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Post by jacobz40 on Feb 21, 2020 1:45:56 GMT
So I've decided that this sale looks good enough to dip into Big Finish's Blake's 7 content. I've found the full tv series on Youtube, and plan on watching it. What would you all recommend that I check out once I've finished and am ready to get into the audio stories? What are the best? What stories/series are best avoided? Thoughts?
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Post by Whovitt on Feb 21, 2020 3:33:26 GMT
There's a lot of good stuff in this range, but I think you're making the right decision by waiting until you've seen it all before listening to the audios as some of the best depend on some TV knowledge. The number one go to, I feel, is Warship. Not only is it a great story in its own right, but it also finds something for everyone to do while also exploring a major plot point between the second and third TV series. The first series of full-cast adventures was also quite good from memory, but it's been some time since I listened to them. For any of the other full-cast releases you need to have at least finished the third TV series. The Liberator Chronicles are a great mix of stories (much like Doctor Who's Companion Chronicles). Some of my favourites were Volumes 3 and 6, though you should only listen to 6 once you've finished the TV show. You should also listen to Volume 3 before you listen to the second full-cast series as it explains why there's a different ongoing main cast member during those releases. There's also a nice amount of world-building that all comes together across Volumes 3, 6, 9, and 12. You can probably listen to all the full-cast releases from Spoils of War onwards without hearing them, but it does explain some of the throwaway comments made in these newer releases. On the whole you can't really go wrong with any of them, you just need to know that you should only listen to some of them after you've seen particular TV episodes (and as you've said you're watching the show first this won't really matter). While it's not necessarily their most outstanding work, Blake's 7 releases are generally quite good across the board, so whatever you go for you're in for some pretty good listening  |
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lidar2
Castellan
You know, now that you mention it, I actually do rather like Attack of the Cybermen ...
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Post by lidar2 on Feb 21, 2020 9:13:48 GMT
The B7 range is excellent - you can't go far wrong with it.
I think you could count on the fingers of one hand the stories that are actually bad and should be avoided.
There are a few mini-arcs that would be best listened to in release order (Nyrron in the LCs, the full casts in release order)
Warship, mentioned above, is good but listen to it between watching season B and season C to get the most out of it
Whilst the full casts are good, IMHO the LCs are better.
Anything by Simon Guerrier is top notch.
The very few to avoid are LC 6.3 Blake's Story which totally mischaracterises Blake and contains a massive continuity error and LC 8.3 which is pure fanfic. If you want to know what happened to Blake during seasons C & D The Mark of Kane is vastly superior to Blake's Story (MoK no longer available from Magic Bullet, but I think you can still find it online)
And if you want a follow up to the series, try The Logic of Empire and the Kaldor City audio series - as well as the character of Carnell, the reference to the butcher of Zircaster in the first episode of Kaldor is all you need to make the link to B7
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Post by Deleted on Feb 21, 2020 10:15:53 GMT
Another hand up for the Magic Bullet releases -- The Mark of Kane, The Logic of Empire and Kaldor City -- they've got the tone of the series down beautifully.
As far as I'm aware, The Spoils of War, Crossfire and Restoration boxsets can all be heard immediately after Series C's "Deathwatch" if you want to go strictly chronological and there's lots to enjoy. For recommendations, I have to make special mention of Steve Lyons's "Liberation" from The Spoils of War, though. It feels like a vital step between the TV episodes, "Powerplay" and "Volcano". Like Warship, something that really enriches the worldbuilding of that particular season. Cavan Scott's "Shock Troops" from Crossfire is also a breathtakingly clever story. Taking an unusually sympathetic Federation-centric POV and somehow getting us to hate them even more.
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lidar2
Castellan
You know, now that you mention it, I actually do rather like Attack of the Cybermen ...
Likes: 5,811
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Post by lidar2 on Feb 21, 2020 10:20:13 GMT
Another hand up for the Magic Bullet releases -- The Mark of Kane, The Logic of Empire and Kaldor City -- they've got the tone of the series down beautifully. As far as I'm aware, The Spoils of War, Crossfire and Restoration boxsets can all be heard immediately after Series C's "Deathwatch" if you want to go strictly chronological and there's lots to enjoy. For recommendations, I have to make special mention of Steve Lyons's "Liberation" from The Spoils of War, though. It feels like a vital step between the TV episodes, "Powerplay" and "Volcano". Like Warship, something that really enriches the worldbuilding of that particular season. Cavan Scott's "Shock Troops" from Crossfire is also a breathtakingly clever story. Taking an unusually sympathetic Federation-centric POV and somehow getting us to hate them even more. I think BF said at the time that the first 2 episodes from Spoils of War are set between Powerplay and Volcano, the 3rd episode is set after Rumours of Death and the 4rth is set after Deathwatch. |
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Post by Deleted on Feb 21, 2020 10:58:25 GMT
As Lidar has mentioned you cannot go wrong with the B7 ranges - very few duds among all the stories.
Personally I would recommend 'Three' from the Liberator Chronicles volume 5. I won't say too much, except that I am old enough to remember Jacqueline Pearce's portrayal of Servalan from when the TV show originally aired. I listened to 'Three' not so long ago and it made me re-evaluate my decades old opinion of the character. A fantastic performance.
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Post by smith11 on Feb 21, 2020 12:00:36 GMT
As someone who was in your position two years ago, I have to say blakes 7 is some of the best tv ever made and the audios are some of the best BF have ever done so you’re in for a treat!
I would say to experience blakes 7 the best way would be to watch the television series first (apart from one exception) and then listen to the audios.
So watch series 1 and 2 > Warship > Series 3 and 4
Warship fits very well between these two seasons and makes better sense of the story as a whole.
I’d then listen to the audios in release order in order to make best sense of them, although they jump around the timeline they are easy to keep track of, the listening order I would suggest:
The Liberator Chronicles Volume 1-8 > Full Cast Series 1 > The Liberator Chronicles Volume 9 > Full Cast Series 2 > The Liberator Chronicles Volume 10-12 > The Spoils of War > Crossfire Trilogy > Restoration Trilogy
The books/ audiobooks can be listened to really at any point after you’ve finished the series tbh.
If you wish to listen to them chronologically I have a timeline of all the stories in order in another thread which I’m happy to post here if you’d prefer that.
Also I would recommend all the stories, there are some weaker then others but the weak ones are still pretty good. The only one I wasn’t a fan of was ‘True Believers’ but only cause it felt like a Doctor who story rather than a Blake’s 7.
Happy listening 😊
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Post by smith11 on Feb 21, 2020 12:04:17 GMT
The B7 range is excellent - you can't go far wrong with it. I think you could count on the fingers of one hand the stories that are actually bad and should be avoided. There are a few mini-arcs that would be best listened to in release order (Nyrron in the LCs, the full casts in release order) Warship, mentioned above, is good but listen to it between watching season B and season C to get the most out of it Whilst the full casts are good, IMHO the LCs are better. Anything by Simon Guerrier is top notch. The very few to avoid are LC 6.3 Blake's Story which totally mischaracterises Blake and contains a massive continuity error and LC 8.3 which is pure fanfic. If you want to know what happened to Blake during seasons C & D The Mark of Kane is vastly superior to Blake's Story (MoK no longer available from Magic Bullet, but I think you can still find it online) And if you want a follow up to the series, try The Logic of Empire and the Kaldor City audio series - as well as the character of Carnell, the reference to the butcher of Zircaster in the first episode of Kaldor is all you need to make the link to B7 Can I ask what the continuity error is in Blake’s story, cause I don’t remember one? And I’ve got to say I love LC 8.3 Spoils |
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lidar2
Castellan
You know, now that you mention it, I actually do rather like Attack of the Cybermen ...
Likes: 5,811
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Post by lidar2 on Feb 21, 2020 12:11:01 GMT
In the TV ep Terminal Servalan says to Avon something like "Blake died on Jevron one year ago, I saw his body, I saw it burned" So whatever happened on Jevron happened a year before the events of Terminal
However, in Blake's Story, Blake references the events of Terminal and then about 5 or 10 minutes later [which presumably equates to a few months in the fictional timeline] he relates his fake death on Jevron. So the 2 events happen in the wrong order in the audio, whereas we know from the TV show that Jevron happened a year before Terminal.
You could perhaps explain it by saying Blake's mind is so addled in the audio and confused that he relates them the wrong way round. That works in so far as it goes to resolve the continuity error, but it makes the mischaracterisation problem even worse.
Spoils is good enough for what it is, but it is just too much like something I would have got in the early 1990s mail order on badly photocopied A4. It is trying to fit an Alternate Universe story into the main continuity. If they had released it as a sort of Blake's 7 Unbound episode or mini series then I would have loved it for what it was, but as it is it just comes across to me as the sort of amateurish fanfic that BF usually manage to avoid. Also, I don't agree with the direction it takes Blake's character.= - it comes across as the "Bad/stupid Blake, clever/good Avon" sub-genre of fanfic |
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Post by mark687 on Feb 21, 2020 12:49:40 GMT
This might help
Regards
mark687
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Post by Deleted on Feb 21, 2020 13:32:00 GMT
Another hand up for the Magic Bullet releases -- The Mark of Kane, The Logic of Empire and Kaldor City -- they've got the tone of the series down beautifully. As far as I'm aware, The Spoils of War, Crossfire and Restoration boxsets can all be heard immediately after Series C's "Deathwatch" if you want to go strictly chronological and there's lots to enjoy. For recommendations, I have to make special mention of Steve Lyons's "Liberation" from The Spoils of War, though. It feels like a vital step between the TV episodes, "Powerplay" and "Volcano". Like Warship, something that really enriches the worldbuilding of that particular season. Cavan Scott's "Shock Troops" from Crossfire is also a breathtakingly clever story. Taking an unusually sympathetic Federation-centric POV and somehow getting us to hate them even more. I think BF said at the time that the first 2 episodes from Spoils of War are set between Powerplay and Volcano, the 3rd episode is set after Rumours of Death and the 4rth is set after Deathwatch. That makes sense. I remember the third, Close Enough, had a reference to... {Spoiler}Anna ...but I couldn't quite recall the context, whether it was foreshadowing or after the fact. Solus is a bit trickier in relation to the audios. I'm tempted to put it just before "Terminal" after Restoration with her "final" victory to give the character a proper send-off in the audios, but I'll wait and see how it ultimately pans out. |
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Post by mark687 on Feb 21, 2020 16:32:12 GMT
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