Return of Blakes 7

[cc93]

Remade on Sky

I fear the worst

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/04/24/nblake124.xml

[Really Ancien]

'There is no word yet on whether any of the original cast or characters will return, though actors Jacqueline Pearce, who played glamorous arch baddie Servalan, and Paul Darrow, who played insidious antihero Avon, have themselves become cult figures.

“Discovering that I had been a masturbatory fantasy for an entire generation of young men – that made a girl feel good,” said Pearce in 2006 documentary about the show on BBC4. '

We can only guess what Mal Volio is up to at his workstation.

Damon

[woollypigs]

My hopes was soo high, until I read .... remade

[Flying_Monkey]

Remaking doesn't destroy the original and in some cases it can be a major improvement - like Battlestar Galactica which spookily, I just mentioned on another thread.

I mean sometimes you wonder why they bothered, but there was lots about Blake's 7 that wasn't that good in the first place, so I'm keeping an open mind.

[mattc]

There were some very good radio epsidoes on BBC7 a few weeks ago. I have no idea when they were made, but there were several original cast members.(Or at least they sounded like the originals).

I think SF works very well on Radio (H2G2?) - you know what they say about the pictures on the radio ...

(I suspect the original is something I wouldn't enjoy so much now I'm all growed-up).

[clarion]

Remade?  I dunno.

Only if they do it with a budget of £0.57, and no resort to CGI...

[FatBloke]

I think SF works very well on Radio (H2G2?) - you know that they say about the pictures on the radio ...

Orson Wells War of the Worlds! 

At least the special effects should be better, and the sets might be more, erm, sturdy!

[border-rider]

“Discovering that I had been a masturbatory fantasy for an entire generation of young men – that made a girl feel good,” said Pearce in 2006 documentary about the show on BBC4. '

Why don't they just reshow the original ?

[LEE]

“Discovering that I had been a masturbatory fantasy for an entire generation of young men – that made a girl feel good,” said Pearce in 2006 documentary about the show on BBC4. '

Why don't they just reshow the original ?

Because I'd be forced to kill the BBC person reponsible for pressing the 'PLAY' button?

I'll never forget seeing someone demonstrate how to make a replica Blakes 7 'Ray Gun' by just glueing a Toilet roll on to a 2 litre drinks bottle (add some coily wires and so on) .

I thought "That's how the Fekkin BBC made them as well".


I imagine it's the only Sci-Fi show where the fans turn up at the annual conventions dressed in better gear than the actual actors had in the show.


PS.  After watching a Thunderbirds documentary I learned (actually I should have spotted it but I was little) that that's a bloody Lemon-Squeezer on the wall of the T-1 underground silo.  That's one hell of a Lemon-Squeezer, it must be 40 feet across !

[Si]

They've been repeating it for years on UK Gold.  It does stand the test of time surprisingly well. OK, sets and effects are a little '70s but the over hamming of some of the acting is a joy to experience and Terry Nation's lovely dark vision of the oppressive-state future does tend to set it apart from much so called sci-fi. 

[LEE]

It does stand the test of time surprisingly well.  

Yes, it's exactly as cack now as it was then.

[Flying_Monkey]

It does stand the test of time surprisingly well.   

Yes, it's exactly as cack now as it was then.

Well, quite. I can't see how it could be remade much worse - except by being bland. Honestly, does no one remember quite how embarassingly awful it was - especially the computers? It is a show that gets better the longer it was since you actually saw it...

[Cunobelin]

There were some very good radio epsidoes on BBC7 a few weeks ago. I have no idea when they were made, but there were several original cast members.(Or at least they sounded like the originals).

I think SF works very well on Radio (H2G2?) - you know what they say about the pictures on the radio ...

(I suspect the original is something I wouldn't enjoy so much now I'm all growed-up).

Slightly OT.. and showing my age.

I watched Star Trek as a youngster, until we went round to the house of some american friends who had a new fangled  colour TV!

I couldn't watch it as all the uniform colours were wrong!

The point is that with SCiFi, or rather good SciFi, imagination and thought is an important part. With Radio there is still this possibility, but on TV much of this is taken away.

I enjoyed Blakes 7, but was always perturbed by the ending - what did actually happen, was Blake or Avon the baddy / goody?


http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=LY10pMsq3N8


I also don't think we could keep the black humour that was Orac!

Alledgedly a reference to the Orgone Accumulator, as referenced by Hawkwind

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=q9VKri7qyM8


... and sexual deviants!



http://inventors.about.com/od/qrstartinventors/a/orgone.htm

[Really Ancien]

If you thought Blakes Seven was low-budget then you never saw Phoenix Five.


Damon.

[LEE]

If you thought Blakes Seven was low-budget then you never saw Phoenix Five.


Damon.

Blakes Seven had a budget?

[Eccentrica Gallumbits]

I remember Blue Peter showing us how to make wrist communicators out of black cardboard and purple cellophane.

[border-rider]

The Guardian reports someone on their blog pages suggesting Ruth Jones (Ness in Gavin & Stacy) as Servalan

"Tidy, Blake, tidy"

 

[mattc]

The Guardian reports someone on their blog pages suggesting Ruth Jones (Ness in Gavin & Stacy) as Servalan

"Tidy, Blake, tidy"

 

I think that may have justified the existence of such blogs.

[Really Ancien]

ITVs Sci Fi had higher production values, as in Space 1999, but the plotlines were poor. Star Maidens is an obscure offshoot of this genre. The virtue of them is that they were properly filmed with none of the jarring jumps from 16mm film for the location shots in a gravel pit or chalk quarry, to the interior scenes shot on videotape.


<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/-Trrsh8X0G8&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/-Trrsh8X0G8&rel=1</a>

Damon.

[Si]

Space 1999

I remembered this one with fondness.  Watched a couple of reruns recently....special effects were somewhat better than B7, Dr Who, etc, but bloody nora, the plots were soooooo boring 

Talking of Blakes 7 and Gareth Thomas, I got the Children of the Stones DVD recently.  Low budget, very 1970s, but fantastic.....this is what children's TV ought to be like.

[frankly frankie]

Remaking doesn't destroy the original and in some cases it can be a major improvement

Indeed.  I worked on many episodes of the original and I can't tell you how dire we all thought it was ...

[Flying_Monkey]

Remaking doesn't destroy the original and in some cases it can be a major improvement

Indeed.  I worked on many episodes of the original and I can't tell you how dire we all thought it was ...

Watch out, you'll have the geeks frothing with dirty talk like that...

[Hot Flatus]

Star Maidens is an obscure offshoot of this genre.

Star Maidens ... ahhhhhh! Judy Geeson 

[LEE]

One of the only Sci-Fi series to have stood the test of time is Thunderbirds.  It's still pretty amazing (although why didn't Brains just plant the palm trees slightly further apart?)

Team America - World Police, was just a brilliant homage.


I saw UFO recently and it was horrificly dated.  The future was all string vests and electric cigarette dispensers.  Gerry Anderson never predicted the smoking ban in public places or pants that would cure Visible Panty Line.  Calls himself a futurist.

[Si]

I used to love UFO.  I think that it now says more about '60s/'70s asperations than it did about the future.

By why does living in space make your hair go purple if you are female?