At 16:40 16/02/2002 -0500, you wrote:
A plot is more interesting with a human and flawed hero than with a uniformly noble and perfect hero--but it's also more interesting with an active hero (not all of whose actions are successful) than a patsy.
I think the show would have been stronger by starting out with something about the Freedom Party, its goals, and operations; then Blake's arrest and mindwipe; then send him to Cygnus Alpha and start from there.
I rather like the set-up in The Way Back as it is, from the point of view of establishing the background, and partcularly of setting up the Federation, who are supposed to be the main bad guys and so who need a strong first episode at least as much as Blake does.
Blake was guilty of active dissent, years ago--he belonged to an outlawed organisation and carried out direct acions against the Federation, as described in VftP. Under those circumstances, mind-wiping him and exiling him aren't actually that outrageous, on the scale of Oppressive Evil Overlord behaviours.
However, The Way Back gives a very clear and economical picture of the depths of evil at the heart of the Federation. At the mere possibility that their (ostensibly banned) mind-wiping may wear off, Morag, Glyn et al are calmly willing to destroy the lives of three children in order to get Blake out of the way in a manner that will simultaneously blacken his name. Leaving aside the logical flaws in the plot as seen on TV, it's a great taster of what the Federation is capable of in its pusuit of the goal of obliterating dissenters. The Federation aren't punishing an active fighter--they're crushing someone whose life they've already destroyed because he *might* be a threat in the future.
-(Y)
love Anna (Oh, and they killed a lawyer. But even Shakespeare was in favour of that.)
*************************** Anna Simpson ***************************** I will not turn into a snake. It never helps. (Evil Overlord List #34) ******************* http://www.moglit.demon.co.uk ********************