In a message dated 2/28/01 4:27:24 PM Eastern Standard Time, julia.jones@jajones.demon.co.uk writes:
(LEAH) << Until a few years ago, it was almost unheard of for an
American series or feature to end on a tragic note, without the inevitable happily-ever-after. This was an almost exclusively British or Japanese cultural phenomenon in entertainment media. This is one reason why the
ending
at Gauda Prime was actually more devastating for American viewers than it
was
for Brits.
(JULIA) > And you were asking me what was obviously British about B7? :-)<
The original question was whether or not the BLAKES 7 universe was a British universe and society, inhabited by descendants of the citizens of Britain. The format used for filming, and the style of storytelling might have some traits that are 'British', but they do not touch on or answer the original question in any way. They are *external*, part of the production values and techniques of the production crew who were British.
(JULIA)>This is actually one of the things I had in mind. Much (not all) British sf has at the least a downbeat tone, the most obvious example other than B7 springing to my mind being 1984. The Doctor doesn't always win, either. It's something I can find off-putting about older American media sf, that there's always a neat resolution within 45 minutes, the good guys always win, you can tell who the good guys are.<
(LEAH) This is what I meant in a recent post about the British scriptwriters having their own set of cliches (and I don't mean that in a negative way), which are simply very different from the set of cliches that Americans have grown up with...which is one of the reasons why everything British that we get to see often seems fresh and original.