September 12th, 2024
107 comments
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Blake’s 7 The Collection Series 1 Blu-ray UK/USA
Yes we know it’s not Doctor Who but we know some visitors will be interested in this and are already talking about it.
Available to order in the UK from www.amazon.co.uk
Available to order in the USA from www.amazon.com
Official Press Release With Thanks to BBC Studios
Maximum power! Blake’s 7 fans can rejoin the rebellion as the iconic BBC sci-fi series comes to Blu-ray with a six-disc box set of the first series on 11th November 2024.
Framed for crimes he did not commit, freedom fighter Blake (Gareth Thomas) escapes a prison ship and enlists a crew of rogue heroes to fight back against the tyrannical Federation. With Avon, Vila, Jenna, Cally and Gan, Blake boards fantastical spacecraft the Liberator and begins his quest to free the galaxy.
All 13 episodes have been newly remastered from the best available sources, including the original film where available. These stories have never looked or sounded so good on home media. Plus, fans can experience their favourite show like never before, with brand new optional updated effects on every episode, exclusive to this Blu-ray set.
Blake’s 7 The Collection: Series 1 is also jam-packed with hours of new and exclusive material including:
IN CONVERSATION
Matthew Sweet conducts two new interviews with Sally Knyvette who played Jenna Stannis, and director Michael Briant
LIBERATION
A brand-new feature-length documentary looking back at the making of the first series
ARCHIVAL DOCUMENTARY
The previously unreleased Making Of Blake’s 7, featuring extensive interviews with cast and crew.
STEPHEN GREIF TRIBUTE
A look at the life and career of the first incarnation of Travis
RARE CONVENTION FOOTAGE
Previously unreleased panels with the cast and crew
HD PHOTO GALLERIES
With previously unseen images
PDF WRITTEN ARCHIVE
Production paperwork, scripts, studio floorplans and much more, available for the first time
ARCHIVE TREATS
From the BBC archives.
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Gordon
September 11th, 2024 - 9:27pmhttp://www.amazon.com
No date set but here is the preorder for those in the US
Gordon
September 5th, 2024 - 3:25amIt was mentioned at the happiness patrol bfi screening that they were hopefull for Sally knyvette to be in attendance for the Blake’s 7 one. Chris chapman has said he will be in attendance which probably means there will be some clips from the season Overview and the Stephen grief tribute shown.
Got some tidbits that I heard about extras series 1 and potential future sets.
The convention footage on series 1 will be from the deliverance 98 convention.
As far as the Radio Times PDF goes for series 1, there’s 14 cast lists (including the Christmas 1978 repeat), a few separate photos, the big three-page launch article and three lots of letters.
Do not expect any pdfs of the b7 annuals. It’s been looked into. It’s speculation there is some sort of licensing issue with them. The same issue preventing any of the 1970s dalek annuals being included in the doctor who releases.
Unless they have stuff already recorded it’s unlikely Michael keating will be involved in any of the extras outside of archival material.
Glynis barber has apparently said she would happily do a Matthew sweet interview if asked
Josette Simon is a bit of a question mark regarding her involvment. She isn’t fond of talking about Blake’s 7 and she’s a really busy in demand actress. Even if she was interested she might be too busy
Chris Thompson and Richard Ashton already have made a list of models they would have to make for the 3 remaining seasons
Ricky
September 10th, 2024 - 6:18pmThanks Gordon, keep us updated on any further info please
,it’s always appreciated 🙂 very excited to hear about the set and the news about the models for the other 3 series , sounds very positive.
Gordon
September 10th, 2024 - 6:49pmIt will be great if they get the go ahead, They still need to be given the green light to go ahead first. By the sound of things they are just getting things ready so that if they get the call to go ahead they have some of the planning work out of the way.
Prowl 1701
September 10th, 2024 - 11:00pmIs Michael keatings health really bad?
Gordon
September 11th, 2024 - 12:25amHe’s pulled out or turned down a few conventions recently plus I heard a few things regarding his health which I don’t really feel is my place to say at present as it’s not currently public. Once the news breaks you will understand why he wasn’t able to contribute if he wasn’t able. He could still live for a couple of years yet though.
Doug Who
September 12th, 2024 - 12:24pmThat’s really sad news about Michael Keating. He was an integral part of the show all the way through. Such a shame he can’t be involved. So many iconic cast members are very sadly not with us anymore. It would have been amazing to have Jackie Pearce do an interview with Matthew…it would have been utterly absorbing!
If they proceed with the other series, I really hope Josette Simon will be involved and definitely Glynis Barber. They have fantastic stories to tell and not just about ‘Blake’s 7’.
Gordon
August 28th, 2024 - 3:37pmRichard Bignell just listed the pdf material:
He says: For those of you who are interested, here’s a breakdown of the 3260 pages of PDF Archive that will appear on the Blake’s 7 Blu-ray Collection – Series 1. Sadly, unlike Doctor Who, very few production files for Blake’s 7 have survived in the BBC Written Archives. Whilst the BBC have retained paper copies of the scripts for Series 1, they don’t have any for the rest of the series. They do have microfilm copies, but these are inevitably poorer quality and will increase the workload in scanning and cleaning-up considerably. I’ve already had some generous offers of help with scripts for possible future sets, but I’m always on the lookout for more, so if anybody has original hard copy scripts from Series 2, 3 and 4 that you’d be willing to scan (or loan to be scanned), then do let me know.
Series 1 General Production Documentation – 54 pages
Series 1 BBC Drama Early Warning Synopses – 13 pages
Series 1 Radio Times Cuttings – 23 pages lan Scoones’ VFX Production Designs – 5 pages
Title Sequence Storyboards – 5 pages
The Way Back – Production Documentation – 232 pages
The Way Back – Post Production Camera Script – 101 pages
Space Fall – Production Documentation – 245 pages
Space Fall – Rehearsal Script – 120 pages
Space Fall – Camera Script – 127 pages
Space Fall – Liberator Deck Production Drawing – 1 page
Cygnus Alpha – Transmission Camera Script – 131 pages
Time Squad – Rehearsal Script – 121 pages
Time Squad – Camera Script – 143 pages
Time Squad – Remount Camera Script – 27 pages
Time Squad – Projectile Production Drawings – 2 pages
The Web – Rehearsal Script – 143 pages
The Web – Camera Script – 146 pages
Seek-Locate-Destroy – Transmission Camera Script – 152 pages
Mission to Destiny – Camera Script – 146 pages
Duel – Production Documentation – 228 pages
Duel – Rehearsal Script – 156 pages
Duel – Remount Camera Script – 101 pages
Project Avalon – Camera Script – 133 pages
Breakdown – Transmission Camera Script – 140 pages
Bounty – Camera Script – 116 pages
Deliverance – Rehearsal Script – 113 pages
Deliverance – Camera Script – 126 pages
Orac – Rehearsal Script – 101 pages
Orac – Transmission Camera Script – 109 pages
Craig
August 28th, 2024 - 9:16pmHello, Craig Cohen here.. I’ve collected almost all the scripts, and now with this coming out- will only be missing the Keeper and children of Aaron. If you need any scans i can share them.. Thanks! Cheers
Gordon
August 28th, 2024 - 9:44pmContact Richard bignell on [email protected]
Bob James
August 28th, 2024 - 1:38amDoes anyone know if there will be a US release for this?
Gordon
August 28th, 2024 - 7:37amAccording to Richard bignell there will be at some point.
Peter
August 28th, 2024 - 10:15am@Gordon – thanks so much for all that info – fascinating! I’d love to meet Sally Knyvette and Jan Chappell at the BFI screening; fingers crossed they going.
Gordon
August 27th, 2024 - 3:27pmThe bfi will be screening 2 remastered episodes on the 5th October. I expect it makes a lot of sense for it to be the first 2 episodes
Peter
August 27th, 2024 - 6:07pmActually, BFI website says the episodes are Seek Locate Destroy (ep 6) & Orac (ep 13). Do we think any of the actors will be in attendance like for the Dr Who events? I would attend if I could meet some of the cast (watched B7 last year with my mates and we absolutely loved it).
The Unlicensed Physician
August 27th, 2024 - 8:44pmMakes sense, as they can show off the new film transfers that way (little if any raw film exists for one and two).
Gordon
August 28th, 2024 - 12:04amThat actually makes a lot of sense. I imagine Sally Knyvette and Jan Chappell in terms of actors. Maybe mat Irvine and Chris Thompson to discus the new effects. Also Chris chapman if they want to discuss the season overview and Stephen grief tribute. These are all possibilities.
The Unlicensed Physician
August 28th, 2024 - 2:08amThinking about it, doesn’t Orac just use the old film transfer? And it’s got some nasty frame blending? B7 telecine transfers had a disproportionate amount of this, similar to The Three Doctors problem, so I’ll be interested to see how it’s handled and whether they can address the areas that aren’t clean on either field. Hopefully they won’t replace an old analogue glitch with new a digital one, if it can’t be solved cleanly, as a digital quirk on an analogue era programme does tend to stand out more. Possibly it’ll come down to time and money for manual repairs.
Gordon
August 28th, 2024 - 8:33amConsidering how much of a rushed mess of a production series A was that doesn’t surprise me there was a few production errors.
Going by what Steve Roberts has said there is a lot of checking against the transmitted versions:
I had a sneak peek at the first episode and it looks very good, although sadly aside from the titles (which look magnificent properly remastered in HD) there’s no original film for it. However, I then saw some of ‘Seek – Locate – Destroy’ for which the location film does exist and that looked fantastic. From memory there’s film for about half the season one episodes but it’s much more sparse after that.
The film sequences were put back in where applicable for the DVD release, but errors did creep in as a result of the pressures of time and budget back then. I understand that the new drop-ins have been carefully checked against the TX versions to ensure that those errors are not repeated.
Serhio
August 27th, 2024 - 10:33amDo we expect a box set of all Blu Ray seasons at some point?
Gordon
August 27th, 2024 - 12:00pmEverybody involved seems to be on board with doing the other 3 seasons but it all depends on pre orders and sales figures. If the sales are good for season 1 and going by the Amazon chart it is (number 1 and over 3k orders). I know Richard Ashton who helped out with the model work has said that he and Chris Thompson have already went through the next 3 seasons and written a list of all the models they would need to create the next 3 seasons but they need the ok and the money from bbc studios before they can proceed with it
rich
September 4th, 2024 - 10:18pmI doubt it, it’d be at least 24 blu rays. Just buy the four series box sets.
Gordon
September 5th, 2024 - 12:43amEven if it does get a full box set release I wouldn’t take it as a guarantee that all the features get ported. A full box set might be just the episodes to save discs and costs to make it more affordable
Ice
August 26th, 2024 - 9:07pm2 episodes per disc is stupidly stingy when Star Trek can do 4. And B7 is mostly videotape, so hardly as much space needed per disc.
Shame this classic & influential series ended in such a godawful way, otherwise this could have been a good box set…
Gordon
August 26th, 2024 - 9:58pmThere is 2 versions of the same episode (1 with new fx and 1 without) so technically there is 4 episodes to a disc. Plus there will be hours of bonus features on each disc unlike Star Trek.
MIKK89
August 26th, 2024 - 11:51pmIt could be that technically each episode has 2 versions (1 with original effects, 1 with new CGI digital effects) so effectively the equivalent of 26 Episodes rather than 13. So you are technically getting 4 Episodes a Disc… (plus the Doctor Who Collections for Seasons 23-26 Al have lengths of 14 25-minute Episodes sepereated over 4 stories each season… should only be 5 discs yet get 7-8 disc all together
Luskentyre
August 26th, 2024 - 11:53pmHow can it be “stingy” when you’re getting more discs than you (apparently) require?
The Unlicensed Physician
August 27th, 2024 - 1:10amYou don’t really think it’s too much to get up to change discs after two episodes, do you? You probably shouldn’t stay in the chair for 200 minutes anyway, it’s not healthy. #DVT
rich
September 4th, 2024 - 10:19pmIt means that they’re encoded at a higher bit rate than a disc that contains more episodes. So better quality. The opposite of stingy.
demdike@Cult Labs
August 23rd, 2024 - 11:07pmThis is currently Amazon’s top seller. Has sold over 2000 copies since yesterday.
Snowman
August 24th, 2024 - 1:36pmThat’s Good, should secure Series 2, 3 and 4 for people that would like all the show on Blu-Ray. I think without Substantial Pre-Orders this thing would have been Dead in the Water.
I’ve decided to bite. Haven’t seen the show for maybe 20 Years. Used to watch it on Transmission then years later I think it was UK Gold that showed the Repeats, but I haven’t seen it since. Should be Good with better Picture and Sound Quality and improved Effects that were abit ropey originally. (I don’t think I’ll ever watch the Original Versions though). I’ll have to watch them all again as there released.
Doug Who
August 23rd, 2024 - 6:17pmThanks for publicising this release! So glad it’s getting ‘the collection’ treatment.
There is so much crossover between this and ‘Who’ especially behind the scenes.
I wonder what the reaction would have been if Tom and Gareth had got their way with the idea of the Fourth Doctor and Blake briefly crossing paths or indeed if the Daleks had made a full appearance in ‘Star One’!
Anon
August 23rd, 2024 - 8:31pmI’ve just watched the doctor who/Blake’s 7 crossover (sort of) shakedown on DVD. Starring various who and Blake’s 7 actors and written by Terrance dicks himself it’s great fun and looks pretty good considering the budget. Been after it on DVD for 24 years. Eventually had to get a custom version but it’s perfectly watchable. Done using the 1996 VHS version featuring the making of it’s obviously VHS quality meaning it’s subject to faults and fault lines throughout the source material but frankly I’ll take the rough quality just to finally have a copy again until someone pulls their finger out and gets it released officially.
ChrisP
August 28th, 2024 - 10:54amCan they please include an alternative ending for Star One which does include Daleks?
Doug Who
August 28th, 2024 - 4:34pmIt was only an idea and never got anywhere near filming! There was a fan edit at some point which inserted the Daleks (I think from ‘Destiny of the Daleks’) into ‘Star One’.
Gerry
August 23rd, 2024 - 4:50pmHoly moly I thought I ‘d never see the day
Mutant
August 23rd, 2024 - 12:53pmAny thoughts on what the frequency of the future releases might be, given there are 3 more series to follow?
Dave
August 23rd, 2024 - 2:50pmprob depends on how this sells
MJS
August 23rd, 2024 - 4:57pmAbsolutely depends on sales (and more importantly: pre-sales) which will determine if there are more
Prowl1701
August 23rd, 2024 - 8:44pmI’m currently going through Blake’s 7 for the first time (bar some vague memories of episodes on pbs when I was little) as a subscriber sent me the series on dvd. I went ahead and pre ordered this, as I am enjoying the show thus far, ( six episodes in) and want to support the Blueray releases for it.
Gordon
August 24th, 2024 - 12:15amI’m guessing with the amount of model and fx works it will be 1 a year. In series 1 alone there is 429 shots of new fx.
Deano
August 23rd, 2024 - 12:11pmExcellent just ordered mine can’t wait long over due for the 21st century clean up with new updated special effects on all 13 episodes so should give it a fresh new viewing experience and some very good interesting extras