Blake's 7 (Complete Series 1-4) - 17-DVD Box Set

Blake’s 7 was aired on BBC TV from 1978 to 1981. It was created by Terry Nation who had brought us Dr. Who in the early 70s. The BBC produced it but the budget was pretty low all the same but the acting and storyline is what draws you in. I watched it as a kid in the late 70s and was hooked, even though it has a depressing effect and a kind of realism that was not present on big production Sci-fi series from the USA. Star Trek never grabbed me the way this show did and Star Wars was over the top and more for kids. There was four series made and this great value boxset has them all including a bonus disc for devotees! The plot is pretty simple, 700 years into the future, the Federation rules the universe in a totalitarian, draconian way until Roj Blake escapes en route to a penal colony along with a rag tag band of followers and strike back at the heart of the evil rulers in the Liberator, a state of the art intergalactic craft. He’s constantly hunted as he ducks and dives and battles the pursuers who want him dead or alive, preferably dead. The journey takes many twists and turns across the vastness of space meeting all kinds of beings and vagabonds on the way. It’s a great show, with excellent performances from Paul Darrow, Stephen Greif, Jacqueline Pearse, Sally Kynvette, Michael Keating and Gareth Thomas who plays Blake himself.This set is a must for fans of cult sci-fi and as long as you don’t expect the CGI and over the top sets of modern day space films then you may want to step on board the Liberator and join Blake and his crew.A. MURRAY, Nov, 8, 2020

I was always a great fan of Blake's 7 and spent nearly £200 on the original VHS tapes years ago but although I still have a player, I don't have it connected permanently and storage of tapes is bulky so when I saw this at such a great price (£17.60 incl P&P) I bought it. There are 17 DVDs - 4 per series - plus a bonus disc all neatly packed in a multi-section hinged plastic case with some discs double stacked. Although the packaging is for the Dutch market the DVDs play with an English audio track automatically. There are Dutch subtitles but it's easy to turn them off before selecting an episode just by clicking the word 'off' where it says subtitles on/off. You need to reset the aspect ratio to 4:3 if you have a default widescreen setting but you have to do that with lots of old TV shows anyway. The picture quality is better than my old tapes too though I am currently watching them on my desktop PC rather than a large TV screen. Sound is excellent. Lovely to watch those very wobbly sets and dodgy effects again. A bargain purchase. I'm very happy.

I have been waiting for a long, long time for this series to come out on Region 1 format. But recently my DVD player stopped working, and when looking for a replacement, I found one that would play any region. Yay! So I immediately ordered this set. I played the first dvd and it was just like I remembered it from way back in the day. I was very happy with the sound and picture quality.So excited.When I went to put in the second dvd, it wasn't there. There was another of the first dvd. (I played it just to make sure it wasn't just mislabeled).So disappointed.I am returning the set. Since I was happy with what I did see, I will reorder the set from this seller and update this review once I do. Hopefully, it will be complete this time.Well, I have received my new set, and everything looks great. I've already started watching and I am very pleased with this purchase. The return process worked great, and I am very happy with Amazon and the seller.

For the summer sale price of 25 quid this box set is excellent, but it's 4 DVDs per series and most are stored two per spike which can cause scuffs and scratches when taking them out of the box or putting them back. it's up to you if you take the discs out of this pack and use a circular tub normally used for blank DVDs to keep them in the best condition.Play them through a Blu Ray player and the picture will be upscaled anyway meaning the outdoor scenes filmed on 16mm might look sharper (even if there will be more grain and you will have to make different adjustments according to your particular flat TV). However some studio sections to series 1 episodes show signs of tear on the broadcast tapes that didn't happen with the VHS versions and other transmission quirks like shaky titling, have also transferred across to these Dutch DVDs even if they are the sharpest you will see before any purely digital version from the BBC store in future, or a Blu-Ray remaster.It's easy enough to turn off the subtitling even if by the third disc I just left them on and they didn't distract from watching the show. If all you want are the episodes and you're upgrading from the VHS tapes this is a bargain and the extras a bonus, however anyone that had bought the individual DVD series box sets with tidied up effects will have to check the extras disc in this one and see if they think it's worth buying all over again. The only missing gems from the extras list were the two Blu Peter "Make Your Own Teleport Bracelet" clips which are on the s1 and s4 DVD sets, plus Kevin Jon Davies' full documentary divided by series 1-3, selections of which are in the extras for this box but that content is all on Youtube anyway.As for the actual episodes watching the series again for the first time in seven years now I feel that the show was a series of two halves, series 1 and 2 hooked in the audience with the continuing plot and it was Terry Nation's baby with help from Chris Boucher and other established BBC TV writers - but I only saw these earlier series thanks to repeats. After cast changes and Nation's move to America, series 3 and 4 concentrated much more on adventures with diversions from the overall story arc or concentrations on individual character stories and James Bond-level cheeky humour. Following Star Wars the continuing big-screen influence was felt by allowing the "good guys" to use realistic-looking guns following the more alien Liberator weapons. It had the same influences from Star Trek in some places where compelling guest characters wouldn't be seen again probably due to budget, but it was fun spotting 1970s and 80s names from British acting before they broke out into bigger roles (eg Brian Blessed, the late Ronald Lacey aka the lead Nazi from Raiders of the Lost Ark, and sixth Doctor Who Colin Baker, and many others).Having watched all of them now, series 4 has enjoyed retouching of its effects in this Dutch set rather than remastering since they made early use of computers back in the day, meaning the overbright (CSO?) halo effect superimposing the models on space backgrounds is massively reduced or completely gone. Other 16mm stock sequences still enjoyed that Thunderbirds charm. That made my favourite s4 episode Gold, easier to stay involved with and enjoy seeing again. Also Roy Boyd (the actor playing Zukan in the penultimate episode) follows Colin Baker from series 3 in overacting over (even) Paul Darrow in an ironic way and stealing the show, which I didn't notice as a kid but now provides extra unintentional comedy. The downside is that the early outdoor scenes in the very last episode have gone from slightly blurry on VHS to almost too sharply rescanned on DVD through a Blu Ray player. Through a standard DVD player and a RGB SCART connection though, and this issue is reduced although you'd have to switch to a "cinema" preset and wash out the greenery of any outdoor scenes and gold detailing on sets/costumes (and naturally on a CRT television this never happened whatever player you were using).. However the horizontal banding in the scenes set in darkened interiors on the VHS version played through flat screens, has been properly cleaned up on this DVD set. One vertically black scanline from Episode 52 on the VHS tapes, despite being removed, is still detectable so the limitations of the remaster are showing up and it's unlikely there will be a frame-by-frame cleanup before the 40th anniversary in 2018 if the effects were already re-done on the individual sets.Even so, final episode aside it's probably the best the series will look before the next transfer or any BBC Store digital version. The sound transfer on some series 3 episodes was also not the best it could've been (probably my individual set), so for that other reason I'm keeping my VHS tapes with their much louder analog sound and getting a new box to keep these DVDs in so there are no more scratches.

This is interviews with cast members and some background on the series. The dvd works perfectly. I'm very happy with my purchase. Thank you very much .

The product is excellent but the zoning was a neucance a restricts the units i you use to view it it is a pointless imposition

I watched all of it, one disc a day, until it was all gone. Constantly thought to myself "this is ridiculous". No humorous, though not deeply serious, just enthusiastic story telling and theater with complete disregard for perfectionism. Watched it on an oldish computer by simply switching my region in the properties of the DVD drive under the device manager. Easy enough to find. You get five such switches, so you can always switch it back, and who doesn't have old computers around? Also impressive that they packed over 7 gigabytes of data onto each DVD, the ones from the store only have 4.3. Everything played well and the picture is so clear you can see how control buttons are glued onto the cardboard crooked, how explosives are made out of rolls of duct tape and such. Doesn't matter. You learn to overlook the crude props and effec ts rather quickly, the way Minecraft becomes immersive, or a real theater with merely stylized suggestions of props and backdrops can involve you in the drama. If anything ever cried out for a reboot it's this.

First in "Project Avalon", which is without a doubt the best episode I've seen so far, Blake is scheduled to rondavoue with another resistance leader, Avalon, who is vital to the rebellion. But before Blake can get to her, she is captured by Travis. Now Blake and his crew must pull off a daring rescue in the heart of Federation territory. However, Travis has a plan of his own that could mean the death of Blake and the end of the rebellion once and for all. A very thrilling and action-packed episode that had me on the edge of my seat. The most adventurous and exciting one yet. Five stars.Next is "Breakdown" in which Gan's neurological implant starts to malfunction, turning him violent, and causing him to attack the crew. After restraining him, the crew discovers that Gan will die unless he receives immediate treatment. Making a perilous journey across an unknown and dangerous region of space, and almost being destroyed by a mysterious anomaly, Blake and his crew finally reach a medical facility. But when the station's doctor learns who they really are, will he help them or call in the Federation? Five stars.Highly recommended!

OK, so the Brits didn't put a lot of money into the Sci-Fi in the 60's, 70's and 80's even though they produced a number of well written and well acted programs. I watched this series on PBS way back when it was originally aired and even recorded every episode...on Beta. I know, but I really believed it was the best format at the time. Anyway, Blake's 7 is a great ride with lots of twists and conflicts. The sets are primitive, the effects hokey but it's a good story and overall great cast. The guest stars are a who's who of great British actors from other sci-fi shows and classic movies. Too many to list over the 4 seasons and 17 DVDs but you can check it out at IMDB.com. If you like your sci-fi on the camp side, this is a great series. IMPORTANT! I did have to buy an all region player to watch it but Amazon has a large number of good players at a low price. There is a lot of great UK programming not yet available on our format that you can pick up reasonably. It's worth it to grab an all region player and then look through the amazing selection of PAL (and other) videos you can watch.