Blake's 7 appreciation

[rushy]

May 5, 2022 16:54:15 GMT @gusgorman83 said:

May 5, 2022 0:49:36 GMT rushy said:

Random fun fact: there are four official/semi-official continuations of Blake's 7.

1. "Aftermath", a 1984 novel by Tony Attwood (writer of "Turlough and the Earthlink Dilemma"). Attwood worked directly with Terry Nation, who hoped to use the novel as an outline for a potential Series E. 

2. The "Lucifer" novel trilogy (2013 - 2015) by Paul Darrow. His work was partially based on an unfilmed miniseries that Nation was planning in the 1990s as a comeback for the show.

3. "The Logic of Empire", a 1998 audio drama legitimised by the involvement of Paul Darrow and Jacqueline Pearce. Darrow may have even held the rights to Blake's 7 at the time.

4. "Kaldor City" (2001 - 2012), a series of Doctor Who/Blake's 7 crossover audio dramas created by Chris Boucher (script editor of Blake's 7). It officially only features Carnell from the Series B episode "Weapon", but Paul Darrow stars as Kaston Iago, who is strongly implied to be Avon operating under a new identity after the events of the series. 

I read "Afterlife" by Attwood. He also wrote the programme guide I believe. It's a very strange book and I found it slightly disappointing that they brought back Tarrant for five minutes before he's eaten by wild animals on Terminal. It's a fun "what if" book though. I never cared for the first Lucifer novel and I'd say Afterlife was a better continuation. 

Yeah, Afterlife's story is a mess, but it captures the vibe of Blake's 7 better. Mainly because Vila is in it.

The Lucifer trilogy has a much stronger story, but it almost exists in its own universe. I would say that the second novel is a big improvement though, as Avon actually gets to travel around the galaxy and reunites with Del Grant. He also develops a death wish, which is quite interesting. But whatever you do, don't read the third. It's set on the Liberator and basically rewrites the four seasons into "the Darrowverse" with Blake fighting against the Chinese and all. 

[rushy]

[rushy]

You have to love Gareth Thomas as the evil Emperor Blake 

[rushy]

Some incredibly touching words from Paul Darrow's autobiography

[rushy]

Just uploaded my ranking of Paul Darrow's seven Blake's 7 adventures (the ones he wrote).

survivingblakes7.blogspot.com/2022/10/the-paul-darrow-adventures-worst-to-best.html

[burrunjor]

I didn't get round to my rewatch in 2021, but after a rough couple of weeks I decided to pop this on and dear god is it still fabulous.

The best of Blake's 7 is up there with the likes of I Claudius in terms of being some of the best British tv of the century. The worst apart from Power and the Ben Steed episodes are still good for laughs. There isn't much else to say that hasn't been said about how ahead of its time it was, but still it's always good for a rewatch.

Just sad thinking this time that Gareth Thomas, Paul Darrow and Jacqueline Pearce and Stephen Grief are all no longer with us. I am happy I got to meet Jacqueline Pearce though who was absolutely lovely, theatrical and over the top as you would want.