Here's a bit of trivia you might not know (or it might be old news) - Joe Straczynski loved Blake's 7 and it was one of his inspirations in creating Babylon 5.
I thought this was wonderful when it first came out. My sig (although misspelt) gives it away. Avon began my liking for leather clad bad boys on TV :0 Servalan was a wonderful character.
I rewatched it recently. Yes, still wonderful.
It is the characters and the dialogue that make it so much better than average. Plus it had some classic SF writers. The Avon and Vila 2 hander is one of the best SF stories I have seen on TV.
It does not surpriise me that it was part of the inspiration for Babylon 5.
From interviews I have read and watched, the actor who played Gan was fine to work with. But the BBC wanted rid of a character to shake things up and they eliminted Gan down to be the least useful character. The actor didn't mind going.
Starting season 2 now. I had not watched any episodes throughout the week.
The new Travis is awful
and they didn't put much effort into Gan's death or the aftermath
Jenna: Where's Gan
Blake: Gan's dead
They all look confused. And that's it. No emotion. No sadness at all. Although Blake spends the next episode dealing his grief but it's weirdly written in such a robotic way.
The new Travis is awful
and they didn't put much effort into Gan's death or the aftermath
Jenna: Where's Gan
Blake: Gan's dead
They all look confused. And that's it. No emotion. No sadness at all. Although Blake spends the next episode dealing his grief but it's weirdly written in such a robotic way.
Agree that the new Travis was rubbish. Stephen Grief was much more menacing and was a better actor.
Agree that the new Travis was rubbish. Stephen Grief was much more menacing and was a better actor.
According to an interview, he didn't return because he found the scripts repetitive. They tried to persuade him back for series 2 but he already had another job.
At least they never lost Jacqueline Pearce though. I think for me personally, she was the best actor on the show. At times Severlan was written as a camp panto villian, but her performance always felt reigned in and composed.
B7 was fabulous. It was one of the few sci fi shows to include a story arc rather than stand alone episodes, and one of the very few to have some quite unpleasant characters that you ended up caring about, (Avon) and nice ones that people really disliked (Tarrant) !
Loved it, especially Orac, who was like a bitchy K-9, Zen was gr8 too. Always liked that (similar to the film Alien), the crew have a really disconnected vibe, with each other. It was big on female empowerment at the time, which was still rare back then. Huge props to Jaqueline Pearce & her costume designer...
I think Captain Cold in Legends of Tomorrow is really channelling his inner Avon :-)
It's quite remarkable to watch him being quite so cynical, sarcastic and realistic about the situations the crew face in each episode, and then think that the writers have probably never even heard of Paul Darrow, Avon or Blakes Seven.
Both Avon and Captain Cold are examples of the tv trope known as the Deadpan Snarker
Comments
Travis was also in Eastender.
B7 season 2 spoiler:
Yes - original Travis was far better. The recast never seemed to have as much menace ...
I had SUCH a crush on Avon back then .....
I rewatched it recently. Yes, still wonderful.
It is the characters and the dialogue that make it so much better than average. Plus it had some classic SF writers. The Avon and Vila 2 hander is one of the best SF stories I have seen on TV.
It does not surpriise me that it was part of the inspiration for Babylon 5.
did sterling work in Killer's Moon
Starting season 2 now. I had not watched any episodes throughout the week.
The same thing happened when the actor in question, Stephen Grief was replaced in Citizen Smith
and they didn't put much effort into Gan's death or the aftermath
Jenna: Where's Gan
Blake: Gan's dead
They all look confused. And that's it. No emotion. No sadness at all. Although Blake spends the next episode dealing his grief but it's weirdly written in such a robotic way.
According to an interview, he didn't return because he found the scripts repetitive. They tried to persuade him back for series 2 but he already had another job.
At least they never lost Jacqueline Pearce though. I think for me personally, she was the best actor on the show. At times Severlan was written as a camp panto villian, but her performance always felt reigned in and composed.
Loved it, especially Orac, who was like a bitchy K-9, Zen was gr8 too. Always liked that (similar to the film Alien), the crew have a really disconnected vibe, with each other. It was big on female empowerment at the time, which was still rare back then. Huge props to Jaqueline Pearce & her costume designer...
R.I.P.
Absolutely!
"Big Finish" have done quite a few.
Both Avon and Captain Cold are examples of the tv trope known as the Deadpan Snarker
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DeadpanSnarker