Blake's Junction 7

Fan Film
Title:	Blake's Junction 7
Creator:	Pitchfilms, Written by Tim Plester and directed by Ben Gregor.
Date:	2005
Length:	15 minutes
Medium:
Genre:
Fandom:	Blake's 7
URL:	on Youtube
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Blake's Junction 7 is an unofficial short comedy film about Blake's 7 characters stopping off at a motorway service station, making it essentially a mundane AU although the characters still behave as though they are sci-fi characters. To some extent it comments on the events of the final episode and the Blake/Avon ship, with Jonny Vegas's Blake asking Avon whether he's "seeing anyone right now" (In the DVD extras Paul Darrow claims "the Blake-Avon relationship is accurately cameod in the portrayal by Johnny Vegas of Blake", which presumably means he doesn't get the joke, or is much more open minded that other events suggest). The film further engages with fandom by casting a man as Servalan (a character who had, by this time, emerged as a popular gay icon; who was relatedly regularly cosplayed by male fans at conventions).

It stars Mark Heap as Kerr Avon, Johnny Vegas as Roj Blake, Martin Freeman as Vila Restal, MacKenzie Crook as Servalan, Raquel Cassidy as Jenna Stannis, Justin Edwards as Olag Gan, Taz as Cally and Ginny Holder as Dayna Mellanby, as well as Peter Tuddenham as Orac. It was written by Tim Plester and directed by Ben Gregor.

The film was released on DVD in 2008 to celebrate 30 years of Blake's 7. Extras included commentary on Blake’s Junction 7 with Paul Darrow and Mark Heap; "The 2 Avons" - exclusive interview with Paul Darrow and Mark Heap; Mackenzie Crook interview; Peter Tuddenham recording session; trailer; unused footage; commentary on World of Wrestling with filmmakers Ben Gregor and Tim Plester.

Reactions and Reviews

In summary, I’d describe this film as a cross between Peter Cook and Dudley Moore’ s ‘Superthunderstingcar’ (a short sketch creating a lovingly detailed parody of Gerry Anderson), and Stella Street, a more extended surreal celebs-in-ordinary-world situation. Too short to really lap it up, but great. (Den of Geek)

t's not just the presence of Crook - eerily convincing in drag as villainess Servalan - and his sometime co-star Martin Freeman that recall another day in The Office. The juxtaposition of larger-than-life characters plonked down into a mundane setting is a British deadpan comedy tradition that Plester and Gregor (whose previous award-winning short Ant Muzak had Nick Moran's Adam Ant late-night supermarket shopping) and their top-notch cast, including Spaced's Mark Heap and Raquel Cassidy from Teachers, all know and love. Add Vegas's outrageous cameo as Blake and this is one short break well worth stopping off for. (The Guardian)

The film is an affectionate contemporary nod to the series, the idea was to make it approachable by people who had vague memories of seeing the show hence it mixes up iconic elements. For example both Dayna and Jenna are present even though in the series they never met. (ThisWayUp, Zine)

Fanworks inspired by Blake's Junction 7

Coming out in 2005 meant the film effectively missed the first big internet age of B7 fandom, which had largely subsided by this point. Currently the only known BJ7 fic is Em One (and beyond) by Aralias (Blake/Avon).