Did the Magic Bullet things with Brian, Gareth, Paul and Jacx before Big Finish got the licence. But once Alan has made up his mind he tends to think that any other interpretation is wrong. Even when Chris Boucher said 'Interesting. But never thought of that.'
Blake's 7 on Blu-ray!
- Thread starter Turbo
- Start date
Working through the blu-rays and now also the Big Finish Blake’s 7 Origins novelizations. Though the latter are reportedly based on Nation’s early draft scripts, after half a dozen episodes, I haven’t noticed many really significant differences. If anything, I suspect the noticeable changes here and there are due to the writers expanding on story elements and tidying up inconsistencies and unanswered questions themselves. Speaking of the writers, reading the first three books in quick succession shows off the stylistic differences between Paul Cornell, Marc Platt, and Gary Russell. Cornell, for example, focuses each chapter on a different character’s perspective, Platt expands a bit on both the Saurian Major and drifting spaceship storylines from Time Squad, giving Cally more literary screen time. Russell writes in a much more casual prose style and rearranges events of his two episodes, rather than simply doing one episode then the other. All of them take advantage of the opportunity to fill us in more on what certain characters are thinking at key moments. Basically, they’re good reads by pro writers with a love of B7, but not incredibly revelatory. Maybe the remaining volumes will have more surprises. One’s by Una McCormack, and that should certainly be good.
I guess when I’m done watching and reading the first season I’ll have to move on to the Blake’s 7 Production Diary: Series A.
I guess when I’m done watching and reading the first season I’ll have to move on to the Blake’s 7 Production Diary: Series A.
I gotta say, I don't understand the interest in publishing versions of the first drafts of popular stories, like this or the comic adaptation of George Lucas's The Star Wars. I mean, the first draft of anything is usually the worst version of it, a rough beginning that needs to be refined and purified through extensive reworking, like crude oil or metal ore. Sure, there are cases where a script is well-written but then gets hacked apart in filming and editing due to factors beyond the writer's control, but that doesn't mean every early draft is going to be a hidden gem.
And seriously, given how sloppily written and error-laden the final versions of Nation's Blake's 7 scripts were, I can't imagine how rough the first drafts must have been. For that matter, how many first drafts did he even write? I thought I'd read recently that he basically just came up with outlines and left it to Boucher to flesh them out into proper scripts. Either way, I'm sure you're right that it would've taken extensive work by the novelizers to hammer them into a presentable form. I don't really see the appeal, unless it's just that Big Finish needed to find some hook for creating more B7 material.
With stuff like The Star Wars, the appeal, at least for me, is just seeing how different and how similar it was to A New Hope and the rest of The Original Trilogy. And in a case like this, it was a completely different story with very different characters. Now I wouldn't see the appeal if it was something where they only made a few minor changes.
From BF:
“Unlike conventional novelisations, which tend to be written before a TV show or movie has been completed, these are all informed by the available reference materials, 45 years of the show, and the inventiveness of our authors. They are all big fans of the series — our very own ‘Blake’s 7’ for this unique collection.
“The Nation Estate very helpfully allowed us to see original drafts written by Terry, some hand annotated, to reference as the origins of the TV show. Where appropriate, we’re staying faithful to the original series. For example, some draft scripts feature the characters Arco Trent and Brell Klein, who make it onto Liberator – but (spoiler alert) they won’t be escaping Cygnus Alpha in our novels.
“However, along with BBC filming, camera, and rehearsal scripts, those early drafts have informed these brand-new novels for all thirteen episodes of that first season. And with Redemption as the conclusion of Terry Nation’s original fourteen-story run, it’s the first time that any of the second season has been novelised!”
“Unlike conventional novelisations, which tend to be written before a TV show or movie has been completed, these are all informed by the available reference materials, 45 years of the show, and the inventiveness of our authors. They are all big fans of the series — our very own ‘Blake’s 7’ for this unique collection.
“The Nation Estate very helpfully allowed us to see original drafts written by Terry, some hand annotated, to reference as the origins of the TV show. Where appropriate, we’re staying faithful to the original series. For example, some draft scripts feature the characters Arco Trent and Brell Klein, who make it onto Liberator – but (spoiler alert) they won’t be escaping Cygnus Alpha in our novels.
“However, along with BBC filming, camera, and rehearsal scripts, those early drafts have informed these brand-new novels for all thirteen episodes of that first season. And with Redemption as the conclusion of Terry Nation’s original fourteen-story run, it’s the first time that any of the second season has been novelised!”
I meant to say as well, I saw the new Bridget Jones film last week, which of course features one Josette Simon. Nice to see her playing something light and frothy. In fact she was so glam and camp that for the first time I considered that if we were to make a new Blake's 7 and needed a Servalan then the best candidate might be right under out noses (not that Josette would ever countenance such an idea of course! 
)
)(not that Josette would ever countenance such an idea of course!
I wondered by she's pretty much the only cast main cast member who's never appeared in the B7 audios from Big Finish (Glynis Barber appeared as another character and think she's done an audiobook reading).
Quick google search indicates she wants to distance herself from the show over some very negative feelings towards her character and that embodied some racial and sexual stereotypes.
For those with the BTS material - is there anything on the casting and character creation of Dayna?
Yep, Basically, Dayna wasn't written black, but Josette was cast. ISTR that other people who auditioned included Kirstie Pooley and Marina Sirtis.
I didn't feel Dayna was ever defined by her ethnicity in Series C, but there were a couple of Series D episodes where it was called attention to. In "Power," one of the Seska referred to Dayna as "the black woman," even though she was the only non-Seska woman in the scene so they didn't need to specify. And in "Traitor," when they were discussing going undercover on Helotrix, they had that awkward dialogue exchange where Dayna wondered if she could pass as a native and Avon said, "No problem. When Helotrix was first settled, the old Stock Equalization Act was still in force. Every Earth race had to be represented."
I read that after B7, Simon became the first black member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, and stayed with them for decades.
I read that after B7, Simon became the first black member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, and stayed with them for decades.
Given Seska attitudes 'the woman must win' would have been more than enough.
I'd heard that was a little holdover from the original script where Cally would have been present also, although presumably given only she'd be fighting Gunsar it still feels clunky at best!
As has been said Dayna's ethnicity is barely mentioned, and in terms of sexism she was treated consistently better than Cally or Jenna were.Although she did have to work on three Ben Steed scripts!
As has been said Dayna's ethnicity is barely mentioned, and in terms of sexism she was treated consistently better than Cally or Jenna were.Although she did have to work on three Ben Steed scripts!
On the other hand, I think she was sexualized more. She tended to wear pretty sexy outfits, and nearly the first thing she did on meeting Avon was to kiss him. I think it made sense for her character, though, since she was a young woman who'd had a sheltered upbringing and was curious about exploring her desires. She was, after all, loosely inspired by The Tempest's Miranda, who fell instantly in love with the first unrelated man she'd ever met.
Outside of the first episode she was pretty much always in trousers and I don't think she was dressed any differently to any of the other female characters (other than Servalan obviously). Outside of the kiss (which I think Darrow wasn't happy about) the bonding ceremony (and how far Dayna and Tarrant went--if they went anywhere at all-- is debatable) and the unfortunate Justin episode, she's never portrayed as a sexual being, but then very few of the cast ever are*. It's not that kind of show. Dayna is shown as being competent, tough and resourceful most of the time.
*Though Vila definitely did the deed with Kerril and Tarrant had several dalliances, including Servalan (though I know a lot of fans debate exactly how close Tarrant and Servalan got!)
*Though Vila definitely did the deed with Kerril and Tarrant had several dalliances, including Servalan (though I know a lot of fans debate exactly how close Tarrant and Servalan got!)
and as discussed earlier animals was written for Cally
So from the outside it's hard to see were Josette Simon is coming from the but we're not in her shoes.
Things might have also be influence by B7 being her first ongoing role and we know from both Jan Chappell and Sally Knyvette that for upcoming actressses it wasn't the best environment for them to speak out if they had concerns.
but she wouldn't be the first actor to disavow the role that really got them first noticed (Martin Shaw will talk your ear of about George Gently but do not ask him about William Bodie).
A garment having trousers is in no way incompatible with being sexy. And Dayna's costumes bared her arms, shoulders, or cleavage more often than the other women's usually did.
Why in the world would you think that's incompatible with being presented sexily? Have you never seen an episode of Xena?
Anything on Blake's memory loss and how he got it back?
A bit, yes, as well as some discussion about Zen's telepathic abilities and the vanishing treasure room.
