Boucher, backbone, and Blake: the legacy of Blake’s 7 by Erin Horáková
September 17, 2023 12:23 AM Subscribe
I just checked the link and it seems to be working fine.
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries at 4:15 AM on September 17, 2023
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries at 4:15 AM on September 17, 2023
The link works fine for me. I was obsessed with this show as a kid, and wanten to be a computer programmer because of Avon.
posted by rjs at 4:31 AM on September 17, 2023 [5 favorites]
posted by rjs at 4:31 AM on September 17, 2023 [5 favorites]
I loved Blake's 7 as a teenager in the 90s, such smart and intricate characters, such high camp and drama! I never did watch seasons 3 and 4 which I gather have some gems, a treat I've saved for myself.
It's interesting this essay gives so much credit to Boucher, the script editor. And exactly for the kind of complexity I appreciated in the show.
I do think the show is ripe for a re-issue. Not a remake, for the reasons the article mentions and also because it just wouldn't work (although I'd love to see Aubrey Plaza play Servalan). But clean up and re-issue the original show, maybe make a bit of an event out of it. The show is available in the US for streaming on BritBox so maybe all that'd be needed is some marketing. I don't think trying to remaster it would be worth the effort. This 2008 Gizmodo watch guide might be useful to anyone who's never seen it.
These days I'm watching The Sandbaggers, another BBC show made at just about the same time. It's cold war spy stuff, Le Carré meets Bond. It's quite good and written with the same moral complexity that Blake's 7 had. But Sandbaggers feels fairly dated, like an early 60s show. Blake's 7 feels fresh and modern.
There's an authorized continuation of Blake's 7 stories over at Big Finish. No idea if they're any good, they seem pretty fanficish. As the article talks about there've been several efforts to gin up a new TV show but they never go anywhere. May be just as well.
posted by Nelson at 7:44 AM on September 17, 2023 [3 favorites]
It's interesting this essay gives so much credit to Boucher, the script editor. And exactly for the kind of complexity I appreciated in the show.
I do think the show is ripe for a re-issue. Not a remake, for the reasons the article mentions and also because it just wouldn't work (although I'd love to see Aubrey Plaza play Servalan). But clean up and re-issue the original show, maybe make a bit of an event out of it. The show is available in the US for streaming on BritBox so maybe all that'd be needed is some marketing. I don't think trying to remaster it would be worth the effort. This 2008 Gizmodo watch guide might be useful to anyone who's never seen it.
These days I'm watching The Sandbaggers, another BBC show made at just about the same time. It's cold war spy stuff, Le Carré meets Bond. It's quite good and written with the same moral complexity that Blake's 7 had. But Sandbaggers feels fairly dated, like an early 60s show. Blake's 7 feels fresh and modern.
There's an authorized continuation of Blake's 7 stories over at Big Finish. No idea if they're any good, they seem pretty fanficish. As the article talks about there've been several efforts to gin up a new TV show but they never go anywhere. May be just as well.
posted by Nelson at 7:44 AM on September 17, 2023 [3 favorites]
I’ve tried watching this over the last year on Britbox, after hearing so much praise for the show over the years. I find it a slog. Episodes just drag on forever and the whole thing is dated. I really wanted to like it, but this show is work to watch. Maybe it is different if you experienced it when it was originally airing. I think the same of the original Star Trek …. I like it because I first experienced it when it was relatively new (1970s), but my kids can’t stand it. They’ll watch the new Trek shows, though. Same with vintage Doctor Who — I love the old stuff, which I watched religiously when it first aired, especially the Baker era, but it just falls flat with my kids.
posted by fimbulvetr at 8:15 AM on September 17, 2023 [4 favorites]
posted by fimbulvetr at 8:15 AM on September 17, 2023 [4 favorites]
This is a nice thoughtful recuperation of Blake's character. As a young adult watching the series ~15 years after it aired, although I liked the show, I felt that his being a successful leader was more a matter of script fiat (all these people are secretly idealistic? okay) than personality, but I wonder how I'd feel watching it now, now that I know a bit more about group dynamics than I did in my early twenties.
I also didn't care for the camp elements very much, but you can't imagine them away, as I'm sure they would be in a modern remake.
I think here a few years after this essay was originally written there might be more of a place for a show where the hero is the one who welds the disparate and capricious team members together rather than the show-offy individual himself. I think Mike Schur shows are gesturing in that direction, for example. But, yeah, modern standalone "grit" would not be fun (and the example descendant of Firefly shows just how badly the terrorist angle can be gotten wrong).
(Once you experience C21 TV script pacing, I don't know if you can ever go back, but I think it's valuable to try.)
posted by praemunire at 9:54 AM on September 17, 2023 [1 favorite]
I also didn't care for the camp elements very much, but you can't imagine them away, as I'm sure they would be in a modern remake.
I think here a few years after this essay was originally written there might be more of a place for a show where the hero is the one who welds the disparate and capricious team members together rather than the show-offy individual himself. I think Mike Schur shows are gesturing in that direction, for example. But, yeah, modern standalone "grit" would not be fun (and the example descendant of Firefly shows just how badly the terrorist angle can be gotten wrong).
(Once you experience C21 TV script pacing, I don't know if you can ever go back, but I think it's valuable to try.)
posted by praemunire at 9:54 AM on September 17, 2023 [1 favorite]
Once you experience C21 TV script pacing, I don't know if you can ever go back, but I think it's valuable to try
Well the writers of Ashoka are giving us the opportunity to try. (That is not necessarily a complaint.)
posted by Major Clanger at 10:33 AM on September 17, 2023 [1 favorite]
Well the writers of Ashoka are giving us the opportunity to try. (That is not necessarily a complaint.)
posted by Major Clanger at 10:33 AM on September 17, 2023 [1 favorite]
The Sandbaggers, another BBC show
It may be British, but The Sandbaggers was from Yorkshire Television/ITV, not the Beeb.
posted by zamboni at 10:54 AM on September 17, 2023 [5 favorites]
It may be British, but The Sandbaggers was from Yorkshire Television/ITV, not the Beeb.
posted by zamboni at 10:54 AM on September 17, 2023 [5 favorites]
I love this line:
"nothing dates so fast as science fiction (unless it's every other damn thing you can think of)"
posted by doctornemo at 12:20 PM on September 17, 2023 [1 favorite]
"nothing dates so fast as science fiction (unless it's every other damn thing you can think of)"
posted by doctornemo at 12:20 PM on September 17, 2023 [1 favorite]
"the terrorist angle" - I would point out the Battlestar Galactica season when most of our heroes are terrorists, including suicide-bombing a school graduation. And it gives us that awesome line:
Which side are we on? We're on the side of the demons, Chief. We're evil men in the gardens of paradise, sent by the forces of death to spread devastation and destruction wherever we go. I'm surprised you didn't know that.
posted by doctornemo at 12:22 PM on September 17, 2023
Which side are we on? We're on the side of the demons, Chief. We're evil men in the gardens of paradise, sent by the forces of death to spread devastation and destruction wherever we go. I'm surprised you didn't know that.
posted by doctornemo at 12:22 PM on September 17, 2023
Nelson, keep going with the criminally underappreciated Sandbaggers. It's so, so good.
(And think of whatever happened to the writer)
posted by doctornemo at 12:23 PM on September 17, 2023 [3 favorites]
(And think of whatever happened to the writer)
posted by doctornemo at 12:23 PM on September 17, 2023 [3 favorites]
This author really gets the elusive qualities that make Blakes 7 so great. And I'd tend to agree that a reboot would be likely to miss them. Very few SF shows have achieve that combination of characterization, dialogue that is both witty *and* based deeply in the characterization, and political sophistication.
The one show I can think of that has recently achieved something comparable is Andor. At many moments while watching it, I was struck by how much it reminded me of B7. If anything, its politics are even more detailed and realistic. And while the dialogue isn't as witty, it's still very smart and character-grounded.
At this point, if I could nominate anyone to oversee a B7 reboot, it would have to be Tony Gilroy.
posted by Artifice_Eternity at 2:50 PM on September 17, 2023 [2 favorites]
The one show I can think of that has recently achieved something comparable is Andor. At many moments while watching it, I was struck by how much it reminded me of B7. If anything, its politics are even more detailed and realistic. And while the dialogue isn't as witty, it's still very smart and character-grounded.
At this point, if I could nominate anyone to oversee a B7 reboot, it would have to be Tony Gilroy.
posted by Artifice_Eternity at 2:50 PM on September 17, 2023 [2 favorites]
Great essay! (I got the link to open - the issue was that Strange Horizons is still using http without the s.)
posted by Coaticass at 3:35 PM on September 17, 2023
posted by Coaticass at 3:35 PM on September 17, 2023
I would point out the Battlestar Galactica season when most of our heroes are terrorists
In BG, the bad guy regime is literally inhuman, though.
In "Star One," the B7 crew is ready to kill millions of innocent civilians to topple the Federation regime.
(I hadn't realized Britbox was streaming it, btw; thanks to whoever mentioned it. I only have the S2 DVDs and watching them relies on my 15-year-old region-free DVD player.)
posted by praemunire at 3:37 PM on September 17, 2023 [1 favorite]
In BG, the bad guy regime is literally inhuman, though.
In "Star One," the B7 crew is ready to kill millions of innocent civilians to topple the Federation regime.
(I hadn't realized Britbox was streaming it, btw; thanks to whoever mentioned it. I only have the S2 DVDs and watching them relies on my 15-year-old region-free DVD player.)
posted by praemunire at 3:37 PM on September 17, 2023 [1 favorite]
In BG, the bad guy regime is literally inhuman, though.
It's been a while since I read it, but don't the Cylons have a lot of human supporters?
I recall the graduation bombing killed civilian humans, but could be wrong.
posted by doctornemo at 5:33 PM on September 17, 2023
It's been a while since I read it, but don't the Cylons have a lot of human supporters?
I recall the graduation bombing killed civilian humans, but could be wrong.
posted by doctornemo at 5:33 PM on September 17, 2023
I loved Blake's 7 as a teenager in the 90s, such smart and intricate characters, such high camp and drama! I never did watch seasons 3 and 4 which I gather have some gems, a treat I've saved for myself.
Be ready for that last episode though, not to spoil anything, but that ending's stuck with me through the decades.
posted by JHarris at 6:36 PM on September 17, 2023
Be ready for that last episode though, not to spoil anything, but that ending's stuck with me through the decades.
posted by JHarris at 6:36 PM on September 17, 2023
I recall the graduation bombing killed civilian humans, but could be wrong.
You could well be right--I literally only ever watched random episodes with other people.
posted by praemunire at 9:47 PM on September 17, 2023 [1 favorite]
You could well be right--I literally only ever watched random episodes with other people.
posted by praemunire at 9:47 PM on September 17, 2023 [1 favorite]
2 B B7 or 2 B B8 ?
-- that is the interrogative...
posted by y2karl at 10:15 AM on September 20, 2023
-- that is the interrogative...
posted by y2karl at 10:15 AM on September 20, 2023
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posted by Coaticass at 4:05 AM on September 17, 2023