Blake's 7 - Series 1 [DVD] [1978]

The Blake's 7 production budget may have been modest by today's standards and its special effects memorable rather than impressive, but Terry Nation's second most famous brainchild had it where it counted. Almost 30 years on, the series' characters, dialogue, storyline and sheer inventiveness still impress.

Very much an ensemble piece rather than a vehicle for one or two actors, Blake's 7 gripped its contemporary audiences and continues to enthrall today. Rather more than a simple struggle between the forces of good and evil, the series -- for example --sees a refreshingly self-aware Roj Blake question whether his actions are that of the terrorist or the revolutionary, and is on occasion harrassed as much as he is assisted by his crew; characters die or disappear with daring regularity, and it is a testament to the verve of the show and the vigour of its underlying themes that it outlasted the departure of its eponymous protagonist for a further two seasons whilst its fandom continues to thrive, with hundreds of fanzines having been consigned to print, and regular conventions still drawing healthy numbers of delegates. Fans of Babylon 5 will also find much to enjoy in the series (as, apparently, did its creator, J. Michael Straczynski)

Blake's 7 explodes on to the screen with a brace of gripping opening episodes which stand up as a wonderful piece of self-contained drama in their own right, and continued to develop with a pleasing consistency, due in no small part to the fact that Nation penned all thirteen episodes of the first season himself.

There are, of course, a few gripes: the series' female characters are not as strong as they could have been, with Cally diminishing from diamond-hard freedom fighter in Series 1 ('may you die alone and silent') to administering first-aid and matronly advice to the crew.

That said, there are so many things to take pleasure from in Blake's 7, that no brief account of its many facets could possibly do it justice. Instead, why not just sit back and enjoy the strong storyline, fascinating characters (the archly camp Servalan, sardonic Avon, single-minded Travis, and wonderfully irascible Orac), sparkling dialogue and thoughtful design: the beautiful design of the Liberator (inside and out), the chunky teleport bracelet and 'curling tong' handgun, the memorable design of the Federation Troopers' uniforms, all complemented by the rousing opening credits and rich incidental music of Dudley Simpson. Wonderful entertainment, and a set of DVDs you will return to more often than you might expect.

Blake's 7 is a puzzle. It shouldn't work. It's cheap, frequently tacky, occasionally camp, and sometimes just plain embarrassing. It was in many ways a major miscalculation on the part of the BBC (who gave it the same budget as the cheap police series it was designed to replace). And yet...

It is also brilliantly cast, expertly scripted, performed with utter conviction and is possibly the darkest SF series Britain has ever produced (The Prisoner notwithstanding). Set in a rubble-strewn galaxy of strip-mined planets, radioactive wastes and grimy power complexes, Blake's 7 offers little in the way of comfort and definitely no hope for the future. In Star Trek, the coming centuries belong to the humanists - in Blake's 7 they belong to the fascists. The Federation is a merciless, nightmarish bureaucracy that only exists because of its uneasy alliance with Space Command, headed by the seductive, selfish and utterly lethal Supreme Commander Servalan. All dissent is ruthlessly supressed and even the inhabitants of the Federation's homeworld, Earth, are dosed with drugs to keep them subserviant. Blake's cause was hopeless from the start, and that is what makes it so heroic. His crew are not the willing freedom-fighting commrades of a futuristic Robin Hood, but hunted, damaged individuals simply trying to stay alive. This is what made Blake's 7 so addictive - the interaction between the main characters (Blake and Avon especially). Season One sets the scene perfectly with its opening four episodes, then almost immediately begins to show us the futility of Blake's cause. Blake and his crew are only ever able to inflict mere pinpricks on the totalitarian regime that threatens them, but we share their longing, their hopes and fears. We cheer at every minor victory and feel despair with every major defeat.

The first season contained some of the best individual episodes and high-lights definitely include "Seek, Locate, Destroy", "Project Avalon", "Duel", "Redemption" and "Orac". Treat yourself to this box-set and teasure Blake's 7, for all its faults. We will never see its like again.

It's a cliché of TV's endlessly recycled "I remember 1978" and similar anti-nostalgia shows that Blake's 7 was a typically British cheap production that doesn't stand the test of time.

But a generation after the original release, it's time for a revaluation. Far from being an embarrassment, Blake's 7 is a jewel, embodying the very best of British production values from the golden age of the BBC's output.

I'm watching episode 6: "Seek-Locate-Destroy" as I write this review.
What springs out?
First, conflict. Conflict among the crew of the Liberator, conflict between Servalan and her Federation bosses, and with Travis, and with her own men.
Second, taut dialogue. Irony, biting sarcasm, political intrigue, diplomacy, tact, anger, disdain.
Third, characterisation. Even quite minor characters are fully realised, and the new major characters Servalan and Travis establish their own identities memorably and immediately.
Fourth, plot. "Seek-Locate-Destroy" is really a minor, in-between episode, sandwiched between the speculative SF "The Web" and the whodunnit "Mission to Destiny". But its own story is powerfully drawn, tense and engaging.
Fifth, modelling. The models of the space station and the Liberator are highly detailed and entirely convincing.
Finally, politics. Sinister, manipulative and fully realised.

What about the famous shortcomings - the special effects and use of quarries and powerstations to represent alien landscapes? In retrospect, these are nowhere near as bad as they seemed to be seen through the eyes of the 80s and 90s. To be fair, the opening credits are very weak by modern standards. In other episodes some of the space voyages use the same graphic technology, which is disappointing. On the other hand, the more usual 'white spacecraft against a black background' is very powerful indeed. The powerstations and quarries - unless you are watching for them - are a strength rather than a weakness, conjuring up the grimly totalitarian society of the Federation.

The rather sneering attitude to Blake's 7 - including Amazon's own review, which describes the series as 'dated' - says more about shifts in fashion than about the quality of the production. Blake's 7 was a late 70's, early 80's show. In the 90's, it was customary to look on that entire period as being a low point (except for punk). But we now look back on the 90's in rather the same way.

Taking everything together, of all the SF series that I have seen, including American greats Babylon 5 and Star Trek (original, TNG, Voyager, Enterprise and DS9), it is Blake's 7 which best stands the best of time for me, and which seems as fresh and original as it did when I first saw it back in 1978.

* * *

As a DVD to own and cherish, Blake's 7 series I is really something rather special. Every episode is different - an Orwellian nightmare of show trials, a prison break (failed), a sinister religion on a barren world, an 'enemy within' story, a psionics story, espionage-counter-espionage, a murder mystery, a medical emergency, and a desperate race to obtain a super-computer. The final series cliff-hanger is absolutely perfect, and will leave you rushing to get series 2 (unless you already know what happens, and even then...).

It also offers the delightful Blue Peter 'make a teleport bracelet' guide, as well as other goodies.