Customer Reviews

Blake's 7, Vol. 16 - Harvest at Kairos / City at the Edge of the World [VHS]

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

"The Harvest of Kairos" with Blake gone from the show finally, the crew realistically tries to get rich by stealing a rare harvest from a planet so dangerous no one has ever survive after a harvest. The ending is not as good as others, but still it is fun to watch the cold blooded Avon and the cool Servalan go at it head to head.

"City at the Edge of the World" is worth the price of the video alone. The crew's loveable thief Vila is threatened by his own crewmate Tarrant to beam down onto the planet Keezarn, where he is used by a crazed villain (wonderfully played by Collin Baker---who later becomes the sixth Doctor Who) to open a deadly vault in a long lost city.

Harvest on Karios has nice rounded plot and some passable acting, effects are used within the capabilities of the BBC's special efects department and whilst not award winning do not detract from the credibility of the story.

Plot : a valuable harvest is gathered from the planet of Karios for a few weeeks each year, then the planet is evacuated as anybody remaining after the harvest season is over, disappears. The crew of the Liberator find themselves marooned on the planet as harvest season comes to an end...

City, starring Colin Baker (later Dr Who) as the villain is marred by overacting and a less credible plot.

The video is worth purchsing for Karios alone.

Volume 16 of the "Blake's 7" video collection contains two more episodes of this excellent British science fiction television series. These episodes continue the saga of the space ship Liberator, whose crew battles the oppressive Federation.

In "The Harvest of Kairos," Tarrant plans to steal the subject of the episode's title: a crystal that grows on the planet Kairos. But his plan leads the crew of the Liberator into conflict with Servalan. This episode features one of the series' all-time best guest performances: Andrew Burt as Jarvik, a former Federation officer who distrusts computers and believes in old-fashioned concepts like honor and courage. This episode features everything you could want in a B7 episode: a thrilling space battle, alien monsters, intrigue, romance, and moral ambiguity.

The second episode on the tape, "City at the Edge of the World," is a marvelous adventure that focuses on Vila, the Liberator's cowardly resident thief. Vila gets involved with the notorious bandit Bayban the Butcher (played with a touch of campy humor by Colin Baker), finds romance with a lovely bandit girl (Carol Hawkins), and even gets to expound his theory of safecracking. This episode features lots of action and humor, and great dialogue. Great line: "He's lost a lot of weight, hasn't he?" (Vila, upon seeing a skeleton). This episode shows why Vila is one of sci-fi's all-time classic characters. Together, "Kairos" and "City" represent two of the most entertaining hours in the entire run of this classic series.

City at the Edge of the World is one of the best Vila episodes written,as well as developing the characters of Tarrent, Avon, and Cally. This is a critical episode if you are a Vila fan. It offers a good glipse of Vila's skill, intelligence, and a rare display of bravery. It also shows Avon, and Cally in a good light. Tarrent forces Vila to go down against his will as part of a trade with the natives; which quickly backfires. The others do their best to come to Vila's aid. This is the only episode in which Vila saves the day and gets the girl. The final scenes are exciting, touching, and humorous.

Harvest on Kairos is a decent episode. If you are a Servelain fan this is an episode you will want to see. Avon comes though in the end, but this isn't one of his best episodes. It is an interesting show however, but I didn't care too much for it because Cally and Vila were largely ignored. The only enjoyment I got was out of the further development of Servelain's character. If you like Tarrent this is an episode you will want to see, but if you like Avon better this episode will make you sick!

I give City a 10 and Harvest a 5(lower if not for Servelain)

The next vol. of Blake's 7 with the epsidoes entitled THE HARVEST OF KAIROS and CITY AT THE EDGE OF THE WORLD

In the epsidoe entitled THE HARVEST OF KAIROS

Servalan has a cunning plan to take the Liberator but her advisors seem to think her plans as of late have not been working. She finds out that a construction worker has been speaking out on Servalan tatcis. She orders that this man be brought to her. What she doesn't know is that this man was once a general in the Federation army. Servalan is taken by the man and he begins in ernest to capture the Liberator from Avon and the others. Servalan in overjoyed that this man in finally able to do what hundreds of other could not take the Liberator and give Servalan the Federation on a silver platter. Will Avon and the others be ready for whatever cunning plans are in store? Or will they end up as another war story fro this general turned construction worker turned lover of Servalan?

In the next epsidoe entitled CITY AT THE EDGE OF THE WORLD
Avon has agreed to Bayban the Butcher(the second most dangerous man after Blake of course) the use of Villa and his safe craking abilites. What Villa doesn't know is what Bayban wantd with this door opened? Bayban doesn't know but wants whatever is on the other side. The people of the planet say it is the doorway to another world. Bayban thinks it is a door to wealth beyond wealth. Villa can only do as he says of die trying for Bayban has only given him an hour. Now Villa is racing against time to save his life and possable give Bayban the means to destroying the world. On a personal note this is my favorite episode. Not only does it have Villa being the hero for once it also has to Doctor Who fans Colin Baker as a rather dangerous villian which is nice to watch. But also the actor who played the Black guardian during the time of Peter Davidson run as the Doctor. So all in all the best episode around.

i would give ^ANYTHING^ TO OWN THE BLAKE's 7---> LAST 10 HOURS FOLLOWING BLAKE BEING GONE...w/ AVON & CREW ON THEIR OWN ADVENTURES...WHICH WAS THE VERY BEST SPACE-SCI~FI EVER DONE,FOR THIS CENTURY,,{I.E.=RE:MINDS ME OF 4200yrs.ago}} & EYE SHOULD KNOWWW !!!! MY NAME IS ENOCH~PI........make it sow....A.S00N A.P.& SHALOM

Having now watched episodes 1-32 again, these episodes definitely constitute the worst of all the first 16 Blake's 7 videos. The plot of "The Harvest of Kairos" is somewhat intriguing, but the story heads the crew in a direction that I believe ultimately sunk the show. The crew's mission, which had been so clearly defined with Blake at the head, now seems to be that they wander about the universe wondering what they can plunder next. Wow, now those are characters I want to root for or care about. "City" is abysmal. The villain is ridiculous, Vila's love story subplot is awful and the writing overall is incredibly disappointing.