Blake’s 7 is one of British sci-fi’s greatest, most subversive cult classics. From the mind of Doctor Who scribe Terry Nation—after he’d sent the nation into Dalekmania in the ’60s—the 1978 show was wildly ahead of its time, with ideas as bold as its budget was threadbare. Imagine if classic Doctor Who had less money and more balls, and you get a rough approximation of what Blake’s could be at its very best. Now, at long last, the series is getting a familiarly loving home release treatment.
Today the BBC lifted the lid on a brand-new Blu-ray remaster, Blake’s 7: The Collection. Styled in the vein of the corporation’s lavish Blu-ray remasters of classic seasons of Doctor Who, the first of Blake’s four series will release later this year. Including a brand-new remastering of the series—available for the first time on Blu-ray after an infamously rough home release history on VHS and DVD decades prior—complete with all new practical model work for the show’s VFX sequences, the first volume of Blake’s 7: The Collection will include all 13 episodes from series one, as well as new interviews with surviving cast and crew, and a previously unreleased documentary planned for the show’s DVD release, The Making of Blake’s 7.
…
Blake’s 7: The Collection series one releases in the UK November 11.
Result!
I’ve never seen it, but I’m a Doctor Who and sci-fi fan and I’m pretty interested. Gives me proto-Farscape vibes from the trailer.
Apparently these are taking one of the Doctor Who release slots and releasing one per year for four years. Woof. Of course the full release is dependent on sales of the earlier series.
Since this was mostly shot on video, here’s hoping there’s a North American release as well so each region gets the appropriate frame timing for their region.
