Blake's Seven

by Simon Matthews, Oct 2002

Blake's Seven is another of the BBC's sci-fi shows from the 1970's. Created by Terry Nation, the genius responsible for Dr Who, it is about the fortunes of one Roj Blake and crew in their fight for freedom against the evil Terran Federation. Typical BBC low budget effects do not spoil what is a really cool series with great acting and some believable characters.

Plot

The series begins with Blake, a figurehead for the resistance but who has had his memory erased, being taken to a secret meeting, which is promptly raided by security forces. He is then set up and convicted (falsely) as a paedophile and consequently deported to the prison planet Cygnus Alpha. In the detention area/on board the prison ship he meets up with Villa (compulsive thief who can open any door/pick any lock), Jenna (Smuggler), Gan (psychopath) and Avon (convicted fraudster and "the second best guy with computers in the known universe", the first being the chap who caught him). During the flight the prison ship attempts to salvage a ship (the Liberator), Blake, Avon and Jenna being put aboard to make sure the ship is safe. They steal the ship and go to Cygnus Alpha to rescue as many of the prisoners as possible, ending up with Villa and Gan. Together with rogue telepath Cally and the ship's computer, Zen, they form Blake's seven.

Their efforts to destroy the Federation are opposed by Supreme Commander Servalan and Space commander Travis, the man who killed Blake's family. Eventually Blake and co. pick up the supercomputer Orac, who is very arrogant and only really respects Avon, and, being in control of the most powerful ship in the galaxy, set about attacking the Federation. Later in the series the Liberator is destroyed and the crew hijack "Scorpio" instead and Blake, Cally, Jenna and Gan are replaced by Soolin, Daina and Tarrant, although Blake comes back for the final episode, which has the best ending to any sci-fi series ever.

Review

What makes Blake's Seven so fantastic is mainly the acting and the characters: the 'goodies' are all convicted criminals, Blake being the only one who is actually 'good', while the 'baddies' are all part of the establishment, obeying orders and, theoretically at least, democratically elected. It also has a really cool theme tune. If you like British sci-fi then you could do worse than watch Blake's Seven. On the other hand, if you absolutely hate all those dodgy effects and simply want to watch mass produced American drivel then obviously, I'd advise you not to watch it.

The library has the complete series of Blake's 7 on video for loan as well as several books and audio books. Search the library database for a full list.

Above pictures are from Judith Proctor's Pages.

Links

 fanfiction.net

Link submitted by Sulkyblue on 2002-07-28

Contents include - Fanfiction, Bulletin Board/forum

Subjects include - X-Files, Gerry Anderson , X-Men, Star Wars, Angel, Farscape, Babylon 5, Harry Potter, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Pratchett, Books, Comics, Movie Site, Star Trek - General, Stargate SG1, TV Show, Science Fiction and Fantasy, Enterprise, Lord of the Rings, Tolkien, Dark Angel, Sliders, Highlander, Charmed, Blake's 7, Star Trek: Voyager, Star Trek: Deep Space 9, Red Dwarf, Star Trek: TNG, Dr Who, Firefly

If you want fanfiction, go here. This site is absolutely immense and beautifully layed out. I recon there's about 210 shows and 15,000 stories in the tv section alone. This site has many nice features - Categorised - sorted into large categories, like tv, comics, movies. Then sorted into smaller sections by tv show. Updated regularly - Updates appear every few hours, depending on how many authors are writing for a particular section. Author searches - each author has their own page, giving a full list of their fic's, links to their homepage, their favorite authors, whatever they wanna put there really. Discussion forums - if you are an author yourself, there's plenty of help available. Ratings - each fic has a summary, rating, word count and record of last update. You can even change the site colour scheme! How much more do you want?!
Brilliant. Fat loading and simple. You can even change the colour scheme if you want.

 Horizon

Link submitted by Sulkyblue on 2002-10-23

Contents include - Information, Shop, People, News

Subjects include - Blake's 7, Fan Club, Fandom

Horizon is a London based society for the appreciation of Blake's 7. It's a friendly society who can often be found at London fan-meets. The website contains information on Blake's 7 projects (including the upcoming dvds), what cast and crew are doing now and a list of conventions and signings.
The site's fairly basic and apparently still under construction.

 Judith Protector's Pages

Link submitted by Sulkyblue on 2002-10-23

Contents include - History, Fanfiction, Links, Quiz or competition, Information, Images, Synopses, People, News

Subjects include - Blake's 7

Self proclaimed "largest Blake's 7 Site on the Web" and I can believe it. This site is HUGE! Anything you ever wanted to know about Blake's 7 is here and plenty more besides! They even have a gallery of lego models!
Looks a bit dated, but so does the show (hide). Easy to browse and well structured from my brief exploration.

 Blake's 7 - A Rebellion Reborn

Link submitted by Sulkyblue on 2003-08-10

Contents include - News, Official Site

Subjects include - Blake's 7

The official website of the planned sequel to Blake's 7. Apparently Paul Darrow is heavily involved in the series set 30 years after the original which is being developed by an American company.
The site's got lots and lots of rather slow flash. Nuff said.