narabdela
who?
My abiding memory of the series is Servalan, being played overtly as a science-fiction version of Margaret Thatcher…
That’s a bit harsh on poor Servalan. She wasn’t that bad.
My abiding memory of the series is Servalan, being played overtly as a science-fiction version of Margaret Thatcher…
Great post.I have loved this series since it first screened and still adore it today. It's just beautifully written, anti-establishment, camp sci-fi. Avon was always utterly glorious and had some fantastic lines, Zen and the Liberator were incredibly cool and Orac was always highly amusing as the fussy bank manager voiced supercomputer. Then you had Servalan who would bestride the galaxy and often walk around muddy planets in an endless succession of white ballgowns in high heels without getting a mark on them - fabulous!!
The thing is as I've got older I've come to realise how gloriously observed it is. Modern Britain is ruled over by an oppressive elite who are entirely self-serving and yet bumblingly incompetent too - not unlike the Federation. The aim in modern Britain is to keep the masses repressed and misinformed with propaganda (Daily Mail etc) but hard at work generating wealth for the elite ruling class while seeing little reward for their labour themselves. I often feel like a rebel minority for questioning the status quo or supporting unions or doubting the integrity of the Conservatives or the ruling classes, though sadly I don't have the most powerful ship in the galaxy to transport me around!
There's an awful lot of parallels with modern Britain if you look for them (which didn't exist to such a degree when the series was made)
Birdseed
I have loved this series since it first screened and still adore it today. It's just beautifully written, anti-establishment, camp sci-fi. Avon was always utterly glorious and had some fantastic lines, Zen and the Liberator were incredibly cool and Orac was always highly amusing as the fussy bank manager voiced supercomputer. Then you had Servalan who would bestride the galaxy and often walk around muddy planets in an endless succession of white ballgowns in high heels without getting a mark on them - fabulous!!
The thing is as I've got older I've come to realise how gloriously observed it is. Modern Britain is ruled over by an oppressive elite who are entirely self-serving and yet bumblingly incompetent too - not unlike the Federation. The aim in modern Britain is to keep the masses repressed and misinformed with propaganda (Daily Mail etc) but hard at work generating wealth for the elite ruling class while seeing little reward for their labour themselves. I often feel like a rebel minority for questioning the status quo or supporting unions or doubting the integrity of the Conservatives or the ruling classes, though sadly I don't have the most powerful ship in the galaxy to transport me around!
There's an awful lot of parallels with modern Britain if you look for them (which didn't exist to such a degree when the series was made)
Birdseed
Yes, she might have been the most evil person in the whole Universe, but she wasn't Margaret Thatcher.That’s a bit harsh on poor Servalan. She wasn’t that bad.
Looking back at the stills I can see why my dad was quite happy to watch it with me back in the day, and it wasn't for the cardboard spaceships and the footage of a landing on Planet Zog filmed in a disused quarry just outside Towcester. "Hang on, if this is a remote planet in 2070, what the bloody hell are they doing with the bodyshell of a Mk1 Ford Escort lying half submerged in that lake?"Love Blake's 7 and not just for Servalan or Dayna......
I have loved this series since it first screened and still adore it today. It's just beautifully written, anti-establishment, camp sci-fi. Avon was always utterly glorious and had some fantastic lines, Zen and the Liberator were incredibly cool and Orac was always highly amusing as the fussy bank manager voiced supercomputer. Then you had Servalan who would bestride the galaxy and often walk around muddy planets in an endless succession of white ballgowns in high heels without getting a mark on them - fabulous!!
The thing is as I've got older I've come to realise how gloriously observed it is. Modern Britain is ruled over by an oppressive elite who are entirely self-serving and yet bumblingly incompetent too - not unlike the Federation. The aim in modern Britain is to keep the masses repressed and misinformed with propaganda (Daily Mail etc) but hard at work generating wealth for the elite ruling class while seeing little reward for their labour themselves. I often feel like a rebel minority for questioning the status quo or supporting unions or doubting the integrity of the Conservatives or the ruling classes, though sadly I don't have the most powerful ship in the galaxy to transport me around!
There's an awful lot of parallels with modern Britain if you look for them (which didn't exist to such a degree when the series was made)
Birdseed
As I recall the last episode was quite shocking. The Federation shot the lot of them?
Ah, but did they…..?As I recall the last episode was quite shocking. The Federation shot the lot of them?
AIUI, the last blast heard, when the screen went dark, was from Avon's gun.The rest, bar the one who was still standing when credits rolled, were shot with "sci-fi ray guns" which allowed the possibility of just being stunned and them all waking up in prison at the start of a series 5...