Sally Manton wrote:

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Jenny wrote: <Oh, he does act stupid. There's a lot of Gan's actions which are put

downh

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by a lot of people (including the crew) to his being stupid-- not

checking

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to see if Jenna was behind him on Cephlon, or tearing out the computer banks in "Breakdown.">

The second instance is an invalid example, IMO,

Is that right?

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since it could have been caused by scrambled brain impulses caused by the malfunction.

No. It's a deliberate act. The malfunction didn't "scramble his brain impulses," it removed his restraints.

So you have

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one example of stupid behaviour (and I could add a second one, the temper-tantrum-moment with the handcuffs in Bouty when Vila is trying

*not*

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to blow Blake's head off).

Yes, but I don't think it's ment to show stupidity, just Gan's true nature.

But of course <veg> the odd dumb moment is so

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*unusual* in our crew. Personally, I consider Blake, Avon, Jenna,

Tarrant

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and Soolin - at the *least* - to be very bright in their different ways. So ...

Want to ask Avon how he thought sending that message to Servalan (in Hostage) would help? And why his brain turned off once he went down to Exbar?

Hostage is a dog's dinner of an episode, I'll grant you that. Quite why it's such a mess, I don't know. Time maybe, or perhaps it was a last minute replacement script. Nation was going to write the last two episodes of series two but then didn't. That must have put a huge last minute strain on everyone.

But as to why:

AVON: It seemed the only rational thing to do. I thought they would get there ahead of us, get Travis and save us the trouble.

Earlier:

CALLY: Well, there should be no danger. Does anyone know we're here? Avon? AVON: What? CALLY: I said who knows we're here? AVON: How do I know who knows? I still say anybody could have picked up that message. CALLY: No they couldn't. You know they couldn't. Why are you so worried?

If Avon sent a message to Space Command Headquarters (anonymously remember), it would be logical for Servalan/her staff to send the nearest pursuit ship to Exbar, which would have gotten there in a very short period of time; Travis would have been dealt with by the time Blake got into in his shiny suit. Unfortunately Servalan herself got interested and decided to come along, which meant a long delay, and meant Blake had time to get into trouble and need rescuing. Where's the brainlessness in that? And where does his brain switch off when he goes down to Exbar? He gets captured but so does everybody.

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Why he turned his back on Sara in MoD?

He didn't know Sara was armed. Also once the traitor had been reveiled she should have given herself up. After all, locking herself in a room with a gun isn't a very bright thing to do. And Sara is very bright. The reason she acts the way she does is that she knows she is going to be rescued by her allies. Something Avon didn't know until he was told of the homing beam trasmitter.

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Why in Rescue, when he clearly didn't trust Dorian, he left his gun in the other room while he took a bath?

Where does it say that the gun was in another room? He could have simply fallen asleep in the bath. After all, after the events on Terminal they all must have been both physically and emotionally exhausted.

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Want to ask Tarrant why - after stating very firmly and loudly that he trusted no one but himself

Two possible answers. Bravado. Tarrant very clearly needs others. Volcano was written when the original character profile for Tarrant was in operation. The one where he was, in a later episode, to sell out the crew.

- he swallowed that whole incredibly silly story

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from Norl in City?

Why was Norl's story "incredibly silly"?

Or why he insisted in DotG that *everyone* goes down

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with the ship?

Churlishness. Dislike of Avon. These characters are meant to represent people not logical automatons. People are rarely rational, especially when facing death.

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Want to ask Cally why - when she *knew* Gan had tried to throttle Blake - she *let him go*?

Because Gan was not acting like a raging monster and was now calm. She didn't know that he was a psycopathic killer with a hatred of women.

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Want to ask Dayna why at the end of Kairos she meekly teleported Servalan to safety instead of into open space?

Because Servalan--who operated the teleport in Terminal--would therefore be able to tell if she was operating the wrong controls and would have ordered Shad to shoot her if she did anything dodgy. Anyway the two times people are teleported into space are in S1 and S2, before Dayna joined the crew-- we don't know that she knows how or even that it's possible.

(oh, and want to ask Servalan why

she

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decided to trust Dayna with her safety?)

Servalan doesn't. She wants to kill Dayna; only the fact that Avon has the Orac key (and so Orac can't operate the teleport) saves her.

Or why - when Avon *told* her in Powerplay to 'shoot anyone who isn't me', she still managed to get captured

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by Klegg's men without even wounding one of them?

Don't know. The scene was never seen. Anything could have happened, but experienced soldiers would have an edge on an enthusiastic amateur.

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Want to ask Blake why he had so much trouble keeping up with the

Twinfoil's

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explanation in 'The Web'?

I've watched these scenes (Thanks for that!) and Blake's responses make perfect sense.

Why he repeatedly let Travis and/or Servalan live?

Because he knew that he could beat them. That's not as pat as it sounds. Travis always worked to a pattern, "The Travis strategy" Blake calls it. When Travis is replaced however, Blake is taken completely by surprise by the strategy employed by said replacement. Also if he killed Servalan, a new Supreme Commander, may very well replace Travis with someone else. Not something Servalan can do because to do so would mean that she had made a mistake in the first place by employing him. That's one of the reasons behind her actions in Trial.

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Why in MoD he left the unsealed box with an incredibly valuable

neutrotope

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lying around where at the first bump it would fall?

It was in a sealed padded box in the middle of a table with Gan sat in front of it. It's Gan that lets it drop. Gan again, see?

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Want to ask Soolin why she decided to help Tarrant in Warlord, risking

the

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whole alliance they'd worked for, the security of the base and all of

their

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lives so he could have his little romantic fling?

Because she wanted insurance. And Zeeona being on Xenon Base is the best insurance you can possibly have. Notice also that Soolin dislikes Zukan (which turns out to be a much smarter action than Avon's)-- "spite" is a decent motivation.

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Want to ask Vila about that dropped knife in Cygnus Alpha?

I think you mean 'gun' in 'Space Fall'. Because he is a coward.

Or playing the

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with loading bay controls on Albion?

Because he is curious(a particular trait of Vila's) and he didn't know it would make such a noise.

Or believing Blake's mind-rape-induced

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lies in 'Voice'?

As Vila had no idea that Blake is under control at that point, and Blake is the leader, it makes perfect sense.

For that matter (and that episode), want both Avon and

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Jenna why - when they *knew* Blake's mind was decidedly awry - when he

said

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'give the mummy a bracelet', they gave the mummy a bracelet?

They don't do it willingly. They argue with Blake. Blake tells them that Ven Glynd has a plan and a way of ousting Servalan without bloodshed, but that he won't tell them until they get back on the Liberator. He is rational and lucid (remember that they don't have any actual proof at this point that his mind is being controlled); he argues them down, uses the force of his personality, and refuses to tell them Ven Glynd's evidence until they are back on the Liberator. So Avon and Jenna are effectively browbeaten into giving the mummy the bracelet.

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(Jenna doesn't have *many* 'where-in-the-world-have-I-put-my-brain' moments, but she does seem to persistently be several steps behind Avon and Blake (the dreaded 'what's going on, Blake?' bits) so that they have to

explain

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things to her - Redemption is especially bad on this point).

So? Reading that episode back, she doesn't seem to ask any more questions than Vila or Gan.

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Want to ask the whole lot of them why they didn't notice Cally was

missing

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in SLD????

Nasty. Gan quite violently pushes the prisoners into a row. Thereby introducing the currency of violence. He then asks Cally if she can handle it and disappears. He then, much to Blake's surprise, joins the others in the main control room. Cut back to Cally, left on her own to guard four male prisoners, one a soldier. When Gan doesn't return, Cally goes to the door and looks for him. We then cut back to the control room. Notice that Gan doesn't mention Cally at all.Vila then runs into the room and tells Cally that the alarms are ringing. She is visibly nervous. Eventually Cally is overpowered and knocked out. The crew teleport aboard Liberator. All Gan says is that he hasn't seen her. Yet Blake had paired Gan with Cally. Gan plays the same trick again with Jenna in Deliverance. What a bastard.

Or that Jenna *saw* their discarded handcuffs in Bounty and

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said nothing???

BECAUSE SHE WAS ONLY **PRETENDING** TO BE ON TARVIN'S SIDE. Next time watch the episode.

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And that's just the ones I can come up with now.

Obviously the programme is a lot brighter than you give it credit for. Don't do that again, eh?

Jenny

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