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Underground > Film, TV & Theatre >

Ding, dong, Avon calling... the return of Blake's 7!

11:54 / 28.07.03

Oh yes. That's right. The beeb are bringing Paul Darrow back for a Blake's 7 mini-series.

Full story here.

Haus, wipe yourself down, man.

14:25 / 28.07.03

Wouldn't this be Blake's 1 then?

The new mini-series will pick up the story 25 years on

And hopefully in those 25 years humanity will have made great strides in fashion, hairstyles, and design.

Our Lady of The Two Towers

16:11 / 28.07.03

If the BBC are making it it'll be even crapper than that Doctor Who comeback of a few years ago, I mean, they had money to make that one...

18:52 / 28.07.03

I think the fact that Darrow has retained the rights should be enough to offset the Beeb factor, though. This sounds like it could be great - reminds me of Andrew Robinson and J G Hertzler's rabid attempts to not let their most beloved characters die...

ONLY NICE THINGS

20:13 / 28.07.03

Except that, with the utmost respect, Darrow's vision of the characters is right off. He's an actor, not a writer, as a riotous performance of "Man of Iron", his never-shot script, at this year's Redemption apparently proved. To be honest, I am nervous about any attempt to fuck with the canon, which has already had to be improved in all sorts of ways...

Mister Six, whom all the girls

21:15 / 28.07.03

This might explain why the season one dvd set has not been released.

21:21 / 28.07.03

To get a preview of how unsuited darrow is to be in creative conrtol of blake's 7 one can also read the blake's 7 novel Avon: the terrible aspect

Mister Six, whom all the girls

23:48 / 28.07.03

... do we really REALLY have to?

09:04 / 29.07.03

To be fair to the Beeb the Doctor Who comeback was paid for by Americans and written for the American audience (IE: we have to have a car chase, love interest, fight scenes because otherwise the American audience won't relate to it.) And whats most annoying about that is that the American public have proved time and again that they can watch and enjoy films and TV shows that don't follow the basic formula. American Beauty, Six feet Under, Fight Club, Being John Malkovich the list goes on and on. In fact the origuinal Doctor Who was huge over there!

Right. I'll end my threadrot now.

Blakes 7. Didn't they all die at the end of it? I was too young to see it. I remember seeing part of an episode with two people crawling round a space ship as it fell apart around them. And there was that ladders thing. Wasn't every ladder actually the same ladder just with a different coloured light shining on it to try and emphasis to the audience that it was a different floor of the ship?

Jack The Bodiless

11:33 / 29.07.03

Avon was the only character who didn't actually die on screen - if memory serves, it cut to black shortly before we heard shots fired.

And Haus - according to the article, Darrow's only part of a three-man consortium who purchased the rights. There's no hint of whether he'll be wroting the mini-series, or just acting in it...

11:52 / 29.07.03

yes avon is the only one that is shown to be killed at the end of blake's 7, but this does not preculde the clone blake from an earlier episode turning up again, or indeed the clone avon from the seven fold crown... (a radio b7 story that has been struck from the canon because its so crap...)

Alphonse commands you!

15:26 / 29.07.03

I love the way B7 is the only series to have a self-regulating quality controlled canon - if only that were true of everything:

- Hmm, I love Star Wars but Episodes 1 and 2 were shit - no problem, strike them from the canon! It's as if they never were!

- Red Dwarf would have been so much better if Kochanski had never come back. Wait! Ignore everything from then on for being unspeakably bad and it's all OK again!

Isn't that the equivalent of rewriting history? However desirable, if something has been broadcast as part of the B7 series (radio or TV) isn't it canon for better or worse, forever?

15:57 / 29.07.03

as opposed say, to the apocrypha in the bible?

16:49 / 29.07.03

Blakes 7 apocrypha. That would be a nice slant for this consortium: a series based around stories told after the events of the TV series, all purporting to be about Avon - man and myth can become blurred. Except I don't think Darrow would ever go for that. In his head Avon DID. NOT. DIE.

I just want my Season One DVD, for fuck's sake. I've been looking forward to making a teleporter bracelet with Ashley Judd for well over a year now.

Mister Six, whom all the girls

00:39 / 30.07.03

I think you mean Lesley Judd... but I'd gladly make a teleporter for Ashley Judd anytime.

What pisses me off is that the season one dvd set was announced ages ago with plans to have the entire series out in DVD format in no time. Then -fwam!- the whole thing is deleted. If it's anything close to the quality of the Dr Who DVDs, it'll be amazing. Those are some damned fine purchases (aside from 5 Doctors).

I was introduced to B7 around 1990, and missed out on seasons 2 and 3, but thoroughly enjoyed the pudgy purring lead, Avon. It made me realize that I could get laid as well, if I were camp enough and dressed in valour... then I was jailed.

... but I digress. I hope the new Blakes 7 is a go. Sci-Fi needs a lot of help on TV. Just the other day I saw Michael friggin Pare in a program! That cannot be right.

Jesus Q. Public

12:50 / 30.07.03

Can anyone say PENSIONERS...IN...SPAAAAAAAACE?

Whisky Priestess

14:06 / 30.07.03

"dressed in valour"

... discretion being the better part of velour ...

22:10 / 30.07.03

OK, Lesley Judd, you killjoy.

The DVDs were originally slated for a quarterly release - Jan '03 to Jan '04. Does anyone know precisely what the fuck happened? Did Darrow's "consortium" play a part, or are the delays akin to the delay in releasing the Back To The Future box set? I heard that likness rights were being quibbled with Back To The Future, since the disc included a test screening of Eric Stoltz as Marty McFly. Apparently Stolz (quite rightly, I think) said he deserved some bucks for his inclusion in the release. Do you think Lesley Judd has the same lawyers? Maybe Ashley Judd is trying to get in on the act? Maybe Judd "fucking harsh" Nelson thinks he's in with a sniff?

All I know is, when I tried to get my girlfriend interested in B7 on UK Gold halfway through season 4 she thought it was shit. Luckily they put the entire thing on heavy rotation and once it was finished they started from Ep 1 Season 1 again, and she got caught up in it and now fucking loves it. My girlfriend rocks. And now I'm being denied the pleasure of a B7 marathon (which she would insist upon nowadays - I refer you to my earlier "rocks" comment)by someone who probably wears a suit - or Paul Darrow.

Once I have these fuckers on DVD I'm hoping to counter Set's Deep Space 9 anima with a healthy dose of the Seven.

Just give me the box sets that I know are sat in a warehouse somewhere waiting for someone to agree their cut!!!!!

Mister Six, whom all the girls

13:32 / 12.12.03

From the... uh... Avon fanpage...

"This is something I never thought I would have to write to you.

I am sorry to say that circumstances have arisen, that leave me no alternative but to sever relations with the company formed to revive, "Blake's Seven".

Terry Nation and I talked at some length about his idea for a two-part TV Movie that might capture the imagination of a new generation, as well as pleasing those of you who have so constantly supported his original conception.
Since his untimely death, I have tried to realise the vision which, in a sense, he entrusted to me.

However, I have fallen foul of modern business practice, which seems to prefer exploitation of a, "brand", and therefore, a TV Movie such as Terry and I envisaged seems as far off as when it was first mooted.

Otherwise, I must quote, "artistic differences", with those with whom I was previously in association.

This is not a Damascene revelation - I have been disturbed by the situation for quite a while and have tried to remedy it, but my efforts have been overruled or ignored. My position became untenable.
You will know, I hope, how deeply unhappy I am and I'm sure you will share in my disappointment.
As somebody once said - "Every silver lining has a cloud."
Your affection and support over so many years meant a lot to Terry - and still does to me.

Thank you.

Paul Darrow"

Frm B7 Productions:

"Paul Darrow
As many of you have read, heard and indeed commented upon, Paul Darrow has resigned as a director of B7 Productions Limited (and its parent company B7 Enterprises) and severed all artistic involvement with the Blake‘s 7 revival. This was by mutual agreement. We shall of course miss his valued contribution. However regrettable his decision this does not alter our future plans, and we still enjoy the wholehearted support of Kate Nation and the Nation Estate. Furthermore we believe we are moving forward with veracity - with the legacy that has been entrusted to us.

B7 Productions Limited

23 October 2003"

Oh, but the DVD set will be released in January...

... ummm... I really have to get a hobby.

14:18 / 12.12.03

Every cloud and all that...

Brigade du jour

16:00 / 28.05.08

Just listened to the first disc in the 'audio adventures' box set that came out last year. Thought it was pretty good. Took a while to stop comparing the new cast to the old cast, mind (a US Jenna, a Scottish Blake, a Scottish Servalan and a sort of elderly Cockney Vila stood out), but after that the programme seems to take on a certain flavour of its own, albeit perhaps largely due to the characteristics of the radio format as opposed to the TV format.

Anybody else heard it?

17:29 / 28.05.08

More to the point: the return of Blake's 7

Sky are planning on a remake.

Whisky Priestess

21:24 / 28.05.08

one of the best-loved and most successful dramas of all time

Did she actually say that?

(from the link above ...)

Whisky Priestess

21:25 / 28.05.08

of ALLLLLLLLL TIIIIME!!!!!

Honestly.

I mean, it's quite good, and stuff, but "of all time" would include, for example, all of Shakespeare. And Sophocles. And The Wire. And The A-Team, ffs.

ONLY NICE THINGS

21:26 / 28.05.08

Perhaps "best-loved dramas in which Peter Tuddenham plays three computers"...

Whisky Priestess

21:27 / 28.05.08

Well, indeed. That's a rather smaller body of work.