Editing Blake's 7 (section)

== Critical reception ==
''Blake's 7'' received both positive and negative reviews. The review by Stanley Reynolds in ''[[The Times]]'' of the fourth episode, "Time Squad", stated: "&nbsp;... nice to hear the youngsters holding their breath in anticipation of a little terror". Reynolds elaborated, "Television science fiction has got too self-consciously jokey lately. It is also nice to have each episode complete within itself, while still carrying on the saga of Blake's struggle against the 1984-ish Federation. But is that dark-haired telepathic alien girl, the latest addition to Blake's outer-space merry men, going to spell love trouble for blonde Jenna? Maid Marian never had that trouble in Sherwood Forest."<ref name="times-review">{{cite news|title=Blake's Seven – BBC1|newspaper=The Times|first=Stanley|last=Reynolds|date=24 January 1978|page=7}}</ref>

In January 1998 Robert Hanks of ''[[The Independent]]'' compared the series' ethos to that of ''[[Star Trek]]''. He wrote: "If you wanted to sum up the relative position of Britain and America in this century&nbsp;— the ebbing away of the pink areas of the map, the fading of national self-confidence as Uncle Sam proceeded to colonise the globe with fizzy drinks and Hollywood&nbsp;— you could do it like this: they had ''Star Trek'', we had ''Blake's 7''&nbsp;... No 'boldly going' here: instead, we got the boot stamping on a human face which George Orwell offered as a vision of humanity's future in ''Nineteen Eighty-Four''". Hanks concluded that "''Blake's 7'' has acquired a credibility and popularity Terry Nation can never have expected&nbsp;... I think it's to do with the sheer crappiness of the series and the crappiness it attributes to the universe: it is science-fiction for the disillusioned and ironic&nbsp;— and that is what makes it so very British".<ref name="independent20th">{{Cite news |title=A Very British Space Crew |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/a-very-british-space-crew-1138688.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150904072655/http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/a-very-british-space-crew-1138688.html |archive-date=4 September 2015 |work=[[The Independent]] |location=London |first=Robert |last=Hanks |date=15 January 1998 |access-date=17 January 2007 |page=3 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

Gavin Collinson of the [[British Film Institute]]'s website [[Screenonline]] wrote "The premise of ''Blake's 7'' held nothing remotely original. The outlaw group resisting a powerful and corrupt regime is an idea familiar from Robin Hood and beyond." He added "''Blake's 7''{{'}}s triumph lay in its vivid characters, its tight, pacey plots and its satisfying realism...For arguably the first time since the 1950s [[Quatermass]] serials, the BBC had created a popular sci-fi/fantasy show along adult lines". His review concludes "Ultimately, the one force the rebels could not overcome proved to be the BBC's long-standing apathy towards science fiction. However, the bloody finale, in which Avon murders Blake, exemplified the programme's strengths&nbsp;— fearless narratives, credible but surprising character development and an enormous sense of fun."<ref name="screenonline">{{Cite web|url=http://www.screenonline.org.uk/tv/id/537301/ |title=BFI Screenonline: Blake's 7 (1978–81) |author = Gavin Collinson| publisher=British Film Institute |access-date=25 April 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629042906/http://www.screenonline.org.uk/tv/id/537301/ |archive-date=29 June 2011}}</ref> In 2015, Tim Stanley of ''[[The Daily Telegraph]]'' described the series as "oft-derided" and "gloriously low budget" but "a genuine classic". He added: "this was superior drama performed by consummate professionals who made it believable by being 100 per cent committed to the material. ''Blake's 7''{{'}}s sets and dresses were bright and gaudy but it was dark, dark melodrama." Stanley concluded: "''Blake's 7'' can be read as a document of the [[James Callaghan|Callaghan]]/[[Jimmy Carter|Carter]] years with their piles of rubbish in the streets. Then along came [[Margaret Thatcher|Thatcher]]/[[Reagan]] and sci-fi turned hopeful again. Cue ''Star Wars'' and its childish universe of
[[Wookiee]]s and [[Ewok]]s. Moral clarity returned. The budgets ballooned. But, for my money, it was nowhere near as interesting."<ref>{{cite news | url= https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/11653529/Blakes-7-the-low-budget-late-70s-British-sci-fi-is-now-a-genuine-classic.html | title= Blake's 7: the low-budget late 70s British sci-fi is now a genuine classic | work=[[The Daily Telegraph]] | first=Tim | last=Stanley | date=5 June 2015 | access-date=31 August 2020}}</ref>

The Australian broadcaster and critic [[Clive James]] gave a negative appraisal, calling it "&nbsp;... classically awful British television SF&nbsp;... no apostrophe in the title, no sense in the plot". He continued "The depraved space queen Servalan&nbsp;... could never quite bring herself to volatilize the dimly heroic Blake even when she had him square in the sights of her plasmatic spasm guns. The secret of Blake's appeal, or Blakes appeal, for the otherwise infallibly fatale Servalan remained a mystery, like the actual wattage of light bulb on which the design of Blake's spaceship, or Blakes spaceship, was plainly based".<ref>{{Cite web |author = James, Clive |url = http://tls.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,25338-1930109,00.html |title = Clive James's literary education in sludge fiction |work = The Times |publisher = Times Newspapers L:td. |date = 14 December 2005 |access-date = 1 September 2008 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080210151653/http://tls.timesonline.co.uk/article/0%2C%2C25338-1930109%2C00.html |archive-date = 10 February 2008 |url-status = dead |df = dmy-all}}</ref> Screenwriter [[Nigel Kneale]], whose work included ''[[The Quatermass Experiment]]'' and other science fiction, was also critical. He described "the very few bits I've seen" as "paralytically awful", saying that "the dialogue/characterisation seemed to consist of a kind of childish squabbling".<ref name="door">{{Cite web|url=http://www.geocities.com/TelevisionCity/8504/kneal.htm|title=Nigel Kneale—Behind the Dark Door|publisher=The Quatermass Home Page|first=Andrew|last=Pixley|author2=Nigel Kneale |year=1986|access-date=2 June 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050817034159/http://www.geocities.com/TelevisionCity/8504/kneal.htm|archive-date=17 August 2005}}</ref>