4 ms·

Is there a place here for Blake's Seven, (esp the early episodes) and of course Tom Baker's Dr Who incarnation? Incidentally, for those who didn't know, Douglas

Is there a place here for Blake's Seven, (esp the early episodes) and of course Tom Baker's Dr Who incarnation? Incidentally, for those who didn't know, Douglas Adams wrote some classic episodes and was script editor (head writer) on Dr Who for at least a season or so. And I think Dad's Army remains a classic, about the Home Guard in WWII, with some of the finest comic actors. There's even a case to be made for The Sweeney and the Professionals which dealt with grittier more modern reality stories, darker sides of law and intelligence enforcement which is often glossed over in the modern glitzier procedurals. Aha, and though maybe it was largely in the 80s, how about Minder?

zeristor 9y ago
I did want to bank this thread skywards, but of course there's "Star Cops". Is there any other hard science fiction series set in space? The sets are a tad shoddy, but they are good enough; a shame about the last episode. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWWFwLWJZEc&list=PL5nu0EE47YsMSaI7NPCzqLFfChR6nUaU9 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWWFwLWJZEc&list=PL5nu0EE47Y...
simonh 9y ago
Blakes Seven had great characters and a fantastic concept. I binge-watched the whole run about 5 years ago. It had great moments in the first couple of series, but like a lot of TV back then the pacing was painfully slow at times. That's one of the big advances in the last decade or so, the best TV now is paced almost like a movie.
stevekemp 9y ago
I feel compelled to add "Yes Minister" to your list, if only because of the excellent writing and characterisation of Sir Humphrey & Jim Hacker. (There was a recent remake; it is not worth watching.)
- triplesec 9y ago
  That's a great point. I have no idea why I also didn't mention Fawlty Towers, possibly the greatest sitcom ever made.
mst 9y ago
And I'd make a case for The Saint though https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Saint_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Saint_(TV_series) informs me that it was actually shot during the 60s.
random_comment 9y ago
To anyone who loves Star Trek, Firefly, BSG etc: I want to highlight Blake's Seven for you as a really great series that's well worth a watch: Imagine a gritty British version of the original Star Trek. In this story, the federation are evil, and the crew aren't all that nice either, and basically just want to survive having lucked out on finding a ship at the right moment. They're forced into cooperation by necessity. It's not about exploration or Tribbles, it's about a bunch of people just trying to stay alive and eventually organise a rebellion. The primary antagonist (Servalan) is a) female b) fairly competent at her job Two of the characters in the series are artificial intelligences. The ending of the show is excellent. There are audiobooks that tell further stories in the Blake-i-verse. Amazon has most/all of them. There seem to be quite a few episodes on Youtube (Blakes7Movies) if you're curious to watch. If you like the genre of 'space warship crew on the run', you may also enjoy LEXX and The Expanse. It's hard to believe that B7 hasn't been rebooted.

zeristor 9y ago

I did want to bank this thread skywards, but of course there's "Star Cops". Is there any other hard science fiction series set in space? The sets are a tad shoddy, but they are good enough; a shame about the last episode. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWWFwLWJZEc&list=PL5nu0EE47YsMSaI7NPCzqLFfChR6nUaU9 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWWFwLWJZEc&list=PL5nu0EE47Y...

simonh 9y ago

Blakes Seven had great characters and a fantastic concept. I binge-watched the whole run about 5 years ago. It had great moments in the first couple of series, but like a lot of TV back then the pacing was painfully slow at times. That's one of the big advances in the last decade or so, the best TV now is paced almost like a movie.

stevekemp 9y ago

I feel compelled to add "Yes Minister" to your list, if only because of the excellent writing and characterisation of Sir Humphrey & Jim Hacker. (There was a recent remake; it is not worth watching.)

triplesec 9y ago
That's a great point. I have no idea why I also didn't mention Fawlty Towers, possibly the greatest sitcom ever made.

mst 9y ago

And I'd make a case for The Saint though https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Saint_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Saint_(TV_series) informs me that it was actually shot during the 60s.

random_comment 9y ago

To anyone who loves Star Trek, Firefly, BSG etc: I want to highlight Blake's Seven for you as a really great series that's well worth a watch: Imagine a gritty British version of the original Star Trek. In this story, the federation are evil, and the crew aren't all that nice either, and basically just want to survive having lucked out on finding a ship at the right moment. They're forced into cooperation by necessity. It's not about exploration or Tribbles, it's about a bunch of people just trying to stay alive and eventually organise a rebellion. The primary antagonist (Servalan) is a) female b) fairly competent at her job Two of the characters in the series are artificial intelligences. The ending of the show is excellent. There are audiobooks that tell further stories in the Blake-i-verse. Amazon has most/all of them. There seem to be quite a few episodes on Youtube (Blakes7Movies) if you're curious to watch. If you like the genre of 'space warship crew on the run', you may also enjoy LEXX and The Expanse. It's hard to believe that B7 hasn't been rebooted.