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 New Book - B7 An Oral History
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| Joe Dredd |
Posted on 02-04-2024 14:37
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 Moderator  Posts: 1208 Joined: 15.01.22 |
Blake’s 7: An Oral History of the Classic UK Sci-Fi Series by Joe Nazzaro BearManor Media 424 pages, 6x9 size Hardback - ISBN 979-8887714363 paperback - ISBN 9798887714356  From 1978 to 1981, the cult sci-fi action-adventure series Blake’s 7 ran on British television, often attracting as many as ten million viewers, who were hooked on the adventures of freedom fighter Roj Blake and his band of intrepid rebels as they battled the evil Federation. When the series ended after four seasons, it was with a stunning cliffhanger, that saw Blake and his cohorts seemingly killed off, assuring B7 a place in TV posterity. Blake’s 7: An Oral History chronicles the show’s development through the eyes of dozens of cast and crew members, including series creator Terry Nation, as well as actors, producers, directors, makeup, costume and special FX technicians. Joe Nazzaro is an American journalist, who has covered Blake’s 7 for nearly four decades. He has written countless magazine articles, as well as books about Star Trek, Red Dwarf, Babylon 5, Neverwhere and Farscape. |
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| Deva |
Posted on 03-04-2024 13:04
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 Delta Grade  Posts: 88 Joined: 17.01.22 |
Many thanks for posting this.
"Time really is getting short, you know..."
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| EagleTen |
Posted on 09-04-2024 05:09
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 Delta Grade Posts: 26 Joined: 09.02.22 |
I wonder if anyone has purchased this and can give a quick opinion/review? There seems to be very little information on it, apart from the book description above. Thanks… |
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| Joe Dredd |
Posted on 19-04-2024 05:57
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Moderator Posts: 1208 Joined: 15.01.22 |
"I made a mental note to bash Gareth" From Bizarro 7 to Nazarro's 7: A very quick first look at "B7: An Oral History" For want of a common yardstick ye olde archive TV fans may have to hand, the hardback version of "B7: An Oral History" is about the same dimensions as "The Guinness Book of Classic British TV". It is thinner but slightly wider, though my copy has a sizeable amount of inner spine visible above the page block. There is no gap at the bottom however, so this looks more like bad positioning at the binding (glueing!) stage.  The cover looks a little off-centre on mine, as does the rear spine. I think perhaps the designer made the safety area around the spine a little too large, with the result the elements look pushed out to the edges? (Judge Anderson is not very happy about it.)  The title is reminiscent of the Muir book, "A History & Critical Analysis of B7"; descriptive, but a little dull. It would have been much more fun to have something bold as the title, reserving the 'Oral History' part as a subtitle. E.g. "TIME DISTORT! The Oral History of Blake's 7". I had hoped Paul Darrow's "Gan goes bananas!" comment about "Breakdown" would be in the book. It's not, but it's very interesting to see Terry Nation saying almost exactly the same thing ("...he goes bananas"), and I wonder if PD picked it up from Terry Nation. The formatting could be better, but, although it works against the reader, the result is still readable.  What doesn't seem to be mentioned anywhere is that there is a huge number of photos in the back section of the book, from page 282 to page 423. That's 141 pages! Some are full length, other pages have multiple photos. They are printed in greyscale. Most of the photos are ones we've seen before. June Hudson costume sketches, Ian Scoones' lists and design drawings, shots from B7 Monthly, or that turned up in TV Zone, or Starlog, or indeed, the author's own "Inside Story" book.  But there are a few - so far at least ten - that I haven't seen before. I hope Jonathan Helm has a good look and if there are photos there he hasn't seen, I hope he can get copies to put in his books. It would be lovely to see them properly.  The best thing about the book is the content. It is lovely to 'hear' from so many different members of the B7 cast and crew, all commenting 'together' especially from so many who are no longer with us. And how good is it to get another B7 book at this stage of the game - not to mention three more Production Diaries and a pseudo Monthly to come? I hope this is helpful to anyone considering buying the book, and that I haven't broken any laws by not buying you each a copy!  |
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