I know this is tangential to DW but there’s often a good deal of overlap in fandom (and classic production teams/scriptwriters). Anyway, I’ve not seen this mentioned elsewhere but I’m so delighted to see that Blake’s 7 is getting the collection treatment, starting this November.
https://gizmodo.com/blakes-7-blu-ray-remaster-doctor-who-bbc-terry-nation-2000489914
This looks absolutely wonderful, and I’ve added it to my ever-growing list of essential Blu-ray buys (why do they release so much good stuff in the Autumn?). I’m really intrigued by the updated special effects. The updated Doctor Who Blu-ray releases have shown great restraint with this kind of thing, which is commendable. Yes, the effects are improved, but not polished so much that they appear ‘spliced in.’ They keep to the spirit of the story, if you know what I mean.
This looks to be a great release and I look forward to more.
It did come up in the Free for All Chat but a dedicated thread is a great idea because, as you say, there is a lot of overlap between this and our favourite show. I’ve put this on my Christmas list - have just watched Series 1 and 2 with my eldest so I’ll be fascinated to see all the new effects and various documentaries. Ironically, I’ll probably end up watching some of this before I ever get round to my growing collection of Doctor Who Blurays!
Very excited by this news. I love Blake’s 7 almost as much as I love Doctor Who. In many ways, although there was never a direct link between the two series, B7 was the Torchwood of its day, inasmuch as it told grittier stories and very much appealed to many of the same people.
Yes, as @Napp says, the new effects interest me greatly. I adore B7 but it has to be said that, as a series where pretty much every episode involved shots of planets and spacecraft, the effects were often even more ropey than on DW (some of those shots of the Liberator in flight were… less than impressive shall we say). I think a spruce up and the option for new effects is exactly what this wonderful series needs.
Roll on November 11th!
So, here’s a question for fans of DW and B7. In your mind, although they never crossed over on screen, do DW and B7 exist in the same universe? They do for me. If so, which DW stories might conceivably take place during the same period (without bringing the Doctor into contact with the conflict between the B7 team and the Federation)?
The expanded Whoniverse has already made them part of the same universe via Chris Boucher’s novel Corpse Marker which features the character of Carnell from Weapon (the marvellous Scott Fredericks).
Carnell also appears in the Kaldor City audios which also include a character who may or may not be Avon operating under a pseudonym…
So, for me, they are definitely connected.
So in answer to your question about which stories take place in the same period, The Robots of Death for definite along with all the associated tales like Kaldor City, Robophobia and BF’s The Robots spin off.
TARDIS wiki has a section on mentions of Blake’s 7 in Doctor Who such as Gauda Prime being referenced in the 10th Doctor novel Prisoner of the Daleks.
You know, I’d completely forgotten about the Kaldor City link. Yes, you’re quite right! Carnell was a fantastic character in B7 and fits right in.
Kaldor aside, I"ve aleays had a feeling that “Nightmare of Eden” fits as well.
I’ll have to look into the links you’ve given. Thank you!
From TARDIS wiki: “Tom Baker and Gareth Thomas, who played Roj Blake, thought it would be amusing for their characters to meet for a few seconds in a hallway on either show. However, both times the proposed connections were overruled by the producers and script editors”
I remember reading something about this. Perhaps that’s why I get the feeling the Nightmare of Eden fits so well? I could imagine Blake briefly on the Empress.
I dearly wish they’d done this. I can kind of see the production teams’ desire to keep their shows distinctive, but it would have been a lovely throwaway moment that would have meant a lot to respective fans and wouldn’t really have needed any explanation. Just a cheeky little in-joke. It’s the sort of thing I can inagine RTD or Moffat agreeing to in a shot. Not sure about Chibnall. In series 11 he was very keen to make his DW stand out on its own but maybe in series 12 or Flux?
Which B7 episode might the Doctor have appeared in, though? I’m guessing a series 2 episode and would propose Gambit would have been a great fit given the culturally eclectic Freedom City setting. I can see Baker’s Bohemian style fitting in as a bit of background colour there! 
Also, does the guy at the back (Cevedic) remind you of anyone, @BillFiler ? 
My goodness, the universe is filled with Colin Baker clones. Not that I’m complaining LOL.
Why it is like looking into a mirror 
I have recently started watching B7 for the first time and have a decision to make, do I continue to watch it now “as is” or wait for the Collection in November?
(Yes this is very much a “first world problem” )
I hesitate to tell anybody to hold back and wait to watch B7, but that upscaling and the new effects could really enhance the experience. Season 1 is an absolute joy, but it looks quite ropey. The upscale has been long overdue and those effects look… so good. Thing is, every episode features views of planets and at least one spacecraft (usually more). The original budget was sorely stretched and they could only achieve so much. I’d genuinely be tempted to wait. I think it’ll be worth it!
Of course! Who could forget Bayban the Butcher?
City at the Edge of the World is a fine fine story. Aesthetically, this one feels like classic Star Trek meets DW in the world of B7. Or is it just me?
Received my copy of this first B7 Collection Set. Loving that menu! Anyway, I watched The Way Back last night (with new effects).
The improvement in picture quality is simply astronomical! I’m genuinely impressed. I guess I shouldn’t be because I’ve seen the wonders worked on the DW collection sets but… wow! I’m so used to B7 (esp. the first series) looking grainy and muted. I’ve never seen B7 look anywhere near this good! Similarly, the sound quality is much crisper and I heard much more in the ambient background noise.
With reference to the new effects, they were relatively sparse in the first episode, and well used. Principally computer displays until… oh, until! the first shots of the London prison transport ship. All shots of the spacecraft and all exterior starfield shots are sumptuous. I loved much of the old model work, but understand why the new effects are so comprehensive for spacecraft, starfields and planets, because we all know that many of those original scenes were decidedly ropey. Not so any more! A much more uniform and impressive experience. And, if you want to see the episodes as broadcast, then of course you still can (just as with the DW collection sets).
Fantastic! 
This is on my Christmas list and I’m looking forward to getting it. My eldest and I have recently finished Season 3 and are on to Season 4 now. I hardly remember anything about this last season apart from the major beats.
Started this, I have vague memories of it, the Liberator, the theme tune & Servalan 
I think I might have watched only a couple episodes before. Really enjoyed the first episode, some efficient world building, an extremely callous government that so easily decide on a pretty extreme solution to getting rid of Blake. Its all very atmospheric & oppressive. I’m watching the new version & the updated FX are well done.
I watched Season 1 a couple of years ago but then never continued. I’m kind of debating whether I should get this so that I could watch Season 1 again and then hopefully finish the rest of it.
I’m only a couple episodes in but would recommend, Like the Dr Who blu-rays its a great presentation of the show with lots of interesting looking extras.
Finally got my preorder in today
Heartily agree. The show has never looked so good! It’s been a long time coming. I’ve always adored B7. It’s up there with DW for me. DW wins out (I can’t explain how special it is to me) but B7 is not far behind.
For me, the new effects are not necessary but I appreciate them enormously. I really admire some of the excellent model work, but it’s fair to say that the budget was stretched even further than in DW… and it showed.
It’s more than just the new effects though (great as they are). It’s the brilliantly clear and surprisingly sharp picture, the greater vibrancy in the colours. My goodness, it looks so good on this set.
Yet, above all, it’s still the incisive and often cutting dialogue that shines the brightest. Dialogue that good is a rare thing. Consider this little exchange:
BLAKE: “It’s a vital nerve center in the Federation space control system. Destroy that, and you blind, deafen and silence them. That’s what we’re going to do.”
AVON: (Sarcastically) “A blow for freedom.”
GAN: “Yes, our freedom. For a clever man you’re not very bright. Deaf, dumb and blind how are they going to catch us?”
I could go on. Avon’s cutting reply is just as good. But then, I’d just have to keep going.
Just gloriously good.
Carnell being in ‘Corpse Marker’ is the most compelling reason to consider Doctor Who and Blake’s 7 to be in the same universe, I think.
That, combined with the references in the stories ‘Dead Men Diaries’, ‘Three’s a Crowd’, and ‘Prisoner of the Daleks’, as well as how the televised episode ‘Rescue’ on Blake’s 7 used a Sea Devil costume for the creature, plus that Terry Nation had intended to use Daleks in Blake’s 7, I think that those are all strong enough reasons to consider both to be in the same universe. (Also I want the two to crossover, so I simply choose to believe them to be in the same universe. lol And it’s really not as much of a stretch as how I really really want to think of Sapphire & Steel to be in the same universe too..)
The stories with Liv Chenka (when she is in her usual time) would take place probably not too long after Blake’s 7 (if you have listened to the Big Finish ‘The Robots’ sets you will know about connections to ‘The Robots of Death’, ‘Corpse Marker’, and ‘Kaldor City’).
If you consider every Doctor Who story which mentions ‘the Terran Federation’ as being the same ‘Terran Federation’ of Blake’s 7, those could be vaguely around the same time period. In the Doctor Who universe, the Terran Federation lasts between the 26th and 41st centuries, and in the Blake’s 7 episode ‘Countdown’ Blake mentions that the Federation had been in power at least 200 years before then, and with Kaldor being founded by at least the 29th century, with Iago in ‘Occam’s Razor’ saying that in the 2880’s was when he was hired by Uvanov, that would put Blake’s 7 in the mid-29th century probably? So with Doctor Who stories, obviously ‘The Robots of Death’ would be in the same time period, and ‘Robot of Sherwood’ kind of has a connection since that is when the ship from that episode is meant to have been from, and ‘The Beast Below’ said that Earth was affected by solar flares in the late 29th century. (And for some references, stories like ‘Frontier in Space’ and ‘Earthshock’ would be towards the start of the Terran Federation coming into power, being in the 26th century, and ‘The Daleks’ Master Plan’ would be towards the end, being in the 41st.) I may have put too much thought into this.
However, I did have a strange moment the other night with the story ‘The Least Important Man’ because a character says that his favorite show is Blake’s 7, and my mind went “Is this an alternate universe?” but also like, Doctor Who might be a television show in the Doctor Who universe, so I decided that this made no difference to me in my belief that Doctor Who and Blake’s 7 are in the same universe. lol
The new collection of Blake’s 7 is exciting though! I haven’t purchased it just yet but I am really looking forward to seeing what it looks like on this new release especially seeing everyone saying that they like it!
