From: blakes7-d-request@lysator.liu.se Subject: blakes7-d Digest V99 #91 X-Loop: blakes7-d@lysator.liu.se X-Mailing-List: archive/volume99/91 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 99 : Issue 91 Today's Topics: Re: [B7L] Brian Croucher and Redemption Re: [B7L] Brian Croucher and Redemption Re: [B7L] Travis/Mutoids Re: [B7L] Random scrap of trivia. Re: [B7L] Brian Croucher and Redemption Re: [B7L] Merchandise [B7L] Why Avon changed [B7L] Redemption Re: [B7L] Travis/Mutoids Re: [B7L] Brian Croucher and Redemption Re: [B7L] Travis/Mutoids Re: [B7L] Dream writers/Change of career Re: [B7L] Why Avon changed Re: [B7L] Career change? [B7L] Travis And Kiera Sitting In A Tree... [B7L] Deborah's Song Re: [B7L] Dream writers/Change of career [B7L] Avon & Cally Re: [B7L] Career change? Re: [B7L] Redemption ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 5 Mar 1999 12:41:09 -0000 From: "Dangermouse" To: "Judith Proctor" , "Lysator List" Subject: Re: [B7L] Brian Croucher and Redemption Message-Id: <199903051248.MAA05845@gnasher.sol.co.uk> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Now that I wore my first costume, he told me "now you know how us actos feel..." He wasn't as bad as last time I saw him. I still don't much like him though... -- "When two hunters go after the same prey they usually end up shooting each other in the back - and we don't want to shoot each other in the back, do we?" http://members.aol.com/vulcancafe ------- ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 5 Mar 1999 13:07:43 -0000 From: "Jenni -Alison" To: "Lysator List" Subject: Re: [B7L] Brian Croucher and Redemption Message-Id: <199903051303.OAA25394@samantha.lysator.liu.se> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Oh, I thought he was lovely. When he said how he felt lonely being the only actor I wanted to give him a hug! And he was really interesting and very socially concerned when I saw him in the Sunday morning panel (sadly the only panel I saw him in - I wish I'd seen the "The Producer is a Bastard" one). Also, Penny, he wanted to know whether I still had black underwear on on Sunday, and he was really nice and chatty in the Stewards Party. He's a lot better looking in person than he was in East Enders - the short hair suited him. He did put a suggestive autograph on my 'zine when I got him to sign it.... Jenni ---------- > From: Dangermouse > To: Judith Proctor ; Lysator List > Subject: Re: [B7L] Brian Croucher and Redemption > Date: 05 March 1999 12:41 > > > Now that I wore my first costume, he told me "now you know how us actos > feel..." > > He wasn't as bad as last time I saw him. I still don't much like him > though... ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 05 Mar 1999 06:11:24 PST From: "Stephen Date" To: blakes7@lysator.liu.se Subject: Re: [B7L] Travis/Mutoids Message-ID: <19990305141125.14381.qmail@hotmail.com> Content-type: text/plain >Mikela wrote: > >>But it's kind of ironic. He and Blake were warned they would lose a >>friend. Travis did, even if it was only the illusion of one. > Penny added > >Wow. Yeah. Insightful. Succinct. Bravo, Mikela. > Absolutely, I think that's a brilliant theory. It's so......Travis. Stephen. ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 5 Mar 1999 16:36:22 -0000 From: "Neil Faulkner" To: "lysator" Subject: Re: [B7L] Random scrap of trivia. Message-ID: <005401be6726$70e92ba0$6517ac3e@default> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Vick wrote: Nope, it was John Miles. But you're not the only one to think that big orchestral bit in the middle sounds like the B7 theme. My trusty Guinness Book of Hit Singles tells me that 'Music' charted in 1976, so could this be where Deadly Dudley nicked the theme from? And did Miles ever notice? Neil ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 5 Mar 1999 16:15:50 -0000 From: "Neil Faulkner" To: "lysator" Subject: Re: [B7L] Brian Croucher and Redemption Message-ID: <005201be6726$6e3a8660$6517ac3e@default> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Judith wrote: >Can't say much as I'm still tired after getting back from Wales and working most >of the day on washing dishes and convention accounts and things like that. Very brave of you to confess to laundering Redemption's turnover in a public forum. Just how closely _do_ you identify with Avon? Shame about Dusty, eh? Neil ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 5 Mar 1999 07:26:30 +0100 (BST) From: Judith Proctor To: Lysator List Subject: Re: [B7L] Merchandise Message-ID: Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII On Fri 05 Mar, Jacqueline Thijsen wrote: > I picked up video's number 8 and 9 today and as it turns out, the owner of > that store is also a B7 fan. He asked me if I had any adresses for him where > he can get B7 merchandise which he would really like to sell in his store > (after getting some of it for himself, of course). Pretty well all of what is available in this country merchandise-wise is sold by Horizon. They do sometimes sell via shops so it might be worth contacting them. he'd need to write to Diane Gies, 18 Holt Rd, N. Wembley, Middlesex, HA0 3PS. I don't know if the Avon club sell their zines via other people or not. I've never seen any elsewhere and digest zines might not sell very well in a shop. I don't know if Sheelagh and Joe agent their tapes via commercial outlets, but he could try writing to Sheelagh Wells, 20a New Rd, Brentford, Middlesex, TW8 0NX I don't think they'll go for it simply because Sheelagh doesn't want the price of the tapes increased and that would be inevitable if sold through a shop. (She passed some onto me at Redemption, so I've got some for sale at the moment. I just need to work out the postage cost, which will probably be the same as Sheelagh's, and then I'll add them to the web page on my section as well as hers) Virgin may still have copies of 'Blake's 7: The Inside Story'. That's his best bet. There's also my zines, but the mark-up that any shop would have to put on them in order to make a profit would probably price them beyond what a fan would be willing to pay. He's welcome to contact me if he wishes, but I doubt it would be viable. 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, 04 Mar 1999 19:17:13 -0800 From: Pat Patera To: B7 Lysator Subject: [B7L] Why Avon changed Message-ID: <36DF4CB9.2E629F73@geocities.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit mistral wrote: > And, BTW, I'd love to hear anybody else's ideas about what might be > a > logical/silly explanation for the change in Avon from series A to series > D. I've been in lurk mode these past few weeks while skating thru a busy patch of real life, but must stop to pop up here. I recently read "The Lucifer Principal" This book deals with why humans - individuals and societies behave as they do. Many studies of both humans and chimps show how one's place in the pecking order affects their testosterone levels. The big old silverback gorilla gets all the gal gorillas and lords it over the band. Until he is deposed by a young hotshot, that is. Then his agression levels plunge. The new king of the hill enjoys a great rise in testosterone levels. Likewise, the losers - including former top dogs who wind up oppressed by guards, police, supervisors, etc. - become meek and compliant. See how this applies to Avon? He starts out supressed by being under the heel of guards for many months after his arrest. Then Blake, the big old Silverback, wins the loyalty of the gal (geurillas). But lo! Once the big guy is gone, Avon realizes he can be the big old Silverback (those silver studs!) and his testosterone soars. As he continues to dominate, he gets increasing hormone release and grows more dominating and more aggressive. Watching Tarrant challenge Avon is exactly like watching any young male primate try to topple the leader and take his place. I just wonder if Paul Darrow realized the implications of his changing character Avon. Pat P PS I've had to archive those 150 or so Myers-Briggs posts for a later read; looks like a grand discussion and I'm mortified to have missed participation in it. Imagine! All the INTJ/Ps in the world: all in one place. ________________________________________________________ NetZero - We believe in a FREE Internet. Shouldn't you? Get your FREE Internet Access and Email at http://www.netzero.net/download.html ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 6 Mar 1999 08:12:24 +1100 (EST) From: kat@welkin.apana.org.au (Kathryn Andersen) To: blakes7@lysator.liu.se (Blake's 7 list) Subject: [B7L] Redemption Message-Id: Content-Type: text Thanks Judith for your report (particularly since you must be exhausted) -- but we want more! Reports, reports, we want reports! What *happened*? TELL us! Kathryn A. (who is wishing she hadn't decided that JM was more important) -- _--_|\ | 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: Fri, 05 Mar 1999 14:09:30 -0800 From: Pat Patera To: B7 Lysator Subject: Re: [B7L] Travis/Mutoids Message-ID: <36E0561A.DD1D66C7@geocities.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit "Michelle A." wrote: Hi Michelle, welcome to the list. > I try to keep it under control, but you will no doubt notice my > tendency to go off on tangents and be long winded. Whistle away. This is the list for the long winded, all right! > "Duel" > The way he was saying it, I suddenly imagined him having this thing for > a woman who (for whatever reasons) was made into a mutoid. By luck or > because he arranged it, she's on the same ship as him. He's never done > anything. From what the mutoid said, I assumed it would be against rules > to discuss her past, or perhaps he simply knew better. But he's had > this little fantasy in the back of his mind. He's imagined telling her > about her past, seeing her excited to learn it, seeing her break through > her altered memories and conditioning the way Blake did, her gratitude > to him for doing this (did she love him or does he hope she would love > him?) and he finally has a chance to act it out. But it means nothing to > her. The beautiful woman he had admired is dead. This thing left in her > place is incapable of feeling or remembering any of the things important > to him. Being Travis, he takes it out on her. *sniff sniff* Your insightful take on this episode would make such a sad, beautiful story. You should write it up for a fanzine. Travis has lots of fans but doesn't get much ink in the zines. I loved your conclusion: that Travis really did lose a (virtual) friend. I guess that was the booby prize for the loser. Pat P ________________________________________________________ NetZero - We believe in a FREE Internet. Shouldn't you? Get your FREE Internet Access and Email at http://www.netzero.net/download.html ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 05 Mar 1999 22:24:57 From: Penny Dreadful To: "Lysator List" Subject: Re: [B7L] Brian Croucher and Redemption Message-Id: <3.0.6.16.19990305222457.2d779e54@mail.geocities.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Jenni -Alison wrote: >Also, Penny, he wanted to know whether I still had black underwear on on >Sunday... He's a lot better looking in person than he was in East Enders... > >He did put a suggestive autograph on my 'zine when I got him to sign it.... Tsk, they all assume my interest in this matter to be prurient; what kind of sick deviant freak do they take me for? Is it not conceivable that I have a deep abiding interest solely in Mr. Croucher's... um... political beliefs? And more importantly [Penny waggles her eybrows in best Marxist fashion], what does the autograph say? Dangermouse said: >> Now that I wore my first costume, he told me "now you know how us actos >> feel..." [Penny waggles eyebrows again] What kind of costume *was* that, anyhow? Yours until the Mountain Peeks to see the Salad Dressing, -- Penny Dreadful ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 6 Mar 1999 01:54:23 EST From: Pherber@aol.com To: blakes7@lysator.liu.se Subject: Re: [B7L] Travis/Mutoids Message-ID: <977bf929.36e0d11f@aol.com> Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit In a message dated 3/5/99 12:09:25 AM Mountain Standard Time, mikela72@hotmail.com writes: > The point of this e-mail: I know this was discussed a while back, but in > "Duel" when Travis started telling the mutoid her past, I had a > differenct take on it than the postings I read. I was wondering why she > was sent down--it doesn't take too high an IQ to see mutoids are not > often in the best friends catagory. Then Travis started talking to her. > It suddenly hit me he'd known her Welcome Mikela! Make yourself at home -- some of us are a long-winded bunch, in case you hadn't noticed yet . I always get the impression that Travis knew the girl before she was modified too -- I think that's why Sinofar selected her as his companion rather than the other mutoid. He takes such pleasure in taunting her about knowing her past that I wonder if he wasn't involved in some way in her winding up as a mutoid. I like how disconcerted he is when she doesn't react to it. One of Travis' more contemptible episodes, IMHO. Nina ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 6 Mar 1999 01:54:21 EST From: Pherber@aol.com To: blakes7@lysator.liu.se Subject: Re: [B7L] Dream writers/Change of career Message-ID: Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit In a message dated 3/5/99 2:02:03 AM Mountain Standard Time, csm80316@port.ac.uk writes: > I've often thought thet Paul would likewise make a great replacement > for McGoohan in the Prisoner. (Isn't Mel Gibson up for the film > version? Rotten choice!!) Paul has the right accent (no accent!) the > right age (no seriously, to be credible, the part suits an older man) > and the right attitude. What does anybody think? OOhhh! What a good idea! Mel Gibson is *all* wrong for that part - Paul would be *perfect*! It's really too bad that the Hollywood mentality will insist on a major name in the film version. So who do you fancy for No. 2? Jackie? Or Gareth? (Or maybe both?) Nina (who never really *understood* the bloody show, but likes the surrealism) ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 6 Mar 1999 01:54:16 EST From: Pherber@aol.com To: blakes7@lysator.liu.se Subject: Re: [B7L] Why Avon changed Message-ID: Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit In a message dated 3/5/99 3:20:10 PM Mountain Standard Time, pussnboots@geocities.com writes: Pat P wrote: > > PS I've had to archive those 150 or so Myers-Briggs posts for a later > read; looks like a grand discussion and I'm mortified to have missed > participation in it. Imagine! All the INTJ/Ps in the world: all in one > place. > Scary, isn't it? Nina ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 6 Mar 1999 01:54:30 EST From: Pherber@aol.com To: blakes7@lysator.liu.se Subject: Re: [B7L] Career change? Message-ID: <67a54ed3.36e0d126@aol.com> Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit In a message dated 3/3/99 11:59:06 PM Mountain Standard Time, mistral@ptinet.net writes: RE: PD Vick wrote: > > > I think he'd be great as Zaphod Beeblebrox in a re-make of HHGTTG I replied: > > Hmm. I have a hard time picturing that, maybe because I've never seen PD > > in anything comedic. Mistral answered: > That's odd. I was under the impression you'd watched B7 :) Smartass. OK, *deliberately* comedic. I said: > > Personally, I favor Harrison Ford as Zaphod. Mistral replied: > Ooooooh! Decisions, decisions..... then again, didn't he have two heads? Hmmm. Let's see -- who else would look good as Zaphod's second head? Timothy Dalton? Or maybe Vick's onto something here. How about Paul as one head and Michael Keating as the other? Nina ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 06 Mar 1999 02:21:47 From: Penny Dreadful To: blakes7@lysator.liu.se Subject: [B7L] Travis And Kiera Sitting In A Tree... Message-Id: <3.0.6.16.19990306022147.2f9f3c9a@mail.geocities.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" ...K-I-L-L-I-N-G... Okay, I admit it, I'm plagiarizing my own web pages again. (First comes love/Then comes marriage/Then comes robobaby in a cyborg-carriage) Last time this subject came up, if I recall correctly, I insisted that Travis was hitting on the mutoid, but Judith eventually made me say Uncle and admit he was just making platonic chit-chat. Hmph. Nina said: >He takes such pleasure in taunting her about knowing her >past that I wonder if he wasn't involved in some way in her winding up as a >mutoid. I still cannot buy that it is *just* taunting, entirely nasty in intent. I still see some sort of desire to make 'human' contact (cf. just 'get a reaction') in his behaviour. >One of Travis' more contemptible episodes, IMHO. More contemptible than "...then detain one!" in 'Project Avalon'? Than (if I may paraphrase) "Maryatt saved my life, but hey, what's he done for me lately?" in' Deliverance'? Offing an innocent clone in 'Weapon'? Telling Veron her mother's dead and then karate chopping her in 'Pressure Point'? ...Shall I go on? --Penny "Encyclopaedia Travissica" Dreadful ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 5 Mar 1999 19:25:55 +0100 (BST) From: Judith Proctor To: Space City cc: Lysator List Subject: [B7L] Deborah's Song Message-ID: Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII Those of you who've read Deborah Rose's con report will know exactly where this song comes from. It's all true (apart from the bit about never going on the railways again) the tune is Loch Lomond From Virginia's lovely shores off to England's damper climes, I took a trip on an airplane, I landed at Heathrow, which is where you tend to go, Then I ventured forth on the railways. CHORUS Oh ye'll take the high road and I'll take the low road, And I'll be in Ashford afore ye, But Ashford has a twin - in the Midlands - it's a sin, And I'll never go again on the railways. On London's underground, I wandered round and round, When I die, I'm going to haunt the Northern Line, But I met my Waterloo, as so many travellers do, When I ventured forth on the railways. I staggered into Ashford in the early afternoon, Couldn't find the place where I was staying, Now I sing this sad lament, as I ought to be in Kent, And I'll never go again on the railways. Judith PS. Julia - yes. -- 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, 5 Mar 1999 18:26:56 +0100 (BST) From: Judith Proctor To: Lysator List Subject: Re: [B7L] Dream writers/Change of career Message-ID: Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII On Fri 05 Mar, I am Stupid!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! wrote: > BTW, I've just got some lovely photo's back from Guards! Guards1 > after show party. Does anyone have any objections to JPG. > attachments, as long as they're not to big? There ain't no such animal as a small jpeg. Besides, I think it's against the list rules to post binaries here. I can stick a couple on my web page if you want to share the pictures without annoying people with phone bills. 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, 6 Mar 1999 20:56:16 +1100 From: "Afenech" To: "lysator" Subject: [B7L] Avon & Cally Message-Id: <10110114859306@domain5.bigpond.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Nina and Susan were noting the lovely interaction between Avon and Cally when she first takes an interest in his work -smile- Can only agree. Avon's bemusement is very endearing - it's almost as though o woman has even battered her eyes at him before, hard to believe! -smile- or that he is unaware of how attractive he is? I also like their first moments together on Saurian Major - it seems to me that Avon is more than a trifle intrigued - he all but babbles, for Avon -smile- 'How do you come to be telepathic?' -smile- as opening lines go it's not up to his usual standard -smile- and again I find it very likeable -smile- Pat F ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 06 Mar 1999 02:15:24 -0800 From: mistral@ptinet.net To: B7 list Subject: Re: [B7L] Career change? Message-ID: <36E1003B.E764909@ptinet.net> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Pherber@aol.com wrote: > Hmmm. Let's see -- who else would look good as Zaphod's second head? Timothy > Dalton? > Or maybe Vick's onto something here. How about Paul as one head and Michael > Keating as the other? How about Paul with Peter Davison? I bet the two PDs could be quite funny together. I always did like the fifth Doctor's 'baffled' look. Mistral -- "And for my next trick, I shall swallow my other foot."--Vila ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 6 Mar 1999 17:16:25 +0100 (BST) From: Judith Proctor To: Lysator List cc: Space City Subject: Re: [B7L] Redemption Message-ID: Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII On Fri 05 Mar, Kathryn Andersen wrote: > Thanks Judith for your report (particularly since you must be > exhausted) -- but we want more! Reports, reports, we want reports! > What *happened*? TELL us! Beware what you ask for you may get it. The convention started for me over two years ago. It was the last Who's 7 and Ruth Saunders had just announced that there wouldn't be another one. I loved this convention with its multitude of activities and debates. It was such a contrast to some other conventions that consisted of little more than guest talks and a dealers room. I mentioned on the Lysator list that I was thinking of running a convention and Steve promptly popped up and said he'd be interested. Our combined convention running experience was nil. Nothing deterred, we set about recruiting people who did actually know what they were doing. Sarah had done accounts for a couple of conventions and Eddie and Chris were old hands at the business. Ruth put me in touch with Andy Croft who was to prove an invaluable source of advice even though he wasn't directly involved with the convention. The exact form of the convention went through several mutations. We shifted our planned date to give Deliverance more space and decided to go for a lower profile on guests and concentrate more on fan-run activities and also changed to a B7/B5 format. We chose the Ashford International hotel after looking at several others found by a conference venue service. The Ashford wasn't the cheapest, but it did have several significant advantages. It had a level ground floor which was important when considering fans in wheelchairs; it had lots of small function rooms grouped together on the first floor; it also had a reputation (garnered from Who's 7) for friendly helpful staff. Funnily enough, the final point that decided in its favour was one that might seem trivial but was very important to us. The other hotel that had made it to our short list didn't want flyers left around the bar area. We realised that this would also extend to any kind of material stuck on walls, pillars, etc. in the public areas of the hotel. The Ashford, by contrast, had no objection to 'Vote for Servalan' posters, wall competitions with limericks, book quizes, flyers for other conventions, Klingon photos, or anything else being flyposted all over the place. These things being essential to the atmosphere of the convention, we voted for the Ashford. Sarah fell ill some months later. She'd been looking after membership and the accounts for us. Ruth very kindly stepped in to look after membership and I got landed with the accounts . At least I'd had the practice of looking after zine accounts for many years. We'd invited Gareth of course, and also Sheelagh and Joe as between them they covered both the fandoms we were interested in. I was to be grateful on several occasions that I'd invited Sheelagh - she was very helpful. Jane Kilick knew half the committee already, so we invited her to share her experience of Babylon 5. David Walsh was a later addition to the guest list. He fitted in perfectly with the kind of convention that we envisioned and indeed, he was a real hit with the fans. One thing that you worry about for the entire run-up to a convention is whether you're going to break even. Convention maths is horribly simple. If you make a loss, the committee pay it. If you make a profit, it goes to charity. Some items leave you with absolutely no flexibility at all. The hotel cost 3,700 pounds and once we'd paid the deposit we were committed. It was only a few a weeks before the actual date of the convention that we finally knew that we'd broken even. (We knew we'd make a fair bit on the auction, but none of us had any respect for conventions that use items donated for charity to balance their accounts. We had some items where we'd had permission from the donors to use the proceeds for convention funds, but charity-only items were sacrosanct.) The most stressful point came when Gareth got a part in 'Hosts of Rebecca'. I was delighted that he'd got the part because he'd been out of work a lot over the last year or two. It did leave us short of our main guest though. I posted a message to both lists the night I spoke to Gareth on the phone (because another pet hate is conventions who keep quiet when they lose a main guest - or even, in thankfully rare cases, advertise guests whom they'd never invited in the first place) and crossed my fingers that we wouldn't lose too many members. I think it took around a month before we had another guest confirmed. It's hard to remember now. It was over Christmas, and not the best time to contact actors. I was suffering from stress-related illness, though I didn't identify it as such at the time. My nerves improved a lot when Brian came aboard. He was pleasant to speak to over the phone and Steve's report of his one-man show in London suggested that he'd be a good speaker. He'd also been unable to make Deliverance because of a car accident, so he was a cast member whom fans wouldn't have seen recently. Things moved rapidly after Christmas. Somehow, we got the programme finalised by dint of crawling all over my lounge floor with large sheets of paper and all the programme items written on little post-it notes. Conversarions flew as we rearranged things yet again. 'You can't have that item on then as David would have to be in two places at once.' 'Hang on, you haven't given Sheelagh a lunch break.' 'Do we want two similar items close together?' 'Is Paula there on Friday evening?' And so on. That was fun. We'd been recruiting volunteers for programme items for a long time. They were a wonderful bunch, willing to get involved in everything from puppets to astrophysics. Inevitably, the programme underwent some changes as we found errors that we'd missed the first time around, but it retained its general form. There was one horrendous point a month or so later when everything went wrong at once. Several key people had to let us down for family/job reasons. Wasn't their fault, but I had to find another disco at short notice and extra tech crew. Just to add to the fun, it would normally have landed on Chris's plate, but his job was taking him out of the country and he simply wasn't in a position to do it. I'd originally signed on to do hotel liason and guest liason and I was now doing those plus the accounts and now chasing the tech problems. The stomach pains promptly reappeared. Somehow, everything worked out. We found the guy who'd done the disco for Who's 7 and he was available (and did a great job). More tech crew were found and God bless them they did wonderfully. The week before the con I was stressed out, sleeping badly and trying to figure out how the devil to pack everything. The one bit of light relief was constructing the standee. We went down to Oxfam and found some clothes that were pretty much Gareth's style (denims and sweatshirt); my husband made the body from hardboard and Julia enlarged some suitable photos for the face and the all-important beer mug. On Thursday I staggered down to Ashford and suddenly everything started going right. Volunteers were cutting out and assembling badges. Convention packs were stuffed. I relaxed. I even wrote a filk song as Deborah told me of her travel disasters. Friday morning, we set up registration and got everything ready. We took the hotel events manager around the building and showed him what we'd be doing and where and how we'd need all the rooms set up. We checked details of catering, invented silly names for sandwiches - BLT - Blake Loves Travis - and generally organised stuff. Things were still going well. People began to appear in a gradual trickle and we were in business. The programe items started at 2pm and even for the early items there were a few people. We'd only expected half a dozen or so for the early items, but they seemed to be enjoying themselves. I can't recall much what I was doing. I know I was on the move a lot keeping track of various things, but it was incredibly relaxing compared to the weeks beforehand. I made sure I was at Registration to meet Brian when he arrived and was glad I'd mugged up on his most recent photo so that I recognised him immediately. He had his son Sean with him. (Sean enjoyed the weekend, asked to come each day). I introduced Brian to his first panel and left him to it. (I'd offered to do it with him, but he said he'd be fine on his own) I'm not sure if it covered the intended topics, but the audience seemed to be enjoying it whenever I went past. Brian later described it to me as his 'stand up comic' routine. At 5pm Paddy started his RPG. I wasn't sure how many players he'd catch this early in the con, but we set up a flip chart with a large notice on it to say that a game was starting and there was a group of players next time I went that way. I can't for the life of me remember what I did until the opening ceremony, apart from grabbing a sandwich. Said hello to a lot of friends as they arrived, did all sorts of odd jobs, sorted out various bits and bobs with the hotel, said hello to the other guests, etc. The actual opening ceremony has gone entirely from my mind, though I guess I must have been there... Actually, I do remember my son arriving at a rush just before it started (he had school on Friday so couldn't get there early). I told him to grab the standee and it was worth it to hear the laugh as we brought it onto stage while passing on Gareth's apologies for not being able to be there. Steve's mixer games came immediately afterwards. They were fun and I was really pleased when a fan came up at the end of the session and said that she'd come as a single fan knowing nobody and felt that she'd made some friends already. I helped my husband with some of his unpacking before going on to run the Friday night filk session. This must have been the first con in a long time where I didn't have to forcibly recruit filkers. All the filk sessions were well attended with people who'd done it before and also with people who'd never been to a filk session in their life. As usual, we were short of people who knew the words, but I passed out songbooks, and some people tried songs that they knew the tunes to. When my voice threatened to give out, I shifted to playing the concertina. Rachel (whom I'd never met before) had brought along a violin and started playing harmonies to my melody. It was absolutely wonderful! Before she left that evening, I made her promise to do a caberet act with me on Saturday. Went to bed happy and slept well. On Saturday morning, I did the panel with Brian Croucher and David Walsh. Although Brian had been fine on his own yesterday, I had definite ideas about how I wanted the session to go, and I also wanted to be there as a buffer just in case the two of them didn't get on. I needn't have worried on that score; it was a very enjoyable session. Went to say hello to Jenni and Fifi in the chaos costume workshop. My goodness, that room was a sight. There weren't many people there, but those who were looked as though they were having an absolute ball! They'd even brought along a sewing machine and were working away at a costume for Buck Rogers. I wished I had time to stay and make something myself. Moved along to give David Walsh moral support in his first solo panel session. He turned out to be a very interesting speaker with some amusing anecdotes about meeting Paul Darrow on the underground. He became a Servalan impersonator virtually by accident and it was interesting to hear him talk about how it had all developed. Missed Brian's next panel as I was running a workshop on zine publishing, but I knew Joe Nazzaro would be a good interviewer and didn't worry at all. The zine publishing workshop had four publishers and one neophyte. Good actually as we were able to give advice from our differeing point of view. I was fascinated to discover that Green Dragon Press always collate by hand. I couldn't do that to save my life. How anyone decided what to do between three and four pm is beyond me as choosing between Babylon Park, chaos modelling, the second half of Sherridan's trial for treason, the start of the bring and buy sale, a workshop on SF writing by EPS and Sheelagh's make-up discussion would have made me agnonise for ages. Fortunately I didn't have the problem as my first priority was in getting the hotel to clear the tables needed for the bring and buy. We had the room set up as 'boardroom' which meant that the hotel provided stuff to drink and write with. Very handy for some of the workshops we'd programmed there, but a bit in the way for massive zine sales which needed the large table space, but without the extras. I took a brief peek in Sheelagh's session which was going well (I needed to make sure that all the costumiers had cleared out their fabrics etc., but they'd left the room in excellent condition). I also looked in on the chaos modelling session which was very slow initially - probably because there was so much else on at the same time. However, when I checked again an hour or so later, there were some very creative space ships indeed. They were using several of the items I'd been hording for the last month. Asthma inhalers, orange nets, plastic milk-tops and more were all venturing into space. The finished results looked wonderful. I'd promised myself the 'realism in slash' workshop and arrived not long after it started. The next person in after me was a man, so reacting even faster than David (who was checking on people coming in from his vantage point facing the door), I asked him if he knew what slash was. He replied that it was horror movies and the like. We suggested that the talk might not be quite what he was after and he departed. Sadly, I was called away, as the talk got really interesting, to sort out some details for the forthcoming autograph session. I took a peak in the main hall while we were setting up the autograph tables. My goodness - now I know where some of the tech budget went. When they said 'large screen' I hadn't realised quite how large that was. Mind you, it gave a darn good picture and there seemed to be lots of people in there watching 'Call to Arms'. I rather regret missing that. The autograph session was quiet and relaxed. No really big name gusts meant that there was a steady trickle of people rather than a flood. The guests had time to chat to people and nobody had to wait a long time. On my way back to ops I passed the room where my husband and Calle were talking about web pages. Seemed to be an interested audience. I spent a lot of time passing groups of people . There were small clumps of fans wherever I went: in the gaming area, in the boulevard, in various programme rooms, in the bar. It was great. They all seemed to be enjoying themselves. It was great. I felt that we'd really succeeded in doing what we'd set out to do and created an event where people could get to know one another. After that it was the fancy dress/cabaret rehersal. These things always drag on a bit because tech need to find the requirements for each person/group and that means talking to people one at a time. I sat in a corner and practised playing 'The Ash Grove' at various speeds. Note for non-musicians. An accordian is a massive thing that looks like a sideways portable piano with a bellows and needs shoulder straps to support the weight. A concertina is a much smaller instrument that is usually octagonal in shape and can easily be held in two hands. I have a concertina. A three row D/G Anglo concertina to be precise, though nobody except another concertina player would probably be interested. (In any gathering of concertina players picked at random, you can pretty well guarantee that none of them will have instruments with identical fingering, as the designs vary enormously) More autographs. Then the fancy dress. True to our philosophy of having fans do things, we appointed David as a judge. A costume fan was roped in for another and I got volunteered as a third. The standard of entries was great. Jem Ward started us of with variation of one of Shakespeare's speeches. The opening to Henry V (though I might be wrong). I only wish I had it written down, because it was very funny. 'When we speak of spaceships, imagine that you see them and not wobbly special effects' (or words to that effect). He got the best humour award. I can't remember all of the entries now, but the standard was very good. There were several entries from the chaos costume workshop and we gave a special prize to a cyberpunk. (A cyberman with punk rock slogans sprayed on his chest). There was a very good 'chaos' Romulan as well. Commander Kor (well known to anyone who'd been in the bar) won the prize for best costume. The great thing about being a judge is that you choose the categories. So we could also award a performance prize to Jason Vorhees doing a guitar routine with his axe. The last entry (exempted from the competition as I was a judge) was a brief skit Jem had talked me into. Dressed as Blake, I went and picked Avon out of the audience. Avon and I argued. Avon shot me. 'Oh my God!' said Jem. In unison, the audience completed it. 'He's killed Blakeie. You Bastards!' The cabaret. Brilliant. What can I say? Helen Brunton's superb belly dance. Cartagia and Londo doing a routine together. The Reduced Blake's 7 Company with their wonderfully timed sketch about the BBC. The filkers with 'Don't follow him. Have me.' (I won't comment on my bit, but at least I managed to play it without any mistakes and Rachel was much better than me in any case. I sang 'Ladies From Hades' as well and Rachel did a song of her own.) The demonstration of Minbari flighting-pole techniques by a ranger and his novice. David Walsh dragging various people onto the dance floor. It was fun and I'm sure I've forgotten some other good performances. Another filk session. I'd been terrified that I'd be too ill to manage all the items I'd intended to run (I really had been pretty bad at some points) so I'd roped Lil and Jean in to run this particular item. As Lil said, they couldn't hold a tune, but had plenty of books. It was an enjoyable session and we got the occasional non-B7 filk and lots of enthusiasm. I rather liked the UFO song. I even found enough voice to sing some filks that I haven't dared tackle in a long time. 'Viva Servalan!' requires volume! Took in part of the slash turkey reading where Predatrix was reading some stories that were so bad they were superb. I decided to go for the live action routine and tried to mimic some of Blake's supposed actions. (And I was stone-cold sober too - I almost never drink at conventions) All I can say is that the writer had a vivid immagination and we all had a good laugh. I wanted to introduce Val to Gareth as she'd been on registration a lot of the time and hadn't seen him yet. We went down to the Mountbatten bar where he usually hung out, but he was gone. And so to bed as I had to be up the next morning, but on the way past ops, we saw a notice - Gareth had been kidnapped by the green Drazi and was being held for ransom! Ah! I haven't mentioned the Drazi war yet, have I? All weekend members had a badge that was green or purple (Whadya mean it was lilac? If I say it was purpple then it was purple!) Points were scored for all competitions and awarded to the apropriate side. People really got into the spirit of it, and the greens were losing... Sunday. I was down for a puppet workshop first thing Subday morning, but the girl who was doing it with me hadn't been able to come because of illness. As she was the one with the Blake's 7 puppets, I was going to cancel the session, but Nik said she really wanted to go to it. So, I grabbed my puppets and discussed all the different ways of stringing them and how to use them and untangle them and we had half a dozen people and had a good time. I hope Nik makes that shadow puppet - it'll be quite a complex control. Did a talk with Brian. He said he'd like someone to feed him questions if the audience didn't have any. He was very interesting. Sex in Space discussion with Neil Faulkner. We'd run a session on the same subject at Who's 7, but this one came out very differently. We worked more on the way media handle sex and its portrayal and how programmes such as Xena and 'Queer as Folk' are introducing gay characters closer and closer to the main stream. We also came to the interesting conclusion that a large majority of those present preferred not to have explicit sex on screen. It was felt that it got boring and repetative pretty quickly. Good character interactions are sufficient to fuel the imagination on their own. I did some work on final cataloguing of auction items before catching the end of the Ruler of the Universe hustings and wished I'd had the chance to see more. Servalan won, but it was a strong field and I have to express my admiration for Londo Mollari, Emperor Cartagia and the Sandman who had some wonderful costumes and ran great campaigns. Buck Rogers also put up a fight. The characters were wonderful. Mollari stayed in character all weekend, to the extent of disconcerting a taxi driver at the end of the convention! The acution was at 2pm. I've mentioned that elsewhere, so I'll skip it here, except to say that Gareth came in half way through with a buch of gree Drazi singing 'Show me the way to go home'. We awarded them 100 points for innovation ad auctioned Gareth off to the highest bidder. The auction ran late, but not drastically so due to the speed up at the end. We developed a fast method of clearing the payments afterwards. I sorted out the items in advance and gave them to the people in the queue while two others checked the bids and took the money. The helpers did a sterling job. The closing ceremony came immediately afterwards and finished virtually on time. I had a chance to thank the army of volunteers who'd helped with tech, strewarding, registration, programme items, stuffing registration packs and so many other tasks, and suddenly it was all over. Luckily the stewards party gave me a chance to wind down. We organised a mini-raffle for the helpers and I'll never forget the look on Ivan's face when he drew his own ticket out of the hat first. Ivan asked me if I'd eaten at all (He'd forced me to take a meal on Saturday by the sneaky expedient of booking me a table). At that point I realised that I'd had nothing since breakfast and hadn't even noticed! I grabbed a Danish pastry and kept going as I wasn't really hungry. After that I went to help clear out ops. Around midnight I was just on my way to go to bed when a voice said 'Are we having the filk session now?' So we had a filk session. People brought out songs that they'd written themselves and we even composed one or two new ones. I seem to recall singing some of my really wrist-slitting songs. I like singing depressing songs when I feel happy. Cally dreaming of all the dead people on Auron is about as bleak as you can get. It had been a great weekend. Will we do it again? Maybe. 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 V99 Issue #91 *************************************