Blake's 7 - For Beginners
The main reason for writing this intro is because, simply because you've never watched Blake's 7, or never finished, got into, or bothered about it, is no reason to miss out on these stories, they're too great to miss out on, simply since it's FanFic or something you don't know, yet!
So, here, for all you non-B7 people, is a quick shake down of Season's A through D...
Season A
The Federation, a nasty bunch, corrupt, immoral, controls half the known worlds. Enter Roj Blake, revolutionist, or was until he had his memories altered. But, after joining some friends leaving the city, his memories start to return, the Federation decide that the only way out, without making him a martar is to send him to a Penal Colony, on Cygnas Alpha.
Introducing smuggler and pilot extraordinaire, Jenna Stannis, thief and talented lock pick Vila Restal, and computer/electronics genius Kerr Avon. All onboard the transport, all criminals.
While enroute, they, with the help of Olag Gan, manage to retrieve a ship, the most extraordinary ever seen. As Jenna touches a panel on the pilot station, the ship links to her mind, and comes to life, the ship, The Liberator (the onboard master computer Zen explains the name as "Your thought was acceptant") is theirs. They soon pick up Cally, a telepath, an Auronar.
This crew don't really get on, they do rely on each other, and certainly appear to trust one another, all though would never admit it. For further character info, I recommend http://www.hermit.org/Blakes7. There is also our arch enemy, Supreme Commander Servalan. This woman is a nasty piece of work, we are talking ruthless, cunning, very clever, craving power over everyone and everything. She has a friend too, Travis, Travis and Blake are old friends. He is almost as bad as she is. But before long he's been left behind, and is on his own to hunt Blake down.
Our heroes take to destroying the Federation, like all good heroes do.
At the end of the season, our heroes retrieve the super computer ORAC, this gadget, snatched from Servalans jaws allows the crew to access and computer with one of its creators chips in, which, is every computer more or less.
Season B
While attempting to destroy Federations central control, which was never there to start with, a clever trick, our only friendly crew member, Gan, is killed, this actually seems to have quite an impact on all our crew.
This trick is basically Season B's storyline, trying to track down the real central control, which, in the second to last episode of the season is achieved, and in the last, our crew arrives there, intent on destroying it.
Trouble is, our friendly neighbourhood murderer and all round destroyer, Travis is there, hell bent on letting an army of aliens into our galaxy, because, as we find out, as well as central control, this place is also a defence platform protecting a passage from our galaxy to theirs. Travis wants to knock this place out too. This is all found out, just as our heroes are planting the final explosives, while Travis is finally killing Blake, he orders his crew to remove them all, as we'll need the Federations help to defeat the aliens. Alas, it doesn't come off, control, aka Star One, is destroyed, and our season ends with a dead Travis, a very injured Blake, a thousand or so alien vessels coming at the Liberator and a fleet of Federation ships on the way in (Jenna & Vila called them over to help).
The Intergalactic War begins...
Season C
Abandon Ship, the Liberator is severely damaged, we won the war, but it's taken its toll. Most of the Federation fleet is in ruins and the Liberator needs some repair time. Everyone evacuates I the escape pods. The first two episodes concentrate on Cally, Avon, and Vila.
Avon lands on a planet, where we also find Servalan, between him, her, a girl called Dayna Mellanby and Daynas father, Avon and Dayna escape to the Liberator after it is repaired.
Back on the Liberator, the Federation have a team onboard, but they have a traitor in their mist, Del Tarrant, and the ship soon belongs to him, Avon and Dayna again.
Vila is taken in by some people to a hospital with a broken arm, where he meets Cally, the two soon realise something is amiss, this hospital is very friendly. When Servalan appears, the two become very suspicious, when she announces the hospital is "an organ bank, they stock human organs for spare part surgery" its nearly too late, but the Liberator teleports them up at last moment.
So, our new crew, Dayna (weapons expert), Tarrant (pilot expert), Cally, Vila, and a new 'leader' Avon.During this season, Servalan destroys Callys people, the Auronar, including her sister, leaving only a small colony, and also, gets Tarrants brother killed.
Also, an often-mentioned show is where an alien takes over Cally, using her life force for itself, Avon finally defeats it by destroying its source of power, a ring it wore. This is the first, and only, instance we see of the connection between Avon and Cally.
At the end of this season, Avon believes he has tracked down Blake on an artificial planet called Terminal. Arriving there, Avon goes down to the planet, with Tarrant and Cally following close behind, to find him, he does find him, in a chamber. The episode is rather confusing, but basically it turns out to be a trick by Servalan to lure him there, she informs us Blake is dead, she saw him cremated. While all this is going on, the Liberator, to get to Terminal, went through a cloud of gas, this is now attacking the ship like a chemical, dissolving everything, in the final few moments of the season Avon has to give Servalan the ship, unaware of what's happening to it, to stop her from killing him, Cally and Tarrant. As all 5 watch from the surface, with ORAC, Servalan starts to break orbit in the Liberator, and with the stress of this, is brings to break up, Servalan hurries towards the Teleport bay, in a desperate attempt to escape, as the ship blows up.
The season ends with the 5 walking away from the screen, one by one, each looking at Avon with a disgusted look, Avon walks past the screen last, smirking...
Season D
With our heroes still stuck on Terminal, Dayna and Avon are inspecting a ship, left by Servalan, they presume it booby-trapped, and as they get near, it explodes, Avon surmises the explosion will probably set off one at the base the others are that, that's' how he'd do it. Returning, he was right, Vila has dragged Tarrant and ORAC out, going back in the get Cally, the door starts to close, he runs out, as the base explodes, Cally with it, as it goes we hear her telesend "BLAKE!!!!!!"
Just landing on Terminal, Scorpio, piloted, and manned only by a man called Dorian (note: never trust a man called Dorian), the ship looks rather sophisticated, from the inside at least.
As he lands, our crew is in a bit of trouble with a local person eating giant monster type thing. Dorian saves Dayna and Vila, and in doing so receives a gun pointing at him from Avon. They all board Scorpio and set off, Tarrant piloting.
Enroute Dorian takes an accidental hit to the head, and is unconscious. The crew realise the computers wont respond to anyone but Dorian and the controls are locked out, on a course for Dorians 'home' presumably, where they also realise a welcome will not be so warm after what they've done.
Arriving they find only one other at his base, a woman, Soolin, expert gun fighter.
The end result of all this is, Dorian was living forever off some sort of gestalt being who he tried to feed our crew and Soolin to, with him killed the episode ends.
We now have a problem, Soolin is not liking our heroes, and has locked them out of everything, Avons comment surmises the situation: "Unless we can get through that door, we're as much prisoners here as we were on Terminal".
By then end of the episode, we have Scorpio and Soolin with us.
The season continues with Servalan, now under the alias of Commander Sleer, after what happened with the war and the Liberator, she's under cover.
The only memorable event, to which a lot of FanFic makes remarks to is an incident in the episode Orbit, in which Avon and Vila are in a shuttle which will crash without some weight loss onboard, after shifting most of what they can, Avon decides he must get Vila out, this doesn't happen however, they both survive, but Vila knows what happened.
The only other mentionable thing is that the crew has become more and more stressed throughout this last season, with Avon almost on braking point of insanity, as we get to the last episode "Blake".ORAC has tracked him down. Defiantly. Arriving on the planet "Gauda Prime" where he is, Soolins home planet, the Scorpio had to crash land, everyone except Tarrant teleports out during decent.
Tarrant is picked up, on ground, by Blake, although he doesn't know it's Blake. The others find some shelter, a craft and follow Tarrant and Blake in to Blake's base...
The Final Scene, Season D, Episode 13, "Blake"
Blake has been pretending, (to test the others, he knew it was them) that he was a bounty hunter, and had betrayed them, what Blake didn't know was that one of his new recruits was a Federation spy.
Tarrant tells the others Blake betrayed them:
Tarrant: He sold us, Avon. All of us. Even you. (Avon approaches Blake)
Avon: Is it true?
Blake: Avon, it's me, Blake. (Moves forward slightly, towards Avon)
Avon: Stand still! (Blake does so) Have you betrayed us? Have you betrayed me?!
Blake: Tarrant doesn't understand!
Avon: Neither do I, Blake!
Blake: I set all this up!
Avon: Yes! (Passing braking point)
Blake: (moving forward, slowly, again) Avon, I was waiting for you. (As Avon passes braking point, feeling totally betrayed by the one person he thought he could trust, he brings his gun around and fires. Blake is hit, severely. Avon fires again. Blake continues his approach, Avon fires a third and last time. Blake stops, still standing. Avon aims the gun up at Blake's face. As his knees begin to buckle, Blake grabs Avon's arms.)
Blake: Avon!
Alarms start to whine loudly.
Arlen, our traitor Blake recruited, now exposes herself to be the Federation officer she is. Avon is still at Blake, primarily unaware of what is happening. Vila approaches Arlen, as she shoots down Dayna, makes his usual "I'm not with them" excuse, hits her down, and takes her gun. As the Federation officers pour in, one by one our crew is struck down, Vila, Soolin, as Tarrant shouts for Avon, still crouched, Tarrant is shot too, finally aware, Avon gets up. The alarms go off. The final shot comes in, we see a dead Blake covered in blood, then Avons face, he aims his gun, there are about 20 officers in now, and he starts to shoot as the ending credits fade in...
Well, that about does it.
It's a very quick run through of 52 fifty minute episodes, many details missing, but the main story is there.
It's not the happiest of stories, but it's one of the best, now, give a few FanFics a read, start with Pattern of Infinity...