From: blakes7-d-request@lysator.liu.se Subject: blakes7-d Digest V98 #190 X-Loop: blakes7-d@lysator.liu.se X-Mailing-List: archive/volume98/190 Precedence: list MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/digest; boundary="----------------------------" To: blakes7-d@lysator.liu.se Reply-To: blakes7@lysator.liu.se ------------------------------ Content-Type: text/plain blakes7-d Digest Volume 98 : Issue 190 Today's Topics: [B7L] Paul Darrow invited to Discworld con Re: [B7L] Blake [B7L] Tarrant clones [B7L] Articles of relevance Re: [B7L] Re: Dead or Alive Re: [B7L] Lost in Space [B7L] Chaos [B7L] Lost In Space Re: [B7L] Lost In Space [B7L] Blakes 7 [B7L] Re: Flag waving Re: [B7L] Happy endings [B7L] Re: Lost in Space Re: [B7L] Re: Lost in Space ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 11 Jul 1998 00:02:03 +0100 From: Julia Jones To: blakes7@lysator.liu.se Subject: [B7L] Paul Darrow invited to Discworld con Message-ID: Excerpt from the Pratchett newsgroups: In article , Karen Hanna Kruzycka writes >MORE VICT... ER, GUESTS! > >Following the success of the professional theatre production of >Guards! Guards!, we at the Convention decided that we'd like some of >the people involved in the project to join us in September. >Although we haven't yet received a confirmation, we have high hopes >that Paul Darrow (Avon in Blake's 7), who played Vimes in the >production, will also agree to come along to the Convention. > You can find more details about the Discworld con at the con's page at http://www.lspace.org -- Julia Jones "Don't philosophise with me, you electronic moron!" The Turing test - as interpreted by Kerr Avon. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 11 Jul 1998 11:39:22 +0100 (BST) From: Judith Proctor To: Lysator List Subject: Re: [B7L] Blake Message-ID: Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit On Sat 11 Jul, DJ Wight wrote: > atrocities, political manipulations > > > No question these all help to show the character of the regime. For me, the > problem breaks down into...let's see, here. Off the cuff, > > - Mapping when it did and didn't bother to hide its character. Eg., open with > the people on Albion regarding the solium device, vs. covert with the Lindor > Strategy. That's because Albion was part of the Federation and Lindor wasn't. They wanted Lindor to join so they had to present a much nicer front, wheras Albion already wanted to seccede so they weren't losing anything by being blatently nasty. > > - Gauging opportunities available to the oppressed, > to get the word out about about it. They did manage. > The rebels on Albion did make contact with Del Grant, > those on Saurian Major asked for help from Auron, Avalon > had plenty of contacts, and Foster made it pretty clear > there was some sort of grapevine working between > Earth and the Outer Planets. There is an immplication that communication betwen planets is extremely difficult/expensive. This seems reasonable. The distances involved are vast and a lot of power would be needed. Even the Federation didn't have equipment with infinite range (On Horizon, there was no one initially within range of the message asking for reinforcements) The 'Information Bureau' which Bercol worked for was essentially a propaganda machine. This again suggests that the Federation controlled most of the broadcast media within its borders. A combination of expensive and difficult communications and broadcast propaganda suggests that rebels had to communicate via couriers, word of mouth, smuggled tapes and messages sent using quick burts of power to reduce the chances of detection. > > - Tracing the way the oppression escalates over time. > The basic attitudes of disrespect for human life > and indifference to individual interests had to be there all along, > but there seems a world of difference between Secretary Rontane > in S-L-D pussyfooting around the issue of controllers whose > loyalty to the Federation was,"uh, delicately balanced," and > 'Commissioner Sleer' being turned loose to poison > whole populations with Pylene 50. I think the whole situation shifted dramatically after Star One. In order to maintain control with half their system knocked out, they deliberately allowed Sleer to become extremely ruthless. They had to clamp down hard or lose power totally. We know there were uprisings on Earth and Helotrix and doubtless on other planets too. > > Makes a big difference to how I cut my assumptions > about how Blake might have come a rebel in the first place, > depending on whether I begin by assuming these networks > had ways of getting the word out about what was happening > to people, and proving it, at, above, or below the normal level > of credibility for the character in his unspoiled state. AS I've said above, I think rebel communications were handicapped in many ways. Blake probably knew about the situation on the outer worlds from messages brought by couriers etc. Another reason why I think the political situation was getting steadily worse is that Blake was obviously a well known figure. It is possible that the Freedom Party had some legal political standing at one point and was later banned. It would seem likely that Blake began as an engineer, came to politics via a mixture of studying history and comparing the present with the past, hearing about the situation on other worlds as he became more interested, and starting to understand the situation of the lower grades. You could assume that he either joined or founded the Freedom Party and rapidly became its leading figure. The government began to realise that they were up against serious opposition. The better known Blake became, the more information got to him. The goverment banned the party. Blake went on the run, just avoiding arrest by the skin of his teeth. He began fighting underground, leading raids on 'rehabilitation centres' etc. Meetings of the Freedom Party became illegal affairs held whenever and wherever possible. Blake was captured by Travis at one of these meetings and his followers massacred. Then they had him mind-wpied and made him publically denounce the Freedom Party. It's highly likely that the massacre was covered up. The government was still trying to hang onto some kind of good public image. Certainly when Foster's peopel were massacred, there was a cover-up. They still weren't into total rule by terror, just major oppression. > > > What we saw on screen was biased towards the military > > because Servalan was leading th hunt for Blake. However, > > the fact that troopers appear in situations where we might > > have expected civilian police is indicative of how powerful and > > widespread the military were. > > Thinking about the domed cities, the whole business > of it being a crime to go outside, restrictions on > travel, cameras in the halls, and so on---postulate the whole > works, troops instead of police, and perhaps even the > suppressants in the air and water as originally part of a > "survival" response to nuclear holocaust or environmental > disaster, and I'm not sure that the majority wouldn't > have bought it when it was first imposed, and still be > buying it a couple of hundred years later. People *should* > be starting to become quizzical about it all by then, but > possibly not, with a little chemical help. Certainly. I see the domes being built as a defence against nuclear war. My explanation of the dome shape is that it's most efficient for a force field. If you have to keep your entire population within the dome (because they'll die of readiation poisoning if they go outside for the next hundred years or so) then it is accepted that you have to develop an incredibly restrictive society. Of course, that restriction gave very centralised power. by the time it was safe to go out (and we know it was in Blake's time because the 'outsiders' lived outside the dome and Servalan built Residence One outside), the rulers had beceom entrenched and unwilling to give up the total control that they had gained from the situation. > > >> What illusions of freedom and democracy were fostered? > > > I think it was the undrugged alphas that everyone had to try > > and keep happy and believing in the system. There was a > > desire to at least make things look uncorrupt. > > > > WE have very few hints as to the type of government, but > > even some people within hte government failed to realise > > how great the corruption at the top was. Look at Governor > > leGrand. (Voice from the Past). > > And Ven Glynd, of all people. Their naiveté never fails to > dazzle me. I think Ven Glynd had a hidden agenda. He was out to replace the existing rulers. He didn't want power for the people. He wanted power for himself. Blake and LeGrand were simply tools that he was using. > > I think he sorted out a lot of it while he was on the London. > > He was the only one of them who recognised the illusions > > put out by Liberator's defence system for what they were. > > He knew with conviction that his family were dead (I'm > > assuming that it showed him family) and thus was > > able to save Avon and Jenna. > > I'd agree that he's got a *lot* sorted out very early on. Again > leaving aside the realities of '70s heroic action/adventure characters > not usually being allowed to be psych cases, when Blake isn't under > pressure or running possessed he's just too solid and likeable a > soul, seems too emotionally healthy, for me not to think he's fine, > all the pieces back together. It's only when I sit back and consider > the 'facts' of his case (or re-watch "Voice From the Past") that > I start feeling, 'waitaminute, there has to be more going on here'. I can think of people who look fine emotionally and who can keep that front up for as long as necessary and yet are severely stressed underneath. It's a question of how people deal with it. Blake may well have had that ability to side-track things that he could do nothing about and to devote his energies to things that he could deal with. > > > However, he still had bits of real memory surfacing at the > > time of Seek-Locate-Destroy as he mentions it in connection > > to Travis. > > He could have got that back earlier. Thinking Travis dead, > he'd no reason to refer to him earlier. BLAKE: Oh, they did a memory erase on me, set up a show trial, had me confess, made me explain that I had been misled, that my political ideas were mistaken. Enough people believed me. The whole resistance movement collapsed. After that the Federation kept me around as a, a reformed character, a sort of ideal model citizen exhibit. Of course, I didn't know that at the time. No, it's only since almost exactly the same thing has happened again that > >(BBC budget prevented him from meeting large masses > > of rebels - I've been listening to 'Elements' and David > > Maloney's comments on how he pre-edited the scripts to > > reduce the number of extras. Highly recommended. > > Available fom Sheelagh Wells - see my web page under > > merchandise for details) > > It's a problem, these places where sustaining an > analytical approach requires one begin by crazy-gluing > disbelief to the ceiling. Ah, but we purists never allow the real world to get in the way . We know the reason it actually happened, but then we find a perfectly good explanation in context anyway. > > >> But then I wonder if the doubts he expresses in "Blake" > >> aren't partly signs of his persona disintegrating. > >> Perhaps of other, darker experiences opening up other > >> aspects of his past and revealing him to himself as > >> other than he and we have believed. > > > You could write a very interesting story using that as a basis. > > This hasn't been done? I'm amazed. Not immediately > motivated---just amazed. I've seen a couple of takes that follow that kind of line, but not many. Few people explore Blake's darker side in the context of trying to understand him. Most people who paint him black do so because they dislike hum rather than because they want to understand him. I did a really nasty one once in which Blake discovers that he died under interrogation and they mapped his brain print onto his twin brother so that they could continue the questioning. In other words, the man we know is actually inhabiting another man's body and has to cope with that knowledge. Judith -- http://www.hermit.org/Blakes7 Redemption 99 - The Blakes 7/Babylon 5 convention 26-28 February 1999, Ashford International Hotel, Kent http://www.smof.com/redemption/ ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 11 Jul 1998 12:51:43 +0100 GMT From: STEVE.ROGERSON@MCR1.poptel.org.uk To: blakes7@lysator.liu.se Subject: [B7L] Tarrant clones Message-Id: <798127220MCR1@MCR1.poptel.org.uk> > >>> Ray said: "Tarrant: Dead. He was in bad shape already, so > >>> I doubt he could have survived." > > >> I said: "Oh I agree, but that's just wishful thinking. > >> Although I thought he was in bad shape the first episode he > >> appeared in." > > > Hanneke said: "Stop it, Steve, or else I'll stop sending you > > Tarrant clones to abuse." > > I said: "You haven't sent me one for ages anyway. The last one's > gone mouldy. To which Hanneke replied: "Hm. I suppose you didn't keep it in a warm and dry place, now did you? But all right, send it back, and I'll replace it." Ok here it is. Sorry it's a bit soiled. And I looked everywhere for the other arm, but... cheers Steve Rogerson Redemption 99 - The Blakes 7/Babylon 5 convention 26-28 February 1999, Ashford International Hotel, Kent http://www.smof.com/redemption "Get in there you big furry oaf, I don't care what you smell" Star Wars ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 11 Jul 1998 07:11:06 -0700 From: "Ann Basart" To: "Blake's7" Subject: [B7L] Articles of relevance Message-Id: <199807111409.HAA00272@mercury.dnai.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Fellow B7 lurkers: I came across two most interesting articles and thought the list might enjoy them. The author makes some references to Blake's 7, and considers many thoughtful ideas. --Ann Basart ---------- > From: Clare O'Farrell > To: abasart@dnai.com > Subject: article on S&S > Date: Friday, July 10, 1998 10:36 PM > > I have finally got around to putting a piece of writing I did last year on > Sapphire and Steel (a kind of introduction to the series) onto the web at > http://www.qut.edu.au/edu/cpol/foucault/ss.html > > I also put up a piece on Babylon 5 if anyone is interested > http://www.qut.edu.au/edu/cpol/foucault/b5.html > > Clare > > *********************************************************** > Clare O'Farrell > email:c.ofarrell@qut.edu.au > web page: http://www.qut.edu.au/edu/cpol/foucault/ > *********************************************************** > > ------------------------------ Date: 11 Jul 1998 17:18:04 +0200 From: Calle Dybedahl To: Subject: Re: [B7L] Re: Dead or Alive Message-ID: "Alison Page" writes: > I don't know if people know, but these films were shown as extended > 'series' on subsequent Saturday afternoons a bit like a TV series. If people don't know about that kind of film any more, it's sad. > 'at the end they always seemed to be in a hopeless position, but > when you went back to the cinema the next week we always found they > survived' This is where the expression "cliffhanger" comes from. I thought everyone knew that, but given your comment above maybe I was overly optimistic. -- Calle Dybedahl, Vasav. 82, S-177 52 Jaerfaella,SWEDEN | calle@lysator.liu.se Hello? Brain? What do we want for breakfast? ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 11 Jul 1998 17:44:15 +0000 From: "Wendy Duffield " To: Blakes7@lysator.liu.se Subject: Re: [B7L] Lost in Space Message-Id: <199807111644.RAA04897@eurobell.co.uk> Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT > Judith said... > Massive sigh of relief! > > I thought he'd do us fair and he did. That was a pretty good treatment of > Blake's 7 fandom, the appeal of the show and the things it has inspired people > to create. > > Isn't it wonderful to have fandom treated as a group of interesting people > rather than as a bunch of wierdos! I thought it was treated very fairly indeed, i had horrible visions of you all being portrayed as some sort of sad bunch whose only interest was watching a sci fi program from 20 years ago but it was nothing like that. For the BBC it was more than average and defiantly the best of the series > > PS. I had to laugh at the timing of one of Una's comments. I don't think the > editor realized the implications of a comment about the sexual relations between > the crew straight after a shot of Blake and Avon! I couldn't believe that, i actually then though that they may go onto mention the relationship in passing or that one of the interviewees would. Oh well, anyone involved in fandom will have caught the implication i guess. They showed possibly my favourite piece of Avon and Blake dialogue too, the one where Blake says " for what it is worth i have always trusted you , right from the very beginning.... I *love* that bit Well done to everyone who took part, hats off to you i *couldn't* have done it in a million years Wendy ____________________________________________________________ Wendy@eurobell.co.uk "For what it is worth Avon, I have always trusted you... right from the very beginning" Blake to Avon (Star One) ____________________________________________________________ ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 11 Jul 1998 19:41:36 +0100 GMT From: STEVE.ROGERSON@MCR1.poptel.org.uk To: blakes7@lysator.liu.se, space-city@world.std.com Subject: [B7L] Chaos Message-Id: <798128892MCR1@MCR1.poptel.org.uk> This month's Starburst (#240) gives more information on the planned supernatural thriller Chaos (this is the one being funded by a public share offering and in which Michel Keating and Jan Chappell have provisionally agreed to appear). The share issue will be launched on Monday 24 August. One share will cost about 100 pound, but they expect normal investments to start at 250 pound. Depending how much you invest will affect what you get. One share gets you a profit share and a free video of the film, for two you also get an on- screen credit, three adds an invite to a public screening, and four an invite to the wrap party. The main star will be Peter Davison and Michael Sheard and Caroline John are also listed, as is Dutch actress Manouk van der Meulen. cheers Steve Rogerson Redemption 99 - The Blakes 7/Babylon 5 convention 26-28 February 1999, Ashford International Hotel, Kent http://www.smof.com/redemption "Get in there you big furry oaf, I don't care what you smell" Star Wars ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 11 Jul 98 18:54:48 UT From: "Anne Lane" To: Blakes7@lysator.liu.se Subject: [B7L] Lost In Space Message-Id: Excellent. Remarkable that a 15 minute programme can get across so much so well. The interviewees said just the right things, the appeal of the original series was succinctly conveyed with appropriate clips (though they didn't really show Avon's reaction to the "I have always trusted you" line) and the references to fan fiction showed that Blakes 7 is still very much alive and developing. The only thing I think they missed was how well attended conventions are, not just by fans but by cast and production staff, and consequently how many of those involved in making Blakes 7 are still very committed to the programme. I didn't quite understand the shots of people standing outside their doors...... Anne ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 11 Jul 1998 20:16:42 +0100 (BST) From: Reba Bandyopadhyay To: Anne Lane cc: Blakes7@lysator.liu.se Subject: Re: [B7L] Lost In Space Message-ID: Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII On Sat, 11 Jul 1998, Anne Lane wrote: > I didn't quite understand the shots of people standing outside their > doors...... That's all right, we didn't understand them either. And it wasn't even Pita's door! ;) Glad y'all liked it. It was nice to see that they used some of the clips that we suggested though I guess we didn't stress enough that you need to see the *entire* look on Avon's face after the 'I have always trusted you' line! Otherwise I think they got it quite well. Cheers Reba URL: http://www-astro.physics.ox.ac.uk/~rmb/ *Astronomy*English Literature*Ex Astris, Scientia*Kenneth Branagh*Shakespeare* *Star Trek*Forever Knight* Reba Bandyopadhyay *James Joyce*Billy Joel* *Jew Crew*Books*Traveling* rmb@astro.ox.ac.uk *Movies*Science Fiction* *Stephen King*Liam Neeson* MIT Physics c/o 93 *Broadway*Emma Thompson* *X-Files*Steven Spielberg* Oxford Astro c/o 98 *Ralph Fiennes*Vampires* *ClassicCoke*Babylon 5*Member of the Star Wars Generation*Blake's 7*DoctorWho* ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 11 Jul 1998 15:37:15 EDT From: MWK805@aol.com To: Blakes7@lysator.liu.se Subject: [B7L] Blakes 7 Message-ID: Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit I have been told to write to this address if I'm interested in getting a Blakes 7 Newsletter, or e-mail, or something like that I'M INTERESTED!!! Mikey K ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 12 Jul 1998 09:47:22 +1000 (EST) From: kat@welkin.apana.org.au (Kathryn Andersen) To: blakes7@lysator.liu.se (Blake's 7 list) Subject: [B7L] Re: Flag waving Message-Id: Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Well, I said I'd respond, so I'd better. (been away) Regarding education, my personal experience was of Secondary education, in 1980, so make of that what you will. You can happily ignore anything I said about universities if you like. The main crux of my comparison was my astonishment that calculus was considered to be a university-only subject. We got taught calculus in High school. (Can't remember if it was grade 11 or grade 12, and to be fair, this was Maths II, the extra maths subject that only brains did.) Mind you I figure that we can all agree that education standards are going down on both sides of the pond. I wouldn't be surprised if kids are coming out nowadays not knowing how to add up or to spell, since "computers can do that". Except that computers don't have any common sense, and when they do wrong we actually need to be able to detect that. (Kathryn casts mind back to an old Asimov short story where this fellow who rediscovers mental arithmetic is considered to be an oddity and a genius. It's becoming frighteningly prophetic.) Health care. Well, I didn't actually bring up health care, but having two aged parents who have had to interact with the health care systems of both the USA and Australia, they tell me that the Australian system is much better. Particularly in regard to prevention and ongoing support of people with illnesses; and in personal caringness. My father caught pneumonia when he was over there. (Yes, they were insured) The attitude was that nobody would look at him (or even allow mum to even *talk* to a doctor) unless he was coughing up blood. What it sounded like to me was that, unless you're dying, get lost. In Australia, the general support and prevention is much better. What happens is that you basically go to your local doctor (or whichever doctor you choose) when you get sick, and it depends on the doctor how (and how much) you pay. Some doctors charge you a fee, which you pay, and then you apply for a refund (of the standard amount) from Medicare, and of the remainder (if the doctor charges more than the standard amount, which they are allowed to do) from your health insurance company (however much they are willing to refund you, depending on your particular insurance.) Other doctors do what is called "bulk billing", which is marvelous from the patient's point of view; they basically don't charge any more than the standard fee, and instead of charging the patient, they charge Medicare directly. You just wave your Medicare card at them. That's the general support stuff. For hospitals, things aren't as good as they used to be, because of years of funding cuts; there are less beds, and you probably are better off in one of the better private hospitals instead. But then one was always better off in one of the better private hospitals. If you go public, you can't choose your doctor, and of course you're in a public ward. I don't know how bad the waiting lists for non-emergency things is. Prevention, though, that's definitely better here. Why, I was just hearing on the news this last week of a $$ program that the Victorian govemnent has launched, to go into all the schools and immunise the kids against measles. There's lots of immunisation programs, that are *free*, that really target children for prevention of diseases. (memories of fractious nieces and nephews when infants, crying because they had been immunised that day) I expect they still do immunisation of girls against Rubella (which I had to endure with an ouch! ) when they just enter high school. There also isn't the same amount of terror against malpractice suits, said terror which leads to doing silly things. For example, when my mother went to a dentist in the US, he insisted that she take a course of antibiotics before he would polish her teeth. This was because she had a heart-murmur, and therefore had a 1% chance of getting some disease (I guess if her gums bled when the teeth were polished), so the dentist had to cover his ass, just in case this 1% chance happened and she sued him. He wouldn't let her sign a disclaimer and not take the antibiotics (even though it is stupid to take antibiotics when you don't need them. No wonder there are getting to be so many antibiotic-resistant germs now.). I think she gave up in the end and waited until she was visiting Australia again to see a dentist. ObB7: well, we don't know anything about health care in the Federation, do we? Just the names of a couple of virulent diseases. Kathryn Andersen -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Vila: Under control? You know this could be another Casarus. Avon: What? Vila: You remember the Casarus swamp fever, killed millions. Avon: Well there aren't millions here, so don't worry about it. Vila: Well I'm here, and I do worry about it. (Blake's 7: Killer [B7]) -- _--_|\ | Kathryn Andersen / \ | http://home.connexus.net.au/~kat \_.--.*/ | #include "standard/disclaimer.h" v | ------------| Melbourne -> Victoria -> Australia -> Southern Hemisphere Maranatha! | -> Earth -> Sol -> Milky Way Galaxy -> Universe ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 11 Jul 1998 16:54:41 +1000 From: Kathryn Andersen To: "Blake's 7 list" Subject: Re: [B7L] Happy endings Message-ID: <19980711165441.46535@welkin.apana.org.au> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Popping my head up briefly. Don't know how long I'll be on the air at the moment. But this question was irresistable. On Wed, Jul 08, 1998 at 07:31:59PM +0100, Judith Proctor wrote: > On Wed 08 Jul, AChevron@aol.com wrote: > > I like happy endings myself, but in the B7 world they are > > often hard to imagine. There is a certain perverse pleasure > > in watching Avon et al suffer, but it's with the expectation > > that no matter how hard they get hit or knocked down, they > > will get back up.(Geez, sounds like a Rocky movie). > > This thread has me wondering. How many people think that our > > heroes "really" died on GP, even if that's not the ending > > you would have wanted? How many believe they all lived? That > > might determine if the "happy ending" folks are really in > > the minority. D. Rose > I firmly believe that they all died in the last episode, but > I never let that distract me when writing. If I only wrote > about what I believed, I'd soon run very short of material. > Um, yeah. What she said. They're really all dead, tragic misunderstanding the culmination of the tragic whole -- but I haven't let that stop me when writing fanfic. But I do like my fanfic to be *plausible*. There's only so far I am willing to do gymnastics with explanations. Blake is the most likely to be dead, but a good trauma team could have saved him, if there was any likelyhood of a good trauma team getting to him at all. Avon is pretty likely to be dead if the troopers did any shooting whatsoever. Don't wave "stun bolts" at me; any weapon capable of rendering someone unconscious when fired once, if fired at someone point-blank multiple times, is likely to make them dead, or at least comatose. Vila is just as likely to be dead as Soolin. Michael Keating *may* have said that Vila ducked, but it looked like he was shot to me. It just so happens that we see his trooper after he falls. But that hasn't stopped me using the "Vila ducked" defence when I felt like it, though. (-8 A little pedantic note: Federation troopers' standard weapons are *not* adjustable. The oft-cited guns in "Weapon", where the troopers were using low-powered weapons in order to make sure that Blake took the Avalon android, were not the standard weapons: they had been specially issued to the troopers. The poor sods probably weren't even told why, so as to add to the verisimilitude. Tarrant is more likely to be dead than Soolin or Vila, because of his injuries from the crash. Whether Dayna is more or less likely to be dead than the others depends on whether Blake or the Federation were more likely to be using stun guns. As for happy endings... Whether the ending is happy or not, I won't put up with a story without hope. One of the bright blazing lights in Blake's 7 is the way that, even when the whole world is against them (particularly Blake, but even Avon in his own cynical way) they won't give up. They won't pack it in, they won't succumb to despair. Hey, when Avon is surrounded by troopers, what does he do? He smiles. Okay, full of irony and self-depreciation, but not defeat. I like happy endings as much as the next person, but too many too sweetly happy stories make my teeth ache. I don't really like tragedies, though. Because I don't like despair. And most tragedies end in despair, when the protagonist realizes (or at least the audience realizes) that he has destroyed himself. Well, that's the classic tragedy: the flaws of the main character create the mess and consume him in the end. The other kind of thing that is called "tragic" is the tragic melodrama, where the main character is simply a victim. Which makes me want to shake someone, either the main character, or the author. So what I want is something in between: put your hero through the wringer if you like, so long as he comes out of it in one piece (and hopefully more mature); he may be worse off at the end of the story than at the start, so long as he still has hope. That's all I ask. (Joan Vinge is very good at stories of that type.) Kathryn Andersen -- _--_|\ | Kathryn Andersen / \ | http://home.connexus.net.au/~kat \_.--.*/ | #include "standard/disclaimer.h" v | ------------| Melbourne -> Victoria -> Australia -> Southern Hemisphere Maranatha! | -> Earth -> Sol -> Milky Way Galaxy -> Universe ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 11 Jul 1998 19:50:52 -0400 From: Harriet Monkhouse <101637.2064@compuserve.com> To: "INTERNET:blakes7@lysator.liu.se" Subject: [B7L] Re: Lost in Space Message-ID: <199807111951_MC2-52D6-9567@compuserve.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Disposition: inline Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Judith P wrote: >I don't think the editor realised the implications >of a comment about the sexual relations between >the crew straight after a shot of Blake and Avon! Oh, I assumed it was extremely clever editing by someone who knew about slash and was signalling what couldn't be stated explicitly... How disappointing if it was accidental! Harriet PS By the way, I seem to remember Judith R said when the 7th video was due, but I've forgotten again. And re Walter's query, can't they be ordered through Horizon? When I go to the various Manchester shops, there are lots of the first two still there, but usually one or none of whichever one I've just come to buy. PPS DJ wrote: >Secretary Rontane in S-L-D pussyfooting around Oooh, I could watch him pussyfooting all day though... ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 12 Jul 1998 10:10:45 +0100 (BST) From: Judith Proctor To: Lysator List Subject: Re: [B7L] Re: Lost in Space Message-ID: Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII On Sun 12 Jul, Harriet Monkhouse wrote: > Judith P wrote: > >I don't think the editor realised the implications > >of a comment about the sexual relations between > >the crew straight after a shot of Blake and Avon! > > Oh, I assumed it was extremely clever editing by someone who knew about > slash and was signalling what couldn't be stated explicitly... How > disappointing if it was accidental! Well, I can't speak for everyone else, but I never mentioned slash at all and was never asked about it, though I think I mentioned in passing when he wasn't recording that adult fiction existed. I figured we were getting enough by having a sensible treatment of fandom. No point in muddying the waters when it was being shown in an early evening time slot. Judith -- http://www.hermit.org/Blakes7 Redemption 99 - The Blakes 7/Babylon 5 convention 26-28 February 1999, Ashford International Hotel, Kent http://www.smof.com/redemption/ -------------------------------- End of blakes7-d Digest V98 Issue #190 **************************************