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Blake's 7 given the go ahead by Syfy

^Yes, he went to their world as one of Dayna's tutors. Dayna clearly had a thing for older men.

The one episode that I really have a hard time watching is "The Web." The screeching Cabbage Patch (literally) kids are so laughable, as in the floating alien in the jar. "Animals" is lame, but "The Web" is just torturous.
 
So two questions:

For the new series, what do you want to see changed?

For the new series, what do you want to stay the same?

I know this is a contentious point but I'll raise it anyway:

1.

Gan's limiter - I always hated the idea that this guy couldn't kill. It made him rather useless in certain situations, so this is one thing I'd like to see removed.

The Liberator's power banks - It's like the thing could drain it's own power so damn easily. I would like this to either be addressed or simply not mentioned at all.

2.

The characters - OK, it's a basic one to request but I think the six humans and Zen were a great team, plus Servalan and Travis were a good double act as hunters. Guest stars which showed up pushing their own goals and interests rather than just be there to give the characters someone to talk to is essential.

The Federation - Keep them as bad ass as possible and make stuff happen on screen. The massacre which opened the original series was pretty mesmerizing and showed how tough they could be right from the start.

Blake's back story - Yes we've heard about the dead wife thing but I think it's important to show his background in either the military or as a dissident. Just having him go against the Federation because they murdered his wife is a bit of a stretch.
 
Blake should NOT be military; he should be a dissident, yes, but not military. He should be an academic, a bureaucrat-- a privileged uninvolved man, so his involvement with the rebels will be more of dramatic step. When he witnesses the massacre, it makes him a true believer.

Yeah, they could easily get rid of Gan's limiter; that was useless right from the start.
 
I've got no problem with the limiter. Any idiot can kill; it takes ingenuity to find alternative solutions. And if there are situations where Gan's inability to kill is an impediment, well, what's wrong with that? You're not supposed to make things easy for your characters. The more the deck is stacked against them, the more suspenseful the story.

Not to mention that the existence of limiters helps illustrate what a police state the Federation is, using invasive devices to mind-control people.
 
I remember Gan being really dull though. I hope whatever direction they go with him they make him more interesting. I wouldn't necessarily say it'd be better but the trend in modern updates would make me think they'd possibly make him a dangerous guy who truly has violent tendencies that need control rather than being so justified in his actions.
 
This is exciting news. There's no reason at all to be "scared" or concerned by it, since nothing is going to be done with the property otherwise.
 
auntiehill said:
Blake should NOT be military; he should be a dissident, yes, but not military. He should be an academic, a bureaucrat-- a privileged uninvolved man, so his involvement with the rebels will be more of dramatic step. When he witnesses the massacre, it makes him a true believer.

Yeah, they could easily get rid of Gan's limiter; that was useless right from the start.
Click to expand...

I merely mentioned it as this will be an American show and the number of times hero just happens to have a military background...

Just as a justification for his moving against the Federation if they DON'T mention he was a dissident beforehand. I can't see someone privileged leading a rebellion. Following maybe but not leading.
 
auntiehill said:
Blake should NOT be military; he should be a dissident, yes, but not military. He should be an academic, a bureaucrat-- a privileged uninvolved man, so his involvement with the rebels will be more of dramatic step. When he witnesses the massacre, it makes him a true believer.
Click to expand...

So we do away with his history of political agitation that saw him "brainwashed" and his family murdered before his re-awaken and exile of Cygnus Alpha?

I wander - would Blake have been such a menace to the Federation if he didn't have the history?

As to his civillian role, apart from Vila's comment that Blake was an Alpha grade on Earth I don't recall anything else being said definitely about his background so he could be bureaucrat
 
Mr. Adventure said:
I remember Gan being really dull though. I hope whatever direction they go with him they make him more interesting. I wouldn't necessarily say it'd be better but the trend in modern updates would make me think they'd possibly make him a dangerous guy who truly has violent tendencies that need control rather than being so justified in his actions.
Click to expand...

Part of the problem was David Jackson's acting, part Terry Nation only bothering to flesh out five of the main characters. Give Chris Boucher credit for helping us get what we got.

Still, I can't imagine how the show would've gone if Terry had got his way and killed Vila off in Pressure Point...
 
I watched the first episode of the original series today, and I really enjoyed it.
I have to admit, I was pretty surprised when they killed the lawyer and his wife, I was expecting them to end up becoming part of the 7 in the title.
As for the whole dead wife thing in the new version, it's not that bad of a change for me. He did already have family killed by the Federation, so they if they just switch out his brother and sister for a wife, it's not a problem for me. Just out of curiosity which episode is the first to follow a more typical format for the show?
 
JD said:
I watched the first episode of the original series today, and I really enjoyed it.
I have to admit, I was pretty surprised when they killed the lawyer and his wife, I was expecting them to end up becoming part of the 7 in the title.
As for the whole dead wife thing in the new version, it's not that bad of a change for me. He did already have family killed by the Federation, so they if they just switch out his brother and sister for a wife, it's not a problem for me. Just out of curiosity which episode is the first to follow a more typical format for the show?
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The first four episodes set up the show, and (minor spoiler), the 'seven' won't be assembled until the end of episode 4 (Time Squad). From ep 5 (The Web) onwards it's pretty much set in stone, although Ep 6 (Seek-Locate-Destroy) is a major 'arc' episode.
 
Marc said:
auntiehill said:
Blake should NOT be military; he should be a dissident, yes, but not military. He should be an academic, a bureaucrat-- a privileged uninvolved man, so his involvement with the rebels will be more of dramatic step. When he witnesses the massacre, it makes him a true believer.
Click to expand...

So we do away with his history of political agitation that saw him "brainwashed" and his family murdered before his re-awaken and exile of Cygnus Alpha?
Click to expand...

Of course not; that's not what I said. He just shouldn't be military. He needs to brainwashed, have trouble remembering and then return to his beliefs, more determined than ever. But he should not be changed to be military. That would change to much about him.

On a side note, I do hope they don't try to "de-glam" Servalan. I'm looking forward to seeing some fabulous gowns on that being of pure evil. :lol:
 
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auntiehill said:
^Yes, he went to their world as one of Dayna's tutors. Dayna clearly had a thing for older men.

The one episode that I really have a hard time watching is "The Web." The screeching Cabbage Patch (literally) kids are so laughable, as in the floating alien in the jar. "Animals" is lame, but "The Web" is just torturous.
Click to expand...

Yeah I think it's a toss up which is the worst episode.

I didn't mind Gan's limiter, they just didn't often do much with it. I like the fact that he wasn't really a natural killer anyway, he'd only killed because people murdered his woman. I think what Gan proves is that having an actual Seven might be a step too far, and I hope we don't end up with a situation where Gan/Villa/Cally end up with Reed/Mayweather/Hoshi levels of nothing to do!

I also hope that Blake is some kind of Academic/bureaucrat and I sincerely hope we don't get:

"He was Jack Blake, the Federations top solider, until they klilled his wife. Big mistake..."

I'd be tempted to do something interesting with Servalan/Travis (assuming they even have them in it) and maybe switch their roles a little, play with the established dynamic and have Travis as the grizzled senior officer and Servalan his manipulative underling...then have that dynamic slowly shift as Travis' continual failure to stop Blake sees his star wane whilst Servalan's is in asscendence. In fact I'd even go so far as to have Servalan occasionally using Blake to advance her own position, in fact you could even suggest that Blake is seen as a positive thing by the Federation as it gives the people an enmey and gives them a reason to crack down further.

I can't imagine what B7 would have been like if Vila had died in Pressure Point!
 
Starkers said:
I think what Gan proves is that having an actual Seven might be a step too far, and I hope we don't end up with a situation where Gan/Villa/Cally end up with Reed/Mayweather/Hoshi levels of nothing to do!
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There are plenty of TV series that have casts larger than seven members and manage to develop them all well -- DS9, The West Wing, Firefly, the first season of Heroes, etc. It's certainly possible to do it. It's just that some shows choose to be more ensemble-oriented while others choose to keep a tighter focus on just a few characters.

And I feel ENT did balance its whole cast pretty well in the first season, but over time they tightened the focus to the core cast for some reason, perhaps at the network's insistence (since the network seems to have been responsible for most of the poor decisions behind VGR and ENT).
 
^Off topic, but I always assumed that with ENT the network wanted to have more of a TOS feel and concentrate on a 'big three' of captain, Vulcan first officer and crusty Southern officer, here a chief engineer, rather than country doctor. Phlox was arguably the Scotty role, the just-outside-big-three character.
 
^That might've been it. In the first season, the producers were going for more of an intimate, character-driven, ensemble feel -- somewhat inspired by M*A*S*H, I think, given the use of tropes like Movie Night and the letter-to-a-friend episode. But from season 2 onward, they were pushed more and more into doing high-concept sci-fi gimmickry and big action, so there was less space for character development. (And not just of the supporting characters. Archer, for instance, had several romantic subplots in season 1, but then virtually nothing until season 4.)
 
I really hope this is done well.

Blake's 7's original failings was it could be a very campy at times, with consistently bad special effects that made contemporary Doctor Who look good. Fix those and improve on the characters and it'll be a sure winner.
 
I wish I could work out why I can't get multi-quote to work, but as I can't... I just hope you'll all work out which comments I'm following up!

Dayna's tutor/boyfriend in Animals: in the original script, he was Cally's crush, and she was going to stay with him to write Jan Chappell out after the half season she'd agreed to do for season four. When she changed her mind and didn't come back at all, the script got rewritten to give her role to Dayna.

Gan's Limiter: That's an interesting one... the only first season episodes where it really gets a role are eps 4: Time Squad, and 10: Breakdown (there's a small mention in Duel as well, but it's passing). And guess what? Time Squad was a replacement for the original episode four, written alongside episode 10. As can be spotted from the way Gan doesn't have limiter problems when he should do in some of the earlier episodes (most notably, eps 2&3).

And Blake's background: he was an engineer. But I think that's only mentioned in Cygnus Alpha, when he and Avon both spot that what Liberator's teleport system is, because they both worked on Project Aquator, the Federation's failed (but obviously not entirely wrong-headed) attempt to build a teleport ("Small world..." "No, big project").
 
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