* Liberator * Terry Nation Blake's 7  *Andromeda
Intro Characters
Blake
Avon
Vila
Cally
Jenna
Gan
Tarrant
Dayna
Servalan
Soolin
Travis
Orac
Liberator
Scorpio
Episodes
First
2nd
3rd
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"Andromeda" vs "Blake's 7"

Many of the characters have obviously derivative DNA attributes of the original:

"Blake's 7"
Character/Attributes

 

"Andromeda"
Character/Attributes
Roj Blake
Singlemindly on a mission to save humanity

 

Capt. Dylan Hunt
Singlemindly on a mission to save Civilization

Kerr Avon
Brilliant, Cold - Constantly agrues for practicality over morality and idealism. Avon doesn't like taking risks with his life but when he has to, there is no indication that he is a coward.

 

Tyr
Cold - Constantly agrues for practicality over morality and idealism. He is certainly no coward.

Vila
Talented thief, though a coward

 

Harper
Talented with machinery through pretty much a coward.

Orac/Zen/Liberator
Orac is a machine which is so smart it seems like magic. Zen & Liberator are far in advance of any other ship in the Federation

 

Rommie (Ship & AI)
The ship is far in advance of any other ship in the known worlds.

Cally
Telepath

 

Trance
Mysterious with knowledge of the future

Jenna
Pilot, Smuggler.

 

Beke
Pilot, Smuggler.

Gan
Implanted with a chip that won't allow him to kill

 

Rev Bem
Follower of the Way which keeps him from killing.

The Federation

 

The Nietzcheans

"Andromeda"
Is It the Americanization of "Blake's 7"?

By W. Everett Chesnut

The British SF series "Blake's 7" and the American SF series "Andromeda" are astonishingly similar, regardless of whether the similarities come from imitation or common use of the same archetypes. What fascinates me is the ways in which they are different.

I find the differences between the two shows in many ways epitomize the differences between the two nations of origin in their depiction of a romantic genre such as SF.

Roj Blake maps over to Dylan Hunt as the driving ethical force. Avon's ruthless intellect maps over to Tyr's ruthless muscularity (how very American!). Vila's cowardice and greed maps over to Harper's lucklessness and greed. Etc.

The British awareness of the double-edge of idealism is present in Blake, but Hunt's idealism has far more of the American romanticism. In *Andromeda*, Hunt has a luckiness which always justifies him even if by deus ex machine, unlike Blake, who has been proven to be wrong or blinded by his idealism on several occasions with no sudden revelations to vindicate him.

The British Avon expresses his hard-ass pragmatism by being severely intellectual and caustically witty. The American Tyr expresses his hard-ass pragmatism by being animalistic and muscular and by uttering cynical (not witty) proverbs. How very British, how very American.

The British image of the loveable thief is the bumbling ugly-cute Vila, but the American image of the same is the hustler-not-thief Harper, who is puppydog adorable in a way very different from Vila's hangdog charm.

In the British *Blake's 7*, the ship's A.I. is humanized most of all by its human sense of wit and irony. In contrast, in the American *Andromeda*, the ship's A.I. is humanized by having a sexually attractive body.

Such similarities are often less noticeable to American eyes because of the culturally different iterations: the "Andromeda" is so very American whereas "Blake's 7" is so clearly British.



 

Andromeda DVDs

First Season
1st Season


2nd Season


3rd Season


Quotations & other material copyrighted to Terry Nation, BBC, et al.
Email bewarne@blakes7-guide.com to report mistakes, make comments, ask questions.
A continuity guide to "The West Wing" is also available,
And a guide to the 70's series "Kung Fu".

MIS