Dancing with the Universe

I guess it's sort of a compliment to CSI: Vegas that it went 199 episodes before coming up with a script that was so badly written I actually couldn't finish watching it. I'm pretty lenient in my standards; I'll cope with potboilers, I only cringe a bit when people act out of character, and I find cliches amusing. But boy howdy, the "200th episode special" defeated me. At least it wasn't false advertising: that one was, indeed, "special".

and it's better than I remember.

amywithani bought the box set of the 80's Buck Rogers, and is visiting her childhood that way. Me, I've got one better: we've downloaded the first season of Blake's 7.

The theme song takes me straight back to Sunday nights on KTEH. The faces are familiar, the sets feel like home. I'd watch it just for that, the same way I struggled through "The Claws of Axos" because I take pride in watching the whole damn run of Doctor Who, not just the good parts. BBC sci-fi demands fortitude sometimes.

But damn if Terry Nation didn't write a great series. The production quality is good to start with -- limited set building let them use their money on other things. The plot is engaging, and it moves well. What sets it apart is the dialogue, combined with the direction and acting; the characters are believable, far from stupid, and Nation isn't afraid to show the deep clashes of personality you'd get from a miscellaneous bunch of social deviants. You don't necessarily like everyone, but they are all real people with their own motives.

(One last great touch: there are at least a few examples of cutting-edge tech. One character in the city is rocking out to what looks distinctly like a walkman (with what appears to be a little mini-CD in it), though the case reminded both of us of an iPod; it was hooked up to slim VR goggles. Walkmans were released in 1979, a year after Blake's 7 came out, but VR was in its infancy at the time. The discs in the show may have been tape spools, but they looked a lot like bare minidiscs. It was enough to give a feeling of anachronism in an otherwise standard late-70's set, and that's enough to catch my attention.)

There's something very comforting about watching a TV show that I grew up with, now that I'm an adult, and not being embarrassed. I mean, sure, we all loved Transformers and the A-Team, but part of us squirms a little at the campiness... Blake's 7 is still damn good (despite the title sequence). The closest thing I can compare it to is Logan's Run, especially at first, and the quality is at least as good -- it stands up to a full-blown movie. It's a pleasure to watch, and would be even if I didn't have the additional happiness of coming back to old friends.

We're not to Cygnus Alpha yet, but that's next -- maybe tomorrow. Between that and the fact that we've started in on the Tom Baker episodes of Doctor Who, we've got plenty to keep us busy. :)