Where have all the good guys gone?

[thisbluespirit]

I am too tired to be posting today, but I just realised that not only was I away for Gauda Prime Day, but I missed Blake's 7's 40th anniversary yesterday: on 2nd Jan 1978, the BBC screened "The Way Back" and gave us one of the most influential and important SF shows ever made.

It was bleak, but almost never joyless. It was 1984 and Robin Hood in space at the same time; Chris Boucher snark and Terry Nation cliches; and full of the most terrible and inappropriately hilarious SFX you've ever seen (I have not ever recovered from the arrival of the Michelin Men in the middle of one of Robert Holmes's darkest scripts) and the most amazing (in all possible senses of the word) costumes for all, but especially Servalan. And, of course, it has unforgettable characters - every one of our heroes (if you can call them that) and villains as well as so many of the guest characters, even to passing ordinary Federation troopers with an opinion.

Happy fortieth anniversary, ruby-red in blood, B7! Sadly, you've never ceased to be relevant.

I have nothing new to bring, but even if you have no time or patience for such elderly TV, here is this piece of meta I have linked to before. It is short and non-spoilery and talks about why Blake's 7 is important, from someone who did grow up in an oppressive society, and I hope you can find a moment to look at it, if nothing else.

If you want to know what B7 is, I wrote a Non-Spoilery Guide a long time ago and aralias also wrote one, with different emphasis, more meta, and some excellent quotes here.

Plus, also non-spoilery (although I should note that I would have killed anyone who spoiled me for future costumes on my first watch, so YMMV), a vid tribute to its fashion sense (or lack of it): Fashion is Danger.


Also some favourite vids that I have linked to before - most of which are spoilery, however! (Spoilers are hard to avoid when it comes to B7):

The Cave
My Life Would Suck Without You
Right Said Fred (non-spoilery crack vid)
(We Will Be) Invincible (Tribute to the female characters)
Blood Money (Blake & Avon)
Servalan Music Video
Intergalactic Space Crusaders

Comments

[evelyn_b]

Someday, I am going to watch B7. Someday! Maybe this year!

[thisbluespirit]

Ya, yes, someday! When you have read all the books, and watched all the Doctor Who and... ;-D

It does sound like it could be up your alley if you ever do get the chance, though.

(It was made at a v similar time to All Creatures but is not cosy and has no puppies, and if it did, terrible things would probably happen to them. Heh.)

[evelyn_b]

You may be interested to learn that I am watching the first episode right now.

[thisbluespirit]

Eep!! \o/

(Btw, in all seriousness, S1 is very slow even by the porridge-speed of old Brit TV generally; if it gets a bit much, skipping to ep6 to meet the villains can help a bit &, after that I forget, but probably Duel, Deliverance and Orac are necessities and Bounty is good fun. OTOH, I feel you may get a really good boggle out of the Decimas... S2 is pretty much solid awesome, however.)

[jhall1]

I'm in the same boat. I never saw it when it was originally on, because it was shown at the same time as the 9 o'clock news on BBC 1, which my father always liked to watch. It didn't seem worth having an argument to try to get my own way and get to see it. (This was way back in the 1970s, before video cassette recorders were common.)

[thisbluespirit]

It actually went out earlier than that the first time round. I'd always heard 7-ish weekdays, but since I was a bit too small to be paying full attention, I just double-checked the BBC Genome site, and, yep, it went out around 7.15 on Mondays on BBC1, excepting the pilot which was shown at 6pm, so clearly you have been maligning the 9 o'clock news. Maybe it was Corrie that got in your way?

[jhall1]

That's possible. There was a period of ten years or so when we all got quite into Corrie, and it was probably round about then. Maybe it was the repeats a year or two later that went out at 9pm?

[thisbluespirit]

Very probably! (I can't seem to scrape that info out of Genome; they must have spelled the title differently again!)

[astrogirl]

Thanks for linking to that essay. It was definitely worth reading.

[thisbluespirit]

It really is, isn't it? I keep meaning to post something different when Gauda Prime Day comes around, but I think it really does say so much about B7 at its core. <3

[swordznsorcery]

Did you see this birthday article in the Guardian?: https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/tvandradioblog/2018/jan/03/blakes-7-40-years-on-the-dystopian-sci-fi-drama-still-packs-a-punch

[thisbluespirit]

Aw, that is a pretty good write-up, isn't it?

[swordznsorcery]

Yes, and all the more so for how often old TV is just mocked, without being given any credit. It's a genuinely well meant piece though. And well deserved. :)

[sovay]

on 2nd Jan 1978, the BBC screened "The Way Back" and gave us one of the most influential and important SF shows ever made.

I have been meaning to watch Blake's 7 ever since finding out Tanith Lee wrote for it! I watch so few shows, it has not happened yet. But I hope eventually.

[edit] Thank you for the AO3 meta; that was a very good essay.

[thisbluespirit]

I'm so glad you found it interesting! And, as to B7 itself, I am biased of course, but I very much hope that you make it happen some time. It is a show of many faults, but also something that's in the DNA of so much other SFA and unforgettable - for both good and bad reasons! - and seems to only get more relevant with time, not less. (Unfortunately, but it is testament to the show's worth.)