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Blakes Seven To Return

Posted by Hemos on from the bad-acting-good-fun dept.

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. "

5 of 298 comments (clear)

  1. All puff... by perly-king-69 · · Score: 5, Funny

    According to the FAQ, essentially they have no money (yet), no script (yet), no cast (yet) and no broadcasting rights (yet).
    Trading on the nostalgia zeitgeist? The plan sounds as shaky as one of their sets!

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  2. It was better than Cats... by AndroidCat · · Score: 5, Insightful
    Darrow said: "The programme had such a gritty and dramatic style that was every bit as great an influence on the genre as the original Star Trek."
    I know he's trying to pump his project, but that's really quite an overstatement of its importance.
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    1. Re:It was better than Cats... by Rogerborg · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Sure, who would want to do a gritty, character based SF drama about a rag tag bunch of renegades in a stolen ship on the run from a fascist police state?

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  3. Avon by sql*kitten · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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.

  4. Re:Wonderful Programme... by Mandelbrute · · Score: 5, Insightful
    If they think they can get around the cost of decent sfx with CGI, I fear they're mistaken.
    Babylon5 was cheap as SF TV goes due to all the CGI. Red Dwarf was even cheaper - and Space Island One must have had a tiny budget but still worked well.

    If you consider Canadian SF - The cube didn't have a big budget.

    Blakes 7 with good sfx would seem wrong somehow. If were willing to suspend disbeleif enough for FTL travel we may as well suspend disbelief that a red platic esky is a high tech tool kit. The strength of the show was in the characters (well those that were at least 2D), and since it worked well as a radio play recently, lots of expensive visual effects are not required.

    I think it stands as one of the few self-consistant SF TV programmes ever made. I also liked the digs at the Trek utopian federation - the trek symbol at 90 degrees and the federation as a police state.