I haven't put a damned link up in this blog for so long, it's shameful. Well, here's a good one - according to the BBC, the cult sci-fi series "Blake's 7" will be making a comeback sometime in 2005 as a miniseries spearheaded by Paul Darrow, one of the show's original actors, who has recently acquired the rights to B7 from its creator's widow. Terry Nation, known better in the States perhaps for his work with "Dr. Who" and his evil alien brainchildren the Daleks ("Exterminate!"), envisioned Blake's 7 as the British answer to Star Trek. Only whereas Trek was the embodiment of utopian thinking, B7 imagined a dark future of giant domed cities and a galactic police state, against which a small group of dissidents and ex-convicts waged war. "The Dirty Dozen" in space, that's how the show was described, and for its four-year run in the late 70's and early 80's, it never failed to live up to its dystopic potential, from its improbable set-up to its inevitable conclusion. Blake's 7 actually had the guts to kill off its entire cast in the series finale, although it was always left a little ambiguous as to what happened to Mr. Darrow's character Avon, who's last seen in the show standing over the body of the show's namesake (whom he himself had just killed, mistakenly, as he realizes to his horror only too late), surrounded by shock troops, gun in hand. Instead of surrendering, Avon raises his own gun, smiles, and starts shooting as the show cuts away to the credits and the sounds of a firefight. Well, now it appears that Avon did not in fact die, since Mr. Darrow will be the only actor from the original reprising his role in the miniseries, which is fantastic news, as Avon was one of the snarkiest, most loveably unloveable characters ever portrayed in a television series, sci-fi or no sci-fi, British or American. I wish B7 all the best on its revival, and will eagerly look forward to its broadcast here in the States.