Blakes 7 to be remade - official!

[Graham Kennedy]

Source

Blake's 7: Syfy cues up US remake

Cable channel that successfully rebooted Battlestar Galactica orders pilot of Terry Nation's hit 70s sci-fi show

The bloodbath of a final episode suggested a comeback was out of the question. But television's appetite for remaking sci-fi classics of yesteryear has extended to Blake's 7, the story of interstellar renegades which came to an end on BBC1 in 1981.

Blake's 7, which was dubbed "The Dirty Dozen in space", is being remade for the same US cable TV channel, Syfy, that successfully revived another 70s sci-fi show, Battlestar Galactica, in 2004.

Doctor Who was reinvented for a new Saturday teatime audience by BBC1, but not every reboot of a fondly remembered show has been successful – ITV1's new version of The Prisoner proved short-lived despite an all-star cast featuring Sir Ian McKellen.

It remains to be seen what form the Blake's 7 remake will take or how faithful it will be to the original. Veteran director Martin Campbell, who helmed Piers Brosnan's first outing as James Bond in Goldeneye, is set to direct the pilot.

This could be really good... but I suspect they will end up giving us flashy effects and high production values whilst toning down the things that made the original good. Time will tell!

[Mikey]

Yes, this sure won't be just "okay." It will be either really great or really terrible, with a 50/50 chance of either.

[RK_Striker_JK_5]

Yeah. No middle ground, here. Either the heights of awesome... or the depths of suck.

[kostmayer]

I'd a huge fan of the show, just watching it again now. I would love for this to be a success but I'm very dubious.

First, the low budget gave the original show a certain charm. Granted, Doctor Who manages to be brilliant on occasion. On the other hand, Red Dwarf, IMO, was never great past Series 6.

What makes the orignal series for me though is the characters. Even when the stories are cheesy, theres always some great interaction between the characters and some exceptional dialogue at times. I think it'll be very hard to recreate.

And whilst Martin Campbell managed to reboot Bond twice succesfully, his remake of his own Edge of Darkness turned one of the best TV series ever made into a bog standard Mel Gibson action flick.

[colmquinn]

I know I'm late to this debate (i just got first series on VHS from a friend (remember what that is??) but lord I hope the Avon char is played by a good actor. Love Avon I do. A proper bastard