Sally said: "His cowardice is IMO genuine, but only one aspect of this; where he thinks it won't work, he doesn't give in to it."
This is an interesting aspect of Vila and far more like your average person. Most people's reactions to some of the situations they got themselves in would have been like Vila's reaction, that is not going out of their way to put themselves in unnecessary danger. This isn't cowardice, it is just commonsense. It is only when the reason to put oneself in danger is so compelling or the alternative of not doing so potentially worse, that most people would do so. That is why in times of war, even with conscription, so much time and effort are placed on propaganda to convince the population that the cause is worth fighting for and/or pushing the shame element for those that don't sign up. Otherwise, no-one in their right mind would engage in trench warfare.
The alternative tactic used in Norse mythology and others was that you didn't get a good afterlife unless you died in battle.
Sally said: "an interesting aspect of his saving Tarrant in Rescue is that there is no one there to *tell him* him do it, in the heat of the moment he just does"
Again a trait witnessed often in people. On the spur of the moment, with no time to think, they will put themselves at risk to help others. Remember the bravery of the guy on the Herald of Free Enterprise (a ferry that sank about 15 years ago) who turned himself into a human bridge for people to walk across?
This type of behaviour is what i believe makes Vila so appealing. In him more than most characters on the show we can see bits of ourselves or people we know.
-- cheers Steve Rogerson http://homepages.poptel.org.uk/steve.rogerson
Redemption 03, 21-23 February 2003, Ashford, Kent Celebrating 25 years of Blake's 7 and 10 years of Babylon 5 http://www.smof.com/redemption