The unifying storyline of the first series is the establishment and legitimization of Blake's rebellion --- forming the team, gathering the technology, then learning how to hit the Federation as hard as possible. All the while the Seven also learn about each other.

The conflict between two strong men and their opposite though not necessarily irreconcilable views arises as an underlying theme throughout the series. Blake and Avon clash again and again. Although Blake establishes his leadership from the beginning, he is aware that Avon never stops fighting it.

Actually, the clashes between these two emphasize the effects each of the Seven is having on the others. While Blake has to defend his ideology against more practical considerations, Avon is forced to listen to and deal with a moral viewpoint. The others are experiencing similar challenges.

The compromises each is forced to make show how the individuals as well as the team are being strengthened.

Also stressed throughout the later stories of this series is that these people are beginning to care about and to rely upon each other. Their words don't always admit affection but their actions often belie their words. Jenna, Avon, and Vila have rarely relied on others in the past and they struggle against doing so now. Avon will talk about wanting to leave, but when he gets the chance, danger to the rest of the crew pulls him back ("Breakdown"). He may curse Blake and the cause but will instinctively rush forward to save Blake's life even at the risk of his own ("The Web"). When Jenna gets an offer to join an old friend, she doesn't seem to even consider it ("Bounty").

These people have nothing in common, no ties of background or ideology, but the first series stories show the growing bonding which comes from within each member. That these people of diverse tendencies, thrown together by accident and tried by seemingly endless tribulations, do learn to care about each other becomes, perhaps, the major theme which carries up to the fourth series.

The first thirteen stories also stress the vulnerability of the team. They are not only vulnerable to the Federation's overwhelming numbers but also to meteor storms, aliens, gravitational vortexes, bounty hunters, radiation, and humanoid scavengers. When at the end of this series they watch a prediction of their apparent destruction, it is believable. (If the BBC hadn't decided to renew the show for a second series, it would really have ended on that note.)

The cliffhanger, with which the first series ends, starts a tradition. Each series will leave the characters of "Blake's 7" facing peril.

The episodes were shown on Monday nights - the first one at 6 p.m., the others at 7:15.

Credits of the First Series #1 "The Way Back" | #2 Spacefall" | #3 "Cygnus Alpha" #4 "Time Squad" | #5 "The Web" | #6 "Seek---Locate---Destroy" #7 "Mission to Destiny" | #8 "Duel" | #9 "Project Avalon" #10 "Breakdown" | #11 "Bounty" | #12 "Deliverance" | #13 "Orac"

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Quotations & other material copyrighted to Terry Nation, BBC, et al.
Email bewarne@blakes7-guide.com to report mistakes, make comments, ask questions.
A continuity guide to "The West Wing" is also available,
And a guide to the 70's series "Kung Fu".