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Blakes Seven To Return
Clownfush writes "Blake's 7, magnificent UK low budget high drama Sci-Fi from the early 80's is to return, as a former star acquires rights to the show. "
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I was young and impressionable when Blake 7 first came out, I really liked it at the time, but why bother trying to revive it now.
Anyone under 25 or most Americans will have no idea what it is. I can't remember much about it myself. So it is just playing on the sentimentality of a few.
Considering the state of SF in general nowadays it would be nice to get something new rather than rehashes of old ideas, we have plenty of them already. As far as I can see this is just £7M down the pan.
Avon (the character played by Paul Darrow) was a huge influence on me, altho' I was too young to realize it at the time. He was a dark and complex character, a technology expert who could clearly and rationally see that he could make the most money and wield the most power by betraying his comrades... but he could never quite bring himself to do it. He'd always set off with the intent of doing so, then change his mind at the last minute and use his superior intellect to save the day, then hate himself for it afterwards. He got most of the best lines too. Oh, and he may or may not have been shagging Blake's arch-enemy, the head of the secret police. Certainly they were both up for it, and even avoided killing each other for that purpose while remaining nominal enemies otherwise.
There simply aren't characters with this kind of depth in modern scifi, even in relatively intelligent shows like B5. I can't wait to see the new episodes.
This programme was so cool! Not for the fact that it was a top notch sci-fi soap but that it had great characterisation. The first anti-hero in Avon. The D&D rogue character in Villa. Now obviously, its almost certain that the new show will be a pile of steaming... but let me just wallow in dreams that it will be good... P.S. Not nostalgia, got all the vids!!
When the show ended there were arguments over whether or not Avon actually dies in the final scene. He is surrounded by guards, it cuts to black and there is a lot of gunfire....
:)
Presumably he is gunned down like the rest of his crew BUT he could have survived... Somehow? Surely? Maybe?
According to the article the actor that played Avon (Paul Darrow) will be the only actor to return. Set 25 years after the last series hopefully the question of Avon's survival will be answered.
Apologises to anyone that didn't no what happened to Avon at the end and has been slowly working their way through the series
Yes let us remember the heady days gone by, remember if you will the playground and chatting with your mates about how good blakes 7 was....
then remember things like thunderbirds 2017 and all the other failed programmes that tried to make a triumphant return.
If it does come back (i sort of hope is does not) the only way it will survive is if it gets real good real fast, i mean lets face it the first season of ST:TNG was bollox (bad acting, wobly sets terrible sfx) but look how great it was in the end.
I think i agree with one of the earlier postings, i think a new twist on Dr Who would be a lot better.
just my two pence worth (3.2 cents)
Kingdom of Loathing (www.kingdomofloathing.com) Addicted is me
But unlike Blakes 7 they actually had decent some special effects in Space 1999! For the time (mid
70s) some of the space scenes weren't far off being cutting edge and not too far behind
the effects in the original star wars. Shame they couldn't have extended the budget to the monster costumes though , they sucked!
Paul Darrow is a die-hard fan so there's some hope...
TWW
"Encyclopedia" is to "Wikipedia" what "Library" is to "Some people at a bus stop"
When you think about it, or at least when I do - most future spaceships must be almost completely controlled by computer - not with some gits standing on a bridge for effect like they do in the thoroughly rung out Star Trek. At most a human would be suggesting the general strategy of any sort of engagement, and then wiping their brow 14 nanoseconds later when it was all over. Generally this is what happened on the original series of Blake7, with the occasional 'manual control' for dramatisation. They let the computer get on with driving the hardware, and they got on with the scheming on how to overthrow the corrupt Federation and each other.
I really hope they spend most of the money on good script writers who give the characters the depth that they had in the original series, and just enough on the sets/cgi to get by.
Hey, and model the new ship on the old one, I thought it was cool!
From
this page - so good it had to be posted.
* Trust is only dangerous when you have to rely on it.
* Reality is a dangerous concept.
* There is no logical reason why aliens should be hairy.
* I am not stupid, I'm not expendable, and I'm not going.
* No good deed goes unpunished.
* It is frequently easier to be honest when you have nothing to lose.
* Civilization has always depended on courtesy rather than truth.
* On Earth it is considered ill-mannered to kill your friends while committing suicide.
* The art of leadership is delegation.
* All that patience gets you is older.
* Show me someone who believes in something, and I will show you a fool.
* Regret is part of being alive -- but keep it a small part.
* He who trusts can never be betrayed, only mistaken.
* Infallibility depends on your point of view.
* There are times when even the most cynical must trust in luck.
* Heroics seldom run to schedule.
* Dignity, at all costs, dignity.
* The choice is very simple -- either you can fight, or you can die.
* In the end, winning is the only safety.
* Power usually makes its own rules.
* Some days are better than others, Section Leader.
* It is not necessary to become irrational in order to prove that one cares; indeed, it is not necessary to prove it at all.
* While there's life, there's threat.
* Luck has nothing to do with it.
* Strategic withdrawl is running away, but with dignity.
* Idealism is a wonderful thing; all you really need is someone rational to put it to proper use.
* Nobody is indispensible.
* Everyone's entitled to one really bad mistake.
* In the end, your word is all there is, really.
* There are other rules, but you'll find out what those are when you break them.
"None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free." -- Goethe
However, Paul Darrow has been pitching this around for a couple of years now (the original plan was for a movie, and then it became a pilot and now it seems to be a treatment) and I really hope he keeps behind the cameras as he seems to have become an old luvvie in the ensuing years.
Yes, there are some similarities, but that's unavoidable, there is a lot of stores and myths around. What's really interresting about B7 is how Avon, the anti-hero, comes out to be the most popular character in the series. In fact Terri Nation (the author) was aware of this and adapted the storyline conformingly.
Jacqueline Pierce.
That role did her in. I listened to a BBC radio doc about her a while back; AFAIR she apparently got into the role so deeply she became more Servalan than herself and the character took over her life. I think she's had a nervous breakdown or three in the intervening years, all caused by this, so you can't be too harsh on her. Respect - if you were into dominant babes in the 80s, she's still an icon.
No Virginia, Mrs. Thatcher wasn't a babe. Never liked her, did we precious?
But it was okay because the announcer said "... and Blake's Seven will return in the Autumn"
of course, it never did
Orac, where are yooooooo?
There are places where the networks are not touching,and there are places where they are-Boeing's Lori Gunter
Having said that, he accepted a lot of user input on how to fix the problems. Unfortunately, after publication, and the publisher refused the alterations.
Paul Darrow is a classic example of a person who would work best in an Open Source environment - good ideas, willing to listen, willing to accept good patches, willling to do follow-on research - but is in a media that all but prohibits any kind of cooperative work.
IMHO, it almost doesn't matter if he succeeds or fails, provided his legacy is to open up the minds of the British media to the possibilities and opportunities that Open Source provides. If there's one person who could do it, it would be him, because he's got a very strong charisma and seems willing to walk at least some of the walk.
It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
I'm a big fan of Blakes 7 but the last thing I'd describe it as having 'intelligent scripts and a dynamic variety of characters'... It was pure scifi fun - didn't take itself too seriously. It got a bit crappy when blake was dead and they lost the liberator (it became 'Avons 5' but they never changed the title).. the early stuff was top notch though. Orac was probably half the special effects budget on his own :)
Damn cheap to make, too. Ingredients: 1 Slate quarry, 1 Nuclear Power station, half a tonne of cardboard and a few storylines flexible enough to be translated to different planets/people.
I haven't seen Blake's 7 on TV in over a decade. (I even have a Tivo search for it). Maybe the sequel miniseries will prompt someone to reair the original series. BBC America at 2am? Anyone???
I don't see it as the Arthurian theme. If anything, it was more of the Robin Hood theme.
The problem with either of those comparisions is that Blake is not in a lot of the episodes.
I guess you could make a "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead" comparision. But that has problems because there isn't an original story for the characters to be from. Just a theme.
I liked it because it was different. In Star Trek, the crew is always right and good and more enlightened than everyone else in the universe.
In Blake's 7.....
AVON: Only seventy kilos... Vila, strip off the insulation material in the cargo hold. [Vila turns.] Vila! [Avon takes some small object from a panel and hands it to him.]
VILA: But that's plastic. It weighs nothing.
AVON: Get rid of it anyway.
VILA: A kilo and a half if we're lucky.
AVON: Do it! We've got five minutes. [Vila turns and heads out.] Not enough! Not nearly enough! Dammit, what weighs seventy kilos?
[The door can be heard opening.]
ORAC: Vila weighs seventy-three kilos, Avon.
[The door closes.]
[ Avon fetches his gun and gets a determined look on his face]
AVON: [Whispering] Vila!... Vila?
I was actually thinking of Blakes 7 when i saw Farscape - don't know why really, its not that they have that much obviously in common - apart from a group of people on the run from the police state.
Blakes 7 was also unusual in that our heros were usually dealing from a position of strengh. Usually writers hate to make their people to strong because then they can't write their way out of it later (bad writers perhaps?) - but the ship "The Liberator" was the fastest ship in known space (only its sister ship was as fast, and it was only see twice and quickly met an untimely end), the ship has regenerative properties and could restore itself even after the most heavy of attacks. It had teleportation ability over wast distances, something that the federation had never been able to work out. The (almost) sentient computer Zen had wast amounts of knowledge about most things they ran into, and the ship was well stocked with copious amounts of food, clothes and valuables (in the form of gems, precious medals, and currency) - and at the end of season one they manage to aquired "Orac" before the federation does. A supercomputer of a special kind, its dying inventor originally invented the chip and computer principles that all computers in exsistance are based on - because of this the sentient Orac is able to tap into any computer system at all and control it.
But that didn't really stifle the creativity - perhaps because there was always a certain amount of internal strife.
If Google really cared they would fix Android Chrome to reflow text, instead of discriminating
Nothing new here at all. Paul Darrow acquired the rights to make new B7 from Terry Nation about 15 years ago and has been media-pushing it in the hope of getting some funds about once a year ever since. It's been 'about to return' as a movie or TV series for a long time now.
Which isn't to say that I don't consider it worthy of a return, but it is hard to see how an Avon spin-off could reasonably be called Blake's 7. OK so in the original series, seasons 3 & 4 were missing Blake, right up until the final, wonderful, paranoid apocalypse in the final episode, but it was Blake's crew, still basically on Blake's mission, and wanted by the Federtaion because of their history with Blake.
In any case, if you want a fix of Blake's 7 style grit and pessimism, I can strongly recommend Chris Boucher's "Kaldor City" audios, in which the Paul Darrow character could very easily be a post-Blake, in-hiding Avon, which also features various characters Boucher originally created for Blake's 7, all set in the society (and with some of the characters) he built for the Doctor Who classic "Robots of Death"
I'd say, use B7 as an inspiration, sure, but it was effectively brought full-circle in 'Blake' and anything more would rather spoil the delicious uncompromising bleakness of that final showdown. How often DO the bad guys get to win?
TomV
Of course you're right that there are no obstacles to making a new Blake's 7 series.
... heck, one of the best series ever, in any genre ... that's more difficult.
But as for making a worthy successor to one of the best science-fiction series ever
I think it was the writers, especially Terry Nation, who made Blake's 7. (Terry Nation also wrote some of the best Dr Who episodes). The actors were OK, but nothing outstanding. The special effects ranged from pathetic to dire. The scenario, band of rebels against a despotic government, is hardly original.
But Terry Nation is dead, and writers with such talent - and perhaps as important, producers who can recognise that talent - are rare. And without great writers, you can't make a great series.
Red Dwarf didn't suck due to budget. It sucked because the gestalt entity of Grant Naylor was split into Rob Grant and Doug Naylor.
Together they produced some of the best britcom that I have seen. Just compare Backwards and Last Human. Both have funny bits but are lacking something.
I don't know if Blake's 7 can capture what it had before without Terry Nation. We shall see - or won't see as is common with british revivals (Red Dwarf movie, New Doctor Who series not produced by Fox, etc...)
Really,
In terms of sheer personality, traits, quirks, strenths, paranoias, I haven't seen any screen representation of a real Hacker that even comes close.
A Hacker's Hacker. Hmmm, maybe I just like the sound of the word... hacker's hacker, going to get pint of a Hacker Pschorr...
Kremvax
--- Little Atomo - The Amazing Thinking Robot from Atomocom! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIP9KisHi4k