M wrote:
When we see Blake and when it is written about, Blake is usually some-how still alive. However why is this? At first it seems obvious Blake is still alive, the hero, the 'Captain Kirk', however I think the answer is more to do with Avon. We need to some-how give him absolution - this is proven by the fact that if Blake is killed, Avon must some-how be insane, not just killed him outright. Do we need Avon to not have committed this crime so much, we try to absolve him?
That may be it for some stories, but I don't think it's true for all, or perhaps even most, stories where Blake ends up not being dead. I think there are several possible motivations here, and you've hit on two of them:
a) I don't want Blake to be dead! Let's bring him back and have a happy (or at least less tragic) ending!
b) We can't have Avon doing something that awful! Let's undo it and have a happy, etc. ending. (I think this is possibly the motivation behind a lot of they-set-it-up-together stories, which I otherwise don't really get at all.)
But there is at least one other reason, and, I think, a big one:
c) A dead Blake may make for a lot of Avon-angst, but a Blake who managed to survive can make for even *more* (with the added extra bonus of Blake-angst!). Not only does the poor bastard have to deal with the fact that he killed Blake (or tried to), but he has to deal with it *in Blake's presence*. (And which is worse for Avon? A Blake who forgives him, or a Blake who doesn't?) For those who like angst, this possibility can be postitively irresistable. Letting Blake be dead is too *much* of a happy ending. :)