From: blakes7-d-request@lysator.liu.se Subject: blakes7-d Digest V98 #263 X-Loop: blakes7-d@lysator.liu.se X-Mailing-List: archive/volume98/263 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 263 Today's Topics: Re: [B7L] New Series? Re: [B7L] Blake and Avon Re: [B7L] shuttle Re: [B7L] shuttle Re: [B7L] Glasgow Re: [B7L] Seven Vices Re: [B7L] re: Double Standards Re: [B7L] re: Double Standards [B7L] new zine [B7L] Crucible photo Re: [B7L] re: Double Standards [B7L] Aaargh! [B7L] Gareth on TV - briefly! RE: [B7L] Blake and Avon [B7L] Re: web page updates [B7L] Re: shuttle ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 15 Oct 1998 07:22:35 +0100 (BST) From: Judith Proctor To: Lysator List Subject: Re: [B7L] New Series? Message-ID: Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII On Tue 13 Oct, Andy Smith wrote: > In Dreamwatch I have just read about a new series with a beautiful and > powerful three-pronged space ship with a crew of six. One in charge, one > technical 'wizard' a telepath, a thief... And apparently there is a > strange box that they talk to now and then for advice. > > The series is Crusade, the follow-up to Babylon 5. Does anybody think > that J. Michael is taking his love of B7 a little too far? Not really. Six is a good number for an ensemble cast. If you're doing an SF show, certain jobs come as a standard part of the crew. You need a leader, a pilot, a doctor, a scientist, an alien, etc. The mix is going to have a lot of overlapping elements whatever the show. Was Avon intended as a partial copy of Spock? If you start looking for that kind of thing, you can find elements everywhere. Wasn't it Ecclesiastes who said 'there is no new thing under the sun'? 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, 15 Oct 1998 17:42:51 +0100 (BST) From: Judith Proctor To: Lysator List Subject: Re: [B7L] Blake and Avon Message-ID: Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII On Thu 15 Oct, AChevron@aol.com wrote: > In a message dated 10/15/98 8:10:22 AM Eastern Daylight Time, > whitehorse_dream@hotmail.com writes: > > << >Given the certaintude of death if he didn't act, I can't see him > >allowing anyone, even Blake, to stand in his way. > > There's a counterexample in "Countdown". >> > > > Good point. Hadn't thought of that one. But the circumstances are a bit > different. In Countdown, Avon seems to be trying to atone for Anna's death, > and is willing to gamble even his life to repay his debt to Del Grant. He does > something similiar in Rumours. So if he felt that he were indebted to Blake in > some way, I suppose he might not attempt to kill him. And if it had been him > and Dayna, he might even have voluntarily thrown himself out, given she > didn't weigh enough. Well if you're looking at it in terms of debts, Blake saved Avon's life in Spacefall (from Zen's automatic defence system). Mind you, that one had been pretty well repaid in other epsiodes, so probably wouldn't count by by the time of 'Orbit'. 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, 15 Oct 1998 11:21:39 +0100 (BST) From: Judith Proctor To: Lysator List Subject: Re: [B7L] shuttle Message-ID: Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII On Tue 13 Oct, Mac4781@aol.com wrote: > > I reckon any of the other 2 crews would have stayed and faced it out. On > > the premise that Avon would have hesitated about shooting immediately I > > think they could have argued him out of it. Once Blake had said , fine, I'm > > not moving, shoot me here and then drag my 200lbs dead weight to the > > airlock, round corners and over steps, I think Avon would have got his > > brain back in gear! > > I don't think Blake would even have given it serious consideration. But one > would hope he'd speak up at that point and not leave to dump excess items on > the assumption that Avon wouldn't give it serious consideration. I'd like to > think Blake would have immediately popped in with "That's not acceptable Orac. > What else can you suggest?" I don't know Blake well enough to be sure he'd do > that. It's something Tarrant would say at that point. That's certainly more Tarrant than Blake (although it's possoble for Blake too). Blake was often more confrontational when given anything that seemed like an ultimatum. (I can hear his voice in my mind, but I can't recall the episode I'm thinking of) I can imagine Blake saying something like, 'Better make up your mind, hadn't you.' while letting Avon work out the implications for himself. It's off track, but the last time Blake would remember Avon firing at him would be in 'Horizon'. All he said then was 'Missed' and there was some bite in the way he said it. I recollect from somewhere that the original line was much longer, something about Avon not being able to tell friend from foe, but that Gareth trimmed it. (The situation was that Avon was in a firefight and shot at Blake by mistake as he rounded a corner) > But from the get go, I'd also think that pilot Tarrant would be thinking in > terms of what was preventing them from achieving escape velocity. Which > doesn't mean he'd have figured it out, but that would have been his main > focus. He might have come up with an alternate solution--put the shuttle in a > slowly decaying orbit, ground it--before the situation became critical. He > might have still been looking for a solution up until it was too late. I'm > not sure he'd notice that Avon was prepared to shoot him soon enough to do > anything to prevent it. As someone elsementioned a few months back. To safely land the shuttle (unless it had superb aerodynamics or parachutes) would require a lot of fuel because you'd have to brake to stop yourself reaching terminial velocity and hitting with a remarkably big crunch. When Tarrant pulled of the feat of landing Scorpio with half the controls shot to bits, at least he still had fuel reserves. > There's also the question of how others would react if they knew Avon was > stalking them. As you note, none of the others are likely to run and hide. > If they've seen Avon willing to shoot Tarrant on the way to Terminal, they > might be reluctant to face him down. Would they consider stalking him > instead? I can believe that all of them would consider Avon's attitude as a > justifiable reason to defend themselves. It's an interesting one. Which of them would be capable of killing Avon if they thought he was stalking them? Soolin certainly. Dayna probably (she's probably because although she was a natural killer, Avon had become something of a father-figure to her). > > It becomes a different ballgame once you start altering circumstances. It's > fun to play with those possibilities. I've read a number of very plausible > alternate Orbits (that didn't include Avon or Vila), and a few that were not > so plausible. I've read too many. Some are excellent, but many are not. Some scenarios are over-used in fan fic and that's one of them. Mind you, I can't talk. I wrote a post-Orbit story myself to join the pile. Mine was in the not very good category, for which my only excuse is that it was along time ago. I've just read a story that is really original. It sets Avon, Blake and Vila in Renaissance Italy and has Avon living through the lives of first Leonardo da Vinci and then Galileo. In each life, he meets Blake and Vila as different people. The dialogue is wonderful. By the end of the first page you know exactly who is who even though they aren't using the names that we are familiar with. The speech patterns are spot on. I'm hoping to publish it later this year. 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: Fri, 16 Oct 1998 12:24:07 +1000 From: "Afenech" To: Subject: Re: [B7L] shuttle Message-Id: <03170590645428@domain4.bigpond.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hello everyone -smile- Judith said: (I can hear his voice in my mind, but I can't recall the episode I'm > thinking of) I can imagine Blake saying something like, 'Better make up your mind, hadn't you.' while letting Avon work out the implications for himself. I think this might be from 'Spacefall' - Leylan says: "Now Blake, Blake, listen to me very carefully. There is something large, something very near us, and we've been running blind. We may be on a collision course. You're putting everyone's life at risk." and Blake replies: "Better make up your mind quickly then." Pat F ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 16 Oct 1998 10:00:22 +0100 From: "Dangermouse" To: "Judith Proctor" , "Lysator List" Subject: Re: [B7L] Glasgow Message-Id: <199810160945.KAA19912@gnasher.sol.co.uk> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit ---------- > From: Judith Proctor > To: Lysator List > Subject: [B7L] Glasgow > Date: 15 October 1998 13:48 > > Are there any Gareth Thomas fans living near Glasgow? That'd probably be me - about half an hour by train... ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 16 Oct 1998 07:22:29 EDT From: AChevron@aol.com To: Blakes7@lysator.liu.se Subject: Re: [B7L] Seven Vices Message-ID: Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit In a message dated 98-10-16 02:22:11 EDT, you write: << As plan after plan not only fails, but backfires, we can see his hatred of Blake growing. >> This makes sense to me. It would explain why Travis deteriorates the way he does into selling out the Human race. He reaches a stage where no price is too much to accomplish his goal. An interesting parallel to Blake's own growing obsession with Star One. D. Rose ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 16 Oct 1998 07:44:10 EDT From: Mac4781@aol.com To: blakes7@lysator.liu.se Subject: Re: [B7L] re: Double Standards Message-ID: <98ec6a55.3627318a@aol.com> Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit I'm just getting to some posts that got lost in the deluge. Jacqueline wrote: > I don't know much about any laws about mutiny, but I don't think extenuating > circumstances are ever accepted by the courts. However, I don't recall ever > seeing anything like an official chain of command on Liberator or Scorpio. I think it was that lack of command that most frustrated Tarrant through much of third season. Patti McClellan wrote a very perceptive line in a collaboration we did. She has Tarrant wishing that Avon would either lead, follow, or get the hell out of the way. That Tarrant could easily fall into the role of second in command fourth season suggests that he wasn't insistent that he hold the leadership role himself. Something else that I didn't get around to responding to was when someone mentioned that Tarrant should be used to dealing with civilians from his time as a mercenary/smuggler. I have two responses to that. One, mercenary groups tend to have military-like structures and clear chains of command. Two, I don't think Tarrant was a mercenary and/or smuggler for long. For two reasons. One, his age. If he did five years at Space Academy (per Servalan in MOLOCH) and stayed in Space Command long enough to advance to the rank of captain, how much time did that leave for mercenary/smuggling before he boarded Liberator. Two, he was still alive to board Liberator. So I don't think he was on his reckless own for very long. > They followed anyone who managed to convince them that doing something was a > good idea (not counting those times when the biggest bully got his way). You > can't have a mutiny if you don't have anyone oficially in charge. Which means > that any following of orders that occured was out of loyalty or fear. I guess > that means that Tarrant simply had no business ordering Vila around, and got > exactly the answer he deserved. Probably Tarrant would agree with you that Vila's failure to follow orders couldn't really be considered mutiny because he didn't shoot him. Which an officer might do when faced with a similar situation involving someone under his command. But that Vila half obeyed Tarrant--he did come on the mission--makes it especially frustrating that he went independent in the middle of the operation. Vila frustrated more than Tarrant in that regard. I remember how irritated Cally was in SHADOW when Vila disobeyed orders and left the ship. There was enough to worry about without Vila taking off on his own. > Jacqueline Thijsen throw at her> Very wise to duck. ;-) Taina, I've also been forgetting to thank you for the comprehensive list of examples of Avon apologizing and using "sorry." I appreciated that. Carol Mc ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 16 Oct 1998 05:21:43 PDT From: "Rob Clother" To: blakes7@lysator.liu.se Subject: Re: [B7L] re: Double Standards Message-ID: <19981016122144.24871.qmail@hotmail.com> Content-Type: text/plain >One, his age. If he did five years at Space Academy (per Servalan >in MOLOCH) and stayed in Space Command long enough to advance to the >rank of captain, how much time did that leave for >mercenary/smuggling before he boarded Liberator. According to "The Inside Story", Tarrant was 35 when he first boarded the Liberator. -- Rob ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 16 Oct 1998 11:12:27 +0100 (BST) From: Judith Proctor To: Lysator List cc: Space City Subject: [B7L] new zine Message-ID: Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII Having been somewhat staggered by the fact that people actually wrote to him and said that they'd enjoyed 'Stadler Link', Neil Faulkner has decided to produce a seond Blake's 7 zine. This one will be called 'Pressure Point'. It'll be fairly cheap and cheerful in appearance, but will be well edited. I'll put the full guidelines up on the web page shortly, but here's a rough synopsis. No serials as he can't promise to do another issue. No continuations of stories from other zines. There are no restrictions on content except for erotica. Stories may be set before, during or after the series. They can be silly, serious, AUs, crossovers, etc. He'd prefer stuff with original themes though. He doesn't care one whit if there is an implied sexual relationship between the characters (gay or straight) as long as there is NO erotic content. He doesn't want stories that treat one character as being absolutely perfect, nor stories that rubbish any character. His address is Neil Faulkner, Wellesley, 6 First Avenue, Cliftonville, Margate, Kent, CT9 2LG, Great Britain. Submissions can be on paper or on PC readable discs. Judith PS. General reminder. American fans can pay in cash dollars for Stadler Link if they send me the money. (Neil can't convert dollars, but I can). Australian fans can add a copy of Stadler Link onto other stuff they're ordering from me via Pat and I'll just charge for the cost of the stamp to mail a cheque onto Neil. Details of price etc. probably lurk somewhere on my web page. -- 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: Fri, 16 Oct 1998 08:18:37 +0100 (BST) From: Judith Proctor To: Lysator List cc: Space City Subject: [B7L] Crucible photo Message-ID: Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII There's now a colour photo from The Crucible on the Gareth section of the web page. See him with long hair... The play is in Sheffield until 17 October and then moves to Nottingham. If you're in the Nottingham area, don't forget the Children in Need party is next week. ie. The party is before the BBC broadcast (which presumably allows them a decent chance to edit all the material from around the country) Why not see the play on Wednesday 21st October and then go to the party afterwards at the Red Lion? Judith PS. I've also (thanks to the Royal Lyceum Theatre in Edinburgh) got a really lovely photo of Gareth as Colonel Pickering in Pygmalion. Wearing an opera cape ad doffing his top hat to the camera. -- 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: Fri, 16 Oct 1998 18:37:28 +0100 (BST) From: Judith Proctor To: Lysator List Subject: Re: [B7L] re: Double Standards Message-ID: Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII On Fri 16 Oct, Rob Clother wrote: > > > >One, his age. If he did five years at Space Academy (per Servalan > >in MOLOCH) and stayed in Space Command long enough to advance to the > >rank of captain, how much time did that leave for > >mercenary/smuggling before he boarded Liberator. > > According to "The Inside Story", Tarrant was 35 when he first boarded > the Liberator. But that was background information and never stated in an episode. Thus, it isn't canonical. Tarrant's age is is a bit of a bugboo - you have to fudge something to make it fit, it just varies with the individual as to what we decide to fudge. Remember, Avon called Tarrant brave, YOUNG and handsome. 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: Fri, 16 Oct 1998 22:45:49 +0100 (BST) From: Judith Proctor To: Lysator List cc: Space City Subject: [B7L] Aaargh! Message-ID: Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII Definition of frustration: Feeling tired. planned early night. Grabbed bowl of cereal for supper and collapsed in front of random TV channel to vegetate while eating. There's Gareth! It takes me three seconds to grab a video tape - any video tape - and slam it into the machine. Too late. By the time I get it recording, he's gone and didn't reappear. The programme was 'The Creatives' on BBC2 (not 'Creatures' as he misreported to Horizon) and he played a policeman. It's a sitcom about an Edinburgh advertising agency. Did anybody tape this? If anybody happened to tape it for whatver reason, could I borrow the tape long enough to get a picture grabbed from it? It's not a major part, but I'd like to have it on record. (He's only in the one episode) 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, 17 Oct 1998 00:24:17 +0100 From: Anne Lane To: "'B7'" Subject: [B7L] Gareth on TV - briefly! Message-ID: <01BDF966.8DF3FDC0.aplane@tesco.net> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Just caught a very brief glimpse of Gareth playing a policeman in a BBC2 sitcom written by Jack Docherty, called The Creatives. He was only on screen for a short time, but it was nice to see him! Mind you, I think Michael Keating's Yakult advert wins the award for brief appearances (have I missed a longer version?)! Anne ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 17 Oct 1998 00:01:02 +0100 From: Anne Lane To: "'B7'" Subject: RE: [B7L] Blake and Avon Message-ID: <01BDF966.8AC6B2A0.aplane@tesco.net> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit On Wednesday, October 14, 1998 4:56 PM, Judith Proctor [SMTP:Judith@blakes-7.demon.co.uk] wrote: > > > > The fact that he was so quick to believe that Blake betrayed him doesn't > > indicate a great deal of trust or devotion to me. He took Tarrant's word > > over > > Blake's "Tarrant doesn't understand." Tarrant's words were all the proof > > Avon > > had that Blake betrayed him. > > There was rather more than that. The mere fact that Blake was working as a > bounty hunter was going to make Avon edgy to start with. PLus Avon was > stressed > out and had no idea where Blake had been for two years. The last time he > thought he'd found Blake it had been an illusion and a trap. Add that to the > fact that he'd been betrayed by Anna Grant (the only person whom I see > meaning > as much to him as Blake did). You could also argue psychologically that > Cally > had betrayed hiim by dying. Vila hated him becaus of 'Orbit'. > > In short, Avon had come to expect betrayal from people he loved. > Subconsciously > he was almost expecting the betrayal. Then Tarrant (looking badly injured > and > with no reason to lie) confirms his worst fears. Avon fires. Absolutely - one betrayal will lead you always to look for another. I think there is something else as well. Avon has a deep loyalty and affection for Blake, which he does his best to deny, even to himself. That love is a burden, his Achilles heel. It makes him vulnerable and prevents him from acting in his own self-interest. By killing Blake he rids himself of this responsibility, and if he believes that he has been betrayed his action might be justified. It's entirely subconscious, but he *allows* himself to believe in the betrayal for just long enough to pull the trigger (well, pull it several times). The possibility of Blake betraying him is overwhelmingly dreadful - Blake is the one person Avon can still believe in, even if he thinks him foolish. Blake is the idealist, Avon the more likely betrayer, in his own eyes. If Avon had taken time to consider, he would have waited for more proof, but the very idea paralyses his thoughts. Anne ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 16 Oct 1998 20:36:01 -0400 From: Harriet Monkhouse <101637.2064@compuserve.com> To: "INTERNET:blakes7@lysator.liu.se" Subject: [B7L] Re: web page updates Message-ID: <199810162036_MC2-5CF2-4A15@compuserve.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Disposition: inline Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Judith wrote about her web page: >We've started including direct links to places >(US and UK) where you can buy the B7 videos And in the meantime, remember I'm trying to find someone to take duplicate copies of Shadow/Weapon and Horizon/Pressure Point off my hands. UK format, whichever that is. I've had a semi-offer on H/PP (any further, CaeVye?), but S/W is definitely up for grabs. Trying not to sound like a salesperson, not that I've got much against them Harriet ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 16 Oct 1998 21:43:24 -0400 (EDT) From: brent@ntr.net To: blakes7@lysator.liu.se Subject: [B7L] Re: shuttle Message-Id: <199810170143.VAA28652@rome.ntr.net> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" D.Rose wrote (regarding Avon in "Blake"): >Once on the ground, he could easily have >set off for the base/town on his own. Instead, he tracks down his errant >teammates, rescuing them just in time. Typically, he allows the others to draw >what conclusions they want without rebuttal or bragging. Soolin assumes they >were bait. But Avon had no way of knowing they would provide such an easy >diversion by lighting a fire, nor could he assume that they wouldn't spot him >first. So his actions were based not on logic but on concern for his >companions. A flashback, if you will, to the Avon of Horizon. I don't agree with this view of Avon's motives. An Avon who shows up to meet Blake with no crew is a disgraced Avon. I don't think he sought them out so much for concern as necessity. There's also strength in numbers. > And if it had been him >and Dayna, he might even have voluntarily thrown himself out, given she >didn't weigh enough. I can't see Avon volunteering to throw himself out, even if his shuttle mate had been Anna (pre-betrayal). Avon would have explored other options, even if there didn't seem to be any. At any rate, he would have certainly thought of some creative questions for Orac in an attempt to figure something out. > But unless he felt he were indebted to Blake, I still say he would have >done the same to him. If he did feel that indebtedness is a whole 'nother >discussion.:-) The reason Avon went after Vila so easily was because Vila's opinion of Avon meant nothing to him. However, I don't think Avon could have spaced Blake because Avon cared too much what Blake thought of him. The only way I could see Avon spacing Blake in this situation is if Avon first shot him in the back of the head so Blake would never see it coming, thus dying without ever knowing of Avon's betrayal. Here is the order in which I think Avon would have chucked his crew mates: Vila is the most spaceable (to Avon, anyway) Soolin (but only if he draws faster) Dayna Tarrant Orac Blake Brent -------------------------------- End of blakes7-d Digest V98 Issue #263 **************************************