Alison wrote:
Anyone got the actual list, for discussion purposes? As I recall:
I've just rewound the tape to the final countdown. In forward (or whatever is reverse of reverse) order:
1. Star Trek 2. Dr Who 3. Red Dwarf 4. Thunderbirds 5. Hitchhiker 6. Blake's 7 7. Sapphire and Steel 8. Tomorrow People 9. Buck Rogers 10. Space 1999
I gathered there had been some sort of poll of the general public to arrive at these - presumably we didn't hear about it in time to stuff the ballots?
I couldn't really see why Hitchhiker was in there, since I firmly believe it's a radio show with a not-very-good TV spin-off.
I can't help but wonder what was deemed worse than Space 1999, the Tomorrow People and Buck Rogers, which were literally unwatchable.
Evidently Babylon 5, which only Tom Baker mentioned in a throwaway line about B7. I couldn't quite decide whether they were scorning the later Treks or thought they were so like the Original Series that there was no need to show clips from anything except that.
I don't think I've ever seen Buck Rogers or Space 1999 except in this sort of clip show; it was hard to believe that they were virtually contemporaneous with B7, they looked as if they belonged about a decade earlier. Hell, they'd have looked old-fashioned next to Moonbase 3 (obviously I'm not talking about production values, just the general feel).
No doubt I would think this, wouldn't I, but I thought B7 stood up really well in comparison with a lot of what was on offer. And it was pretty nice that they managed to get in one shot of the most important character, even if they implied that Gambit came from the final season and illustrated a degeneration into camp.