thanks for posting, this was one of the great BBC shows of the late 70s-early 80s, even if the models and sets wobbles and the fashions were inspired by ABBA, A true classic sci-fi show. If they was 'reboot' Dr Who maybe they should try with blakes 7

This show was the best thing on TV . Gareth Thomas was amazing. A Welshman in Space....who'd have thought ?!!!!! Was so sad when this series ended. Much missed. Some of the stories were truly heart wrenching, and the acting was superb. Paul Darrow's AVON is a character most actors would have killed for. An amazing show.

@angelacooper2661

4 ай бұрын

Gareth Thomas was Dr Philip Denny in The Citadel too!

@eleanorhogan8643

2 ай бұрын

I agree with you, so what if the special effects were terrible? It was made in the 70's with a low budget.

Blakes 7 has a HUGE fan base here in the States, many having watched it when it ran on PBS stations in the 1980's. I can't understand why the BBC hasn't yet released this in the U.S. I think somebody in the BBC marketing department needs a kick in the ass.

@johnthewiz

9 ай бұрын

I had no idea it was big in the States. I wonder how a bigger budget, darker remake would go down over there?

R.I.P. Gareth Thomas. You were one of my childhood heroes.

@Clavinovaman

5 жыл бұрын

You mean R.I.P. Dudley Simpson? This about the _music..._

@digitalbroadcaster

Жыл бұрын

I didn’t know that Dudley Simpson had passed away. Won’t be many people left from my memories at this rate.

R.I.P. Jacqueline Pearce, 74. Who played Servalan.

@captainscarletamysteronage5354

4 жыл бұрын

Jacqueline Pearce

@eleanorhogan8643

11 ай бұрын

@@captainscarletamysteronage5354 I met her, she was lovely, horrible on this but lovely lady in real life.

Even through a three foot thick layer of eighties cheese this theme is still epic.

@johndelye3402

6 жыл бұрын

PassiveSmoking The power and talent of Dudley Simpson!

@wurliewynd6308

Жыл бұрын

Although this is from the 1970s. This particular title sequence was used on the 1978-79 episode transmissions only.

Quatermass was where my viewing changed as a child. I thought i could never go back to the stuff i`d been watching after i`d seen that.

growing up in the 70s and 80s was the best. you tube is full of great shows like this. unlike children of today , we ( us in our 30s)can relive our childhood. these memories are very precious. thank god for you tube.

RIP Gareth Thomas. Best known for his role as the title character Blake.

@angelacooper2661

Жыл бұрын

He was also Dr Philip Denny in The Citadel, alongside Dr Andrew Manson - Harold Abrahams of Chariots of Fire!

Best British sci-fi show ever. fantastic. Never missed an episode. Was devastated when it finished. Richard Lloyd

I miss Blake's 7. Back in the early eighties, here in the US, we would tune in every Saturday night on our local PBS station around 7pm, before we were going out to discos or bars (pubs!). I was in my mid-twenties, and it was one of the few shows that brought me, my younger sister, and younger brother together. Another cheap-budget sci-fi show from Canada that I liked was "The Starlost" from around the same time. These foreign sci-fi attempts had bad SFX, but sometimes great story lines. And, of course, there was always the king of them all, "Doctor Who". (I was introduced to it during the Jon Pertwee years but William Hartnell is still my favorite Doctor.)

Those two ends notes.....simply lush!

@angelacooper2661

Жыл бұрын

Sorry, I found them really frightening when growing up and still do now! And I have a musical background, so notice things like that.

@digitalbroadcaster

Жыл бұрын

Same as me. I’ve played synthesisers for many many years and those two synth notes just sound space-rich to me. The rest of the track is quite harsh though

My favourite when I was a child. In Belgium they called it 'De 7 van Blake' at that time.

Brilliantly heroic & yet sad theme song, which well summed this great show up

The music was very good during the series and re-watching it on the 'net allows me to realise how consistent musical ideas were used for characters and elements of the show.

awesome fragment of child hood memory lane. Go be negative else where haters.

Great show... sorely missed!

A lot of props to the writing. That 3rd season was awesome.

Kids today would be baffled by the high quality production :D

@LordSlarr

8 жыл бұрын

Well I suppose I'm a kid today but I love it! But then I raised myself on classic Doctor Who so effects never bother me.

@ann-marieellis3102

7 жыл бұрын

90s baby who adores B7 here :)

That last episode of Blake's 7....no one would ever have the balls these days to pull that of. Me and my big brother watched this show on Sky channel way's back, what it laced in production value it made up in spades with gritty tales of betrayal and madness set in space...good to see that there is still love for Blake and his gang.

Today I think we rely too much on CGI effects in film and Tv. The acting and the writing is the most important and that's what made Blakes 7 such compulsive viewing in 80s.

The organ work is what really makes the theme music.

@angelacooper2661

Жыл бұрын

A really horrible ending (the penultimate chord is an augmented one, which frightened me when I was junior school age). To this day, I still can't bear to hear the ending - now in my early fifties!

One of the best Sci Fi shows out of the UK ever!

I watch the series with my dad, and I think it's awesome. even the graphics are quite cool, especially when you think about how old the serie is.

The opening theme is a cross between Rimsy Korsekov's "Pan Voyavoda" and "The Onedon line".

the final episode of this series caught people totally off guard. what a shocker finale!

When I was young (about five years old) I dashed out of the room whenever I saw "Blakes 7" typeface because I thought it was very scary at the time. My eldest brother loved this show & attempted to stop me before I reached the door but I wasn't having it. He thought it was funny at the time. Now I imagine how I looked back then. :lol:

R.I.P to Dudley Simpson who composed the B7 theme and the musical score for virtually the entire series

@Clavinovaman

5 жыл бұрын

And the two episodes he didn't score - Duel and Gambit, were the lesser for it...

one of my fav shows from the good old days. loved it n still do. brings back happy memories from those times..

Ahhh! those two last chords still get me just as much as they did way back when.

@angelacooper2661

Жыл бұрын

I hated them when growing up and still do, now in my early 50s!

RIP Dudley Simpson

@Clavinovaman

5 жыл бұрын

Master of his art.

Iconic as Hell, but even in 1977 I thought the yellow photographic cut out of the Liberator zooming toward the camera looks a bit too cheap. I fear it hurt the show to some extent, because people seem to remember the FX as worse than they were. The actual model shots in the episodes were often very good for the time.

I loved this as a kid and still do. So bad it's good.

Theme tune takes me back. Great series, fantastic actor performances more than made up for low budget special effects. Great stuff.

@peterwilliamskelhorn6675

Жыл бұрын

@abbamanic its like Doctor Who at the time

classic stuff what show brings back great memories damn im getting old lol

I have fond memories of this series. It may not have had much money spent on it, but it had strong stories and characters, which is probably a bit lost on those who judge something purely on the standards of the special effects.

The spaceship and planets look like something straight out of Monty Python - I was expecting the big foot to come in from the side and boot it away!

@AshtonPhoto I always found them oddly serene, at the end of such a rousing theme. Very much the soundtrack of my childhood...

love blake's seven intro somehow it has an other worldly feel to it. just as it did many years ago.

Yeah, between about 6 and 7:30 BBC2. Even the new Dr Who seems aimed more at EastEnders soap fans than it is at sci fi fans. British sci fi was the best at one time, I remember Quatermass, Sapphire and Steel, The Tripods, The Day of the Triffids to name but a few, and all on at prime time. I simply don't watch TV anymore, I'd rather watch Japanese Anime online or grab a DVD... I'm just not egocentric enough for, so called, 'reality' tv that makes up the majority of tv listings these days.

This is how long ago this show was, very few people had video recorders, so one of my friends used to record this on a tape recorder so I could hear it in school dinner. ( It was shown opposite Corrie in 1980 and my parents always had that on, again we were too poor to own a second television).

Holy crap! reminds me of being 6 years old again! so nostalgic

i was a kid probably 5-6 somewhere in the 80's when this was on the tv in Bulgaria.Very popular when we go out to play we imitated all the characters from the show

Hell yeah!! Paul Darrow is the greatest. Too bad we didn't get to see him in more tv and movies.

Babylon 5, Farscape, Firefly and the new Battlestar Galactica owe so much to Blake's 7.

I named my kids Servalan and Davros so i always have a soft spot for B7 and DW.

Doing digital video composition was state-of-the-art at the time (Quantel Paintbox). Just being able to overlay one video onto a perspective warped square in another video meant they could do things like starship viewscreens, teleportation effects, and laser beams. Otherwise you had to use film and employ someone to hand paint the individual frames of film (1500 for 30 seconds). The only way to animate 3D spaceships at this time was to glue old Airfix kits and plastic bottle tops together.

So much to thank Terry Nation for from my childhood tv memories

The BBC has created some of the best TV shows around. Doctor Who, Blake's 7, Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, Monty Python, Fawlty Towers and Mr. Bean to name a few. Blake's 7 is one of the best scifi series ever! As many have already said it's characters, acting and storylines more than made up for any deficiencies in special effects. I'm 43 now but I still remember how upset I was over the absolutely criminal way they ended the show. Although not nearly as famous as Star Trek, just as good.

Never heard of it, until I read this quote: "I don't believe in suicide, it stunts your growth!" -Vila Restal

I use to love this.

No doubt. Loved that show.

that brings so much memories from my childhood !... ;o)

@zooeyhall You can always check to see if your player (DVD or Blu-ray) will play all-region. I know mine does and most of the ones I see out there. I'd be really surprised if this series ever came out on DVD in the US.

@RX552VBK Star Cops was nothing to do with Terry Nation. It was devised by Chris Boucher, who was the script editor of Blake's 7 and also wrote many B7 episodes.

Funny that you should use Project Avalon because that is one of my favorite episodes.

RIP Paul 'Avon' Darrow

It was a wonderful show. It originally aired in 1987 on Thames--I think. I'm planning to order the whole series on DVD later this year.

Just ordered all 4 seasons. Its been a long time since seeing this series with my sister

@roseynick Yes, I know exactly what you mean. That little musical progression is used in many compositions and songs, like Neil Sedaka's 'Solitaire' and Abba's 'Waterloo'... What I love most about this theme is the last two sweeping (and creepy) synth chords.

Love those inventive BBC props... still with £50 a week as a budget it went a long way !

LOVE Blakes 7

Well I cant wait to see what this re-launch will be like...loved this back in the 80's just hope is has a sucessful return unlike V

Blake 7 over Dr who any day Blake was the man rip🙏👋

Some of the cheesiest Sci-Fi you`ll ever see, but the music brings me right back, i remember this and Space 1999 being essential viewing, lol.

Good old Terry Nation!

Season 1-4 out on dvd in Australia now :)

Well the series wasn't really supposed to run after series 3, but the producer or whatever commissioned a 4th. The story was pretty much over after 3 so they had to rush to think of ideas.

R.i.p Paul Darrow (Avon).

@DreamReaper338 Thanks for your helpful reply. I will give it a try once I order the dvds. All I have now are deteriorating VHS recordings of the show I made off the air back in the 90's, so it would be great to get the show on dvd.

Blake 7 seems to have alot of creditability to the lay and the known? Its the honesty and sinceress along with the obvious elements here that gives you solace.

Wow, instant flashback to teens! Just can't get enough of that fat synth swell! So ermmm...Blakes Seven. :o)

@979708 I remember watching it for the first time on our local PBS channel in the early 80's...say around 1984 or so. I'd love to have the series on DVD, but the only ones I can find are region 2, so I wouldn't be able to watch them.

@RX552VBK Nope, it was a BBC show, not ITV, and first aired in 1978. The four series were in consecutive years: 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981.

One of the best character driven sci fi shows ever! I first caught this show on PBS in the U.S.A. during the late 80's and early 90's. I'm big fan of Terry Nation (and his other Brit show StarCops--check it out); wonderful group of British actors. EMPIRE mag said B7 is being remade. I just hope it doesn't turn out like the remake of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy! Yuk

I love the CGI :-)

Sir Patrick Moore might have something to say about these planets being placed so closely together in the opening credits.

This was brilliant scifi tv. It was bargain basement star wars which would have made George Lucas laugh his head off with his ILM team at the special effects on display and the shoddy bbc sets and lighting. But to be fair it was made on a shoestring budget like most British tv productions of the time. But still the talent shone through and though low budget was well made. However what it lacked it some areas it more than made up for it in great charismatic acting with perfectly delivered lines, great storylines. It was dark and bloody miserable and it was British yet it had strong elements of star wars trilogy in it. With the Federation mirroring the Galactic Empire in Star Wars and Blake 7 as the rebels, and it was also damn good and very popular in syndication around the world. It was great scifi tv. It came around the same time as star wars trilogy. Blake 7 and Battle star galactica were competing around the world in syndication but blake 7 won out and was more popular with school boys in class rooms around the world at the time, than its American counterpart for once the Brits winning out with Blake 7 despite the American production battle star galactica having a bigger budget and far better special effects, complemented the big original trilogy star wars hits nicely. The years 1977 to 1983 was a bit of a golden age in movie and tv scifi with shows like Blake 7 coming out.

I loved this show when i was kid. Sevalan was HOT

Blake's 7 was the anti-Trek - the antithesis to ST's uplifting visions of the future.

Blakes 7 was science fiction for the dicerning connoseiur..........for those who need more than just explosions and laser guns for novelty.........and a good script and strong characterisations taboot.

All the space & space craft special effects were done with graphics and models & mattes....not sure if there was any CGI in 1977 when production began.

The face moving back into background is very Dr.Who based. I always thought so even decades ago.

@RX552VBK Me too! Back when special effects were not the norm and we had to rely on story, plot, characterization, etc.

PBS used to re-run this in the US in the 90s

series 1 is out on DVD in Australia...:)

Ohhh yes that explains it...thanx very much! I was starting to think i dreamed it!

I was more gutted by the destruction of Zen and the Liberator than some of my uncles and aunts passing

@stegatops1

Жыл бұрын

Thats not hard to do!

Fuck, that brings back memories...

You know what... I can't even remember the show. Just those typefaces but I'm over it.

yeah! I hope he keeps his hands off of that one!

It's a futuristic security "camera".

Wow.. can't believe you remembered. That would be cool; yeah, send me a link ;-) Thanks.

Whenever i see the animated intro to this classic sci fi series, for some reason....i expect a Monty Python sketch to start.

It was somewhat disquieting to see that in the Third Century of the Second Calendar computer graphics had not advanced in any way since the late 1970s.

I was 13 in 1981😮

Well Paul Darrow owns the rights. A rivival was in the works. Apparently he wasn't too keen on what was going on in

Actually, this show didn't premier until the flowing year, 1978.

My sentiments exactly

Needlepoint... in... Spaaaace!