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Sci-Fi Media Television News

Blake's 7 Remake In the Works 212

Posted by Soulskill from the polishing-old-gems dept.
bowman9991 writes "Remember the BBC's Blake's 7? Looks like the classic space adventure series is being reworked by Sky One. If they get it right (like the recent Battlestar Galactica revamp), this one has massive potential. 'As part of a drive to invest more in homegrown drama, Sky One has ordered scripts for two 60-minute pilot episodes. If successful, it will be expanded into a six-part series.' Created by Terry Nation, the man responsible for the Daleks in Doctor Who, Blake's 7 ran from 1978 to 1981 and had cult appeal. The effects were average, but the story and characters were compelling."
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Blake's 7 Remake In the Works More

Blake's 7 Remake In the Works

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  • can hardly wait (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Hognoxious ( 631665 ) on Sunday April 27, 2008 @09:34AM (#23213886) Homepage Journal
    IIRC for most of the series there was only five of them, and none of them was Blake. Cervelat the villainess was hot though.

    • It's Servalan (Score:5, Funny)

      by Reality Master 201 ( 578873 ) on Sunday April 27, 2008 @09:36AM (#23213910) Journal
      And she'd have you killed for that.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by shogun ( 657 )

      IIRC for most of the series there was only five of them, and none of them was Blake. Cervelat the villainess was hot though.

      From wiki [wikipedia.org]: Cervelat, also spelled cervelas, servelat or zervelat, is a type of cooked sausage produced mainly in Switzerland and in parts of Germany. In its modern Swiss variety, it consists of a mixture of beef, bacon and pork rind that is packed into zebu intestines, slightly smoked and then boiled.

      I'm sure there a joke in your sausage appreciation somewhere...

    • Re:can hardly wait (Score:4, Informative)

      by Hal_Porter ( 817932 ) on Sunday April 27, 2008 @09:58AM (#23214066)
      That's Servalan [wikipedia.org].

    • Stationed in the UK (Score:3, Interesting)

      by WED Fan ( 911325 )

      I was stationed in the UK with the USAF and caught the last 2 seasons of B7. I loved it. Sure, the production value wasn't great, but I loved the dark characters, especially Darrow's Avon. These weren't the clean white knights of some quest, these were the gritty, angst riddent, heavily flawed humans. There were no clearly the white knight hero, but there was clearly one single evil, Servilan. God, for the longest time, anyone mentioned "clip haired bitch" I would picture her.

      When the show ended with the d

      • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

        by WED Fan ( 911325 )

        Oh, have to mention something from when I was in Japan in the mid-70's that ties in with B7.

        Most outdoor battles done on B7 and Japanese hero shows, Kamen Rider, Rainbow Man, Diamond Eye, etc, were filmed in quarries. Need a place where you can set off explosions, a quarry is a great place. Some were jarring, our heros are in a park or on a beach, then suddenly bad guys show up and we're in a quarry.

        Of course, you knew when our heroes were walking through piles of rock the shooting was going to start soon

      • Has there ever been another TV show (in any genre) that ended unexpectedly with the villain getting all six main "goodies", plus the eponymous hero, shot dead in the last 30 seconds of the last show? That ending was absolutely extraordinary.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by WED Fan ( 911325 )

          Has there ever been another TV show (in any genre) that ended unexpectedly with the villain getting all six main "goodies", plus the eponymous hero, shot dead in the last 30 seconds of the last show? That ending was absolutely extraordinary.

          And, because it wasn't that well known in the U.S., more than a few number of geeks thought they were being terribly original by choosing "ORAC" as part of their screen/hacker/account names.

        • There are good reasons for how the show ended. First, from all I've heard, Gareth Thomas only came back on the understanding that Blake would be killed off in such a way that he couldn't be brought back. Second, the show was supposed to be a season-ending cliffhanger, leaving the fans wondering who would survive and how. Then, during the hiatus, the show was canceled, leaving the cliffhanger unresolved. Unlike Farscape, there was never a TV movie resolving the story.

      • I loved the dark characters, especially Darrow's Avon.
        Darrow's Avon was the main reason to watch. Nobody can sneer better than Paul Darrow. Alas, he has completely disowned [hermit.org] this version.
        • Err, what you linked to says: "Statement by Paul Darrow with regard to the proposed Movie" and is from 2003. That movie never happened. This new Sky thing is a new proposal. I'm not sure how Darrow feels about it, but I'd love to hear it, since he's been keeping the B7 fire burning for _years_, bless his heart. :)

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Chrisq ( 894406 )
        There was some charm to the cardboard props, space ship walls that moved when the doors open, etc.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by hughk ( 248126 )
      Her name was Servalan, played by the Jacqueline Pearce. If you want to see more, she also appeared in the film "White Mischief", topless.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Cally ( 10873 )
      Blake disappeared between series 2 and 3 (of four.) Several other members of the crew had "rotated out" (Gan got a rock on the head, my eponymous first crush died in an exploding sabotaged underground bunker.

      CervalaN, the chief villain, was "just" a superb S&M Dominatrix-stroke-polician; in the last two series, she's backstabbed and betrayed her way to the position of Supreme Commander (a job title she pronounced with lip-curling and lacivious precision... though I didn't quite get it at the time. I

      • Re:can hardly wait (Score:5, Informative)

        by imipak ( 254310 ) on Sunday April 27, 2008 @12:42PM (#23215428) Journal
        Two great things about B7:
        • (1) (a) In Star Trek, the galaxy is ruled by the Federation, a benevolent democratic agglomeration of worlds united for the common good. The protagonists are the crew of a Federation starship; although there's enough conflict to generate drama (plot), they are normally function as a well-oiled unit, with everyone committed to working alongside their crew mates to, generally, Do Good. (ISTR Gene Roddenberry saying something about wanting to show liberal democracy as a benevolent force for good - I'm sure ST fans out there can quote me chapter and verse or correct me. Whether it was intentional or not, the Enterprise is a clear metaphor for American geopolitical values and objectives in the 60s, or at any rate for the high school textbook version of same at any rate.)
        • (1) (b): In Blake's 7, the galaxy is ruled by the Federation, a authoritarian, semi-fascistic state with heavy Orwellian overtones of manipulation of the masses by propaganda and brainwashing technologies of various types. The agglomerate many worlds for colonial purposes; many planets are Occupied by the Federation whilst they are stripped of their resources, often by enslaving the local population. The protagonists are the crew of a spacecraft who all have their own agendas, but chiefly thrown together because they escaped from the same prison ship. Whilst Blake is a committed freedom fighter type, and attacking and destroying the Federation is their chief goal, several of the crew were imprisoned for non-political crimes. (Avon and Vila, computer fraudster and lockpick respectively, in particular.) The crew barely hold together at times, with Avon in particular openly plotting to leave Blake at various times. And who can forget Avon preparing to throw Vila out of an airlock to lighten an overloading ship?) The tensions amongst the crew, of which this is only the most obvious, are the motor that drives much of the dramatic tension.
        • (2) -- all the technology! The cardboard sets and props were totally believable at the time, most of the time (there were some stunningly lame "view out of a porthole" effects, and the supposedly computer-generated animations of things like scanner plots were completely lacking stuff that would be essential these days, like spurious data readouts and vernier markings, blinking alerts, etc. But this was before the days of mass-market GUIs, remember; it was only a year since the wooden mouth demo at PARC, IIRC. But the great thing about the tech was that it was almost never gratuitous; it served plot and/or character, sometimes in amazingly imaginative and ideas-based manner. Witness Vila's lock-picking tools, Cally's personal digital music player (in 1978!), Travis' James Bond hand (character devices); teleport - ok not original, but a fundamental plot device in many episodes (Avon getting himself captured, and holding out against torture until he's referred up to the Chief LaserProbe Merchant - at which point he triggers a beacon, and the crew teleport into the torture cell and kidnap the head torturer; and dare I mention IMIPAK, a gun which has no effect at all on the person shot (who may not even notice if they're not looking), until the user uses a remote control device to trigger the irradiated victim, who then curls up and disappears in a puff of bad light (or something - the nature of how the thing actually kills them is never described, because it's the McGuffin-like usefulness to the plot of having the audience knowing who's marked for death and who isn't, etc etc. Just to name one, at the start of series 3 Avon is stuck on a beach on a remote planet, with the empty Liberator in orbit but uncrewed. He has Orac with him though (luggable supercomputer, which incidentally is a quantum computer although the term hadn't been coined then AFAIK!) Avon fires up Orac, uses it's long range comms to log into Zen, the Liberator's shipboard computer, and command it remotely to teleport him back on board. ISTR that there is mention of Orac's using encrypted communication protocols as well, so as far as I'm concerned that the first appearance of Ssh.

        • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

          by OriginalArlen ( 726444 )
          I must say the practice of picking your Slashdot username from cheesy British science fiction TV of the 70s is totally lame, and betrays a pathetic obsession with nostalgia at the expense of personal development.

          Also, Arlen was by far the sexiest female character in the whole show. A lot of women on the B7 slash fanfic list I accidentally ended up subscribed to for a while had different ideas about the most attractive characters on the show, though. Not to mention leather trousers...

          • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

            by Ford Prefect ( 8777 )

            I must say the practice of picking your Slashdot username from cheesy British science fiction TV of the 70s is totally lame, and betrays a pathetic obsession with nostalgia at the expense of personal development.

            Nerd! Neeeeerd! ...

            Oh, wait.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Peet42 ( 904274 )

      IIRC for most of the series there was only five of them


      They counted the two computers too. (Aurac and Zen)

      I still love the way they introduced the "ding-dong" teleport bracelets, then strung us along for almost a whole series before using the immortal line "[Ding-Dong] Avon calling". (v.funny British advertising slogan reference...)
    • There were always seven on the "good guys" team. However, you sometimes had to count the AI running the Liberator and/or the obnoxiously arrogant computer they stole and put to use. One way or another, there were always 7.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Whiteox ( 919863 )
      The Blonde was very hot (forgot name). Servalan was a bit too mature and thin for my tastes....

  • The effects were 'average'? (Score:3, Informative)

    by damburger ( 981828 ) on Sunday April 27, 2008 @09:35AM (#23213892)
    That is being quite kind if I remember Blake's 7 correctly (unless NASA have suddenly discovered that cardboard is a really good material to make spacecraft out of)
    • I remember Blue Peter doing a 'how to make a Blakes 7 handgun', from an old washing up liquid bottle.

      Looked very convincing as I recall :-)

  • Good Luck Watching It Outside the UK (Score:5, Interesting)

    by eldavojohn ( 898314 ) * <eldavojohn@gm a i l . com> on Sunday April 27, 2008 @09:36AM (#23213912) Journal
    So I recently was turned on to modern BBC programmes (I'll spell it their way) with much joy resulting from watching The Mighty Boosh ... on YouTube. I realize that this is in all likelihood illegal which is unfortunate because I like to pay credit where credit is due.

    I moseyed on over to the BBC website [bbc.co.uk] in hopes of a NBC, ABC or even Comedy Central style of ad based hosting. No luck. I couldn't download and install the iPlayer either. I realized that cost Brits a pretty pound to produce so no hard feelings there. But there wasn't a low quality flash version for me. None. Nothing. I cannot figure out how to enjoy this programme legally.

    Their site has two questions in their FAQ in regard to this:

    Can I download programmes from outside the UK?

    The BBC uses Geo-IP technology to identify where your are based on the location of your internet service provider (ISP). This ensures that only internet users in the UK can enjoy programmes on BBC iPlayer.

    If you download a programme to your laptop or a portable hard drive, you can watch this wherever you are in the world. However, you will only be able to download new programmes once you return to the UK.
    And

    Can I use BBC iPlayer outside the UK?

    Rights agreements mean that BBC iPlayer television programmes are only available to users to download or stream (Click to Play) in the UK. However, BBC Worldwide is working on an international version, which we will make available as soon as possible.

    Radio programmes are available outside the UK in addition to podcasts at http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/podcasts/directory/ [bbc.co.uk]. ÂMany BBC News programmes are available for viewers outside the UK at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/video_and_audio/default.stm [bbc.co.uk] and BBC Sport highlights are available at http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport [bbc.co.uk].

    Do make sure you check for news on BBC iPlayer at http://www.bbc.co.uk/ [bbc.co.uk].
    I do hope that changes in the near future. In the meantime, does anyone know the best way to get ahold of episodes of new Dr. Who, The Mighty Boosh & (soon) Blake's 7?
    • Your best bet would be to find an open proxy in the UK... If one exists.

    • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

      by TheRaven64 ( 641858 )
      It's not being made by the BBC, it's being made by Sky, which is part of Murdock's empire and so will, no doubt, be widely distributed to anyone who wants to buy it (unless it's a cable company that competes with Sky).

      • It's not being made by the BBC, it's being made by Sky, which is part of Murdock's empire and so will, no doubt, be widely distributed to anyone who wants to buy it
        And, ironically, another example of Murdoch hiding in plain site. Blake's 7 was about rebels fighting an evil empire (as was Firefly also paid for by the Murdoch Empire). The irony being that News Corps International is, in fact, THE contemporary evil empire.
        • It was an inverted star trek - even the federation logo is a star trek federation logo on its side.

          Of course star trek themselves have done basically the same concept in the DS9 parallel universe, so I'm not sure how well it'll work this time around.
    • All three TV series of The Mighty Boosh and the radio series are available on iTunes.
    • The new Doctor Who is running on Sci-fi Friday at 9pm Eastern. Just started the new season.

    • Re:Good Luck Watching It Outside the UK (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Telvin_3d ( 855514 ) on Sunday April 27, 2008 @10:07AM (#23214136)
      Just so you know, all those NBC and ABC clips you like don't play for people outside of the United States. I'm not sure about the Comedy Central ones. Sometimes they work for me (in Canada) and sometimes not, so I'm not sure if they have sketchy ID technology or a sketchy server streaming the clips.

      Same reason as the BBC; they licence by region.

      Really, it's a losing battle. Everyone I know who enjoys BBC shows grabs them from torrents as they come out then picks up the DVD sets when they get released. Most of us don't even bother watching the North American broadcast if it even gets one. Not only do they tend to be six months to a year behind but they are also edited. The BBC doesn't have advertisements like our TV does so when they get broadcast over here they have to be cut for time to make more room for the commercials. Also the occasional content or swear word.

      For anyone who likes Doctor Who it is particularly bad. They had to cut an entire B plot from last season along with many, many character scenes. It's great on the forums. Every once in a while you get a new poster who can't figure out what the hell everyone else is talking about and it usually comes out that they have only seen the American cut.
      • There ought to be a way to link up all TV stations on the same network, like how all web sites from all over the world are linked on the internet. This way, TV stations can offer their programming and compete internationally. You can subscribe to magazines from around the world, get newspapers from around the world, you can buy books from around the world and see movies from around the world. There's also the internet. It seems all media is internationally available except TV channels and even certain T
        • Actually a lot of TV channels do broadcast on the web, for free. Do a search, you'll find a lot. Whether you'll find a lot worth watching is another matter and depends on your taste.

      • For anyone who likes Doctor Who it is particularly bad. They had to cut an entire B plot from last season along with many, many character scenes. It's great on the forums. Every once in a while you get a new poster who can't figure out what the hell everyone else is talking about and it usually comes out that they have only seen the American cut.
        Curious; which B plot was that? I haven't watched Doctor Who on Sci-Fi since the first half of the first season of the new series.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by multisync ( 218450 )

      I moseyed on over to the BBC website ... I cannot figure out how to enjoy this programme legally.

      This is what the rest of the world experiences when they try to watch shows on the websites of U.S. networks. It's a shame, too, as the alternatives - downloading high-quality torrnets you can watch in your player of choice, for example - is already more attractive than being forced to watch a lower quality stream in an embedded player, complete with commercials. I would truly like to support the producers of th

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Dzimas ( 547818 )

      *does anyone know the best way to get ahold of episodes of new Dr. Who, The Mighty Boosh & (soon) Blake's 7*

      I'm guessing you're American, so tune in the the SciFi channel for the new Doctor Who. Grumble and whine at them if they're not offering streaming within the USA (after all, the reason that the BBC doesn't allow international streaming is to protect its international partners, who pay the Beeb for broadcast rights in their region). It's available on DVD as well. As far as the new Blake's 7 goes

  • Average? (Score:4, Informative)

    by TheRaven64 ( 641858 ) on Sunday April 27, 2008 @09:40AM (#23213930) Journal
    Describing the effects as 'average' is a bit of an exaggeration - they were absolutely terrible. Some of the acting was pretty dire too. The really compelling thing about the series was the fact that the characters were believable. Vila, for example, was the archetypal coward and was rewarded for his cowardice by being the only character in all of the episodes, while more aggressive characters tended to die off quite quickly. Blake was on a mission to save everyone, but everyone else was out for themselves. The people behaved like people and the politicians were interested in expanding their own power, rather than acting in the interests of their people (except on Auron, but they all died). It was a refreshing counterpoint to Star Trek.

    • Re:Average? (Score:4, Insightful)

      by mpe ( 36238 ) on Sunday April 27, 2008 @10:26AM (#23214278)
      Describing the effects as 'average' is a bit of an exaggeration - they were absolutely terrible.

      Actually the effects were "state of the art". Just that they were nearly 30 years ago.

      • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

        by MrSteveSD ( 801820 )

        Actually the effects were "state of the art". Just that they were nearly 30 years ago.

        No chance. "State of the art" at the time was moving the camera instead of having the flimsy spaceship models moving around on sticks. They clearly did not move the cameras, because that would be a very smooth gliding movement, not the horrible wobble you see in the series. Another thing that struck me was how awful some of the matte paintings were. There's a backdrop in "Voices From The Past" that looks like a 3-year old's finger painting. It was all down to the crappy BBC budget I suppose. It's a sham

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by malkavian ( 9512 )
        They were a long way from State of the Art.. I used to subscribe to the old Fanzine of Blakes 7 when it originally ran, and they had a lot of interviews with the Special Effects teams.. And the budget was almost non-existant. I seem to remember that one of the space ships was made from a pair of hair dryers glued together, and then had pieces added on from the old airfix kits, then painted up..
        They did miracles with the lack of cash they had.. But the story was what really drove it..
      • haha, I watched the show 30 years ago, the effects were atrocious. Especially the cartooned-in white lines around the transporting people. Somewhere the show came into a bigger budget and the effect became somewhat better though still corny.
      • No, the FX on B7 were state of the art 50 years ago when "Tom Corbett - Space Cadet!" and "Rocky Jones - Space Ranger" were the height of sci-fi television. 30 years ago, when B7 was actually produced, they looked laughably bad when put next to "Battlestar Galactica" and "Buck Rogers". Hell, even compared to "Lost In Space" and "Voyage to the Bottom of the Bathtub," B7 was pretty dire.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by lysse ( 516445 )
        Yes, but remember that in the BBC of 30 years ago, the "state of the art" could be found in the meeting of genius and junk. Look at the Radiophonic Workshop...
    • There were a few fairly deep science / technology injokes and references hidden away as well. Servalan? Server / LAN? Coincidence? I don't think so.

    • Some of the acting was pretty dire too.


      Part of the problem was the director/Editor I think because they seemed to keep mistakes in rather than do another take. You see Jenna fluffing her lines and looking at the camera quite a bit, but they keep it in!

      Avon (Paul Darrow) did a very good job I thought.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by dbIII ( 701233 )

      Describing the effects as 'average' is a bit of an exaggeration - they were absolutely terrible

      I remember being happy that I had the same type of desk lamp that was used for the controls of the Liberator. Shiny props are nice but the story is the important bit. The plots and some decent acting shone through and made up for some bad acting (eg. Sulin), poor characterisation (what could a good actor have done with Tarrant?) and limited resources for props, sets and costumes. Personally I think a lot of th

  • It was the Firefly of its day. Avon was the epitome of sarcasm.
  • Thought the Liberator looked a cool design for a spaceship. Who would've thought that an air freshener and some washing up bottles could make a great looking spaceship. Blake was a deeply cynical space opera, with every character angling for their own objectives. I get the impression that is what Whedon tried to do with Firefly.

    The new Doctor Who is a huge leap forward too, Ecclestone and particularly Tennant have been good Doctors, and the special effects have been good enough to capture the audience, whic

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by mpe ( 36238 )
      Blake was a deeply cynical space opera, with every character angling for their own objectives. I get the impression that is what Whedon tried to do with Firefly.

      There are plenty of parallels between Firefly and B7. Indeed Firefly might have done better had it been made outside of the US, especially considering the amount of character development involved.

    • I'm afraid that I haven't got into Battlestar Galactica. The production values are excellent, and the plot is good too, so I don't know why I can't get to love it.

      Well, you're not alone. I loved it when watching it the first season. Then they broke it. All the plots and subplots that had been set up, and which I was anticipating to be resolved, were basically set in stone, not to be resolved, because the series were a success and it needed to be able to go for 5 years, or more. Now it's a series about nothing, or everything except the stories that mattered. They broke it for a tv-contract. The paradox is, as long as there are enough fans that don't mind watching a b

      • Well that should be fixed this season, since this is the LAST season of the current series :)

        The next project is called New Caprica, a prequel series to BSG.

        (I watch it for Grace Park, yummmmm)

  • Blake/servalan/avon (Score:2, Interesting)

    by fermion ( 181285 )
    The Battlestar Galatica remake was not great, and not better than the original. What makes it interesting is that the remake is updated so it fits with current norms, most notably that the protagonists are fight their own creations. However, in both shows most of the tension came from whatever immediate threat existed, which means that the show can continue as long as immediate threats are created. Problems are solved with guns, and at the end of the day, one person is in charge.

    In Blakes 7, however, w

    • Re:Blake/servalan/avon (Score:4, Interesting)

      by zippthorne ( 748122 ) on Sunday April 27, 2008 @10:52AM (#23214454) Journal
      Did you even watch the last season of BSG?

      Half of the last season was the build up to and trial of former President Gaius Baltar, Ph.D

      The main bad-guy for the current season is President Laura Roslin.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by ozbird ( 127571 )
        Did you even watch the last season of BSG?

        Nope; the flashback-ridden boxing match was the last straw for me. WTF?
        • Try finding the extended version of the episode and give it a chance. It makes a whole lot more sense than the original and it really sets up character development for Apollo and Starbuck down the road. I still don't like the episode (I still think it's unnecessary) but I like it more now having seen the extended version and seeing what it was meant to be.

          Another problem is that the third season consisted of a lot of stand alone episodes. Some were good and others weren't. It really sort of hurt the seas

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by dbIII ( 701233 )

        Did you even watch the last season of BSG?

        Unfortunately yes. After they found earth they sent kids there to be superheroes. The series could go nowhere after that without starting from scratch.

      • The new BSG sucks big time.

        First of all, it's a strictly american view of the world (post 9/11 world etc - only the US connects with that), but as a show they took everything the original was fun about and turned it upside down.

        The original Starbuck was one of the coolest characters around, mainly because the actor knew how to do it, the new Starbuck sucks big time.

        The connection to ancient civilizations (Mayans, Azteks etc) was totally lost, and hence any 'real' connection to Earth whatsoever.

        The settings
    • I would agree with you about BSG if it wasn't for the second and third seasons (I hated the first season too)... the third particularly has developed to the point that you're not even sure who the bad guys are any more... it's more like everybody/nobody.. you even get sympathetic to the plight of the cylons. It's also not about the threat of the week any more - there's a pretty strong story arc.

      Bionic woman isn't bad in itself.. it's still corny but I don't think it aims for anything else. What I do hate

  • Why the frickin' remake frenzy? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by jollyreaper ( 513215 ) on Sunday April 27, 2008 @10:34AM (#23214332)
    Dr. Who wasn't a remake, it was a revival. It's all still part of the same continuity and often quite good. I wish they'd pry the keyboard away from Davis' cold, dead hands and let other writers do more episodes. Some of the strongest episodes were penned by who was it, Moffit? Moffat? The guy who wrote "Girl in the Fireplace" and that other one with the stone angels that could kill you when you weren't looking. That's some classic who right there!

    But this remake frenzy, why? After a while, nostalgia just ain't what it used to be. Galactica died an early death and so I can understand the urge to see it again. The current effort's been a mixed bag, some are in love with it and some are just shaking their heads wondering what RDM was smoking when he came up with that shit. But please, where are the new ideas?

    When Babylon 5 came about, JMS didn't say "Ok, so I'm going to rip off Star Trek and put it on a space station." Hell, no. He said "Look, I'm going to borrow a bunch of shit from the best brains in the field, I'm going to mortar those bricks together with a bunch of my own ideas and then I'm going to put something on the screen that nobody's ever seen before outside of a novel." And sure enough, that's just what he did. Firefly was the same way.

    I guess what the suits are thinking is "hey, this concept was good enough to get the greenlight decades ago, maybe we'll be able to make money with it now. Certainly less risky than trying to do anything completely original, right?"

    I can't wait until we can start financing this stuff directly, no more need to involve fuckhead suits. Pull 10,000 geeks together on the net and we can back the damn project, $20 at a time.
    • The guy who wrote "Girl in the Fireplace" and that other one with the stone angels that could kill you when you weren't looking. That's some classic who right there!

      That Stone Angels episode - it was called Blink [wikipedia.org] is some of the scariest TV I've ever seen. Definitely one of the best episodes.

    • Firefly was the same way.
      Ironically, Whedon has explicitly said that Firefly was heavily influenced by B7. Of course, to be fair, he also threw a bunch of other ideas into the mix. And he certainly didn't try to bank on an established brand the way the "reimaginings" do.
    • I hate to break it to you, but that $200,000 doesn't even buy you one episode of most decent ongoing series, let alone a pilot episode.

      Audience financing is going to happen, but realistically it is more likely to center around producers, much like every other form of entertainment has for the last century. One or two producers get together and put up the 1-2 million needed to green light a 6 episode miniseries. Those shows get sold over iTunes or some other service as they come out. DVD sets with bonus m
  • For those of us on the other side of the pond, who haven't a clue who Blake is, let alone his 7: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blake's_7 [wikipedia.org].
    • it was shown in the U.S. also in the 80s on many city's PBS stations
      • KTEH Channel 54 FTW! :) I watched it in high school, so for me that was early 1990s. I watched through it at least twice before our cable service decided 54 wasn't worth having, probably to give us another shopping channel, or some shit.

        I found a pair of random VHS copies of episodes at a video store in Davis, Calif that _just happened_ to be going out of business the next day, so swiped them up. I needs to get me the entire series on DVD, damnit. They originally promised they'd have it for the US marke
  • This is frankly a poor idea - the sole substantial flaw in the original B7 was its production values, and that's always the flaw in aging sci-fi. The writing was basically spotless, and there's very, very little room to improve on it. B7 has aged pretty well, aside from its effects.

    That's a very different situation from BSG, where the original was a good idea that was undone by pretty relentlessly cheesy aesthetics and a sense of writing that often did leave something to be desired. BSG aged poorly and rapi

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Peet42 ( 904274 )
      Yes. Because unlike the original "Battlestar Galactica" and "Star Trek", "Blake's Seven" never went back to battle the Nazis. That's the secret to a long-running sci-fi. ;-)

  • Remade by Sky... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by xiox ( 66483 ) on Sunday April 27, 2008 @10:48AM (#23214416)
    This is being done by Sky, that channel with such great programmes, such as..... mmmm..... Simpsons repeats, Star trek repeats...

    Have they actually made anything worthwhile before?
    • Sky was central to the Battle Star Galactica remake - they financed the mini series and most of the first season, which was why the UK got it before the US and Canada. I enjoy the BSG remake, so the B7 remake should be worth at least the benefit of the doubt.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by dbIII ( 701233 )
      Didn't they do "Space Island One"? Obvious low budget, Red Dwarf style scutters being used as an excuse to get low angle shots of actresses but still a pretty good story with a conclusive ending.
  • ... but awhile back, both Terry Nation (who created B7) and Paul Darrow (who played Avon) talked about the idea of a revival. Not a remake a la BSG but a continuation a la the new Doctor Who. The premise I've heard talked about by both was to be that Avon - and only Avon - had survived the final scene, and, years later (20-30, I'd say!) escapes from a Federation prison and takes one last can't-win-but-try-anyway shot at it.

    Think Napoleon escaping Elba and the battle of Waterloo, only hopefully without the

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Aussie ( 10167 )
      That was my first thought too. I really hope that Nation/Darrow are involved, between the 2 of them they are B7.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by solios ( 53048 )
        If this ISN'T what they're developing..... it makes me wonder what they WOULD be. To my understanding, the holding company with the rights had been working on just this idea for quite awhile now!
  • I always thought that Farscape was Blake's 7 done right. Same basic story idea, same basic characters, much, much better execution.

    Loved Blake's 7 as a kid, but saw it again a few years ago and it hadn't held up as well as my memory of it had led me to believe.
  • Last I'd heard Paul Darrow (who played Avon) had bought the rights to the series from Terry Nation's estate and that he was looking to restart the series. That was at least three years ago and I haven't heard anything since. I'd love to see this back on the air but I really think that he's too old to play the same character.
  • Here's hoping they don't ruin the remake like Battlestar Galactic did, by relying so heavily upon "shakeycam" to try and achieve a "you are there" effect. It's been done, it's not novel any more, it's just annoying and distracting. Let your writing, acting, and special effects carry themselves without making the viewers nauseous...

    Thanks...
  • Of course the baby boomers now colonising slashdot will surely remember that Gareth wotsisname Thomas screwed the whole series when he went off on a Luvvie sabbatical to spout Welsh poetry somewhere probably in Rhondda Cynon Taf. Then the BBC shot everyone in the end - yes everyone, which I considered abuse of the audience at the time.

    BSG was on around that time and to be honest, I think the re-imagineered version is quite good, if you can make a cup of tea during the scenes where characters engage in Sha
  • They made a spoof a while back called "Blake's Junction 7", but I've never managed to find it anywhere. The series actually has a lot of potential. They need to make it gritty. e.g. Are they freedom fighters or terrorists? (think Aeon Flux, the Animation). It shouldn't be black and white. There could be a lot of excitement and intrigue with operations behind enemy lines etc. I suppose it all depends on the budget they get. Will there be enough money to make a decent series, or will it be wobbly spaceships a
  • I hope they don't go the BSG route. We don't need any more Star Trek Voyager character rehashes with extremely poor writing that is slipped past it's audience by confusing them with unnecessary zooms.

    Much better would be to give it the Dr. Who treatment. The special effects can be total crap, but make the writing good, and do be to pretentious.
  • for a second season. In case anyone didn't know.

    It will be in the fall lineup, not the mid-season lineup next year. Day and time will probably change.

    Cameron will be back!

  • Your two home computers are called 'orac' and 'zen' :)

    I remember that one of the very few occassions as a youngster that I was allowed to stay up 'late' was to watch Blakes 7 on the TV. Fortunately my Mum was into Sci-Fi so she used to let me stay up past my bed-time to watch it. It was usually on an hour or so after Doctor Who had finished, so it used to be a double dose of Sci-fi goodness. Watched the first episode of Blakes again a year or so ago and my god has it aged! I am not really sure a re-make i

    • *cough* *blush* My desktop is still Orac. My home server is Stewie, but previous servers were Slave and Zen.
      Frankly, I'm amazed this "Seven Blokes?" stuff got mentioned on Slashdot.
  • "I'm not stupid, I'm not expendable, and I'm NOT GOING." - Kerr Avon

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