That's a very good call. Plus Phlox, T'Pol, MArina Sirtis, the list goes on. I do find it jarring at times. It's like Mark bleeding Sheppard. I do genuinely quite like the guy, but never mind the Nation Estate and the Daleks, that guy seems to be contractually obliged to be in every sci-fi show. Might as well make him Travis now... And chalk me up as someone else who finds the sci-fi actor interchangability on some shows a bit anoying. And really Monica B really needs to play something other than the evil short haired woman!
Just finished watching the first season today. Didn't think it was quite worth the rave reviews it was getting, but well worth checking out.
Well Morena could always play a companion on Doctor Who she's got some experience playing a companion.
Was never a big fan of Blake's 7 (though in fairness this is true of most British TV), but like Battlestar Galactica it's a show with a good premise that could provide for a good space opera yarn (I've seen the connection made, premise-wise, between Blake's 7 and Farscape before, for example), so I'd check out a reboot. On the other hand, Bill Mumy and Walter Koenig were both excellent in Babylon 5. If their first appearance got you thinking about the kid from Lost in Space and Chekov, pretty soon you were just seeing them as Lennier and Bester. I really think the important thing is casting actors that work in a role. Whether or not they've also done previous sci-fi work - it's gravy if they have, and not a big deal if they haven't. Stargate may have been susceptible to stunt casting, but if it was perhaps a better written show would anyone really mind? And yes, to semi-echo Bob the Skutter, Homeland is excellent and well worth seeing.
I hope they keep the Liberator's vast wardrobe, funny as it sounds, I always enjoyed seeing what outfits they'd have from episode to episode.
Are we talking about Morena Baccarin? I've only seen her as short haired and evil on NuV, in SG1 she had long hair. Has she done any other Evil Parts?
I only recently watched B7 for the first time and I guess I never realized how there were a lot of similarities with Farscape. You got the rebel criminals against the jackbooted authority of the Peacekeepers (Federation). You had your leather clad hero Crichton (Blake), telepath Zhaan (Cally), I suppose Aeryn and Jenna are somewhat alike. On the other end, you had Scorpius/Grayza as Travis/Servalan, Grayza had to be an homage to Servalan. I think Crais had a bit of the personal vendetta of Travis maybe. Even Pilot served a role much as Zen in being the voice of the ship. I don't really think there was an "Avon" as such in Farscape though there may be an argument for Rigel as Vila.
I wonder what changes we might see if a reboot goes ahead... Will Gan still be unable to kill? Will Orac be an iPhone? Will the Liberator nick the 'main guns' idea from Crusade to give it a really big weapon? Will Zen be a dance floor? Will they go back to the original idea from 1977 and have the title actually refer to what it means (IE Blake and 7 others)?
I figured Zen, Liberator and ORAC made up 3 of those 7. That's why the crew was paired down after ORAC came along, IMHO. And...once Blake goes off camera, Avon and his(?) Crew is Blake's 7
The trivia for B7 on IMBD lists who would have been the 7 but not sure of it's accuracy (hell it's IMDB) and one of these ended meeting his end on the London. Does anyone think the re-imaging story lines from B7 Productions audios would work if carried over to tv? (and if no will they please hurry and do more audios).
Yup that's part of what I meant. I had forgot she still had long hair as the baddie in Stargate however Think is people always mention Farscape, but there are other shows that had felt a touch Blakes'ian. Andromeda (especially in the begining) certainly did. Most powerful ship in the galaxy, overly noble commander, crew of misfit etc. Hell I could even make a case for Voyager (bear with me here) especially in the second season. Most powerful ship in the quadrant, only ship with teleport capability, insufferably (at times) noble and blinkered leader, half the crew are criminals...Think about it. Janeway- Blake Chakotay- Avon Seska- Servalan Cullah- Travis The Doctor- Orac Kes- Cally Neelix- Vila (though you could double up the Doctor here) Paris- Jenna Tuvok- er Gan? Ok maybe it's just me... And obviously there's Firefly (Not that Joss ever saw Blakes 7 or had any idea it ever existed of course, no siree!)
There's always the exception to the rule. However, Mumy was a child in LIS and given the passage of time and the make-up, he was pretty different in Babylon 5 from how he appeared then. Koenig wasn't a regular and played a totally different type of character from Chekov. Ditto Majel Barrett. However, I think that if you cast a regular from a space opera show in another space opera show, doing much the same sort of thing, ie standing on the bridge of a starship, comparisons do become inevitable. I'm not saying that the original person who suggested Tudyk was doing so, but on the BBS one frequently sees people suggesting their ideal cast for a new space show as including Nathan Fillion, Joe Sheperd, Ben Browder, etc etc. Deja vu all over again. I'd just like to see new actors in those sort of roles - no-one in Firefly came with space baggage, for example. But I definitely agree with you on the importance of writing and on Homeland!
Oh, I'd agree that when it comes to fan casting people tend to pull from a narrow range. It's either movie stars (implausible but hooray for wishful thinking), or actors who have worked in genre television. And as much as I loved Ben Browder in Farscape I'm quite happy with Jaime Bamber as Lee Adama (and yes, Browder was seriously considered for that role). But if the people behind Blake's 7 cast anyone who's worked on a space opera before - not that there's any reason to suspect they will - I wouldn't mind, nor mind if they cast someone I've never heard of (which is far more likely). All that honestly matters to me is that good performances are given.