!![[Series/BlakesSeven The TV series]]
* AccidentalInnuendo: In the episode "[[Recap/BlakesSevenS3E12DeathWatch Death Watch]]", Avon teleports down to confront Servalan, saying he's guessed her EvilPlan and delivering a blatant death threat. He then calls for Cally to teleport him up again. Then the [[ThrowItIn actors decided on their own initiative]] to acknowledge their character's FoeRomanceSubtext by having Avon grab Servalan for a passionate TakeThatKiss. So when Avon then tells Cally [[SomethingElseAlsoRises he's ready to come up now...]]
* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: Oh, dear God, ''everyone'' is up for debate:
** Is Servalan just trying to keep the only stable government for billions of citizens intact, morality be damned?
** Is Blake actually fighting for justice, or is he an OmnicidalManiac who doesn't give a damn who gets hurt as long as the Federation burns? Creator/GarethThomas believed that the answer depends on which side of the fence you're sitting.
** Is Avon even sane by Season 4? Notably, Creator/PaulDarrow didn't think so.
** Who betrayed who in the BolivianArmyEnding - did Blake betray Avon, did Avon betray Blake, or did they betray each other?
** Dayna - ActionGirl or FauxActionGirl? (This one, of course, is not helped by the massive helping of DependingOnTheWriter.)
** Just how smart or cowardly is Vila, really? Does he play dumb in order to keep out of Blake and Avon's suicidal plans? Creator/MichaelKeating believed that Vila was clever and determined to survive, rather than purely cowardly, and [[ADayInTheLimelight Vila-centric episodes]] show he's pretty damn smart when he wants to be. The fact that he constantly drinks doesn't help the issue, either.
** Just how much does Avon believe [[RidiculouslyHumanRobot Orac]] is JustAMachine? Notably by the final series, they've each become the only crewmember the other has any respect for, making it easier to read them more like VitriolicBestBuds instead.
** Is Gan really a GentleGiant? Or as "[[Recap/BlakesSevenS1E10Breakdown Breakdown]]" implies, just a SerialKiller with a RestrainingBolt?
** Del Tarrant is introduced posing as Federation captain, with a backstory as a mercenary, smuggler and rebel sympathizer that doesn't fit his youthful appearance. Is he just exaggerating his past exploits, or is he a DangerousDeserter who having found himself on the Liberator decides it's a safer option now the Federation has collapsed?
* AwesomeEgo: Avon is a fan favourite based largely on his high estimate of his own intelligence, his low estimate of everyone else's, and his acerbic way of making this clear to everyone.
* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: To quote Martin Odoni, you know you've watched too much ''Blake's 7'' when "you dismiss the works of Tchaikovsky, Mozart and Brahms as amateurish because they don't have as many major chords as forty seconds of Dudley Simpson". [[note]] The composer of the signature music.[[/note]] DUN dun DUNN da DUNNN...
* CaptainObviousReveal: In "[[Recap/BlakesSevenS4E3Traitor Traitor]]", the measures used to conceal the identity of Commissioner Sleer only make it obvious to the audience that it must be an ArchEnemy BackFromTheDead. Unless [[TheDragon Travis]] had somehow survived his CruelAndUnusualDeath in "[[Recap/BlakesSevenS2E13StarOne Star One]]", who else could it be but [[BigBad Servalan]]?
* CompleteMonster:
** "[[Recap/BlakesSevenS1E1TheWayBack The Way Back]]": Dev Tarrant is a Federation security agent who has [[TheMole infiltrated the resistance]]. He sets up at least two [[LeaveNoSurvivors massacres of around twenty unarmed dissidents]] and is also the [[TokenMotivationalNemesis one responsible]] for Blake being captured and {{brainwashed}} in the first place. When he discovers Blake can [[HeKnowsTooMuch identify him]], he instructs the Arbiter-General to discredit him, which he does by [[FrameUp framing him for child abuse]] by [[MindRape implanting false memories of abuse in children's minds]]--then turns up at Blake's trial to gloat, so he knows how much the resistance is compromised. When Blake's defence lawyer realizes the truth and begins gathering up evidence of the massacre and framing, Tarrant [[TheBadGuyWins has him and his wife killed]].
** "[[Recap/BlakesSevenS1E2SpaceFall Space Fall]]": [[WardensAreEvil Raiker]] is the sub-commander of a prison ship transporting prisoners to a penal planet. He takes a sadistic attitude towards the prisoners, welcoming them with a threatening speech that ends "[[ScrewTheRulesIMakeThem [t]here are other rules but you'll find out what they are when you break them]]." He has a [[SerialRapist reputation]] for taking female prisoners as his {{sex slave}}s for the trip, with it rumoured that some prisoners are [[ThrownOutTheAirlock dumped en route]]. When his attempt to charm Jenna with offers of better treatment are immediately rebuffed, he immediately [[BeneathTheMask drops the act]] and strikes her, saying she'll come to him eventually. After an escape attempt led by Blake results in most of the prisoners being quickly recaptured but Blake and the ringleaders having control of the ship, Raiker responds by [[RevengeByProxy systematically shooting unarmed prisoners]] until Blake gives himself up. When he hears Blake has surrendered, he shoots one more ForTheEvulz. He then tries to order Jenna taken to his quarters, only to be [[EvenEvilHasStandards overruled by his superior]]. He demonstrates {{greed}} as well: He is eager for the prize money when the crew stumble upon the Liberator drifting and, when a first attempt at boarding leaves two crewmen dead and one driven insane, his response is to use [[CannonFodder prisoners]] as a SuicideMission to disable the defences, threatening them with summary execution otherwise.
* EnsembleDarkhorse:
** Avon, to the point where many consider him to be the show's real main character, even in the episodes when Blake is still the official protagonist.
** If your favourite character wasn't Avon, it was Vila.
** While not as popular as any of the original Seven (except maybe Gan), Dayna was by far and away the most well-liked of the new additions from Seasons 3 and 4.
** Blake's public defender Varon may die in the pilot, but he has a special place in the hearts of many fans.
** MadScientistsBeautifulDaughter Zeeona has more fans than most of the Season 4 guest stars.
** AlmightyJanitor MadScientist Coser and his SpannerInTheWorks companion Rashel from "Weapon" are two guest stars who attract a lot of interest and appreciation due to their complexity, entertaining performances, and story arc.
* FanficFuel: Blake's escapades between "[[Recap/BlakesSevenS2E13StarOne Star One]]" and "[[Recap/BlakesSevenS4E13Blake Blake]]", particuarly his stint as a BountyHunter.
* FanonWelding:
** There is a longstanding (though not entirely serious) theory among ''Blake's 7'' fans that TheFederation in ''Blake's 7'' and the Federation in ''Franchise/StarTrek'' are one and the same. Since it is canon in the former show that the Federation controls the media and deliberately distorts what is fed to the public to suit its agenda (e.g. Roj Blake's show trial), it is speculated that the adventures seen on ''Star Trek'' are also propaganda created by the Federation to keep the population sated. Supporting this theory is that the Federation symbol in ''Blake's 7'' is essentially the Star Fleet symbol turned on its side.
** Others have theorized the series to be part of the Franchise/{{Whoniverse}}, specifically taking place around the same time as [[Recap/DoctorWhoS1E7TheSensorites "The Sensorites"]], due to the involvement of Terry Nation and several other ''Who'' alumni. In fact, Nation had originally intended the invading aliens in [[Recap/BlakesSevenS2E13StarOne "Star One"]] to be Daleks, but the higher-ups at the BBC said "no".
* GrowingTheBeard: While Season 1 doesn't have any episodes that are widely regarded as clunkers, it also doesn't have very many regarded as classics. Season 2, despite several episodes that misfired quite badly, started taking more risks, developed a more coherent overall storyline, and dropped the generally superfluous Gan in favour of the more memorable Orac.
* HarsherInHindsight:
** Avon's line in "[[{{Recap/BlakesSevenS3E13Terminal}} Terminal]]"
-->"Death is something [Blake] and I have faced on a number of occasions; '''I always thought his death and mine might be linked in some way'''."
** For a RealLife example: It's a BBC show from the 1970s, Blake being framed for child molestation charges is a substantially ickier storyline now that we know there were genuine paedophiles lurking in Creator/TheBBC and being covered up for at the time the show was being made. Of course, the show's creators and cast didn't know about this but someone at the top did.
** [[spoiler:Gan was the first main character to be killed off. His actor, David Jackson, was the first castmember to die in RealLife]].
** Series 2's ''Killer'' in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.
* HesJustHiding: There are plenty of fans who contend this about one or more characters after the finale, [[spoiler:Arguing that none of the crew besides Blake was seen bleeding after being shot and that he could have been ling about Jenna's death]]. Various SchrodingersCanon tie in materials add to this feeling.
* HilariousInHindsight:
** Over the course of "[[{{Recap/BlakesSevenS3E13Terminal}} Terminal]]" and "[[Recap/BlakesSevenS4E1Rescue Rescue]]", the crew arrive at an artificially-created planetoid where evolution of native life has been massively accelerated. The starship that they've had for so long is destroyed, and they eventually escape from the exploding planetoid in a much smaller starship taken from an enemy. A few years later, another famous starship crew would run into [[Film/StarTrekIIITheSearchForSpock much the same situation]]. [[note]] Considering B7 was almost explicitly made to be an inverse of ''Franchise/StarTrek'' makes this even more rich.[[/note]]
** Avon says, "I'll be back" in an [[Recap/BlakesSevenS4E6Headhunter episode]] where the MonsterOfTheWeek is a [[Film/TheTerminator killer robot posing as a human]].
** In [[Recap/BlakesSevenS3E11Moloch "Moloch"]], a criminal called [[Franchise/HannibalLecter Lector]] jokes about the joys of cannibalism.
** In "[[Recap/BlakesSevenS3E10Ultraworld Ultraworld]]", Cally is forcibly downloaded into a computer system and sends out a distress call saying, [[Recap/DoctorWhoS33E6TheBellsOfSaintJohn "I don't know where I am!"]]
** Given Avon's snark, penchant for dark clothing, and admitted amoral behaviour [[VideoGame/StarWarsTheOldRepublic is it any wonder his actor makes for a wonderful Sith]]?
* HoYay:
** Creator/KimNewman once joked that it was hard to tell if Blake and Avon really hated each other or if they really fancied each other.
** Avon/Vila was one of the more popular ships. Avon/Tarrant gets a good look in too...what is it with Avon any way? Is it the leather?
*** Les Yay: Jenna/Cally. They get ''very'' into their {{catfight}} in "[[Recap/BlakesSevenS2E11Gambit Gambit]]".
* HoYayShipping: Generations of fans have read subtext into Blake and Avon. Not only that, but in the 80's, a mix of different elements, including arguments over the ethicality of for-profit conventions, actor distaste for seeing their characters same-sex shipped, RPF, attempted fandom cleansing and the degree to which slash fic was exiled from the mainstream fandom resulted in a Slash War so long, bitter and far-reaching that even years later it was a delicate subject, and upon being supplied with the receipts by someone in the fandom at the time (who insisted on only sharing it with them after they made an inquiry into the subject on a forum) that the newbie commented that it was like watching a car wreck. Full details are at Fandom Lore.
* JerkassWoobie: Avon.
* LauncherOfAThousandShips: You can basically guarantee that someone somewhere on the internet is currently shipping Avon with literally any other member of the crew (including [[CargoShip Orac and Zen]]). Not to mention [[FoeYayShipping Servalan]]...
* LoveToHate: Madame President Servalan. Dear God, she usually walked away with whatever she was after and made the alleged heroes look like idiots in the process. Evil, but you just can't help but admire her sense of style.
* MoralEventHorizon:
** In "Star Drive", Avon activates the Photonic Drive without giving Dr. Plaxton (who had just finished installing it for them) a chance to get to safety, knowing it will kill her. While he attempts to justify it with [[IDidWhatIHadToDo amoral practicality]] with "It's her or us" (they were being pursued at the time), he then laughs when her death is confirmed. In this moment, Avon went from being an [[UnscrupulousHero Unscrupulous]] AntiHero to an outright VillainProtagonist.
** In "[[Recap/BlakesSevenS4E11Orbit Orbit]]". [[spoiler:Avon and Vila have tricked a MadScientist out of a [[MacGuffin powerful new weapon]] with a fake Orac only to find that he's somehow weighed down their shuttle so it can't achieve escape velocity. Our heroes are busy stripping everything out of the shuttle to lose weight (including the powerful new weapon), when Orac announces they only need to lose 70 more kilos. When asked by Avon (who believes Vila is out of earshot) what weighs 70 kilos, Orac tells him that "Vila weighs 73 kilos". Avon gets his gun and goes looking for Vila (who's gone into hiding!). Avon then finds the [[AppliedPhlebotinum 'speck of Neutron Material' embedded in perspex]] that is really weighing down the shuttle, but can't persuade Vila to help him push it out of the ship because Vila thinks Avon is still trying to kill him. He manages to do it by himself, [[LargeHam manfully]]. Opinion is divided on whether Avon would have actually killed Vila if it had come to it.]]
* MyRealDaddy: Creator/TerryNation may have created the series and characters, but Creator/ChrisBoucher gave life to both. In fact, some of the most beloved episodes were written by Boucher.
* {{Narm}}: Three words. Brian the Spider. Oh, you wanted a little more detail? "[[{{Recap/BlakesSevenS3E5TheHarvestOfKairos}} The Harvest of Kairos]]" called for a terrible alien life-form that makes Kairos uninhabitable for most of the year. The special-effects department delivered a giant orange snail with legs, which wobbled oh-so-slowly towards our heroes as the otherwise scarily competent Dayna [[HelpImStuck forgot how to use her own legs]]. (For this and other reasons, this episode is often seen as SoBadItsGood by fans.)
* NarmCharm: The series got by on ''Series/DoctorWho'''s leftover props and set pieces (sometimes after the duct tape peeled off), the acting veered wildly between awesome and awesomely stupid, the fight scenes had all the coordination and grace of roadside sobriety tests, and SnarkToSnarkCombat was the order of the day. The show's two finest characters (Avon and Servalan) were completely unrepentant {{Large Ham}}s. Add the fact that it was much DarkerAndEdgier than any TV sci-fi until 2005, and it was glorious.
* NightmareRetardant:
** Let's see...Brian the Spider from "[[Recap/BlakesSevenS3E5TheHarvestOfKairos The Harvest of Kairos]]". A wobbly TinCanRobot that can [[Film/HeartbreakRidge piss napalm!]] The cuddly yak-hybrid SuperSoldiers from "[[Recap/BlakesSevenS4E5Animals Animals]]". The murderous PornStache man in "[[Recap/BlakesSevenS1E4TimeSquad Time Squad]]". The mutoids having their cyborg headcaps replaced by a DodgyToupee ("[[Recap/BlakesSevenS2E8Hostage Hostage]]") or graduated bob haircut ("[[Recap/BlakesSevenS4E5Animals Animals]]"). [[Recap/BlakesSevenS3E11Moloch Moloch the Fried Chicken Man!]]
** Shivan from "[[Recap/BlakesSevenS2E10VoiceFromThePast Voice from the Past]]", ostensibly a once-famous RebelLeader who's been so tortured and disfigured by the evil Federation that he's barely able to move or see or speak. Instead we get a shuffling BandageMummy in a green cape whose dialogue is totally incomprehensible. [[spoiler:TheReveal that he's Travis in disguise doesn't help matters either.]]
-->'''Shivan:''' Entrol your bloodbeard blabe to booster your emperor clam olts you enjoyyyy the reeeal fruits of powerrrr!
** In "[[Recap/BlakesSevenS3E10Ultraworld Ultraworld]]" aliens try to take over the crew with MindControl. This terrifying fate is represented by the victim seeing a hallucination of a disco glitter ball.
** In "[[Recap/BlakesSevenS4E7Assassin Assassin]]" [[spoiler:TheReveal that the DamselInDistress is the real assassin is let down not only by bad acting (and not of the EvilIsHammy kind either) but also that silly towering hairdo she's wearing for her EvilCostumeSwitch.]]
* OnceOriginalNowCommon: The "fugitives running from a corrupt empire" premise has long since been harvested to death to the point where it'd be a unique subversion now to show things the other way around.
* OnlyTheCreatorDoesItRight: Assuming you define "creator" in this case to mean both Creator/TerryNation (the actual creator) and Creator/ChrisBoucher (who was involved almost as heavily in the series' initial development), very much played straight. Out of the dozen or so other writers that worked on the show, the only ones whose work was especially popular among the fans were Creator/RobertHolmes and Creator/TanithLee.
** The final season was made without Nation (who'd relocated to America) and producer David Maloney (who was busy with ''Series/{{The Day of the Triffids|1981}}'' and ''Series/WhenTheBoatComesIn''). Boucher returned, but he only wrote the first and last episodes.
* ReplacementScrappy:
** None of the new characters introduced in the third and fourth seasons are especially popular (although Dayna has the biggest fanbase). Tarrant, however, is the one who gets real hatred from large parts of the fanbase, especially Avon fans, due to his constant in-canon attempts to take over group leadership from Avon despite lacking the abilities required, and out-of-canon suspicions that he was created as MrFanservice despite most of the female fanbase thinking that Avon was already filling that role ''quite well''.
** Creator/BrianCroucher's version of Travis isn't exactly ''bad'' per se, but he comes across as far more thuggish DumbMuscle than Creator/StephenGreif's version ever did. It doesn't help that the mask they made for Croucher looks like a cheap Halloween costume.
* RetroactiveRecognition: A guard in "[[Recap/BlakesSevenS3E13Terminal Terminal]]" is played by Creator/NicholasFrankau, who would later be best known for playing Carstairs in ''Series/AlloAllo''.
* SavedByTheFans: Vila was originally going to be the first character to be killed off, but his popularity with viewers saved him (polls ranked him the second favourite after Avon). So, the axe fell on Gan, who was the least popular.
* SeasonalRot: As legendary as the series finale is, Season 4 is widely considered to be by ''far'' the show's weakest season due to the [[spoiler:loss of the Liberator, Cally getting a [[DroppedABridgeOnHim bridge dropped on her]] and being replaced by the much less memorable Soolin]], the plot of ''every'' episode being [[spoiler:"The crew try to find something with which to fight the Federation, and don't get it,"]] and the episodes in the first half of the season just being generally very poor due to the hasty re-commissioning of the series.
* SpecialEffectFailure:
** With the same budget as a police procedural, what d'you expect?
** Also, the "futuristic" bases the Seven visit tend to look a lot like 20th-century British oil refineries or nuclear power plants.
** The final season had generally respectable effects for the time, thanks to advances in technology. The only real failure came from the ''very'' obvious matte lines in spaceship shots.
** The Federation Security Robot that was introduced in "[[Recap/BlakesSevenS1E6SeekLocateDestroy Seek, Locate, Destroy]]" and was intended to be a regular feature of the show. Unfortunately, it's a supposedly terrifying TinCanRobot that wobbles as it goes, is just generally poorly-designed and looks adorable rather than menacing. Its main weapon is also mounted in a... [[PhallicWeapon rather unfortunate place]], which caused the cast and crew to instantly nickname it "[[UnfortunateCharacterDesign the flasher]]". As a result of all this, its role in the episode was heavily reduced, and it only made one further, very brief, cameo appearance.
** The third season episode "[[Recap/BlakesSevenS3E5TheHarvestOfKairos The Harvest of Kairos]]" is particularly exemplary. The ''better'' of the two main types of aliens seen is played by a rock... Many will say that the episode can only be enjoyed as a comedy.
** "[[Recap/BlakesSevenS4E10Gold Gold]]" has a particularly jarring jump cut on the teleport effect, with actor Creator/RoyKinnear obviously moving between cuts in the foreground.
* SpiritualPredecessor: To ''Series/{{Farscape}}''. Grayza's resemblance to Servalan is an acknowledgment.
* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter:
** Jenna was introduced as a tough, cynical SpacePirate and smuggler. She became gradually underutilised, particuarly in the second season, where she was often seen manning the teleporter, or would get captured despite her ActionGirl status. Creator/SallyKnyvette left the series because of this, complaining that she was reduced to being a housewife. Thankfully, she got a series of audio plays that rectified this.
** Gan was established as a good-natured, simple strongman with a limiter that prevented him from killing. He gradually became a LivingProp as time went on, and his limiter was never mentioned after the first season. Even David Jackson felt underutilised[[note]]There's a legend that during a read-through, he handed Creator/ChrisBoucher a piece of paper with "four" written on it, which was the number of lines he had that week[[/note]]. He had precisely [[Recap/BlakesSevenS1E10Breakdown one episode]] devoted to him and his spends most of it either unconscious or going beserk. [[spoiler:It was hardly a surprise when he was the first of the crew to be killed off]].
** Soolin was introduced in the last season as a tough mercenary and gunslinger. She wound up being the most underdeveloped of all the main characters (even Gan had more character than her). It didn't help that she was hastilty added to replace Cally and for the first batch of episodes, most of her dialogue was meant for her. She didn't get any real backstory until the last episode and most of the time, she was just...''there'', really.
* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: "[[Recap/BlakesSevenS2E10VoiceFromThePast Voice From the Past]]" has the intriguing premise of bringing back the judge who originally sentenced Blake in the first episode, and having him join up with the good guys. Unfortunately the script fails to deliver on this, with nearly every character holding the IdiotBall with both hands, and the story is further buried by staggeringly incompetent direction, with the end product often regarded as a strong contender for the show's single worst episode.
* ValuesResonance: Blake rebels against a totalitarian government that drugs its populace. He gets framed for molesting children. Hell, the entire series starts with a shot of a CCTV camera monitoring the citizens--''before'' said cameras became ubiquitous in the UK.
* WTHCostumingDepartment: The series often had strange costumes. But [[http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff74/swordznsorcery/blakes7/2x03/vlcsnap-2012-08-17-03h09m15s85.jpg two]] in "[[Recap/BlakesSevenS2E3Weapon Weapon]]" take the cake: those of the weapons designer (the man in the picture) and the bond-slave (the woman):. (As someone wrote, "It's hard to perform manual labour when you're dressed like [[ComicStrip Ming the Merciless]]).
** Part of the explanation for this was that the series was often getting by on [[PropRecycling leftover props]] and costumes intended for (and sometimes '''rejected by''') ''Series/DoctorWho''
** In "[[Recap/BlakesSevenS2E7Killer Killer]]", we have the squeaky brown vinyl 'bug suits', the Michelin Man {{Hazmat Suit}}s, and the firefighters who look like silver fried eggs with legs.
** In "[[Recap/BlakesSevenS4E12Warlord Warlord]]" to show an alliance of alien delegates, the wardrobe department really goes to town.
* TheWoobie:
** In her entire run on the show, Cally never caught a break. [[spoiler:One kiss from Avon]] doesn't count.
** Vila. Horrible things happen to all the characters, but Vila's a Woobie because of his general nice-guy attitude and the fact that, really, none of this is his fault. Hits in the final series especially, as after Cally's gone, the only person with even a modicum of respect for him is Avon, and [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope that becomes increasingly strained near the end.]]
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