British '80s Sci-Fi Hit Blake's 7 on Comeback Course
By John Scott Lewinski
April 24, 2008 5:49:33 PM
Categories: Sci-Fi, Television
Following the success of the 21st Century Doctor Who re-imagining, U.K. satellite network Sky One is bringing another popular BBC science-fiction series back to Earth.
Running from 1978 to 1981, Blake's 7 was created by Terry Nation, a major Doctor Who contributor who made a fortune inventing the Daleks in the 1960s. The show featured a band of criminals and rejects joined together to lead a rebellion against the evil Federation (not to be confused with Gene Roddenberry's big, happy UFP).
Though cursed by clunky 1980s BBC visual effects, the show was a little ahead of its time in content and tone. Blake's 7 was more akin to the modern Battlestar Galactica than '80s Who, with protagonists at each other's throats and looming threats constantly seeming insurmountable.
Sky One reps say they want to retain that tone in the new show. But some fans eye the network's efforts with caution, as it announced and then abandoned plans to remake the TV masterpiece The Prisoner with Doctor Who and Heroes star Christopher Eccleston a couple years ago.
Image courtesy BBC
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