'Blakes 7' was a piece of British television sci-fi that seemed to arrive in belated answer to 'Star Trek'.The characters were very heavily defined, and in a way, rather stereotypic of their time. The titular Blake was a man with a price on his head who had contrived, with assistance from the other characters, to hijack the ultimate spaceship. Able to outrun or outgun anything else in the known universe, they were destined for weekly adventures. Yet all the while, a furious and vengeful authority wanted both them and their vessel back. And so...The ensemble were a competent cast of young British actors of the day, though none seemed to have their careers boosted by the show. Which was surprising because it quickly became quite popular in a 'cult' kind of way. Most of the weekly plots were pretty straightforward, but they were lifted above the ordinary by a witty and intelligent script. Unfortunately, it often became pretty verbose, which inclined it towards a better-educated and more long-winded audience.The biggest let-down was the same as always. Made for British TV, it secured only a minimalist budget. The theme-music was tinny, the sound-effects tacky, and special effects juvenile. The sound-effects were especially and typically dismal. No effort had been made to make the ship interior 'feel' like a ship interior, as the makers of 'Star Trek' managed to do from the outset. There was no ambiance whatsoever. The crew stumped about on what was manifestly floor-panelling, and operated equipment that was clearly made from boxes. The ship had no substance. The series was filmed in a studio, and it looked and sounded as if it was set in a studio. I, for one, would have settled for a slightly less intelligent script and more intelligent effects. This was, after all, a post 'Star Wars' production.Eventually, for me, the more intelligent components failed to compensate for the crappy sets and effects.

I have been watching Blake's 7 for more than 30 years, and it only keeps getting better with time. I remember watching this show as a kid and thinking, wow. As an adult I came to appreciate the true magic of this show. Sure the sets and special effects are basic, even comical at times (one spaceship was 2 hairdryers glued together and spray painted red).But all that doesn't matter, the stories and characters are timeless. The first episode "The way Back" is a real nut buster covering such dark material as mass murder, child abuse and lifelong sentence's on prison planets. The main characters of Blake and Avon are 2 of the best characters ever to reach the small screen. A must see for dark gritty sci-fi.

When this show was first launched - I was 5 going on 6 - kinda young to be into sci fi but this show was something that I just could NOT miss. I didn't get to see any reruns of this show, believe it or not, until I emigrated to New Zealand in 2001 and it was being rerun on one of the free to air channels. Wow. The tingle I got down my spine when the signature tune started was amazing. The nostalgia rush entirely unexpected but welcome. The episodes that were shown were from Season one and, as is typical in New Zealand, they took the show off air midway through with no explanation - Grrrrr! Fast forward to 2008 when I discover an amazing DVD store in Christchurch which stocks pretty much every rare DVD or video you could ever want. And they had all 4 Blakes 7 DVD Box sets. You see where I am going with this....As I type, I have just finished season 3 and out of all of the 39 episodes viewed thus far, was amazed that I could only remember about a half a dozen so was like watching with new eyes over again. It's easy to watch such things with 2008 eyes, having been spoiled with Visual effects from Mssrs Lucas, Spielberg and Jackson over the years, but I have learned to watch things in the context of the time they were made. Sure, there were shaky sets and if you look at the Liberator hard enough, you see three Fairy Liquid bottles staring back at you. Doesn't matter. What made this series for me was the characterizations and the sophistication of the story lines. My mother used to say she thought Paul Darrow was the worst actor she had ever seen.In retrospect, and having trained as an actor myself, I think she was very wrong. Paul Darrow ROCKED as Avon. He created the complexity of the man that was Kerr Avon like I think no other could. I wouldn't say that Paul Darrow was a good looking man but I would say that he had a real sexual magnetism that he played to amazing effect in his scenes with Servelan which made him very attractive and mesmerizing to watch( I am now talking as a 35 year old woman - not the 5 year old child!) - more on Serverlan later. My favourite character as a child with always Vila and I have not revised that opinion because I think he added that much needed humour to break the obvious tension between Blake and Avon and then, in season 3 and 4, Tarrant and Avon. Vila was the only character to appear in all 52 episodes and I think that is testament to Michael Keatings portrayal of the lovable rogue - always portrayed as a coward but I think, a very reluctant hero. I wasn't a huge Roj Blake fan. I felt that Gareth Thomas came across as a Shakespearian actor who looked and felt uncomfortable on a sci fi set. His booming RADA trained voice just didn't impress me and I felt that the series improved when he left ( Is that a treasonous comment?!!) I felt that all the other characters had their part to play and remember the shock when Gan was killed ( I remember that, particularly as a 5 year old who had previously been shielded from such things) and that was the great thing about the show - there was no such thing really as a happy ending; bad things could, and often did, happen and it was inevitable that the show would end the way it did - to have ended any other way would have been somewhat of an anti-climax.The villains - ah, the villains.....Servelan - Jacqueline Pearce. What can I say? As a child I HATED her. So Ms Pearce did her job well. She was superb in the role. It's easy to play an icy cold villianess but not so easy to play one who has her vulnerabilities and not be afraid to show them which we saw from time to time with Servelan. I read somewhere that it was Jacqueline Pearces own idea to have her dressed in such stylish and feminine outfits rather than the mandatory PVC skin tight black body suits that 'baddie' females tended to wear. The decision was an inspired one. I was disappointed that Travis was killed off at the end of season 2. Whilst I didn't think Brian Croucher was that good an actor, still, I enjoyed his performance more than Stephen Griefs ( another RADA voice) - perhaps it was the quietly spoken voice, perhaps the more regional accent, or maybe the piercing blue eyes- anyhow, I did enjoy the episodes he appeared in. Well, I am just about to go and watch season 4 over the next two nights. I know how it will end and I suspect I will remember more episodes as was 8 or 9 by the time this aired. What I do know for certain is that I will enjoy every minute of it and will be sad when it all ends. If I had to chose between storyline, characterisation versus effects, I would choose the former every time. So sad that programme and movie makers in the sci fi genre don't do the same nowadays. The nostalgia rush rewatching Blakes 7, for me, has been amazing. This show defined a time in my life that I can never return to permanently but watching it again has enabled me to return for a brief while and the experience has been priceless.

I know that's a bold statement, but you have to consider the players in the field; Star Trek (in all its incarnations) was very hit-or-miss, Babylon 5 took two seasons to warm up and the final season petered out, the old Battlestar Galactica was pretty dopey, and a thousand others did little to validate the credentials of sci fi for broadcast TV.Blake's 7 has rotten production values, sub-par special effects, terrible acting, major continuity problems, and many planet-side shots seem to have been shot in the same gravel quarry used by every BBC studio since time began.That being said, the show keeps you riveted from the start, since you can't honestly say which of the main characters are going to survive from episode to episode. There's very little altruism here; the more ruthless characters leave each other hanging almost as a rule. Great fun.