Account 4 - Universal Constancy

Central to this account is the view that there is a Blake's 7 'universe' into which some episodes fit well and which others fail to live up to. Internal consistency of episodes within this universe is essential, and an overarching structure, a 'story arc' is seen in the narrative of the show. Those ranked well include:

+5 The Way Back; Star One

+4 Mission to Destiny; City at the Edge of the World; Blake

+3 Space Fall; Project Avalon; Sftermath; Orbit

The Blake's 7 universe is predominantly to be found in seasons 1 and 2. As one respondent put it: '[Star One] is the culmination of the first and second season plot of Blake's 7, what I think of as the real Blake's 7.'

Favourite episodes provide the essential narrative to the story arc:

Space Fall: 'The beginning of everything.'

Seek-Locate-Destroy: 'The introduction of Travis, Blake's evil counterpart.'

Redemption: 'This episode was essential to the overall plot: before this, the ship wasn't really theirs.'

Star One: 'Perfectly in the B7 universe, once again, when they reach their goal, it fades away like a mirage.'

On the selection of his favourite episodes, one respondent said: 'You have to have all these because the programme doesn't make sense otherwise.'

Prepare to meet thy dome.

In general, this account gave higher ratings to season 1 episodes than any other account:

Scenes which allow side-lined characters such as Jenna or Travis to emerge are praised. The B7 universe consists not just of single crew members or on a key relationship, but the broader crew dynamics:

Bounty: 'Great Blake-Jenna interaction.'

Space Fall: 'The start of the 'Man of La Mancha' pattern (with Avon as Aldonza and Jenna as Sancho).'

Cygnus Alpha: 'The plot's terrible, but there's strong furtherance of the Blake-Avon-Jenna 'Man of La Mancha' dynamic, and some great scenes between Avon and Jenna.'

Trial: 'Great Travis episode.'

Star One: 'everyone gets to do well.'

The Liberator is another key component of the 'real' Blake's 7:

Space Fall: 'I love it because we get to meet the best space ship ever.'

Rescue: 'They're replacing the Liberator, the most beautiful ship ever, with that thing?!?'

Episodes from later seasons were appreciated for various reasons, but essentially flawed:

Aftermath: 'No more Blake or Jenna. Waaaaah!'

Powerplay: 'How dare that murdering curly-haired thug try and steal Avon's ship away? I want my Jenna back!'

Orbit: 'I wanted to place it higher, but it's season 4 and suffers from lack of too many good things.'

Blake provides a dilemma. As a strong episode which contained one of the key characters from the start of the show, it was liked. However, it was a fourth season episode, and therefore in violation of some of the show's main attractions. Respondents used one of two strategies. Firstly, it was integrated into the whole arc by providing a consistent end to the whole series: 'The epitome of B7 epitomes. Now Avon will never be free of Blake even though it is finished, because theur deaths are so inextricably linked.' Other respondents tried to minimize the effect on the overall arc: 'I believe the 'Dallas Theory', that the whole fourth season is set on Terminal and is an attempt by Servalan to break the still-unconscious Avon.'

Poorly-rated episodes included:

-5 Sarcophagus; Ultraworld

-4 Voice from the Past; Power; Headhunter

-3 The Web; The Keeper; Sand; Warlord

Sarcophagus: 'Just doesn't fit into their universe.''

Ultraworld: 'Wait a moment while I suspend my disbelief. Oops - it snapped.' And: 'Pervert voyeur alien clichés plus Dayna being crap.'

Voice from the Past: 'It's all fake, and nothing more than Travis' accent.'

Headhunter: 'Trip trap wne the billy goat gruff over the rickety bridge - bleagh!' And: 'Spock's Brain meets B7.'

Major complaints are the sexism in Power and The Keeper (particularly as Jenna is seen to be out of character). Other character inconsistency is also disliked, e.g. in Sand: 'Tarrant flirts with Servalan. Tarrant, whose brother was killed by Servalan, flirts with Servalan. Yeah, right.'

However, internal inconsistency is the major failing of episodes. Note, for example, the -1 ranking for Rumours of Death: 'I hate this because it completely ruins Countdown.'

If episodes are too inconsistent with the respondent's view of the universe, they will be dismissed from that universe:

Children of Auron: 'Completely invalidates Dawn of the Gods and everything we know about the Auronar, too. I don't consider it canonical.'

Voice from the Past: 'Pulls off the neat trick of completely, in one fell swoop, invalidating not just The Way Back, but the entire first and second seasons. I don't consider it canonical. I think it's Federation propaganda that has somehow insinuated itself into the broadcast.'

In summary, this account views B7 as a continous narrative, in which particular episodes play an essential part in constructing. Consistency of the B7 universe is paramount, and the 'real' B7 is made up of seasons 1 and 2. Episodes which violate this internal narrative are strongly criticized and even completely dismissed,

Nicked from Judith Proctor's website, designed by Richard Proctor

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