Normally I'd start this blog post with some kind of cynical remark about Hollywood being bereft of original ideas but I'm not going to do that this time because I think the news is so cool: Blake's 7 my favourite sci-fi show from the 70's is being revived by the SyFy channel. I liked Blake's 7 better even than Dr Who or Star Trek or Battlestar Galactica which have also all been recently rebooted and revived. What made Blake's 7 so interesting for me was its pessimistic vision of the future. Blake's crew were selfish, cowardly, mean spirited criminals (one was a child molester if I remember correctly). Eventually and reluctantly they took on the might of the Orwellian and sinister Galactic Empire but unlike in Star Wars the empire was just too smart for them and in the very last episode of the series they (spoiler alert) were wiped out and utterly defeated - which to me as a 10 year old boy was a shocking and brilliantly nihilistic way to end any sci-fi show.
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So yes it is the SyFy network they of the cheesy TV monster movies and the cheapie Stargate shows but like I say they also remade Battlestar Galactica which was - everyone agrees - really good for the first 3 seasons.
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If, like me, you're eagerly awaiting your Blake's 7 fix you might want to check out this little parody short film below with actors from The Office, Spaced and The Thick Of It. Martin Freeman's Villa is so good that I really hope they cast him for the remake (if he's got the time between The Hobbit and Sherlock), Johnny Vegas is fantastic as a debauched Blake and as for Mackenzie Crook as Servalan, well that's one erotic fantasy ruined forever...You're really only going to get this parody if you know the show and/or the nightmare nether world of British motorway service stations.
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