I met Gareth Thomas at Visions, he was fan-friendly, and wandered about the hotel meeting fans and joking with us. He said he was glad to be able to come to the con to thank fans.

I remember him as always having a glass in his hand. Not always a good sign, but never saw him drunk. Saw him again at a  con in Britain.  At one point, he was late for a panel because he was stuck in an elevator, but the conchair came out to tell us not to worry–Gareth had a beer with him, so he was OK for awhile!

Blake’s 7 had (IMO) the most beautiful spaceship, the Liberator.  The sets were shaky, the models shaky, and sometimes the costumers went on wild rampages coming  up with doozies we have come to know as ” the Michelin Tire Man” and the “cockroach”. But the characters and the dialogue was superb. This was not the tidy world of Star Trek–the Liberator didn’t have a “crew” in the usual sense of the word.  The characters were thrown together by chance and barely trusted each other.  They stole the Liberator. The show was more character driven than plot driven. And the writers were killing off characters at a rate that would astonish GRRM.  In 1981, just before Christmas, they killed off the entire cast.

J. Straczynski was a huge fan of the show. Similarities between B5 and B7 are not hard to find. I saw a video of him receiving an award from Gareth Thomas dressed in full costume and makeup as Blake in the final episode. JMS went into full fanboy mode!

There was talk of a re-bbot, There was always talk of a reboot. It might still happen, it might turn out OK, but Blake is Gareth Thomas, and in my heart, always will be.

Gareth Thomas, star of ’70s BBC sci-fi series Blake’s 7, has died aged 71.  http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-36041534

As Roj Blake in the cult series, the Welsh actor led a group of rebels on their Liberator space ship against an evil federation that ruled the galaxy.

Thomas was also an accomplished stage actor who appeared in several Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) productions.

His later television appearances include playing Nathaniel Clegghorn in ITV’s Heartbeat and David Baddiel’s father in Sky’s Baddiel’s Syndrome.

Born in 1945, Thomas attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in the 1960s and later became a Rada associate.

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His roles at the RSC included Orsino in Twelfth Night, Cassio in Othello and Mat Burke in Eugene O’Neill’s Anna Christie.
Image caption The show was derided by some but continues to have a loyal fan base

Yet he remains best known for Blake’s 7, which ran on BBC One from 1978 to 1981.

At its peak, the series was watched by 10 million viewers and was sold to 40 countries.

Thomas claimed never to have watched a single episode of the show, which was derided by some for its shaky sets and basic special effects.

The show also had a distinctly pessimistic tone – typified by the final episode, in which all the main characters were apparently killed off.

Reports of the actor’s death began to circulate after a Blake’s 7 fan site announced he had died on Wednesday from heart failure.

“Our thoughts are with his wife Linda, and his family and friends,” the message continued.

His death was confirmed by a friend who worked on a Blake’s 7 remake, according to the Press Association.

Fans, friends and former colleagues have been paying their respects on Twitter, among them an actress who said she had appeared with him on stage in Salisbury.

“Our characters hated each other but he was a lovely actor and a lovely man,” tweeted Ruth Mitchell.

Scottish broadcaster Muriel Gray, meanwhile, said she had “adored” Thomas and called the news “miserable”.

Thomas’s agent, Michael Hallett, said he was “a wonderful and very powerful actor” whose “fantastic career” had seen him play “a huge range of brilliant and diverse roles.”