Customer Rating: 
Summary: Superb Prints Superb Extras!
Comment: Beautifully remastered prints and fantastic extras make this set a must for Blake's fans. The Paul Darrow interview is fascinating and the episodes themselves never looked better.
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Kick in the Elevator Music!!!
Comment: Well this is definitely the weakest of the Blake 7 series, Although the dialog is still scintillating the story lines are generally quite weak apart from a few stand out episodes, the last 2 being particularly captivating, The series finale having gone down in TV legend. Bad idea's abound in this series and a slight change in the programmes art style dates the series very badly, Series 4 also seems less an ongoing story and more individual, fragmented stories seem to be the order of the day. On the plus side the series does introduce special effects, (sorry but the Liberator hanging off some wobbly strings in front of a black curtain is not a special effect), blue screen technology is used for the spaceship scenes and although not exactly good there at least as good as Dr Who programmes of the time.
There's a new character in the form of Glynis Barber as Soolin but theres next to no character development for her, The regular characters don't come off too well either, Villa is demoted to the role of Drunk Comedy Sidekick, Dayna doesn't get much to do and although Tarrant has a lot of potential he just ends up arguing with Avon all the time, The series does seem to hand it's self over to Avon and he runs with it as dramatically as possible, , He's truly wonderful to watch, His bickering with Orac is well worth the price of the DVD alone, Accusations of overacting have been levelled at Paul Darrow but I like to believe that he alone appreciates the weight of the subject matter and in the midst of a crippling budget has done his best to convey the drama. Although this series has less pro's than con's it's still worth getting for any Sci Fi or Blake 7 fan, the series Finale is reason enough to buy it, a fitting end to a seminal UK Space Drama.
Special mention has to go to the new end title music, It's the Blake 7 theme but I think it's been handed to Andy Williams to remix, It's a bit easy listening, I'd like to know who made this decision so I can send the men in White coats round, truly weird.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A memorable finale...
Comment: The final season of Blake's 7 sees a bit of a change of style for the series. Gone is the Liberator, replaced by rusty Scorpio. Gone is frumpy Cally replaced by sexy Soolin (Glynis Barber) and Paul Darrow's Avon becomes ever more paranoid and domineering. In terms of production, this last series looks far better than the previous ones, special effects and sets have improved, the new costumes for the crew look a lot less dated, the new title sequence is quite flashy and the model work for the spaceships is superb, still looking pretty impressive today. There is a change in emphasis too, with the crew finding a base, recruiting scientists and starting to fight back after the directionless wandering they were doing in the last season. The episodes themselves are variable, the second half of the season being considerably superior. Stand out episodes are the intriguing Sand, the hugely entertaining Gold and the climatic final episode Blake featuring the return of....well, guess who? The final moments of this episode are something the viewer will never forget. Overall, a superb end to a superb series.
Customer Rating:
Summary: ...he sold us avon, even you...
Comment: As a child i loved Blake's 7. I remember watching this series when first screened in the early 1980's. When the BBC released the episodes of the entire series in the early 1990's i was over the moon. And now they are releasing box sets on dvd's with extra added.
I could easily comment on each individual episode, and all be it some of the effects and custume/make up design where awful, this should NEVER detract from the series as a whole.
Each story has an element of 'we are still surviving..and that's all we can do', but the underlying theme of trying to find a leader, which finalised in the last ever episode always makes me think that if Avon was strong enough to sort of a conference and so on, as well as more or less lead 'the 7' for the last two years, why didn't he just take the reigns in the fight against the federation.
It is a shmae that servalan was not in the last episode, but i think looking at it n detail, i don't think she would have fitted in, on this ocassion. The Scorpio'd destruction was akin (in parts) to the liberator, (as in part of the flooring raising up, and someone screaming as they slide down it). Maybe TARRANT should have been killed in that bit, but you know, he pulled through, the trooper that he is.
The final scene was a cliffhanger and a half, and still not resolved to this day. very much like sapphire and steel/the prisoner.
I do believe that there may have been plans for a fifth series, but i think the show went out on a high, and as much as i would have loved to have seen it brought back, would the 'newer' version spoil what fantastic memories we all have.
but the box set, relive your childhoods!!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Blakes 7 the last series in the line
Comment: The final series of Blakes 7 is one of my favourites. It isn't better than any of the other series: just different in its unique way. There were quite a number of changes, perhaps more than in previous series. The new ship, the new character of Soolin and many other elements make Blakes 7 drift in another direction. The conflict aspect that is ever present with this series starts off in Rescue with the rescuer and our venerable crew alternately pointing guns at each other. The departure of Cally fundamentally alters the tone of this final series. Soolin is a fine replacement blending in seamlessly into the series. I miss the old characters of Blake, Cally, Jenna, Gan and the sublime Liberator. The replacement ship Scorpio is charming but has none of the ability of the irreplaceable Liberator. Compensation comes in the comical Slave, a computer which possesses none of Oracs sarcasm nor the elegance of Zen. The lack of capability makes large space battles a thing of the past. After the brilliant entrance of Rescue/Power there is a little bit of a flat spot. Traitor/Stardrive/Animals while although good don't reach the dizzy heights that follows. Stardrive is a flawed diamond and falls into the category of S2 Voice from the past and S3 Harvest of Kairos. A designer has developed an immensely powerful `stardrive'. A group of thugs with a terrible reputation control this technology. Our faithful band acquire one of these power units returning to Scorpio which has landed. They take off which must be suicide because the `Space Rats' have these lethal space cycles which can take out 3 federation cruisers in a millisecond. Scorpio would not be much of a defence against this. Strangely they don't launch from the surface. However our team bump into the Federation. Then comes the bit I dislike. The genius designer offers to fit her powerplant as they come under attack. Well if you've ever tried fitting a jet engine into a Spitfire you'll know that it takes more than an hour and that nature being the way she is there are usually about 287 issues that must be resolved before you have a working product. Stardrive is a classic episode but it stretches too far. Why they couldn't hop somewhere on the planet, spend a week converting their ship with Orac screening them, then blast off back to base I don't know. I know I should try writing an episode. Traitor and Animals remind me of S3 Volcano/Ultaworld which are reasonable but not the best ever Blakes 7. Headhunter/Assasin/Games/Sand are back-to-back classics that are among the finest in all four series. The chilling Headhunter reminds me of S1 Time squad or S3 Powerplay and shows how good Blakes 7 is at SCI-FI horror. I remember Assassin from being at school, another gem with all the ingredients finely done. Avon leads his crew strongly and quite differently from series 3. They have a base rather than the years spent on the Liberator. They meet with various characters who invariably come to grief. Avon while not mad is slightly psychotic and Vila turns to drink. The gun combat is ruthless. Avon stylises some of his lines, but his lines are so good that this becomes what Blakes 7 is. The special effects are the best so far with lovely models and intriguing planets. But more than that is the imagination of episodes like Games or Lee's classic Sand. These two are contenders for the finest episode of the series. Gold is a type of episode I am surprised there weren't more of under Avon's leadership- money heists. This series does have a harsh edge as the crew become more and more desperate. Orbit is another fine episode with the actor who was a Federation judge in S2 Killer re-appearing as a mad scientist. There is a comical element mixed in with desperation - the way they end up with nothing regularly, Vilas drinking, bumping into an asteroid. Their poor ship Scorpio looks very second hand. Warlord is another great with a little romance that is scarce in Blakes 7. So series 4 is slightly mixed and quite different from S1,2,3. In common with S3 there are a few hiccups in the uniformity but there are also some dazzling episodes which make this essential.
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