Why it's time to reboot 'Blake’s 7'

So could Blake’s 7 offer something different in today’s genre packed TV landscape? And who holds the creative force to bring this forgotten gem back to the small, or even big screen?

Avengers director Joss Whedon would be the fantasy choice to helm any movie adaptation, but he has covered similar territory with Firefly and Serenity.

Doctor Who saviour Russell T Davies would be an obvious choice for many to lead any TV revival, but he dismissed the idea with a smirk and “No thanks,” whilst partaking in a round of TV interviews in 2005.

Closer to home, writer Matthew Graham (Life on Mars) has expressed interest in a revival – would he be a better fit for the gloomier, grittier fight against the Terran Federation? Perhaps alongside another firm fan of the show, Doctor Who scribe Gareth Roberts whose credits include last season’s ‘The Caretaker’ and 2007’s ‘The Shakespeare Code’, they could lead a dream team tasked with resurrecting the Liberator and its crew.

While very little of Blake’s rehabilitation on Earth was explored in the original series, or his former resistance movement for that matter, perhaps any new series could delve a little deeper into the resistance leader’s past.

The use of flashbacks – akin to Arrow‘s depiction of Oliver Queen’s time away from Starling City – could prove beneficial when establishing the central characters. Would the new series dare to take a direct political stance, by paralleling the oppressive Terran Federation, with the self-serving governments of our time?

The original series was not averse it a smattering of wit in its day, and a combination of the original show’s grittiness with Guardians of the Galaxy style humour could ensure any revival of Blake’s 7 truly flies with a 21^st century sci-fi audience.

I’m starting a campaign for Keeley Hawes to be cast as Supreme Commander Servalan in said remake right now!

Yet where would any reboot begin? I’d suggest a condensed adaptation of the first two episodes albeit with some changes…

Renouncing his time as a political activist, Roj Blake leads an idyllic life in the shinning capital of the Terran Federation. A husband, father and diplomat – Blake implores its citizens and trade partners to embrace the Federation’s measures of austerity, in the name of equality for all. Reaching out to human colonists across the outer worlds, promoting the ideals and encouraging all to grasp the opportunities afforded by the Terran Federation – Blake’s new life is a lie.

When a group of resistance fighters storm the Terran capital and take him hostage, the Federation move quickly to discredit Blake. Discovering how the state used torture, drugs and mind control techniques to initiate his submission, Blake learns he once led the fiercest rebellion the authority had ever seen, and that many hold to the belief he was coerced into supporting his oppressors.

Before Blake can come to terms with these revelations, the Federation manage to track down this small band of resistance fighters to slaughter them all one by one. Once in custody, the Federation realise any further attempts at conditioning are doomed to failure, and so implicate Blake in a wide scale child molestation ring. Tried by the state, the discredited ambassador is quickly condemned to live out his days on a desolate penal planet.

While incarcerated awaiting his fate, Blake makes the acquaintance of a section of society deemed undesirable; including professional thief Villa, smuggler Jenna Stannis and computer fraudster Kerr Avon. Burning with anger and a steely determination – Blake learns these are desperate times for the Federation. As its citizens revolt on major worlds, the Federation is losing a conflict with an advance alien threat on the edge of the galaxy. Hoping to turn the tide against this alien threat, the Federation have seized one of its aggressor’s advanced spacecraft.

Unwisely, said spacecraft is currently held in the same facility as Blake, the thief, the smuggler and the computer expert. Offering his fellow convicts an escape route, Blake leads a furious fire fight through the detention blocks, into the hanger bay and takes command of the superlative vessel. Once the ship’s on board computer has been overcome, Blake christens the ship Liberator and offers his co-conspirators a shot at redemption.

The crew must decide find whether they have acquired a tool to further their own self-interests, or an instrument to lead a devastating assault on the Federation and its operations…

Given the limitations of its effects budget in 1970’s, Blake’s 7 struggled to realise it’s lofty ambitions effectively, but beyond its visual FX failings there lies a uniquely populated sci-fi universe – complete with morally ambiguous characters and their complex motivations.