Over the long holiday weekend, I spent a lot of time recording episodes of the Blake's 7 TV series...
Set in the "third century of the second calendar", Blake's 7 follows the exploits of revolutionary Roj Blake as he leads his band of reluctant rebels against the forces of the totalitarian Earth Federation which rules the Earth and many of the planets of the galaxy. The Federation controls its citizens by means of mass surveillance, brainwashing, and pacification with drugged food, water and air. Blake makes his daring strikes against the Federation using the Liberator, a spacecraft far in advance of anything the Federation possesses, with superior speed and weaponry as well as a revolutionary teleport system that allows crew members to be transported to the surface of a planet without having to land the ship. Although many of the tropes of space opera such as spaceships, robots, galactic empires and aliens are present, the series is primarily noted for its strong character interaction, ambiguous morality and its dark, pessimistic tone.
Blake's 7 was apparently released as a Region 2 DVD box set, but, I don't happen to have a region 2 player, so, I'll have to settle on a recording for the time being... I have the first ten episodes of the first season in the archive. Blake's 7 was notable for being very pessimistic. It was not uncommon to have the main characters succeed up to a point and then be dealt a serious reversal. But, even with the generally dark tone of the series, I still enjoyed Blake's 7.
Set in the "third century of the second calendar", Blake's 7 follows the exploits of revolutionary Roj Blake as he leads his band of reluctant rebels against the forces of the totalitarian Earth Federation which rules the Earth and many of the planets of the galaxy. The Federation controls its citizens by means of mass surveillance, brainwashing, and pacification with drugged food, water and air. Blake makes his daring strikes against the Federation using the Liberator, a spacecraft far in advance of anything the Federation possesses, with superior speed and weaponry as well as a revolutionary teleport system that allows crew members to be transported to the surface of a planet without having to land the ship. Although many of the tropes of space opera such as spaceships, robots, galactic empires and aliens are present, the series is primarily noted for its strong character interaction, ambiguous morality and its dark, pessimistic tone.
