I remember as a kid being a bit of a harsh critic of this crash sequence when it first aired. Me and my sister looked at each other and exchanged a disdainful smile. We weren't impressed. At the time I thought it was because the model trees didn't look quite right. Now I think the trees look fine. It's the fake ground that's a bit off. It looks too much like sand. Anyway, I was too hard on them. Now I appreciate what they managed to do with the budget they had. I think it's great.
Like many, when I first saw it I admired the courage of the production to try to tackle something so ambitious but was less than impressed by the model work. Having produced and directed now for a few decades since, I see how beautifully constructed the overall scene is dramatically. Today's Productions by and large on TV and in the biggest blockbusters should be as dramatically well constructed. Bravo! Well done!
I love the fact that it takes AGES to crash, because Tarrant is working •really• hard to keep it in the air as long as possible, to prevent it from just breaking up in mid-air; I saw it for the first time the other day, and my first thing was “Oh, the way this is shot clearly •must• have been an influence on the crash landing of the Enterprise-D (which of course occurs in Star Trek : Beyond)” - in particular, its only once The Ship which is now on the ground, finally STOPS sliding that •everything• breaks -
It’s also the bit where he says about SLAVE and the auto-pilot “No-one can fly a Dead Ship” - it’s exactly like the scene near the start of Revenge of The Sith, where Anakin gets himself strapped into the pilots seat and has to crash-land (Half of) a de-orbiting, on-fire Separatist Dreadnaught with no engines, no control surfaces, no escape pods and nowhere to escape to - *“I think we just lost something.”*
It’s also a little bit like the big set-piece rescue in Superman Returns, where he has to catch and safely put down on The Ground, the 747 falling down to Earth from suborbital height, which is falling apart, AS he doing it, first through stopping its spin (wings fall off), and only then by GRADUALLY slowing it down, so as to ensure that the sudden shift in inertia doesn’t just simply KILL everybody who’d inside of it.
@@ShamrockParticle I'd cut Generations a lot more slack if they had bothered to come up with some absurd reason why they weren't rotating shield frequencies as they had several times during the series for similar problems.
Star Trek Beyond is probably the best ship crash to date, but yeah even this is far better than Generations. Search for Spock was defined by Kirk's 'My god, what have I done?' moment. Beyond was silent, just the tragic choir over the Enterprise crash there. Generations had Data going 'Oooooooh shit!' for comedy. What a wet fart of a movie.
Later on in the episode, he finds that he CANNOT tell the others (especially Villa) that he quite literally did everything he possibly •could• to try to persuade Tarrant (who everybody knows he dislikes) to leave The Ship with him, but he •couldn’t•; even though that’s exactly what he DID do, he knows that Villa will never *not* believe that he didn’t just abandon ship without him, and effectively murdering him - He just completely ignores Villa’s question; TWICE. It’s The Beginning of The End of The End.
Avon on his way out bumps slightly into a chair that rather implausibly falls over backwards at the slight touch, obviously on a flight deck things like chairs would be well fixed in so it would take a great deal of force for them to come loose, but one of the problems of a shoestring budget.
Perhaps they're magnetically clamped to the floor normally, so they can be adjusted to each pilot's needs, but during all the malfunctions after the attack it turned off...
That's true. A pity also that so much of the flight deck of Scorpio looks as if it was put together at a local Ford dealership from unused XR model trim options. I agree about that chair. I also think that when Tarrant's whole desk console starts to move around the set like a dodgem that the effect is not great. However, as always in B7 you have to just let the drama take place mostly in the mind and to regard what is going on screen as more of a visual prompt than "reality".
I use to watch Blake 7 with my dad and it annoyed me that he would laugh at the show from time to time. I was 8 and thought it was amazingly gripping - he loves the cheap sets and terrible model work. I understand him now, but this was still a major part of my growing up.
Well really that was nothing more than a gentle skid along the ground! Had the bridge not been made of plywood, cardboard & office chairs, should have been perfectly survivable.
*_Well really that was nothing more than a gentle skid along the ground!_* "A gentle skid along the ground" at hundreds of miles per hour can do considerable hull damage, especially when you factor in that she drops out of the sky when forward speed gets too low. Between the trees and uneven surface, the underbelly of the ship is pretty much sliding along a planet-sized cheese grader. So no, not a "gentle skid" at all. Ships are built to survive flying in a vacuum, not crashing into planets.
I remember as a kid being a bit of a harsh critic of this crash sequence when it first aired. Me and my sister looked at each other and exchanged a disdainful smile. We weren't impressed. At the time I thought it was because the model trees didn't look quite right. Now I think the trees look fine. It's the fake ground that's a bit off. It looks too much like sand. Anyway, I was too hard on them. Now I appreciate what they managed to do with the budget they had. I think it's great.
Absolutely agree on all points, given the restrictions they were working under it's a class effort.
It's an alien planet anyway. Maybe soil looks like sand there.
It's classic BBC science fiction... The plot goes where the budget can not follow.
@@FatNorthernBigot but BBC produces the best Nature documentaries. They cost alot. Here they produced a thunderbird scene.
This was my favourite TV program as a kid - I thought it was AMAZING. My sister used to point out how sh!t it was. Looking back - she had a point LOL
It was sad to lose Scorpio so soon after losing the Liberator.
Like many, when I first saw it I admired the courage of the production to try to tackle something so ambitious but was less than impressed by the model work. Having produced and directed now for a few decades since, I see how beautifully constructed the overall scene is dramatically. Today's Productions by and large on TV and in the biggest blockbusters should be as dramatically well constructed. Bravo! Well done!
Agreed - Note the lack of any dramatic music - it doesn't need it.
I love the fact that it takes AGES to crash, because Tarrant is working •really• hard to keep it in the air as long as possible, to prevent it from just breaking up in mid-air;
I saw it for the first time the other day, and my first thing was “Oh, the way this is shot clearly •must• have been an influence on the crash landing of the Enterprise-D (which of course occurs in Star Trek : Beyond)” - in particular, its only once The Ship which is now on the ground, finally STOPS sliding that •everything• breaks -
It’s also the bit where he says about SLAVE and the auto-pilot “No-one can fly a Dead Ship” - it’s exactly like the scene near the start of Revenge of The Sith, where Anakin gets himself strapped into the pilots seat and has to crash-land (Half of) a de-orbiting, on-fire Separatist Dreadnaught with no engines, no control surfaces, no escape pods and nowhere to escape to -
*“I think we just lost something.”*
It’s also a little bit like the big set-piece rescue in Superman Returns, where he has to catch and safely put down on The Ground, the 747 falling down to Earth from suborbital height, which is falling apart, AS he doing it, first through stopping its spin (wings fall off), and only then by GRADUALLY slowing it down, so as to ensure that the sudden shift in inertia doesn’t just simply KILL everybody who’d inside of it.
This was better than when the Enterprise crashed in Generations. Absolutely thrilling at the time
Considering how limited the budgets were, they did some amazing work!
B7's crew felt more like characters that we really got to know and care for, though what Gene Roddenberry was allegedly trying to do was good too.
@@ShamrockParticle I'd cut Generations a lot more slack if they had bothered to come up with some absurd reason why they weren't rotating shield frequencies as they had several times during the series for similar problems.
Star Trek Beyond is probably the best ship crash to date, but yeah even this is far better than Generations.
Search for Spock was defined by Kirk's 'My god, what have I done?' moment. Beyond was silent, just the tragic choir over the Enterprise crash there.
Generations had Data going 'Oooooooh shit!' for comedy. What a wet fart of a movie.
I think it possibly inspired the crash scene in Generations.
Given the apparent abundance of hot-rod starships in B7's universe Avon must have assumed he would soon find another he could steal
Avon had tracked down Blake to Gauda Prime, so presumably he hoped either Blake would have one, or that he and Blake together could...."acquire" one.
Avon got quite the blow-dryer treatment with Scorpio's crash landing
But his hair would spring back into place before his next shot. Space hairspray, it stops a bad day turning into a bad hair day.
Reminds me of my driving test.....awww happy days. My examiner was never the same afterwards.
If only there was a Season 5!😅
Later on in the episode, he finds that he CANNOT tell the others (especially Villa) that he quite literally did everything he possibly •could• to try to persuade Tarrant (who everybody knows he dislikes) to leave The Ship with him, but he •couldn’t•; even though that’s exactly what he DID do, he knows that Villa will never *not* believe that he didn’t just abandon ship without him, and effectively murdering him - He just completely ignores Villa’s question; TWICE.
It’s The Beginning of
The End of The End.
Orac - madder than a box of bees!😁
Season 4 was so different with nearly new cast Most of originals gone will have to revisit this season one day
Should’ve ended the series entirely with a television movie
@@Howyaduing yes with the end of zen but liked season 3 though
Avon on his way out bumps slightly into a chair that rather implausibly falls over backwards at the slight touch, obviously on a flight deck things like chairs would be well fixed in so it would take a great deal of force for them to come loose, but one of the problems of a shoestring budget.
Perhaps they're magnetically clamped to the floor normally, so they can be adjusted to each pilot's needs, but during all the malfunctions after the attack it turned off...
That's true. A pity also that so much of the flight deck of Scorpio looks as if it was put together at a local Ford dealership from unused XR model trim options. I agree about that chair. I also think that when Tarrant's whole desk console starts to move around the set like a dodgem that the effect is not great. However, as always in B7 you have to just let the drama take place mostly in the mind and to regard what is going on screen as more of a visual prompt than "reality".
@@simonjones7727 The moving console reminded me of Judge Nutmeg off Vic Reeves Big Night Out.
@@chrisparkes2179 LOL!
same hydraulic tipping decks in the Liberator
fun at parties , design flaw for crashes
I use to watch Blake 7 with my dad and it annoyed me that he would laugh at the show from time to time. I was 8 and thought it was amazingly gripping - he loves the cheap sets and terrible model work. I understand him now, but this was still a major part of my growing up.
I always hated how Avon is a Supreme Being (in MY opinion!!) but no matter how clever he was, he never got a break!
Avon really should have checked to see if Tarrant survived the crash.
Tha doesn't sound like something Avon would do at all!
@@lesigh1749 Certainly not something one would expect from Series 4 Avon.
The original "Bye Felicia"
"Goodbye Tarrant!"
Orac's straps
Thunderbirds?
Avon : Damn I thought I was rid of him!
Why did the Scorpio break in half they could have reused it for a possible series five
3:18 - 3:22 - Didn’t that happen in Terminal?
Good catch.
Well really that was nothing more than a gentle skid along the ground! Had the bridge not been made of plywood, cardboard & office chairs, should have been perfectly survivable.
*_Well really that was nothing more than a gentle skid along the ground!_*
"A gentle skid along the ground" at hundreds of miles per hour can do considerable hull damage, especially when you factor in that she drops out of the sky when forward speed gets too low. Between the trees and uneven surface, the underbelly of the ship is pretty much sliding along a planet-sized cheese grader. So no, not a "gentle skid" at all.
Ships are built to survive flying in a vacuum, not crashing into planets.
HAHAHAH. ANd the console made of agricultural building roofing sheets
Was this a Spaceship or an early Dyson crash landing on a carpet of leylandi off cuts......
1st