jacquispeel@netscape.net wrote:

With books there are 'if you like "x" you might like authors a, b, c' etc. What would people recommend for other B7 viewers?

This is an interesting question, because it touches on something I've been noticing recently: there seem to be an awful lot of very B7ish shows out there these days. Consider...

_Blake's 7_: A gang of escaped criminals fly around on the most advanced spaceship in the known galaxy, constantly bickering among themselves. They are lead by an idealist whose goal is to bring down the Evil Galactic Government, although this is considered by many (including several members of the crew) to be a hopelessly overoptimistic goal that is probably doomed to failure. The cast includes one cynical, sarcastic bastard who claims to care about nobody but himself and maintains that he's only along for the ride because it suits his own agenda.

_Andromeda_: A gang of criminals (they aren't escaped 'cause they never got caught at anything), fly around on the most advanced spaceship in the known galaxy, frequently bickering among themselves. They are lead by an idealist whose goal is to restore the Benevolent Galactic Government, although this is considered by many (including several members of the crew) to be a hopelessly overoptimistic goal that is probably doomed to failure. The cast includes one cynical, sarcastic bastard who claims to care about nobody but himself and maintains that he's only along for the ride because it suits his own agenda.

_Farscape_: A gang of escaped criminals fly around on a really, really big (albeit completely unarmed) spaceship, bickering among themselves. There's an Evil Galactic Military Organization after them, but at least they're smart enough to realize that trying to bring it down would be hopelessly overoptimistic and doomed to failure (that is, assuming the thought ever crossed their minds). The cast includes one cynical, obnoxious bastard who claims to care about nobody but himself. *Everybody* is sarcastic, and pretty much everybody is only along for the ride because it suits their own agendas, or because they don't have anywhere else to go.

_Lexx_: A (smaller) gang of escaped criminals fly around on the most advanced spaceship in the known universes, bickering among themselves. They're not exactly led by anybody, but they manage to bring down the Evil Galactic Government by the end of the first season, anyway. The cast includes one sarcastic, obnoxious jerk who'd like you to think he's a really great guy, but doesn't, in fact, care about much of anybody but himself. Nobody really has much of an agenda, but they don't have anywhere else to go, either.

To address the original question, any or all of those might appeal to a B7 fan, for the obvious reasons, but whether they'd appeal to any individual B7 fan probably depends a lot on individual tastes, and on what, exactly, it is about B7 they like... _Andromeda_ might appeal to B7 fans who are also Trek fans, as, IMO, it sits about midway between the two. _Farscape_ is likely to appeal to angst fans and those who like its particular brand of humor. _Lexx_ is only for those who like really bizarre dark humor and are OK with copious amounts of gratuitous sex. And so on.

But it all leaves me to wonder... Can this possibly be coincidence? Is B7 being consciously imitated? Can we consider all these shows to be direct descendents of B7 in some way or another? Was B7 just ahead of its time? Or what?

Jacqui asked:

With books there are 'if you like "x" you might like authors a, b, c' etc. What would people recommend for other B7 viewers?

I have no idea where you'd find the videos, but...there was a mini- series called "Rock Follies" which had a sequel. It's about three women whose relationship to the music business is about what the Liberator/ Scorpio crew's is to rebellion, and it features Flight Deck arguments galore.

-(Y)