New subject: Captain Vila

28 Apr 2001


      Sally wrote:
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Jenny Kaye wrote:
<The scene is demonstrating that Vila is:
1/ Shallow
2/ A braggart
3/ An untrustworthy liar
4/ Self deluding
5/ Incapable of forward planning
6/ Stupid, in that he greatly underestimates the intelligence of the
people
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he is talking to. Even though he has known these people for a very long
time.>
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Let me guess, he's not your favourite character.
No, I rather like him-- I'd rate him as perhaps my third favourite character 
:-).
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Vila's background is as fluid as his mind is, of course.  In 'Horizon',
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when Avon calls him "a fifth-grade ignorant", his answer is "I chose the
wrong
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parents, didn't I?" - nothing about cheating one way or the other on the
tests (interesting that he doesn't call Avon on that incorrect ranking
either).
Didn't think of that one, you're absolutely right. It's interesting, isn't 
it? The fact
that he doesn't "correct" Avon on the ranking strongly indicates that it
wasn't incorrect at all...
In 'Shadow' he says to Cally that he grew up 'among the Delta
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service grades'
Again, good point-- 'among' doesn't necessarily means he was one.
and was in the Juvenile Detention Wards at a very young age
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("since I was old enough to read the graffiti');
So he was certainly a crook in his teens.
in 'Power' he mentions to
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Pella that he was "technical advisor for the escape" at the 'academy' of
CF-1;
Well, obviously "academy" is a euphemism for something else :-).
in 'Stardrive' he says he was sent to a penal colony (possibly Cf-1)
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at age 14.  In 'The Way Back' he says to Blake that he's had his head
adjusted 'by some of the best in the business'.
You've done your research, haven't you :-)?
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Of course, this interesting history would make perfectly good reasons for
being deprived of the Dreaded Captaincy, without bringing in anything
about
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the tests.
Very true!
In fact, he's disarmingly honest about the shadier part of his
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history (always assuming he's telling the truth about *them* :-). He's
not
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in the slightest bit ashamed on his Delta rank
Well, first of all, we don't know for certain that he was a Delta rank, only
a 5th Grade ignorant, (though it's very possible that, as Dana suggests, 
Alphas,
Betas etc, are subdivided into further Grades). We also know that in
Volcano Vila states that his classification was Grade 4 ignorant (a subtle
increase on the Grade mentioned in Horizon that Vila manages to slip in) and
then tries to justify that by saying he bribed a friend at the test centre
to mark him down. So there are two examples of him being dishonest about his
history for a start. And then you can add a third when he tells Pella he was
at an "Academy" and the fourth in Horizon when he blames his Grade 5
classification on his parents. So really it isn't at all accurate to say
that Vila wasn't in some way ashamed (or at least trying to play down) his
past, or he'd've been straight about it, wouldn't he?
- of all the crew, he's the
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most open and talkative *about* it
Can't argue there :-).
- nor does he seem to think it makes him
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inferior to the others (he does sometimes feel that way, I think, but due
to very different reasons).
I don't agree. Why tell all these lies if he didn't want to "adjust" his 
history to every situation he found himself in?
So empty 'bragging' about a higher rank seems
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pointless, even for him.
It's pointless, but as you've just demonstrated, he's done it on at least
three occasions.
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So yes, there's a decent case to be argue that he was simply making it up
as he went along. The problem is that one thing Vila says here is
absolutely true. He is
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*not* stupid, but actually quite bright in his own way, as he clearly
demonstrates in other episodes (sometimes pulling the possibly-Alphas'
butts out of
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strife, when he absolutely *has* to).
Yes, but there are different types of stupidity, isn't there? In the same
way that there are different types of intelligence. Haven't you ever
wondered how a particular friend can be so bright somethings, and yet
utterly stupid when it comes to something else? Vila's good at hoodwinking
the unwary, but then he would have to be, to be a good thief. Vila also uses
language well, it's even possible that the accent he has when meeting Blake
is one he had just put on, so as to appeal to Blake's Alpha Grade
sensibilities. Vila is also good at opening locks, and this total paranoia
means that he is sometimes right about approaching, or potential dangers.
His cowardice also is an aid when in a sticky situation, in that it appears
to concentrate his mind and  provide the adrenaline rush that allows him to
think straight.
He's somewhat scatterbrained IMO,
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definitely *not* an intellectual, and as lazy mentally as physically,
I think you're right.
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but he can be very quick and flexible (which is why he's Avon's
second-favourite
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sparring partner,
after all; *were* he stupid or slow, Avon wouldn't waste
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his breath).
Again, Vila isn't slow, but he can be really stupid sometimes. Remember his
dropping that gun in Space Fall?
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'Weapon', which is the episode that gives us most information - little
though that is - on the grading system, and the reason I have real
problems
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slotting Vila into Delta-by-rank.
But he may not be. He could be a 5th Grade Beta. All we know is that he's a
5th Grader. He may have spent time with the Delta service grades because
they were easier to steal from. We just don't know.
Goodness, Coser is a *Beta*, and from the
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way Servalan and Travis - and even Blake - talk, you'd think that was
only
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for the terminally slow and thick
I don't really follow this bit. Servalan, Blake and Travis are all very
intelligent, but all in different ways. They may all be Alphas but that
doesn't mean that they all think alike. They are people, not sausages :-).
- "this man Coser is brighter than his
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grade classification would suggest".
He was. And that's what pissed Coser off.
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Also, the clear implication is that
Beta grades are considered and treated as *very* inferior to Alphas runs
all the way through the episode
I think what we are actually seeing is the Beta Grade from the perspective
of Coser, who is quite clearly vengeful, and not just a little bit mad. He 
seems like  somebody who is, say, lower-middle-class and aspiring to be 
upper-middle-class-- and so sees everything in the most negative light 
possible.
(actually, it's a pity that the writer made
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Coser a Beta,
No. It's the entire point of the story-- where's his motivation otherwise 
:-)?
as the attitudes in this episode to this secondary rank make
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it that much harder to judge where the rest of the crew might be;
they can't*all* be Alphas!!)
We are never told what they are IIRC.
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Which begs the question of how someone as bright as Vila unquestionably
*is*ended up in the service grades that are lower even than Coser.
I don't think so. Again, from the info you have provided, we don't
now know that Vila was indeed a service Grade himself. And again, although
Vila can be bright at some things, there's a difference between being bright
and being bright enough to build a weapon as sophisticated and intelligent
as IMIPAK. Coser is very interesting actually, in that he rails against the
Grade classification system, yet treats Rashel like dirt.
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(It also>indicates - rather strongly - that being a Beta grade is both
restrictive
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and horrible;
Well, Coser sees it that way, but then Coser seems a complete egocentric
bastard.
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if someone like Vila found himself headed in that direction I
can see him doing anything to avoid it.
Yes, but until he had actually experienced such a thing, how could he know
what it was all about? Also, any prejudice from Alpha grades for Betas must
be lightweight compared to the prejudice he would feel as a Delta.
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Unquestionably, he was having a dig at Tarrant, who at
this stage is quite likely irritating the living daylights out of him.
We don't know what the relationship between Tarrant and Vila is at this
stage. Yes, he's having a dig at Tarrant, but I think it's to distract Avon.
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<As Avon confirmed, "A pro keeps it simple.">
Sorry, ma'am, but I'm still an amateur at 'Playing the Game' so I don't
have> >to do what Avon says if it don't make sense to me ...
Simplicity always make sense, it's overcomplex and spurious reasoning that
marks out the amateur.
Jenny.
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Re: [B7L] Captain Vila (long)