Stephen wrote:
--- Natasa wrote:
Another naive detail in the series, IMO, is that the rebellion's leaders all get on so well. From the very beginning, the whole anti-Federation movement is so harmonious:
The exception being the crew of the Liberator of course !
Yes, it has often occured to me that Blake's idealism wouldn't stand out so much if he weren't surrounded by such 'untypical' rebels. In the galaxy which must be full of discontent with the Federation government and millions of angry, deprived citizens who would be more than willing to help Blake in his fight, he somehow ends up with a small group of eccentrics who don't give a monkey's about changing the world.
Blake never has to worry about the morality of his allies torturing Federation prisoners or blowing up civilians.
Whereas this happens quite often in fanfic. Fanfic writers seem to have a taste for positing moral dilemmas and depicting the rebellion in shades of gray.
In fact he has to do a deal with an organised crime syndicate to encounter morally dubious individuals.
It seems we primarily have to thank Boucher for introducing such individuals - and also for making Blake himself morally dubious. Blake's 'transformation' designed by Boucher starts with 'Shadow'. Someone on the Lyst suggested the name of the episode, apart from the drug, also alludes to the Terra Nostra being the Federation's 'shadow'. I think it's also because Boucher has decided to turn Blake into a 'dusky' hero, past his zenith of perfection and moral purity, whose shadow starts becoming visible. The next step in the transformation is Star One, with those weird scenes in which Blake's so successful in pretending he's Travis. Blake wants to destroy Star One. Travis wants to enable the Andromedans to do the same. As Avon would say, there must be a subtle difference which escapes me at the moment. And then there's 'Blake', where Our Hero appears as an unshaven one-eyed bounty hunter who shoots people in the back. I wonder what would have become of Blake in Boucher's interpretation had the series continued. I try hard to incorporate the changes he introduced into the character, but sometimes I give up. In my hours of darkness I've concluded that Boucher is really a Federation's secret agent assigned to destroy Blake's reputation.
N.