Between the end of March and the end of May, I found myself in an enforced retro mode, due to the fact my old new emergency phone could connect to You Tube but no other TV platform. And even then, it seemed to depend on what type of video it was as to whether I could watch it at all. The choice of old TV was largely dictated by my memory and imagination, as it soon became apparent that the older it was, the more likely it was to have full episodes and full seasons available for free.
My brain went straight back to early childhood and fond memories of how I simply couldn’t get enough of aliens and spaceships, strange planets and stranger plots about “goodies” and “baddies” and sometimes the blurred areas inbetween.
Born in 1973, I was a Star Wars child through and through! Which also meant I was a Star Trek repeat fan at home on the family telly. Or actually anything that involved space, new or repeated. If it was set amongst the stars I absorbed it, and would feel panicky to miss it – because any knowledge missed would jeopardise my survival odds as a space rogue in my own future! This was my all-consuming primary school logic.
And so, over the course of about 8 weeks, I enjoyed a trip of going back to those feelings of being frightened, astonished, thrilled and educated, as I watched every single episode of these three old series from start to finish…
First up was the ultra low budget, but wonderfully moody Blake’s 7, created by Terry Nation for the BBC. It ran for four thirteen episode series’ between ’78 and ’81, and at its peak was watched by 10 million people in the UK alone, whilst also being shown in 25 other countries worldwide.
It was, of course, a cash in on the popularity the previous year’s phenomenon of Star Wars: A New Hope. Every child, and plenty of adults, in the country wanted space pirates, rebels and aliens on their TVs and this was what BBC1 had to offer. I was 4 years old when in began, and not really allowed to watch it… but, I managed to anyway – taking in almost nothing of the story, but absorbing every detail of the mood, the look and the tech!
The nostalgia factor for this show has been enormous for me. By the time it ended I was eight years old, and have had a vague feel of foreboding about how it ended all my adult life, having never had the opportunity to watch it again until now. The main characters of Blake, Avon, Vila and Servalan were extremely vivid in my memory; as were the voices of A.I.s Orac and Zen, the latter being the personality of my third favourite spaceship back then (after the Millenium Falcon and The Enterprise naturally), The Liberator.
Blake himself was a political prisoner, who escapes in episode one and takes with him an assortment of criminals, petty and otherwise. They liberate the Liberator and go about hiding from, or sabotaging, the totalitarian villains as they traverse the galaxy from episode to episode, evading danger and death at every turn. He was an archetypal hero, and almost always virtuous, if a little bossy, and actually quite dull.
Much more exciting was the usually black leather clad Avon, played by the syrup voiced Paul Darrow. He was nobody’s follower, and quite often out witted anyone in his path with his cunning and dubious morality, to get what he wanted, which was usually riches. You were never quite sure who’s side he was on, or what he would do to serve himself – a point some of the best episodes explored.
In fact, by the end of season two everyone preferred Avon to Blake, so they pretty much wrote the title character out, making it a mystery to the very last episode of season four as to whether he was alive and what had become of him. Meanwhile Avon took the helm, often clashing with the gloriously camp Jaqueline Pierce as the shaven headed megalomaniac beauty, Servalan. The supporting cast came and went as time wore on, and by season four was almost entirely different; even The Liberator had gone, to be replaced by the much more prosaic Scorpio, and an updated title sequence that was never quite as good.
The main thing that always remains good about Blake’s 7, no matter how corny and cheap it looks now, is how it was basically a psychological character drama. It was about politics and who you could trust and why… the dilemmas they faced as a group and the solutions needed to survive were always good to watch; even some of the best dialogue had a philosophical edge to it that raised it above simple action – which of course it had to: there simply wasn’t the budget for too many big battles and special effects.
Coming in at almost 40 hours of viewing, I have to say that although at times it felt like I was watching the same episode over and over, it never felt like I wanted to quit. Which for a show that is over 40 years old is quite something. And I could never ever tire of the one element still does compete well with any sci-fi show before or since: the extraordinarily evocative and completely 70s opening theme tune. Simple, haunting and sublime. I only have to hear it briefly and I am 100% transported to being a wide eyed little boy again.
So, I was too young to remember the first run of this unusually stoic Gerry Anderson production, that became the most expensive production ever made for British TV at the time. But I do remember repeats shown on Sunday teatimes (a melancholy part of the week at the best of times), and I was not a huge fan, I have to say.
The opening credits were, and still are, exciting; being just about the most 70s thing you have ever seen and heard as each episode is montaged to a funky space disco theme tune. But that was about the best thing about it as a youngster. The storylines were too adult and science based – like real boring, school science! And the cast were all old people, or so it seemed. The Eagle craft were fine; I had one as a toy. But the show as a whole was slow and dry and hard to follow.
Watching all that play now as a male 40 something is exactly what I am looking for, and so I enjoyed the first series much much more than I ever did as a kid. Not to mention that the 70s idea of future clothing and hair, and the plethora of flashing buttons that do absolutely nothing, is absolutely bloody hilarious! I lapped it up, between naps.
Real life husband and wife Martin Landau (already a star after Mission Impossible) and Barbara Bain lead the crew of Moonbase Alpha on constant survival missions, after the moon has been knocked out of Earth orbit by a massive nuclear explosion, becoming basically lost in space. A lot of the storylines find them coming close to discovering a new home planet, only to find it cursed or dangerous or deadly or otherwise no good. And then there are a lot of episodes that get quite trippy and psychedelic – alien intelligences and drug induced trances etc.
Apparently, by the end of season one (which is a chunky 24 episodes) Martin Landau was getting more and more upset by where the show was going and there was a lot of tension on set. Then season 2 becomes almost a different show – all the ugly characters have gone, replaced by sexy, dynamic faces; the costumes get an upgrade, and the plots get watered down into almost pure action, with very little reason. Also, there is a woman with massive ginger sideburns and pointy eyebrows that can turn into any animal she wants at will. It all got a bit weird!
Although I did trudge through them, I found myself doing other things with it on in the background during season 2. It had morphed from something mostly cerebral and dramatic to something bright and dumb, like looked more like Cheggers Plays Pop than 2001: A Space Odyssey, which had been an obvious influence over season one. At least I can say I know what it was now, but I’m unlikely to get increased nostalgia for this one as time goes on.
OK, so not in space, but undeniably sci-fi, in the tradition of Huxley, Orwell and all dystopian worlds, that serve as political allegory and a mirror to the absurdities or real culture. Consisting of a mere 17 episodes, nothing in the history of British TV comes close to the mystique & cult status of The Prisoner.
I had seen several of the episodes on TV in isolation over the years, but had always felt entirely lost by what the hell is going on… seems that when you start at the beginning and watch them all in sequence, that feeling still remains! I mean, it is a surreal show! Bizarre at times.
Filmed in the picturesque Welsh coastal village of Portmeirion, we follow the daily encounters of “number 6” as he comes to terms with his kidnapping and detainment on a strange futuristic island. He is being monitored and evaluated constantly by a group of authority figures, because of a state secret he is keeping and will not reveal under any duress. As such, it is closer to a spy show, and scowling star Patrick McGoohan’s previous hit Danger Man, than anything of a pure sci-fi genre.
Each episode he tries to do the same few things: Escape, find out who “number one” is, and outsmart the new “number two”, a device that allowed different guest stars to play antagonist to the anti-hero, as he goes about his business shouting randomly, kicking things over, slapping women in typical ’60s fashion, or running away from huge white balloons that seem sentient and simultaneously quite malignant.
If you think it starts weird, just wait till about half way through and the twists become extra twists on top of the twists, and it all becomes a semantic battle with increasingly odd visual gimmicks and ever more bizarre performances from the supporting cast, and indeed McGoohan himself, who often looks like a drunk Irishman who is angry at his own shoes.
Again, not a show I really took in as a kid. So to watch it now in entirety was a blast. Despite its strangeness and often uncomfortable 60s attitudes it is a hell of a show. I can’t imagine how unique and ground-breaking it felt at the time, because it pretty much still stands on it’s own stylistically and thematically. Light years ahead of other shows of that time I’ve seen.
There is so much about The Prisoner that imprints on you as you watch it. The colours, the tone, the objects, the words, the expressions, the themes of personal freedom vs state induced brainwashing… McGoohan’s acting… all of it! Definitely something I’ll watch again in time.
And now I’m done with the short trip down British Sci-Fi memory lane I’m a little sad to leave it behind. And glad that mostly, despite changing fashions and budgets, the stories still stand up as worth watching. What was your own favourite from the past? I’d be very interested to hear about it. Kx
The Wasteland 