -- in order of appearance, the resistance member Ravella, the prosecutor Morag who conspired against Blake, the court arbiter, Jenna, and the defense attorney's wife/investigating partner Maja. Some episodes will have more women in them than others, to be sure, but episodes 2-3 are not indicative of the entire series.

OK, never mind then.

 

[Qonundrum]

Watched the third episode! A few scattered notes:

Notes are cool!

• In this episode we meet ZEN, who behaves like any stereotypical computer in a 70's sci-fi movie. Maybe it should take some lessons from Alexa. Also, it is sooooo cryptic.

Some of them, definitely. Zen is still refreshing in its own way.

The cryptic element is there to keep the story going; if Computer told it all then there'd be roughly 90% less adventure.

• The Liberator looks like it's fast! Really fast! Which in the context of this universe I have no idea what that means. Does it have a higher delta v than all the other ships? Does it have a more efficient FTL? Who knows! By the looks of it they have the same science advisors as 1999 (which is to say: no one).

Best guess is "standard by x" where "standard" is "speed of light" and "x" is the multiplier, but I recall Zen taking this translation from one of the crew?

Given how many planets are in shot behind Liberator, either something's not to scale... or everyone's got real big ships.

• They find a room that is probably a teleporter. Maybe it works with humans. And maybe they know how to use it. Blake immediately offers himself as a human guinea pig. I literally had to pause the playback to wonder if we should assume that Blake has suicidal instincts or if the author in real life, every time he sees buttons or levers, he enjoys pushing them randomly to see what happens.

The script trying hard to keep mystery going, even though it's doing plot-by-numbers. Speaking of keeping mystery going, try - for three days - a diet of cheese, bleached white bread, bananas, gluten, chocolate, and as much Metamucil as one can stomach (so to speak) would reduce the mystery, at least in terms of what's causing the proverbial plumbing's being backed up in the first place... but enough bathroom humor, onto the next fun stop:

• Our heroes go exploring the Liberator. Jenna finds a wardrobe where she takes a lovely blouse that bizarrely seems to follow the fashion of the 70s on Earth. There must have been a revival. The computer expert finds a pile of I suppose jewelry (in HD they just look like the leftovers of props from some play) that he claims is worth more than all the riches of the Federation. The statement left me a little perplexed. If they have this immeasurable value for which there is not even a monetary counterpart, how exactly does he plan to convert them into money? He goes into a pawn shop and asks in exchange "Please, all the riches of the Federation, thank you. Let's give you a 10% discount, I'm in a hurry". Maybe the economy of the future works differently.

I knew the show was low budget, but the disc documentaries astounded me as to what lengths they had to go through because there was virtually no money. The HD remastering from the uncompressed VT source definitely lends never before seen limitations, even if some could be fathomed - but not all. It really is amazing what they could do.

Oh, the documentaries and season 2 preview on the disc show a lot of un-remastered footage (interlaced jaggies being the most prominent issue). Whether the set was pressed for time or is contingent on sales, those are two possible reasons...

• The planet is dominated by religious fanatics, whose leader ALWAYS YELLS. EVERY. SINGLE. WORD. Doesn't he ever get tired? Doesn't his throat ever get dry? The same male/female ratio as on the spaceship is confirmed on this planet too, that is, one hot babe among dozens and dozens of extras. Which raises some interesting questions, which evidently the author of the episode didn't ask himself.

Brian Blessed is a legend. He was pretty much quieter in Space 1999 and shows prior to B7. He might have seen the script and had an idea to make it more interesting, which was needed because there's more corn in this than at a gas station (read: ethanol pumps and/or cow pasture and/or pig pasture, since "pig stye" sounds gross.)

• To teleport, you have to wear bracelets made of Aquatar, which seems to have the same consistency as talcum powder, given how easily the villain crumbles them. Perhaps the incredible and superior civilization that created the spaceship should have thought of making these bracelets a little more robust.

LOL! Good point. I always though the crystal was small and embedded in one part of the bracelet.

• No one doubts the "alien disease" story for a moment. For a moment I thought the prisoners believed it because they had been fed some drugs, but no, Blake immediately believes it unconditionally too. The bad guy eventually had to literally spell out that it was just a ploy to ensure the loyalty of the new arrivals.

Again, more corn and saccharine than in a cereal factory, but didn't the newbies get sick for a while? (Included then came the pill popping...)

The saddest part is that, thanks to budget, we only see newcomers plus a couple of robed guards, Toos from "The Robots of Death", and Brian, who's happily hamming it up more than a pork sanctuary, since saying "ham" would be too "cheesy" as well as being as dry as rye...

• Our heroes are saved because the villain dutifully backtracks to the transporter platform, from which he is projected into deep space. The end. Thanks villain!

A second teleportation chamber thanks to last-second cameras handling over what to do with a script that couldn't be changed; a chamber never to be seen again!

Or the guy was also trying not to pee. Pick a bad time to corner everyone and now you have to take a whiz and you'd look stupid squirming in place...

Even though my notes would seem to suggest otherwise, I enjoyed it! Unfortunately, for my tastes, it is glacially slow compared to contemporary productions. I admit to having been distracted more than once. It is more similar in pace to a play than to a TV series as we know it today. Let's be clear, I'm not saying it's bad for this or anything else, simply that it is different from what I'm used to.

Not enough filler to really keep it moving, though go with the corn and there are payoffs: E.g. when Toos there yells "GAN!" as means to distract him so he can be impaled by a guard -- this show was not made for kids at the time. No worries, they all flocked to it anyway. The various payoffs and scenes do help elevate the story, but it definitely is padded. Even as a one-off installment. Snip out half of this and then half of "Time Squad" with the pointless suspended animation stuff, and voila - you have one big exciting episode and now one empty slot for which you need a story, stat.

Another thing I appreciate about it, compared to, say, a Star Trek series, is that, frankly, no one is very intelligent. It's a breath of fresh air compared to the super-competent characters we're used to. Sure, some are smart or streetwise. The computer genius seems very competent at his job. I imagine Blake is brave and inspiring as a good leader. But no one seems to me to shine through in pure intelligence.

The 'Anti-Trek' as it was also known by, is a breath of fresh air. It's the sort of character conflict that Gene didn't want for Star Trek (but everyone else did want.)

Coming soon, episode four!

Woohoo!

Gotta look back at your previous reviews!

Edit: at one point they say they have to use the teleporter because they can't land the spaceship. I'm not clear on this point: is the Liberator incapable of landing? Or do they not know how to do it? Or are they simply afraid of attracting attention? I have to say that sometimes the writing leaves something to be desired.

Terry Nation seemed to be more into plotting than characters or detail, but he was also having to write thirteen scripts - later ones had script editor Chris Boucher do more work, and Chris was perfectly chosen for the role as nobody else really knew the guts of the characters as much Robert Holmes and Tanith Lee are the only others whom I'd watch their entries in an instant, for the most part.

 

[Qonundrum]

Set arrived yesterday, and watched the first two episodes!

Small premise: in Italy this series was never broadcast, so I learned of its existence relatively recently. So I have no particular memories of it or feelings of nostalgia for it. I tried to approach it with an understanding of the historical period in which it was produced. I also watched it immediately with the new FX. Yes, I know, for a question of purism I should have watched it with the FX of the time, but there is a limit even for me!

Oh wow! So glad you were able to get it!

In America, it was ran for a little while, but didn't quite catch on. That might also explain why only Canada had VHS releases (with those gorgeous painted artworks) and possibly part of why no NTSC release was put out on DVD.

The first thing that catches the eye is the way they act: they look like they are performing a play on stage. I don't have much experience with English productions of the time, but it seems to have been a fairly common way. I'm not just talking about the way they recite lines, but how they always stand in a three-quarter position in favor of an "imaginary" theater audience during a dialogue. Today a profile position is preferred in favor of greater "realism".

I'm used to Doctor Who, 60s British shows, I Claudius, et al. It's second nature, to the point that modern "realism" acting feels somehow more fake, especially in sci-fi ostensibly set in the future. The future copping contemporary hairdo and clothing is one thing, but the more formal use of speech allows an othertimeliness to it. The stageplay element also helps compensate for budget (not much more than what a play might get) and allow suspension of disbelief to remain. Especially when, 420 years ago, English and Shakespeare was radically different. I don't want to sit through an "Orville" episode where the guy says "I'm sure glad we're different to the people of the 21st century" despite sounding no different to any generic person of the 21st century. The show should at least try, but I'm getting ahead of things.

In the first episode we meet our titular hero (uh spoiler?) who lives in the classic ultra-controlled dystopian society that was so fashionable in the 70s.

Especially early 70s. Omega Man, Soylent Green, Rollerball, Logan's Run, a bunch of the Planet of the Apes movies (albeit 1968 onward) for movies, and TV like Survivors, et al... does seem to be bit excessive... yet anyone tuning in and thinking this is Doctor Who what with the show revealing the lead's face then spaceship, the latter of which won't be seen at all for a while yet (!!), would be in for quite a lot of surprises...

They also talk about suppressant drugs put in food and drinks, but maybe that's just excessive paranoia on the part of one of the characters. The weird thing is that many of the characters don't know they're living in a dystopia. At one point a lawyer and his wife show up, two people who seem very intelligent and hang out with important people who suddenly realize "Wait, we live in a tyrannical society straight out of 1984?!? No way!"

Usually people who live in a dictatorship know that they, well, live there. It's just a matter of survival. There was a reason all those people were fleeing East Germany.

But they didn't really know until after they left the city, found evidence, and so on? The drugs had kept them blissfully unaware. Or there's more going on to this society that can juggle all of this. Or it's a plot hole big enough to grow drug crops with.

Anyway, our Hero Blake was once some kind of important leader. Then he was brainwashed. It's been 4 years since then and he's the only one who doesn't know. Kind of weird considering everyone he meets in the episode is starstruck by him. Has that never happened before in 4 years?

Brainwashing and separation from all possible known dissident elements?

So, he gets framed for pedophilia and the like. Obviously, kids have been brainwashed to have their testimonies. But it seems like no one really cares about 3 kids traumatized by an experience of sexual violence, virtual or real. They are all interested in saving or making our hero disappear. The 70s were truly a different time. I suspect that in the context of the story it is not as serious a crime as we perceive it today.

As much as they could say or imply on even post-watershed programming; even Mary Whitehouse would have a fit. She was on Doctor Who so many times in the 70s for it being "too adult" (for a pre-watershed show).

Or the third century of the new calendar, whenever in the far future that is, treats different crimes differently?

So, our hero is put in prison awaiting deportation. An incredibly permissive prison, especially considering the society they live in. Prisoners are allowed to keep watches, jewelry, I think I saw wallets, items of clothing like belts etc etc. It just seems ridiculous from a security standpoint.

It does beg questions. Or why, for all their crimes, they'd be allowed to wear the belts and stuff. Deemed no risk to self-harm... it's still a different society and if you bring someone from 1500AD over to our time, they'll think our lack of human sacrificing to make it rain would be pretty bizarre too. Amongst other things.

Another point that leaves me perplexed, considering that it's the 70s and not the 50s, how everyone is surprised that there is a female prisoner. In a room with, I don't know, 30-40 people she is the only woman. It's such an unexpected thing that even on the ship that takes them to the other planet they explain that unfortunately they don't have facilities divided by sex. And obviously the crew is all male.

The BBC practices could be interesting, from what little I remember. The fact Jenna is there at all is remarkable, especially for her background and potential. Might have been a last-minute consideration. Her presence also allows even more post-watershed hints, which are pretty creepy.

I was a bit perplexed. The series is from 1978, but already in 1999 (broadcast years before) they had done a better job in representing a certain gender equality. I mean, women can be criminals too! Is it implied that an oppressive society is naturally also sexist, or is it simply something that didn't even occur to the writers?

Yep, Space 1999 did do a far better job. Terry Nation may not have thought of it, in time or otherwise. The premiere still has a lot of women in it, in varying categories (judge, lawyer, smuggler) - for which there's a lot they can do, or at least show.

Finally the spaceship arrives (the one we see in the opening credits)! And judging by the FX, it is HUGE. The prisoner ship, which at first glance seems as big as a modern airliner, is simply tiny in comparison. Our hero, the only female and two others run away with it! I guess to go get the other 3 to complete the 7 of the title.

This part is cool; B7 didn't plop everyone in at once, it built things up along the way. It's still refreshing to this day and series 1 had a lot over its run.

I have to say I liked it! Obviously it has an almost glacial pace compared to modern productions, but maybe given my age I appreciated it. I don't know if the blu-ray does justice to a production of this kind. Some sets were simply embarrassing. Seeing in high definition a peeling wallpaper in an office or an ultra-technological door with the paint peeling off and you can see under the wood on an 83 inch sometimes distracts from the flow of the story. Probably these series to enjoy them should be seen on a tiny CRT. Possibly also badly tuned.

Modern productions do speed things up to help get around plot holes and issues, which can be just as prevalent today as they've always been. And yet, just sitting back to relax and watch the episode build-up is fun, leaving any big finale more enjoyable. Sometimes, it's just getting older as well - I once thought the season 5 premiere of "The Avengers" was fantastic. I rewatched a couple years ago and it was glacial, the bulldozer attack scene didn't seem as gripping, but the end still had a great payoff.

I'm very curious to know what direction this series will take! I've managed to remain relatively spoiler-free over the years and I think that the holidays are a good opportunity to see the rest of the episodes!

Woohoo! I won't spoil anything, and all four series and 52 episodes therein have quite a lot of great stuff, eclipsing the bad, but every show has bad and good. Looking forward to reading what you watch and I won't bring up any details of future episodes. Like when ___ and ___ happened except I can't say those right now...

 

[Christopher]

Best guess is "standard by x" where "standard" is "speed of light" and "x" is the multiplier, but I recall Zen taking this translation from one of the crew?

Unlikely, since then the Liberator's normal maximum of standard by 12 would still take months to get from one star system to the next.

There's also the fact that only the Liberator used the "standard by" system (until Series D), while Federation ships used a different notational system called "time distort." "Hostage" implied that standard by 10 was close to time distort 20, but usages were very inconsistent. Here's the B7 wiki article on "Speed": https://blakes7.fandom.com/wiki/Speed