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12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
A memorable end to a memorable series., 5 Feb 2005
Series four of "Blakes seven" was to be the last we would see of the space hopping anti heroes who had held us gripped from 1978-81. The concept of "Blakes seven" is second only to creator Terry Nation`s other sci-fi innovation, The Daleks, which made the man quite prolific in creating memorable characters. Who can forget the coldly calculating Avon, the cowardly thief Vila or the swashbuckling yet smarmy Tarrant? There was nothing cosy about "Blakes seven" as anyone could get killed off at any time, which gave the programme a gritty, realistic feel.This series is an improvement on the good, yet directionless, third series. The destruction of the "Liberator" at the end of that series called for the designers to come up with a new spaceship ("Scorpio"), and it looks like the cost of that set drained the budget for the rest of the show. The costumes are mostly all grey and all the "alien planet" action always seems to take place in the same quarry. Always derided for the poor special effects, here they are the worst of the four series, although anyone with enough imagination can suspend their disbelief. The real strength of "Blakes seven" always lay in strong scripts. The stories are mostly good, with episodes "Headhunter", "Assasin" and "Gold" being amongst the best ever presented by the programme. Special mention must also go to the final episode, "Blake", in which all of the crew get gunned down in one of the bleakest, brave, memorable and ultimately BEST endings to a TV series ever. The only real problem with a lot of these stories is the inclusion of arch enemy Servalan. Convincingly killed off at the end of series three, she turns up in almost every story in the most ludicrous fashion, which gives the show a soap opera feel and chips away at the believability. Perhaps they should have created another character like series one/two baddie, Travis. It`s only a small gripe, though, as "Blakes seven" remains one of the best TV sci-fi series ever. Even when it`s bad, it`s still good.
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