Watching Blake's 7 for the first time in ages... and loving it!

[Candlelight]

It's been several years since I'd seen any episode in full, and with the horrendous price of the dvds they were too much to buy. But thanks to a friend I have I managed to get hold of a random few episodes to watch and I can't believe how much of a breath of fresh air it is compared to today's cgi-heavy sci fi shows. The characters are great, the writing is spot on, the dialogue is gritty but dated in a few sci fi terms (although I'd love to think what people will think of Star Trek Enterprise of NuBSG in 30 years).

Avon is one of the best characters in sci fi, Vila is second best. Watching the earlier episodes (which I'm least experienced with, I've always watched - and preferred in the past - the post-Blake episodes) it seems Gan is underused, which is sad, although the limiter aspect of his character limits his potential (but loosly keeps in line with the Friar Tuck/Little John character he was based on). Jenna is the glamour, Cally is the alien and Zen is the mentor.

I have seen the first four episodes, plus Aftermath, Terminal, Rescue and am currently watching Horizon which is a great episode. Told you it was a random selection!

Gonna have to get all of them. Unfortunate really. Oh well...

I sincerely hope the remake is just as good.

 

[Starkers]

Avon and Vila are the best double act in sci-fi, ever, and yes even better than Kirk and Spock, if only because they loathe one another yet respect each other's ability. As Avon says (approximately) "We can get a pilot anywhere, a talented thief is something else entrely"

Half the joy is from the banter, the interations between the crew. Sod Firefly Blakes 7 was there first by decades.

Have to say Aftermath, Terminal and Rescue are a few of my favourite episodes...

"You know, there's something suspicious about a man who keeps his booze under lock and key."

 

[Candlelight]

Watched Horizon. I really wished Avon had left in the end, but either Zen or Orac turned the ship around to save the others.

I want to watch them in order, but it means I have to watch The Web next... hardly their finest hour...

 

[Starkers]

^The Web isn't after Horizon! Should be Pressure Point I believe.

I like the end of Horizon, it's that moment when even an ultimate loner like Avon realises he needs the company of others, you can almost see how disgusted he is with himself!

 

[auntiehill]

^ I love that scene. The look he gives when Zen announces that the three ships are coming at him....he just sorta laughs, as if to say, "Well, of course they are...."

ARGH. Why can't they release the dvds in the States??

 

[Captaindemotion]

I loved B7 when I was a kid. Saw a few of the Blake era episodes, but didn't really get into it until he had left it. I caught a few episodes a couple of years back and I didn't think time had been kind. Obviously, the SFX always sucked (even as a kid and even in the early 1980s, that was obvious), but I thought the dialogue and acting was a lot poorer than I remembered. Shame, cos I really wanted to get into it again.

I'd still take a chance on buying the DVDs if I saw them cheap, though. But I'm hoping that the remake/ reboot/ reimagining will really do the concept justice, much like the new BSG has improved on the fondly-remembered-but-not-actually-very-good original.

 

[Leroy]

Captaindemotion wrote:
But I'm hoping that the remake/ reboot/ reimagining will really do the concept justice, much like the new BSG has improved on the fondly-remembered-but-not-actually-very-good original.

Except with Blake's 7 the original isn't that bad to begin with (being old with low budget outdated special effects does not equal bad).

 

[Count Zero]

I have my doubts whether a remake can do the series justice. Sure, it would be nice to have better SFX (although, to me, the bad SFX is part of the fun) and less of the cheesy moments/stories, but the series' greatness lies in the characters, and frankly, I find it improbable that they'll find actors who can portray Avon, Blake and Vila so perfectly.
I've recently watched all of the series. I son't remember each episode so clearly but it was interesting how the starting point of the series and its end point differed. Each of the seasons really has a different tone to it, and at the end, I had the feeling that these characters changed and were authentic. To me, the series seems to be more profound than its heavy use of Sci Fi clichés would suggest.

The episode after Horizon is indeed Pressure Point, a very fine and important episode, I think. I don't think The Web was bad at all, it's conclusion is that life or the struggle for life/survival is ugly. Blake's 7 often leaves one with these little insights, I think.

 

[Captaindemotion]

Captaindemotion wrote:
But I'm hoping that the remake/ reboot/ reimagining will really do the concept justice, much like the new BSG has improved on the fondly-remembered-but-not-actually-very-good original.

Except with Blake's 7 the original isn't that bad to begin with (being old with low budget outdated special effects does not equal bad).

If you re-read my original post, I said that my problem when I re-watched the show was not with the SFX (which always looked crap but I excused when I used to watch it as a kid) but with the writing and acting.

 

[Candlelight]

^The Web isn't after Horizon! Should be Pressure Point I believe.

Duh. I know...

If you read my original post you'd see I said I watched the first four, then skipped a few. If I wanted to watch them in order, The Web is next in line.

Which I saw this morning. And yeah, still silly. Still, I have the Travis and Servalan into next.

 

[Orac Zen]

Avon and Vila are the best double act in sci-fi, ever

G'Kar and Mollari from Babylon 5 are the only ones who even approach them, IMO.

Sod Firefly Blakes 7 was there first by decades.

QFT.

[...] but I thought the dialogue and acting was a lot poorer than I remembered.

To each their own. For mine they were and remain two of the show's greatest strengths, but YMMV and that's fine.

I have my doubts whether a remake can do the series justice. Sure, it would be nice to have better SFX (although, to me, the bad SFX is part of the fun) and less of the cheesy moments/stories, but the series' greatness lies in the characters, and frankly, I find it improbable that they'll find actors who can portray Avon, Blake and Vila so perfectly.

Agreed. It was one of those rare shows (Farscape, IMO, is another) where the casting was just about perfect and the whole became greater than the sum of its parts. "New" and "different" isn't necessarily better, but of course it remains to be seen.

 

[Leroy]

Captaindemotion wrote:
If you re-read my original post, I said that my problem when I re-watched the show was not with the SFX (which always looked crap but I excused when I used to watch it as a kid) but with the writing and acting.

I stand corrected, my point is that the two situations aren't the same.

 

[Marc]

The episode after Horizon is indeed Pressure Point, a very fine and important episode, I think. I don't think The Web was bad at all, it's conclusion is that life or the struggle for life/survival is ugly. Blake's 7 often leaves one with these little insights, I think.

Headhunter and Countdown (2nd ep of Series 4) was another.

Children of Auron could of been one but the last couple of lines were pretty inappropriate given the events of the episode.

 

[Candlelight]

Headhunter and Countdown (2nd ep of Series 4) was another.

*puts on nitpicker hat*

Headhunter was Ep406. Countdown was Ep209.

*takes off nitpicker hat*

 

[diankra]

Headhunter and Countdown (2nd ep of Series 4) was another.

*puts on nitpicker hat*

Headhunter was Ep406. Countdown was Ep209.

*takes off nitpicker hat*

I suspect that by Countdown Marc meant Power (S4ep2), which does involve a self-destruct device which is counting down, and has that dark line from Avon (to a woman who's upset that he's shot her just because she was pulling a gun on him): "If you didn't want the answer, you shouldn't have asked the question".

 

[Candlelight]

Headhunter and Countdown (2nd ep of Series 4) was another.

*puts on nitpicker hat*

Headhunter was Ep406. Countdown was Ep209.

*takes off nitpicker hat*

I suspect that by Countdown Marc meant Power (S4ep2), which does involve a self-destruct device which is counting down, and has that dark line from Avon (to a woman who's upset that he's shot her just because she was pulling a gun on him): "If you didn't want the answer, you shouldn't have asked the question".

*puts on twat hat*

Bugger.

*takes off twat hat*

 

[Marc]

Headhunter and Countdown (2nd ep of Series 4) was another.

*puts on nitpicker hat*

Headhunter was Ep406. Countdown was Ep209.

*takes off nitpicker hat*

I suspect that by Countdown Marc meant Power (S4ep2), which does involve a self-destruct device which is counting down, and has that dark line from Avon (to a woman who's upset that he's shot her just because she was pulling a gun on him): "If you didn't want the answer, you shouldn't have asked the question".

yep that's the ep I was referring to.

Could remember the storyline but not the episode title.

 

[zog]

G'Kar and Mollari from Babylon 5 are the only ones who even approach them, IMO.

. . .

Agreed. It was one of those rare shows (Farscape, IMO, is another) where the casting was just about perfect . . .

And yet no Crichton and Harvey?

Or doesn't that qualify as a double act?

 

[WillsBabe]

*puts on twat hat*

Bugger.

*takes off twat hat*

B7 was the first sf show I have concsious memories of discovering and watching. For me, the dialogue is a gem of the show. My favourite characters are Avon (naturally), but also Servalan and Travis. Jacqueline Pearce is the only one of my childhood heroes who when I met I couldn't actually string a sentence together when I met her unexpectedly! One day I want to meet her again to apologise for my rudeness!

 

[Orac Zen]

G'Kar and Mollari from Babylon 5 are the only ones who even approach them, IMO.

. . .

Agreed. It was one of those rare shows (Farscape, IMO, is another) where the casting was just about perfect . . .

And yet no Crichton and Harvey?

Or doesn't that qualify as a double act?

Damned good, but unlike Avon / Vila and G'Kar / Mollari, not stellar.