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SEVEN REASONS TO LOVE BLAKES 7 |
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Written by Dave Probert
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By Dave Probert
| 7. THE TITLE SEQUENCEThis came from the good old days when the title sequence told the basic plot of the show in about 20 seconds. You see Blake being tortured, a Federation guard looking evil to establish who the baddies and Blake’s picture with the word “Eliminate” underneath it. You are now educated in the basics of the plot. The guy with the curly hair is being hunted by the blokes in the black gas mask helmets now enjoy. The title sequences for the last two series couldn’t hold a candle to the original (series 4 practically gives up and appears to have been made for 20p) which is up there with the all time great title sequences. | 
| 6. THE LITTLE PEOPLEWhile Blake’s 7 focused on Blake’s struggle against the Federation it wasn’t afraid to put a more human face on it’s enemy. Many episodes would feature ordinary people who just happened to work for the Federation. These were fully realised characters who would chat about their job, their fear of their superiors, where they grew up. True they would normally end up dead by the end of the episode but it gave you a little peak into what day to day life was like for the average man in the service of the Federation which made them a little more real. | 
| 5. THE LIBERATORTo this day it remains one of the most original spaceship designs ever. The Liberator, both inside and out looks fantastic. The art deco style flight deck, the comfy seating in the conversation pit (the have a conversation pit!) at the front and of course Zen one of the greatest computers in TV sci-fi. The show was never quite the same after it was destroyed and the Scorpio is frankly not fit to share the same hanger. |  | 4. VILLAThe Liberator’s resident lock expert and thief is one of only 3 characters to last the entire run of the series (The others are at 3 and 2). He was just as capable of getting the crew into trouble as he was getting them out of it. One of the best parts of the show was his spiky banter with Avon which usually ended with Vila coming off worse. The episodes that showed them working together (Such as “Gambit”) are some of the best. As the series continued, he spent more and more time trying to crawl into the bottle but this was usually played for laughs. | 
| 3. SERVALANShe starts the show as a supreme commander, declares herself president and then supreme empress and eventually ends in hiding under an assumed name. During this meteoric rise and fall Serverlan is never anything less than fabulous. It’s such a rare thing for the main villain in a sci-fi show to be a woman and Serverlan does not disappoint. Cold, calculating and not afraid to get her hands dirty Serverlan is easily the equal of any man and superior to most she encounters. Despite this she is never anything less than feminine with a stunning frock for every occasion. Farscape’s Graza owes a lot to this pioneering villainess. | 
| 2. AVONThe real star of Blake’s 7 Kerr Avon is ruthless, cunning, dangerous and someone you want on your side. From the minute he meets Blake he makes no secret of the fact that he is looking out for number one and the majority of “Heroic” acts carried out by him are usually acts of self interest. Eventually becoming a leader he grows ever more paranoid but never loses his dry cynical outlook on life. An outlook which is rarely proven wrong. The fact that Avon is one of the series heroes shows what a dark place the Blake’s 7 universe is. There have been characters like Avon since but none have the awesomeness of Paul Darrow behind them. A man who could wring dramatic gravitas from a take away menu. | 
| 1. 'THAT' ENDINGThis if nothing else marks out Blake’s 7 as truly unique. Can you imagine an American show having the guts to end by killing off all of it’s heroes, leaving it’s main villain alive and essentially having the bad guys win? You can almost imagine the millions of viewers tuning in with their jaws on the floor as the end credits played. |
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