Terry Nation, blakes 7, daleks, doctor who, survivors

All Hail Terry Nation, Yesterday's SciFi Creator Of The Future

You may not know it right now, but we're about to enter the Second Age of Terry Nation. Last week's announcement that Nation's classic series Blake's 7 is going to be remade in a Battlestar Galactica-esque fashion following on from last year's announcement that Nation's other series, Survivors, is also about to be revised and brought back to television. It's clear that the British writer - who also created Doctor Who's Daleks - has come back into vogue with British television producers. Find out more about the man behind 2009's cult revivals under the jump.

Nation's contribution to television reads like some kind of weird cautionary tale for would-be creators. Following on from early success as a comedy writer, Nation accidentally hit the big time by creating the Daleks for the second ever Doctor Who storyline - something that led to years of spin-off material for the writer, including an aborted attempt to launch a Dalek-only TV show in the US. Not content to be seen as a one-trick-pony, however, he also wrote for other shows like The Avengers, The Champions and The Saint, before creating a whole new series for the BBC in 1975 called Survivors.

Survivors was a show way ahead of its time - Influenced by more sober, serious SF than Who, the series dealt with what little was left of society following a viral outbreak that had spread across the planet and decimated humanity. Although the show ran three years, Nation left after the first season, moving on to create the much more upbeat space opera, Blake's 7.

From the creation of two successful British TV shows in a row, there was only one place to go next - but America proved too great a challenge for Nation and his success was limited to acting as producer of MacGuyver... which, as we all know, is no success at all.

Now, more than a decade after his death, Nation's creations all seem to be back in full force; the Daleks show up with depressing regularity in the new Doctor Who series, and both the BBC and Sky One have decided that audiences are ready for his particularly gritty take on SF post-Battlestar Galactica and Y: The Last Man. Maybe it's that audiences and program-makers have caught up with his artistic vision, or maybe it's just that program-makers want to capitalize on twin hungers for nostalgia and SF, but one thing's for sure - Next year, expect to experience Nation-building like you've never seen before.

Terry Nation.net

7:30 AM on Wed Apr 30 2008
By Graeme McMillan
1,344 views
22 comments

Comments

JennaW at 07:50 AM on 04/30/08
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Ooo, hopeless dystopian futur-ific!

I loved Blake's 7, but it holds up even less well than Classic Who -- the sets and costumes are horrifically dated.

Casting Avon is key, British TV people -- don't fuck it up!
SeeingI at 07:59 AM on 04/30/08
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@Grame McMilan: "producer of MacGuyver... which, as we all know, is no success at all."

Tell that to Patti and Selma!

Seriously though - "to MacGuyver" has become a part of speech. That's got to count for something.
CSX321 at 08:13 AM on 04/30/08
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Survivors -- One of the best British TV shows nobody's ever heard of. I got hooked on it when the local PBS station showed it back in the 90s. Bleak, maybe, but interesting.
Hookey at 08:18 AM on 04/30/08
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I'm looking forward to this, and I'm pleased for the guys at B7 productions who've finally got this off the ground; they've been working towards this for at least five years. It'll be interesting to see who they cast as Avon; I know they had conversations with Paul Darrow that didn't go well.
Hekkashesh at 08:20 AM on 04/30/08
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Nation's writing was strongest in his relationships between the characters (the classic confrontation between Avon and Servilan comes to mind immediately - two snakes acknowledging each other's venom...) I'm less concerned with the casting of Avon than I am with how Nation has matured as a writer. This should be interesting.
92BuickLeSabre at 08:24 AM on 04/30/08
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@SeeingI: Agreed. I find Graeme's anti-Dalek and anti-MacGyver tendencies disturbing.
Dunny0 at 08:37 AM on 04/30/08
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@Hekkashesh: Considering he's been dead for about ten years, I too would be interested in seeing how that experience has influenced his writing style.

It's nice to see a revival being met with enthusiasm instead of the normal "omg out of ideas" rants that have become the norm.
JennaW at 08:39 AM on 04/30/08
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@Hekkashesh: Terry Nation is dead. It's his shows which are being resurrected, not him... that we KNOW of!
jbq at 08:43 AM on 04/30/08
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@JennaW: Oh dear, that would be like Shakespeare being resurrected in "To cast a deadly spell" (or was it the other one, I forget), only with Dalek bumps...
russdanger at 08:52 AM on 04/30/08
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I too loved "Survivors", it was a cerebral and realistic view of people attempting to re-boot Human Civilization. Unfortunately I was only able to see a few episodes before it disappeared from PBS.
How would you run the local power-station to bring electricity to your home if there was no-one alive to show you how?...

Blakes-7 Rules too!
Slatz_Grobnik at 08:58 AM on 04/30/08
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...I'm still trying to get my head around the all-Dalek television show. I keep seeing it as a 50s sit-com.
Lizzie24601 at 09:19 AM on 04/30/08
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@Slatz_Grobnik:

Dalek Sek: How. Was. School. Son?

Dalek Jr: The. Students. Mock. My. Excessive Punctuation.

Dalek Sek: You. Know. What. Will. Quiet. Them?

Dalek Jr: (hopefully) Ex.Ter.Min.Ation?

Dalek Sek: MID.TERM.In.Ation!

(both laugh metallically. Dalek Thay enters, wearing apron, with plunger-thingy still dripping wet)

Dalek Thay: (frantically) There. Is. A. MOUSE. In. The. Bathroom. Plumbing!!!

Dalek Sek: Better. Call. An. Exterminator!!!

(cue laugh track)
Dunny0 at 09:33 AM on 04/30/08
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@Lizzie24601: o_O
Words fail.
Bloody brilliant!

Although the thought of a Dalek laughing does odd things to my brain.
Klebert L. Hall at 10:31 AM on 04/30/08
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@Lizzie24601:

Heh - that's funnier than anything I've seen on TV in years.
-Kle.
firesign at 12:17 PM on 04/30/08
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ooo, maybe they'll be able to make orac even more annoying!
$Image of Evil Tortie\'s Mom$ Evil Tortie's Mom at 12:28 PM on 04/30/08
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Terry was a fun guy (he was a FOAF, so I hung with him a little). He loved living in California, so "only" working on MacGyver didn't bother him. He did some other stuff too, he kept busy. And of course, getting all the booze on the con circuit was also fine by him.
jargonking at 03:47 PM on 04/30/08
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If you can try and find Nation's novel of Survivors...it's terrific although bleak as hell.
nerdgaymer at 04:04 PM on 04/30/08
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just started watching Blakes 7, and am really liking it despite the less than stellar special effects. Why does this have to be remade though? There is more to life than computer generated effects...
Lizzie24601 at 06:04 PM on 04/30/08
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@Dunny0: @Klebert L. Hall: Gee thanks! Anyone wanna commission a tv pilot? Anyone? no?
Beren72 at 06:22 PM on 04/30/08
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@Lizzie24601: Love it!

Although I see it as more of a Dalek all-dancing all-singing show...

or a game show like Gladiators (Terminators?).
urukhaifive at 07:42 PM on 04/30/08
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Wait... did you just insult MacGuyver? Because if you did, you seriously need to be smacked around a little.
$Image of I\'m Waitin\' for Dolemite$ I'm Waitin' for Dolemite at 11:02 AM on 05/01/08
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I could never really get into "Blake's 7" but one has to admit

Servalan, the bitch is fierce

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