From: blakes7-d-request@lysator.liu.se Subject: blakes7-d Digest V98 #78 X-Loop: blakes7-d@lysator.liu.se X-Mailing-List: archive/volume98/78 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 78 Today's Topics: Re: [B7L] video tapes [B7L] Re: Decisions, Decisions [B7L] Re video tapes [B7L] re: Vila`s accepting ways [B7L] Newspaper article Re: [B7L] Re video tapes Re: [B7L] Re video tapes [B7L] Re: vide rereleases [B7L]:Servers Re: [B7L] Newspaper article Re: [B7L] re: Vila`s accepting ways [B7L] Videos... YKYBWTMB7W you want to buy another set. [B7L] Re: Costume query Re: [B7L] (fwd) [B7L] Re: Dad's Army Re: [B7L] Re: worst first lines ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 08 Mar 1998 09:33:26 -0800 From: Jay To: Blakes7@lysator.liu.se Subject: Re: [B7L] video tapes Message-Id: <3.0.1.32.19980308093326.006bf94c@succeed.net> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit >I wrote: >> >> How much are they? This might call for a quick phone call to Mum to nip >> down to Woolies for me. Julie wrote: > >They are £10.99 - Woolies have the limited edition (first 7000) set and >the cover design is quite clever. I noticed that the spines on each video >were slightly different, but it was only when I got them home and stood >them on the shelf reading left to right that I realised that when you get >the set, the spines will spell out the B7 logo. I think this definitely means a call home to Mum. She usually doesn't mind buying one or two tapes for her daughter, stranded in a cultural backwater . How many tapes do they have out already? How often are they releasing them? I'm going to be flying home this summer for a holiday, hopefully I'll be able to stock up then as well. > >Before now I had only seen B7 on UK Gold and have been recording them >from there but, owing to a few cock-ups with our new VCR, I missed chunks >of some of the first few, including all of 'The Way Back'. I used this as >an excuse with husband as to why I needed to lash out dosh to buy the >first few tapes to fill in the gaps, and wondered how I was then going to >persuade him that I needed to go on and buy the lot as they come out, >even the episodes we recorded OK. > I have a tape with the first three or four episodes, called "The Begining", it's condensed into 2 hours and from what I remember hardly any of "The Way Back". >Anyway, looks like I will have no problem now justifying myself when I >carry on to buy all the tapes. However, I still have to convince him that >I need to save some of the UK Gold recordings as well because they >contain the Paul Darrow introductions... Is there any way a poor ex-pat Brit can get hold of these???? Jay 100% Avon ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 08 Mar 1998 18:14:24 +0000 From: Jackie To: blakes7@lysator.liu.se Subject: [B7L] Re: Decisions, Decisions Message-ID: <3502E000.278D@termlow.co.uk> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit J. I. Horner wrote: > > I will be another first time con-goer at Deliverance and I have a > question. > > Will I be a real party pooper if I don't go in fancy dress? And if I do > dress up, is it alright to just have a stab in the general direction or > do people expect to be able to say, 'oh you are so-and-so in episode x'? The nearest I`ve been to being in fancy dress was at the 1986 Space City, where I took quite a fancy to these little fluffy *stickies*, and bought loads of them and stuck them all over my sweatshirt, and called myself a *baby tribble babysitter*. Othger than that I have never worn fancy dress, or even had the urge to go in fancy dress. So you will not be alone. > > I think I can manage leather trousers and a black polo neck, and after > discussions with Jenni I have possibilities of a Liberator hand-gun, but > my teleport bracelet has met with disaster (I was saving an empty Fairy > liquid bottle but the cleaning lady through it out and I haven't a hope > of using up the new bottle before the end of the month) I should imagine that the Horizon dealers table will have teleport bracelets for sale, they did the last time anyway. > > Also I can't imagine my husband going very far along the dressing up > path. He wont be alone in that, neither will mine. > > Due to a baby sitting problem (sister got first call on Mum for the > Saturday night) I will also have a two-year old in tow - an infant > Servalan perhaps? No I don't think so, Servalan in nappies doesn't quite > convince me. > > Julie Horner Unlike other Sci-Fi conventions, Blakes 7 conventions are children friendly. It has something to do with the fact that a lot of females go, and bring along husbands and Kids. The first few cons I went to, there were very few males fans in attendance - don`t get me wrong, there WERE lots of men in attendance, but they were mainly husbands of fans. The last Space City convention had a children`s fancy dress competition and a Baby Servalan entrant, complete with nappy. My first convention was 1986 - I went alone, as I had no idea what to expect. I`ve been to quite a few since, and my husband and kids have always been with me. In any case, unless it has been abandoned, is`nt there going to be a child minding type service available, provided by the concom? I`m sure it was originally mentioned when the convention was first advertised? All the cons I`ve been to have had Video cameras recording the event, so as to sell later. The only advice I have is not to sit near one of these cameras with a fractious child. Anyone with a personal camcorder can move, but the convention camcorders can not as they are usually plugged onto the electric sockets. Other than that come along and enjoy yourself. Bye Jackie PS if your baby is really little, I`m sure one of the older children will babysit for a few minutes while you watch a panel undisturbed ( you know how older kids are with babies - "aahhhh, isn`t he cute? can I hold him? Can I push his pram reound?" etc. etc.) ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 08 Mar 1998 18:35:45 GMT From: STEVE.ROGERSON@MCR1.poptel.org.uk To: blakes7@lysator.liu.se Subject: [B7L] Re video tapes Message-Id: <398102626MCR1@MCR1.poptel.org.uk> Alison said: "I was in WHSmith today, and they are that price there too. *And* 'The Way Back/ Space Fall' is number nine in their video charts.. which I find pretty impressive, for a twenty year old TV show." Sorry to disapoint you but WH Smith's charts are not based on sales. The chart is made up by the marketing people and is just what they want to push that week. cheers Steve Rogerson Redemption 99 - The Blakes 7/Babylon 5 convention 26-28 February 1999, Ashford International Hotel, Kent http://www.smof.com/redemption/ "The workers united will never be ignited" Guards! Guards! - Terry Pratchett ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 08 Mar 1998 21:05:30 +0000 From: Jackie To: blakes7@lysator.liu.se Subject: [B7L] re: Vila`s accepting ways Message-ID: <3503081A.5AD1@termlow.co.uk> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit John Werry wrote: > > >Subject: Re: [B7L] Re: Vila's accepting ways > >Message-Id: <3.0.1.32.19980303172234.006b55f0@succeed.net> > >Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" > > > >At 07:25 PM 3/3/98 +1000, you wrote: > >>Jay said: > >>>Some things I find too hard to forgive. I don't think I would have ever > >>>forgived Avon if he ever tried to space me, although I wouldn't have stayed > >>>mad at him for long. My trust would have been broken and I probably would > >>>have asked for a lift to the nearest pleasure planet. > >> > >>Well, I suppose I was being a bit facetious. Only people you really care > >>about can hurt you enough that you can't forgive. A stranger doesn't know > >>the vulnerable points the way your best friends do. But still... I never > >>saw those two as the very very best of friends > > (snip) > > >I think that Vila would have learned to trust Avon again (as much as he > >ever did, anyway!), and work with him again, but deep down he would still > >have a part of him that would never forgive Avon for the shuttle incident. > >I know I couldn't fully forgive anyone. > > One of the more persistant rumours that I have encountered about the B7 > series was that of the alleged cut in Orbit. I have had from 4 unconnected > sources that Vila's face was supposed to be tear streaked when the action > tracked to his hidey hole in the upstairs cupboard. This was meant to show > his feelings re the betrayal from someone he put his allegence & trust into. > I have been told that this scene was cut to maintain a PG rating - the > inclusion of this scene would have boosted the rating to an M rating. > Is this true or have I been fed a lot of nonsense? > > Regards. > > John - who has has a Travis of a Day. I have also heard that from various sources, including Michael Keating himself, while in the theatre bar in Worthing. I cannot remember how the subject came up. bye Jackie ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 8 Mar 98 21:13:00 GMT From: s.thompson8@genie.geis.com To: blakes7@lysator.liu.se Subject: [B7L] Newspaper article Message-Id: <199803082136.VAA22359@rock103.genie.net> Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" A friend just sent me a clipping from a British paper, though she didn't say which one. It's an article by Robert Hanks, dated Jan. 15, 1998, and is entitled "A Very British Space Crew." The author makes an amusing comparison between B7 and Trek. Toward the end he mentions the fandom and notes, "There are several sites on the Internet, full of storylines, analyses, lists of bloopers ('This could go on forever,' notes one such), guides to the gravel pits of Surrey, and sighing appreciations of the personal attractions of Gareth Thomas, who played Blake, and Paul Darrow, who played Avon. They also include, not irrelevantly, debates on 'slash' fiction, a genre which postulates same-sex relationships between fictional characters." In the final paragraph, he concludes: "Blake's 7 has acquired a credibility and popularity Terry Nation can never have imagined when (so the story goes) he invented it on the spot, in a fit of desperation after failing to sell any other programme ideas. Brian Lighthill, producer and director of the radio version, who also directed some episodes on TV, thinks it is the interplay of characters that makes it work-- Servalan and Avon's love-hate relationship, Avon and Vila's love-hate relationship. But I don't think that's it. I think it's to do with the sheer crappiness of the series and the crappiness it attributes to the universe: it is science-fiction for the disillusioned and ironic-- and that's what makes it so very British. That's what ensures there is a corner of Gauda Prime that is forever England." Has anyone else seen this? Sarah T. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 8 Mar 1998 21:30:50 -0000 From: Alison Page To: Lysator Subject: Re: [B7L] Re video tapes Message-ID: <889393350.1021871.0@alisonpage.demon.co.uk> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Steve - > Sorry to disapoint you but WH Smith's charts are not based on > sales. The chart is made up by the marketing people and is just > what they want to push that week. 'Why, of all the devious..' Thanks for letting me know. They don't miss a trick do they? Alison ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 8 Mar 1998 22:23:31 -0000 From: Ian Lay To: STEVE.ROGERSON@mcr1.poptel.org.uk, blakes7@lysator.liu.se Subject: Re: [B7L] Re video tapes Message-ID: <01bd4ae0$d366c7a0$f2dadec2@pacific-cc.demon.co.uk> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Steve wrote: >Sorry to disapoint you but WH Smith's charts are not based on >sales. The chart is made up by the marketing people and is just >what they want to push that week. That appears to be the case. I often find Deep Space 9 and Voyager tapes in their charts on Mondays.... the very day the videos are------------------------------------------------------------- Ian Lay /// :-) \\\ Watford Internet Football Club ian@pacific-cc.demon.co.uk or wifc@wfc.net suppossed to be released on. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 8 Mar 1998 22:40:48 -0000 From: "Dangermouse" To: Subject: [B7L] Re: vide rereleases Message-Id: <199803082252.WAA26718@gnasher.sol.co.uk> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Does anybody know if this is an *uncut* version of Spacefall? Also, what is the extra footage that is reffered to in the ads in Previews? ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 9 Mar 1998 13:44:24 +1300 From: Nicola Collie To: B7-list Subject: [B7L]:Servers Message-Id: Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Julie: (re computer names article) >The example I particularly liked was the respondent who named his servers >Anthrax, Ebola and Scurvy in the hope of scaring away lesser viruses. >(Is scurvy a virus? I thought it was brought on by not eating enough >Vitamin C) Confirmed! Anyone like to speculate on a computer-related deficiency this might be intended to ward off? Incomplete data-files, maybe? (and don't get me started on the interesting history of the search for a cause for beriberi...) ttfn, Nicola (teaching Biochem to undergraduates since 1992) --- Nicola Collie Dunedin, New Zealand nicola.collie@stonebow.otago.ac.nz "It just occurred to me that, as the description of a highly sophisticated technological achievement, "Avon's gadget works" seems to lack a certain style." ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 8 Mar 1998 20:14:06 EST From: RatterTat To: blakes7@lysator.liu.se Subject: Re: [B7L] Newspaper article Message-ID: <347853c3.35034260@aol.com> Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit >Sarah Thompson wrote: >A friend just sent me a clipping from a British paper, though she didn't say >which one. It's an article by Robert Hanks, dated Jan. 15, 1998, and is >entitled "A Very British Space Crew." Thank you for sharing this, Sarah. Uh...this *is* a postive review, isn't it? >I think it's to do with the sheer crappiness of the series and the crappiness it >attributes to the universe: Isn't this what we all love about it? >it is science-fiction for the disillusioned and ironic-- and that's what makes >it so very British. Hmmm...I'm not disillusioned, ironic, or British--but, nevertheless, Blake's 7 rules my life. ;) Carol K ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 08 Mar 1998 21:48:46 -0800 From: Pat Patera To: blakes7@lysator.liu.se Subject: Re: [B7L] re: Vila`s accepting ways Message-ID: <350382BE.520B@geocities.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Jackie wrote: re: > John Werry wrote: I have had from 4 unconnected > > sources that Vila's face was supposed to be tear streaked when the action > > tracked to his hidey hole in the upstairs cupboard. This was meant to show > > his feelings re the betrayal from someone he put his allegence & trust into. > > I have been told that this scene was cut to maintain a PG rating - the > > inclusion of this scene would have boosted the rating to an M rating. > I have also heard that from various sources, including Michael Keating is this not bizarre - that in a show with physical blows and lots of outright murder - that *crying* for gawdsakes should earn it an adult rating? What's wrong with this picture? Is our worldview nuts or what? This is on a par with the wierd values that sex (love)on tv is terrible for all ages, but violence and torture and killing (hate) is just fine to show to any ages. Pat P ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 9 Mar 1998 10:04:05 +0000 From: A.D.Spong@herts.ac.uk (Andrew Spong) To: blakes7-d@lysator.liu.se Subject: [B7L] Videos... YKYBWTMB7W you want to buy another set. Message-Id: Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Dear all I'm in total agreement with Steve about having to resist 'investing' in the new video release... I trudged round Watford on Saturday morning (not a place you'd ever feel like skipping round, let's face it) trying to con myself into buying vols. 1 and 2 by deploying a series of ever more risible 'reasons' why I should be £21.98 worse off by lunchtime: '*Some* of my copies are getting a *bit* worn, and it might start bugging me in a few years' became -- 'The sun has faded the spines of my BBCV set' (which it hasn't -- but I have to admit to keeping the curtains drawn while I'm out just in case... now I know I need therapy :-) ) 'What if one of my tapes shreds itself in my video? (and you can bet it wouldn't be Stardrive/Animals ;-) ) I'd *have* to get a new set anyway; that one rogue spine would really bug me'... '*All* of my copies are *really* worn and unwatchable'... 'Hostile aliens will invade the earth (a la _Mars Attacks_) and only those who own both sets of videos will be spared'... So, did I, or didn't I? Well... I didn't -- but I can't help but feel that it's only a matter of time. And I have to echo previous posters sentiments of a getting a fuzzy glow about seeing racks of videos of our favourite show everywhere you look. Reminds me of the first time around, c. 1992. It also made me reflect on the pre-BBCV 'hungry years' between 1981 and 1992 when fans only had their memories to remember the show by... any posters care to share about those dark times? I have to say that I think the 'special edition' sleeves are horrendous, however. They've been printed on the sort of paper you normally push fancy chocolate biscuits out of. What the hell are they supposed to be? Holograms? A job lot of left overs from Alcan? I feel some more posts coming on. Cheers Andrew ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 9 Mar 1998 11:59:33 +0000 (GMT) From: Una McCormack To: Lysator cc: Space City Subject: [B7L] Re: Costume query Message-ID: Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Someone posted a query about 2 B7 costumes. Here's some thoughts from my tame experts (sorry I can't remember which list the question was on and, indeed, who asked it...): >Don't know about the Cally dress, we've never come across that one. But >the red leather top is definitely around somewhere, either in the hands >of a collector or a dealer, not sure which. >A possible explanation for the dress not turning up is that it might be a >"light entertainment" frock, (lots of Servalan's were) and could >therefore not be classified by the BBC as a science fiction item. Hope this is of interest, Una ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 9 Mar 1998 15:58:21 +0000 (GMT) From: Una McCormack To: Lysator Subject: Re: [B7L] (fwd) Message-ID: Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII This response to one of my messages came only to me, and Graham has asked me to forward it to the mailing list. Una ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Fri, 6 Mar 1998 16:10:11 +0500 From: Graham Howard To: umm10@eng.cam.ac.uk Subject: Re: [B7L] > Date: Fri, 6 Mar 1998 20:39:16 +0000 (GMT) > From: Una McCormack > Reply-to: Una McCormack > To: Lysator > Cc: B7 Spin > Subject: [B7L] > Iain said: > > >Some people in the social sciences seem to suffer from "physics envy": > >they don't appreciate that the grand unifying principles of physics > >emerged very gradually from a lot of smaller-scale work. > > Spot on! They're also involved in an act of legitimization: 'If we call it > 'science' it's gotta to be true...' The actual 'science' behind a lot of > psychological research is, to my mind, questionable. > > > >Mind you, this isn't quite what I was on about. By "predictive power", I > >really just meant that the corellation between the measurements and some > >other observable would be the same for all populations (or a sufficiently > >large subset at least), so that one could then use the measurements to > >make some statistical prediction of the other observable. IQ and academic > >performance, for example. > > Ah yes, but IQ also correlates with other variables such as social class > (depending on how you tweak your experimental design!!). As I think Fran > pointed out, IQ measuring was used to 'prove scientifically' that blacks > were less intelligent than whites. I think it's essential to be aware of > the power issues behind claims to scientific legitimacy. > > [Going back to my 'tweaking' point: it's interesting when you read papers > that try to tell you what are the most effective means of psychological > 'intervention' (*lurve* that word!) for 'illnesses' such as depression > you don't find much in the way of consensus. Depending on what you stick > in the experiment you get a whole load of different answers: > therapy, drugs, bit of both... Even the control where people simply have a > chat with their doctor once a week made a lot of people feel better. This > is why the idea of salience is so interesting... And don't forget what a > pisser this is for psychologists: how can you justify spending all that > money on researching treatments for depression when your experiments seem > to be saying that all people need is a bit of a cry and a pat on the back > (which I'm *not* suggesting before the firing squad pops up!!!!)? All > these damn experiments conclude with demands for more resources and > funding for these people to pour into their experiments, and not a flicker > of doubt that perhaps they're approaching the 'problem' in the wrong way!! > OK, rant mode off now!!] > > Back to Iain's remarks... There is also a question of what is actually > being observed. I *don't* believe that in IQ tests we are observing and > measuring intelligence, whatever that might be. > > Physics is increasingly concerned with the interplay and the fuzziness > between subject and object. It strikes me that such a concern should be > fundamental when what is being observed is another human being. > > Here endeth the second lesson! > This message is spot on. I particularly like the stuff on legitimation. People accept unquestioningly what scientists say, not realizing that they have motives and are involved in legitimation. An extreme example would be the way scientists working for tobacco companies covered up their own findings. When someone comes along and tries to say that science is a socio-cultural product like anything else some scientists just can't take being knocked off their pedistall. Just looked at the venom which has greeted constructivist sociologists of science by some physicists. You don't have to be a postmodernist to see that constructivist sociology of science has given us new insights into the workings of this modern religion. Graham. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 9 Mar 1998 15:16:35 +0000 From: A.D.Spong@herts.ac.uk (Andrew Spong) To: blakes7@lysator.liu.se Subject: [B7L] Re: Dad's Army Message-Id: Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" >Gan has to be - whassis name? - Sponge, who hangs around in the background >without really joining in. > Must have been a near relation of mine -- certainly, I can seen the behavioural similarities viz. my lurking on this list! Andrew (Spong) ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 9 Mar 1998 11:41:39 -0600 From: "Reuben Herfindahl" To: Subject: Re: [B7L] Re: worst first lines Message-ID: <00c501bd4b82$9e060bf0$660114ac@misnt> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit -----Original Message----- From: Helen Krummenacker To: Dangermouse Cc: blakes7@lysator.liu.se Date: Saturday, March 07, 1998 2:44 PM Subject: Re: [B7L] Re: worst first lines >> >> "Previously, on Star Trek: Voyager..." >This is DEFINITELY a worst first line, for anything, B7 related, or not. >:^) I thought that was reserved for "Previously on Dukes of Hazard"..... Reuben -------------------------------- End of blakes7-d Digest V98 Issue #78 *************************************