From: Helen Krummenacker avona@jps.net
You already given the other reason... using the *setting*. I think it would be a fantastic thing to do a fanzine where none of the stories use the main characters, or are perhaps, allowed a single main-character appearence.
Brilliant idea. Flog it on that very point and you might even sell ten copies. That's two more than the zine that can have any plot the author wishes so long as Avon isn't in it.
Thus you could get plots like, "the Federation tries to take over a matriarchal planet; Blake, during his absence from the Liberator, arrives there to try to organize the locals only to find they have their own ideas on how to manage things, thank you very much, but the poor little man seems so sincere they could perhaps let him travel with the fighting squad as a mascot"
I once had an idea for a plot about an all-female population that lures the Liberator to their world because ... they want sperm to breed from. In other words, they were hoping to use Liberator as the go-between in a dodgy deal with a black market sperm bank. (I got the idea for this one after reading a story that had an all-female society put Avon in a cage and use him as a stud. I couldn't help thinking that putting Avon in a cage was the author's real reason for inventing this scenario, but maybe I was just being unfairly cynical.)
All of these would be making use of some of the 'givens' of the Blake's 7 universe ... They would not need much in the way of the main characters, but could be fascinating ways of rounding out the Blake's 7 universe. Some people wouldn't read it because it would mean no revelling in the character relationships, but one could create *new* character dynamics between the cameo character and the original creations.
There's no reason why you can't do that in mainstream fanfic, keeping all the regulars and having them all interact with an oc(m or f).
On the other hand, one of the problems with regular fanfic is the way it is instantly overcrowded by default. It is hard to give equal space to all the regulars (for one thing, you probably need a pretty long story to give each one a chance to shine at some point). Even harder with just one original character, let alone two or more. (I think I pulled it off with Hunter, which has more originals than regulars. And I challenge anyone to prove that even one of the ocf's counts as a Mary Sue.)
The biggest challenge for the writers would be, I think, keeping the 'tone' of the universe.
That's easy. A few lines of description are all you need: "One by one, the pursuit ships wobbled into attack formation." "His plimsolls squeaked as he crossed the wooden flight deck floor." "Seen from below, the alien battle cruiser was not unlike two hairdriers stuck end to end." "The shadow of a boom mike passed across her stricken face." "Panic briefly gripped him, until he realised his teleport bracelet was now on his other wrist."
That is what you meant by 'tone', isn't it?
Neil