From: blakes7-d-request@lysator.liu.se Subject: blakes7-d Digest V98 #234 X-Loop: blakes7-d@lysator.liu.se X-Mailing-List: archive/volume98/234 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 234 Today's Topics: [B7L] Blake and Seldon Re: [B7L] Tarrant Nostra baiting/raining cats & dogs RE: [B7L] Tarrant Nostra baiting/raining cats & dogs Re: [B7L] Tarrant Nostra baiting/raining cats & dogs Re: [B7L] videos & books Re: [B7L] Tarrant Nostra baiting/raining cats & dogs [B7L] Ahah! So that's what the teeth are for... Re: [B7L] videos & books [B7L] videos & books Re: [B7L] videos & books Re: [B7L] videos & books [B7L] B7 offered by Columbia House Re: [B7L] videos & books Re: [B7L] videos & books Re: [B7L] Ahah! So that's what the teeth are for... ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 10 Sep 1998 09:18:01 +0100 From: "Taylor, Steve [CCS]" To: "'B7'" Subject: [B7L] Blake and Seldon Message-ID: Content-Type: text/plain Has anyone ever done a comparison between the Federation ans the Empire in the Asimov Foundation novels. It seems to me that there are quite a lot of similarities in the totalitarian attitudes although I prefer Servalan to Cleon III! SteveT Back after a long lurk ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 10 Sep 1998 05:20:56 PDT From: "Rob Clother" To: blakes7@lysator.liu.se Subject: Re: [B7L] Tarrant Nostra baiting/raining cats & dogs Message-ID: <19980910122057.3014.qmail@hotmail.com> Content-Type: text/plain >In message <19980909120530.1647.qmail@hotmail.com>, Rob Clother > writes >>Another idea before I leg it: did anyone >>notice the sudden change that >>came over Blake at the end of "Redemption"? The way he ordered >>Avon back to his position showed a side of his personality we'd >>only guessed at up until that point. >It appears earlier than that, in Breakdown, with a threat to destroy >a surgeon's hands. And, I suppose, in Bounty, when he begins to destroy Sarkov's (sp?) possessions piece by piece. However, I can't remember any incidents of Blake being so openly autocratic with his own crew prior to Redemption. I know -- we all know -- that his "You're free to leave whenever you want" line was just hot air, intended simply to reinforce the opposite meaning. But at least that was Mr Nice at work. Mr Nasty didn't show himself to the crew until the second season -- unless I missed some crucial sign in the first. Any suggestions? -- Rob ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 10 Sep 1998 16:51:30 +-200 From: Jacqueline Thijsen To: "blakes7@lysator.liu.se" Subject: RE: [B7L] Tarrant Nostra baiting/raining cats & dogs Message-Id: <01BDDCDB.435C1A60@cmg71700449> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Rob said: While I can see a definite moggy side to Avon's personality, I can't think of Blake having much in common with the canine species. He's too complicated. Not even the smartest alpha wolf could lead his pack with the same sardonic brilliance that Blake could command. On the other hand, Tarrant seems like the perfect dog to Avon's cat. All his positive qualities -- loyalty, persistence, sensitivity -- and all his negative ones -- petulance, naivete, insensitivity -- are very much what you'd associate with a dog struggling to establish his place in a pack. [Jacqueline Thijsen] Now here's an interesting question (I think): who on B7 are cat-people, and who are dog-people? Cat people: Servalan Avon Soolin Vila Orac Dog people: Blake (a very smart one) Jenna Cally Travis Gan Zen Anyone have different opinions? Bye, Jacqueline Thijsen ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 10 Sep 1998 07:48:53 +0100 (BST) From: Judith Proctor To: Lysator List Subject: Re: [B7L] Tarrant Nostra baiting/raining cats & dogs Message-ID: Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII On Wed 09 Sep, Julia Jones wrote: > In message <19980909120530.1647.qmail@hotmail.com>, Rob Clother > writes > >Another idea before I leg it: did anyone notice the sudden change that > >came over Blake at the end of "Redemption"? The way he ordered Avon > >back to his position showed a side of his personality we'd only guessed > >at up until that point. > > It appears earlier than that, in Breakdown, with a threat to destroy a > surgeon's hands. Blake always had a ruthless streak, it merely required the right conditions to bring it out. On the London, he gave way to Raiker's threat to kill the prisoners. He knew his friends had no choice and would be killed otherwise. On Cygnus Alpha, he refused to back down before a very similar threat from Vargas. Vargas threatened to kill one of the prisoners of Blake didn't hand over the Liberaor. In this case, Blake refused. I think the difference here fom Blake's point of view was that the prisoners had a chance to take control of their own fate. Vargas didn't have guns. If the prisoners had the guts to make a stand, then they had a high chance of survival. The stakes were also higher - Liberator offered him a real chance of achieving something. I've just been rewatching the first two episodes and it's incredible what powerful pieces of drama they are in their own right. If the first episode had to exist soley on its own merits, without the rest of the series, it would still have a high impact. Henry (my 11 year old) said he'd never seen the first episode and was watching it last night on the edge of his seat. Tel Varon's death really hit him. "He was the only man who could have proved Blake innocent." 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: Thu, 10 Sep 1998 17:25:58 +0500 From: Jem Dixon To: Lysator List Subject: Re: [B7L] videos & books Message-ID: Content-Type: text/plain Deep breath as I de-lurk for the first time. Until now, whenever I've been about to take the plunge and e-mail the list, someone has got in before me with the same comment, only better put. This. time, (I hope) I think I may have some useful information. This afternoon I visited the BBC shop at Broadcasting House in London. It's brand new, and has opened to coincide with the BBC Experience exhibition, but you don't have to pay for the exhibition to get in the shop. I have to admit, I went there to look at Dr. Who videos, but, whilst I was on the lower floor I noticed that they are selling the new series of B7 videos. They appeared to have all the titles so far released, so anyone having trouble finding them elsewhere might try there. The prices in the shop didn't seem to bad either, the Dr. Who tapes were cheaper then elsewhere. NB. the only reason I'm not buying the new releases is because I managed to obtain custody of the full set of original BBC releases in my divorce settlement. Also, having admitted to being a Whovian, a couple of things have come up in Dr. Who magazine recently; The first is that the eighth Doctors new companion in the BBC books is supposed to be a Vila type character. The first book with him in it Doctor Who: The Taint is due out in February next year. Also, in the September issue news round up it says; "Future plans for the 'old Doctors' range include a second novel from former TV scripter Chris Boucher, this time a sequel to his popular 1977 serial 'The Robots of Death'. This book, tentatively scheduled for a spring/summer 1999 release, will also serve as a first 'official' Blake's 7/Doctor Who 'crossover' adventure, featuring as it will an important character from one of Boucher's Blake episodes. It doesn't say which character, but if anyone's starting to take bets, I'd say it'll be Bayban the Butcher. -- Yours, Jem. (female, Vila type personality, to cover two discussions of recent times). ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 10 Sep 1998 18:27:59 +0100 From: Julia Jones To: blakes7@lysator.liu.se Subject: Re: [B7L] Tarrant Nostra baiting/raining cats & dogs Message-ID: In message <19980910122057.3014.qmail@hotmail.com>, Rob Clother writes >And, I suppose, in Bounty, when he begins to destroy Sarkov's (sp?) >possessions piece by piece. However, I can't remember any incidents of >Blake being so openly autocratic with his own crew prior to Redemption. >I know -- we all know -- that his "You're free to leave whenever you >want" line was just hot air, intended simply to reinforce the opposite >meaning. But at least that was Mr Nice at work. Mr Nasty didn't show >himself to the crew until the second season -- unless I missed some >crucial sign in the first. This is why I quoted Breakdown rather than Bounty - in Breakdown, the crew witness it although it isn't directed at them. -- Julia Jones "Don't philosophise with me, you electronic moron!" The Turing test - as interpreted by Kerr Avon. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 10 Sep 1998 16:05:57 PDT From: "Joanne MacQueen" To: blakes7@lysator.liu.se Subject: [B7L] Ahah! So that's what the teeth are for... Message-ID: <19980910230557.6883.qmail@hotmail.com> Content-Type: text/plain Good morning, all. Friday again (whatever the date at the top tells you). Nicola sayeth: >Well, it's either that or get maimed in the process of being torn bodily off him ; ) Fair enough. Frightening picture, though - hordes of Meegatus Bournensis stampeding after Nicola (sorry about that, just a reference to my private classification system, as yet to be extended to fans of other B7 characters. Kathryn knows what I mean, even if no one else does), wanting to tear her limb from limb for her presumption. Generosity seems like the best course of action, if not the only course >Us Leos do have our pride, you know. I do know, as it's almost the only point where Leo characteristics and mine meet. Maybe you ought to find your own nice little corner for a bit - the hordes might be less likely to look for you there. Not my corner, however, unless you want to be bothered by Tarrant Nostra looking for converts (pity I don't know what Katrina, the Sydney agent of that notorious group, looks like. Time for paranoia yet?) Regards Joanne If we meet in Another Life, Please don't be Shirley MacLaine! --Kaz Cooke, The Little Book of Crap. PS: Rob, Sue Clerc will kill you whenever she reappears, and I imagine a lot of Blake fans will help her. Even this less than dedicated Avon fan has noticed who else was on the Liberator for the first two seasons! ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 10 Sep 1998 19:18:49 -0500 (CDT) From: "G. Robbins" To: Jem Dixon cc: Lysator List Subject: Re: [B7L] videos & books Message-ID: Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Phah! No better way to get the series but by divorce settlement!! :) I wish I was in Great Britain so I could get copies of the videocassettes...it is so hard to find any here on retail in the US. However, I was told once that videotape format in the UK is different than the States, so that wouldn't help me anyway. ARGH! --Grace ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 10 Sep 1998 22:51:25 EDT From: SuzanThoms@aol.com To: Blakes7@lysator.liu.se Subject: [B7L] videos & books Message-ID: Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit >>Grace wrote: >>I wish I was in Great Britain so I could get copies of the >>videocassettes...it is so hard to find any here on retail in >>the US. However, I was told once that videotape format in >>the UK is different than the States, so that wouldn't help me >>anyway. ARGH! << If anyone is interested, you can special order them in the states from Suncoast Video. I was missing eight vols and put an order in for them. I just picked them up today. It only took three days. They don't have the new releases. Just the old ones, but I've never found any fault with them. The picture and sound is excellent. Suzanne ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 10 Sep 1998 23:34:07 EDT From: VulcanXYZ@aol.com To: Blakes7@lysator.liu.se Subject: Re: [B7L] videos & books Message-ID: <40da5263.35f89a2f@aol.com> Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit Jem wrote "Future plans for the 'old Doctors' range include a second novel from former TV scripter Chris Boucher....This book will also serve as a first 'official' Blake's 7/Doctor Who 'crossover' adventure, featuring as it will an important character from one of Boucher's Blake episodes." Thanks for the information, Jem! A B7/Dr. Who crossover book sounds very exciting and is definitely worth looking for. By the way, for those of you in the US, Columbia House Video Library is offering both B7 and Dr. Who tapes through the mail. Since I already have all of the B7 ones, I'm getting the Dr. Who tapes, and it definitely brightens my day to go out to my mailbox and see the Doctor waiting for me! Gail ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 11 Sep 1998 15:54:13 +1200 From: Nicola Collie To: B7-list Subject: Re: [B7L] videos & books Message-Id: Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Grace said: >However, I was told once that videotape format in the UK is different than >the States, so that wouldn't help me anyway. ARGH! That's right, UK VCRs (and those from New Zealand and Australia and a bunch of other places) use the PAL system, while US VCRs use the NTSC system. However, you can now get VCRs which can play tapes made in either format. We have one which is several years old now that can do this. Just another feature to shop for if you're after a new VCR. ttfn, Nicola --- Nicola Collie mailto:nicola.collie@stonebow.otago.ac.nz "I'm not an actor, but I play one on TV." 54 sleeps! ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 10 Sep 1998 23:13:35 EDT From: penny_kjelgaard@juno.com (Penny Kjelgaard) To: blakes7@lysator.liu.se Subject: [B7L] B7 offered by Columbia House Message-ID: <19980910.200409.14367.4.Penny_Kjelgaard@juno.com> Columbia House is now offering B7 in its collecions. The first video, The Way Back/Spacefall is $4.95 + shipping of $3.79 and tax. The subsequent videos are $19.95 + $3.79 and tax, which will work out to 25-26 bucks. It may be an option if the videos can't be purchased elsewhere, but I believe you could find them at a lower price elsewhere. http://www.columbiahouse.com/vl Peace, Penny _____________________________________________________________________ You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail. Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com Or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866] ------------------------------ Date: 11 Sep 1998 08:33:58 +0200 From: Calle Dybedahl To: B7-list Subject: Re: [B7L] videos & books Message-ID: Nicola Collie writes: > However, you can now get VCRs which can play tapes made in either > format. Reports from friends who have moved to the US indicates that while such VCRs are trivial to find here (if it's a good enough VCR to have stereo sound, it'll grok NTSC as well), they're almost unheard of over there. Seemed to be "The US are the whole world"-syndrome. -- Calle Dybedahl, Vasav. 82, S-177 52 Jaerfaella,SWEDEN | calle@lysator.liu.se Mediocre minds think alike. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 11 Sep 1998 03:09:42 -0500 From: Lisa Williams To: blakes7@lysator.liu.se Subject: Re: [B7L] videos & books Message-Id: <199809110805.DAA22042@mail.dallas.net> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Calle Dybedahl wrote: >Reports from friends who have moved to the US indicates that while >such VCRs are trivial to find here (if it's a good enough VCR to have >stereo sound, it'll grok NTSC as well), they're almost unheard of >over there. True. I had to call all over the place before I finally found someone who could order one for me. The people at most of the video and electronics stores had no idea what I was talking about. There are only one or two consumer-grade models available (Aiwa has one, and possibly Panasonic -- don't know if the latter's version is still on the market), and they're significantly more expensive than a standard VCR, besides being very difficult to find. - Lisa _____________________________________________________________ Lisa Williams: lcw@dallas.net or lwilliams@ti.com Lisa's Video Frame Capture Library: http://lcw.simplenet.com/ New Riders of the Golden Age: http://www.warhorse.com/ ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 11 Sep 1998 01:50:23 PDT From: "Rob Clother" To: blakes7@lysator.liu.se Subject: Re: [B7L] Ahah! So that's what the teeth are for... Message-ID: <19980911085023.13245.qmail@hotmail.com> Content-Type: text/plain >PS: Rob, Sue Clerc will kill you whenever she reappears, and I >imagine a >lot of Blake fans will help her. Let's see. I'm due to get my legs broken by the TN, my arms broken by Avon's fans (silly buggers that they are), and now the Blake fraternity are after me as well. I've got to go -- I promised to go and have a beer with my mate Salman... Cheerio, Lord Lucan XXXX ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com -------------------------------- End of blakes7-d Digest V98 Issue #234 **************************************