arenee1999 | Blakes 7: Fandom PIMP

Look under the cut for a show filled with witty one-liners and snarky remarks. If you like lots of angst and intelligent characters, this is the show for you.

AVON: I am not expendable, I'm not stupid, and I'm not going.

The Show:

Blakes 7 was a British SF show created by Terry Nation. It originally aired in Britain between 1978 and 1981.

It is set in a future that is ruled by an evil dictatorship called the Terran Federation. They keep their 'citizens' in line through drugs and force.

BLAKE: Typical Federation policy: things are more important than people.
CAUDER: The Federation was bleeding us dry. They levied impossible demands on our economy, gave us no voice in our own government. We were little better than slaves on our own planet.
BLAKE: It's a familiar pattern.

One of the best Sf television shows ever. Sadly it is often overlooked and underrated. It is anti-Trek, the characters are far from perfect. In fact they're all (or almost all) criminals. The heroes don't always win, in fact they lose more often than not (or at least fight to a draw).

You can see it's influence in shows such as Farscape, Babylon 5, Andromeda and Firefly (as well as a few others).

Season 1 Trailer

Watch on YouTube

Season 2 Trailer:

Watch on YouTube

The characters and their interactions with each other are what makes this show great.

VILA: Oh, a very antisocial bunch. Murderers, liars, cheats [Looks at Jenna] ... smugglers ...
JENNA: [To Vila] -- thieves --
VILA: -- and they're the nice people.

To quote from

executrix, "even the computers are in a snit 24/7".

Blake: The idealistic freedom fighter

Avon: The cynical computer genius
AVON: I have never understood why it should be necessary to become irrational in order to prove that you care, or, indeed, why it should be necessary to prove it at all.

Jenna: The beautiful smuggler/pilot

Vila: The cowardly thief
VILA: There isn't a lock I can't open -- if I'm scared enough.

Gan: The gentle giant

Cally: The telepathic alien
CALLY: My people have a saying: a man who trusts can never be betrayed, only mistaken.
AVON: Life expectancy must be fairly short among your people.

Sevalan: The Federations Supreme Commander, and later the President
SERVALAN: Hope is very dangerous.

Travis (the first): A Space Commander and Blake's nemesis

Travis (the second): A poor choice for a replacement, still Blake's nemesis

Dayna: The weapons expert

Tarrant: The pilot
AVON: Ah well. Tarrant is brave, young, handsome. There are three good reasons for anyone not to like him.

Soolin: The mercenary

Then there are the computers...

Zen: The Liberator's main computer
ZEN: Preemptive interference in crew activity is forbidden.

Orac: The snarky super computer
ORAC: I have noticed that the occupants of this spacecraft have a lamentable lack of interest in the more fascinating aspects of the universe.

Slave: The aptly named computer aboard Scorpio

And the ships...

The Liberator

Scorpio

The Fandom:

For such a small fandom, it is very active. There are a lot of very good writers and artists in the fandom. The majority of the stories are slash, with a heavy leaning toward Blake/Avon. Avon/Vila and Avon/Tarrant have also been big pairings in the fandoms 30 year history. Avon/Vila is currently making a comeback as one of the popular pairings. There are also a good amount of gen and het stories. The most popular het pairings are Blake/Jenna, Avon/Cally and Avon/Servalan.
This is an angst heavy fandom, which becomes obvious after watching just a few episodes. Quite a lot of fans are in denial, with a majority of the stories written PGP (Post Gauda Prime) assuming the events from the final episode didn't happen as shown in canon.

Where can I find the Show...

It has been released on Region 2 and 4 DVD. They are available through the various amazon.com stores. It gets uploaded to YouTube frequently as well, try the Blake's 7 channel. You can also ask on