'Blake's 7' is a wonderful sci-fi classic that is rightfully compared to Doctor Who, Star Trek and Babylon 5. So why did the BBC feel the need to hack half the story out of four episodes and edit them together into this mess? Clearly, someone at the Beeb has seen the light, as all episodes of 'Blake's 7' have now been reissued uncut. Viewers should save their money for the videos 'The Way Back'/'Spacefall' and 'Cygnus Alpha'/'Time Squad' and enjoy the stories in full.
2 Reviews
A Bad Idea
Theo Robertson28 April 2004
BLAKE`S 7 is one of the greatest , most entertaining shows made under the telefantasy banner so what could be better than releasing the first 4 episodes on video ? 4 complete episodes maybe ?
That`s the problem with BLAKE`S 7 THE BEGINNING , the first full 4 episodes complete would have run to a total of 200 minutes but this video release lasts only two hours which means almost half the material is missing , but I guess the fourth episode `Time Squad` was really short on plot in the first place and seeing as most of material of this episode is edited out and still makes perfect sense confirms how much padding there originally was with its only real function being to introduce the character of Cally . As for the rest of the editing it`s not too bad with the only real criticism being that the plot line of Blake being framed for paedophillia being mostly cut out
It was a fairly good video when it was released in 1986 and unlike many other videos of TV shows edited into a feature length story BLAKE`S 7 THE BEGINNING actually does feel like a feature length movie structure wise rather than just a bunch of single episodes edited together . Mind you when BBC video released the whole series on unedited video in 1991 this tape became instantly redundant and seems a bad idea in hind sight
That`s the problem with BLAKE`S 7 THE BEGINNING , the first full 4 episodes complete would have run to a total of 200 minutes but this video release lasts only two hours which means almost half the material is missing , but I guess the fourth episode `Time Squad` was really short on plot in the first place and seeing as most of material of this episode is edited out and still makes perfect sense confirms how much padding there originally was with its only real function being to introduce the character of Cally . As for the rest of the editing it`s not too bad with the only real criticism being that the plot line of Blake being framed for paedophillia being mostly cut out
It was a fairly good video when it was released in 1986 and unlike many other videos of TV shows edited into a feature length story BLAKE`S 7 THE BEGINNING actually does feel like a feature length movie structure wise rather than just a bunch of single episodes edited together . Mind you when BBC video released the whole series on unedited video in 1991 this tape became instantly redundant and seems a bad idea in hind sight
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