From: "Dana Shilling" dshilling@worldnet.att.net
The trouble is that Blake seems to undergo a complete character change between TWB and Space Fall--
True.
which I suppose might happen given the level of trauma, but still should have gotten at least a minute of screen time. Blake in TWB is a pawn completely at the mercy of events--he doesn't go outside with the deliberate intention of returning to subversive activity, only to hear about his brother and sister (since Ravella and Richie are blackmailing him, they may also have fabricated the story that his family has been killed). He spends the massacre hiding, which is a very natural and believable human reaction but not very Blake-like; his conduct in the rest of the series is nothing if not pro-active. And he tells Ravella that he needs time to think about what she's just said--something he very conspicuously doesn't give Avon in Space Fall.
I don't find the change of character at all surprising, myself. Between the two stories, Blake has been galvanised into action. At the beginning of TWB, he is a good citizen, and believes he always has been so; as you say he is completely at the mercy of the events which overtake him.
Between the massacre and "Space Fall," however, his world is completely shattered. Not only has he just witnessed the massacre you mention and learned the truth about his family, past and mental conditioning at the Federation's hands, but he has been framed for child molestation, told that he is insane, given a show trial, had his lawyer killed before he could get an appeal, and packed off to Cygnus Alpha on a ship full of sadistic guards. Enough to rouse anyone to action, I think; militant fanatics are often made of much less.
It's worth noting that in "Space Fall," it is the knowledge that his family are dead that gives Blake the strength to resist Zen's trap. If there had even lingered the slightest bit of doubt about the reasons for doing what he was doing, I think he'd have been every bit as trapped as Jenna and Avon. And the thing that kept Blake going was the things he had experienced on Earth, in the brief time between the massacre and his being put on the London.
So yes, I agree that there is a change in character, but one that under the circumstances seems to ring true.
Fiona
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From: Fiona Moore nydersdyner@yahoo.co.uk
From: "Dana Shilling" dshilling@worldnet.att.net
The trouble is that Blake seems to undergo a complete character change between TWB and Space Fall--
I don't find the change of character at all surprising, myself. Between
the
two stories, Blake has been galvanised into action. At the beginning of
TWB,
he is a good citizen, and believes he always has been so; as you say he is completely at the mercy of the events which overtake him.
I think the character shift actually begins in TWB itself. His repeated 'No drugs' to Havant, his refusal to offer any defence at his trial - these are the first stirrings of the confident, assertive Blake who sets out to take the London in the next episode. Not necessarily a change of character at all, since at the start of TWB he is totally out of his depth as to what's going on, and just coming off the suppressants, and then promptly gets told that he thought he knew was a lie ... is it any wonder that the 'real' Blake might have gone off for a stroll round the block?
Not that I'm a character junkie or anything.
Neil
Neil wrote about Blake's change in character:
I think the character shift actually begins in TWB itself. His repeated 'No drugs' to Havant, his refusal to offer any defence at his trial - these are the first stirrings of the confident, assertive Blake who sets out to take the London in the next episode. Not necessarily a change of character at all, since at the start of TWB he is totally out of his depth as to what's going on, and just coming off the suppressants
What impressed me most when I saw the episode in full (I missed the first broadcast, and for a long time had seen it only hacked to bits on the compilation tape) was the way Gareth conveyed the shift in his face. At the start of the episode, Blake's face is smooth, bland and youthful. He doesn't actually look like the Blake I know from the rest of the series until we see him in his cell, and then talking to Havant. How much of his memory has returned I don't know, but he's beginning to regain his dissident mindset. He looks older, stressed, but at the same time more vital.
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Fiona Moore -
Harriet Monkhouse -
Neil Faulkner