-=> Quoting Nicolas Baker to Andrew Sukacz <=-

 NB> True, I only heard about it on the ST and RD echos....

 NB> So what is Blakes 7?

 It is the future, of course, and Earth & the colonized planets are ruled over
 by an administrative body referred to as "The Federsation".

 Although based on the best of intentions .. the Federation has come under the
 control of the corrupt and cruel and rutheless.
 But there are opponents .. freedom fighters .. rebels .. free thinkers if you
 will who oppose the now-overbearing restraints and controls forced upon the
 masses.

 One of these is  Roj Blake  who is recognized as a threat to the `order' of
 things and framed (at the highest levels) for child molesting. Sentenced to
 life on the penal planet of Cygnus Alpha, Blake is launched off alaong with
 other prisoners to begin his sentence. en route .. and I won't go into lots
 of details here .. on the way prisoner Blake along with prisoner Jemma, a
 beautiful blonde female arrested for smuggling, come into possession of an
 alien spacecraft. A craft who'd sheer size and speed and firepower makes it
 far superior to anything the Federation forces have.

 The ship is called the  LIBERATOR

 Blake and Jemma stage a daring mission and rescue some of the prisoners from
 the prison planet. Ending up with 5 crew persons. Blake, Jemma the smuggler
 Kerr Avon .. a self assured, arrogant, brilliant computer expert. Gan a big
 gentle giant .. sort of little John type and Vila (Villa?) a wise cracking
 semi-cowardly safe cracker cum thief.

 The five of them plus a rather unique ship's computer called ZEN make up 6.
 In the second adventure they gain a girl called Cally. Cally is a telepath
 a freedom fighter and rather cute too. She joins the crew, making 6 people
 + zen .... Blake's 7.

They then spend the next 50 episodes waging war against the Federation, saving
the galaxy from sneaky aliens and having lots of adventure.
Unlike much of the genre .. the characters are all multi dimensioned. And quite
expendable. Many of them die some new faces come in .. and the baddies are
indeed very bad.

The show relies on acting, ideas and strong story lines. Being a British show
of this era .. it does _not_ have super special effects .. but it is better
for it. Take away the 2million per episode in SFX and see how many TNG's can
stand high on sheer story alone.

It is an incredible show, available widely on video. See it soon and see it in
order of shows or yuo'll get lost.

Hope this helps

Jc


... Reality is for people who can't face science fiction
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