Sand

I just watched the Blakes 7 episode Sand. I don't know if it's just because I'm finally ready to appreciate it's themes, or that I wasn't watching it carefully enough before, but it's made a huge impact on me tonight. Perhaps I'm just in a wistful mood, but it seemed better than it's ever done before. As an exploration of Servalan and what makes her the woman she is, there's none better. She's so much more than "the greedy gangster" she'd be referred to in a couple of episodes time (although, that's a neat and rather telling moment in the relationship between Avon, Tarrant and the woman herself). Maybe I just find the idea of a spurned love affair turning her into someone desperate for power as a substitute for that lost love, something rather wonderful.
The fourth series of Blakes 7 gets rather bad press, but I'd prefer to watch most it's episodes over the more tedious ones in season 1 (heresy I know), because if nothing else, it's always fun. I rarely agree with Gareth Roberts (except over the true genius of the Graham Williams years of Doctor Who), but he's right when he says in this month's DWM that the show needed another season to deal with a few loose ends and make the newer format really work. There was still some potential there.

So Sand, watch it again with fresh eyes and see what you make of it. Look beyond the cheap sets and effects that plague the final series more than all the others and see if you can see the gem!