The Mercury Men are coming

OCCASIONALLY in Scifi Love towers, I come across a shining beacon of creativity and coolness - such a beacon is The Mercury Men.

It is an upcoming sci-fi web series about aliens invading Earth with their doomsday device, the Gravity Engine. So far, so delightfully retro-kitschy - just check out that poster!

Given that the cost of making a series like this is coming down and the amount of techno support to amateur film-makers is on the up, hopefully we will see more of these as time goes on. (like the Star Trek films of James Cawley).

As they say themselves, this is the way films used to be made - simply, but with no little skill, bags of initiative and plenty of enthusiasm.

I am looking forward to black and white, Flash Gordon-inspired excitement from the Mercury Men and salute them for their efforts.

Top work chaps, and is their any chance of joining The League?

The end of Blake's Seven - great sci-fi moments no.2

I HAVE already blogged on how ahead of its time Blake's Seven was, and the conclusion of the series was no different.

It is incredibly dark, tragic and also open-ended - when the Sopranos did this, it was hailed as genius. So were they all dead? Just injured? Does the Federation win?

Most importantly, given that they were finally reunited, why didn't Avon hear Blake out?



When I was a kid, I remember the thing that affected me most was when Vila got shot. The cowardly thief with a heart was always my favourite character, and for him to go out as a hero seemed somehow appropriate. I cried back then, and asked my mum and dad again and again if he would be alright.

Watching it again now, the lack of any production values stand out - how could they not? The incredibly cheap silver guns, the scientist almost crashing through the wall and rudimentary firing effects scream 'done on the cheap'. In terms of the BBC's 1980s sci-fi output, it was hardly alone.

And yet, the show still carries weight and impact. Despite Paul Darrow's Avon chanelling William Shatner, his reunion with Blake was excellently played and shocking as it reached its conclusion - together again, but Avon's misunderstanding leads to him killing Blake.

The people behind the remake for Sky should be made to watch this to see how it should be done. And then add in about £500,000 worth of modern day effects and props.