What is the way forward for Blake's 7?
| Interviews by Fans | |
|---|---|
| Title: | What is the way forward for Blake's 7? |
| Interviewer: | Steve Rogerson |
| Interviewee: | Andrew Sewell and Simon Moorhead |
| Date(s): | early November 2003 |
| Medium: | online |
| Fandom(s): | Blake's 7 |
| External Links: | What is the way forward for Blake's 7? |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
What is the way forward for Blake's 7? is a recap by fan, Steve Rogerson , of a November 2003 interview with Andrew Sewell and Simon Moorhead, two men who had bought the rights, and were in charge of creating a reboot of Blake's 7.
It was posted to Louise and Simon's Blakes 7 Fan Site.
Rogerson wrote:
The two were keen, however, to clear up a number of rumours and errors that have clouded fans' judgement about what they are doing.
Some Topics Discussed
- history and background of the road to the proposed remake
- the new show would be for "the 21st century. The tastes of the audience have changed [since Blake's 7 was first made] so you can't just transform the show from then to here. It has to play to a new audience and we can't be in a situation where viewers need knowledge of the previous show."
- "The politics are a key component. It will be like The Dirty Dozen meets The West Wing."
- "Roj Blake and the original crew will be mentioned, but in this world they will be folklore and their history will be manipulated by both sides to suit their aims."
- The character, Kerr Avon will be recast. "Avon though will appear as the catalyst for what is to happen in the new show. Enter Paul Darrow, or rather exit Paul Darrow. Much has been made over the past few years of Paul recreating the character of Avon - until October this year when Paul announced a very public split from B7E."
- there are comments about fan submissions to scripts, how it could be a step up from the hobby of fanfic
- Simon's comments that the scripts were better than the shows, that the fourth season was one that had lost its way, but he likes the last episode due to its "capacity to shock"
- the sudden, without warning closing of the forum on the website created for the remake; this was they felt fans were being too critical and unpleasant
- the refusal to facilitate fan communication with a link to Louise and Simon's Blakes 7 Fan Site where Steve Rogerson's recap was posted, as "I am not going to sanction a site that is slanderous."
- Andrew stated he was against "unofficial merchandise" as it "cheapens the product," and he appeared to lump fanfiction and zines in that category, but later on said he had "no problem with fan fiction." Andrews was, however, very, very much opposed to slash fiction, which he called an abomination and pornography. Simon Moorhead added a clarification later, see excerpts below.
- "Out of all that has happened, the one thing has got the fans angrier than anything else is the way they see B7E as delaying the release of the DVDs with the extras and Kevin Davies' much-wanted documentary. The news on that front is still not good..."
From the Essay/Interview Recap
Andrew Sewell and Simon Moorhead do not have horns or tails, nor do they deserve some of the personal abuse - including threats of violence - that fans have been throwing at them over their plans for a new Blake's 7 show and the legal wranglings that have delayed the launch of the DVDs of the original. Yes, they have made mistakes in some things they have done and the way they have done them, and they openly admit that they have at times communicated their viewpoint very badly. And, yes, some of the directions they are planning on going will not make all the fans happy - Andrew's comments on slash will have some seething.
But they are both fans of the original show and they genuinely believe that what they are striving for will be a quality show and a fitting tribute to what Terry Nation created.
"We are aware of the fans' attitude and realise with hindsight that we haven't answered their questions in the way that we should have," said Simon, producer at Blake's 7 Enterprises.
Executive producer Andrew added: "People have to realise that we are working on other projects in film and radio, so it is difficult to maintain the level of access the fans would like."
But he promised that as the plans for the new show developed and became more concrete that would change. And he acknowledged that they were partly to blame for the fans having to make judgements on inadequate information.
"We want to clear up the misconceptions," he said.
Both also pointed out that it would make no sense commercially for them to produce something that the fans didn't want.
"We are not doing this through altruism," said Andrew. "This is a commercial world, so we have to produce something to please the audience. The show is well loved and has endured in the minds of fans. We would be stupid to ignore that."
Simon added: "B7E is a business, but the core of the business is a true belief in what Terry Nation created and how we can move forward."
Paul criticised B7E in his statement for preferring to exploit a brand rather than make a TV movie. Andrew defended his position: "If you have an opportunity to develop something in a broader commercial environment, that is not a bad thing. For something to be commercial, it has to appeal. Blake's 7 is not a brand at the moment, but it could become a brand."
While a new Avon is likely to meet with mixed reactions from the fans, the next piece of news is likely to be almost unanimously welcomed - B7E has opened talks with Chris Boucher, with a view to him being involved in the project in some way. Chris was the script editor on all 52 episodes of the original series and wrote some of the episodes that are among fans' favourites.
"We haven't signed a deal with Chris yet," said Andrew, "but it is very likely that it will happen."
Since Blake's 7 died in the early 1980s, it has been kept alive by fans writing their own stories, and many are wondering whether the new show will provide an opportunity to give their hobby a more professional footing.
"I tend not to like cold submissions," said Andrew, "because you get inundated. We have other writers in the picture for future scripts. But there are other projects where there will be opportunities for unsolicited scripts."
This includes the possibility of spin-off novels, the audio shows mentioned earlier and the animated series. He doesn't, however, want a repeat of the radio shows that the BBC produced, which he said "didn't ring true". He wouldn't say who would be producing the new audio plays, but he did say it wouldn't be Big Finish and hinted that he might do it himself.
As to other writers, he said: "There is a lot of untapped talent out there and we would like to tap some of it."
Generally, he said, the aim was to have a team of writers. And he said all the writers would have the tapes of the original show.
After B7E invited fans to its new web site and to participate in the online forum, many took the plunge. Those fans were justifiably upset when the said forum was closed without notice. While some found their way to other forums, such as the one on this site, others didn't, leaving conversations unfinished and new friends lost in the ether. So why did they take that action?
"We put the forum in so people could discuss things," said Andrew, "but it got hijacked and became a bitching ground. Criticism is great as long as it is constructive, and it wasn't. We had potential investors looking at the site and the forum did not paint a healthy picture. It wasn't that people were criticising, it was the way they were criticising."
Doing this without notice, they claim, was initially accidental. They had been thinking of taking it down, and then it crashed and they decided not to put it back up again. Andrew admits that the notice they eventually put up should have gone up earlier and he said they did answer about 50 emails enquiring about the forum.
Asked why he was not willing at least to put a link to the forum on this site, he said that the same criticisms had continued there. "I am not going to sanction a site that is slanderous," he said.
He knows what they did ended up letting a minority spoil the situation for the majority of forum users, but he felt he had no choice.
Generally, he knows there are problems with the site and there are plans to sort some of those problems out in the next few weeks. However, he does plan on keeping it as a site aimed at broadband users because he said that was what all the serious movie sites did.
"By the time we are ready to expand the site, the number of people with broadband access will be huge," he said.
Given his views on the forum here, a number of people will now be wondering about his thoughts on the large number of Blake's 7 web sites, as well as all the zines and fan fiction. "I think it is great that people are enthusiastic about a show and want to celebrate it," he said. "I am however against unofficial merchandise because it cheapens the product. I am also against so-called slash fiction and I give everyone fair warning that I do not support it."
Andrew's statement that he is against slash will probably anger many fans and delight many others. This is what he said:
"I think slash is distasteful. The actors that are represented do not appreciate it. And some produce this stuff on the web. I think it is bad taste. It has no reflection or bearing on what the show is and it is not a tribute to Terry Nation's legacy. I think it is an abomination. I think what is an abomination is the pornography. I have no problem with fan fiction, but I do have a problem with pornography."
Asked what he planned to do, he said: "They will find out how I am going to clamp down on it. The moment you start doing something of an extremely dubious nature of the pornographic variety or for a commercial benefit without acquiring the rights, I and my partners will take a dim view of that."
He acknowledged that slash would always go on. "If it is conducted in the privacy of your own homes, then we can't stop that. But when it is on the web, it is inappropriate. I will try to minimise it further than it already is. I won't have that representation of Terry Nation's characters given official sanction. Kids like Blake's 7 and I think it is inappropriate that they should come across that material under the guise of a celebration of Blake's 7. There are no gate keepers for some of this stuff, and that concerns me."
- ADDITIONAL COMMENTS FROM B7 Enterprises 10th November 2003
- The following comments were sent to us from Simon Moorhead of B7 Enterprises in response to the above article.
- Clearing up our viewpoint on Slash fiction.
- The type of fiction we are discussing is the adult material, be it hetro erotic, homo erotic, alien erotic or sado-masochistic - material that in our opinion is entirely inappropriate content for any website possibly accessed by a pre-watershed audience without any kind of warning. Most adult sites will go to great lengths to ensure that you are in no doubt as to the nature of the content and that you should be 18 and over to view such. We appreciate that slash fiction is a part of the fan culture but if this kind of adult material must be published on the web then at the very least it should be wall-gardened to prevent minors from accidentally accessing it.
- As filmmakers, we are opposed to censorship, however there is a time and place for everything. So whilst we have no wish to control the “artistic” endeavours of the creators of this literature, we will use our rights to manage the distribution of the more violent and pornographic types of slash fiction to minors.”
Fan Comments
[November 2003]:
... I have noticed that there has been an anti-slash tirade by the new Blake's 7 brand owners. It strikes me that Blake's 7 has had the most anti-slash problems of any fandom, and in a brave-new-Internet-world in which slash sits happily side by side with het and gen fic in other fandoms (Buffy, Smallville and Pirates of the Caribbean are among many that spring to mind), this is saddening, and strangely old-fashioned. The anti-fandom comments coming from people actually trying to make money out of fans (who therefore should be keeping us sweet!) also seem misguided and (rather sadly) homophobic. I hope that it does not discourage anyone to post fic. In fact, in a spirit of defiance against the "rebranding" of our fave show, I hope that it encourages us to write and draw and vid and Photoshop more "abominations". And I rather hope the new owners of the brand read some fic, as over the years since B7 ended we've thought through every Post Gauda Prime scenario possible, and could save them a lot of time.[1]