Published in Infinity #8, 2018
Written to celebrate the show’s 40th anniversary, this ended up sharing page space with a similar piece by Brian J. Robb. Not a complaint, Brian is a very good writer and steers clear of the whiny Fanboy drivel which passes for professional criticism in some quarters. Rating each episode out of seven seemed a neat idea, but can you spot the other seven motif? Two final points, there’s a brilliant joke in the third paragraph, and if the missing apostrophe in this page’s title bothers you, read on…
After the success of his mid-seventies gloomfest Survivors, Terry Nation returned to science fiction with Blake’s Seven, described by Ronnie Marsh, the BBC’s Head of Drama Series as ‘kidult sci-fi…a space-western adventure’. Nation himself referred to it as ‘The Dirty Dozen in space’, whilst everyone else called it “that other BBC science fiction programme”. As is happens, Blake’s Seven has a lot less in common with Doctor Who than most people believe. Yes, behind the cameras most of the crew had Who on their CVs, producer David Maloney had directed eight stories and of course Nation had become the richest man in Britain thanks to the Daleks. But whilst Who was entering its most light-hearted phase, anyone tuning in on Monday 2nd January 1978 expecting jolly space fun was in for a shock.
The opening title sequence features torture, instructions to eliminate Blake and a black-suited guard firing directly at the viewer. We’re a long way from Tom Baker joking to camera about the sonic screwdriver. Blake, a seemingly model citizen is contacted by dissidents who tell him that the state, or Federation, is controlling the populace through drugged food and water, that he used to be a figurehead of the rebellion until he was captured and brainwashed, and that his family have been executed. Blake doesn’t get much of a chance to take all this in, as Federation troops ruin the rebel meeting by slaughtering everyone. Blake is captured, falsely accused of molesting children, found guilty in a show trial and deported to prison planet Cygnus Alpha.
Yes, you read that right, Blake is charged with molesting children. Absurd as the idea of a 1970s BBC1 show featuring a sex offender may seem to us today, this is the future, and it’s grim. Whereas the Daleks were famously based upon the Nazis, Blake’s Seven is a critique of Communism. If you’ve never seen the show before (watch out for spoilers) you may wonder why up to ten million viewers tuned in each week. The stories are good, but with Nation writing all 13 episodes the plots could be somewhat thin. I’ll talk about the unfairly maligned effects next time, but this show was given the same budget as Softly Softly. What its popularity comes down to is the characters. And although it shouldn’t be a rarity, over the next four years Blake’s Seven will feature actual character development. And a lot of people called Tarrant.
By the fifth episode the regular characters are all aboard the Liberator. Blake is the obvious choice for the leader, being brave, moral and yet capable of ruthlessness when necessary. Avon is self-interested and sardonic with a nice line in withering put-downs, his dialogue aided greatly by script editor Chris Boucher. Sometimes regarded as nothing but comic relief Vila is more than that, yes he’s in an almost constant state of terror, but will step up to the plate when necessary. Of all the crew Blake seems to trust Jenna the most with the pair having an obvious mutual affection. Cally, the only alien member of the crew is a telepath, which will occasionally be remembered by the writers over the next few years. And Gan is there to hit people. No, that’s not entirely fair, but he’s easily the most underused of the regulars – even when he gets his own episode (Breakdown) he’s unconscious for most of it. Basically, Blake is the person we should aspire to be, Avon is who we’d like to be and Vila is who we probably would be.
It’s worth noting that almost all of the good guys are convicted criminals, with only Blake being stitched up. Avon and Vila are thieves, Jenna’s a smuggler and Gan killed a guard who killed Gan’s “woman” (I know). Which leads us onto the thorny question – are they terrorists?
It would be grossly insensitive to equate real life atrocities with a 70s sci-fi show, but the Liberator crew do perform acts which could be construed as terrorism, albeit of the more targeted sort (destroying communications centres) rather than indiscriminate slaughter. Ultimately their “freedom fighter” / “terrorist” designation will depend upon who or what they are battling, and let’s be perfectly clear on this, the Federation are a right bunch of bastards. Hiding behind the far-left doctrine of “we know what’s best for people” the Federation are shown to be totally corrupt, regarding the lives of others as irrelevant. Servalan, the Supreme Commander is icily ruthless, with a nice line in designer outfits. Her one flaw is relying on Space Commander Travis to capture Blake. Travis, a merciless psychopath is feared equally by allies and enemies. Unfortunately for him he manages to royally bugger up every chance he has to kill Blake, normally ending up humiliated in front of Servalan.
No discussion of Blake’s Seven would be complete without addressing the programme title. For aesthetic reasons you won’t find the possessive apostrophe in either of the rather lovely show logos, so don’t bother looking for it. More troublesome is the number seven. At the end of Time Squad Blake claims that with Liberator computer Zen there are now seven of them. So what happens to the total when Orac comes onboard at the end of the season? And if you think that’s a problem, just you wait…
SEASON ONE – REVIEW
All episodes written by Terry Nation and produced by David Maloney.
The Way Back (directed by Michael E. Briant).
The resistance gains then loses a figurehead.
Fifty of the bleakest and best minutes you’ll ever see. Amongst all the oppression, corruption and murder Blake is quickly established as a true hero, thanks mainly to Gareth Thomas’s magnetic performance. His stirringly defiant final line – “I’m coming back” – is genuine punch the air material. 7/7.
Space Fall (directed by Pennant Roberts).
Blake’s journey to prison is mysteriously interrupted.
As well as giving us our first look at the Liberator, Space Fall introduces Avon and Gan (Vila and Jenna were briefly seen last week). At this stage the audience wouldn’t really have known who was going to become a regular, so it’s quite a shock when eager young chap Nova gets killed. The queasy brutality of the last episode is still present thanks to Leslie Schofield’s Raiker, a rapist and murderer. And he’s not a prisoner – he’s one of the guards. On the downside we also get our first example of Terry Nation simply sticking the word “space” in front of something to turn it into science fiction. A surprisingly tense episode which leaves us wanting more. 6/7.
Cygnus Alpha (directed by Vere Lorrimer).
The noisiest high priest in the universe.
Three episodes in and we get our first quarry, although being shot mostly at night it looks rather good. The iconography of the Liberator – Zen, guns, the teleport – is immediately fascinating, more so than the dreary business on Cygnus Alpha where we’re treated to Brian Blessed giving a typically understated performance as high priest Vargas. It’s such a shame, just two years earlier he was astonishing in I Claudius and now he’s fully morphed into THE ACTOR BRIAN BLESSED. And his robes make him look like Demis Roussos. An episode which works better as an introduction to the Liberator rather than as a story in its own right. 4/7.
TIME SQUAD (directed by pennant Roberts).
Blake’s first attack, and our first alien.
Blake promises “the biggest explosion you’ve ever seen”, which unfortunately results in the first genuinely poor special effect of the series. Apart from introducing Cally not a lot else happens, there’s some nonsense with an escape pod and one of the dullest fight scenes ever committed to videotape. Oh, and we get another quarry and a power station as locations, although once again they look good. Amusingly, Jenna immediately takes against the new woman on the Liberator. 4/7.
THE WEB (directed by Michael E. Briant).
Meet the Decimas, our first proper aliens.
One of the few alien races to appear in the series, the Decimas are pretty impressive, looking like miniature albino Zygons and sounding like the Diddymen’s shriller cousins. Seriously, do not watch this episode with a hangover. The lead’s relationship develops nicely here with Blake referring to Avon as “a friend”. A damp forest is this week’s stock sci-fi location. Saymon aside (he’s a head in a tank and he’s rubbish) this is a rattling good episode. 6/7.
SEEK-LOCATE-DESTROY (directed by Vere Lorrimer).
Another attack, and say hello to Servalan.
This starts off like Time Squad, although with far better explosions. Some people dislike the security robot, but it’s really not that bad. Maybe the grinning mouth was a mistake though. Things move up a gear with the introduction of Servalan, played magnificently by Jacqueline Pearce. We also get to meet Blake’s old enemy Travis. Clad in black leather, prone to standing with hands on hips he’s the campest thing you’ve ever seen. Nonetheless, with superior direction and great dialogue this is excellent stuff. 7/7.
MISSION TO DESTINY (directed by pennant Roberts).
Detective Inspector Avon of the Liberator investigates.
All the good will and excitement engendered by last week’s superlative episode is crushed by this load of old arse. A totally unengaging murder mystery demonstrates Terry Nation’s paucity of ideas. Even the title’s rubbish. 1/7.
DUEL (directed by Douglas Camfield).
Blake and Travis, sitting in a tree…
Douglas Camfield was renowned for his action-heavy work on Who and The Sweeney so it’s a shame that there’s not much going on here. As Avon tartly notes, it’s mostly Blake and Avon doing very little before having a final quick scrap. Add in that most tiresome of SF stock characters, the women with mysterious powers and this is quite dull stuff. 3/7.
PROJECT AVALON (directed by Michael E. Briant).
The youngest resistance leader in the universe.
Despite some nice underground location filming this episode is more notable for its firsts – Blake meets Servalan, Jenna screams and Glynis Barber appears as a Mutoid. Presumably Avalon plans her resistance activities during her school homework club. It does pick up in the last ten minutes, and treats us to Servalan laying into a prone Travis. 4/7.
BREAKDOWN (directed by Vere Lorrimer).
Gan’s ill. Better call a space surgeon.
Gan’s limiter (a device which stops him acting violently, unless the script needs him to) malfunctions which causes him to grunt and grimace. A lot. The crew’s discussion about getting him treatment is amusingly reminiscent of the stock sitcom “the dog’s ill but we can’t afford the vet’s fees” plot. Despite the episode being about Gan, Avon gets the best character development as he decides whether to leave the Liberator. It’s always nice to see Julian Glover, just a shame that he doesn’t get more screen time. And there’s a nice big explosion at the end. 5/7.
BOUNTY (directed by Pennant Roberts)
Nostalgia ain’t what it used to be.
The closest Season One came to an oddball story, this has Blake trying to persuade an exiled ruler to return to his planet. Sarkoff (a lovely performance by T. P. McKenna) however is quite happy to stay under house arrest surrounded by “the finest private collection of Twentieth Century Earth objects”, which must have been quite a relief for the props buyers. Having said that, his recording of Singin’ the Blues is by Tommy Steele, whereas any true connoisseur would have the Guy Mitchell version. Things get a little tiresome when the Liberator is taken over by pirates, but this is well worth a watch. Oh, and Sarkoff’s daughter has a frankly terrifying mouth. Seriously. It’s like she’s half-shark. 5/7.
DELIVERANCE (directed by Michael E. Briant)
It’s another quarry, and Avon’s a god.
It’s worth tolerating the dullness with the cavemen for the scenes where Avon is hailed as a god. His and Vila’s reactions elevate a standard episode into something very enjoyable. And if that’s not your thing you get to see Roy Evans from Eastenders wearing what can only be described as a space cardigan. No banjos though. 5/7.
ORAC (directed by Vere Lorrimer)
Travis fails again. And Orac makes eight.
As the (sort of) second part of the season climax, Orac is rather underwhelming. With most of the crew incapacitated by radiation sickness Blake and Cally go in search of Orac and spend a lot of time standing on a beach. Further down the shoreline is Servalan who is kindly giving Travis another shot at redemption. We meet the Phibians, who are alright in small doses and Orac speaks with his creator’s voice rather than the prissy tones we will become used to. What could have been an anti-climactic season ending is rescued by a jaw-dropping cliffhanger, which seems to show the Liberator exploding. 5/7.
Next time… the visual and aural design of Blake’s Seven, and a review of Season Two, where not everyone makes it out alive. Spoiler alert.