As fas as B7 goes, I would agree that to some extent the interaction between the characters was one of the things that made the show (remember Avon trying to convince Vila that he needed him to help dump the neutron star fragment, when only moments before he had been quite willing to kick him off the ship in order to lighten the load?) but I think the stories were really good too. The whole idea of Blake being railroaded and becoming a reluctant revolutionary, and Avon's eventual rise to power was pretty unique in sci-fi, even drama of the time.
But it was either a clever twist or a really bad idea to call the authority in the show the Federation, and more, to make them evil. People --- myself definitely included --- had grown up with the idea of Star Trek's Federation, and they were definitely seen as the good guys (until DS9 skewed things), so to get used to the idea of the Federation being the evil oppressors was I think hard. And they could have called them anything; why the Federation I never understood. But yes, between Blake's 7 and Space:1999 (another one under consideration: can I have three extra sets of arms grafted on please? Oh, and make the day 30 hours long while you're at it!) they were two of the darkest sci-fi shows on telly, long before the likes of Galactica or Babylon 5 showed up.
I do admit my memory of classic Who is very hazy but other than I think "The Green Death" I don't recall being excited about any of the stories. I would seriously argue that "New Who" is MORE interesting than "Classic Who", though I guess I can't really as I don't remember that much of the latter. However I think it's definitely come on in leaps and bounds, though in some ways it has become something of a parody of itself to a degree. I'm not sure it's a show you can be into both sides of: seems like you're either a Classic nut or a Current nut (not bun); guess which side I fall on?
Still, I'll be interested in both your comments when my coverage does begin. If either of you know how to get at Blake's 7 without having to shell out for the DVDs please let me know. Netflix ain't got it and I don't see anything on YouTube, and these days it's almost impossible for me to(r)rent anything, if yiz get my drift...
I think I'd like to take it on, but I need a source.
Oh yeah: throw Space:1999 in there too. God, when will I ever sleep?
