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

[chrisspringob]

I think these are the only three major, fairly well regarded SF shows of the last 30-40 years that I haven't really seen at all. Don't think I've seen a single frame of either Blake's 7 or Odyssey 5. S:AAB, I saw maybe one episode, when it was in its first run in 1995. I was preoccupied with several other running series at the time, and the one episode didn't hook me, so I never went back to it.

Anyway, those of you who have seen one or more of these three shows, how do they stack up against your favorite SF series through the ages? Are these shows among your favorites, or are they just good but not great, or are they just mediocre?

 

[Andrew_Kearley]

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

Blakes 7 is tremendous. A series about, basically, a group of terrorists fighting against an oppressive government - I doubt you'd get that made today. It's a tale of moral ambiguity, with fascinating flawed characters, dramatic and serious, camp and funny - often all at the same time.

 

[species5618]

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

I've only seen "Space: Above and Beyond" which I blind bought on DVD a year or so ago--since the set cost less than $20, I figured if I hated the series, it wouldn't be much of a loss. I watched the whole series, and while I thought it had some potential I haven't watched it since, nor do I intend to anytime in the near future. I'd rate the series somewhere between mediocre and good, but certainly nowhere near great.

James Morrison (the actor, not the dead rock star) kicked ass in it though.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

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

Blakes 7 is tremendous. A series about, basically, a group of terrorists fighting against an oppressive government - I doubt you'd get that made today. It's a tale of moral ambiguity, with fascinating flawed characters, dramatic and serious, camp and funny - often all at the same time.

Well Sky are supposed to be doing a remake of Blake's 7, well 2 one off specials at least.
Took me a while to get in to it, seemed very cheesy at first but once I got past the production values and dodgy acting from certain actors I rather enjoyed it.

 

[Marc]

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

Blakes 7 is tremendous. A series about, basically, a group of terrorists fighting against an oppressive government - I doubt you'd get that made today. It's a tale of moral ambiguity, with fascinating flawed characters, dramatic and serious, camp and funny - often all at the same time.

Well Sky are supposed to be doing a remake of Blake's 7, well 2 one off specials at least.
Took me a while to get in to it, seemed very cheesy at first but once I got past the production values and dodgy acting from certain actors I rather enjoyed it.

There's also the recently made 3 part audio drama that's been very well received. Like nuBSG it's a re-imaging, bit darker than the original with larger degree of scientific accuracy. Don't know if they plan to make any more (ended on a cliff hanger) but hope they do.

But would also be nice to see it on the tv screen again - if they'd just get off their arses an make it.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

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

Blakes 7 is tremendous. A series about, basically, a group of terrorists fighting against an oppressive government - I doubt you'd get that made today. It's a tale of moral ambiguity, with fascinating flawed characters, dramatic and serious, camp and funny - often all at the same time.

Well Sky are supposed to be doing a remake of Blake's 7, well 2 one off specials at least.
Took me a while to get in to it, seemed very cheesy at first but once I got past the production values and dodgy acting from certain actors I rather enjoyed it.

There's also the recently made 3 part audio drama that's been very well received. Like nuBSG it's a re-imaging, bit darker than the original with larger degree of scientific accuracy. Don't know if they plan to make any more (ended on a cliff hanger) but hope they do.

But would also be nice to see it on the tv screen again - if they'd just get off their arses an make it.

If I recall correctly James Swallow, who posts here, was involved in the writing and making of the audios and I seem to recall he did say they were making a second series, maybe he could post an update at some point.

 

[WillsBabe]

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

I was 11 when Blake's Seven first aired. I absolutely adored it. I lived it. I had watched Trek before, and I would watch it after, but for the time that B7 aired, that's what I was: a B7 fan. I know there's a post upthread that says that the new audio adventures are "darker" than the original, but when I was watching B7 in its first run, having a hero framed for peeophilia and whose entire family are murdered was considered pretty bleak; as was the fight against a totalitarian government which subjugates its populace through drugs, experiments on them and actively supports torture of state enemies.

I would say give B7 a try. I would say it's probably true that it's dated in its fx, which were never that special in the first instance. But there is a lot to recommend it, not least its morally ambiguous characters, its witty dialogue, and nilhitic universe. Not to mention Servalan and her wonderful frocks.

 

[Chaos Descending]

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

I never got into Blake's 7 much until just a year or two ago when I "acquired" the entire series. I'd always been interested in seeing it, but never had opportunity.

I'll say this... if you are used to modern production values, it would be very difficult to look past some of the very 70's production values. However, if you are like me and have been a (for example) Doctor Who fan for 25+ years, then you will have no problem seeing past the flaws of Blake's 7 and enjoying it for all the good it has. Kerr Avon is one of the best characters in the history of Sci-Fi, IMNSHO.

 

[Star Wolf]

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

I saw one run of Blake's 7 on PBS on a weak signal station. I always wanted to see it clean on DVD without missing any episodes. Odyssey 5 I don't remember. Space: Above and Beyond is a combat show with the "tanks" standing in for black people integrating the elite armed services. The mostly unseen previous war with the AIs of the Space universe seemed more interesting then the main enemy Chigs who never spoke.

Of the two Blake is more interesting to me, Space was prettier to look at and easier for the casual observer to follow.

 

[bigdaddy]

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

Never heard of Blake's 7.

Space:A&B is an OK show, it's not great, but it's watchable.

Odyssey 5 is an awesome show, one of my favorites. However it has no ending ta ll, and several of the later episodes are really stupid.

 

[Hermiod]

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.

 

[Steve Roby]

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

Anyway, those of you who have seen one or more of these three shows, how do they stack up against your favorite SF series through the ages? Are these shows among your favorites, or are they just good but not great, or are they just mediocre?

The only one of the three that's really had any kind of lasting influence is Blake's 7. I've never seen Odyssey 5, but like Space: Above and Beyond it only lasted one season.

Blake's 7 can be hard to get into at first. It took me a few tries. If you can handle watching old Doctor Who episodes, though, you shouldn't have much of a problem with the special effects and the pacing of B7. Though it's common to look back on certain aspects of the show as pure campfests, the show's intent was generally very serious. It did a number of things that were surprising and new back then but almost common now, having story arcs, killing off main characters, bringing in major new characters, and being sometimes depressingly grim. You can see echoes of it in Babylon 5, Farscape, Firefly....

Space: Above and Beyond was a confused mess of a show, in which the main characters alternated between being elite hotshot fighter pilots and infantry grunts. Not two sets of characters, but the same people. The pilot episode was a lame and low budget knock off of Top Gun, among other things. The show never seemed able to figure out what it really wanted to be. It also suffered from some really weak lead actors. The military look and feel and the CGI space sequences may make the show look superficially like a precursor to the new Galactica, but there's really no comparison.

 

[Captain Gandalf]

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

Kerr Avon is one of the best characters in the history of Sci-Fi, IMNSHO.

I second that. Avon was the main reason I watched the series (although not the only reason). Besides, it also had Glynis Barber, easily one of the most beautiful women I've ever seen.
I just didn't like the ending; killing off (well, I suppose they could just have been stunned since we saw no blood) is a cheap way to end a series.
I still enjoy it when I watch it on DVD.

 

[Chaos Descending]

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

Sally Knyvette wasn't too hard on the eyes either, IMHO!

 

[Mr Light]

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

I haven't seen Blake's 7 yet. S:AAB is one of the all time great one-hit-wonders that only ran one season and got cancelled, though I rewatched it a couple years ago and it didn't hold up as well. Still, definitely worth watching. Odyssey Five was a mixed bag. It had great characters and an interesting premise, but the episodes were very slow and uninteresting and didn't advance the plot and there was almost no action at all.

 

[the_wildcard]

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

What was Blake 7 and Odyessy 5 about?

 

[payndz201]

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

What was Blake 7 and Odyessy 5 about?

Can't comment on O5 as I've never seen it, but Blake's 7 in a nutshell:

Roj Blake is a dissident in a fascistic future society, the Federation, who is framed for child molestation and sent to a penal colony. On the way, he teams up with several of the other convicts on the prison ship (cynical computer genius Avon, cowardly thief Vila, smuggler Jenna, accidental murderer Gan) and is able to steal a powerful alien spaceship that the prison ship encounters drifting following a space battle between (at that point unknown) alien forces. The ship, which Blake names the Liberator, has a (possibly sentient) computer named Zen, and as Blake decides to use the Liberator to take the fight for freedom to the Federation, the crew also takes on board the telepathic alien Cally - bringing the crew to the titular seven. As the exploits of Blake and his crew begin to stir up dissent, Federation space commander Servalan sends her top captain, the ruthless and sadistic Travis, after them. And that's just in the first few episodes.

After that there are great victories, horrible defeats, deaths of main characters, 1970s fashions and effects, and a very British sense of pessimism and cynicism - leavened with an equally British black humour and some highly memorable (if also deeply flawed) characters.

Sound interesting?

 

[Angel4576]

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

Blake's 7 is the best of the three. As others have pointed out, the dark tone and moral ambiguity set it apart from most other sci-fi, even by today's standards. The only science fiction show that I can ever remember, where the main character is a convicted paedophile......

Odyssey 5, was good, but cancelled without any real resolution.

Space Above & beyond, was very good, but likewise was cancelled without any real resolution, in fact a number of main characters were left in perilous situations at the end of the series.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

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

I tried watching Odyssey 5 once and frankly I was underwhelmed. Gave up after two episodes.

Good reminder about S:AAB, I'll check it out.

Blake's 7 must not be available in R1, right? Netflix doesn't list it, and they get everything. If whatever the hold-up is ever gets sorted out, I'll check it out.

And don't tell me to download anything, that's bad. Also too much effort (which to be honest is the much larger factor for me).

 

[ITL]

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

I was 11 years old when Blake's 7 started, and was hooked straight away. I couldn't get enough of it! Even then, I loved the dark tone of the show - and it's a show I can return to time and time again.

Edit:

Temis: As far as I know, it's R2 only so far. Probably publishing rights issues, as these things tend to be.