Blakes7 April 2001

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70 participants
295 discussions

RE: [B7L] surveillance cameras
by Louise Rutter 02 Apr '01

02 Apr '01

Una wrote: >Issuing fines for speeding is lucrative, however. Isn't there surveillance >technology that can take a picture, recognize your registration plate, and then >issue a fine accordingly? What worries me about this particular technology is >that it can monitor your movements as you travel. But at least the damn things only take photos if you _are_ speeding. Be grateful for our toll-free roads. On the French autoroutes, they can issue you with a speeding ticket if you get from one toll booth to the next too quickly, which means they must routinely register which vehicles go through and when. Louise

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Re: [B7L] More thoughts on Mellanby
by Fiona Moore 01 Apr '01

01 Apr '01

>From: Mistral <mistral(a)centurytel.net> >Fiona Moore wrote: > > > But *does* Avon like him? He's polite to him, yes, but so would you if you > > were somebody's guest (at least I'd hope). When Mellanby dies, Avon's hardly > > shedding any tears-- his response is a bit callous even by Avon standards. > >Avon goes past polite - he's interested in Mellanby (and not just those >bits that might help him survive). Hm, really? He doesn't particularly ask Mellanby about his past or political affiliations-- Mellanby volunteers everything, almost as if he's trying to ingratiate himself with Avon. Avon's impressed by the gun-- but then, Avon would be :). He asks about the image amplifier, but nothing in that exchange strikes me as more than polite ("I'm sorry" *is* really the only civilised response under the circumstances)--also given that Avon is a computer programmer before anything else, his interest might well be professional. His "I never comment..." still strikes me as a little bit pointed, sort of an "I plead the Fifth," as it were. >Expecting him to shed tears over >someone he's known only a day is a bit unrealistic IMO, particularly >since he appears to be the type to shut off his emotions in a crisis. True, but what happens is, he comes in and finds Mellanby dead, and upon ascertaining that this is so, his first response is to shout "Orac!"-- he seems more concerned about getting Orac back than taken aback at Mellanby's death. His one comment on Mellanby is "He got away from here after all"-- which is a little bit sarcastic under the circumstances (frankly, I'm surprised Dayna didn't clock him one for that). >I think not only did Avon like Mellanby, but also that Mellanby was >exactly the kind of person Avon might have been friends with in better >circumstances. Leaving aside the question of whether or not Avon does have friends :) (channelling Killer here), at best Mellanby is like Blake-- and at worst, Mellanby is the anti-Blake; a man who started a revolution, then sold it out, and spent the rest of his life hiding. In the first instance, he and Avon would have been at each other's throats all the time :)-- and in the second instance, I don't think Avon would have been too sympathetic-- dishonesty is unlikely to be a sin in Avon's book, but he doesn't seem to suffer hypocrites gladly. Remember, too, Avon doesn't get the full story about Mellanby-- he never witnesses the scenes betwen Servalan and Dayna, and Servalan and Mellanby, that reveal the most detail about his history and suggest that there's more to it than he tells Avon. Fiona The Posthumous Memoirs of Secretary Rontane Hiding from a bunch of angry revolutionaries at http://nyder.r67.net _________________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com

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Re: [B7L] Re: Ethics and Hal Mellanby
by Marian de Haan 01 Apr '01

01 Apr '01

Jenny wrote: >Marian wrote: >>Jacqui wrote: >> >As I said once before, taking one of the 'natives' as a playmate for his daughter, knowing the girl's likely fate, is debatable ethically.< >> >>But we don't know the circumstances of him adopting her. If he'd found her abandoned - the Sarrans seem savage enough for the practice of ridding themselves of superfluous baby girls - then taking her in would have been a charitable deed.< > >Good point, Marian-- but I'd like to say that while that could be the situation, but the girl's the same age as Dayna,< It's some time since I watched Aftermath, but do they say there that she is Dayna's age? (I'm hopeless at estimating people's age but I think she may be a few years younger than Dayna, who must be twenty at least.) >and if he was that tender-hearted and they did expose their superfluous girls, why didn't Dayna have *lots* of little adopted sisters?< Possibly Lauren was the only abandoned girl in that whole generation. :-) (IMO one of the most silly claims in Power is that the Hommiks abandon all their new-born daughters. That would bring the tribe to extinction pretty fast, especially when they run out of Seska to abduct.) If Lauren is the same age as Dayna, that could indicate that Mellanby has abducted her. But that seems a risky business - if he'd been caught Dayna would have been left unattended and probably died, unless she was old enough to fend for herself. But in that case it seems strange that Lauren didn't run back to her family at the first opportunity. Maybe she preferred to stay with the Mellanbys rather than go back to her own people? The phrase "adopted daughter" may also indicate that Lauren came along with her mother to live with Mellanby. Maybe he wanted a woman to care for the young Dayna and either abducted or more probably charmed Lauren's mum into coming and live with them. The episode doesn't give us much clues. Actually, I've always wondered why Terry Nation brought Lauren into the story at all, as - apart from being pretty - her only function seems to be that her death provides extra grief for Dayna. It would have been fun if she'd survived - imagine poor Avon having to cope with *two* high spirited teenagers aboard Liberator. :-) Maybe Terry Nation was getting fed up with writing for the show, or he was too busy with other projects, but to me both this story and Terminal feel rushed and not properly thought through. IMO they would have benefited if he'd laid them aside for a fortnight and then gone through them afresh to weed out the flaws and plotholes. Of course, it's those same flaws and plotholes that give us so much opportunity for discussion and speculation. :-) Marian

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RE: [B7L] surveillance and vets
by Louise Rutter 01 Apr '01

01 Apr '01

Julia wrote: >Speaking of which - are your movements being monitored at the moment? I >recall at least two members of Redemption getting remarkably twitchy >about whether they'd be able to go home at the end of the con. Well I wasn't entirely sure if I was being followed, so I took out a couple of suspicious folk to be on the safe side.... Seriously, though, small animal vets are of no interest whatsoever. Louise

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Re: [B7L] More thoughts on Mellanby
by Fiona Moore 01 Apr '01

01 Apr '01

>From: "Dana Shilling" <dshilling(a)worldnet.att.net> >When talking of the revolt Hal Mellanby said, "We made an > > honourable > > surrender. We were promised fair trial. Instead, the security forces > > massacred everyone, men, women, and children. That night I watched them >all > > die. My own wife, my friends, everybody." >Sounds just like TWB...Hal (and Dayna) could have turned up late for >the meeting and hidden just like...well, you see where this is going. Ah, but you see, that's the beauty of it. It does. So naturally we sympathise with Hal. But that explanation is given the lie by other things he does. First of all, Mellanby was the leader, and it's not that likely that he turned up late for the meeting (and what's he doing bringing a baby to a siege in any case?) Secondly, remember, Mellanby was caught same as the others, and tortured. But not only did he survive, he was not sentenced or punished. As I said, given what we know of the Federation he's unlikely to have escaped with a baby in tow-- it took the concerted efforts of five people on the London and even then they were lucky. Finally, I rather doubt that Blake would have spent his exile making weapons of destruction and then sanctimoniously not using them-- when we see him on GP he may not be actively pursuing the Federation, but he's certainly preparing to have a go again. > > Mellanby says, "I had a chance of saving Dayna. I took it." But who gave > > him that chance? Answer (who else?): the Federation. He struck a deal to > > save > > himself and Dayna, and sold the rebels out in the process. >A more benign interpretation is that they didn't consider either a mind- >wiped Hal Mellanby or baby Dayna much of a threat. Where's the evidence that Mellanby was mindwiped? Anyway, if he was capable of escape, I don't think they'd be that lax in guarding him. >No wonder Avon likes him. But *does* Avon like him? He's polite to him, yes, but so would you if you were somebody's guest (at least I'd hope). When Mellanby dies, Avon's hardly shedding any tears-- his response is a bit callous even by Avon standards. Fiona The Posthumous Memoirs of Secretary Rontane Available for public perusal at http://nyder.r67.net _________________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com

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Re: [B7L] Re: Ethics and Hal Mellanby
by Jenny Kaye 01 Apr '01

01 Apr '01

Marian wrote: I wrote: > >Good point, Marian-- but I'd like to say that while that could be the >situation, but the girl's the same age as Dayna,< > >It's some time since I watched Aftermath, but do they say there that she is >Dayna's age? (I'm hopeless at estimating people's age but I think she may >be a few years younger than Dayna, who must be twenty at least.) Well, same age group, give or take a bit :-). > >and if he was that tender-hearted and they did expose their superfluous >girls, why didn't Dayna have *lots* of little adopted sisters?< > >Possibly Lauren was the only abandoned girl in that whole generation. :-) Maybe one of the people who knows more about social sciences than I do could say something, but it sounds a bit weird to me to just abandon one girl in twenty years? >(IMO one of the most silly claims in Power is that the Hommiks abandon all >their new-born daughters. That would bring the tribe to extinction pretty >fast, especially when they run out of Seska to abduct.) I haven't seen Power for a long time-- but maybe they were leaving them out knowing the Seska would find them, and then kidnapping them back when they were adults? >If Lauren is the same age as Dayna, that could indicate that Mellanby has >abducted her. But that seems a risky business - if he'd been caught Dayna >would have been left unattended and probably died, unless she was old >enough >to fend for herself. But in that case it seems strange that Lauren didn't >run back to her family at the first opportunity. Maybe she preferred to >stay with the Mellanbys rather than go back to her own people? If she was a baby, she wouldn't know any other family, whether or not she was kidnapped. Anyway, the Mellanbys seem to have the population terrified of coming near, so would she ever have met them? >The phrase "adopted daughter" may also indicate that Lauren came along with >her mother to live with Mellanby. Maybe he wanted a woman to care for the >young Dayna and either abducted or more probably charmed Lauren's mum into >coming and live with them. Don't know-- the Sarran are afraid of people who come from outer space because of their prophecy, so they wouldn't be too likely to want to come by on their own :-). >The episode doesn't give us much clues. Actually, I've always wondered why >Terry Nation brought Lauren into the story at all, as - apart from being >pretty - her only function seems to be that her death provides extra grief >for Dayna. It could have been a deliberate reverse of those old colonial stories where a white man adopts a native child :-). >Maybe Terry Nation was getting fed up with writing for the show, or he was >too busy with other projects, but to me both this story and Terminal feel >rushed and not properly thought through. Not IMO-- I think Terminal's one of the best stories *ever*! Creepy, well-paced-- almost like Blake's 7 does The Prisoner! Jenny _________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com.

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RE: [B7L] surveillance cameras
by Louise Rutter 01 Apr '01

01 Apr '01

Julia wrote: >They *have* been abused in this country, although middle England >probably thinks it a jolly good thing that the people who've been >followed this way have been under surveillance even though they haven't >committed any criminal offence. At least, some parts of middle England >did until they found that their concern for the welfare of veal calves >in the live export trade made *them* worthy of surveillance. Anybody who wanted to monitor my movements would soon get extremely bored.... :-) Louise

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Back again
by Jacqueline Thijsen 01 Apr '01

01 Apr '01

Didya miss me? Don't you all yell "No!" too loudly, I might hear you. The prozac seems to be kicking in now, so yelling "boo" won't scare me off anymore. I dunno who invented prozac, but I hope they got a Nobel prize for it. They've more than deserved it. Erm, ObB7.: They may not have carried drugs for radiation sickness, but I'll bet that the crew got a full load of prozac or drugs like it on board somewhere within the first ten episodes. There's no way they could have kept on functioning as well as they did otherwise. Hmm, maybe that's what the soma was all about. Vila didn't seem to know about it until Cally started administering it. BTW, another thank you to all those who mailed me for your support when I was feeling down. It helped just about as much as the medication. I'll answer privately when the tired feeling has worn off a bit more. Jacqueline

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Re: [B7L] Re: Ethics and Hal Mellanby
by Jenny Kaye 01 Apr '01

01 Apr '01

Marian wrote: >Jacqui wrote: > >As I said once before, taking one of the 'natives' as a playmate for his >daughter, knowing the girl's likely fate, is debatable ethically.< > >But we don't know the circumstances of him adopting her. If he'd found her >abandoned - the Sarrans seem savage enough for the practice of ridding >themselves of superfluous baby girls - then taking her in would have been a >charitable deed. Good point, Marian-- but I'd like to say that while that could be the situation, but the girl's the same age as Dayna, and if he was that tender-hearted and they did expose their superfluous girls, why didn't Dayna have *lots* of little adopted sisters? Jenny _________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com.

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Re: 7 Challenge RR (was Re: [B7L] Fanfic on the Lyst?)
by Una McCormack 01 Apr '01

01 Apr '01

Sorry about the double post on my addition to the RR; my email package told me it hadn't been sent Susan Beth wrote: > you used four of the Challenge items.... I wonder how long that record will stand? <g> I actually meant to have the coins falling out of Vila's pocket, but forgot them - d'oh! > how about if you are ready to play, BEFORE you put time into writing, you post to 'claim' the next turn? And then try to get your piece posted promptly. (Better to have a paragraph long piece within a day than a four page masterpiece a week and a half later.) If we get several volunteers in short order, they can have the next few turns, based on order they posted. Good plan - I'll happily sign up for a bit later on in the sequence. > > Avon raised an eyebrow. 'At last some common sense. And I always thought Auron > > proverbs contained slightly less meaning than white noise.' > > <G> Reversing the sense of quotes is fair game, if sneaky. ;) > >'Blake, if this is what I think it is - ' > > > >'I want you here,' he said. 'Cally, you go and check.' > > Tsk. Favoritism? Or is he just preserving their pilot? Favouritism on my part - Cally never gets anything exciting to do. > > '*It's a trap, Blake!*' > > <gasp!> I can hardly wait for piece three.... <g> Da-da DAR!!!!! Una ---------------- "I think it's great that there are people who leave their boring old jobs and get dressed up in costumes and live a fantasy life for a moment. God knows that' s what I spend my life doing." Alan Rickman

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Blakes7 April 2001