I've just finished watching Blake's 7, over 40 years after it first aired and if any show deserves to be remade it's this one. The premise is not unique, a group of prisoners discover advanced technology and use it in their fight against the corrupt federation. What makes this different is that aside from their leader Blake, they all are criminals.
Blake is a former political dissident, his mind wiped to make him an example to others who might challenge the corrupt Earth Federation that rules the Galaxy with an iron fist and a host of subversive techniques to keep the populations they rule over, submissive.
When Blake's memory is restored he is sent with a host of criminals to a prison Planet. En route Blake and a few others discover and escape to the Liberator, an alien ship with sophisticated technology and weaponry. Blake's force of personality wins over the rest of his crew with the exception of the self serving Avon and they set about to overthrow the Federation.
While the characters and actors were compelling, some of the storylines and effects were not and the third season saw Blake and Jenna leave off screen and Avon take the lead in the series.
The repeat villainy of Federation President Servalan and the one eyed Space Commander Travis keeps the show sparkling as the crew continue to try to keep one step ahead of the Federation.
Paul Darrow gave a hypnotic performance as Avon and the dry humour between the crew, often at the expense of the undervalued thief, Villa (Michael Keating) is still funny. What keeps this show fresh is the relationships between the cast, whether the sexual interplay between Avon and Servalan, the antagonism between Blake and Avon or any of the other sparkling interactions between the cast. With some consistent writing and some special effects that would allow some of the key off camera action to be shown (a sad limitation of BBC budgets at the time) this could be another successful rebooted show.
While flawed at times this is still a fantastic series.
Review of Blake's 7
