Blakes7

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5511 discussions

Re: [B7L] liking 'character'
by Tavia Chalcraft 12 Feb '01

12 Feb '01

Neil again: >Neglect of original characters is something I've moaned about more than >once in the past, since in many (though not all) cases they are severely >underwritten, underdescribed, badly named, and little more than >one-dimensional cyphers to give 'our heroes' something to play off against. ... >Likewise settings,which can be nothing more than an abstract locale >in which the action takes place, and consequently left all but undescribed. I agree, poor settings and the seeming antipathy to original characters (aka Mary-Sues) are two of my pet peeves of fanfic. The whole anti-Mary-Sue feeling has (IMO) done more to stultify B7 fanfic than anything else. I'd rather put up with a whole host of blatant Mary-Sues in the hope that people felt freer to invent new characters and new situations. After all, very few (if any?) episodes stuck rigidly to the cast members only, nearly all acquired some new (and often interesting) characters for Our Heroes to play off/with. Moreover I assume the predilection for quarry-of-the-weekism stemmed from budget constraints and they would cheerfully have gone somewhere with interesting scenery had costs allowed. Tavia

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Re: Fanfic
by Helen Krummenacker 12 Feb '01

12 Feb '01

> And readers simply > want to *read* about "no one else" but the main characters. And I can > understand the sentiment, really I can -- because the point of fanfic is > that one is using someone else's characters and setting, so if one isn't > going to use them, then why is one writing it? You already given the other reason... using the *setting*. I think it would be a fantastic thing to do a fanzine where none of the stories use the main characters, or are perhaps, allowed a single main-character appearence. Thus you could get plots like, "the Federation tries to take over a matriarchal planet; Blake, during his absence from the Liberator, arrives there to try to organize the locals only to find they have their own ideas on how to manage things, thank you very much, but the poor little man seems so sincere they could perhaps let him travel with the fighting squad as a mascot" or "Governor Le Grande discovers a horrible secret about the Federation which makes her determined to oppose it" or "Pollux, the interesting product of a genetic experiment by the Clonemasters, can change his shape at will. He is commissioned to morph himself into the likeness of Jenna Stannis to make contact with Avon and get the Liberator. However, once he dodges those watching him, he duplicates Servalan's likeness to gather resources for his own bid for personal freedom... Will he be able to lose his trackers and become a free and independent being?" All of these would be making use of some of the 'givens' of the Blake's 7 universe: Blake's fame as a rebel, and how it might not matter much on an outside world; filling in some unknown background on Le Grand; the technology of the Clonemasters and the weaknesses of the Federation as an organization. They would not need much in the way of the main characters, but could be fascinating ways of rounding out the Blake's 7 universe. Some people wouldn't read it because it would mean no revelling in the character relationships, but one could create *new* character dynamics between the cameo character and the original creations. The biggest challenge for the writers would be, I think, keeping the 'tone' of the universe. That is, Pollux would probably die; possibly in an ironic twist, shot by Dayna who thought he really was Servalan. Le Grand may be succesful in creating changes within her section of organization, but the story should hold foreshadowings that this is unlikely to last after Voices From The Past. One reason I don't read a lot of fanfic is that, from what I read about it, it sounds like the same things are rehashed endlessly. I like the idea of developing not just the characters but the universe. Why not write stories like that as original fics since the characters are mostly new or little developed in the series? Because 1. It's hard to get original fiction published. 2. You'd have to estblish all the givens; B is a big-name hero; F is evil institution and uses genocide and drugs to take over new worlds and quell posessed ones; C have the only advanced genetic technology accessable to the F and S wants to use it to get the L through A. 3. Once you had done all that to create an 'original' universe, some Blake's 7 fan will take a look and say, "It's an avatar universe."

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Next Round of B7 fanzines & goodies has been posted
by Bizarro7＠aol.com 12 Feb '01

12 Feb '01

...at the ongoing Ashton Press eBay auction. I'm just too darn lazy to post the names of the zines this time; take the time to have a peek and hunt up some gems for your collection or just plain classic B7 fanfic yourself! Remember; only one copy of each zine is being offered as we continue to clear out the massive collection. Good luck! Auction located at: http://members.ebay.com/aboutme/ashton7/

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Fw: [B7L] OT: Penguins
by Deborah Day 11 Feb '01

11 Feb '01

This email was delivered to you by The Free Internet, a Business Online Group company. http://www.thefreeinternet.net --------------------------------------------------------------- >> There was an article in the paper the other day >> saying that a baby penguin >> had been found outside McDonalds in Melbourne being >> very depressed. >> Apparently people take them home from the beach and >> then leave them in the >> town and they just can't cope with it. I wonder >> what it would have ordered? > >Oh no! This is the first time I've ever heard of >stuff like this - How could they just leave them in >the concrete jungle like that - what is wrong with >these people? > >Cheryl. > > >___________________________________________________________________________ __ >http://entertainment.yahoo.com.au - Yahoo! Entertainment >- Feeling a little bored? Need some entertainment? >

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Re: [B7L] liking 'character'
by Tavia Chalcraft 11 Feb '01

11 Feb '01

Dana wrote: >Harking back to the Deliverance discussion ... I bet that what people >really object to are subconscious Mary Sues. Hard to see that either Terry Nation or Chris Boucher subconsciously wished to fall at Avon's feet. Though PD has been known to claim that Tanith Lee, author of Sarcophagus, was obsessed with him, so perhaps the Cally alien ? Tavia

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Re: Mary Sues
by Helen Krummenacker 11 Feb '01

11 Feb '01

> How come regurgitating the author is called 'realism' in original fiction > and 'Mary-Sueing' in fanfiction? > > Tavia Because in original fiction, the author's avatar is a nuerotic with memories of an alchoholic father, demanding mother, who has worked their way out of (poverty/an abusive home/a series of deadend jobs) and is reaching a crisis stage in their personal life while battling a serious illness. In fanfic, Mary Sue is trained in piloting/espionage, has perfect hair and teeth, can outsmart Servalan without setting down her teacup, and charms even the coldest hearts. I imagine a short, acne-prone, angst-ridden avatar who gets left behind when their teleport bracelet breaks and the ship is in danger wouldn't get too many complaints. I have come across plenty of these plastically perfect people in a Star Trek fan club I was part of, where everyone was encouraged to create original characters to be used in fics. Unfortunately, one woman specialized in what I called 'Federation Yuppies from hell'- everyone was a gold medalist in upper-crust sport of choice, graduated top of their class in their division, etc.

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Re: [B7L] Re: Fanfic
by Tavia Chalcraft 11 Feb '01

11 Feb '01

Helen wrote: >You already given the other reason... using the *setting*. I think it >would be a fantastic thing to do a fanzine where none of the stories >use the main characters, or are perhaps, allowed a single main-character >appearence. Yes, *yes*, YES! Please. I'd love to publish such a zine, and I've one or two ideas for stories to go in it. Any other takers? Tavia

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Re: [B7L] liking 'character'
by Tavia Chalcraft 11 Feb '01

11 Feb '01

Jacqui asked: >What is a Mary Sue? You may well ask. Depending on your definition set: (1) A superwoman who is an authorial projection in a story. (2) Any female original character. Tavia

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Re: [B7L] Dallas
by M 11 Feb '01

11 Feb '01

On Thu, 08 Feb 2001 17:54:24 -0500, jacquispeel(a)netscape.net wrote: > Servalan meets JR > > What happens next? > They get a ranch and set up a franchise to sell leather - especially to the Liberator (answer to where did all the leather come from ). An especially big order by a K.A. - Servalan has no quarms about a discount for this individual, the costumes being to her taste. ??? M. _______________________________________________________ Get 100% private, FREE email for life from Excite UK Visit http://inbox.excite.co.uk/

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Re: [B7L] Paul Darrow & B7 movie
by Marian de Haan 11 Feb '01

11 Feb '01

Harriet wrote: >So Avon doesn't count as a party of international allure in his own right?< Not in the Netherlands, I'm afraid :-) Marian

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