From: huh@ccm.net
And which would have been very cheap to do and would have been
incredibly
visual. Yes, I like that idea.
Una
but b7 only does very cheap and NOT incredibly visual. if it doesn't look cheap, they don't want it! ;)
huh?
My sentiment exactly-- the "huh?" I meant, not the other thing. The cheap look was hardly deliberate on the series' designers' part, whatever that snide review in BBC Cult Vault may suggest; it was an unfortunate result of doing a show on a budget of £10 and a pickled egg, after all.
Also, I personally consider a lot of things about B7 very visual. The Liberator flight deck-- nicely alienesque but still recognisable for what it is. Servalan's dresses, suggesting sex, money and power. The continual visual theme of having all Federation buildings/stations in monochrome decor. The Federation logo--a bit Star Trek admittedly but making for a very nice visual at the end of the opening credits. The industrial-functional feel of Scorpio and Xenon Base. The gas-masks and black jumpsuits of the guards, evoking both Nazi and nuclear thrillers. I'm sure other people have their favourites too....
As for the art: Una's right. Posters *would* have been a cheap but effective way of conveying a totalitarian system, and one with which the viewer could have immediately identified, being familiar with contemporary Civil Defence posters as well as with wartime propaganda posters of all sorts around the place. One wonders why they didn't.
In fact, I recall from a DWB article on the B7 title sequence that the original title sequence was going to feature the printing of "Wanted" style posters of Blake and Co. Even if the final title sequence was much better than that IMO, it's a pity they didn't print up a few and stick them up in Central Control (or other areas where people would have known the truth behind the story that Blake was on Cygnus Alpha).
Fiona
The Posthumous Memoirs of Secretary Rontane Available for public perusal at http://nyder.r67.net
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