A ranking of every director who worked on the Blake's 7 television series.
#17. David Sullivan Proudfoot (Traitor, Stardrive, parts of Assassin)
All three of these episodes look like shit if I'm honest. Traitor has a truly dreadful in-studio battle sequence to cap things off. Assassin is home to the knockoff Egyptian auction with that one guy who's actually paid to talk. Stardrive has the Space Rats, arguably the most ludicrously portrayed villains in the show's history (they're significantly darker in the original scripts).
#16. Pennant Roberts (Space Fall, Time Squad, Mission to Destiny, Bounty)
Visually a very drab run of episodes. Executed competently enough, but with no flair except perhaps for the red tint used on the surface of Saurian Major (but that was scripted anyway). I suppose I could praise them for realism, but it'd be realism in the boring everyday sense.
#15. George Spenton-Foster (Weapon, Pressure Point, Voice from the Past, Gambit)
I don't know wtf he was doing. The creative choices in Weapon are pretty much all inexplicable, starting with the opera music introducing the Clonemasters and ending with the zoom-in on the stars behind Servalan (revealing them to be studio lamps). He let Brian Croucher get away with his Shivan accent! The only reason he isn't at the bottom is because his eccentricity and flamboyance made him the perfect fit for Gambit, an episode I adore and where his overt theatricality actually makes sense.
#14. Viktors Ritelis (Warlord)
His direction could be very melodramatic and cheesy at times, but also very dynamic and impressive at others. The Zondor pacification sequence is a series highlight, and Ritelis does a great job in making Xenon Base's sabotage as claustrophobic and scary as possible. A very marmite director for me. Lots to like and dislike.
#13. Derek Martinus (Trial, The Keeper)
Both very slow episodes, but I'd chalk that up to the scripting. Martinus had a knack for finding locations that actually feel quite alien and mysterious. I love the way he executes the Zil character, which could've been very very silly in the hands of someone else. And there's nothing he does that outright bothers me, so here he goes.
#12. Andrew Morgan (Children of Auron)
It's hard to judge him based on only one episode, but I always thought Children looks quite nice for what the script asks. The hospital sequences and the infected makeup are suitably eerie, Servalan's spaceship looks quite dynamic (although tbf I've always liked the way it looks), and there's some great location filming. The gong sound effect for Ginka (the show's first and only Asian character) is a bit iffy, though.
#11. Jonathan Wright Miller (Shadow, Horizon)
Miller had a great knack for visual effects. Shadow has some of the most surrealistic imagery of the entire series, and Horizon uses a slightly disturbing distortion filter for when the crew pass by the planet's magnetic field. I also hugely admire the set and costume design for Horizon. Another thing that stands out in both episodes is the clever way Miller conveys the heat. Obviously, England isn't in the warmest climate, so the loose white outfits and grime go a long way in making you feel like it's a hundred degrees.
#10. Michael E. Briant (The Way Back, The Web, Project Avalon, parts of Deliverance)
I mentioned boring realism when I spoke about Pennant Roberts. What Michael E. Briant brings to the table is the opposite of that: gritty realism. All of these episodes have an almost indie vibe to them, as if they could turn into a horror film at any second. When I think of Briant, I see decrepit tunnels, barren landscapes and Saymon's cobbled-together base. It feels no-budget, but enhanced rather than hampered by these restrictions. The drama shines through remarkably well in these cold, austere settings.
#9. Gerald Blake (The Harvest of Kairos, Death-Watch)
It's hard to really nail anything consistent about Blake's directorial style, as I feel the two episodes are so vastly different on every level. Kairos is B-movie camp, with laziness behind the scenes and in front. No one is taking it seriously. Death-Watch is a tight thriller that looks downright cinematic at times. I guess it's proof of how adaptable the director can be, as well as the fact that he can make both scripts colourful and entertaining in their own ways.
#8. Desmond McCarthy (Volcano, Dawn of the Gods)
Primarily up there because I feel Dawn of the Gods is one of the most gorgeous-looking episodes of the entire series. There's lots of great camerawork, I adore the black void that awaits the Liberator crew on Krandor and what little we see of the planet is hidden in shades and occasional splashes of colour. It's a sumptous visual experience. Volcano looks quite lovely too (especially the indoor sets bathed in orange), but doesn't compare.
#7. Vivenne Cozens (Games, Sand)
For an episode shot entirely indoors (from what I could tell), Sand has no right to look as good as it does. It really gives off an alien Doctor Who-esque vibe. Games, meanwhile, is one of the best paced episodes in the series. The quarry location filming is also handled rather nicely, with the director having the characters sneak about in various crevices and making the area seem perhaps more interesting than it really was.
#6. David Maloney (parts of Deliverance, Star One, Powerplay)
Maloney is a legendary director amongst Doctor Who fans. Sadly he doesn't get to show much of his abilities in Blake's 7 (as he was busy working as a producer), but the two episodes he did work on are expertly handled, especially Star One.
#5. Vere Lorrimer (Cygnus Alpha, Seek-Locate-Destroy, Breakdown, Orac, Redemption, Killer, Hostage, Countdown, Aftermath, City at the Edge of the World, Ultraworld, Moloch, parts of Assassin)
Given Lorrimer's vastly larger resume and later role as series producer (on my favourite season, no less), it's hard for me to compare him to the 'guest directors'. Other than Terry Nation, Chris Boucher and David Maloney (and maybe Paul Darrow), he was the largest influence on the show's general direction, most notably when he advised Boucher against ending the series on a happy note. His episodes vary in quality, but I think most of them have some visual splendour to them and none are unwatchable (Hostage probably comes closest, but even that one has some minor entertainment value).
#4. Brian Lighthill (Gold, Orbit, The Sevenfold Crown, The Syndeton Experiment)
As the only director to go on to work on Blake's 7 audios, he must have been considered a reliable hand. And watching Gold and Orbit only strengthens that opinion. Both are extremely dynamic episodes that fly by. Gold is a classic bank heist plot told in 45 minutes, and Orbit somehow manages to turn from one of the show's funniest comedies to an extremely tense horror in the last few minutes. Two absolute hits.
#3. Fiona Cumming (Rumours of Death, Sarcophagus)
In fairness, she got two slam-dunk scripts, but that doesn't change the fact that they're exceptionally directed. Rumours is more restrained, allowing the character drama to speak for itself, with only a few great touches like Avon's flashbacks being shown directly from his POV (and with a distorted effect) and the camera tricks used to make Shrinker extremely intimidating in the opening scene. Sarcophagus is pure experimental madness, and I could dissect her work there for days. I'll only mention the one moment that stands out the most to me, and that is the interlude with Dayna's song. Brave and ingenious.
#2. Douglas Camfield (Duel)
Camfield had a unique talent for taking BBC budget dramas and making them look like they belong on the big screen. The script of Duel is usual sci-fi fare, but Camfield's expert lighting, staging, weather effects and editing give it an ominous mood and grit far beyond what it deserves. And as much as I love Dudley Simpson, it's nice to hear some different incidental music tracks.
#1. Mary Ridge (Terminal, Rescue, Power, Animals, Headhunter, Blake)
Mary is the Queen of Blake's 7 filmmaking. Her stinker episodes are competent, and her masterpieces have a strong western vibe that no other episode in the series could match.
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