M wrote about PGP stories:
When we see Blake and when it is written about, Blake is usually some-how still alive.
First, I'm not 100% convinced that your premise is correct. I've read quite a lot of PGP stories where Blake is dead and Avon is alive, and also quite a few where they all die.
There are also some stats somewhere, I think? Does anyone here recall where?
However why is this? At first it seems obvious Blake is still alive, the hero, the 'Captain Kirk', however I think the answer is more to do with Avon. We need to some-how give him absolution - this is proven by the fact that if Blake is killed, Avon must some-how be insane, not just killed him outright. Do we need Avon to not have committed this crime so much, we try to absolve him? Part of Avon is that he is ruthless, I myself am an Avon fan and have been guilty of it, however I think I am starting to see where the reputation for Avon fans always trying to excuse him comes from. He cannot be allowed to commit a henious crime or he must some-how be noble? What do other people think???
I personally tend to prefer the 'Blake is really dead' genre of PGP because, to me, one of the main attractions of B7 as a series is the tragedy of Blake dying at the hands of a friend/colleague/lover (delete as applicable). If Blake somehow survives it feels a bit as if, I dunno, Romeo and Juliet were to get up off their slabs at the end and say, got you there!
If Blake is dead and Avon survives then one possible interesting challenge to the writer is to give him absolution without the convenience of having Blake there to forgive. Another is to see whether someone in that situation can carry on living *without* absolution, or can find their own path to absolution.
My personal take on this is that the writer has to re-persuade Avon that the acts of the Federation are even more evil than killing Blake, and so absolution might be found in fighting the Federation, ie taking on Blake's mantle (as suggested by the final minutes of 'Blake').
Betty:
A dead Blake may make for a lot of Avon-angst, but a Blake who managed to survive can make for even *more* (with the added extra bonus of Blake-angst!). Not only does the poor bastard have to deal with the fact that he killed Blake (or tried to), but he has to deal with it *in Blake's presence*. (And which is worse for Avon? A Blake who forgives him, or a Blake who doesn't?) For those who like angst, this possibility can be postitively irresistable. Letting Blake be dead is too *much* of a happy ending. :)
These are also very interesting premises for PGP, but I disagree that you can wring even more angst out of a situation with Blake alive than with Blake dead. A dead Blake who can't understand or forgive gives me an angst reading of 1, as does a live Blake who can't forgive, and a live forgiving Blake scenario where Avon can't accept the absolution offered.
Actually, I think Betty's reasons (a) and (b) are the most likely explanations.
Tavia