Blake’s 7 reboot back on

I hope that Paul Darrow has a part in this re-boot series. Preferably we'll get to see Avon have a Poo on a pool table this time round. Gertcha.

Oh dear, they sold the rights to an American company? Oh dear oh dear...

Hopefully we'll get to see Avon do a poo on a pool table in this re-boot, eh kids?

Why would they sell Blakes 7 to an American company. Do they not know what happened to Doctor Who in 1996? Clearly not otherwise they wouldn't bother with this. It will fail just like the US take on Moffat's/BBC's Sherlock, because nobody wants to see an American take on a very British show.

Regardless of what anyone thinks of RTD or Moffat on Who at least it's still British and produced by the BBC. I dread to think if it ever fell in to the hands of an America company again.

Much as I love Trek, Dark Night, Avengers & all the rest, I'm afraid the Americans are congenitally and culturally incapable of understanding the ethos of Blake's 7, and of it's tremendous continent-wide appeal in Europe (just as, in the final analysis, they were incapable of understanding the ethos of Red Dwarf). None of the 7 leading characters should be played by known stars, they should be played by giving a chance to up-and-coming unknown nonentities, and American producers would think this totally insane, completely forgetting the cult status of Dark Star. Perhaps Servalan might be played by Anne Hathaway, but that's as far as I would go. The American track record of adapting British themes is worse than dismal - when they made the American version of the Wicker Man, it went completely over their heads that in the original, the policeman (Howie) was actually the principle villian, while Lord Summerisle (Christopher Lee) was the principle hero. Locals were pagans, ergo they were bad: Howie wore a uniform and was a Christian, ergo he must be a good man. Duh! The Americans could no more remake a decent Blake's 7 than they could remake a decent Wicker Man. I share Terry Nation's head-shaking - Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear!

PS to my posting below - what on earth would the Americans think of the character of Avon, the reluctant hero (wonderful Paul darrow) who in the final epsiode slaughtered Blake and the others in what, to me, is still the Mother of all surprise endings?

I will believe it when I see it. When I actually see Blakes 7 back on the TV. So many sequels, prequles, reboots and other ideas have floated around for years. The original 1978 series came about at a time when Tom Bakers Doctor Who was at its height in popularity and they both ran happily along side by side together. Once again Doctor Who is now popular and the BBC should have brought B7 back in say 2006 / 2007 but never did. Instead we have had various other disasters like Outcasts and Bone Kickers to name but two. Now the BBC has more or less given up on new ideas and being daring. They use the excuse that the license fee has been frozen by the government as an all encompassing get out, for not making more good programs. Lots of repeats and tired talent shows like the Voice are all we will get. It now prefers to spend your £150 a year on building new studios all over the country and spreading the money so thinly across many pointless channels like BBC3 and BBC4 when we could live without them and their output could be on BBC2. So whatever the Americans do with Blakes 7, you can blame the BBC and their stupid management and short sighted clueless attitude. IF we get anything it will probably be Blakes 7 in name only and some basic ideas perhaps. No one on this planet could ever hope to play Avon better than Paul Darrow. Villa as played by Michael Keating was also superb, as was Blake / Gareth Thomas. So many classic ideas and designs in one show. The Liberators design, the flight deck and ZEN were all fabulous. Peter Tuddenham as Orac / Zen were also fantastic characters. They worked so well entirely because of Peters superb vocal work. Can you ever imagine ZEN with a different voice? A Female Voice? An american accent?? Its Britishness is what helped define the show.... But if the Americans want to make it, and do a good job, good luck to them I say. At least they try. At least they WANT to do it. Which is more than can be said for the BBC. They have given up on Red Dwarf, they gave up on Blakes 7 they dont care about anything else on BBC1 or Two, other than Sports Fans, Talent Show Fans, Soap Opera Fans, Medical / Police Drama fans and last but not least , we get Sherlock and Doctor Who. Thats your lot. Except at Christmas when they spend a bit more cash on Films you have had on DvD / Blueray for a couple of years. Rant over!

Green Lantern director? Goodbye Blake's 7, nice knowing you, thanks for the memories.

The issue is that it just screams ‘TORCHWOOD’ right at you. But, lets not all get
our knickers in a twist because its an American production company. Who knows?
They may actually give it a worthwhile update. Its not to say they won’t cast a
British ensemble. Its 30 years since the original show was last on our screens
so there’s a couple of generations out there who won’t have watched it the first
time around and so therefore won’t be biased towards the reboot. Although we’ve
been here a couple of times previously, I hope it goes ahead and they do it
justice because if there was one show that I’d love to see return in a new
guise, its Blake’s 7.

Blake's 7 died in 1981. Please don't reboot it, those old enough to remember it won't be very forgiving. Arguably, Doctor Who is that rare beast - a decent reboot, but crucially it has a format where change is a fundamental part of the show. The Prisoner and Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) - to name but two- were not improved by being remade for a new generation.

Who was also the director of Casino Royale so hurrah! Oh but also Vertical Limit so, yeah David, back to what you were saying...

The best thing about this is if they reboot Blake's 7 for the American audience, we'll likely get DVD's of the original series over here....