@@spacedoutgame Zen saying " I've failed you" as he dies was the really tragic part of Liberators death. I suspect it had something to do with the show's death too!
@@spacedoutgameZen and the Liberator were one of a kind as was Orac. I was never able to accept Scorpio and Slave. To me they were poor substitutes for a far far superior space vehicle and computer. If there's ever to be a reboot, the Liberators flight deck and teleport area "MUST" be rebuilt exactly as they appeared all those years ago as the designs are like a certain "black Trans-Am".......timeless. Zen's visual interface is also a complete work of art. The BBC designers really outdid themselves when they created the Liberator.
Despite its set failings, this is my favourite sci fi show ever, before this everything was lovely and nice, but with this federation it was bent, corrupt and controlling - so something to fight against - which they did in the best spaceship ever designed 🙂
The Liberator crew zeitgeist was set at Paranoia level 9. Not until Farscape was there a cast of characters who thoroughly mistrusted each other, and so frequently had their own agendas.
Blake's 7 is one of my all time favorite British SF shows (next to Space:1999 and UFO). It wasn't the technical BG design or EFX that did it for me--it was the wonderful performances and characterizations created by the legendary Terry Nation. I became a HUGE fan years after it's original premiere on UK TV; it cameto American TV in the late 80's--I first saw on ch. 13 PBS in NYC in '89 (alsowith another Nation favorite of mine Star Cops). It reminded so much of my first Doc Who episodes with Tom Baker--I fell for the characters and the premise immediately. Thank you for making this look at one of the coolest, most powerful space ship in the annals of SF tv (I'd pit "Libby" against the Enterprise-D anytime). Great job, mate!
I just finished it man that ending got me right in the feels im waffling between it was a great tragic end to a great story or wa it mishandled by the producer they replaced Terry with please reply I need closure if its a great ending I gotta find some way to accept it like the Iliad and if not I can write a different end to it in my head
Try reading Paul Darrow autobiography "your him aren't you" he pointed out, that Avon isn't seen getting killed at the end. He even tried to get a sequel made.
I enjoyed Blake,s Seven in trillions of ways, and having a regular arch-enemy and regular arch-villain in the form of a woman called Servalan was awesome.
I grew up watching Blake’s 7 but later on fell out of love with the series. I kept on hearing how good the show was and I went to watch it again. It was a good show. Now in my top ten best TV show of all time. The effects weren’t much cop with a low budget but you looked beyond that; it’s the same with the original Doctor Who. Another great series starring Gareth Thomas was Children of the Stones, really creepy despite being a kids show.
BLOODY HELL! I sort of recall Children of the Stones! It amazing how many Shows have been made on Low Budgets that actually hold up and stand the test of time... I feel its down to great Story... The effects can be poor as long a the story is engaging! One I recall was an old Aussie Children's TV Show called "Under The Mountain" - Based on a Novel... Its effects were honestly Not that bad given its low production value... And it had a real creepy vibe too!
@@wbbartlett Just took a quick look... Woah! That Music... And another Nostalgic Piece to enjoy! Not a series I have ever seen but one I have heard of... I look forward to watching it!
This is a fantastic description of the Liberator's capabilities and equipment. I particularly enjoyed your contextualizing it's original purpose vs. the use to which we general see it being put.
Zen being able to read "brainwave scans" is a great idea that's never really used. There's so much potential to the setting that was never really explored.
Thanks for making this video! This show is one of my favorites. I have a fairly sizeable model of the Liberator, always loved the design. The episode when it was destroyed brought tears to my eyes.
Yay!! One of the most awesome and forgotten series!! Okay...to be fair, I really didn't like the ending, but then I can't think of a better one (b'cuz I'm not smart), so I won't go cutting up the show for it. I'd gladly watch the whole thing again!!
Almost everything about the Liberator is naff, and yet somehow I cannot imagine anything I would rather zip around the galaxy in. I think it is among the most "domestic" of space vehicles somehow and its aesthetic, which is perhaps most akin to the top floor coffee shop in a mid 70s provincial department store in the UK, is somehow oddly appealing (even if I do get an odd urge to go shopping for loose covers after watching some B7 episodes!)
You've only gone and done it. It was a very long way at Standard by two, but so far it looks to have been a lot of work. Many thanks for this. Blakes 7 was something i watched with my dad as a kid and I loved it! So much so i still have it.
This was a mammoth task - and the first one I had to start from scratch with (I think I only knew the ending!). Hope it does the show justice for you! I absolutely loved watching it all!
@@spacedoutgame Finished it now, and i think you hit the nail on the head, fast, powerful, incredibly advanced, not too overpowered that you can forget strategic planning, and when it comes right down to it... Not yours, nor designed to make you comfortable.
@@Tigermoto Excellent! I do wish there was more of a focus on the alien nature of the ship - I suspect if it were ever to be remade, the mystery of the original owners would be played on a lot more
The Liberator is may favourite spaceship design. Watched B7 as a child and loved it as it was quite revolutionary for its time. Killing off main characters regularly kept you on the edge of your seat as you knew known was safe.
If I had to pick my favouite sf tv series at this moment it'd be Blakes 7. It's amazing. Thanks for covering it. Space Out, have you watched The Starlost. It gets terribly panned on thee internets but I think it's quite amazing and there's tonnes of later sf media that've borrowed from it. Oh, I've two Corgi Liberators!
I gotta say.. having recently watched it all, I have to agree. You don’t get the same sort of interplay between characters anywhere else! Not heard of Starlost? Will take a look! Always love to see what inspired later creators
Loved the show loved the Actors grew up watching the show. Of course it was made at the time on a shoestring. What do you expect it was the BBC biguideers no money spent on practical effects but it was of its time still really enjoy It even some of the way out scripts . I had the great pleasure in meeting some of the actors several times even though I stayed up in Aberdeen Scotland like the Arthur who played Avon He was my favourite of course. Ruby nice actor in persand others very generous was his time when he met fansuddenly. Couldn't have been easy Living such a well known face for so many years. My sympathies go out to his family and friends I would just like to say really nice man Face-to-face. Thank you for all the hard work you put in to make this video much appreciated . Keep on doing the good work. Thank you.!!!!
You’re very welcome! The low budget just adds to the charm - although it never stopped them telling great stories! It must have been fantastic meeting the actors - sadly I got to this show far too late!
BRILLIANT! Didn't see how long it was before I started playing but once I got into it, I didn't care1 Nlow there's some high praise for a video. Looks like everyone else noticed that the flight deck was the Millennium Falcon and I loved the "it is green" clip from Next Gen. Brilliant work all round! I pitched a Series 5 to Terry Nation, not long after the end of Series 4 (that he encouraged me to submit to BBC) and it would have included a new Liberator-style ship. Those plots keep bouncing around in my head. With the way AI animation is going, maybe I can find somewhere that I can just input my scripts & plots and have it give back something to watch! LOL
Excellent video! The size of the Liberator has always seemed unclear. I always assumed it was quite enormous especially when compared with the London prison ship. Assuming the London was a good size that would make the Liberator much bigger than the Enterprise including the galaxy class. I always assumed the interior of the Liberator was extremely vast even though we only saw the flight deck, teleporter room, and a few other rooms on the TV show. I guess part of the fun is you fill in the gaps with your own imagination and child like wonderment! 🙂 🚀
I just binged your entire catalog of videos... thank you for the Liberator, it was a bit of a blast from the past, and truly, enjoyed it! ((btw, do you have other ideas you're going to pursue? I was wondering about the Rocicante or the TARDIS))
Thank you so much Davi, that’s awesome! I have a bit of a list growing.. and the good news is they’re both on there! Open to further suggestions - the weirder, the better!
I met a younger girl who was names Nyssa, (from Doctor Who) by her parents. She wasn't impressed when she figured it out. Also a software engineer who nickname of Romana was so widespread that she officially changed her real name to match it.
@@pzuliomaccavellion9711 That's awesome. I guess it depends on the individual. As a teenager, I loved that Doctor Who story. It gave plenty to think about afterwards.
I watched this series, twice, and I only just noticed the screen using Star Trek deltas to mark the federation ships. A dig at the American series that proceeded it no doubt.
I believe some of the early images and model work was done externally from the BBC, these show directional lighting, shadows and smoother movement (like space 1999). The BBC however took the model work in-house and a noticeable drop in quality can be seen. Ie the use of video, zooming in and out and bland overly white spaceships.
As a child of the 70's, I never got into this - Dr Who, Space 1999 and the like were more my scene. My older cousin however absolutely loved it. Everything I know and hear about this series tells me it was aimed at an older more sophisticated viewer than the average 7 or 8 year old of the time - I can understand why it is so respected among certain age groups. It must have felt like somebody was taking Sci-Fi seriously and that it wasn't just for kids.
The irony wes AVON was non stop trying to get the Liberator when BLAKE was in charge then by season 3 he got his wish then flys her into a red acid cloud in search of BLAKE with Catastrophic consequences.
Tbh I had no understanding of any of this "System" stuff, or how Orac and Zen worked when I watched this as a kid. I thought it was just sci fi Robin Hood. Terry Nation had one hell of an imagination.
Does anyone out there recall the last episode of Blake's Seven? I could visualise the writers meeting before writing the last episode. A bunch of drunk suits sitting around a table discussing how to end the series and entire storyline. "Oh I know" says someone at the end of the table. " Why don't we have a shootout and kill off all the main characters?" "Sounds good" says another suit. "Do we all agree?" And they did. Bang bang zap kapowie. All main characters dead. No More Blake's Seven. Oh well. It was good while it lasted.
Very enjoyable video. Everything really hinges on Se2Ep1 to help explain who the The System are and why they might have built DSV2 but it still does not make much sense. Nothing about The System suggest that they would want to dress up to engage with other civilisations, especially as (based on the clothes themselves) those civilisations might include those who worship Alvin Stardust and Carol Chell from Playschool. I do quite enjoy B7 fashion, if I am honest. The future? well, its tabards basically, all the way (so we have that to look forward to, unless you a hospital radiographer in which case, I guess, you are already halfway there, even if your ones happen to be lead lined). As for The Liberator the script hints at a concept that the design cannot effectively realise; it is biomorphic, its controls meld in some way with the crew, it is like a living organism. Unfortunately what you see on screen is mostly Fablon and repurposed Anglepoise lamps (as the "flight controls") so I don't think that ever really comes across. Zen looks like the light show in one of those late 70s provincial discotheques that had names like "Napoleon's" or "Le Jardin". Somehow, despite it all, B7 is a joy and it all takes place somehow much more in the viewers head than on screen. Among the best SF performances and script ever.
Blake 7 is a little before my time and this is the first time I've ever seen anything of it. But it sounds like a really interesting setting for a grand strategy game like "Star Wars: Empire at War".
One ship, zipping around the galaxy, fighting guerrilla style and building an army of rebels? Sounds amazing! I had real Mass Effect vibes, personally - there’s a lot of fantastic interplay between characters throughout the show
I had the little Matchbox or Dinky model of the Liberator as a kid, wasn't until a lot later I realised i'd been flying it back to front. Looked better that way to me.
I remember years ago I got it all out on VHS ! - a giant box the size of ORAC! Heard later the DVD box set had some scenes which 'got stuck' problem with DVD tracking / skipping sections of some episodes? Anyone comment on this? Will get it on DVD and re-live it again!
The Liberator is one of the best ship designs in sci-fi, I remember as a nipper collecting all the random Lego blocks I could find from local jumble sales just to spend a few days building my own me size Liberator. it was epic BTW. As it goes I'd argue the 2 shows most influenced by Blake's 7 are Babylon 5 and Farscape.
Apparently, Firefly was Joss Whedon's take on B7. If you think about the characters in Firefly, they are all criminals of some kind, running from a galactic federation, lead by a captain with a political reason to rebel...
Computers would be cold, alien oppressors, lifeless and cruel. What would that be like? Let's have them behave EXACTLY THE SAME WAY AS EVERY HUMAN EVER!
Villa and Avon were a great team, Avon completely disdainful of Villa, and 41:33 Villa veering wildly between passive aggressive snark and unremitting terror of Avon. With both having mastery of one liners.
That is one of the things about B7, there seem to be moments where the set designers just gave up completely. Servalan's office has its Joe Columbo chair (more Century 21 loan items, I suspect, this time S1999) but a high end office telephone that is contemporary with the production itself. Like most British Sci Fi there is a lot of clipboard work too. We have to imagine a future where crossing the galaxy is not much of problem but where the telephone stopped its evolution at some point in 1978.
@@simonjones7727 I can't remember the name of the episode, but there was one with a chap who was with a girl who had been his slave, but he had freed her. But she still behaved subordinate to him. I remember a scene where there was a desk lamp. And it was one of the props from either UFO of Space 1999.
@@GnrMilligan As far as I know it was quite lucrative for Century 21 to get full value out of the props to rent them out in this way. ITC was very canny in general. I love watching things like "Strange Report" because the same items pop up in different settings week after week (and across the different ITC serials). The poor people who made them would never have anticipated DVD and Streaming and the obsessive nature of future fans, not yet born, when the original transmissions occurred, who love spotting these things!
Those set elements from the Gerry Anderson's UFO Moonbase (11:58) that Century 21 loaned out to so many productions over the years.I'd never spotted them in the Liberator before.
I always assumed that carapace at the back was a fusion reactor, and the intakes towards the front were intakes for hydrogen atoms - near light speed, you'd get a lot of those. That's how I assumed the Liberator was powered.
Thank you thank you you have filled in the blanks. I always thought Iain M Banks used the liberator and its pylons pods & deep space zones at the bases for his ROU design
B7 was just not the same after the end of series 3. Blowing up DSV Liberator was quite hard hitting as an 8 year old watching it! Season 4 was kinda ok but wasn’t the same.
What is the source of the schematics (at 4:59) that show the flight deck as literally being the Millennium Falcon? 😂 Obviously someone did that as a joke. But was that ALWAYS part of the floor plan? or added in more recently?
I wouldn’t fancy flying to the local shops in that ship! I remember the walls shook when someone walked past,,, only god knows how she’d hold up to take off and landing, or warp speed 🤷🏻♂️😂
I watched this when it first come out. Funny how most ships of that time period and made on the cheap look really dated and unrealistic now. However the Liberator still looks good. Not so much the "Not so special" effects, or the acting, but the story line in general still holds up. I loved this as a youngster and added it to my TV Series collection. I have watched it about every 10 years since and have enjoyed it every time.
OK! I am going great guns here and going to make a request... And Yes I am Subscribing TOO! A Childish one... But fun none the less! As someone mentioned the late Gerry Anderson, Why Not? His back catalogue has many fascinating Ships from the Thunderbirds to... TERRAHAWKS! I wonder if you can guess which I want to see a breakdown of??? LOL!
@@spacedoutgame Ahhhh! Wonderful! I have actually been enjoying revisiting Blakes 7 this last few weeks... Won a Gift Voucher at work and bought the boxed set, alongside Terrahawks... A Childhood Fave!
I'm a 60's sci-fi dude, albeit an American one. I've had the pleasure to peruse and consume extensive libraries of foreign content, though I've primarily stayed in English speaking (sometimes Japanese with subs) content, I've never bothered engaging in a complete runthrough of "Blake's 7" before. Perhaps it's time to fix that oversight. Thanks for the content.
@@spacedoutgame that sounds positively lovely. Particularly when something is intellectually stimulating while displaying strange qualities approaching that "uncanny valley" where my brain starts picking up on something about the show that's making the experience feel surreal and even dangerous, is when I find myself hooked on these old speculative scifi programs. This looks like a perfect candidate for that kind of experience.
The system space station was located in the 12th sector astro .781 Star One was located at Grid Reference 317 320 in the 11th sector. Harriet Philpin played Alta 2. She also played a character called Bettan in the Doctor Who story Genesis of the Daleks.
No space toilets on the liberator though. The crew had to resort to teleporting their poo straight into the nearest federation outpost in a sort of futuristic, space dirty protest. Blakes seven? More like Blakes number two.
If you look at Blake's 7, you can see that Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda was based on it. Each of the main character at the start if each show had a 1 to 1 correlation, even Zen. Granted Lexa Doga made a much more attractive Zen 🙂
What I always loved the most about B7 was the often somewhat negative, desperate atmosphere. The Federation is not like the federation in Star Trek. In fact if the future of mankind will keep being desperately searching for resources but now in space, the B7 federation is far more likely to happen than the ST one. Maybe it also looked more realistic to me because of the low budget. Not all this fancy American stuff. Of course special effects in the 1970s and early 1980s were not as good as they are now. In fact in B7 they were often quite bad 😅 but I still loved the show. Oohh and of course Servalan, the pursuit ships and those black uniforms (although the Federation infantry blasters weren't much).
I found it odd how they so often crossed Servalan or their friends or sisters etc. You'd think the galaxy being so big and all this would be a rare occurrence?
@@anticat900 Don't forget Servalan is a Federation agent, and the Federation has been hunting them since the day they escaped from the prison ship London. Servalan's ''friends and sisters'' are Federation agents and soldiers (and mutoids). Some of the people Blake and his crew met were neutral. Too bad they often had to pay with their lifes if they helped Blake.
B7 is a dystopian version of Star Trek. The Terran Fedation's main goal was the kill Blake. I loved the increasingly bleak, underdog premise and especially the finale scene. What a way to go out, no spoilers from me though.
The B7 universe was brilliant exactly because it was historically accurate. It portrayed the cycles of expansion and collapse that human civilizations undergo. Not to mention the seriously cynical view towards governments and the tyrannical rulers that end up controlling them. Real life consists of multiple shades of gray and B7 accurately reflects that.
Nothing quite like those old BBC effects. Loved the teleporter!
It was always a joy to see what Servalan was wearing from one episode to another.
Lordy, she was a sexy and evil woman!
But it was criminal what they did with Space Commander Travis. The original actor was so cool, and his replacement was the exact opposite.
I’ve been watching Blake’s 7 for the first time recently and any sci-fi fans out there should watch it!
Absolutely!
Welcome aboard. Glad you're loving Blake's 7. Who are your favourite characters? 😊
Weak special effects but superb acting and storytelling
Loved it since I was a kid, Love the big finish audio drama too,
@@dogwalker666 The last one with Paul Darrow in it made me well up.
I love the way the flight deck is pretty much the Millennium Falcon!
Of all the deaths in B7, the end of The Liberator hurt the most.
“She’s starting to break up..” I deliberately left out the narration of The Liberator’s death.. it’s heartbreaking!
I felt the same sadness when the Liberator ended as when the Enterprise met it's fate in ST3.
@@spacedoutgame Zen saying " I've failed you" as he dies was the really tragic part of Liberators death. I suspect it had something to do with the show's death too!
And at 5.06 in the bottom left corner there's a what I assume to be a table and chair, that looks suspiciously like The Enterprise.
@@spacedoutgameZen and the Liberator were one of a kind as was Orac. I was never able to accept Scorpio and Slave. To me they were poor substitutes for a far far superior space vehicle and computer. If there's ever to be a reboot, the Liberators flight deck and teleport area "MUST" be rebuilt exactly as they appeared all those years ago as the designs are like a certain "black Trans-Am".......timeless. Zen's visual interface is also a complete work of art. The BBC designers really outdid themselves when they created the Liberator.
Despite its set failings, this is my favourite sci fi show ever, before this everything was lovely and nice, but with this federation it was bent, corrupt and controlling - so something to fight against - which they did in the best spaceship ever designed 🙂
I always liked the sound Orac makes when they turn him off.
Brilliant show. Grew up to this classic.
It always sounds so disappointed!
Like the little moue of displeasure Kenneth Williams might utter before saying "Stop Messing About"
@@simonjones7727 Wow, what a beautiful observation. Yes exactly like that.
👌🏻💚🥰
The Liberator crew zeitgeist was set at Paranoia level 9.
Not until Farscape was there a cast of characters who thoroughly mistrusted each other, and so frequently had their own agendas.
Agreed. Farscape can be B7's spiritual successor.
@RX552VBK well they certainly had the black leather s and m taken care of
Blake's 7 is one of my all time favorite British SF shows (next to Space:1999 and UFO). It wasn't the technical BG design or EFX that did it for me--it was the wonderful performances and characterizations created by the legendary Terry Nation. I became a HUGE fan years after it's original premiere on UK TV; it cameto American TV in the late 80's--I first saw on ch. 13 PBS in NYC in '89 (alsowith another Nation favorite of mine Star Cops). It reminded so much of my first Doc Who episodes with Tom Baker--I fell for the characters and the premise immediately. Thank you for making this look at one of the coolest, most powerful space ship in the annals of SF tv (I'd pit "Libby" against the Enterprise-D anytime). Great job, mate!
I just finished it man that ending got me right in the feels im waffling between it was a great tragic end to a great story or wa it mishandled by the producer they replaced Terry with please reply I need closure if its a great ending I gotta find some way to accept it like the Iliad and if not I can write a different end to it in my head
Try reading Paul Darrow autobiography "your him aren't you" he pointed out, that Avon isn't seen getting killed at the end. He even tried to get a sequel made.
@@andrewhickton3189 I will check out Mr. Darrow's bio. It would've been spectacular if he'd gotten a sequel series off the ground!
Cally❤
I enjoyed Blake,s Seven in trillions of ways, and having a regular arch-enemy and regular arch-villain in the form of a woman called Servalan was awesome.
The worse thing they ever did in Blake’s 7 was to destroy the Liberator !!
AND remove Blake and replace crew members after season 2.
I totally agree. It's the best ship ever, in any Sci-fi show.
Zen's "I...have failed...you...." was heartbreaking.
@@Emdee5632but the actor wanted to leave. So unless you recast, like they did with Travis.
Then that blatant effort to make the new ship look like the millennium falcon!
I grew up watching Blake’s 7 but later on fell out of love with the series. I kept on hearing how good the show was and I went to watch it again. It was a good show. Now in my top ten best TV show of all time. The effects weren’t much cop with a low budget but you looked beyond that; it’s the same with the original Doctor Who. Another great series starring Gareth Thomas was Children of the Stones, really creepy despite being a kids show.
BLOODY HELL! I sort of recall Children of the Stones!
It amazing how many Shows have been made on Low Budgets that actually hold up and stand the test of time... I feel its down to great Story... The effects can be poor as long a the story is engaging!
One I recall was an old Aussie Children's TV Show called "Under The Mountain" - Based on a Novel... Its effects were honestly Not that bad given its low production value... And it had a real creepy vibe too!
Happy Day, Neil Thomas. Happy Day.
Also, Star Maidens, along with Judy Geeson.
Full series; ua-cam.com/video/SwT0wLnT7Rc/v-deo.html
The music freaked me out as a kid.
@@wbbartlett Just took a quick look... Woah! That Music... And another Nostalgic Piece to enjoy!
Not a series I have ever seen but one I have heard of... I look forward to watching it!
As a young child I always felt the Liberator was flying around "backwards" 😂
Brilliant show.
Grew up with it & just watched again.
Still holds up I reckon.
Blakes 7great bring back memories ❤❤❤❤
This is a fantastic description of the Liberator's capabilities and equipment. I particularly enjoyed your contextualizing it's original purpose vs. the use to which we general see it being put.
Zen being able to read "brainwave scans" is a great idea that's never really used. There's so much potential to the setting that was never really explored.
Those sofas in command looked very confortable. And seats amost every where were built for comfort.
The seats at the consoles were basically bike seats with high backs, the cast hated them as they were so uncomfortable
Great sci-fi show. ❤
Thanks for making this video! This show is one of my favorites. I have a fairly sizeable model of the Liberator, always loved the design. The episode when it was destroyed brought tears to my eyes.
Yay!! One of the most awesome and forgotten series!! Okay...to be fair, I really didn't like the ending, but then I can't think of a better one (b'cuz I'm not smart), so I won't go cutting up the show for it. I'd gladly watch the whole thing again!!
Almost everything about the Liberator is naff, and yet somehow I cannot imagine anything I would rather zip around the galaxy in. I think it is among the most "domestic" of space vehicles somehow and its aesthetic, which is perhaps most akin to the top floor coffee shop in a mid 70s provincial department store in the UK, is somehow oddly appealing (even if I do get an odd urge to go shopping for loose covers after watching some B7 episodes!)
The Deep Space Vehicle "British Home Stores"
You've only gone and done it. It was a very long way at Standard by two, but so far it looks to have been a lot of work.
Many thanks for this. Blakes 7 was something i watched with my dad as a kid and I loved it! So much so i still have it.
This was a mammoth task - and the first one I had to start from scratch with (I think I only knew the ending!).
Hope it does the show justice for you! I absolutely loved watching it all!
@@spacedoutgame Finished it now, and i think you hit the nail on the head, fast, powerful, incredibly advanced, not too overpowered that you can forget strategic planning, and when it comes right down to it... Not yours, nor designed to make you comfortable.
@@Tigermoto Excellent! I do wish there was more of a focus on the alien nature of the ship - I suspect if it were ever to be remade, the mystery of the original owners would be played on a lot more
You deserve a lot bigger audience for these very entertaining videos😎👌
Blake's 7. To sum it up it is basically Robin Hood in space. At least for the first half of the 52 episode run.
Robin Hood meets 1984 in space.
The Liberator is may favourite spaceship design. Watched B7 as a child and loved it as it was quite revolutionary for its time. Killing off main characters regularly kept you on the edge of your seat as you knew known was safe.
Thanks for a great video. B7 is one of my all time favourite shows. Looking forward to watching more of your content ❤
This was a great idea for a video. Thanks!
If I had to pick my favouite sf tv series at this moment it'd be Blakes 7. It's amazing. Thanks for covering it. Space Out, have you watched The Starlost. It gets terribly panned on thee internets but I think it's quite amazing and there's tonnes of later sf media that've borrowed from it. Oh, I've two Corgi Liberators!
I gotta say.. having recently watched it all, I have to agree. You don’t get the same sort of interplay between characters anywhere else!
Not heard of Starlost? Will take a look! Always love to see what inspired later creators
@@spacedoutgame It's 'The Starlost' it might be on YT? I've got it on DVD.
Memories of watching this late at night on the ABC here in Australia on a black & white TV. The shock of the final episode rocked my young mind!
Great video, loved the (affectionate) humour! The only thing missing was the saddest moment in the entire 4 series, Zen dying.
The Liberator was one of the best, most original space ship designs ever!!
Nicely done.
Great video about a great series. And wonderfully detailed analysis of one of its main characters: the Liberator spaceship.
11:36 like modern fly by wire systems in fighter aurcraft today.
Loved the show loved the Actors grew up watching the show. Of course it was made at the time on a shoestring. What do you expect it was the BBC biguideers no money spent on practical effects but it was of its time still really enjoy It even some of the way out scripts . I had the great pleasure in meeting some of the actors several times even though I stayed up in Aberdeen Scotland like the Arthur who played Avon He was my favourite of course. Ruby nice actor in persand others very generous was his time when he met fansuddenly. Couldn't have been easy Living such a well known face for so many years. My sympathies go out to his family and friends I would just like to say really nice man Face-to-face. Thank you for all the hard work you put in to make this video much appreciated . Keep on doing the good work. Thank you.!!!!
You’re very welcome! The low budget just adds to the charm - although it never stopped them telling great stories! It must have been fantastic meeting the actors - sadly I got to this show far too late!
I'm glad I'm not the only one that noticed that, when Blake gives his gun to Jenna so that she's holding two.
BRILLIANT!
Didn't see how long it was before I started playing but once I got into it, I didn't care1 Nlow there's some high praise for a video.
Looks like everyone else noticed that the flight deck was the Millennium Falcon and I loved the "it is green" clip from Next Gen. Brilliant work all round!
I pitched a Series 5 to Terry Nation, not long after the end of Series 4 (that he encouraged me to submit to BBC) and it would have included a new Liberator-style ship. Those plots keep bouncing around in my head. With the way AI animation is going, maybe I can find somewhere that I can just input my scripts & plots and have it give back something to watch! LOL
Oh that’s awesome!! I’d absolutely love to read some of those pitches - bet you could definitely get some storyboards made at the very least!
Excellent video! The size of the Liberator has always seemed unclear. I always assumed it was quite enormous especially when compared with the London prison ship. Assuming the London was a good size that would make the Liberator much bigger than the Enterprise including the galaxy class. I always assumed the interior of the Liberator was extremely vast even though we only saw the flight deck, teleporter room, and a few other rooms on the TV show. I guess part of the fun is you fill in the gaps with your own imagination and child like wonderment! 🙂 🚀
I remember working on the DVDs of B7. Happy memories.
What a great job!
I just binged your entire catalog of videos... thank you for the Liberator, it was a bit of a blast from the past, and truly, enjoyed it!
((btw, do you have other ideas you're going to pursue? I was wondering about the Rocicante or the TARDIS))
Thank you so much Davi, that’s awesome!
I have a bit of a list growing.. and the good news is they’re both on there! Open to further suggestions - the weirder, the better!
@@spacedoutgame alright! Oh, just thought of another old, old classic... Space: 1999. How much of a hellhole was Moonbase Alpha, I have to wonder.
@@davivignola5895 oh, I can already hear the funky funky beats of Moonbase Alpha
@@spacedoutgame I love that song. That, and the sets/Eagles, were what really sold me on the show.
@@davivignola5895 The Eagles were cool, as one of the first examples I can think of, of a Nasa-Punk ship design in sci-fi
i binge watched this for covid.... great stuff, loved it as a kid.
My friend has two daughters, named Dayna and Calley! And Blake's 7 was awesomeness on a Dr Who budget! Avon was my fav!
I met a younger girl who was names Nyssa, (from Doctor Who) by her parents. She wasn't impressed when she figured it out. Also a software engineer who nickname of Romana was so widespread that she officially changed her real name to match it.
@@gorillaau my daughters name is Leela! Named after Leela of the Seva team, from Dr Who! Hahaha. True story, and she's fine with it!
@@pzuliomaccavellion9711 That's awesome. I guess it depends on the individual. As a teenager, I loved that Doctor Who story. It gave plenty to think about afterwards.
I watched this series, twice, and I only just noticed the screen using Star Trek deltas to mark the federation ships. A dig at the American series that proceeded it no doubt.
I believe some of the early images and model work was done externally from the BBC, these show directional lighting, shadows and smoother movement (like space 1999). The BBC however took the model work in-house and a noticeable drop in quality can be seen. Ie the use of video, zooming in and out and bland overly white spaceships.
Hahaha the fashion montage is perfect
As a child of the 70's, I never got into this - Dr Who, Space 1999 and the like were more my scene. My older cousin however absolutely loved it.
Everything I know and hear about this series tells me it was aimed at an older more sophisticated viewer than the average 7 or 8 year old of the time - I can understand why it is so respected among certain age groups. It must have felt like somebody was taking Sci-Fi seriously and that it wasn't just for kids.
Great show..., 👍🏻
Great show.
Watched as a 10yr old bk when it 1st aired.
The UKs Star Trek
Loved Blakes Seven wheni was a kid, love to see a movie with modern effects etc !! :0)
Standard by 14 ?! 😦... but Is it as fast as Plaid?
I think both Plaid and Ludicrous Speed were faster. Not sure 😀
Was a great series, suprised it has not been turned into a big budget film
You're awesome for reviewing Blake's 7.
Fantastic, right back to my childhood and one of the sources of my love for SciFi. Life aboard: Scorpio next?
I like the Props and set designs 😁👍👍👍👍
The irony wes AVON was non stop trying to get the Liberator when BLAKE was in charge then by season 3 he got his wish then flys her into a red acid cloud in search of BLAKE with Catastrophic consequences.
Ship happens apparently...
LoL. I had this Ship as a Die-Cast -Model. I never knew it was from a TV-series and it doesn't fly in the direction i guessed back then.
All hail The Liberator!
Tbh I had no understanding of any of this "System" stuff, or how Orac and Zen worked when I watched this as a kid. I thought it was just sci fi Robin Hood. Terry Nation had one hell of an imagination.
That image ratio failed CRT tv screen looks so odd.
Great music at the beginning. I used to have this LP. Geoff Loves Intergalactic Disco Sounds
One of the best!
Does anyone out there recall the last episode of Blake's Seven?
I could visualise the writers meeting before writing the last episode. A bunch of drunk suits sitting around a table discussing how to end the series and entire storyline.
"Oh I know" says someone at the end of the table. " Why don't we have a shootout and kill off all the main characters?"
"Sounds good" says another suit. "Do we all agree?"
And they did. Bang bang zap kapowie. All main characters dead. No More Blake's Seven. Oh well. It was good while it lasted.
Ahh the Jeff love version of the theme ( I think ) was off one of my first albums bought a long time ago :)
Very enjoyable video. Everything really hinges on Se2Ep1 to help explain who the The System are and why they might have built DSV2 but it still does not make much sense. Nothing about The System suggest that they would want to dress up to engage with other civilisations, especially as (based on the clothes themselves) those civilisations might include those who worship Alvin Stardust and Carol Chell from Playschool. I do quite enjoy B7 fashion, if I am honest. The future? well, its tabards basically, all the way (so we have that to look forward to, unless you a hospital radiographer in which case, I guess, you are already halfway there, even if your ones happen to be lead lined). As for The Liberator the script hints at a concept that the design cannot effectively realise; it is biomorphic, its controls meld in some way with the crew, it is like a living organism. Unfortunately what you see on screen is mostly Fablon and repurposed Anglepoise lamps (as the "flight controls") so I don't think that ever really comes across. Zen looks like the light show in one of those late 70s provincial discotheques that had names like "Napoleon's" or "Le Jardin". Somehow, despite it all, B7 is a joy and it all takes place somehow much more in the viewers head than on screen. Among the best SF performances and script ever.
Nice just watched the vid on starbug and wondered if you had done one on this. Will have to see if you have done my favourite ship.
With reference to the I.T. Crowd...
...ORAC is the Internet.
Nevermind the backdoor built into every CPU...
Blake 7 is a little before my time and this is the first time I've ever seen anything of it.
But it sounds like a really interesting setting for a grand strategy game like "Star Wars: Empire at War".
One ship, zipping around the galaxy, fighting guerrilla style and building an army of rebels? Sounds amazing!
I had real Mass Effect vibes, personally - there’s a lot of fantastic interplay between characters throughout the show
Picard: - "We cannot interfere Mr. Data, Prime Directive blah blah blah....",
Kirk - "Prime Directive? Screw it Spock",
Zen - "F^^k you".
EPIC!
I had the little Matchbox or Dinky model of the Liberator as a kid, wasn't until a lot later I realised i'd been flying it back to front. Looked better that way to me.
My mum had the disco version of the theme music on vinyl.
It’s a banger!
I did a remix myself. Plan to use it for a Blake's 7 podcast 😁
@@Problembeing Awesome! Let me know when you get started - I’d love to hear it 😁
@@spacedoutgame It was used before for my friends over at The Spacebook :) ua-cam.com/video/zjNnzcmHITI/v-deo.html
I remember years ago I got it all out on VHS ! - a giant box the size of ORAC! Heard later the DVD box set had some scenes which 'got stuck' problem with DVD tracking / skipping sections of some episodes? Anyone comment on this? Will get it on DVD and re-live it again!
The Liberator is one of the best ship designs in sci-fi, I remember as a nipper collecting all the random Lego blocks I could find from local jumble sales just to spend a few days building my own me size Liberator. it was epic BTW. As it goes I'd argue the 2 shows most influenced by Blake's 7 are Babylon 5 and Farscape.
Apparently, Firefly was Joss Whedon's take on B7. If you think about the characters in Firefly, they are all criminals of some kind, running from a galactic federation, lead by a captain with a political reason to rebel...
@@ratspike8017
I never saw Firefly so I couldn't say, people do say it's good though and there are some rumblings about it coming back.
Computers would be cold, alien oppressors, lifeless and cruel. What would that be like?
Let's have them behave EXACTLY THE SAME WAY AS EVERY HUMAN EVER!
Awesome! Can you consider doing a video on Moonbase Alpha at some point in the future?
Interesting idea! I’ll put the purple thinking wig on and see what I can do..
@@spacedoutgame Yeah, maybe tie it in to the UFO moonbase since they're both Gerryverse series.
Villa and Avon were a great team, Avon completely disdainful of Villa, and 41:33 Villa veering wildly between passive aggressive snark and unremitting terror of Avon. With both having mastery of one liners.
It appears that Villa has somehow got hold of an extremely old 1977 Fidelity Electronics Chess Challenger game. That must be worth a lot by then!
That is one of the things about B7, there seem to be moments where the set designers just gave up completely. Servalan's office has its Joe Columbo chair (more Century 21 loan items, I suspect, this time S1999) but a high end office telephone that is contemporary with the production itself. Like most British Sci Fi there is a lot of clipboard work too. We have to imagine a future where crossing the galaxy is not much of problem but where the telephone stopped its evolution at some point in 1978.
@@simonjones7727 I can't remember the name of the episode, but there was one with a chap who was with a girl who had been his slave, but he had freed her. But she still behaved subordinate to him. I remember a scene where there was a desk lamp. And it was one of the props from either UFO of Space 1999.
@@GnrMilligan As far as I know it was quite lucrative for Century 21 to get full value out of the props to rent them out in this way. ITC was very canny in general. I love watching things like "Strange Report" because the same items pop up in different settings week after week (and across the different ITC serials). The poor people who made them would never have anticipated DVD and Streaming and the obsessive nature of future fans, not yet born, when the original transmissions occurred, who love spotting these things!
Those set elements from the Gerry Anderson's UFO Moonbase (11:58) that Century 21 loaned out to so many productions over the years.I'd never spotted them in the Liberator before.
Several washing up bottles attached to each other
Great video, thank you.
Glad you liked it!
I remember watching this on WTVS Detroit PBS as a kid!
I always assumed that carapace at the back was a fusion reactor, and the intakes towards the front were intakes for hydrogen atoms - near light speed, you'd get a lot of those. That's how I assumed the Liberator was powered.
Thebest ship un science fiction. Thumbs up for a reboot in this time of Doctor who Star trek and Babylon 5 potentially coming back
Watched it as a kid, it was always the talk of the playground the ned day.
At 5.00 I noticed the millennium falcon as the flight deck, is that correct.
Thank you thank you you have filled in the blanks. I always thought Iain M Banks used the liberator and its pylons pods & deep space zones at the bases for his ROU design
B7 was just not the same after the end of series 3. Blowing up DSV Liberator was quite hard hitting as an 8 year old watching it! Season 4 was kinda ok but wasn’t the same.
They did one like this in the US back in the day. Star something....
Surely Liberator’s top speed is Standard by 20
Not to mention its time distort capabilities.
What is the source of the schematics (at 4:59) that show the flight deck as literally being the Millennium Falcon? 😂 Obviously someone did that as a joke. But was that ALWAYS part of the floor plan? or added in more recently?
Blake's Seven was awesome
but nothing could beat Buck Roger's Colonel Deering in a skintight catsuit
Biddly biddly !
I wouldn’t fancy flying to the local shops in that ship! I remember the walls shook when someone walked past,,, only god knows how she’d hold up to take off and landing, or warp speed 🤷🏻♂️😂
I watched this when it first come out. Funny how most ships of that time period and made on the cheap look really dated and unrealistic now. However the Liberator still looks good.
Not so much the "Not so special" effects, or the acting, but the story line in general still holds up. I loved this as a youngster and added it to my TV Series collection.
I have watched it about every 10 years since and have enjoyed it every time.
The acting was great what are you on about!
OK! I am going great guns here and going to make a request... And Yes I am Subscribing TOO!
A Childish one... But fun none the less! As someone mentioned the late Gerry Anderson, Why Not? His back catalogue has many fascinating Ships from the Thunderbirds to... TERRAHAWKS!
I wonder if you can guess which I want to see a breakdown of??? LOL!
Oh blimey! Alright, it’s on the list! Thanks for subscribing, and welcome aboard! 😁
@@spacedoutgame Ahhhh! Wonderful! I have actually been enjoying revisiting Blakes 7 this last few weeks... Won a Gift Voucher at work and bought the boxed set, alongside Terrahawks... A Childhood Fave!
I'm a 60's sci-fi dude, albeit an American one. I've had the pleasure to peruse and consume extensive libraries of foreign content, though I've primarily stayed in English speaking (sometimes Japanese with subs) content, I've never bothered engaging in a complete runthrough of "Blake's 7" before. Perhaps it's time to fix that oversight. Thanks for the content.
Seriously. You won’t regret it. Like Doctor Who’s cynical, sarcastic Uncle
@@spacedoutgame that sounds positively lovely. Particularly when something is intellectually stimulating while displaying strange qualities approaching that "uncanny valley" where my brain starts picking up on something about the show that's making the experience feel surreal and even dangerous, is when I find myself hooked on these old speculative scifi programs. This looks like a perfect candidate for that kind of experience.
The system space station was located in the 12th sector astro .781 Star One was located at Grid Reference 317 320 in the 11th sector. Harriet Philpin played Alta 2. She also played a character called Bettan in the Doctor Who story Genesis of the Daleks.
Now that you’ve covered the Liberator, would you think about covering Scorpio (B7 Series 4)?
It’s most definitely on the list, but there’s a lot less to talk about! The model IS gorgeous, though
@@spacedoutgame I’d say the Scorpio almost gives vibes of a Star Destroyer
Watching Paul Darrow acting as Avon was like watching a venomous snake preparing to strike.
No space toilets on the liberator though. The crew had to resort to teleporting their poo straight into the nearest federation outpost in a sort of futuristic, space dirty protest.
Blakes seven? More like Blakes number two.
"Down and safe"
@simonjones7727 🤗 glad someone has a similar sense of humour.
Is that slave in agony played by the actor for Holly from Red Dwarf?
If you look at Blake's 7, you can see that Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda was based on it. Each of the main character at the start if each show had a 1 to 1 correlation, even Zen. Granted Lexa Doga made a much more attractive Zen 🙂
What I always loved the most about B7 was the often somewhat negative, desperate atmosphere. The Federation is not like the federation in Star Trek. In fact if the future of mankind will keep being desperately searching for resources but now in space, the B7 federation is far more likely to happen than the ST one.
Maybe it also looked more realistic to me because of the low budget. Not all this fancy American stuff. Of course special effects in the 1970s and early 1980s were not as good as they are now. In fact in B7 they were often quite bad 😅 but I still loved the show.
Oohh and of course Servalan, the pursuit ships and those black uniforms (although the Federation infantry blasters weren't much).
I found it odd how they so often crossed Servalan or their friends or sisters etc. You'd think the galaxy being so big and all this would be a rare occurrence?
@@anticat900 Don't forget Servalan is a Federation agent, and the Federation has been hunting them since the day they escaped from the prison ship London. Servalan's ''friends and sisters'' are Federation agents and soldiers (and mutoids). Some of the people Blake and his crew met were neutral. Too bad they often had to pay with their lifes if they helped Blake.
B7 is a dystopian version of Star Trek. The Terran Fedation's main goal was the kill Blake.
I loved the increasingly bleak, underdog premise and especially the finale scene. What a way to go out, no spoilers from me though.
@@gorillaau definitely
The B7 universe was brilliant exactly because it was historically accurate. It portrayed the cycles of expansion and collapse that human civilizations undergo. Not to mention the seriously cynical view towards governments and the tyrannical rulers that end up controlling them. Real life consists of multiple shades of gray and B7 accurately reflects that.