30 Days of Blake's 7 - day 30

[vilakins]

Day 30: Would you like to see a modern remake?

Very probably not. The characters won't be the ones we know, they'll make the universe even bleaker and 'grittier', and evil will still win. This is not what we need right now in this increasingly cruel and fascist world.

But hey, they could surprise me and recreate our favourite characters and give them hope, maybe even taking the story beyond Gauda Prime as was once intended. Yeah, right.

All the original questions are on Tumblr.

Comments

[siliconshaman]

Sadly it's highly unlikely that a story where the 'terrorists' were the good guys, fighting a cruelly oppressive and clearly fascist government, would get made nowadays.

IIRC, The Powers That Be had something of a conniption fit at the time, with obvious parallels being drawn between Servalan and Thatcher. There were questions asked in the House, but back then the BBC were a bit more independent and basically politely reminded the Government that it was a work of fiction and if they saw themselves in it, then perhaps that was more their problem...

[kitarella_imagines]

Sorry to butt in but gosh yes! Servalan and Thatcher could indeed be seen as similar! Thanks for that information about what happened when Blake's 7 was shown, I was about 9 when it came out so I can't remember all that. lol!

Also this is a great point you make:
Sadly it's highly unlikely that a story where the 'terrorists' were the good guys, fighting a cruelly oppressive and clearly fascist government, would get made nowadays.

These days it will be a quandary for the producers of the upcoming Blake's 7 reboot to navigate. We'll see if they manage it!

[vilakins]

AFAIK the reboot is going to happen, due in 2028. I can't imagine how they'll get round the evil empire thing, seeing as we have a few on this planet.

[siliconshaman]

Good to know... but yeah they're going to have to bend the basic plot into a pretzel to get around that.

[kitarella_imagines]

The only way this potential reboot would work for me if it is new characters, a kind of 'Blake's 7-esque' reboot in the same universe but not Roj Blake and co.

siliconshaman makes such a good point in their comment about terrorists and fascist governments! How are the writers of the reboot going to get round that problem in today's world?

[vilakins]

I would probably watch that and decide that our guys faked their deaths and went to ground.

They're planning it so they must have some idea. I think a Big Finish writer might be involved. I'm not optimistic though.

[executrix]

I don't think they're going to go for grimdark--they're going to go for cute and cuddly. To which I say Oh Hell No.
If I were just a drop more cynical I would say that these days they'd be more likely to make the Federation the heroes defending the empire against all sorts of illegal aliens.

[kitarella_imagines]

Cute and cuddly??? I wonder how they would manage that. But I agree with you- hell no!

[vilakins]

I really can't imagine cute and cuddly B7 (apart from Vila) and there's a Big Finish guy involved; they've done pretty well with their audios, but who knows?

[imhilien]

I am always wary at the thought of remakes. Also, I can't imagine anyone replacing Vila and Avon.

[vilakins]

Absolutely! They are the main ones I can't imagine being redone. Those two are iconic.