Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1522 in DVD
• Released on: 2004-03-01
• Rating: Parental Guidance
• Number of discs: 5
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 5
• Running time: 650 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Blake's 7 was the hit BBC space opera launched in the wake of Star Wars, though with a grittier sensibility and produced on a fraction of the budget. Over 13 episodes the first series introduced freedom-fighter Blake (Gareth Thomas) as he escaped from the Orwellian Federation, gathered a crew of low-life rebels, salvaged an alien starship called the Liberator, and began striking back against the forces of Supreme Commander Servalan (sultry Jacqueline Pearce). The effects were cheap, and alien planets were represented by a disused quarry or an industrial complex, but the strong characters and cynical storylines created by Doctor Who veteran Terry Nation remain involving.

The perfect foil for Blake was Paul Darrow's Avon, a near psychopathic criminal mastermind who only fought to save his skin. The cowardly Vila (Michael Keating) was almost as memorable, while the female leads were Jenna (Sally Knyvette), a smuggler and pilot, and determined Auron telepath Cally (Jan Chappell). Also on board was Gan (David Jackson), inhibited from violence by a brain implant. With even the good guys being criminals, including murderers, this was a galaxy far, far away from previous screen space opera. Though undeniably dated, the show is still vintage TV SF, right from the opening three-parter "The Way Back / Spacefall / Cygnus Alpha" to the cliff-hanging shocker "Orac", which introduces the final member of the un-magnificent seven.

On the DVD: Blake's 7, Series 1 presents the 13 episodes across five DVDs so as to maximise picture quality. Following the BBC's Doctor Who DVDs the 4:3 images are as strong as one could expect from a 1970s TV show shot partly on video (interiors) and 16 mm film (exteriors). Film shots have some grain and vary considerably in quality while the video material shows occasional minor tearing and flaws in the tape. Otherwise these are as good as Blake's 7 is ever going to look. The same is true of the mono sound, which is clear and undistorted.

Each DVD is introduced with a CGI reincarnation of the series' famous logo and three episodes are offered with a commentary. These are "Spacefall" (Sally Knyvette, Michael Keating and producer David Maloney), "Seek-Locate-Destroy" (Keating, Jacqueline Pearce and Stephen Greif) and "Project Avalon" (Knyvette, Pearce and Greif). The chat ranges from high-school reunion playfulness, including singing the title music, to some more serious insights into making the show, to an amusing running debate as to whether Glynis Barber appears in "Project Avalon". Other extras are "2 out takes, a missing scene, 1 robot, 2 flat feet and a blooper". These are exactly what they say: an extract from Blue Peter in 1978 with Lesley Judd making a Blake's 7 bracelet; nine clip compilations introducing the main characters; a synopsis for each episode; and a trailer for the Series 2 DVDs. --Gary S Dalkin

DVD Description
Episodes:

• The Way Back
  
• Space Fall
  
• Cygnus Alpha
  
• Time Squad
  
• The Web
  
• Seek-Locate-Destroy
  
• Mission To Destiny
  
• Duel
  
• Project Avalon
  
• Breakdown
  
• Bounty
  
• Deliverance
  
• Orac

Special Features

• The Making of Blake's 7 - Part One
  
• 2 out-takes plus missing scene 1 Robot, 2 Flat Feet and a blooper
  
• Lesley Judd shows us how to make a Liberator teleport bracelet on Blue Peter
  
• Trailer for Series 2
  
• 4 Easter Eggs
  
• 9 character introductions
  
• Scene selection
  
• Commentary tracks on 3 episodes: Project Avalon, Space Fall, Seek Locate Destroy (each featuring a mixture of the following people involved in the series: David Maloney, Stephen Greif, Jacquelin Pearce, Sally Knvette, Michael Keating, Brian Croucher, Chris Boucher and Jan Chappell)

DVD Technical Information:

• Total running time: 650 mins
  
• Region Code: 2

Customer Reviews

Much more than an exercise in nostalgia
The Blake's 7 production budget may have been modest by today's standards and its special effects memorable rather than impressive, but Terry Nation's second most famous brainchild had it where it counted. Almost 30 years on, the series' characters, dialogue, storyline and sheer inventiveness still impress.

Very much an ensemble piece rather than a vehicle for one or two actors, Blake's 7 gripped its contemporary audiences and continues to enthrall today. Rather more than a simple struggle between the forces of good and evil, the series -- for example --sees a refreshingly self-aware Roj Blake question whether his actions are that of the terrorist or the revolutionary, and is on occasion harrassed as much as he is assisted by his crew; characters die or disappear with daring regularity, and it is a testament to the verve of the show and the vigour of its underlying themes that it outlasted the departure of its eponymous protagonist for a further two seasons whilst its fandom continues to thrive, with hundreds of fanzines having been consigned to print, and regular conventions still drawing healthy numbers of delegates. Fans of Babylon 5 will also find much to enjoy in the series (as, apparently, did its creator, J. Michael Straczynski)

Blake's 7 explodes on to the screen with a brace of gripping opening episodes which stand up as a wonderful piece of self-contained drama in their own right, and continued to develop with a pleasing consistency, due in no small part to the fact that Nation penned all thirteen episodes of the first season himself.

There are, of course, a few gripes: the series' female characters are not as strong as they could have been, with Cally diminishing from diamond-hard freedom fighter in Series 1 ('may you die alone and silent') to administering first-aid and matronly advice to the crew.

That said, there are so many things to take pleasure from in Blake's 7, that no brief account of its many facets could possibly do it justice. Instead, why not just sit back and enjoy the strong storyline, fascinating characters (the archly camp Servalan, sardonic Avon, single-minded Travis, and wonderfully irascible Orac), sparkling dialogue and thoughtful design: the beautiful design of the Liberator (inside and out), the chunky teleport bracelet and 'curling tong' handgun, the memorable design of the Federation Troopers' uniforms, all complemented by the rousing opening credits and rich incidental music of Dudley Simpson. Wonderful entertainment, and a set of DVDs you will return to more often than you might expect.

Welcome to the jackbooted future
Blake's 7 is a puzzle. It shouldn't work. It's cheap, frequently tacky, occasionally camp, and sometimes just plain embarrassing. It was in many ways a major miscalculation on the part of the BBC (who gave it the same budget as the cheap police series it was designed to replace). And yet...

It is also brilliantly cast, expertly scripted, performed with utter conviction and is possibly the darkest SF series Britain has ever produced (The Prisoner notwithstanding). Set in a rubble-strewn galaxy of strip-mined planets, radioactive wastes and grimy power complexes, Blake's 7 offers little in the way of comfort and definitely no hope for the future. In Star Trek, the coming centuries belong to the humanists - in Blake's 7 they belong to the fascists. The Federation is a merciless, nightmarish bureaucracy that only exists because of its uneasy alliance with Space Command, headed by the seductive, selfish and utterly lethal Supreme Commander Servalan. All dissent is ruthlessly supressed and even the inhabitants of the Federation's homeworld, Earth, are dosed with drugs to keep them subserviant. Blake's cause was hopeless from the start, and that is what makes it so heroic. His crew are not the willing freedom-fighting commrades of a futuristic Robin Hood, but hunted, damaged individuals simply trying to stay alive. This is what made Blake's 7 so addictive - the interaction between the main characters (Blake and Avon especially). Season One sets the scene perfectly with its opening four episodes, then almost immediately begins to show us the futility of Blake's cause. Blake and his crew are only ever able to inflict mere pinpricks on the totalitarian regime that threatens them, but we share their longing, their hopes and fears. We cheer at every minor victory and feel despair with every major defeat.

The first season contained some of the best individual episodes and high-lights definitely include "Seek, Locate, Destroy", "Project Avalon", "Duel", "Redemption" and "Orac". Treat yourself to this box-set and teasure Blake's 7, for all its faults. We will never see its like again.

Technical Fault Rectified
Thought a few people may be interested to hear this. There was a technical fault on the first batch of these released by the BBC. The copy I bought from Amazon last week (March 2005) does NOT have the fault. (BBC are offering to replace discs for anyone that bought one of the earlier copies.)
The fault was on the layer transition which meant that on some players it appeared as though around 10 mins of the second episode on each disc had been edited out. This also explains why some of the earlier reviews of these have complaints of missing or edited material, which is not actually true.
Oh - and Blakes 7 is classic BBC sci-fi by the way.