Theta Sigma
Captain
- Joined
- 26 Apr 2006
- Messages
- 2,572
- Age
- 44
In issue 195 of Data Extract, the Magazine of the Doctor Who Club of Australia it included a review by Jamie Boyd of Torchwood: The Complete Series 1 on DVD. In his review he remarked that Torchwood was "Doctor Who's first fully-fledged spin-off show (unless you've read Corpse Marker and not left it on or thrown it from the bus, in which case Blake's 7 is accorded that honour posthumously, but let's not split hair."
I will explain what Corpse Marker is later on.
Blake's 7, which originally ran between 1978 and 1981 and created by Dalek creator Terry Nation, looked like Doctor Who (at least with classic Who) due to the way the show was visually presented (due to the fact that both shows had the same production personnel) and therefore many Doctor Who fans tend to think of it as a Doctor Who spin-off.
Technically Blake's 7 is not a Doctor Who spin-off because unlike Torchwood, the Sarah Jane and K9 shows it did not come about as a result of a character or situations which originated in Doctor Who.
However the question of whether Doctor Who and Blake's 7 share the same fictional universe remains for Doctor Who fans to ponder.
In fact Terry Nation himself wanted the Daleks to appear on Blake's 7 but the idea was vetoed by the BBC (who knows perhaps the Daleks can appear in the upcoming new version of Blake's 7 from Sky One since it is the Terry Nation estate not the BBC that holds the rights to them these days).
The script editor of Blake's 7 for its entirety was Chris Boucher. Boucher had also written three Doctor Who stories. The second of his stories was Robots of Death (1977). Some twenty years later Boucher wrote a novel sequel to Robots of Death called Corpse Marker.
For Corpse Marker, Boucher incorporated the character of Karnell who originally appeared in the Blake's 7 episode Weapon.
The situations that Boucher presented in Corpse Marker led to the audio spin-off series Kaldor City produced by Magic Bullet Productions. Kaldor City saw Russell Hunter reprising his role of Uvanov from Robots of Death and Scott Fredericks as Karnell which he originally played in the aforementioned Blake's 7 episode.
Another significant casting is that of Paul Darrow . For 51 of the 52 Blake's 7 episodes Paul Darrow was Avon. For Kaldor City , he played Kaston Iago.
It was even suggested that Iago was Avon in disguise after the events of the Blake's 7 finale. Paul Darrow however has insisted in an interview that Iago is a completely different character.
Although it could be unintentional TV Doctor Who has indicated twice of sharing the same place with Blake's 7. The 1984 story Frontios had soldiers wearing the same helmets worn by the Federation officers in Blake's 7. More recently teleport bracelets like the ones seen on Blake's 7 turned up in the 2007 Christmas special Voyage of the Damned.
So is Blake's 7 part of the Whoniverse? There is no definitive answer to this. It is if you want it to be but it would be fun if it was.
Another thing tomorrow August 8 is Terry Nation's birthday. Nation, who died in 1997, would have been 78.
I will explain what Corpse Marker is later on.
Blake's 7, which originally ran between 1978 and 1981 and created by Dalek creator Terry Nation, looked like Doctor Who (at least with classic Who) due to the way the show was visually presented (due to the fact that both shows had the same production personnel) and therefore many Doctor Who fans tend to think of it as a Doctor Who spin-off.
Technically Blake's 7 is not a Doctor Who spin-off because unlike Torchwood, the Sarah Jane and K9 shows it did not come about as a result of a character or situations which originated in Doctor Who.
However the question of whether Doctor Who and Blake's 7 share the same fictional universe remains for Doctor Who fans to ponder.
In fact Terry Nation himself wanted the Daleks to appear on Blake's 7 but the idea was vetoed by the BBC (who knows perhaps the Daleks can appear in the upcoming new version of Blake's 7 from Sky One since it is the Terry Nation estate not the BBC that holds the rights to them these days).
The script editor of Blake's 7 for its entirety was Chris Boucher. Boucher had also written three Doctor Who stories. The second of his stories was Robots of Death (1977). Some twenty years later Boucher wrote a novel sequel to Robots of Death called Corpse Marker.
For Corpse Marker, Boucher incorporated the character of Karnell who originally appeared in the Blake's 7 episode Weapon.
The situations that Boucher presented in Corpse Marker led to the audio spin-off series Kaldor City produced by Magic Bullet Productions. Kaldor City saw Russell Hunter reprising his role of Uvanov from Robots of Death and Scott Fredericks as Karnell which he originally played in the aforementioned Blake's 7 episode.
Another significant casting is that of Paul Darrow . For 51 of the 52 Blake's 7 episodes Paul Darrow was Avon. For Kaldor City , he played Kaston Iago.
It was even suggested that Iago was Avon in disguise after the events of the Blake's 7 finale. Paul Darrow however has insisted in an interview that Iago is a completely different character.
Although it could be unintentional TV Doctor Who has indicated twice of sharing the same place with Blake's 7. The 1984 story Frontios had soldiers wearing the same helmets worn by the Federation officers in Blake's 7. More recently teleport bracelets like the ones seen on Blake's 7 turned up in the 2007 Christmas special Voyage of the Damned.
So is Blake's 7 part of the Whoniverse? There is no definitive answer to this. It is if you want it to be but it would be fun if it was.
Another thing tomorrow August 8 is Terry Nation's birthday. Nation, who died in 1997, would have been 78.