Blakes7 May 2001

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84 participants
897 discussions

Re: [B7L] Geography (was: Eclectic)
by J MacQueen 30 May '01

30 May '01

>From: "Sally Manton" <smanton(a)hotmail.com> >A mere commonwealth >wouldn't make our descendents *all* want to talk like Wallace Greenslade >... would it? It would make them fascinating conversationalists - imagine it: Australian 1: Winds... light to variable. Australian 2 <agreeing>: Winds... light to variable. Cockney: Earthquakes in East Acton. Welsh person: Whatwhatwhatwhatwhat? Regards Joanne _________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com.

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Re: [B7L] Eclectic
by Sally Manton 30 May '01

30 May '01

Susan Beth wrote: <It's shameful how little I know of British geography.> Wouldn't fret; where the US is concerned, despite all the media focus on it, *I* know only that California is west and New York is east and there's a whole bunch of stuff inbetween but don't ask me what :-) Then again, while we're were travelling, many of my nearest and dearest were waiting for that phone call that said "sorry, we took a wrong turn and seem to have ended up in Vladivostock." ObB7 - they are *really* lucky that Zen has all the maps, aren't they? all Our Heroes need is a fine vague Fearless-Leaderish "standard by six to Planet Fred" ... _________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com.

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Re: [B7L] rules (long)
by Ellynne G. 30 May '01

30 May '01

On Wed, 30 May 2001 11:54:57 -0000 "Sally Manton" <smanton(a)hotmail.com> writes: > Sally's Rules of Blakes 7 > > Rule One - Blake and Avon Actually Like Each Other. Just Don't Ask > Either of > Them Why. Agreed. Although, with Avon in particular, I wouldn't ask because he would be absolutely appalled to admit the truth - there are things about Blake's idealism he _likes_. > > Not all the time, of course. Sometimes it's like, sometimes it's > love, > sometimes it's even wistful thoughts of the other and an open > airlock. My > own opinion is, that when Blake say "You really do hate me, don't > you?" > Avon's *truthful* answer should have to be "Of course. At times." Snicker. > It's a > complicated friendship, with many thorns and precious few roses, You know, I think that's the best summary of it I've read right there. > > Rule Two - By the Time He's Hurt Enough to Cry, He's Far Too Hurt to > Cry. I don't think I've worked on a story where I had Avon crying . . . but I'm not sure I wouldn't (thanks, Sally, I'll now be mulling this point for the next week. Ah, well). > > Rule Three - Blake Would Never, Ever, Ever so much as Raise a Hand > to Avon. > And Avon Knows It. No argument, no problem (unless Blake was possessed by aliens, it was the only way to save Avon's life, Blake had amnesia, etc). > > Rule Four - You Cannot Fight for Freedom in Sensible Flat Shoes. The mutated feet of the future, the questions they raise. Do you suppose a large number of women are trying to hide the fact they have hooves instead of toes? > It first > appeared > for me with the Wardrobe Room, Wait, wait, it's coming to me. The wardrobe, the spare room, Servalan as the White Witch, the Narnia connection . . . . an insane idea purely there so that > Our > Heroes could dress up to the completely impractical nines to commit > mayhem. > (Can anyone see Avon's face if Star Trek-type uniforms had been in > that room > instead???) Oh, agreed. Purgatory, pure purgatory. > > Rule Six - Wear Black Leather, Have a Killer Smile and Get Away with > > (Literally) Murder... Surely, it's his charming personality that makes us forgive him? Thanks, Sally, I loved this. I think you hit the nail right on the head. 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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Hi honeys, I'm home!
by Una McCormack 30 May '01

30 May '01

So I'm back. Had a fantastic time. America a fine place full of lovely people, cheap food, excellent coffee and the International House of Pancakes. Jet lag apparently non-existent. ST: VOY finale about as good as you might expect. Managed not to have Buffy spoilt. B7 clip warmly welcomed at the Society for Cinema Studies conference (I showed a bit from 'Star One'). Had sent out the whole tape of 'The Keeper' and 'Star One' to a friend who was switching them to NTSC for me - alas, she watched 'The Keeper' as her introduction to B7. I gave her the tape back and told her to go and watch 'Star One' as well, out of fairness to the show! Una

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Jarriere and Animals
by Harriet Monkhouse 30 May '01

30 May '01

OK, I was thinking it was a while since we had an Adventure of Jarriere. This one is in honour of Una's return, though an exchange between Marian and Joanne is partly to blame. "Animals" by Harriet Monkhouse [Dayna runs into the Bucol-2 bunker, followed by a Furry Figure.] JARRIERE (dropping a glass of whisky): Dayna! DAYNA: Oh, Jarriere, you don't know how glad I am to see you! JARRIERE: Let me look at you! My wee pupil Dayna, bonnier than ever! [They are standing so close that their noses almost touch, but the Furry Figure interrupts their touching reunion with a howl.] DAYNA: Jarriere, what *is* this animal? Is he dangerous? JARRIERE: Och, no, he's a big softie. Now, let me pour you a scotch... DAYNA: But you haven't explained... JARRIERE: Hey, lass, you haven't forgotten that I'm a leading genetic engineer and neurosurgeon? I'm creating a new race here - I thought I might call them Jarrigochs. DAYNA: So, this creature is... was... human? What did you cross him with - a zebra? JARRIERE: Ah, the black and white stripes... no, he did come with those. DAYNA: And the silver face? JARRIERE: That too. OCH: Pa - ta - ki! DAYNA: He's trying to say something! JARRIERE: Ah, he wants a biscuit - can you get him one from that box over there? The lad who brought Och over from Freedom City when the Supreme Commander cleaned it out - what was his name, Twose? Toise? - he brought me several packets of them, said they'd keep him happy. They're really not bad - have one with your whisky. [As everyone nibbles on a pataki cake, Jarriere and Dayna snuggle up on a sofa, and Och begins to purr.] JARRIERE: Actually, I crossed him with a big white cat. -- Harriet Jarriere: [Shakes his head] - Gambit

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Re:Knightwriter
by Bizarro7＠aol.com 30 May '01

30 May '01

In a message dated 5/24/01 3:15:24 PM Eastern Daylight Time, Judith(a)blakes-7.com writes: << We're still working through the aftermath of Linda Knight's hospital admission. We can't get any news as to how she is and are understandably concerned as this was her second hospital admission in a short space of time. We're contacting most of the publishers who deal through her and have arrangements in place with some already. We're not accepting orders for zines published by Knightwriter as of now (because I don't want Linda to return to a massive pile of backlogged zine orders - it'll be the last thing she'd want to deal with), but once Linda is okay we'll have them back again. The majority of zine were not affected. We're working fine with Kathy Resch's titles, can now take orders for zines published by Secret Pleasure, and all UK zines and stuff from Maverick Press carry on as normal.>> Further on this topic, all previous and new issues of Ashton Press Zines are currently available directly from Annie Wortham at Asthon7(a)aol.com. She has retrieved the masters and is producing and shipping them out herself. Leah

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rules (long)
by Sally Manton 30 May '01

30 May '01

Sally's Rules of Blakes 7 I've been asked by a couple of people on the lists about posting my Rules of Blakes 7. I have - as you may have noticed - a large number of opinions, but only seven actual rules (the the number is sheer coincidence, truly) of varying degrees of seriousness. So in the interests of pure fun, I'm putting them up for anyone who wants to have a read. Please note the *reason* I call them Sally's Rules - not because I am trying to lay down the law for people who've been in fandom waaaay longer than I have or anyone else, but because they spring from the way *I personally* look at the series - a character junkie's heaven with an amazingly complex and turbulent central core, a feast of moral and dramatic ambiguity, a gloom-n-doom fest lavishly leavened with the most delicious sense of the ridiculous. You will also notice that there is precious little of the political/sociological/technological/etc side of things in this list; I seldom feel strongly enough about the 'hard' side of things to have a Firm Opinion. These are after all rules for Sally and Sally's playground only, and all in fun; no one else should pay the slightest attention to them unless they like to :-). ************* Rule One - Blake and Avon Actually Like Each Other. Just Don't Ask Either of Them Why. Not all the time, of course. Sometimes it's like, sometimes it's love, sometimes it's even wistful thoughts of the other and an open airlock. My own opinion is, that when Blake say "You really do hate me, don't you?" Avon's *truthful* answer should have to be "Of course. At times." It's a complicated friendship, with many thorns and precious few roses, but from the evidence of the series (The Web, Duel, Breakdown, Shadow, Pressure Point, Voice from the Past, Countdown, Star One ) there *is* real liking - rather bemused, methinks, on both sides and decidedly reluctant on Avon's - at the bedrock of the whole delicious, stormy kit and kaboodle Rule Two - By the Time He's Hurt Enough to Cry, He's Far Too Hurt to Cry. Avon of course, and this is one of my biggest bugbears in fanfic - the Avon In Floods of Tears scenes. I can see any of the others breaking down in tears if they hurt enough, even Blake, but it just is not Avon's style to me (this has nothing to do with what swollen eyes and a red nose does to the fantasy. Nothing at all). Rule Three - Blake Would Never, Ever, Ever so much as Raise a Hand to Avon. And Avon Knows It. This one is probably the hardest and fastest. Even after PGP, I can't see it. Blake *can* be violent, but he is invariably quite dispassionate about it - he doesn't physically lash out in temper. And never at the people he cares about. Rule Four - You Cannot Fight for Freedom in Sensible Flat Shoes. Really serious stuff, this one :-) but *look* at Our Heroines, will you? All of them. Kasabi was the only one who wore sensible shoes, and look what happened to her ... Actually, one of the things the frivolous part of me most loves about Blake's 7 *is* its sense of the ridiculous mentioned above, and the beautiful way it fits in alongside the irony and angst. It first appeared for me with the Wardrobe Room, an insane idea purely there so that Our Heroes could dress up to the completely impractical nines to commit mayhem. (Can anyone see Avon's face if Star Trek-type uniforms had been in that room instead???) Then there's the whole business of the Liberator, a star-going five-star hotel for them to commit their mayhem from. Rule Five - Blake Is Right About Star One - and Avon Knows That, Too. I've argued this one up hill and down dale for the Lyst, and I can do it again (but I won't right now, so don't try and make me :-)). There's no proof that Cally's 'many many people' equalled millions, there's no proof that controlling Star One would have worked at all, there's lots of reason to believe that destroying Star One, while it might not have knocked the Federation out with one blow, would have given the resistance its best chance of actually orchestrating the downfall of a brutal and savage regime. Blake may not have liked what he was doing, but he knew what he was doing. Rule Six - Wear Black Leather, Have a Killer Smile and Get Away with (Literally) Murder... Born of the undeniable fact that Avon *is* a (gorgeous, sexy and entertaining) bastard and gets forgiven (or completely exculpated) by fans for acts that Blake or Tarrant would and do get dumped on for it's unfair. It's unjust. It's B7. I do it myself. Rule Seven - An Introvert Would *Not* Be Wearing Those Boots! And I do mean the eye-popping thigh-length ones from Shadow <gurgle> It's symbolic - a reaction to the irresistable but dangerous temptation to force the characters into pigeonholes (introvert, fanatic, earth-mother-alien :-)) when the onscreen evidence is that they don't fit that well*. Avon certainly has introvert tendencies, but some fairly obvious extrovert ones (such as the more spectacular sartorial developments, and the fact that he's so comfortable in other people's right-up-close-and-personal space. Especially you-know-who's). Blake, a very driven man, certainly has a leaning towards obsession, but that doesn't explain how even towards the end of the Star One arc, he's still so easily distracted by any metaphorical lame dog that crosses his path. Vila's a coward, but can ditch the cowardice like a discarded overcoat when his survival is better served by something else. Susan Beth's fascinating list of classical 'types' - and Terry Nation's own statement that he drew his characters in broad strokes** - notwithstanding, there's a great deal of ambiguity and inconsistency in all of them. That's a lot of the charm, IMO. *Yes, yes, this could be anything from PD's version of the character clashing with Chris Boucher's *and* mine, to them hiring an actor ten years younger than the role, or just Bad Writer Syndrome, but that's not Playing The Game. **IMO a very very good move on his part, since it did leave a lot of room for the actors/directors/other writers/viewers to fill in the detail. _________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com.

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Re: Shields
by Hellen Paskaleva 30 May '01

30 May '01

Iain: <Plasma bolts presumably consist of magnetically confined plasma. Thus, a suitably configured electromagnetic field should shield the ship from all -- or nearly all -- of the plasma bolt. Such shileds could be defeated either by sufficiently powerful plasm bolts, or by overloading the shield mechanism with repeated attacks.> My thoughts exactly. That's most probably what the Federation intended, when sent 20 ships after Liberator in "Hostage". <The neutron blasters, firing a neutral beam, would pass straight through these shields, no problem. Thus you can fire out while the shields are operating. Similarly, photon beams would be unaffected by the shields.> I wonder do we need one type of shields to protect a ship, or one for each kind of weapons and one - for the solid particles, floating in space. <<It is possible, that the shields work the same way - they allow the ship's lasers (with a particular frequency) to fire *out*, but stop everything else (with any other frequency) from penetrating *in*. That could be a reason why every time Vila needed to "clear blasters for firing" manually - for security reasons the "home" frequency has to be changed often.>> <But then you wouldn't be able to see out.> Why not? The frequency of the visible light presumably is different from the frequencies of the weapon's beams. Otherwise you would be able to shot people with a camp torch. Hellen == "Imagination is the only weapon in the war against reality." -- Jules de Gautier _________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com.

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Re: [B7L] Geography (was: Eclectic)
by Sally Manton 30 May '01

30 May '01

Andrew W wrote: <Funny, the Australia I live in is still part of the British commonwealth, which is what became of the empire after it dissolved....> True, but do any of us speak purest BBC-British? (My accent is a muddledly mix of Australian, Dad's English and Mum's Welsh). A mere commonwealth wouldn't make our descendents *all* want to talk like Wallace Greenslade* ... would it? (for those who haven't heard it, BBC announcer from the Goon Show. No one on Earth has ever sounded quite so - so - *English* to my ears). _________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com.

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H&H: Vila
by Sally Manton 30 May '01

30 May '01

Susan Beth wrote: <His sense of humor is one of his best assets and he knows it. No matter how bleak the situation, he makes light of it.'> And a very good defence mechanism it is, too, part of his quite unique survival skills. There's that noticeable difference between the way he acts in Spacefall - the passive-agressive patter, the attempt to unsettle the inexperienced newcomer Blake - a rather good defence for a small man, who isn't a good fighter and has to shift for himself in a violent environment, like a harmless animal that tries to look that bit more threatening. Once he's on the Liberator though, things change - he now has a place in Blake's crusade (and complain as he might, and does, he never shows any real desire to give up his place), skills that have value, and other people who can be depended on for help and protection - as long as he keeps on their good side. So his style becomes 'Mostly Harmless and Fun to Have Around'. The jokes and self-deprecation not only keep him on the others' good sides, it helps defuse or negate any irritation or bad feelings over his self-centredness, mistakes or weaknesses (he never does become much of a fighter :-)) and acts as a valuable leavener among the prickly and temperamental group. Thus he even jokes when he's completely stuffed up (Shadow) as a way of easing Blake's rather understandable (and probably formidable) temper. Vila sometimes does get away with more than he should, simply because he's *likeable* rather than admirable. Again thanks for these, Susan Beth; I have a feeling they'll stick in my mind during future discussions on this character junkie's favourite topics. _________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com.

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Blakes7 May 2001