Blakes7 February 2001

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80 participants
929 discussions

Re: Blake's 7 - the Other Version
by Harriet Monkhouse 01 Feb '01

01 Feb '01

Stephen D wrote: >And how thick am I for not realising until 30 >seconds ago that the episode Shadow was named, > not only after the drug but after the relationship > between the Federation and the TN ? Ooh! Well, you're smarter than I am, anyway. Now can you explain why the B5 episode about the Drazi War is called Geometry of Shadows when there don't appear to be any Shadows in it? My only theory is that the Green/Purple system was set up by the Shadows as part of their philosophy of strength through conflict. Harriet

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Re: Blake's 7 - the Other Version
by Harriet Monkhouse 01 Feb '01

01 Feb '01

Penny described a dramatic scene, concluding with: >KYLE: He killed Penny! [to Ben Steed] You bastard! Oh well, if that's the cost... [Sigh] I'll release you from the contract. Be sure that my enemies will rejoice. Harriet

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Power (was Deliverance)
by Ellynne G. 01 Feb '01

01 Feb '01

On Wed, 31 Jan 2001 17:26:48 -0500 jacquispeel(a)netscape.net writes: > > And how come the 'locals' disappear after the one episode? The episode gave them some vague reasons to move on (the place of their chieftan's death, the war with the Seska, and possibly Dorian's neighborhood being bad vibe oriented). Whether this was part of their grieving rituals (like Navajos who used to abandon a house where someone had died) or they didn't like the place is unclear. Of course, if they had the faintest glimmerings about what kind of trouble magnets had just moved in, they probably moved to the other side of the planet as fast as they could run. Ellynne ________________________________________________________________ GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO! Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less! Join Juno today! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj.

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Meanwhile, in another universe....
by Stephen Date 01 Feb '01

01 Feb '01

Just imagine what would happen if Terry Nation tried to get B7 made today..... "Terry Nation's original series idea for the cult sci-fi drama was vetoed by the BBC. "Too downbeat, too politically incorrect, the Federation could be seen as a coded attack on the EU". Undeterred Nation submitted a rewrite for the series". Space Command was the tale of heroic Galactic Peacekeepers Roj Blake and Kerr Avon, who flew round the galaxy bringing peace and goodwill to all sentient lifeforms. They reported to the head of the Federation, Blairvalan whose Space Command Headquarters bore an uncanny resemblance to the Millenium Dome. The two episodes which became classics were "Deliverance" and "The Final Act". Deliverance: Teleporting to the planet Cephlon, our heroes encountered Meegat, who tells them the sad history of her planet. Touched by her innocence our heroes take their ship "The Conran" back in time to the era of the civil war. There they save Cashell the wise and evacuate the feuding factions, ancestors of Meegats people and the savages, to distant ends of the galaxy, thus obviating the need for any sub-Freudian stock footage of the NASA space programme. Returning to their own time however they realise that their intervention has had a terrible effect. Space Command no longer exists and their ship is boarded by Commander Meegat of the Galactic Eighth Fleet and commandeered to fight in the Galactic war fought by the descendants of the two factions..... The Final Act: Blake and Avon are exiled to a distant planet where they encounter Blairvalan, not as in their reality a wise leader but an unsuccessful musician with a drink problem. Avon helps Blairvalan through detox. Meanwhile Blake discovers that the change in history was caused by Renegade Space Commander Sandelmon (played by Brian Croucher at his maddest), whose thwarted ambition to become co-presenter with Terry Christian of a cult 80's yoof TV show "The Word, The WORD !!!" has led him to betray the galaxy to the Andromedans. Just as all hell is about to break loose, Avon and Blairvalan hack into Star One and play Blairavan's new song "Love, Peace, Groovy, Yeah". The conflicting factions, Sandelmon and the Andromedans see the error of their ways. In a final heartwarming scene Blake, Avon, The leaders of the two factions, Meegat, Space Commander Sandelmon, The Andromedan Commander, Terry Christian, Carl Gustav Jung and Ben Steed all join Blairvalan round the fireside of his delightful Islington home where they all join in a chorus of Nicole's 1982 Eurovision hit "A little loving". Nah ! Give me flares, dodgy special effects and snarling any day of the week ! ____________________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get your free @yahoo.co.uk address at http://mail.yahoo.co.uk or your free @yahoo.ie address at http://mail.yahoo.ie

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Re: [B7L] Deliverance
by Stephen Date 01 Feb '01

01 Feb '01

--- Tavia Chalcraft wrote: > > I thought that the only reason they made Avon into > the God figure in Deliverance was so that Blake > could take the major role in Orac without > having radiation sickness? No cunning here I fear. > Still it's a much stronger episode as a result. > But by leaving Avon on the Liberator in Orac, Nation does allow him to save the day at the end of the episode. And gives him the best line ! But you're probably right. Meegat venerating Blake seems subtly wrong somehow. ____________________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get your free @yahoo.co.uk address at http://mail.yahoo.co.uk or your free @yahoo.ie address at http://mail.yahoo.ie

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Re: [B7L] Deliverance
by Stephen Date 01 Feb '01

01 Feb '01

Sally wrote: > > There are in fact three main episodes where this > god/dominant male bit rears > its head - Deliverance, Power and Sand. The reason > I find it far less > grating in Deliverance is because Terry Nation at > least had the sense to > make *Avon* aware of how silly it is. > I think one has to differentiate between Gods and Dominant males. Cargo cults are a fairly well attested phenomenon. They are irrational on the basis of our knowledge, not necessarily from the POV of the cultist. Meegat can only be considered silly for believing that Avon was a supernatural figure, in the same way that Augustine can be considered silly for believing in numerology or Dante can be considered silly for believing that the sun goes round the earth. I don't have a problem with Meegat because she is a representative of a non-technological culture. Her submissive attitudes (as Betty has observed) are based on the religion of her culture and not seen as being an appropriate model of male/ female relations. Power and Sand on the other hand are genuinely silly. It is a tad ironic, given that the whole dominant male thing is supposed to be biological, that these stories betray an ignorance of elementary biology. The Homminks expose their female infants, which is a reproductive blind alley. The Sand reproduces asexually, yet on encountering space travellers immediately works out a way of using sexual reproduction to breed it's own food supply, despite not having access to a food supply for years. Furthermore, by killing off all the males immediately except one it is running a very high risk strategy. What if the dominant male in terms of strength and stamina turns out to have a low sperm count ? Moral: Sexism is unjust to all people and can really screw up your favourite science fiction programme. Stephen. ____________________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get your free @yahoo.co.uk address at http://mail.yahoo.co.uk or your free @yahoo.ie address at http://mail.yahoo.ie

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Re: Blake's 7 - the Other Version
by Harriet Monkhouse 01 Feb '01

01 Feb '01

Penny made excuses: >Unfortunately as an imaginary assassin I can only > kill imaginary people, so you will first have to present > me proof that Ben Steed is an imaginary person. *Imagine* killing him, then. Do you think people like Ben Steed really exist, then? Harriet

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Re: Re: [B7L] Deliverance
by Sally Manton 01 Feb '01

01 Feb '01

Neil wrote: <As for the characters being unpleasant, I'm all for it. I don't want them to be nicey-nice squeaky clean heroes, I want them to show that they have it in them to be complete bastards from time to time.> And if they weren't, we'd have far less to talk about, going from my reading of the archives and the ever-popular and never-resolved argum- I mean *nice friendly discussions* <g> - on the subjects ... Blake in 'Shadow' Tarrant in 'City on the Edge of the World' Avon in 'Power' Avon in 'Stardrive' Blake in 'Star One' Avon in 'Orbit' Avon in 'Blake' ... just to name the Major 'You-Bastard-You' multi-threads ... _________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com.

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Re: [B7L] Re: Penny Dreadful invokation response
by Sally Manton 01 Feb '01

01 Feb '01

Helen wrote: <do people expect him to be as Snarly with his sweetie as he is with Blake. Oh, yes, silly me forgets that so many fans think of Blake as Avon's new sweetie.> Helen, Helen, Helen ... no. 'Sweet' is not a term one should use so readily when either of My Darlings come to mind, please. Especially not both of them at once (it doesn't mix at ALL with the vitriol :-)). Actually <g> it occurred to me when reading the RoD scrip the other day that - though we lknow next to nothing *about* how Avon and Anna acted together, one thing is shiningly clear from Those Flashbacks. In both of them she is nagging him about his feelings and badgering him to Tell Her What is In His Heart. And he doesn't shoot her. It's GOT to be luuurrrvve ... _________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com.

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Re: Imipak
by Helen Krummenacker 01 Feb '01

01 Feb '01

In regards to the question of how Servalan was able to zap sample targets after marking Travis, an idea came to mind. Perhaps it can be set to "last marked, first killed" mode, allowing a person to select only the last marked target (and might work its way baack to the others if you keep it on longer). That might make more sense than directionality, and also have allowed Rashel to threaten Servalan without potentially killing everyone else.

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Blakes7 February 2001