Blake's 7 TV review

For me one of the great joys of broadband internet has been re-discovering some of my favorite old TV shows and introducing some new friends to these old classics. For me one of the best has always been Terry Nation's BBC space opera classic Blake's 7 now available at blistering fast download speeds from our friends on utorrent.

B7 ran for 4 series from 1978 to 1981 but all of this stuff you can read on Wikipedia anyway so lets get down to Spaceman Jack's contribution.
I am halfway through watching series 2 for the first time in probably 20 years and it stands up pretty well in the 21st century a time of CGI Sci-fi and digital downloads. The cardboard and plywood special effects of the BBC that feature in B7 are so very familiar to fans of Terry Nation's other big success Dr Who. Bits fall off control panels and sets wobble visibly as the actors touch or move around them. In the debut episode the Federation freighter looks like the bastard child of a papier-mache bathtub and a shoebox hanging on strings. On this space ship the command "Engage engines Time distort 5 !" means "Remove handbrake, Light 5 fire-crackers out the back tube and hold on tight !"
Anyway that old tub takes Roj Blake, Kerr Avon, Vila Restal and the rest of the gang of convicts to prison planet for life but fate intervenes. Through a series of unlikely plot twists this group of Rebels, Criminals, disaffected intellectuals and telepathic aliens gain control of The Liberator, a super fast and super sweet advanced tricked out Alien Spaceship. Thus equipped do our gallant heroes Sallie forth like Robin Hood robbing from the rich fighting the system shooting at the cops and blowing shit up, but in space.
Actually its the costumes that really mark this as space opera from the 70's check this out.

Nice threads dudes ! The eponymous Blake is under the delusion that balloon sleeves are the way to go this season, not only make you look bigger in the event of a hostile encounter but they can also slow your rate of descent in the case of a severe fall.
Costume designers with few exceptions have decided that future clothing means synthetic plastics, sometimes to and outlandish degree. (Watch season 2 episode 7 the killer and see if you like the triangular brown vinyl suits ).
But on the other hand Servalan was probably the best dressed Space Villainess yet encountered witness this outfit....

Isn't she delightful ! Just the thing for a summers day massacre. By the way the weapon in her hand is a standard issue Federation Blaster pistol and is capable of a rate of fire of 2 firecrackers per minute. The 2 bodyguards in black acrylic are Mutoid slaves, a sort of cybernetic vampires made from humans mind wiped by the Federation sort of thing. They obey their master's every sordid whim without question, drink plasma and wear BDSM gear.
But its not just about nostalgia, I am really enjoying coming back to this old show. What made B7 different was the dark style of the writing, that made it a nice antidote to the millennial Federation of Gene Roddenbury's Star Trek. For B7 the core is rotten, the center cannot hold and mere anarchy is set upon the universe. Here alliances are temporary, friendships are rare and treachery is common.
So very 21st century Enjoy !

Final rating: 5 Ninja stars * * * * *

Glimore Girls The Final Episode TV Review

*** Three Ninja Stars

In which Spaceman Jack dissects the Final Gilmore Girls experience into this sociological treatise,
Stars Hollow quaint Idyll or dystopian Nightmare ?

Gilmore Girls (herein after GG) has ended as I suppose it had to do eventually, Rory (Gilmore Girl 2 ) after turning down the marriage proposal of the rich, young and eminently eligible Logan Huntsburger in the penultimate episode has now flown off as a junior reporter to follow the Barak Obama campaign.
Lorelai (Gilmore Girl1) while not walking down the aisle in white with the hard working and mucho masculine Luke, clinched him in the end as she was overwhelmed by his consideration by throwing a massive surprise Bon Voyage party for Rory .
Nice, well nice enough in so far as it’s not actually bad. Some things were left out, basically a deeper analysis of their world. I know that I have a rather bad tendency to treat TV as if it were the real world, but shows like The Gilmore Girls have worked hard to position themselves in a fictional universe that is a close parallel with the actual one. If you get yourself a good "Fiction Filter" I think you can go some way to divining a certain amount of truth about the American condition from them. They don’t tell you exactly who or what the Americans are but they can tell you a little about who they think they are and who they wish to be. Consider this;
At the heart of the GGs’ dynamic was the upper class mother and grandmother Emily Gilmore. This formidable WASP struck a bargain early on with her wayward daughter. Desperate to give the young Rory a chance at the Ivy league education which is the ticket to Elite Status, Lorelai goes to her mother who agrees to pay the bills in return for a cast iron agreement that both junior GGs turn up for Friday night dinners at the senior GG’s palatial home. An excellent example of exchanging financial capital ( hard cash money )for social capital (time with your family )
Rory’s best friend is the delightful Lane Kim (played by Keiko Agena) the daughter of the tough and hard working Mrs. Kim. A Christian Korean migrant who runs an antique store. Rory and Lane grew up together and were at the small public school until the mother’s bargain was struck and at that point their lives and fates diverged. Lane continues as a waitress in Luke’s diner follows her passion for Rock music marries the goofy but kind hearted guitarist Zach gets married and has twins.
Rory leaves the public school goes to the exclusive Chilton Academy and is on the track for the Ivy league big time. Rory turns down the chance of marriage for career.
There we are, social status, family, fertility and economic power in America all played out for you on the small screen.
But were is the justice? were is the meritocracy ? Rory is smart enough for the big league but then so is Lane. Mrs. Kim is hard working and morally upstanding while Mrs. Gilmore is vain and venal. But without the old money and connections behind them the Kims will never get to the upper crust. The GGs are bank rolled by the vested interests but the Kims are not so they will have to stay down at least for a few more generations.
This is America.