Summer Talking Meme #5

[lost_spook]

From evelyn_b: Recommend something with one of your favorite actors in it for an old-TV newbie (me).

Well, I gave this matter about two seconds of consideration before I knew there was only one answer. I know that evelyn_b has been enjoying everything she's seen of Doctor Who so far - and also likes I, Claudius (and Julius Caesar?), so what else could I say

Comments

[doreyg]

I love both of these shows (not shoes, bad brain) and this post just reminded me why. They really are the best of 70s-80s Sci-Fi, and I tend to end up shaking them at people whenever I have to explain why I like that era so much. They're just so unapologetically weird and lovely!

And now I also sort of want to write more weird elements fic, oh dear.

[lost_spook]

The world can ALWAYS use more weird Element fic! That is not a bad thing! (I fell into S&S so bad at the time. I worked my way through nearly half of 100 Element prompts. It was so beautifully weird, the Elements we knew, the hints of the ones we didn't... *dies a little again*)

They really are the best of 70s-80s Sci-Fi,

*nods*

[lost_spook]

Oh, oh! And did you notice the couple of times B5 quotes B7? Because JMS really loved it & it was an influence on it. (I can't remember which lines they were or when they come, so it's possible neither have happened to you yet, but I think there were two moments in particular when it riffed on it. And knowing that, I always look rather askance at the similarity between early Shadows and the Transient Beings, too...)

[john_amend_all]

Apparently Crusade, if it had continued, was going to turn into B7 about halfway through the second season, with the protagonists going on the run from Earthforce in their one-of-a-kind starship.

[lost_spook]

Well, I had noticed that they already had an Orac! :-)

[john_amend_all]

I got that from TV Tropes, which also says:
There are multiple similarities to Blake's 7, which JMS is known to be a fan of: The similar design of Excalibur and Liberator; the manner in which Max is not merely similarly written to Avon, but cast with an actor who looks quite similar to Paul Darrow; Dureena's nature as a hybrid of Cally's personality and backstory with Vila's talents; the Apocalypse Box as a near-Captain Ersatz for Orac. If the series had continued, the main story arc would have been the Excalibur on the run from EarthForce.

[doreyg]

I'm not sure if we've got there yet, but that actually doesn't surprise me! It’s odd, because it’s quite different from Blake’s 7 and yet I can see a lot of common ground between the two.

(It also amuses me how many of my favourite Sci-Fi shows cite Blake’s 7 as one of their major inspirations. I think I remember seeing that it was a major inspiration for Firefly somewhere or other, and I’m sure there are other shows that I’ve completely forgotten…)

[lost_spook]

I'm pretty sure someone riffs on Avon's "... and I'm not going" line, but I won't swear to it, and there was definitely another.

I think the other big one is Farscape, but B7 just seems to have been v influential!

[doreyg]

As it should be! Now, if only more things riffed off Sapphire and Steel...