When someone mentions 1970s science fiction about a band of rebels fighting an evil, totalitarian space regime, your mind almost certainly goes to the original 1977 Star Wars. Failing that, you might think about the 1978 Battlestar Galactica, or even the TV and film versions of Logan’s Run. But the oddest and most under-the-radar 1970s sci-fi rebellion show was Blake’s 7. Created by Terry Nation (the man who gave us the Daleks), Blake’s 7 was ahead of its time when it debuted in 1978. And now, after almost five decades, it’s finally coming back.
A reboot of Blake’s 7 is happening, and just like with the original show, there’s a Doctor Who connection. Here’s what we know so far, and why this is a great development for fans starved for a new, subversive space opera along the lines of Andor.
According to Deadline, Peter Hoar, who directed two acclaimed episodes of The Last of Us and three Doctor Who episodes, is relaunching Blake’s 7 alongside producers Matthew Bouch and Jason Haigh-Ellery. The show will be made with Multitude Productions, which Deadline reports is a “genre-based” production company, suggesting more new sci-fi shows could be coming from this group.
For the unfamiliar, Blake’s 7 tells the story of Blake (originally Gareth Thomas), who leads the crew of the Liberator against the oppressive Federation. Seven refers to the other members of the crew, although they changed over the show’s four seasons. In fact, Blake himself wasn’t a regular after Season 2.
The show begins as a space prison-break story, then morphs into an episodic series about our heroes waging their small battles against the tyranny of the Federation's Earth Administration and other related baddies. Though Blake’s 7’s production values were poor even by the standard of the day, the premise and vibe felt very ahead of time. In rebooting the concept with a modern sensibility, Hoar and his collaborators could have a hit on their hands. When Ronald D. Moore and David Eick relaunched Battlestar in 2003, it was a curious, under-loved sci-fi franchise. Today, that reboot has arguably eclipsed the original and become synonymous with great 21st-century science fiction.
Could the same thing happen with Blake’s 7? It’s been over twenty years since a cult British sci-fi show was rebooted, back when Doctor Who returned in 2005. While more obscure, it’s possible that Blake’s 7 is in the same boat; enough of a solid franchise foundation for old school fans to care, but plenty of room to remake the series with new ideas, new characters, and, of course, a modern budget. If the new Blake’s 7 comes together and taps into the original show’s potential, we could be looking at the beginnings of the next socially-relevant sci-fi show, and one that hopefully lasts longer than Andor.
