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Post by blueshift on May 11, 2009 18:25:39 GMT
I couldn't see any thread anywhere, and I really felt the need to post this amazing video. A band made a metal song all about Blakes 7!
Sky One are remaking it, I am sure they will do a terrible job.
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Post by The Doctor on May 11, 2009 19:21:40 GMT
It's been a year since they ordered two scripts. I'm not holding my breath it will get made.
-Ralph
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Post by legios on May 21, 2009 20:53:35 GMT
I am currently rewatching Season Three, which is where I came in back in the original broadcast days. I haven't seen this season since, so it is interesting to go back and see it with new eyes.
Tarrant is so much an attempt to do an "edgier" Blake that it seems they felt he should have as similar a haircut as possible. A shame that he isn't an effective enough counterweight for a Paul Darrow who is moving further and further out into scenery chewing mode at every opportunity. As for the Liberator's other new crew member, Dana Mellanby, well.... I didn't remember her doing very much and it seems that in this case the memory doesn't really cheat. Certainly in the opening episodes of the season, despite supposedly being a weapons expert, she seems to be there mostly to stand around in the background and make up numbers. (Sort of like a shorter, female equivalent of Gan really). I'm only four episodes in, so it will be interesting to see how the new cast and format (a sort of amoral version of Star Trek) shook out.
Karl
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Post by blueshift on May 21, 2009 22:52:54 GMT
Tarrant was fantastic in his first episode, but went downhill after that.
Season 3 does have my favourite episode in, Rumours of Death. I'm not sure why, it just seems fantastic. Its starts mid-action, is actually character-driven and has a much wider sweep than other episodes too.
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Post by legios on May 24, 2009 20:56:22 GMT
Tarrant was fantastic in his first episode, but went downhill after that. The ruthless smuggler version of Tarrant looks like he has potential when he is introduced, but for some reason they completely reformat the character and turn him into a sawn-off version of Blake (complete with Blakes dress sense). Unfortunately the actor lacks Gareth Thomas' screen presence and therefore isn't really capable of pulling it off. (Although, he is at least consistent. I had forgotten that Series Three is the one where you can tell which weeks Jan Chappell is actually interested at all. Bizarrely it seems to have no actual relationship to how much stuff there is for her in the script either). If that is the Anna Grant episode then I recall it going right over my head when I first saw it. In fairness, I was somewhere between six and eight at the time. It is next up on the stack of DVD's I have to watch and I am quite looking forward to seeing it as an adult. I have already observed the startling sight of Colin Baker and Paul Darrow turning the overacting up to nine in the same episode - fortunately the dial it back just a little when they are in the same scene, otherwise the cardboard sets would surely have vapourised from the impact of such performances..... Karl |
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Post by The Doctor on May 25, 2009 21:13:43 GMT
Cuddly Colin makes everything good.
-Ralph
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Post by legios on May 26, 2009 20:09:35 GMT
I have now seen Rumors of Death as an adult and I can confirm that yes indeed, it was one of those episodes where there was a great deal I missed as a child.
In many ways it feels like a throwback to the first season. The episode even takes the time to remind us that the Federation really has changed from a faceless, ruthless "boot stamping on the face of humanity for ever" to being a pantomine megalomaniac and her comic opera guards. It gets away with it though by actually having folk comment on it in character and making it an actual part of the plot. It also contains one of Paul Darrow's more restrained performances this season into the bargain. (And the "way out" that he offers the Federation torturer as his reward for giving him the information he needs is surprisingly grim and pointed for this point in the shows run). Not entirely unexpected as it was credited to Chris Boucher - who after all did create rather more than he is sometimes credited with of the early seasons. I found it surprisingly enjoyable actually. (But then, stories of doomed love do rather appeal to me anyway so it had a bit of a headstart.)
Next episode along was Sarcophagus, by Tanith Lee, and it was odd. Mind you, I did say it was credited to Tanith Lee so we probably shouldn't be surprised. The combination of the odd moments where we snap into some sort of interpretive dance/slowmotion theatre version of the scene aren't actually more penetrable as an adult than they were as a kid. That said, the final face off does at least give Jan Chappell something to do for once (and coincides with her being interested, which is a bonus) and does give us a couple of great Avon moments:-
"Kill me then. Make me die, Because you can't make me do anything else." - is a fairly definitional line for this version of the character I'd say.
On the minus side, there is far too much time spent on people putting Tarrant down. Not that the character doesn't fully deserve it, but putting Tarrant down is so easy that it seems rather like shooting very large fish in a very small bowl.
Karl
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Post by blueshift on May 26, 2009 21:07:37 GMT
Also Rumours has a young Inspector Grimm from The Thin Blue Line! I dunno, its just a fab episode, and feels really modern, oddly enough. Every bit character gets fleshed out, some of it is rather dark, there is fantastic pacing, and I didn't guess the twist at the end. I probably should have, but hey. Also poor Avon  It does have Avon shouting at a chained up Servalan too! On that note, the official BBC DVD trailers for seasons 2 and 3 are fab. I took the liberty of encoding them and sticking them on youtube a while back. The season 4 trailer is awful though |
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Post by Shockprowl on Jun 4, 2009 18:58:31 GMT
I'm a big fan of Blake's 7. Best ever death scene in sci-fi: In the first or second episode, when that young chap gets killed by shaving foam! Oh Dear God!
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Post by legios on Jun 4, 2009 21:29:45 GMT
I dunno, its just a fab episode, and feels really modern, oddly enough. Every bit character gets fleshed out, some of it is rather dark, there is fantastic pacing, and I didn't guess the twist at the end. I probably should have, but hey. I'm not sure that the pacing is particularly modern, but I would agree that it does a nice job of fleshing out the supporting cast, and there is some wonderfully grim stuff in there. It is one of those moments that I think is perfect for the character, and fits rather nicely with his action at the end of the season. The idea that Avon, who has been betrayed by the only person he really trusted might become determined to locate Blake - a person he never trusted but fully comprehended makes a certain twisted logical sense. The beginning of a string of rather suspect scenes between the two of them quite frankly... Having now seen the rest of Season Three I have to say that it feels like much of it is rather inconsequential - very much deserving the tag of "amoral Star Trek" that I have seen it given. Most of the episodes feel painfully disposable and Servalan is very much dimnished as a villian every time she appears. (Also, good grief she has one of the ugliest space ships I have ever seen). Terminal is fantastic though. Rather doom-laden and arcing inexorably to its rather grim denoument. The sight of Liberator disintegrating under a fungal infestation - literally rotting away before our eyes is one of those images that has stuck with me since I first saw the series and I am pleased to say that it remains very effective even now. Reusing some of the brainwashing concepts from the opening episodes makes for quite an effective sense of coming full circle. (I'm not one hundred percent convinced of how much of it is the work of the credited writer mind you - barring the complete misunderstanding of how natural selection operates. "No Mr Nation, Evolution doesnt. work. like. that.") A rather good and semi-downbeat ending to proceedings. And now on to the unplanned-for Season Four and the debut of a space craft which has one of the greatest ugly exteriors in television history coupled with one of the great disasters of set design masquerading as a flight deck. Karl |
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Post by legios on Jun 8, 2009 21:16:17 GMT
And so.... I have begun my voyage into Season Four..... Yes, well. It comes close to describing description. From what I remembered seeing of this when it was first broadcast I was expecting that it wouldn't be terribly good but nothing could really prepare me.
The opening episode of the season features the crew, minus Cally as Jan Chappell is killed off off-screen by means of audio-culled from earlier episodes, being rescued by a man who is revealed to be hundreds of years old but still in his prime because he keeps a monster in his basement to absorb "his corruption" and die his deaths for him. Oh, and he wants the ex-Liberator crew to become his new monster. Um... ok then.
We have also reached the stage where most of the characters in the show are for practical purposes redundant as they don't really get much to do. Season Four revolves, for practical purposes around Paul Darrow's Avon - and Darrow is playing this so broadly now that it is a wonder his performance can get through doors - and Steven Pacey's Tarrant, who is unfortunately so ill-defined that he struggles to achieve even one dimensionality. As to the rest of the cast, Peter Tuddenham is still wonderful as Orac - the glowy box of lights talking smack at the crew is often the highlight of an episode at this stage - Vila may as well not be present for much of the time. Glynis Barber's Soolin really is "stand up the back and make up the numbers"-girl. Her justification for being their is allegedly that she is a quick-drawing gunfighter.... shame she appears to shoot less well than Tarrant and to be slower on the draw than Avon. As for Dayna... I know that Josette Simon was barely a year out of drama school and it is almost unfair to say it... but it really is a woeful performance.
The set design doesn't do it many favours either. The bridge of Scorpio looks extremely shoddy and suffers from a far worse case of "wobbly set" syndrome than most "Doctor Who". (For added amusement watch how the crew carefully avoid touching any of the rails around the edge of the Scorpio bridge for fear of making them all fall down).
I still really like the _outside_ of Scorpio though. It is ugly, functional and extremly blocky. It is one of those spaceship designs that really made an impression on a young Karl and has shaped his taste in spacecraft ever since. Scorpio is why I like the Marvel US#1 version of the Ark probably the best of any of the versions, and why the very square spacecraft in Mospeada resonate for me.
Yes indeed, the outside of Scorpio is a fantastic piece of spacecraft design. If only it had less horrible things inside it.
But, the rest of Season Four awaits me..... what wonders or horrors might it contain. (Well, Orac could but everytime I ask he just tells me to "stop asking absurd questions to which any sentient hominid surely can already deduce the answers." So I've stopped asking him....)
Karl
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Post by blueshift on Jun 9, 2009 6:55:37 GMT
Oh come on, season 4 is fantastic! I enjoyed most of it at least. The only really naff episode is 'Animals' but after that you've got a run of classic eps. Yes, the death of Cally was lame, but the actress didn't want to come back, and well, what can you do?
Also the monster in Dorien's basement was a Sea Devil from Doctor Who!
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Post by The Doctor on Jun 9, 2009 17:15:31 GMT
Only ever seen clips from S4. Yes, I have still to see the famous final episode.
-Ralph
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Post by Philip Ayres on Jun 9, 2009 19:24:48 GMT
S4 is where I came in. I never saw any of the earlier stuff till the day the compilation tapes were released - bought Begining & Orac that day, went back for the other s1 on the Wednesday and the s3 one on the Thursday. Bought the videos on day of release. Anyhoo. The opening episode of the season features the crew, minus Cally as Jan Chappell is killed off off-screen by means of audio-culled from earlier episodes, being rescued by a man who is revealed to be hundreds of years old but still in his prime because he keeps a monster in his basement to absorb "his corruption" and die his deaths for him. Oh, and he wants the ex-Liberator crew to become his new monster. Um... ok then. I refer you to en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorian_Gray which is an acknowledges source. I like the set up episodes at the start of the season. Sand makes much more sense than tanith lee's other contribution. And then there's the wonderous final ep. Out of the whole run I think Rumours of Death is probably my favorite. |
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Post by legios on Jun 9, 2009 20:06:24 GMT
S4 is where I came in. I never saw any of the earlier stuff till the day the compilation tapes were released - I came in at the beginning of Season Three, and had caught bits of earlier seasons much later on thanks to the video release. For years bits of S3 and S4 have been a bit muddled in my head. (I had smushed the creatures from "Animals" into my recollection of "Terminal" for some reason for example. And I could have sworn that "Duel" was an S4 episode rather than S3) I freely acknowledge that they are liberally borrowing from a "classical" source. It is hard to miss when the ageless villian of the piece is named Dorian. I have no problem with them plundering other works, I just don't think that the execution of it works particularly well in context. Somehow it just feels like it doesn't quite belong in the same universe somehow. Don't ask me why, it just somehow feels like it doesn't belong. I like the idea of Season Four's setup more than I like the execution. The idea of Avon turning at bay to fight the Federation is an interesting one, and the idea that there actually is a plan - that the cynic might have the vision to succeed where Blake's blind idealism has failed is an intriquing thought. In practice I feel it falls apart a bit in the execution. As to Tanith Lee's contributions, I actually found "Sarcophagus" made a certain amount of sense if you wrote off large chunks of the episode as being purely authorial metaphor and having only a questionable existence within the frame of the fiction. It didn't actually have a great deal of story going for it. As to "Sand" I can remember very little about it other than a few scattered images so I look forward to seeing it again and being able to properly evaluate it. I actually think my favourite episodes are probably the first three. They set a fantastically bleak tone in general, creating a galaxy that really does need a freedom fighter to break the establishment down and save a population who have mostly been indoctrinated so heavily that they don't even know they need to be saved. "Rumours" is a very good episode though and would certainly feature in my list of my favourite episodes. I think "Terminal" would as well - a very effective finale which treads the line between bleakness (Liberator is gone) and hope (most of the rebels are still alive at least and the Federation is decapitated). I am curious to see how I react to the very last episode as wel thoughl. Like the rest of season four I haven't seen it at all since broadcast and it made a considerable impact on me at my tender age, so it will be interesting to see how I react to it now. I've got a while to go before I get there though. Disc Three is in the post to me as we speak. Karl |
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Post by Philip Ayres on Jun 9, 2009 20:21:45 GMT
The smile at the end of Terminal ....
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Post by legios on Jun 9, 2009 20:27:12 GMT
The smile at the end of Terminal .... I rather like that because it is hard to interpret. You can read something self-satisfied in it - Avon always believed he would be the last one standing and is fairly close to right - or something a little bit triumphant. Amongst others. It is open to interpretation and I think that is why it works. Karl |
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Post by blueshift on Jun 9, 2009 22:00:30 GMT
The first three episodes are fantastic, its a shame the rest of season 1 is comparatively weak. Of course, you can never hope to compare to Brian Blessed.
Season 2 is actually my favourite, which is an unpopular opinion apparently. But there's hardly a duff episode in there.
Sand is an amazing episode, and far better than the earlier Sarcophagus. The highlight of season 4, aside from 'Blake' of course, is Orbit. Not one of Robert Holme's strongest overall works, but the ending, with Avon's 'solution' is brilliant.
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Post by The Doctor on Jun 10, 2009 17:55:35 GMT
Caught s1 on a BBC2 repeat run a few years ago and loved it. Was pissed off that further seasons were not shown. Caught some of S2 and S3 on VHS.
If only the licence holders were not such twats and the DVD's were affordable (ie not £50 a season) I'd love to watch the whole thing.
-Ralph
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Post by blueshift on Jun 10, 2009 18:46:49 GMT
They're 16.99 a season on play.com
Well worth it.
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Post by Shockprowl on Jun 11, 2009 18:57:26 GMT
Tempting, I'll have a word with Mrs Shockprowl.....
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Post by The Doctor on Jun 11, 2009 20:37:49 GMT
Reasonable price. Might see about picking them up at a later date.
-Ralph
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Post by Andy Turnbull on Nov 16, 2010 16:55:40 GMT
Thanks to Matt I have some of blakes 7 on dvd. Watched the first three eps today. Very strong opening to the show. Paul Darrow shines in every scene he is in. Gareth Thomas works as.a confused Roj Blake but I struggle to see him as an inspirational figure that is talked of.
Also Brian Blessed. Can't go wrong with him appearing.
Andy
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Post by blueshift on Nov 16, 2010 16:57:18 GMT
The character of Blake improves in season 2 where they work to Gareth Thomas's strengths and play him more as this driven terrorist than inspirational leader.
Glad you're liking it though! Things get a bit ropey in episode 4, but then it gets better again.
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Post by The Doctor on Nov 16, 2010 18:06:30 GMT
I have yet to see past season 2 of this this and retain fond memories. First three episodes are a great proper dystopian drama then it went into highly enjoyable tosh.
-Ralph
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Post by blueshift on Nov 16, 2010 18:08:12 GMT
I have yet to see past season 2 of this this and retain fond memories. First three episodes are a great proper dystopian drama then it went into highly enjoyable tosh. -Ralph Seasons 3 and 4 are bloody great too. My favourite episode, 'rumours of death' is in season 3. |
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Post by Philip Ayres on Nov 16, 2010 19:47:23 GMT
Rumours of Death is blindingly brilliant.
Project Avalon from S1 is great. Terminal isn't bad either I've got a big soft spot for series 4.......
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Post by legios on Nov 16, 2010 21:18:00 GMT
Paul Darrow is wonderful - cynical and self-interested, but so often absolutely right. His suggestion that Blake is a threat to everyone else's life has a real ring of truth to it.
As far as Blake goes I have often thought that given the fact that by the time we first see him he has already been through the mill once, and then goes through it all again during the first episode he may not be quite the man that the legend was. It is a bit of a "viewer interpretation" but I quite like the idea that perhaps the Blake we know does not quite live up to what he was.
The show changes tone and style a little as it goes through the seasons but I do think that overall the first three seasons are very enjoyable. Season Four.... I really like the idea of, I'm just not so sure about the execution.
Karl
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Post by blueshift on Nov 16, 2010 21:20:57 GMT
It's odd. The first time round, I enjoyed series 1 and 2 the most, on rewatchings I far preferred dipping into 3 and 4.
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Post by Andy Turnbull on Nov 19, 2010 12:53:15 GMT
Episodes 4 and 5 where quite underwhelming to say the least.
Andy
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