The Anorak Zone Forums

[dcampbell]

2008 is the 30th anniversary year of Blakes 7, since it was first shown in 1978. I have been watching the series, in order, at a rate of one episode per week, more-or-less. Here are the dates I watched them on, along with some comments on each episode. They contain spoilers, if you care about such things.

Season One

Sun 6 Jan: 1. The Way Back
The first episode of B7 stands out, partly because there is no Liberator, no Avon, so it doesn't feel like a regular episode, but also because of its focussing on the lawyer for the last third of the episode then killing him off. Very good at establishing the Federation as being evil so we know Blake is right to rebel against it. The final scene of Blake defiantly saying "I'm coming back" is a brilliant moment.

Sat 12 Jan: 2. Space Fall
First episode with Avon in it! Immediately the dynamic with Blake is established - Avon is sarcastic and superior, but nevertheless Blake is always in charge - and he'll remain so as long as he's in the series. Not such a one-off as the first episode (in feel, I mean), this is a bit more like a regular episode, except still without the Liberator, which makes a big difference.

Sun 20 Jan: 3. Cygnus Alpha
AKA 'The Brian Blessed Episode.' This episode really shows the characters of each of the main cast - particularly Avon who spends most of the time trying to convince Jenna to join him in betraying Blake by leaving him behind. Paul Darrow is ace.
Terry Nation is also ace. Perhaps because of the recent Golden Compass film controversy, I was very aware of the parallels between Brian Blessed's religion of ruling through fear and an addiction to a non-existent drug and organised religion. Done 30 years ago, remember - shows the Philip Pullman controversy is nothing new.

Sun 27 Jan: 4. Time Squad
First weak episode in my view. The last of the episodes to introduce all the characters and the setup for the series to come, the plot that brings in Cally is fine. The other plot, however, is padding and makes the episode slow and boring.

Sun 3 Feb: 5. The Web
Not much to say about this episode - it's not bad, it's just not very memorable. A bit dull, certainly not one of the most re-watchable episodes.

Sat 9 Feb: 6. Seek-Locate-Destroy
First episode with Servalan and Travis. Terry Nation created two magnificent villains, even if they do take the series further down the road of camp than I think he intended. The first half of the episode is the Liberator crew on a mission, in which they each get a chance to do something different (even if it is 'get captured' for Cally). The second half introduces the Blake/Travis rivalry, and works it into the plot really well. In fact it is the plot! Excellent.

Sun 17 Feb: 7. Mission to Destiny
Superb little mystery episode by Terry Nation. Is more like a Doctor Who plot than a B7 one, with Blake, Avon and Cally turning up in a location and helping the people they find solve their problem. I like the '54124' clue, and Avon has some brilliant lines.

Mon 25 Feb: 8. Duel
Tosh. Terry Nation uses the 'two sides exterminating each other in a massive war' metaphor for the Cold War again. Still, had quite a bit of Jenna in it, which is good as I think she's an underused character.

Sun 2 Mar: 9. Project Avalon
Another good episode from Terry Nation - this one has loads of atmosphere and it is easy to get the feeling that the heroes are in real danger from Travis's trap.

Sun 9 Mar: 10. Breakdown
The one with Julian Glover in it. This episode has great characters in it - both the regulars and the minor charcaters. Vila shows his intelligence, Avon is great as usual, even Blake shows a ruthlessness that neither Vila nor Avon display when he threatens the surgeon's hands.
Terry-Nation-ism: Space Medicine.
And Gan beats up Jenna's stunt-double.

Sat 15 Mar: 11. Bounty
Not much to say about this one. I am left wondering: where else have I seen the actors that played Ex-President Sarkov and his daughter?

Sat 22 Mar: 12. Deliverance
Another good episode from Terry Nation, even if it does feature another civilisation that has had a big war and then reverted to primitivism. The scenes where Avon is taken for a god are brilliant, and I also like that there are scenes with Servalan and Travis that are only setting up for the next episode, not interacting with Blake & co at all.

Sun 30 Mar: 13. Orac
Not quite the Ultimate Showdown of Star One or the ends of the later seasons, still a great last episode for season 1, built up to by the previous episode.
A lot of the episode is spent building up for the climax, and even Blake and Cally failing to find a door is used to build up mystery and suspense.
Servalan and Travis hardly interact with Blake & co, but they have scenes on their own that build their characters further.
The radiation sickness is an effective danger, well acted by those affected - they had to, seing as it is invisible.
Terry Nation may have re-used the same tropes: monsters in tunnels, radiation poisoning, etc. but he did use them brilliantly.

[dcampbell]

Season Two

Sun 6 Apr: 14. Redemption
Spaceworld. That is all.

Sun 13 Apr: 15. Shadow
Space City.
First episode not written by Terry Nation. Amazing plot weaving the ‘Terra Nostra’ crime syndicate’s links with the Federation and an attempted takeover of Orac by a force from another dimension - amazing it all fits within 50 minutes - most current Dr Who episodes seem to struggle with one plot in much the same time, let alone weaving two together this well. I had forgotten how good this episode was.

Sun 20 Apr: 16. Weapon
First episode with new Travis in it, and he’s simply not as good as the first Travis. Not that he’s bad at all, it’s just that Croucher isn’t as good as Stephen Grief was.
The episode is interesting as the main characters are hardly in it, instead it concentrates on Servalan, Travis and the guest cast.
It’s notable that the clone of Blake survives.

Sun 27 Apr: 17. Horizon
I remember this episode as being pretty boring from last time I watched it, but this time thought it was pretty good. Everyone apart from Avon gets captured and he has the dilemma of taking the Liberator himself or trying to rescue them.

Sun 4 May: 18. Pressure Point
A key episode in the series, in which Blake makes mistakes and Gan dies. Travis is ruthless in this one, tricking a woman into betraying Blake, then not keeping his promise, then chopping her unconscious. I have to admit he’s got style in this episode.
The scenes at the end, with Control being an empty room, are brilliant. The good guys don’t win.

Sun 11 May: 19. Trial
One of my favourite episodes, this shows Travis at his best, and the main plot of the episode is all about him. The minor characters for his trial are all well done and pretty believable. The plot with Blake & co is less well done, at least until it interacts with the trial and it means they’re responsible for Travis getting away. Clever.

Sun 18 May: 20. Killer
Not very memorable episode, except for the silly costumes worn by Avon and Vila.

Sun 25 May: 21. Hostage
Brian Croucher’s Travis 2 is still growing on me - if he had been an original villain, he could have been great - but he lives in the shadow of the first Travis and this holds him back.

Sun 1 Jun: 22. Countdown
“Space hours.” Yes, it’s an episode by Terry Nation. I love this episode, it is tense and it focuses on Avon’s backstory.

Sun 8 Jun: 23. Voice From The Past
Good points and bad points to this one:
Good point: the set-up - a marvellous trap set up by Servalan from the beginning, the scene with her in extreme close-up on a massive cinema screen is brilliant as she explains how she’s played them all along.
Bad point: Travis. A terrible episode for him, he’s incompetent and that’s the only reason Blake & co get away from the trap, and his disguise is terrible - the accent atrocious.

Sun 15 Jun: 24. Gambit
I really like this episode, with its mix of three mini-plots instead of one main plot, and the minor characters are all very well done. It stands out, especially Avon, Vila and Orac’s bits.

Sun 22 Jun: 25. The Keeper
As we approach the magnificent end of season 2 this episode does very little except build up towards that end - by itself it is a poor, wafer-thin story and none of the regular characters are well served by it.

Sun 29 Jun: 26. Star One
End of season 2, my favourite episode of Blakes 7 sees the ascension of Avon to Magnificent Bastard(TM), as he kills Travis, takes over the Liberator, and gets a perfect, dramatic last line of the story: “Fire!”

[dcampbell]

Season Three

Sat 5 Jul: 27. Aftermath
Season 3: let the campness commence!
Avon stars and Dayna is introduced, and there’s a ‘have your cake and eat it’ moment when Avon acknowledges the unlikeliness of Servalan turning up. The cliffhanger with Tarrant is pretty good too.

Sun 13 Jul: 28. Powerplay
Is Tarrant ever as good as this again? The plot introducing him is great, with bad guy played by Michael Sheard. The other plot with Vila, Cally and Servalan is a waste of time though, sadly.

This is Big Gay Longcat’s favourite episode.

Sun 20 Jul: 29. Volcano
Not a very good episode - though the scene where Avon slips instructions to Zen into his speech to the bad guy is pretty well done, even if it’s followed by a pretty poor fight sequence in which Avon should probably have been killed - not good choreography/direction, IMO.

Sun 27 Jul: 30. Dawn of the Gods
The first 25 minutes are great, with the mystery of the Black Hole. But once the guy with the Top Hat appears, it gets silly and much less good. It also seems to me that this was written for Blake, and Tarrant has simply been copy-pasted over Blake to replace him, as the character is far more like Blake than Tarrant.
An uneven episode rather than a truly bad one.

Sun 3 Aug: 31. Harvest of Kairos
Probably the worst episode of B7, it has few redeeming features - some quite nice lines, but those aren’t enough to save it from being awful. It’s the only episode with effects so bad they break my suspension of disbelief - the giant ant-creature.

Sun 10 Aug: 32. City at the Edge of the World
What a great episode. This is really enjoyable, with Vila stealing the show.

Fri 15 Aug: 33. Children of Auron
I’m not fond of this one. The plot’s a bit too stupid and the characters act too stupidly.

Sun 24 Aug: 34. Rumours of Death
A great episode that fits the story well into its run-time.
A key episode in the character development of Avon, he is basically destroyed by the events and I suppose begins the descent that leads inevitably towards the end of the series. It doesn’t stop him being a magnificent bastard along the way.
Tarrant’s also pretty good in this one. He doesn’t do much, but the scene where he impersonates a Federation officer is effective, as is his loyalty to Avon.

Sun 31 Aug: 35. Sarcophagus
Another brilliant episode, one of my favourites. I think this one would stand well as a sci-fi story on its own, but is really helped by the characters we know from the series. Tarrant, Avon and Cally are all really good here. Avon’s line: “Then make me die; it’s the only thing you can make me do,” is a fantastic line of defiance, up there with The Prisoner’s “I’ll kill you!” “I’ll die.”
I love this episode.

Sun 7 Sep: 36. Ultraworld
“Has the bonding ceremony begun?”
In a word: shit. A waste of time with Tarrant and Dayna forced to ‘bond’ (i.e. kiss) and Vila saves the day with crappy riddles.
Admittedly the riddle scenes are quite amusing - but due to the way Vila and Orac play them, not at all due to the riddles themselves. That’s deliberate, I’m sure, but it can’t save this episode from being one of the poorest of season 3.

Sun 14 Sep: 37. Moloch
A big improvement on Ultraworld, but still only an averagely-good episode. Best bit is easily Avon’s ultra-cool line: “Yes, that is how I reasoned you would look.”

Sat 20 Sep: 38. Death Watch
One of my favourite episodes, I think - a cleverly constructed plot, and an effective realisation. The duels are done well, and all the actors are pretty good, especially Vinni, even with few lines.

Sun 28 Sep: 39. Terminal
One of the darkest episodes of Blakes 7, lightened only by Avon’s ironic (?) smile at the end - Blake is dead (supposedly), the Liberator is destroyed (and it’s Avon’s fault), they’re trapped on a planet, and man’s future is a savage ape. This last is pure Terry Nation, and is a stupid, stupid part of an otherwise utterly superb episode.
It makes sense if you think it was originally meant to be the last ever B7 episode (though even then Servalan doesn’t die on-screen, so she could come back). I almost wish it had been.

[dcampbell]

Season Four

Sun 5 Oct: 40. Rescue
Season 4 has such a different feel to what has gone before. They have lost regular characters before (and gained new ones, of course) but the loss of the Liberator (and Zen) is bigger than any of them. Compare this to the loss of Cally (off-screen) - no contest.
Dorian takes ages to die - but it is done quite well.

Mon 13 Oct: 41. Power
Crap. Battle of the sexes is cheap sci-fi rubbish, executed badly and unconvincingly, with poor dialogue. Just a terrible episode.

Mon 20 Oct: 42. Traitor
I guess the return of Servalan was meant to be a surprise, but they could have left it more than three episodes.
Some of the minor characters are good in this.

Sun 26 Oct: 43. Stardrive
I quite like this episode. It’s a bit slow, evidenced by various shots of the characters running around outside, but it allows for a simple story to be done well. It’s also quite dark, like a lot of this season, which is why the contrasting end-music jars a lot.

Sun 2 Nov: 44. Animals
Below-average, slightly dull episode focussing on Dayna. Most noticeable bit is Avon slipping on the floor in a scene near the end. As pointed out on the Anorak’s Blakes 7 site. Once you have noticed this bit, you can’t un-see it.

Tue 11 Nov: 45. Headhunter
I like this episode, it’s very atmospheric and has a chilling villain that the heroes really need to work to defeat. It fits the 45 minutes well, too.

Mon 17 Nov: 46. Assassin
It’s a pretty good idea - trapped on a ship with a killer, and the execution is OK, but this episode is seriously let down by the actress playing Cancer - she’s really bad.

Mon 24 Nov: 47. Games
I quite like this episode, though it’s not outstanding. The main reason it’s good is Vila, who is shown to act with intelligence - rather than be the idiot/comic relief - which he rarely does. It’s often hinted at but very seldom shown.

Sun 30 Nov: 48. Sand
I really like Sand. It seems as if the entire episode is there to set up the scenes of the Tarrant/Servalan ‘romance’ but it works so well that it gets away with it.

Mon 8 Dec: 49. Gold
OK ‘heist’ episode, most notable for Roy Kinnear as the guest star who gets killed at the end. Avon goes a bit mad in this one, especially once he realises the outcome.

Tue 9 Dec: 50. Orbit
The entire episode builds up to one scene, where Avon hunts and tries to kill Vila. Unbelievable, even in a series like Blakes 7 where the ‘heroes’ are portrayed as much less than perfect (with Avon the worst of them since the start), that one of the good guys would seriously try to kill another. This episode pulls it off convincingly and is brilliant because of it.

Sun 21 Dec: 51. Warlord
There are a couple of great scenes here, such as the destruction of Xenon base and the trap sprung on Avon and Soolin, though the Federation guards suffer the law of inverse ninjas here more than ever before.
The thing that brings this episode down is the incredible ‘80s hair. That might seem like a very minor quibble, but it has to be seen to be believed - Zeona looks like she is wearing a wig on top of another wig!
Servalan’s last episode - good riddance. She was a great character, but really overstayed her welcome.

Sat 27 Dec: 52. Blake
Masterpiece. As an end-of-season cliffhanger episode it would merely be genius, but as the end of series cliffhanger episode it is perfect.
Though Blake appeared in the last episode of season 3, it was only for one scene which later turned out to be a simulation anyway, so it feels as if he hasn’t been in it for two whole seasons (half the total series length), thus his return is suitably epic for a grand finale.
Avon is once again at the heart of the episode, of course. Insight into his character: he’s not completely psychopathic - he clearly pauses before leaving Tarrant on the crashing Scorpio. But he does shoot Blake. Three times. Blake brings it on himself, in a way, with his mind games and his not answering a straight question even when Avon is pointing a gun at him. But Avon pulls the trigger. And after that it all goes horribly, horribly wrong for the characters. Just last episode the Federation guards were at their least effective, now they wipe out the heroes and surround Avon ready for the ultimate ending.
One last moment worth mentioning: it’s Vila that punches out the Federation Officer.

[Lance]

You're a braver man than I, sir. I only got as far as halfway through Series 1 the last time I tried to rewatch this, before packing it in. I keep meaning to get back into it.... but you know. Only so many hours in the day, etc.

Interesting reading your reviews.

[dcampbell]

Cheers Lance.

I'd hardly call them "reviews" though.

I may get round to assigning star/out-of-five ratings, Zone-style, at some point.

[Pex]

Everyone hates Harvest of Kairos. I remember it as having been very creepy, but I don't think I've ever read a single positive review anywhere.

[Anorak]

I see I gave it average marks on the B7 site: http://www.anorakzone.com/blake ... with reservations. (That review doesn't seem to flow very well to me, it seems to stop and start)

Thanks for this thread, dc, looks like a good read.

[Upthearsenal]

6. Seek-Locate-Destroy Excellent.

8. DuelTosh.

Don't want to give a kicking to somebody else's loved one in my first post but I've got very different feelings about Seek, Locate, Destroy. Duel is a cracking bit of telly IMO.

Never got into B7 when it was on. Bought the 3rd series dvd at Christmas, watched them all and now gone back to the 1st series. I did remember the guy getting done in by the cavity wall insulation in Space Fall and the screaming head from The Web (which I still find both weakly unconvincing as an 'effect' but still quite disturbing). Don't remember anything else from watching the first time so far.

I watched Duel last night and I'm doubtful of seeing a better episode. It struck me as far and away the best piece of telly B7 has done of the 20 eps I've seen. Apart, from a rather obviously scrawny stunt double for Travis in one shot, it's pretty much flawless.

The whole production is tighter, sharper and more sophisticated than anything I've seen on B7 so far (from either series). Best model work, too. I have to admit that I was waiting with interest to see a Douglas Camfield episode but I don't think I'm seeing anything that isn't there.

The performances all round are sharper and truer, the editing and camerawork tighter, the atmospherics and sound effects are fantastic (right down to old favourite jungle noises from The Daleks in 1963).

The opening third of the assault on The Liberator is actually convincing and exciting and the sound effects really help; middle third on the planet with just talking heads is really well distributed so that long exchanges and reactions to them are given diverse viewpoints that really couldn't be done better; the last third with the forest scenes are really strong and open with a stunning camera shot. When Blake arrives in the forest, the witch-like weirdness of the studio characters and setting is just superbly transposed simply through the framing of the shot itself. The cold and desolation of mist, the leaf littered floor and the barren trees give a complete sense simultaenously of both wintry desertedness and unsettling presence. The Keeper's (?) attack on Blake is brilliantly conveyed and achieved just through editing and sound.

I really felt it was the most sophisticated episode so far and even quite moving, in no small part due to the performance of the 'vampire' mutant and the contrasting presence of Jenna. Jenna and Blake's outlook and their relationship really pointedly subverts Travis' friendless contempt.

A really wonderful episode. The first one to really convince me that B7 can be a classic show.

Hello.

[dcampbell]

Hello.

I'm glad you liked Duel. Maybe I will have to give it another go, this time outside of the context of being part 8 in a 14-part run of purely Terry Nation episodes. Great though they are, I think the re-using of the same tropes was beginning to bug me by Duel.

I'd certainly agree that the performances of the four 'duellists' (Blake, Jenna, Travis and the Muto) are all excellent, and sell the scenario to the viewer through their conviction alone. I'd single out Travis especially - this is one of the three episodes (between S-L-D and Project Avalon) that really sell him as Blake's nemesis and makes Travis 2's job of replacing him in season 2 much harder.