Blake's 7 - The Complete Collection [DVD]

8-1-2022 - Package came today, I tested out Disc 1 and all is working. It's AWESOME to have this series back in my life. I first saw Blake's 7 on a local PBS station that aired British TV shows including this series. I was hooked, immediately.Blake's 7 is a great British Sci-Fi series. Episodes are well written given the time period filmed in. Watching this series again brings back fond memories. I highly recommend this series.

Blake's 7 is often remembered as being a drag on Doctor Who viewership. In fact, the truth is that it was conceived by the man who helped save Doctor Who from oblivion. The fact that Terry Nation, inventor of the Daleks, was both creator and primary script-writer for Blake's Seven was actually what kept the show running as long as it did. The story of a man rebelling against an overbearing society was actually welcomed by many a Whovian in the early 80s.The only reason I'm not giving it 5 stars is because it has never been offered in its entirety in a PAL Region 1 format. I've waited more than 30 years to see this show again and I simply got tired of waiting - especially since the world seems hell bent on switching to Blue-ray and I refuse to spend any more money re-purchasing films and television series which I have perfectly good copies of. At least I still have a region-free DVD player.As for the show, Terry Nation wasn't the only member of the Doctor Who production team who worked on Blake's 7. Most of the model-builders, actors and even the composer of the incidental music were all refugees from Doctor Who. Many of us Whovians at the time commented that there should be a Doctor Who/ Blake's 7 crossover but it never happened. The point I'm trying to make is that this show is a product of its time and it had the same production values as contemporary episodes of Doctor Who and the 6-part Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy TV miniseries.

Amazing series! I've had a lot of bad luck lately with faulty DVD discs. All the discs in this set worked. Praise be!

I can watch this on my computer but I had to change the regional settings. Wish I could watch the dvd player.

Sets made of cardboard and plastic sheeting. Costumes borrowed form other shows. Shooting on gravel pits and the like. Each episode made for maybe three quid. But the writing, and in many cases the acting made up for it all. If you remember this show (and have a DVD player that does multi-region) this is a great buy. Getting this boxed set was the most fun time travel I've done in a long time.

Had to strip the regional encoding to play on my American DVD player, but the disks themselves were in good shape, the extras were enjoyable to watch and while a full remastering would have been cool the SD video quality itself is very respectable for a 70s BBC show.

Watched with my family

Be careful you can play considering different region code.

I have watched several of the episodes so far and will update this review if I find anything significant to add or change once I've finished the whole series (over 40 hours worth or so I think, so I'll need a week or four!).DVD quality is fine. The quality of the source material is obviously dated (over four decades) and limited by the recording processes of the time - and budgets. The DVD reproduction seemed to reflect this accurately without further reducing the quality itself. If you allow for this and enjoy the story and appreciate the concepts in the context of the time that they were aired, then the enjoyment of the series will be enhanced; especially as this was a series not just of, but possibly ahead of its time. If not, I would ask why you bothered and strongly suggest you are being unreasonable and irrational!As noted by others, irrespective of the the dodgy sets at times and other production imperfections from time to time, I would much rather watch this series than most of the high-tech' CGI flashy films of today, that are devoid of thought-provoking stories, full of appallingly presented serious concepts, insubstantial 'acting', shallow, two dimensional characters and inane, illiterate 'dialogue'. It's very refreshing to be reminded how storyline and basic acting skills (not saying they are supremely great, only that they are at the very least vastly superior to much of today's unbearable garbage), were once important before mindless, flashy-image obsessed, illiterates took over most of the industry - where an overwhelming obsession with guns, brutal violence, unnecessarily extreme foul language and mindless shouting (called 'drama' but in fact being just pathetic ranting, when silence can often be infinitely more effective in producing dramatic tension and emotion) substitute for depth and substance.I was pleasantly surprised that the 'hijacked' Zen-centred ship still looked almost as amazingly futuristic as it did to me at the time. Yes the buttons and suchlike were a little out of place relative to the overall concept and more organic design of the 'control room', but it is the concept, overall design and imagery as a whole that I find has retained some charm and certainly uniqueness.Even though there is tension, false expectation and uncertainty in the stories that matches anything we see in the masses-targeted cinema of today, I feel good when watching these DVDs, whereas I am almost always exhausted after watching more recently produced productions, which are determined to batter you into submission rather than enthral - and that goes for much of the family orientated animation unfortunately as well.I am rather frustrated by complainants unfairly rating the item down because of THEIR inability to READ. This IS Blake's 7 not in German or Dutch but in the original ENGLISH (as in the language spoken in ENGLAND (English/England) where this series originated) not American, but has Dutch subtitles. The item heading states that it is an 'IMPORT' version to let you know the score. There is NOTHING wrong with the production which seems to me to absolutely original! Which is EXACTLY what we would expect when ordering this.I am rather frustrated by complainants unfairly rating the item down because of THEIR inability to READ. This IS Blake's 7 not in German or Dutch but in the original ENGLISH (as in the language spoken in ENGLAND (English/England) where this series originated) not American, but has Dutch subtitles. The item heading states that it is an 'IMPORT' version to let you know the score. There is NOTHING wrong with the production which seems to me to absolutely original! Which is EXACTLY what we would expect when ordering this.Also, each series is indeed 'boxed' as a set, even though they are in four cases (one for each series) AS the image shows. I actually prefer this to then being boxed up together.

These four series have worn very well. They may not have had the budget of Star Wars, but they certainly had better writing. Outstanding performances from Paul Darrow as Avon and Jacqueline Pierce as Servalan, the glamourous villain who steals the show. Anyone who loved it in the eighties will be very happy to revisit. Viewers who prefer adult acting and writing to cgi will not be disappointed.

There is already enough said here about this show.I'll just say I love it and leave that part there.Regarding the packaging - It does it's job.20 discs and solid picture quality imo.It's a lot of viewing for your money, at times a little uneven - but what a great journey and production overall ...It's Memorable.B7 is an SF all time Classic.10/10Thanks!

I was just eleven years old when this appeared on TV in 1978, and I vaguely remember how we all sat transfixed to the screen every single week it was on. I bought this box set with very low expectations to be honest, for no other reason than maybe me getting a feint buzz of nostalgia. I mean there was just no way it could be as good as I recalled, given its shoestring budget, and how we are all so used to mind boggling special effects these days, but it's now clear to me that huge SFX count for little without an involving story, likeable characters, and decent acting, and Blakes 7 has all of these things.I have to admit that so far I have only watched 10 episodes, but I was driven to write a review, because the show is still fantastic in spite of its cardboard box and sticky tape set pieces. I love the characters all over again, and the stories are just great, much like the first season of Space 1999 and films like Logans Run. I guess we were much more used to good writing to carry a movie (or show) along back then, whereas today, we get offerings like the dumber than dumb film Life (starring Ryan Reynolds) which despite its mega budget sucked like a sucky thing (the Star Wars Saga was pretty inane and repetitively awful too). Maybe you would have had to be there when this came out to enjoy it, but not because it's only nostalgia that would make it good for you, but rather you might get distracted by its lack of CGI aliens/explosions and its 2 dimensional sets (which for me is still better than 2 dimensional actors). If you loved this back in the 70s and early 80s however, I'd say grab it for sure.

Really very pleased indeed with this dvd set. The box contains two large and quite well packaged cases for each of series 1-2 and 3-4. Picture and sound quality given the age of the material are excellent, and in case of any confusion, there are NO Dutch subtitles or anything else that needs adjusting or changing- you get the straight original English dialogue. What's also not clear from the product description is that each of the series disc sets bristles with extras- audio commentaries, mini-featurettes, stills, trailers, you name it. Very highly recommended to all Blake fans !