Blakes7

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5511 discussions

Another puzzle
by Nicola Mody-Nikoloff 18 Jan '02

18 Jan '02

Besides being puzzled about Belkov's crystals and his fate, here's an exchange in Volcano which leaves me as much in the dark as it did Vila: CALLY: Orac hasn't picked up anything. They've been out of contact for an hour now. I think it's time to start worrying. VILA: I've been worried all along. AVON: We agreed to wait for them to contact us. CALLY: But not this long. AVON: We don't draw attention to the bracelets without a good enough reason. CALLY: I think this is a good enough reason. AVON: Zen was picking up a signal from the ground. It could have been some kind of beam approach detector. CALLY: You didn't say anything at the time. AVON: No, I didn't. CALLY: Why was that? AVON: Because I wasn't sure. CALLY: That wasn't the reason, Avon. AVON: No, it wasn't. VILA: You gonna let me in on the secret? AVON: You wouldn't understand it if we did. Well, I'm with Vila. I don't get it. Help, anyone? Nico *** This e-mail is privileged and confidential. If you are not the intended recipient please delete the message and notify the sender. ***

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Gambit
by Helen Atkins 17 Jan '02

17 Jan '02

Without rewatching the episode, I thought that Belkov had no crystals at the time of the episode (they had been mined out long ago) and had been living off funds supplied by the Federation for the mining operation, sending back crystals mined but withheld whilst there were still any left (productivity being half of what had been expected). Belkov, ship and no crystals were then sent into the black hole by a disfunctional /"unhappy" computer. I didn't think this was a very good script. Given that he was obviously able to steal Feldon crystals (perhaps the Federation had lost its records of Argyle Diamonds' operations?) Belkov could have nicked a few crystals whilst mining at full pace and shut the planet down when it was mined out. Given the price of crystals, this would have given him funds for luxury with a much better chance of living to enjoy them. I suppose Belkov might have thought he'd find another deposit and been doing exploratory mining during the second half of the operating period, and found he couldn't and thought that the Federation might shoot him for incompetence. However, if this was the case it should have been worked in to his explanation. I hated the "infinite" amplification property of the Feldon crystals. Logically, a crystal used to produce unlimited energy must have unlimited mass, and be a black hole. I think script writers should avoid naked singularities. I think the only thing sillier I've seen was the Voyager-in-a-black-hole episode of Star Trek. If you've got survivable faster than light travel already, black holes become dangerous but potentially non-lethal navigational obstacles. Still, why let the absence of a decent script get in the way of asthetic appreciation of Servalan's gowns and appreciation of Avon in black leather? To me, the oddest thing about the episode was Vila's behaviour. He shot without trying any other ploy first - a sensible thing to do, but very un-Vila like. I thought his behaviour in the rest of the series was not personally physically aggressive, with the exception of Blake (and even then he apologised). In Gambit, Vila kills without hesitation in a very calculated fashion. _________________________________________________________________ Join the worlds largest e-mail service with MSN Hotmail. http://www.hotmail.com

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Re: [B7L] Character ages
by Sally M 17 Jan '02

17 Jan '02

My estimates as of their first episode Blake - 33 (the clone says *he's* 34 in Weapon, and it is reasonable to make them the same) Jenna - 30 (though her visible age wavers quite a lot) Vila - 30-ish Gan - 37-38 (I just think he comes across as older then the rest) Avon - 33-4 (I believe PD was born in 1941, and is about 2 years older than GT, but I pull it back because they seem pretty much the same age to me; Avon does look quite young in the 1st series) Cally - the Auron equivalent of 25 (see my post yesterday - she ages mentally, if not physically) Dayna - 20-21 (based on Aftermath. Okay, so she's immature) Tarrant - at least 28, even if he looks a lot younger. Too much back-history to be fitten in otherwise. Soolin - 25-ish Servalan - at least 40, has a good plastic surgeon. Travis - actually gets *younger* as the series progresses ... JMO. _________________________________________________________________ Send and receive Hotmail on your mobile device: http://mobile.msn.com

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RE: [B7L] Gambit
by Nicola Mody-Nikoloff 17 Jan '02

17 Jan '02

Helen Atkins wrote: > To me, the oddest thing about the episode was Vila's > behaviour. He shot > without trying any other ploy first - a sensible thing to do, > but very > un-Vila like. I thought his behaviour in the rest of the > series was not > personally physically aggressive, with the exception of Blake > (and even then > he apologised). In Gambit, Vila kills without hesitation in a very > calculated fashion. I don't think Vila did kill that guard. I too thought it was very out of character. But if you freeze-frame, he squeezes his eyes shut when he pulls the trigger (much more like him), and later the guard isn't there, seen as a blooper by many. I think Vila just stunned him, on a light enough charge too for the guard to crawl away soon afterwards. He'd be much more likely to shoot if he knew he wasn't going to kill anyone - after all in Moloch he couldn't shoot that trooper, and he objected to the killing of the putative Cancer. This time he just stuns a guard who was going to ignore him and pass by (and even then has to shut his eyes doing it) but possibly kill one of the others. Nico *** This e-mail is privileged and confidential. If you are not the intended recipient please delete the message and notify the sender. ***

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Avon and the System
by jacquispeel＠netscape.net 17 Jan '02

17 Jan '02

aps it is not Avon who is a product of the System - but Ensor and Orac. Consider the evidence of episodes 12-14. While Ensor junior and Marriot may be passing through Cephalon's system because it is convenient to do so/for navigational purposes/the ship's energy banks can be recharged through solar power, why is the Liberator passing by?

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New web site
by Nicola Mody-Nikoloff 17 Jan '02

17 Jan '02

I have just put up a B7 fiction web site (in fact it's my first ever) with Vila Restal's E-mails for years 1 through 4, in which Vila e-mails his mum, the crew, and occasionally Servalan and Travis. Hope you get a few laughs anyway. The site is at http://www.farsight.net.nz and I'm writing under a shorter name - no-one will remember my full one! I will soon be adding three more stories, more serious ones this time. Nico *** This e-mail is privileged and confidential. If you are not the intended recipient please delete the message and notify the sender. ***

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Rewatching 'Sand'
by Leia Fee 17 Jan '02

17 Jan '02

More random thoughts Another S4 episode where they're chasing some great new discovery and don't quite manage to get hold of it. Servalan does get to have some fun in this episode - I do like her scenes with Reeve... SERVALAN: I suggest you go back to the fire. The alternative could be frostbite. REEVE: I don't believe that. A woman like you? SERVALAN: There is something you should realise. There are no women like me. I am unique and later when he's threatening her... SERVALAN: Reeve, you apparently think this is a new, exciting experience for me. It isn't. I've confronted several maniacs with guns. Tarrant too gets to let fly with some wonderful lines, especially in his scenes with Servalan... SERVALAN: I suggest we agree a truce. TARRANT: You mean I put the gun away and you and I trip hand in hand across the base, until you brain me with some convenient blunt instrument. SERVALAN: You underestimate your usefulness, Tarrant. I said a truce. Or we can stand here until we die of sedentary collapse. TARRANT: I don't suppose this kind of machine would respond to a kick in the ear, would it? And the whole 'girl next door' scene of course. Oh and I love Avon's horrified, disgusted reaction when Orac starts spouting about love. This episode is more or less the only occasion when characters who've died are mentioned again. Soolin and Vila talk about CVally and Tarrant mentions his brothers death. Leia

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RE: [B7L] Rewatching 'Games'
by Nicola Mody-Nikoloff 17 Jan '02

17 Jan '02

Leia wrote: > I like this episode a lot. Me too. > Almost everyone's double crossing almost everyone else - it's > very B7 ;-) I'm one of the victims too. I just can't figure out what Belkov did with his crystals (did he have any at all, where were they) or what happened at the end (did Belkov survive, or did he get sucked into the black hole?) > Incidentally why on earth (Or Mecron 2 for that matter) does > Vila take that knife with him! Maybe he's trying to overcome his aversion to knives, or has already and is proud to show it? > And why on any planet does Tarrant leave Vila as back-up? Because Vila can get through any lock to rescue them, and Tarrant needs the others with him; they're much better in a fight than our Vila. > another of my favourite lines.... > VILA: Oh nothing much, I've been shot at, trodden on, nearly > captured twice > and now I think they're trying to blow me up. A fairly > average day. You know. I just love that too! > Either Belkov needs to get some better computer security or > Vila is much > better at sweet-talking computers than Mr-computer-tech Avon. Well, Gambit was a bit pissed with Belkov. Pity Vila couldn't convince her to abort her self-destruct sequence. She would have been such a fun computer to have around, esp. for Vila who needs some fun in S4. I'd love to have seen Gambit interacting with Orac and Slave. It also doesn't make sense that the stealing of a random circuit board would help Avon and/or Orac. A bit like a TV program I saw as a kid where some people stole the exact bit of computer memory which had the data they wanted in it. Can anybody help with this? > Computer games, even rather lethal ones, seem an odd way to protect > anything. It was Belkov's nature, his obsession, his raison d'etre. > I can forgive it though for the amusement factor > of seeing the > way there's a game just cut out for each of the people who go > over to the Orbiter Lucky coincidence, huh? Or just a well-rounded crew? :-) > oh, and for the look on Tarrant's face when Vila > grabs his foot. And poor Vila's so clever with that lock and just gets shoved aside... Nico *** This e-mail is privileged and confidential. If you are not the intended recipient please delete the message and notify the sender. ***

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Fw: [B7L] Hello?
by Tereth Dragonstar 17 Jan '02

17 Jan '02

----- Original Message ----- From: "Tereth Dragonstar" <TDragonstar(a)prodigy.net> To: "Leia Fee" <leiafee(a)totalise.co.uk> Sent: Wednesday, January 16, 2002 6:43 PM Subject: Re: [B7L] Hello? > > > >A while back, I was toying with the idea of Avon being a refugee from > > >the System and the Liberator actually being something he'd designed. > > >Hence, his extreme possessiveness of it. > > > > It's an interesting idea. I agree the trickiest bit to come up with a > > plausible explanation for is getting the clone Avon to meet up with the > > Liberator. > > > > Leia > > > > Not all that difficult. All you'd really have to do is have Zen > programed to rebel against the System at a particular time and or have Avon > send Zen a signel telling him to free himself from the System and then head > for a location that would intersect with the London. Avon was in control of > the Computers on London. Maybe he signeled Zen moments before he was > arrested (he got greedy. A human failing he picked up along the way maybe?) > the signel could have been to tell Zen to leave the System and go to a > location to wait for Avon. The fighting that we see going on might be a > System or better yet a pirate ship trying to get on board Liberator. Avon > maybe senses Liberator? Or more probably finds that the location he wanted > Zen to wait at was on the same route London was on while he had control of > the computers so he sent a signel for Zen to activate the defense globe > (hoping he wouldn't be affected maybe?) and allow London to dock. When Blake > surrenders he thinks his chance lost and gets ticked at Blake for ruining > things for him? Or maybe he knows enogh about Humans to know that the crew > of London might use prisioners to board Liberator. And in all likelyhood the > ones that caused the most trouble, Blake, Jenna and himself. Can't think of > any thing more right now. Read ya l8r. > > Tereth Dragonstar >

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Fw: [B7L] Hello?
by Tereth Dragonstar 17 Jan '02

17 Jan '02

----- Original Message ----- From: "Tereth Dragonstar" <TDragonstar(a)prodigy.net> To: "Andrew Williams" <awilliams(a)daikin.com.au> Sent: Thursday, January 17, 2002 6:34 AM Subject: Re: [B7L] Hello? > > >The Altas and their slaves were humanoid in appearance, so you could assume > that the mental equipment was compatible. The defence >mechanism makes the > best plot device for the transfer as all three were affected by it. Also, > if you remember the episode, there are some >shots of a strange > brain-looking thing at the time! > > I was thinking the brain would be the equivalant of Orac and or Zen. do > you think it possible that a human mind might be able to stand that much > information being stored and gathered in there? > > >From Ellynne's post, I imagined it only was a part of the System, and not > necessarily in control of it - the tinned thalamus-equivalent of Coser, >if > you like, stealing it's own invention. > > Interesting idea there. > > >In Terminal, the auto-repair was keeping the damage at bay, but the power > running the auto repair was finite. Also, the auto-repair could not >repair > the damage fast enough to get ahead. Perhaps if you envisage a faster > auto-repair system with greater power reserves, it could have >been done. > > Not exactly what I meant. I mean could the particles just the particles > mind you be gotten rid of? Could they be destroied or removed in some way > other then the auto-repair. Once removed or destroied would the Liberator's > auto-repair be able to rebuild the liberator? Or rebuild Zen first then > maybe Zen (who seems totally self aware in Terminal BTW, maybe Zen is > sentient, maybe Zen could, once rebuilt, use the data from the battle > computers to redesign the Liberator to have greater power stores, fire > power, speed, manuverablity, energy recharge rate? It would be cool if > Liberator could be redesigned for combating the Federation as well as > exploring. (I've always thought that the Liberator was an exploration > vehicle not a combat vehicle.) > > Tereth Dragonstar >

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