Blake's 7

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Blake's 7
The logo used for the first three seasons of Blake's 7
Genre	Science fiction Space opera
Camera setup	Multi-camera
Picture format	625 line (576i) PAL 4:3
Audio format	monaural
Running time	c. 50 minutes per episode
Creator(s)	Terry Nation
Executive producer(s)	David Maloney (Seasons 1-3) Vere Lorrimer (Season 4)
Starring	Gareth Thomas as Roj Blake Paul Darrow as Kerr Avon Sally Knyvette as Jenna Stannis Michael Keating as Vila Restal David Jackson as Olag Gan Jan Chappell as Cally Steven Pacey as Del Tarrant Josette Simon as Dayna Mellanby Glynis Barber as Soolin Peter Tuddenham as Zen, Orac & Slave Jacqueline Pearce as Servalan Stephen Greif as Travis (Season 1) Brian Croucher as Travis (Season 2)
Opening theme	Dudley Simpson
Ending theme	Dudley Simpson
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Language(s)	English
Original channel	BBC1
Original run	2 January 1978–21 December 1981
No. of episodes	52 (List of episodes)
Official website
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

Blake's 7 was a British science fiction television series made by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) for their BBC 1 channel. Created by Terry Nation, a prolific television writer best known for creating the popular Dalek monsters for the television series Doctor Who, it ran for four seasons between 1978 and 1981. Popular from the time it was first broadcast, it remains well-regarded on account of its dark tone, moral ambiguity and strong characterisation. It is often remembered for the shock ending that concluded the series.

Blake's 7 is set in the future, in a time when the Earth and many other planets are ruled by the totalitarian Terran Federation. Roj Blake, played by Gareth Thomas, is a political dissident convicted on a trumped-up charge and sentenced to deportation to a penal colony on a remote planet. Escaping while being transported, with the assistance of his fellow prisoners, he obtains an advanced alien spacecraft, the Liberator which he uses to strike back against the Federation. He receives somewhat reluctant support from the rest of his crew, who are fellow escapees, especially Kerr Avon, played by Paul Darrow, a technical genius more interested in saving his own skin and seeking personal wealth than striking a blow for freedom. Later on in the series, when Blake is separated from his crew, Avon takes over but remains a target for the forces of the Federation.

The series was originally due to conclude at the end of its third season but was unexpectedly renewed for a further season at the last moment. This made some changes to the format of the show necessary, including introducing a new spacecraft, the Scorpio. Aware that renewal for a fifth season was unlikely, the production team decided to devise a memorable conclusion for the series, leaving the final fate of the main characters highly ambiguous. For this reason, the subject of what happened after the final episode has been the subject of much debate and fan fiction among aficionados of the series.

Blake's 7 has proved to be influential on many science fiction series, including Babylon 5, Farscape and Firefly as well as being one of the first television series to end its seasons on cliffhangers. The rights to the series are currently held by an independent production company who have indicated their intention to bring the series back in some form. However, no specific details such as production dates etc. have yet emerged, as of end 2006.

Contents 1 Overview 2 Plot summary 3 Production history 4 Legacy 5 Music and sound effects 5.1 Theme tune 5.2 Incidental music 5.3 "Special sound" 6 Trivia 7 Revival attempts 8 Merchandise 9 See also 10 Notes and references 11 External links

[edit] Overview

The series was created by Terry Nation, who had previously worked on Doctor Who and created the Doctor's most famous adversaries, the Daleks. It was made in the United Kingdom and was produced and broadcast by the BBC. Blake's 7 resembled other BBC science fiction shows (such as Doctor Who), but was characterised by a darker tone and often defied the traditional sharply-defined ethical stances associated with this type of drama, with considerable blurring of the distinction between the "good" and the "bad" guys (and gals).

Loosely based on the Robin Hood legend, the show followed the exploits of a group of outlaw revolutionaries, led by a patriot-hero named Roj Blake (Gareth Thomas), who fought the fascist interstellar Terran Federation in the third century of the second calendar. Blake's 7 was watched by 10 million viewers at its peak, an enormous number for a space opera, especially as it was broadcast at the same time as popular soap opera Coronation Street.

The show was noted for its strong focus on character; Blake and his band of outlaws were all highly individual and flawed, as often at each others' throats and in pursuit of their own private agendas as they were facing down their common enemies in the Federation. It also featured a high attrition rate among its main characters, in violation of accepted practice for a drama of its nature. Also, the morally ambiguous or evil characters (specifically, Avon and the ruthless but charismatic Servalan) proved popular, gathering dedicated fan followings.

According to actress Jacqueline Pearce, who played Servalan, Terry Nation originally intended her character to be a man, but halfway through writing the script he realised that it would be more interesting if the gender was reversed. Servalan was also meant to make only one appearance, but Pearce's commanding presence and unusual close-cropped hairstyle made Servalan an instant hit and Pearce became a regular cast member.

The show's fascination with and careful study of dictatorial societies has made it a surprise hit in several Eastern European countries as a sort of pop culture Nineteen Eighty-Four. Characters working for the evil Federation were often portrayed as being motivated by their own concepts of duty and loyalty, as well as the overpowering pressure exerted by society. Tactics studied from the Soviet Union during the Stalin era (such as forced psychiatric treatments and show trials) were intermixed with papier-mache giant spiders and fur-suited aliens.

Blake's 7 was also remarkable for its range of influences; dialogue inspired by Casablanca and The Importance of Being Earnest was mixed with Spaghetti Western nihilism and pure camp, as well as the odd plot and a major character stolen from Shakespeare. Most of the cast had classical training, and actor Michael Keating based his character, Vila Restal, upon Feste, the brilliant but flawed jester in Twelfth Night.

The show made use of cliffhangers at the end of each series, a feature used to maximum effect in the final episode, "Blake". This was deliberately written to be open-ended in case the series returned, but also to be final in case it did not.

Another notable (and often satirised) aspect of the show was the light construction of its sets. The "wobbly set syndrome" was particularly apparent during the numerous fight scenes. Many sequences set on the surface of other worlds were filmed in quarries; fans of the show can now go on a Blake's 7 quarry location tour of the UK. James Follett, writer of two episodes, "Dawn of the Gods" and "Stardrive", later stated that the budget of only £60,000 per episode allowed for very little expenditure on location shoots.

[edit] Plot summary

A complete list of episodes with capsule summaries can be found at the list of Blake's 7 episodes.

Season 1

Roj Blake, an alpha-grade worker in one of the domed cities that house most of the population of Earth, is approached by a group of political dissidents who take him outside the city to meet their leader, Bran Foster. Foster reveals that Blake was once the leader of an influential group of rebels opposed to the Earth Administration. Arrested, he was brainwashed and coerced into making a confession denouncing the rebellion before having his memory of those years wiped. Foster wants Blake to rejoin the dissidents. Suddenly, the meeting is interrupted by the arrival of Federation security forces who open fire with lethal force on the crowd of rebels. Blake is the only survivor. Returning to the city, his erased memories starting to return, he is arrested, tried on trumped up charges of child abuse and sentenced to be deported to the prison planet Cygnus Alpha.^[1] On the prison ship, London, transporting Blake and other prisoners to Cygnus Alpha, Blake meets Vila Restal, a cunning thief; Jenna Stannis, a smuggler; Olag Gan, who murdered a Federation guard and Kerr Avon, a computer genius who attempted to defraud the Federation banking system. When the London encounters a strange alien ship, abandoned during a space battle, efforts to board the ship and claim it as salvage are thwarted by the ship's defence mechanism. As a last ditch effort, the London crew decide to send prisoners across to the ship, selecting Blake, Avon and Jenna. Blake manages to destroy the defence system and then, using Jenna's piloting skills, effects an escape with the alien ship.^[2] Following the London in their captured ship, which they have christened Liberator, to Cygnus Alpha, they retrieve Vila and Gan. Blake is now determined to use his new crew and the powerful ship they have captured to strike back against the Federation though the others – especially Avon – make for reluctant followers.^[3] His first target is a communications station on the planet Saurion Major. While attempting to infiltrate the station, Blake is assisted by Cally, a telepathic guerrilla soldier from the planet Auron who he invites to join the crew. With this new arrival, and counting the Liberator’s computer, Zen, the Liberator has a crew of seven.^[4]

As Blake's strikes against the Federation become bolder and more effective, political pressure grows on the Administration to deal with him. Supreme Commander Servalan appoints Space Commander Travis, a man who has a personal vendetta against Blake, to eliminate him and capture the Liberator.^[5] Meeting a man called, Ensor, Blake uncovers a plot by Servalan and Travis to seize Orac, a powerful device capable of communicating with any other computer equipped with a component called a Tariel Cell. Beating Servalan to the device, they are astonished when Orac reveals it is powerful enough to predict the future and horrified at what it shows them – the Liberator being destroyed in a mighty explosion...^[6]

Season 2

When the Liberator is briefly recaptured by the System, the race who originally built it, Orac's prophecy is revealed – it was not the Liberator Orac predicted would be destroyed but a sister ship.^[7] Blake, wishing to strike right at the heart of the Federation targets the central computer control centre on Earth. Avon agrees, but only on the condition that Blake gives him the Liberator once the Federation has been toppled. Blake reaches the control centre, only to find an empty room. Servalan reveals that the computer centre was secretly moved years before and the old location left as a decoy for the Federation's enemies. Blake makes his escape, but pays a heavy price when Gan is killed during the escape.^[8] While Blake ponders the future of the rebellion following the death of Gan, Travis is found guilty of war crimes at a Federation court martial. When Blake decides to avenge Gan's death by attacking Servalan's headquarters, Travis escapes intending to continue his vendetta with Blake.^[9] Meanwhile, Blake continues his pursuit of the location of computer control, learning that the centre is now called “Star One”.^[10] Servalan too becomes desperate to find the location of Star One when the control centre begins to malfunction, throwing the Federation into crisis. Finding Star One, Blake discovers that aliens from the Andromeda galaxy, aided by Travis, have infiltrated Star One. Blake and his crew overcome the aliens and kill Travis but too late – Star One is destroyed leaving the way open for an alien fleet to invade the galaxy. Calling for help from the Federation, where Servalan has imposed military rule and declared herself President, Blake moves the Liberator in to hold off the alien fleet until Servalan's reinforcements arrive...^[11]

Season 3

The Liberator is severely damaged during the battle with the Andromedans forcing the crew to abandon ship when life support fails. The Federation defeat the alien invaders but pay a price – having sustained heavy casualties, the Federation's influence in the galaxy is lessened considerably.^[12] When Blake and Jenna go missing in action during the war, Avon takes control of the Liberator. The remaining members of the crew are joined by two new additions – weapons expert Dayna Mellanby and mercenary Del Tarrant.^[13] While Avon is less inclined to strike against the Federation than Blake, Servalan sees capturing the Liberator as key to restoring the Federation's power. When an attempt to create clones of herself is thwarted and the clone embryos are destroyed Servalan, suffering from “psychic miscarriage”, swaps her trademark white clothes for the black of mourning.^[14] Avon decides to go after the Federation agents responsible for killing the woman he loved, Anna Grant, only to discover it was Anna herself who betrayed him. Barging in on a plot by Anna to overthrow Servalan, Avon kills Anna and frees Servalan.^[15] Using an image of Blake as a lure, Servalan leads Avon and the Liberator crew into a trap, capturing the Liberator and abandoning her crew on the planet Terminal. However, the Liberator, and Zen, have been irreparably damaged by a cloud of fluid particles. When Servalan orders the ship to maximum power, it explodes, apparently killing Servalan and her henchmen. Down on the planet Terminal, the Liberator crew ponder their next move...^[16]

Season 4

An explosion in Servalan's underground complex on Terminal kills Cally. Avon and the surviving crew are rescued by the mysterious Dorian and his associate, Soolin. Dorian takes them in his spacecraft, Scorpio, to his base on the planet Xenon. After Vila foils Dorian's plan to steal the crew's lifeforce, Soolin joins the crew and they take over Xenon base and the Scorpio with its onboard computer Slave.^[17] Using the technology left by Dorian, Avon constructs a new teleport system for Scorpio^[18] and later acquires a stardrive which makes the ship much faster.^[19] Becoming concerned with the speed at which the Federation are reclaiming their former territory, the Scorpio crew discover that Servalan – who has survived the destruction of the Liberator and, having been deposed as President, is going under the pseudonym of Commissioner Sleer – is masterminding a pacification programme using a drug called Pylene 50.^[20] Fearing that as the Federation continues its expansion, it will soon reach their haven on Xenon, the Scorpio crew work to create an alliance between the independent worlds to resist the Federation. However, they are betrayed by one of the alliance members, Zukon, and Xenon base is destroyed.^[21] In a last ditch effort to rally the resistance, Avon reveals he has tracked down Blake to the planet Gauda Prime. Arriving at Gauda Prime, the Scorpio is attacked and crashlands on the planet. As part of a loyalty test, Avon is fooled into believing that Blake has betrayed him to the Federation. Avon shoots and kills Blake. Federation guards arrive and there is a firefight. Tarrant, Soolin, Vila and Dayna fall to the floor, apparently shot. The guards surround Avon, who is the last one standing. Avon steps over Blake's body, raises his gun and smiles...^[22]

[edit] Production history

Main article: History of Blake's 7

Blake's 7 first appeared on British television screens on 2 January 1978.^[23] It was created by Terry Nation, a prolific television writer best known for creating the popular Dalek monsters for the long running science fiction television series Doctor Who.^[24] The notion for the series – which Nation later described as being like “The Dirty Dozen in space”^[25] - came to Nation out of the blue during a pitch meeting with Ronnie Marsh, the Head of Drama of the BBC. Intrigued by the idea, Marsh commissioned Nation for a pilot script on the spot and, satisfied with the draft scripts, Marsh green-lit Blake's 7 for full development.^[26]

Assigned to produce the series was David Maloney, a veteran BBC director with substantial experience of working on Doctor Who. Chris Boucher, who had also worked on Doctor Who, as a writer, took on the role of script editor. With Terry Nation commissioned to write all thirteen episodes of the first season, Boucher's contribution was to expand and develop the first draft scripts delivered by Nation into workable scripts, a task that became increasingly more difficult as Nation started running out of ideas. Meanwhile, Maloney was faced with the challenges of handling a shooting schedule and budget unsuited to such an action and special effects-heavy show as Blake's 7. Despite these challenges, the programme was a ratings success, with some episodes exceeding ten million viewers, and was quickly renewed for a second year.^[26]

New writers were taken on board from the second season onwards but difficulties with the scripts affected plans to have a continuing plot that would run through the season. The decision was also taken to kill off one of the regular characters to show to viewers that Blake and his crew were not indestructible. The character of Gan, played by David Jackson, was selected due to the character being under-utilised as well as being the least popular among viewers. Although ratings were down on the previous year, a third season was commissioned.^[26]

A major challenge faced the production team for the third season when star Gareth Thomas, who played Blake, quit and the series had to redefine itself in order to continue without its titular character. Various ideas to have a replacement Blake character take over fell by the wayside and the character of Avon, played by Paul Darrow, was moved centre stage from this point onwards. However, to keep the cast numbers at the titular seven, new characters Tarrant, played by Steven Pacey, and Dayna, played by Josette Simon, were added to make up for the departed Gareth Thomas and for Sally Knyvette, who played Jenna, who also left at the end of the second season.^[26]

Blake's 7 was expected to finish in 1980, after its third season, but, to the surprise of all concerned, an announcement was made over the end credits of the last episode, Terminal, that Blake's 7 would be back the following year. This happened because Bill Cotton, the Head of Television at the BBC had been watching Terminal during broadcast and had enjoyed it so much that he telephoned the presentation department at the BBC and ordered them to make the announcement. With David Maloney unavailable, the producer's reigns were handed to the show's senior director, Vere Lorrimer, who oversaw major changes in the show's format including introducing a new spacecraft, Scorpio, and it's computer, Slave (voiced by Peter Tuddenham). When Jan Chappell, who played Cally, chose not to return, she was replaced by Glynis Barber, playing a new character, Soolin. Gareth Thomas made one final appearance on the show as Blake, insisting that the character be killed off in a definitive manner, for the last episode. Although the fourth season performed satisfactorily in the ratings, there would be no last minute reprieve for the series this time. Blake's 7 was not renewed for a fifth year and viewers were left with an unresolved cliffhanger when the final episode, titled Blake, finished airing on 21 December 1981.^[26]

[edit] Legacy

It was apparent quite early on to producer Vere Lorrimer and script editor Chris Boucher that Blake's 7 was unlikely to get renewed for a fifth season. In considering how to best wrap up the series, the notion of having Blake return to lead a final all-out assault on the Federation was considered and then rejected on the grounds that it stretched credulity. Instead Lorrimer and Boucher chose to craft a memorable conclusion in which the final fates of the cast would be left hanging.^[26] Conscious that the series had received a last-minute reprieve the previous year, Boucher deliberately kept the ending ambiguous so that if the show was to return for a fifth year “anybody who didn't want to sign their contract was dead, and there were ways of bringing the others back”.^[27] The one exception to this was the fate of Blake – Gareth Thomas had agreed to reprise the role again only on the condition that Blake was killed off once and for all.^[28] Terry Nation, who had not been informed of what was planned, was upset by the conclusion and briefly considered taking legal action against the BBC. He recalled, “They were really dumb to do it. I killed off the Daleks remember, and what a dumb thing that was to do, so I learned that lesson, and it should have applied to this”.^[29] The final episode also provoked a strong reaction from the viewing public especially from parents of younger viewers upset at the apparent deaths of their heroes.^[28] Lorrimer issued a standard letter to concerned viewers telling them that all good things come to an end and reminded then that no blood was seen when the Scorpio crew fell.^[26]

In spite of (or perhaps because of) the cliffhanger ending, stories about possible resolutions are a popular topic among Blake's 7 fans. These are generally referred to as “Post Gauda Prime” stories – Gauda Prime being the planet on which the final episode took place.^[30] A novel, Afterlife, written by Tony Attwood was published by Target Books in 1984. Set five months after the final episode, it attempted to continue the story with Avon, Vila and Orac having survived the massacre. Attwood planned a follow up novel, titled State of Mind, but this did not materialise.^[31] Post Gauda Prime stories also crop up frequently in Blake's 7 fan fiction with many stories finding means for the characters, including Blake, to have survived.^[32]

Blake's 7's major legacy to future TV space opera was the use of moral ambiguity and dysfunctional main characters to create tension, as well as long-term plot arcs to hold episodes together. These traits later were seen in Lexx, Andromeda, Deep Space 9, Babylon 5, Farscape, the new Battlestar Galactica and Firefly, as opposed to the 'feel-good' tone and unconnected episode structure of early Star Trek or the series' main contemporary, Doctor Who. Blake's 7 was also arguably unique in TV SF in that it had a major influence on written SF, with the revival of written space opera in the 1990s coming from the UK at the hands of writers such as Stephen Baxter, Alastair Reynolds, and Iain M. Banks. These authors are all of the generation that watched Blake's 7, and their work features morally ambivalent, often sarcastic and driven characters, whose usually violently-terminated lives are spent in vast and baroque spacecraft. Another important influence on later SF was that in Blake's 7 central characters could (and did) die. This was a sharp contrast with the original Star Trek, where minor characters were killed in each episode, but the major characters always survived.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Music and sound effects

[edit] Theme tune

Blake's 7's theme tune was written by Australian composer Dudley Simpson, who had been a regular composer of music for the BBC's Doctor Who for over a decade. The same recording of Simpson's theme was used for the opening titles of all four series of the show; for Series 4, a new recording was used for the closing titles, featuring a somewhat less bombastic and more easy listening style of arrangement.

[edit] Incidental music

Simpson also provided the incidental music for 50 of the 52 episodes, the exceptions being the Series 1 episode "Duel" and the Series 2 episode "Gambit". In the case of "Duel" it was directed by the late Douglas Camfield, who bore a personal grudge against Simpson, and refused to use him.(Doctor Who Magazine, December 17, 1997, cited at All Experts) For "Gambit" it was decided that Elizabeth Parker should provide the music, as well as providing 'special sound' for the episode.

[edit] "Special sound"

In addition to conventional incidental music and traditional acoustic foley effects, Blake's 7 featured considerable use of what the BBC credits described as "special sound". This involved an extensive array of electronically-generated sound effects, ranging from spot foley-style effects for various props (e.g. handguns, the Liberator and Scorpio teleports, engines, and flight-console buttons) to background atmospheres (ambient textures present throughout in certain sets or locations), and occasionally crossing over into the realm of incidental music (e.g. on the episodes "Duel" and "Gambit"). All the special sounds for Blake's 7 were provided by the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, with Richard Yeoman-Clark working from the beginning of the series up until "Gambit", whereupon new Workshop recruit Elizabeth Parker took over, staying in this role for the remainder of the show's run. Many of these effects were released on the compilation album BBC Sound Effects No. 26 - Sci-Fi Sound Effects.

[edit] Trivia

• Blake's 7 was first shown on British television in January of 1978 at the same time as the film Star Wars was being premiered in London at both the Dominion, Tottenham Court Road and the Odeon, Leicester Square, before the blockbuster's nationwide release later that year.

• When Terry Nation originally scripted the show, he intended Blake to have seven companions, hence the name Blake's 7. Due to budget constraints, however, Blake's crew never included more than six human actors at one time (including Blake, who was now counted as one of the seven). The show subtly addressed this discrepancy by counting one or more computers as members of the crew. Thus, the original seven were:

Humans: Roj Blake, Kerr Avon, Jenna Stannis, Vila Restal, Olag Gan, Cally (6)

Computers: Zen (1)

By the end of the series, the lineup had become

Humans: Kerr Avon, Vila Restal, Del Tarrant, Dayna Mellanby, Soolin (5)

Computers: Orac, Slave(2)

Using this system, the total does actually add up to seven with fair consistency throughout the series. Kerr Avon and Vila Restal were the only members of the seven to remain throughout the entire run of the series. However, this means that at the end of Season A and part of the way through Season 2, there were in fact eight members, as both Gan and Orac were on board at the same time.

• The preceding list demonstrates the characteristic attrition of main characters (including Blake himself!) over the course of the series:

• Gan killed early in Season 2 (replaced in the count by Orac; thereafter never more than five humans at one time)
• Blake and Jenna lost at the end of Season 2 (replaced in the count by Dayna and Tarrant)
• Zen destroyed and Cally killed at the end of Season 3/start of Season 4 (replaced in the count by Slave and Soolin, respectively).

Travis, one of the main villains of the first two seasons, is killed at the end of Season B. He is never replaced by a recurrent character, as Servalan, the other main villain, henceforth has a tendency to quickly lose her sidekicks either by accident or by design.

• The on-screen logo gave the series title as Blakes 7 without the apostrophe; fans often abbreviate the title as "B7".

• Michael Keating (Vila Restal) is the only actor to appear in all 52 episodes of the series. In second place is Paul Darrow (Kerr Avon) who appeared in every episode except the first. In third place is Peter Tuddenham who variously voiced Zen, Orac, Slave and various other computers in forty-nine episodes, missing out the first two and also the second season episode Countdown,

• Paul Darrow (Kerr Avon), Michael Keating (Vila Restal) and Jacqueline Pearce (Supreme Commander Servalan) are the only cast members to have stayed with the series throughout its entire run. Peter Tuddenham (Zen/Orac/Slave) also provided the voices for all of the Seven's computer members throughout the show's run. Although of these, only Keating appeared in the first episode.

• Gareth Thomas (Roj Blake), Michael Keating (Vila Restal) and Mike Mungarven (Prisoner/Duty officer) are the only actors to appear in both the first and last episodes of the series.

• Stephen Greif (Travis) appeared in the BBC comedy Citizen Smith as East End publican and villain Harry Fenning.

• Many of the cast have appeared in Doctor Who (see also Celebrity appearances in Doctor Who):
  • Brian Croucher in The Robots of Death
  • Paul Darrow in Doctor Who and the Silurians, Timelash and the audio drama The Next Life
  • Stephen Greif in the audio drama Primeval
  • Michael Keating in The Sun Makers and the audio drama The Twilight Kingdom
  • Sally Knyvette in the audio drama Spare Parts
  • Jacqueline Pearce in The Two Doctors and the audio drama The Fearmonger
  • Gareth Thomas in the audio drama Storm Warning
  • Peter Tuddenham in The Ark in Space, The Masque of Mandragora and Time and the Rani
  • David Jackson in the audio series Sarah Jane Smith and Jan Chappell in the independent spin-off video Shakedown have also appeared in the Doctor Who universe but without the Doctor.
  • Angela Bruce (Dayna in the 1990's audio dramas) in Battlefield.
• Reversing that trend, John Leeson, the voice of Doctor Who's K-9, appeared in the Blake's 7 episodes Mission to Destiny and Gambit. Richard Franklin, Captain Mike Yates in Doctor Who, appeared in the Blake's 7 episode Aftermath. Future Sixth Doctor Colin Baker appeared in City at the Edge of the World and Richard Hurndall (later to replace William Hartnell as the First Doctor in the 20th Anniversary story The Five Doctors), also appeared on Blake's 7 in Assassin.
• The Doctor Who and Blake's 7 universes are tied together in the Kaldor City audios, where Carnell, the psychostrategist from Weapon, appears with characters and situations created by Chris Boucher for his Doctor Who story The Robots of Death.

• In the episode titled Orac, the voice of Orac is actually that of Derek Farr (uncredited).

• Orac is also the name of a poker-playing computer, developed by "The Mad Genius" Mike Caro in the mid 1980s.

[edit] Revival attempts

The notion of bringing Blake's 7 back in some form or another has been around for some years. Terry Nation raised the possibility on a number of occasions before his death in 1997. Nation's proposal was that a new series would be set some years after the old one and would feature the character of Avon, living in exile, much like Napoleon on Elba, who would be persuaded by a new group of rebels to take up arms against the Federation again.^[29]

In 1998, Blake's 7 did, briefly, return to the BBC – on the radio. The Sevenfold Crown, produced by Brian Lighthill (who had directed the episodes Gold and Orbit) and written by Barry Letts (a former producer of Doctor Who), was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on 17 January 1998 as part of its Playhouse strand. Paul Darrow, Michael Keating, Steven Pacey, Peter Tuddenham and Jacqueline Pearce all returned to recreate their roles. However, when Josette Simon and Glynis Barber proved unavailable, they were replaced by Angela Bruce and Paula Wilcox as Dayna and Soolin respectively. The story was set during Season 4 between the episodes Stardrive and Animals. This was followed up by The Syndeton Experiment, which featured the same cast, producer and writer, broadcast, as The Saturday Play, on 10 April 1999, on BBC Radio 4.^[33]

In April 2000, it was announced that producer Andrew Mark Sewell had bought the rights to the series from the estate of Terry Nation and was planning a TV movie set 20 years after the original series had concluded.^[34] In July 2003, it was announced that Paul Darrow, along with Sewell and Simon Moorhead, was part of a consortium, called Blake's 7 Enterprises, that had acquired the rights and were planning a TV miniseries budgeted at $5-6 million. Paul Darrow would be the only returning star from the original series, which would be set 25 years on from the events of Blake, and would appear on TV screens by Spring 2005, depending on “many factors, not least financing”.^[35] Paul Darrow subsequently left the project in December 2003, citing “artistic differences”.^[36] On 31 October 2005 a press release from Blake's 7 Enterprises announced the appointment of Drew Kaza as Non-Executive Chairman of the company. The same press release also listed the projects the company has in development: Blake's 7: Legacy, a two part, three hour mini-series to be written by Ben Aaronovitch and D. Dominic Devine; Blake's 7: The Animated Adventures, a 26-part children's animated adventure series to be written by Ben Aaronovitch, Andrew Cartmel, Marc Platt and James Swallow; as well as two further children's series unrelated to Blake's 7.^[37] Blake's 7 Enterprises, who also use the names B7 Productions and B7 Media, have not released any information on the project since and, as of end October 2006, the present status of the project is unknown.^[38]

However, in an interview with Doctor Who Magazine, writer and producer Matthew Graham, best known as the co-creator of the television series Life on Mars, revealed that he had been involved in discussions to bring Blake's 7 back. Graham's notion for the series proposed that a group of young rebels would rescue Avon, who was been kept cryogenically frozen by Servalan, and then roam the galaxy in a new ship christened the Liberator. It is not clear whether this proposal was related to the B7 Productions effort.^[39]

[edit] Merchandise

Terry Nation had done well financially from the commercial exploitation of Doctor Who’s Daleks and so was aware from the outset of the potential for merchandise related to Blake's 7. Nation and his agent, Roger Hancock, had discussed the matter with Ray Williams of BBC Merchandising as early as December 1976. By May 1977, up to twenty-seven items of merchandise has been proposed by companies including Palitoy, Letraset and Airfix. In the end only a few of the items proposed made it to the shops.^[25] However, Blake's 7 related merchandise continues to appear to this day.

One of the first items to emerge was a novelisation of the first four episodes, titled Blake's 7, written by Trevor Hoyle (who would later go on to write the episode Ultraworld) and published in late 1977, shortly before the series began broadcasting. Hoyle followed up with two further novelisations – Blake's 7: Project Avalon (1979, novelising the season one episodes Seek-Locate-Destroy, Duel, Project Avalon, Deliverance and Orac) and Blake's 7: Scorpio Attack (1981, novelising the season four episodes Rescue, Traitor and Stardrive).^[40] A small number of toys – including a model Liberator by Corgi and a Federation handgun that fired ping-pong balls – were released as well as jigsaws, badges and patches during the show's run.^[41] Dudley's Simpson's theme music was also released as a single, backed with The Federation March, a piece of incidental music from the episode Redemption.^[26] World Distributors produced a Blake's 7 Annual for the years 1979, 1980 and 1981. During the fourth season, Marvel UK begin publishing Blake's 7 Magazine, a sister publication to its Doctor Who Magazine, from October 1981. The magazine, which included a comic strip, ran for twenty-three issues (as well as two specials) until August 1983.^[40]

The children's magazine programme Blue Peter offered a cheaper, home-made, alternative to fans wanting merchandise. In the edition broadcast on 23 February 1978, presenter Lesley Judd demonstrated how to create a replica Liberator teleport bracelet from common household objects. This was followed up by an item, on 6 June 1983, when presenter Janet Ellis demonstrated a similar method of making a replica Scorpio bracelet.^[26]

Merchandise continued to appear after the series had ended. Two early efforts came from Tony Attwood – Blake's 7: The Programme Guide, published by Target in 1982, was a non-fiction overview of the series including a detailed episode guide, an encyclopedia and interviews with the cast and writers while Afterlife, published by Target in 1984, was an original novel set after the final episode. Another original novel, Avon: A Terrible Aspect, which told the story of Avon's early years before he met Blake, was published in 1989 and was written by Paul Darrow.^[40] Comet Miniatures produced a range of kits in the late 1980s and early 1990s including the Liberator, a clip gun (from Season 4), a Federation trooper and Liberator and Scorpio teleport bracelets.^[26] Marvel, who had published the Blake's 7 Magazine, returned to the series in 1994 and 1995 with two specials, mostly written by television historian Andrew Pixley, that covered the making of the series as well as the short-lived Blake's 7 Poster Magazine that ran for seven issues between December 1994 and May 1995.^[42] Several books offering critical insight and behind the scenes information on Blake's 7 have also been issued including Blake's 7: The Complete Guide by Adrian Rigelsford (Boxtree, 1995); Blake's 7: The Inside Story by Joe Nazzaro and Sheelagh Wells (who worked on the series as a make-up designer) (Virgin, 1997); A History and Critical Analysis of Blake's 7 by John Kenneth Muir (McFarland and Company, 1999) and Liberation. The Unofficial and Unauthorised Guide to Blake's 7 by Alan Stevens and Fiona Moore (Telos, 2003).^[43]

The BBC began issuing Blake's 7 on videotape from 1985. The initial releases, which were made available on both VHS and Betamax (first three releases only) formats, comprised four compilation tapes containing selected episodes from the first three seasons edited down into a c. 90 minute “movie” format. Then, starting in 1991, the entire series was released, in order, on VHS with two episodes per tape over twenty-six volumes.^[26] Later, an independent company, Fabulous Films, re-issued the tapes in different packaging. As the DVD format grew in popularity, the BBC, along with Fabulous Films, began making plans to issue the series in season box sets. These plans were disrupted by conflicts with rights-holders Blake's 7 Enterprises. These issues were eventually resolved and the series was released, in Region 2, at a rate of one season per year, between 2003 and 2006. A casualty of the difficulties with Blake's 7 Enterprises was The Making of Blake's 7, a four-part documentary directed by Kevin Davies, intended as an extra feature with each DVD release. Blake's 7 Enterprises stated that the reason for dropping the documentaries was that they “did not feel it provided a proper tribute or fresh retrospective of the show”.^[44]

[edit] See also

• List of Blake's 7 episodes
• List of Blake's 7 planets
• Category:Blake's 7 characters

[edit] Notes and references

[edit] External links

• The Anorak's Guide to Blake's 7
• Complete transcripts of every episode
• Simon and Louise's Blake's 7 fan site
• The Blakes Sevencyclopaedia
• The Hermit Library of B7 Fiction
• Blake's 7 at Hermit
• British Film Institute Screen Online
• Website of current rights holders B7 Productions
• An interesting tool for locating Blake's Seven web sites
• Horizon: The official Blake's 7 fan club

Blake's 7  v • d • e
Blake's 7 – The Television Series
History of Blake's 7 | List of Blake's 7 episodes | Blake's 7 actors
The Blake's 7 Universe
Terran Federation | Liberator | Scorpio | Planets
Roj Blake | Kerr Avon | Vila Restal | Jenna Stannis | Olag Gan | Cally | Zen | Orac | Dayna Mellanby | Del Tarrant | Soolin | Slave | Servalan | Travis