Purely Joyful Movie!

The first must-see film of the year.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

'Blake's Seven' debuted on B.B.C.-1 early in 1978, on the night 'Star Wars' premiered in London. The press branded the show a hastily made rip-off; in fact it had been in production months before George Lucas' epic opened in the States. Writer/creator Terry Nation pitched the idea to the B.B.C. as 'The Dirty Dozen' in space'. Like the movie ( and T.V. version ) of 'Logan's Run', it starts with the populace of Earth living in protective domed cities following devastating atomic wars. Rebels defy the Government's warnings and venture outside, finding the air breathable and clean, the water pure. As they discuss their next move, they are massacred by Federation stormtroopers. One, Roj Blake ( Gareth Thomas ) gets away, but is betrayed, put on trial ( on a fake child molestation charge ), and sentenced to life imprisonment on the penal colony on Cygnus Alpha. En route he meets lovely Jenna ( Sally Knyvette ), gentle giant Gan ( David Jackson ), cowardly thief Vila ( Michael Keating ), and brooding computer genius Avon ( Paul Darrow ). They would soon be augmented by telepathic alien Cally ( Jan Chappell ). Securing the use of an abandoned spacecraft ( controlled by Zen the computer, voiced by Peter Tuddenham ) which they rechristen 'The Liberator', they set about trying to dent the forces of the wicked powers through what might be termed acts of 'terrorism'. Each week, Blake and co. were seen blowing up military installations, stealing computer codes or just making plain trouble. The head of the Federation, the Thatcher-like Servalan ( Jacqueline Pearce ), brought in an old enemy of Blake's - Travis ( Stephen Grief in the first season, Brian Croucher in the second ) - to help defeat him.Being a B.B.C. series, it was never going to compete with 'Star Wars' in terms of visual effects, and wisely did not try. There was strong chemistry between the cast, and mostly good story lines. 'Avon' became one of television's most compelling characters. Blake and co. were not super-heroes, just ordinary people united in a common cause - to end tyranny. They were not infallible, and often argued amongst themselves. Yes, the 'teleport' idea was pinched from 'Star Trek', but if you're going to steal ideas, steal the best.Terry Nation wrote all of Season 1, but the following year other writers were used. The second season saw Blake engage his crew in a quest to find 'Star One' - the Federation's control centre. It also featured the death of Gan, a quite shocking development at the time. 'Star Trek' had never quite been this dark. A new arrival was 'Orac' ( also voiced by Tuddenham ), the galaxy's most brilliant computer, imbued with its creator's tetchy personality.Popular though the show was, it had its critics, many of whom poked fun at the low budget S.F.X., one was the late Stan Sayer of 'The Daily Mirror', who bashed the show each week without fail. When Season 4 repeats went out in the summer of 1983 ( two years after the show had ended ) he reacted as though it were an insult to him personally. Season 3 saw the departure of Blake himself ( Gareth Thomas having gone to join the R.S.C. ), and Avon was promoted to centre-stage. Sally Knyvette's 'Jenna' also left. Two new characters - Dayna Mellanby ( Josette Simon ) and Del Tarrant ( Steven Pacey ) - took their places. I rate Season 3 as the best of the run, mainly because there was more variety in the plots, one of which ( 'Sarcophagus' ) was penned by fantasy author Tanith Lee.The fourth season proved controversial amongst fans, with its inclusion of a new spacecraft ( 'The Scorpio' ) and gunfighter 'Soolin' ( Glynis Barber ) replacing 'Cally', but the show basically remained the same. Each season had ended with a cliffhanger, but the one that rounded off this one was the mother of them all: cornered on the planet Gauda Prime, the Scorpio crew were gunned down Peckinpah-style. As klaxons wailed, Avon permitted himself a final wintry smile. The screen went black. Two shots rang out. The series was over.Fans bombarded the B.B.C. with requests for a new series, not to mention repeats of the first three seasons, but their pleas fell on deaf ears. Even with the successful revival of 'Dr.Who' in 2005, the Corporation has been seemingly reluctant to let the Liberator fly again ( though there has been a run of commercially available audio adventures ). If nothing else, 'Seven' proved conclusively you do not need millions of dollars to make an entertaining science fiction show. If it ever does return, I hope the new producers bear in mind that stories and characters far outweigh special effects in terms of importance.

I am a big Sci-Fi geek. I have learnt to accept this, nay I have learnt to embrace this. A show called Blakes 7 has played a big part in this revelation.Dr Who and Star Trek don't come close to this. Way ahead of its time and indeed this time, Blakes 7 remains a timeless piece of television costume sci-fi drama gold.The premise is fairly simple, a glorious mixture of anti-heroes and anti-villains struggle in a hopeless and oppressive tech-no-coloured universe. Not enough superlatives exist to compliment the performances of Darrow (genius), Thomas, Pearce, Keating, Grief and Barber. The music and graphics are gloriously executed, the costumes are outrageously beautiful. Even the heavily criticised production values and sfx add to the charm of this show.The series develops throughout the four series run to the final and best 1981 season. This culminates in the greatest episode and finale I have ever witnessed.Don't underestimate the power of B7, it is the best! Additional: Glynis Barber's is hot stuff and has an amazing bottom!

Set in a very distant future, Blake's 7 is a story of a group of criminals, who are lead by a political dissident (Blake) to fight a rebellion against an evil, Orwellian interstellar Federation. It incorporates elements of Star Trek, Robin Hood, and George Orwell's 1984. The bad: the special effects are appalling, even by 1970s BBC standards. The early beta-max video is harsh looking. Some of the episode plots stretch believability.Now the good: everything else is absolutely excellent. The artwork, costuming and design is superb. The top notch cast of actors all shine (this is back in the days when the BBC hired actors primarily for their talent, as opposed to their "market appeal"). The dialog is thick with subtle innuendo, irony, drama and the characters seem vivid and real. Some of these characters are fascinating. Most of the stories are reasonably good, and the overall situation of the series is quite absorbing.If you can get past the bad, and I highly recommend trying, B7 is hours of entertainment for you. And even the bad has a good side to it. The trademark early BBC special effects are worth watching, as they can provide a chuckle now and then too.

The television of my childhood. Very camp, very entertaining, virtually no budget at all, and yet the best episodes were extremely involving.The take Blake's 7 took on the Star Trek theme, was to put Robin Hood in outer space. The theme is reasonably simple. A cast of seven outlaws, led by Roj Blake (Gareth Thomas), are on the run from "The Federation", an intergalactic superstate that wants to control all it's citizens. The crew consists of the brooding leader Blake, hot chicks (for the seventies) Cally and the blond Jenna, the cold and machiavellian Avon and the Little John like giant Gan and his wimpy buddy Vila. The seventh member of the crew is the ever present square box computer (a novelty at the time) Zen (later: Orac, as in Oracle).Bad guys are the killer lady Servalan, and her slaveboy Travis (complete with eye patch).This was pretty much compulsive viewing for me when it came out in 1978. Even then, the cheapness of some sets was apparent, but at the best of times, the themes they could come up with were eerie and suspenseful. I loved it anyway. But then, 1978 was a different time, and seems like a world away.