Fiona said:
Still, one would expect someone with Avon's survival instinct to want to keep his only means for returning to Liberator with him at all times, especially when his enemy is around. All the more since Servalan has
told
him that she's after Orac. (This is what I meant by sloppy writing :-) )
Roger Ebert calls this sort of thing the "idiot plot"--the film, etc. gets to be feature length only by everyone acting like an idiot.
Hm, but let's look at it another way. Avon, as it stands, has a choice of leaving Orac in the workroom or keeping it with him wherever he's
sleeping.
Now, if he suspects that Servalan is after Orac, to keep Orac with him
would
mean that he would spend a sleepless night,
Not much of an obstacles for a confirmed insomniac
Furthermore, Avon probably doesn't expect her to try anything.
If he doesn't he has a brilliant future in US electoral politics
However, the fact that one of the Mellanbys leaves a gun lying around changes the balance of power,
Leaves a gun lying around? Chez Mellanby that's like finding a bit of paper in the London Times printing plant
But really, it works against that, since she's likely to want sympathy not sarcasm-- but then as you say, compassion was never Avon's forte.
Actually he can be quite compassionate behind someone's back (the way he looks at Vena, not the way he talks to her) or when s/he is unconscious-- the tenderness in the way he touches Cally in Project Avalon after the android has slugged her, or Blake in Voice From the Past.
-(Y)
PS--do you think Mellanby's optical recognition gadget was an influence on Geordi LaForge's visual visor?