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Orbiter - Powered by Feldon
by seven＠gaudaprime.com 19 Jan '02

19 Jan '02

Two Federation authorities, Avon and Orac acknowledge Feldon existed. Sleer admits that Feldon came from Belkov and Mecron II. The academic Gerren, who was attached to the Planetary Resources Commission, should know about Feldon. Orac and Avon both assume that there were Feldon crystals Sleer: On your own original estimates, you have delivered half the expected yield from this mine. Gerren: Unfortunately, they are not digging up anything much. There is virtually no Feldon left. Belkov has milked this planet for twelve good years. Avon: But a huge negative force a long way off could be balanced by a positive force close to the crystals. ... Blast those feldon panels with everything we have got. Orac: It would appear that positive and negative inputs were balanced by the Feldon crystals. ... They simply ceased to exist. Neither the Federation nor the Mecronians realised the gem they had in their grasp. The Mecronians never made the connection between Feldon and destructive power; the Federation came to the conclusion only a few weeks or so before the episode opened. Vila also did not know, hence his initial disinterest Tarrant: I could do with some rest. Vila [irritated]: We all could. Is the lecture over? Orac: Feldon is the hardest known subject in the universe. Avon: And currently the most valuable. Vila: Go on. You are just getting interesting. Even a top-notch thief says there is Feldon. By the time he came along to Mecron II, ship propulsion, for example, through Feldon was not yet a reality. For them (and the Federation too, for that matter) it was still theory Tarrant: Could you run a ship on it? Avon: You could run anything on it in theory. It was Belkov who discovered the true nature of Feldon, over ten years ago, and kept it to himself. For the bulk of Belkov's career on Mecron II, Feldon was regarded as a precious stone in the sense of a repository of wealth like gold, but not as an industrial agent. The crystals were a tradeable item but for jewellery, not energy. The crystal called Feldon existed and exists, but the essence, the power of Feldon did not exist in the minds of most people, until recently. So Belkov has, in his first year, this amazing product that he can't sell for its true worth. He can't tell people the truth about them because it would start a FeldonRush, and Belkov would lose his privileged position. If he sells the crystals, he must sell at somewhere between cost (of mining) and their eventual full commercial value. The price he gets for Feldon is not low, but it is lower than he wants, so he conceives a plan to get credits. He sells the rights to the Federation, overcharges them for Capital outlay whenever he commissions a new mine, uses free Mecronian labour, that sort of thing. Sleer is onto this when she asks just what sort of swindle he is working; Gerren too when he mentions the milking for twelve years; and Vila comes eventually to ask the same question Vila: What about the crystals? Avon: There aren't any damned crystals. There never were any damned crystals. Avon's statement seems to deny there ever was a thing called Feldon. It comes from one who escaped Belkov's threat Belkov: Orbiter is powered through Feldon crystals. By using them and reflectors on the moon I could set up a series of force fields. You would find getting away from this planet a lot harder than getting to it. Avon: Multiple traction beams. Tarrant: Powerful enough to stop a ship leaving orbit? I don't believe it. Belkov: Your friend Avon does. But Avon achieved orbit with consummate skill. The threat from Belkov was either not carried out or empty in the first place. Avon's negative statement above refers only to the Orbiter, for Avon mentions Feldon panels and crystals moments later (in his blasting order to Slave). These crystals were indeed on the Orbiter but they were not in a pile of loot ready for someone to steal or sell. They were powering Orbiter. DC

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Re: [B7L] Re: Character ages
by Anna Carkeet 18 Jan '02

18 Jan '02

My sister and I spent a lot of time thinking about this one last year around this time- we got bored with our summer holidays and had nothing to do. When we worked it out we hadn't talked to anyone interested in Blakes 7, and hadn't even thought that there might be webpages out there. Blake was 25- although the way he sees things as black and white, right and wrong he seems sort of younger, child-like kind of. Avon was 26- not really sure why Vila was 27- the receeding hairline meant he couldn't be younger Cally was around 30- although doesn't Blake say she's his mother in Star One? Fairly affending if she's the same age as him, or maybe it was a joke and we missed something. Jenna was 25- no idea how we came to that Tarrant was 22- he has the same arrogance as our 22 year old brother Dayna was 18- although when we first saw her we thought she was 16 Soolin was 24- she just looks that old Anzi _________________________________________________________________ MSN Photos is the easiest way to share and print your photos: http://photos.msn.com/support/worldwide.aspx

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Re: [B7L] Character ages
by Mac4781＠aol.com 18 Jan '02

18 Jan '02

Nico wrote: > 1) how old were the cast at the time I can't find my note with cast birthdates. These were easy to find on the net: Steven Pacey was born in 1957. Glynis Barber was born in 1955. I've heard that Jan was about Paul's age. Don't know if that's true. My memory could be wrong, but I believe Paul was born in 1941 and Gareth in 1944. Neil wrote: > Was lieutenant on the previous kairopan harvest, which would have been 15 > Earth years prior to the episode, as stated by Zen. The episode is a bit confused on that point. Zen does tell us the harvest is every 15 years, but Jarvik tells us that Tarrant served on the Kairopan shuttle only a few years ago: SERVALAN: You speak with familiarity, as one who knows him. JARVIK: Knew him. A few years ago. He served as lieutenant on the Kairopan escort shuttle. It was his first command. So apparently Tarrant's service on the shuttle wasn't at the time of the last harvest, unless one is to assume that 15 = a few. Perhaps it was a training exercise? Or a movement of Kairopan not related to the harvest? Carol

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re: character ages
by JEB31538＠cs.com 18 Jan '02

18 Jan '02

Gareth Thomas was born in 1945. The year is not in doubt. That makes him 56 now and soon to be 57. The day is in doubt though. I have trusted friends who claim it was Feb. 12, and others who claim it is Feb. 13. And one gets out of it by claiming that Gareth himself doesn't even remember which day it is. If you have bought one of the old Karen Rivers calendars, you will notice that she cheats and puts Gareth on the 12th block and Thomas on the 13th block. Blake and Thomas are the same age. Both are 33 series 1. Joyce

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Re: [B7L] Re: Character ages
by Sally M 18 Jan '02

18 Jan '02

Dana wrote: "that makes Justin look a little less awful ..." A little, yes. Mind you, he's impressively revolting all on his own ... _________________________________________________________________ Join the worlds largest e-mail service with MSN Hotmail. http://www.hotmail.com

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Re: [B7L] Re: Character ages
by Tavia 18 Jan '02

18 Jan '02

Carol Mc wrote: >Avon refers to Tarrant as "young" in TRAITOR, >so he has to be younger enough than >Avon that there is a discernible difference. Sure, he has to be significantly younger than Avon, but then I put Avon nearly 40 by S3.... Tavia

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Re: [B7L] Re: Character ages
by Sally M 18 Jan '02

18 Jan '02

Tavia wrote: "Sure, he has to be significantly younger than Avon," Not necessarily. Avon could be being sarcastic in Traitor (after all, that would be *so* unlike him). He's probably *already* getting narked at the overflow of youthful high spirits flooding the Scorpio deck ... _________________________________________________________________ MSN Photos is the easiest way to share and print your photos: http://photos.msn.com/support/worldwide.aspx

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Re: [B7L] Re: Character ages
by Mac4781＠aol.com 18 Jan '02

18 Jan '02

Tavia wrote: > Men with Tarrant/Pacey's appearance tend to look up to a decade younger > than their age. This would fit with a 35-year-old (to fit the > back-story) looking around 25. I don't have any problem fitting Tarrant's backstory to where he matches Steven Pacey's age (I've sent my Tarrant "bio" often enough that I won't bore the list with a repeat now). Which also fits the character for me. Avon refers to Tarrant as "young" in TRAITOR, so he has to be younger enough than Avon that there is a discernible difference. And Tarrant's actions are those of a "young" man who is only within the course of the series recognizing his morality. His energy, his optimism (while living in a dark society), his naivety all seem to me to be more consistent with 20-something than 30-something. I can see Tarrant as young as 21-22 in Powerplay or as "old" as 24-25, but older than that simply doesn't work with the character as he's presented on the screen (for me). Which isn't to say that other fans can't interpret Tarrant's age (or any of the characters who aren't tied to a specific age by canon) in a manner that matches their perceptions. I've long noticed that most fans regard Jenna to be older than I do, and Cally and Avon as younger than I do. Carol

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Re: Character ages
by Tavia 18 Jan '02

18 Jan '02

Men with Tarrant/Pacey's appearance tend to look up to a decade younger than their age. This would fit with a 35-year-old (to fit the back-story) looking around 25. Steven Pacey in recent theatre roles still looks in his mid-30s, while his dob (acc IMDb) is 1957. Tavia

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Re: [B7L] Re: Character ages
by Sally M 18 Jan '02

18 Jan '02

My (uncanonical) theory is that he was an officer cadet in some form of fascist/communist-style military youth group at the time of the 1st Kairopan harvest - that there was a clear career path through these groups for those who showed 'superior' qualities (young 'show ponies' for the dictatorship) and these led into fast-track officer training at a very young age. This would presumably make him at least 16 at the time, but possibly Tarrant fudged any age restrictions: 1. He may have looked older at *that* time, being tall and self-possessed and rather forward :-) 2. It's possible that the Federation is and was short of manpower at this late stage of its decay; there are other signs of this even before the Andromedan War, the heavy reliance on non-labour-intensive control methods such as drugs and planetary exiles, the poor quality of military personnel. And I doubt that there's many child-labour laws in place :-) If so, the powers that be on lesser missions like the Kairopan collections may have been willing to overlook age irregularities to get half-way decent personnel for what appears to be a pretty unpleasant mission, but which doesn't appear to take any degree of experience or skill. Also, there's no indication that I can recall that he acted as pilot for Jarvik, just as 'lieutenant' in his first command. Given that - when he joins the Liberator - he appears inexperienced *at* command, it's possible that it was soon after the Kairopan mission (and possibly a couple of other minor missions) that he returned to FSA for his 5 years pilot's training and *didn't* act in an officer's position again. I think I'd have to move my estimate of his age at Powerplay up therefore to 29 :-) making him 14 at the time of the 1st harvest. Yes, he still looks younger than this when we meet him, but he's just got the genes for it (odd that it doesn't seem so wrong with Deeta, who needs to be a fair few years older still); also, Tarrant does seem to me when we meet him to have a curiously untouched quality - comes across as someone who's been sheltered (as a show pony/FSA high flyer*) from the harsher realities of Federation life that Jenna, Vila etc know all too well, and it does make him think and seem younger than he is. Sally * this background might also explain his relatively high profile in Harvest, since high flyers would be good fodder for FSA publicity. _________________________________________________________________ Join the worlds largest e-mail service with MSN Hotmail. http://www.hotmail.com

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