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19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Where`s Blake?, 31 May 2005
After the first two series of "Blakes seven" being about blakes attempts to destroy the Federation, this series took a slightly different direction. Gareth Thomas, who played Blake, had left the series. The production team made a brave decision to continue with Avon, a far less idealistic character (played to perfection by Paul Darrow), in charge of The Liberator. After the excellent interweaving plots of Series two, Series three is made up of individual stories with little or no link to each other. In fact, almost all the stories revolve around Servalan trying to capture The Liberator.There are some great episodes, the best perhaps being "City at the edge of the world", which features then future "Doctor Who" Colin Baker as the baddie and a rare lead role for Vila, "Blakes seven"`s great unsung character, portayed by the wonderful Michael Keating. Other contenders for best episode are "Volcano", "Harvest of Kairos" "Death watch" and "Terminal" (which features the series only appearance of Blake and the unforgetable moment when Servalan finally gets her chance to command The Liberator). There are one or two which aren`t quite as good ("Dawn of the gods", where the "god" is a bald dwarf, "Ultraworld", with it`s Sci-Fi B-movie giant brain and "Children of Auron" which has a space plague that gives the afflicted lots of horrible facial scabs) but nothing really bad. New crewmembers Tarrant and Dayna are worthy replacements for Blake and Jenna although a baddie in the calibre of Series one and two`s Travis is lacking. The special features are again missing the "Making of "Blakes seven"" documentary, which is disappointing as the BBC`s "Doctor Who" DVDs are always packed with that kind of thing. Hopefully the Easter Eggs won`t be as hard to find as the Series two DVD either. However, the bad karma surrounding the releases doesn`t stretch to the programmes themselves as the sound and picture quality are fantastic and is presented as good as it will ever be.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
4.5 Stars out of 5 for Blakes 7 Series 3, 31 July 2006
The third series of Blakes 7 reaches to an area where many SCI FI enthusiasts won't reach. We are now dealing with a product that many people won't see being content with the classic series 1 and 2. In series 3 the fast pace of the early series is only present in some episodes. Things take a different turn here. The major characters of Blake and Jenna are no longer here and that has quite an effect on the feel of the new series. Avon is now in command of the Liberator and I expected him to dictate a strategy of wealth creation rather than Blake's moral crusade. This is not what happens and if anything the new character of Tarrant appears a more forceful leader. The new characters are worthy replacements and fit in well. Rather than attacking the Federation they defend the Liberator from Servalan trying to capture it. Curiosity drives them quite regularly into the trouble that is a hallmark of Blakes 7. The early episodes are in the same style as the second series. The episodes I liked were: Aftermath, Powerplay, Dawn of Gods, City at the edge of the world, Rumours of death, Sarcophagus, Moloch, Deathwatch and Terminus. Volcano, Children of Auron, Ultraworld were also reasonable. The only episode I disliked was Harvest of Kairos. Although I liked most of this episode its ending still jars. If you watch this you will be asked in the last 15 minutes to believe the most incredible series of events. The writer unfortunately gets a little carried away and this seems like something from `The A Team' rather than Blakes 7. The episode I most liked was Sarcophagus and I can't decide whether this or City at the edge of the world is the jewel in the crown of the third series. Sarcophagus is of completely different form to the usual assault on a centre. It is actually a little sinister but also beautifully written with imaginative singing and music. It really is an unforgettable episode and adds much to the series despite being very unusual. There is still the large source of imaginative ideas from cloning starships, space plagues, superbly advanced races, black holes etc. that we have come to expect from Blakes 7. I think more could have been made of criminal activity under Avon's lead and perhaps more made of the space war although this would be expensive. This series contrasts with the first two which have a strong direction, here things are much more loose but I don't dislike this. It is quite plausible that events could unfold in this manner. I noticed this for the first time in the episode Volcano which is early on in the series, it seems a bit aimless and you wonder why Tarrant and Dayna are there. The acting and characterisation are as usual first class. The comical Vila is there with a goldfish bowl on his head trying to avoid the space plague in Children of Auron and losing the teleport co-ordinates at a critical moment in Rumours of death, he remains a star character in Blakes 7. Tarrant evolves as a hard man who clashes regularly with Avon. The darkness is still there in the chilling Powerplay and Sarcophagus as well as the inevitable corruption and violence. All in all this third series does not quite manage the seamless quality of series 1 and series 2. It is still good however and for the enthusiast of Blakes 7 it is an essential item.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Blake-less 7, 6 Mar 2008
The third season of Blake's 7 sees Paul Darrow's Avon take over as the main focus of the show, Gareth Thomas' Blake having left at the end of the previous season. Personally, I think this is the best of the show's four seasons, as the show had been a little narrow minded in it's scope. With Blake gone, there is less of a sense of purpose in the crew, and therefore a much greater variety in the types of stories with several very imaginative sci-fi stories, the most unusual being the rather weird Sarcophagus. Avon really comes into his own here, and Paul Darrow steals the show with his memorable performance. New characters Dayna and Tarrant are also very welcome and are played by some very capable actors, Jacqueline Pearce has a whale of a time in this season featuring more prominantly than ever and giving a highly entertainingly villainous performance, there's a fresh feel to the stories and the variety of styles, from the humourous City at the Edge of the World to the gritty and downbeat Rumours of Death, the surreal Sarcophagus and the sinister and catastrophic Terminal, mean this series never feels repetetive. The only poor episodes are Dawn of the Gods which feels like a rejected Star Trek script and the horrendously sexist Moloch, which feature the silliest looking alien ever seen. Overall, Season 3 of Blake's 7 is a terrific piece of space opera with a wonderful array of episodes and ends on a fantastic cliffhanger. Highly recommended.
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