Blake's 7 on Blu-ray!
- Thread starter Turbo
- Start date
You're probably using regions free discs then. You don't need to tell the player the region for those.My LG seems to adjust all by itself if i forget to tell it what region I've inserted, which is great, 'cause I'm old. But it's just a matter of pressing the 1 or 2 key on the remote when you put the disk in. I never even gave a thought to there being a difference in BD/DVD - it plays both (and CDs) without a hitch.
No, they say Region 2 on them. I guess the player is able to sense it.
I suppose that that is the equivalence of putting a sticker your front door declaring that your house has a very loud and sensitive security alarm, when it does not.
All you really need is the sticker.
I think the classic Doctor Who Collection sets are marked Region B as well but they're definitely region-free, as are the animations and the Thirteenth Doctor's era. The only recent Doctor Who releases that weren't region-free were the 2023 specials (and presumably the upcoming Season 1 release), and that's reportedly thanks to Disney, not the BBC.
It's widely known that most (if not all) of the BBC releases in the UK are actually region free. I'm in the States and I order from the UK all the time and BBC releases have always been region free.
I have not tried the 60th specials yet. Perhaps they truly are region locked?
I hope Bri-Box will update their Blake's 7 episodes with the remastered video and new special effects, but I don't think they have the classic Dr. Who, so I doubt they will with this. Well, they might go with the HD video, but I doubt they'll include the version with the new special effects.
It feels kinda blasphemous but I think series A is probably my least favourite.
I think it goes C,B,D,A
I thought I had heard that there was a rights issue with using the cleaned up versions because they were originally produced for DVD and Blu-ray with a totally separate budget, but then BritBox (or Tubi, at least) went and added the special edition of Day of the Daleks and some of the non-BBC America-funded animations. So who knows?
CDAB for me, though all four are terrific in their own ways.
The first two series have a different feel, and - while less unconventional - series C and D doing the "let's have a quest to find the hero" had more going for it than "here's the hero, here's how he started, we know he's not going to win alone". Blake, being called a legend even early on, makes C and D easier to roll with because - the moment Blake makes a misstep - the "legendary" status loses luster.
"C" feels more like Star Trek and forgets about the fact they were looking for Blake and Jenna, with even the earliest episode writing them off as "Blake didn't want to leave!" and "Where's Jenna?" / "She's gone with Blake!". That's all in the same scene, by the way. Oops. The next two episodes then have dialogue bringing them up in one form or another, but Avon eventually states they could be chasing rumors forever. That said, some of the best stories are here and there is a new synergy that the previous seasons lack and it's stronger.
"D" features the crew scrambling after Avon's following what he thought was Blake's coded message to the letter caused them to lose their ship, in a fortuitous way as Servalan wasn't able to get it either. There are some conveniences along the way, but at least teleport required multiple episodes, and the stardrive acquisition episode is pretty good if you can overlook the excessive time given to the "space rats", whose leader isn't even one but let's not explore that potential gem of an idea either. The first half of the season is still fairly uneven, but the second half contains some of the best-ever stories. The less said of "Animals" the better, as that needed another rewrite after giving Cally's material to Dayna.
"A" can be hit or miss as the show finds itself. And yet, "Time Squad" is 95% padding that otherwise brings in Cally, who's immediately compromised in the utterly pointless "The Web". "Mission to Destiny" is pretty solid, until the story forgets all its plot points while also having to wrap things up in 5 minutes. "Deliverance" and "Orac" work but arguably lack enough material and could have been one episode combined. But "Seek-Locate-Destroy" and "Duel" are outright classics, as are the first three stories - for which "The Way Back" is unique in showing the Federation from the inside out.
"B" could be hit or miss, and reducing Jenna and Cally to teleport operators was a waste of character strengths. Cally would get more in series "C", but Jenna's abilities as smuggler are quickly eliminated by her running the teleport. "Pressure Point" is let down by some hokey music for a pivotal scene, but is otherwise worthy of its reputation as an all-time great action-based episode. The finale with the defensive shield has as many dumb plot holes as TNG's "Redemption II" with the dumb tachyon net... actually, "Star One" has more plot logistical problems than there should have been but holds together just enough thanks to the claustrophobic tone building throughout.
At 1:19, it's one of the more interesting moments of character building in its fledgling year...
Wasn't much better in the 1990s as VOY had all of its factions becoming perfectly tamed poodles by the end of the first couple of episodes too...
B7 also spoiled the reveal of the ship on day one, by including it smack middle of the opening credits, so I'd bet some audiences are looking at their wristwatches and going "Oi, where's the big ship already!"
A few reviews have started showing up on YouTube and they're generally favorable to the remastering/updating of the effects although a couple point out that they've added effects to scenes that didn't have them originally.
Stardrive is my guilty pleasure B7 episode. Animals is one of the worst, if not the worst.
I'd agree that while getting teleport and a stardrive is a tad contrived, the crew are at least made to work for it. I wonder what they'd have done if it had been picked up for Season E? From what I can tell everyone except Avon and Vila would likely have left (though I suspect Servalan would have remained a recurring threat.) Find another super fast ship with teleport would have stretched things, I'd have either gone with salvaging the stardrive and teleport from the wreck of Scorpio and installing them in a new ship, or I'd actually have them travel to 'The System' and find another Deep Space Vehicle, or at least one of those nifty fighter craft The System had.
Can't agree re Star One, one of the top five episodes of the series.
I wouldn't say all shows have their cast etc in place by the end of the first episode. Look at Discovery, you don't see Disco until episode 3 (Or Tilly or Stamets or Lorca)
I'd agree that while getting teleport and a stardrive is a tad contrived, the crew are at least made to work for it. I wonder what they'd have done if it had been picked up for Season E? From what I can tell everyone except Avon and Vila would likely have left (though I suspect Servalan would have remained a recurring threat.) Find another super fast ship with teleport would have stretched things, I'd have either gone with salvaging the stardrive and teleport from the wreck of Scorpio and installing them in a new ship, or I'd actually have them travel to 'The System' and find another Deep Space Vehicle, or at least one of those nifty fighter craft The System had.
Can't agree re Star One, one of the top five episodes of the series.
I wouldn't say all shows have their cast etc in place by the end of the first episode. Look at Discovery, you don't see Disco until episode 3 (Or Tilly or Stamets or Lorca)
I have the boxset but haven't had chance to watch any episodes yet, though I have watched the Liberation documentary, which is very good.
According to the IMDB for Gold, Series E would have been more stories along the lines would have been the go.
Teleport wouldn't have been too hard - Orac had all the details (mentioned in Rescue iirc) and Avon could probably build it.
Ship speed - maybe Orac also has the details for Dr Plaxton's stardrive.
Yes I'd heard that about Series E being a lot like Gold (and presumably Games also). Apparently anyone who didn't want to return would have been killed on Gauda Prime (presumably Tarrant, Soolin and Dayna) so we'd have had Avon and Vila (and Orac) involved in various heists trying to gain money/technology to stay one step ahead of the Federation, and likely picking up some new crew mates at the same time. I'd also have Servalan ditch the Sleer cover and retake her place as President.
Re the stardrive, Of course the easiest thing to do potentially is travel back to Caspar and liberate a space chopper from the Space Rats, wouldn't be as fast as Scorpio but fast enough.
I always liked the idea of them having a Pursuit Ship (obviously a top of the line, experimental one)
The trouble with teleport is the rare metals/jewels required. Even if they went back to Xenon it's debatable whether any more of the Seska's gemstones would be around.
Here it is - the new VFX reel courtesy of the BBC
I must admit, I kind of prefer the cheesy original FX. As crude as they are, they have their period charm, and these new shots just look like the same kind of thing you'd see in modern shows. Even though I know they recreated them with miniatures, they still have a CGI look because of the backgrounds and processing and such.
I dunno, maybe it's just that I'm midway through a B7 rewatch on BritBox (my reviews will start appearing on my Patreon later this month) and so I'm accustomed to the original FX and in the mindset where they feel appropriate to me. I've been watching the BBC's complete Shakespeare series from around the same time, so I'm immersed in that particular look and feel of BBC videography and staging (not that Shakespeare had much in the way of VFX, aside from some dissolves and split-screens in The Tempest and a superimposed head of Great Caesar's Ghost in Julius Caesar). A few of the Shakespeare plays even had music by Dudley Simpson.
