New Blake’s 7 sent to Cygnus Alpha
So, the rejuvenated Blake's 7 has gone down the toilet, like everyone with any sense always knew it would.
I've followed this story for a good few years and never thought B7 Productions, or B7 Media, or whatever they're called this week had anywhere near the clout, the experience or the goodwill to get a new TV series off the ground.
After Paul Darrow left, they lost the one vital connection back to the original series that may have convinced fans they were headed in the right direction.
And the fairly bizarre set of announcements and appointments, the stuttering audio episodes, and the extremely niche nature of B7 Media's other productions, didn't do much to convince me.
The Sky announcement took me by surprise, and it pleased me, but it was still a case of 'I'll believe it when I see it".
I suspect the new Blake's 7 has got as far as it was ever going to get, which admittedly is further than I ever thought it would - namely because Blake's 7 just doesn't have anywhere near the brand equity - to apply a horrible phrase to something rather wonderful - that Doctor Who does.
And while Who wasn't historically massive in the States, I doubt there was much more than a flicker on interest in Blake's 7. That will mean it will be nigh-on impossible to secure overseas funding.
Who can run and run and run. It's the ultimate flexible TV show. Blake's 7, or much of its equity, is long gone, and was bound up in the charm and style of those original characters.
As it stands, a remade B7 would increasingly be a run-of-the-mill TV sci-fi runaround. The set-up, especially these days, does not seem especially novel; the nostalgia nowhere near that of Doctor Who; the genre moved on a long way - you only have to look at what Farscape did with a similar set-up.
Blake's 7 was a wonderful, brilliant show. But it belongs well in the past. Still, I wouldn't be surprised to see Andrew Sewell, surrounded by Federation guards, start to smile over a black fade.
Doctor Who sweeps board in SFX sci-fi poll
The Doctor has been voted 'Best Hero' in an SFX poll of its readers; with the Daleks voted Best Monster; and The Master voted Best Villain; with various other Whoniverse characters peppered around various other polls.
I'm biased, but it's tough to see how any other genre character can really compete with the Doctor – eleven faces and personalities; bigger-on-the-inside time machine; anywhere in time and space; mysterious background and abilities. Who could compare?
Blake's 7, Babylon 5 and Farscape, three other series I have big soft-spots for, get a few mentions in the poll too, which is mainly dominated by the Trek franchise and various tedious vampire stuff.
Elsewhere The Master was voted best villain. A right and just result considering the brilliance of Roger Delgado and the sheer evilness of Anthony Ainley. Simm had his moments too. In his less interesting stories, including some of the recent ones, The Master is just a generic pantomime villain.
But gven something more interesting to do, all the actors who played the part have brought something new to the role in the way that every Doctor does. Seven shades of evil. Again, who could compete?
As it goes, I don't really have much interest in the Daleks. Every new appearance since Remembrance of the Daleks - barring Dalek - has been an exercise in diminishing returns and I'm frankly rather bored of them now.
The Daleks, yesterday
Daleks have arguably been rebooted three or four times now, but beyond that original concept there's not a huge amount to them. Most of the best Dalek stories since the 60s have concerned how people react to their presence and existence as much as anything - Genesis, Revelation and Remembrance specifically - although Day of the Daleks is brilliant sci-fi fun.
RTD and Helen Raynor failed completely in doing anything of interest with them in my opinion, and while Victory of the Daleks had some nice moment, it was pretty incoherent stuff.
Nevertheless, Daleks are slightly beyond that now. They're such a massive icon it doesn't really matter any more.
And now, in an SFX poll, they've trumped something called Lorne from Angel, the Aliens, Gollum from Lord Of The Rings, Gizmo from Gremlins, and the thing from, er, The Thing.
I wonder what Ray Cusick, designer of the Daleks, makes of it all. Legend has it he got an ex gratia payment from the BBC that amounted to £50, while Terry Nation bought a massive house in the country and a fleet of sports cars.
Cusick may not be rich, but designing the best monster ever isn't a bad legacy.
Other Doctor Who-related results in the SFX poll include:
• K9 named fifth-best robot
• Cybermen named 13th-best monsters
• Davros voted fifth-best villain
• Captain Jack Harkness voted 11th-best hero
• Donna Noble, Rose Tyler and Sarah-Jane Smith are voted fourth, eighth and tenth as Best Heroine respectively
Radio Times Doctor Who 20th Anniversary Special
One of my first Doctor Who memories, and probably one of the most powerful, is my father coming home from a newsagent one Saturday with a copy of the Radio Times Doctor Who 20th Anniversary Special.
In the years afterwards, with DWM yet to be discovered; a VHS player several years away; the internet barely a mad idea in Christopher H Bidmead's mind; and repeats few and far between, it was the only thing - barring the Target novels - that was a sure source of Doctor Who information.
Inevitably, as I was very young, I cut it up into little bits to put into a scrapbook, or put the posters on the wall, thereby totally destroying it.
But the images were burned into my mind, even the boring ones with Dorka Nieradzik holding a plastic foot, Sid Sutton at a mixing desk and JN-T in front of his stalker-ish wall of photos.
Some of the things that fascinated me most included the screen caps of the various title sequences, virtually never glimpsed by me in my childhood. The power of those images and that music was huge.
The pictures and pen pictures of former Doctors, barely seen by me at that point in my life, were also precious - as the very concept of regeneration and numerous Doctors was still new and incredible.
Images of the monsters were terrifying in their 2D glory, even the Sensorites. A particular let-down that the advent of Doctor Who videos brought with them was the realisation that most of them looked bloody ridiculous.
Some of the photos are genuinely interesting though, I've never seen a lot of them reprinted anywhere since: one of the Third Doctor hiding from Daleks behind a whitewashed wall; Sarah-Jane pursued by a Sontaran.
And speaking of informative youthful objects of desire, one of Mary Tamm as Romana looking sultry and stunning; another of Katy Manning, poutingly sexy; and another of Sarah Sutton from that bit in Terminus where she takes all her clothes off.
A particularly poor image of Davison, Mark Strickson and Janet Fielding standing in dry ice graced a wardrobe for years.
But even the pages on some rather pathetic fans dressed up as various Doctors, and a shameless feature on Doctor Who merchandise, including Doctor Who and the Labyrinth of Death (or something) - what looks like the shittest computer game ever - were fascinating.
There was a short story by Eric Saward I literally never read, but I liked the pictures.
The only downer on the whole thing was the preview of poor Colin, who was about to take the Fifth Doctor, my Doctor, away from me. Poor old Colin.
So, recently, I tracked it down on Ebay and paid a few quid for a new one. It arrived a few days ago looking brand new, as if my Dad had just brought it home from the paper shop nearly 30 years ago.
It didn't make me weep, or cry with pleasure. But it connects me, now and then, just for a few seconds, with the pure thrill of discovering Doctor Who and the way it made me feel when I was young.
And that is priceless.
Sherlock
I didn't dislike Sherlock, and I think some of the modern updates, including the Sherlock website, which features in the show as Sherlock Holmes' own website, are nice touches.
But this snippet from the site kinda tells you everything you need to know about the programme and its 'Conan Doyle: Updated' shtick:
This is what I do:
1. I observe everything.
2. From what I observe, I deduce everything.
3. When I've eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how mad it might seem, must be the truth.
Elementary, my dear homie.