[Flipside]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-22079232

Not too much detail at the moment, might be good, might not, but fingers crossed

[yuezhi]

who what?

[Flipside]

Who is an entirely different series

Read the article, it does explain Blakes 7 to those who don't know what it is, but you have to make the effort of actually reading it.

Edit : Fine, since obviously I have to explain it in person, Blakes 7 was a sci-fi series from the late 70's about a group of criminals being held by an Orwellian galactic empire who escape, obtaining a highly advanced vessel in the process. The story is of the adventures of these people. It was years ahead of it's time as in it was presented in a style not a million miles away from the Galactica reboot, it was gritty, stars of the show were killed off quite regularly, often in unpleasant ways, and even the 'good' guys were complete bastards by necessity, committing murder or betraying people who trusted them.

The production quality was pretty cheesy, but the way the story played itself out was amazingly advanced considering other sci-fi shows at the time. No other show of the 70's would have considered ending its run the way Blakes 7 did...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ar3wv-mjLZY

[General Battuta]

Blake's 7 was a super important and influential show.

[Flipside]

Thing that I always found interesting about it was that it took ideas such as the Galactic Empire from Star Wars, and removed all the 'safety' features, you couldn't blame the Sith, you couldn't say the soldiers were programmed clones, this was Humanity doing it to itself.

[yuezhi]

sounds like the dark side of sci-fi for humans

*watches out for le scaly trekkie

[Flipside]

Oh yes, it was incredibly dark, one situation comes to mind, remembering this was the days of Buck Rogers etc...

The vessel belonging to the escapees is in for repairs to the engine, being performed by the love interest of one of the main characters. Whilst these repairs are taking place the Federation (the bad guys in this case) show up, and the lead character has two choices, be captured, or restart the engines whilst their love interest is still in the ignition chamber, obviously killing her. He ignited the engines, which was the complete opposite to what every other show of it's time would have done.

[karajorma]

I remember Blake's 7 fondly (if not particularly well). I agree with you on the ending. In fact I doubt any TV show even now would consider that dark an ending.

My only worry is that it's being remade by the Americans rather than the Brits. Sci-fi did a very good job with BSG but unfortunately couldn't stop sticking their oar in over the show, resulting in some of the worst episodes. The chances of them screwing up a show that is virtually unknown in the US is much higher. If the BBC were rebooting this, I'd be a lot less worried as Blake's 7 was fairly popular here. As such it is likely to be treated with much more respect.

That said, since the show is so widely unknown, it's a fairly reasonable bet that it's been picked up by someone who is a fan of the show.

[Scooby_Doo]

After they loss the Liberator, the show took a turn for the worst. And the ending was like WTF?!

[BloodEagle]

Hmmm.  This isn't on Netflix streaming or snailing.

Are there any reputable sources for this material, short of purchasing a box set of some sort?

[Flipside]

After they loss the Liberator, the show took a turn for the worst. And the ending was like WTF?!

I loved the ending, it was refreshing in a way to not see the heroes come through against the odds, it was good to see that even the idealistic main character was human, weak and flawed at the end. In many ways it was an incredibly human ending.

I'll agree about the Liberator though, that ship was awesome and the series was badly damaged in general by its destruction, but it did follow the overall ethos of the show, which seemed to generally not care whose side the viewer was on.

I seem to recall reading somewhere that the creators of the ship in Lexx were partially inspired by the Liberator.