Sci-Fi Storm

For those of you like me who have been eagerly waiting for years for a remake of the classic British SF series Blake’s 7, but where Georgiaville’s attempt would wither away after Syfy passed on it last year, and then with it rumored to be looked at by Microsoft for its fledgling XBox Live Network but Microsoft deciding last month to close Xbox Entertainment Studios, there is still hope that our band of rebels will return to take down the Federation.

The Nerdist released today some exclusive concept art for the production, and I confirmed with Leon Clarance, the executive producer for Blake’s 7 (and the upcoming Sense8) that they are from his production.

I agree with the Giger-esque look. Especially with the interior of the Liberator, I immediately through of the Nostromo from Alien, with the dark industrial look leading to the ultra-white corridor to Mother. The ship itself retains the “tristar” design, but looks far more industrial and as if it was build up over time and for many different purposes.

I might miss the beauty of the original though. In the original story, a derelict spaceship is encountered by a prison transport ship after an apparent battle in space. Blake, a political prisoner sentenced to life on a prison planet, along with a group of other prisoners, is sent over to secure the ship after several crewmembers were killed. Instead, Blake and the rest steal the ship and wage a guerrilla war against the oppressive Federation. The Liberator itself was highly advanced…faster than any Federation ship, with an intelligent computer system named Zen that was annoyingly stingy on information, saying, “Knowledge must be earned.” It had automatic repair systems so that an experienced crew was not needed. And it had a matter transport system the Federation didn’t have, with some interesting limitations. The beauty of the ship fit in with the mystery of its origin (which I thought was given too early in the show), and I was quite sad when it eventually met its fate.