The evil Federation
The Empire’s and the Federation’s “crack” troops do end up being cannon fodder for the good guys, no matter how bad ass they are supposed to be. And from Servalan’s point of veiw, the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. Just like Space is always blacker in the neighboring universe.
I always LOVED the design of the Federation troopers. The simple black jumpsuits, which evolved over the four seasons of the series to become a little more stylized. However, it was always the helmets that inspired fear and admiration in me as a child and adult. They are scary looking dudes. Extremely intimidating and unmistakably cruel.
Servalan is undoubtedly the biggest bitch in the galaxy. And we’re probably talking outside of Blake’s 7’s universe as well. The human equivalent of a black widow… a female praying mantis. Played by Jacqueline Pearce at the peak of her powers, the character of Servalan quickly stole the show and went from being an occasional big bad to a camp returning villainess who you loved to watch, but wished she would just die so the story could move on.
Don’t get me wrong, I loved Servalan, but ongoing series often have a villain that overstays their welcome and quantity does not equal quality. Think of Murdoch from McGuyver, or Anthony Ainley’s Master from 1980s Doctor Who. You can leave a comment with an example of villain characters from other shows that fit this bill. Come on, people! Let’s make a list!
For those interested in Blake’s 7, a show Leanne and I love dearly, below is a video celebrating Servalan. You can watch pretty much the whole series for free on Youtube.
Here is Mackenzie Crook cross-dressing as the part of Servalan for a comedy television special parodying Blake’s 7.
I’m pretty sure you just described every old filmation villain lol. However if I had to talk about villains overstaying their welcome in the plot? Lucifer droid from original bsg comes to mind, nute gunRay from the prequel trilogy, hordak in the masters of the universe, and I may be alone on this, but seriously, Baltar on bsg needed to die. Old, new take your pick. Lol
Yep. Baltar had to just frakking die already. At least, in the new series.
“Adam” from Buffy season 4 overstayed his welcome.. 10 seconds after appearing.
In the modern day, sadly, tragically, the Daleks have become tiresome. It’s never a ‘surprise’ when they show up, EVERY season.
When it was on, I did not appreciate all the appearances of Ares on Xena/Hercules. Now, with Kevin Smith having died TOO young some years back, I feel bad, and do try and appreciate his amazing talent when he appears, in reruns.
I was in one of the Ares / Kevin Smith episodes of Xena from season 6. It may have been the episode with Arquette as Caligula. I was in about 5 episodes total. Usually a Roman soldier, but also as a goody mercenary in one. Kevin Smith was really cool. I didn’t get to chat to him, but I was in several of his scenes. I got to chat with Ted Raimi and Lucy Lawless between scenes on location. And of course, I am the guy who ruined a take with Renee O’Connor being crucified as Gabrielle. Closest I cam to fame, and probably the reason I hid for the rest of the day.
Team Rocket in Pokémon are the first to come to mind. I only watched the show because my kids loved it. Every stinkin’ episode is basically the same script.
I personally liked Anthony Ainley’s style and portrayal of the Master enough that he didn’t bother me too much. Then again, I grew tired of the actors playing the Doctor during Ainley’s stint pretty quick and didn’t see many of those serials. After Tom Baker, I think the only Doctor worth watching was David Tennant (and to some degree Matt Smith). I guess for me it was couldn’t wait for the Doctor to bite it and regenerate into something better. That certainly is where it stands now with Peter Capaldi.
Oh, and how could I forget Q. He could have never shown up in the first place and that would have been fine. Well, I guess there are some good episodes with him, where he loses his powers and get the crap kicked out of him, when he comes to collect Amanda the girl who doesn’t know she’s a Q, and the Robin Hood episode. But of course, those were good because the inclusion of “beating the crap out of Q”, the girl who played Amanda and her story, and of course Vash, not because they had Q in them.
I see what you mean about Q. I liked Q. But it’s not like he appeared in multiple episodes in a season. Usually he made one appearance a season. Out of the 7 or so episodes, most were good… but there were some bad ones. Still, I’m a DeLancey fan, so I didn’t feel 7 eps out of however many hundred were in TNG quite qualifies as “quantity”. I hear you on Team Rocket.
for me it was the Borg more than Q. at least Q had different things happen in his appearances. Borg should be the trope namer for villain decay. started out one cube nearly wiped out the entire federation. then by the time voyager was done they were little more than fodder for species 8427 and needed voyager to bail them out.
my reactions went from “alright the BORG!” to “oh lots of borg cubes- how many get destroyed this time?” at least with Q you knew someone was going to get picked on mercilessly throughout the episode (usually picard)
You know, you’re right but he annoyed me enough that it seemed he was in far more than 8 eps total. Perhaps it was that his first three appearances were his character at his most obnoxious, condescending, etc. were also during those first two seasons which, with a very few exceptions, were complete throw aways. Starting with season 3, the whole cast, writers, directing, stories, arcs, etc. all really came together and just clicked. It was then that the Q stories themselves were so much better written that I didn’t mind the character as much. But there was still enough of that bad taste from the beginning that the immediate reaction was “Oh great, another Q episode.” Anyway, I actually forgot one of the other good Q eps, Tapestry where Picard relives his impaling during a bar brawl as a young man. That one, Q is truly fun in. Especially the scene where Picard wakes up next to him in bed.
…anyone else feeling damp after watching that video of Servalan ??
When i saw Leanne had done Servalan with Avon, I hoped there would be more of the Evil temptress that destroyed my childhood scifi viewing, well.. her and Joanna Lumley as Sapphire ….
NOW there would be two characters to throw into the mix.. 😉
OMG, a Sapphire and Steel fan? REALLY? Awesome!
TOTALLY….scifi really hasn’t caught up with 70’s style of suspense.. and don’t get me talking about adventure 4!! …. I often reflect on my passion for photography as way of keeping the nightmares that adventure gave me
I love Adventure 4. Highly underrated. The villain’s powers and maliciousness were truly scary. It is a classic. Adventure 5, not so much. 🙂
adv 4 villain brix are still shat believe me…. saw the actor who played the actor in another series and I was like…’hairs prickling on the back of the neck’ time..
dare I mention about Adventure 6 .. how it was left hanging..
I am loving the cross universe alliances, but I think you missed a big opportunity with the Babylon 5 villains. You really ought to have Walter Koenig’s character Bester put in an appearance, the endless possibilities for mistaken identity boggle the mind!! I AM NOT CHEKOV, NOW LEAVE ME ALONE VADER!
Villains overstaying their welcome?
I loved him but in the end of DS9, I could have lived without Dukat.
Weyoun too got a little more exposure than was good for him as well, not often to see a bootlicker to get such a prominent and important role.
Evil Edna in the original Willo the Wisp, her “transorm you into a toad” routine got old after repeat all the time.
The Original Battle Star Galactica could have had a few more villains than Balthar and his boot licker (who was cool though).
Starscream in the original transformers cartoon, it has often been said, but there really was no reason for him to survive the pilot let alone reach the movie.
Doctor Doom, main villain in all the Fantasic 4 movies, including the non released one, and not particularly interesting in any of them (except maybe the new one, don’t know yet).
Doctor Doom is my favorite Marvel villain. The movies are blasphemy! Doom, in the comics is one of the most interesting, and coolest looking villains ever. 🙂
Starscream is my favorite Transformers character. The reason he got so much time in the original series was that he was more interesting than Megatron and had a brilliant vocal performance from Chris Latta. Although killing him off was one of the worst things the 1980s animated movie did, he allowed him to make two incredible guest appearances in season 3 and Chris Latta’s best work. His dialogue just dripped with energy and evil. You should see my shrine to Starscream on my shelf! 😉
I do agree with you on Weyoun and Dukat though. Especially the former of the two. He was cool at first. But he definitely falls into the category of overstaying his welcome.
Yes that’s why I only talked about Doom in the movies, can’t compare it to the comics, where on the one hand he’s a lot cooler and on the other hand there are more than enough villains to keep any of them from getting old easily.
Starscream, beside Evil Edna, is the only villain I remember to getting on my nerves even back in the 80th when I was a really little child. I just couldn’t understand why he was allowed to live after so many failed coups.
When it comes to voiceacting… I didn’t see the original english dub and while his localisation wasn’t bad it certainly wasn’t on the level of Chris Lattas craftmanship.
When it came to voice work I really adored Soundwave though, and personality wise as well he was my favourite villain in the series.
He and in a lesser degree Shockwave combined positve traits (loyal and calm) with their villainy which made them quite a puzzle to me who back then only knew the bully type simple minded villains like Megatron and loathome evil opportunist type villains like Starscream.
TF had some of the best voice acting in the business. Chris Latta in particular was a favorite of mine. Really added to all his characters.
It has been about 30 years since I read “Secret Wars”, and the one great thing I remember is Doctor Doom stealing the Beyonder’s power. Genius!
While the Daleks are my favorite Doctor Who enemy, I think they are being over-used.
Yep. Secret Wars was a high point for Doctor Doom.
sorry capt frank…… I keep read Beyoncé’s power….
…..BRANDY!!!
She looks way hotter in BMS than in the pic/video you posted.
Either way <3 <3 <3
I have to concur with oldskool and Captain Frank, The Daleks have long overstayed their welcome.
The wraiths in Stargate Atlantis also were way too used. But they’re the main excuse for the Spin-off to begin with, so it kinda was to be expected. Still. They’re not very interesting.
I love the Daleks, but yes, they are getting overused. I think it would be good to have a series without them. Same goes for the cybermen; not that interesting and they are also being used too much.
And of course Vader speaks Klingon! He’s a massive trekkie! 😀