From: chevron@access.digex.com (chevron)
Subject: B7 Discussion - A Lurker Catches Up . . . *SPOILERS* (long)
Keywords:  Blake's 7, B7, discussion 
Organization: Express Access Public Access UNIX, Greenbelt, Maryland USA
Date: Thu, 1 Oct 1992 12:36:40 GMT

Hello All!

Trying times at work, school, and home had forced me into
the role of a lurker for the past several months.  This is
my stab at catching up on the last month's fascinating B7
discussion . . .


Back on 9/2, Baylor mentioned  . . .

>I believe it's general consensus (I know it's my opinion) that
>towards the end of the last season, Avon was going insane from the
>stress. Some examples: He deliberately killed the scientist who
>helped install the drive on Scorpio AND THEN APPEARED TO 
>FORGET SHE EXISTED. He tried to kill Vila (Ok, so that's not too
>strange, but he was sure acting funny while searching the
>shuttle).  He laughed when Servalan bested him in "Black Gold"
>(right title?)"

I saw a fair amount of subsequent discussion on the "insane Avon"
premise, and also the "Orbit" issue, I saw no one discuss the
death of Dr. Plaxton.  I have to come to Avon's defense on this
one.  Dr. P. had told Avon that she would be finished the 
connections in a certain time.  She exceeded this time.  He 
warned her to hurry up several times.  If he had not set the
drive to engage immediately, all of them, not just Dr. P., would
have been killed.  They barely outran the plasma bolts as it was.
Avon made a hard decision - the kind he was capable of making - 
but not because he deliberately wanted to kill her.  Above all,
Avon is a logical and practical man.  Killing someone as valuable
as Dr. P. without reason would make no sense.  I believe his
statement of "Who?" is a reflection of his frustration at the
situation, not that he forgot about her.  Avon has a very long
memory - as Shrinker found out.

For my two cents on the "insane Avon" issue . . .  I don't think
Avon was ever insane.  He was under a hell of a lot of stress at
times, and I believe this showed at times (like his laugh in
"Gold"), but this does not make him insane.  The most telling
argument against the insanity concept for me is how clear and 
lucid he was in "Warlord" and in the beginning of "Blake".  
He was planning, strategising and being a regular diplomat, trying
to save humanity from Fed oppression - quite a stretch from our
little misanthrope of the early series.  He did a number of things
that would make a white-hat Blake-type shudder, including
hunting Vila on the shuttle, but he acted consistently within the
characterization which had been established for him (IMHO).

Speaking of hunting Vila . . .  People, to my way of thinking,
anyway, make much too much of this scene.  It may have surprised
the viewers, but I think Vila himself would have expected it -
case in point - why did he hide??  Vila _knew_, and always had
known, that if anyone or anything (with the possible exceptions
of Blake and Anna, the two people Avon seemed most attached to)
got between Avon and Avon's survival, that person or thing was
likely to be eliminated.  Vila was another very practical man.
I think he was smart enough to realize and accept this - it is
why he hid.  I'm not saying he had to like it, but he would
accept it.  His, "It's a trip I won't forget", expresses his
hurt and anger over the incident.  Avon's reply, delivered with
very strong eye contact between the two of them, serves to confirm
what Vila already knows.  Avon offers no apologies for who and
what he is.  Vila must either accept him or not.  I believe Vila
would choose to accept him.  I think Vila had a very big and
very understanding human heart.  I think Vila was bound to Avon
in a way similar to how Avon was bound to Blake.  He would follow
Avon to Hell and beyond in loyalty and in hope.  Even if he found
his own bolthole, Vila would not leave Avon anymore than Avon was
able to leave Blake.  The last of the original 7 would stick
together.


Continuing on the B7 discussion timeline . . .
Back on 09/04, Lorna and Ekho asked about B7 bloopers . . .

At Visions '91, in Chicago last year, I had the good fortune
to see a B7 blooper reel.  Compared with the Trek reels, it
is really quite sparse.  There is one scene in which Travis I
is sitting in Servy's office and reaches to pick up his little
communicator cylinder out of its holder.  For some reason, the
cylinder had no intention of cooperating that day, and take 
after take is run with his grabbing the cylinder and it 
flying everywhere - very funny.  Most of the bloopers seemed
to involve more minor characters.  Dang!  I would have really
gone for a few Avon or Blake bloopers.

At the same con Paul Darrow told an interesting story about
B7 encounters with the real world.  During the filming of
"Aftermath", he hurt his ankle and had to be taken to 
the hospital - in costume, of course.  Apparently it was the
day for cast injuries, and several other people ended up in the
same hospital, also in costume, and no one bothered to tell the
poor people in white what was going on.  They were apparently 
enjoying being weird.


Back on 09/08 . . .
Ekho was touting the virtues of fanzines . . .

Yes. YES. _YES_!  Long live the ZINE and those who write
the stuff.  What a great way to let out a little creativity
and keep your heroes alive at the same time.  I know some
will debate this point, but, I'm all for 'em!


Back  on 09/08 . . .
John was denouncing the existence of "relationships" among
our main characters . . .
Tsk, Tsk, John.  You know this is the sort of thing that
sets us romantics off like those little blue mobile
bombs of Dayna's  :-)  .  You said :

>You're speaking as though they [Vila and Avon] had had a
>relationship to begin with.  Avon has never found himself to be
>attached to *any* of the B7 crew, with the exception of *perhaps*
>Blake himself. I believe he cared more for Servalan than he did
>any of his fellow crewmembers. He saw them only as useful tools
>in their own speciality and as a means to an eventual end. Avon
>was constantly and consistently surprised when he discovered that
>the others were always looking out for him and trusting him,
>while he returned none of their feelings.

You are certainly entitled to your view, but let me ask a few
questions - what about Vila and Avon in "Gambit"?  They
certainly seemed pretty friendly then.  How about in "City
at the Edge of the World" where Avon is threatening Tarrant for
frightening Vila, and busily rigging tracking mechanisms to keep
an eye on him, and speaking affectionately of him when he returns? 
How about "Rumours of Death" and "Volcano" where Vila is expressing
obvious concern and solicitude for Avon, and Avon is accepting it,
when he usually accepts no one?

Cared for Servalan?  Oh, _PA_LEASE_  :-).  He was intrigued by her,
tempted by her, even attracted to her, but he did not _care_ for
her.  I can't recall one scene where he expresses the slightest bit
of tenderness for her as he did for Blake, Vila, Cally or Anna.  He
tried to kill her on numerous occasions, and only Blake stopped him
(blasted good guy that Blake was).  How can you care for someone
who says things about you like, "Bring me his corpse!" ("Warlord").

I personally can not believe that Avon returned none of the other's
feelings for him.  I believe there is a lot we don't see - a lot
which is suggested to us by the other's actions.  Cally was a nice
lady and would have been nice to just about any one.  Dayna could
be said to have a schoolgirl crush on Avon.  Vila could be acting
out of loyalty to Blake.  But what about Tarrant?  Why should 
Tarrant stay with and support Avon?  Tarrant could have killed
Avon - he was capable of such killing, we saw it in "Powerplay".
There would have been times when Avon left his back unguarded -
he had to sleep, however briefly, sometime.  But Tarrant follows
Avon, as do the others.  They were intelligent adults, but they
chose to stay with Avon.  They didn't stay because he kept them
safe - he got them into quite a lot of danger.  But still they
stayed?  Why?  I think that they, like many of the fans, chose
to see the good in Avon.  They chose to try to nurture it, and
found that it was real.  We see Avon being mostly gruff, but gentle
on occasion.  We see the others steadfastly loyal to him.  Logic
suggests that there is a reason for that loyalty - a reason based
on Avon himself - even if the series does not dwell on it.  If
there weren't something to be loyal to, those intelligent,
independent and resourceful other adults would have found a 
better situation elsewhere.

I like Ekho's view even better:

>I am one of those insufferable soft-hearted sods who are of the
>opinion that Avon _did_ care somewhat for his companions in misery
>(within reason, of course! ;)  Why else would he have stayed with
>them at all after finding Orac?  He could have jumped ship at any
>time with the super computer and lived in the lap of luxury on
>some (hopefully) moderately 
>civilized planet.

Good point!  They man who only ever wanted the _Liberator_ can
think of nothing but Blake and Blake's "rabble" and his lost
companions once he has it.  In an almost biblical temptation
scene, Servy offers him sex, wealth and unimaginable power - and
he turns her down.  You could argue that he would have been
committing suicide to trust Servy, and he certainly thought so. 
But he could have had the wealth and power (and presumably gotten
the sex from another source ;-) ) on his own with Orac and
_Liberator_ under his control.  But what does he do??  The man
who trusts no one and protests to despise his fellow creatures
runs off immediately to find the remnant of Blake's crew and
pursue Blake's rebellion.  I think the others (Vila, Cally,
Dayna, Tarrant) respected this in him as well.


Ekho also said:

>As to trusting the crew or anyone else, trust must be earned, not 
>given, according to Avon's philosophy.  But a pretty good way to
>begin earning that trust is to show him that he is trusted by you. 
>The crew had very good instincts, did they not? :)

BINGO!!


And continuing on, 09/15 saw Sandy said . . .

>Final, shminal.  I have read literally hundreds of "fifth season"
>B7 fan stories. In space (or fandom) death is never final...
>(evil cackeling laugh) Here's one example:
>In 26 episodes, Blake always calls him A-von.  In "Blake", he
>calls him a-VON.

And I thought I had an ear/eye for detail!  Well done Sandy.



Kathryn had some more to say on the Avon-Vila relationship
on 09/13 . . .

>Let's say this much: they were comfortable with each other.  They
>knew what the other one was like, and could rely on them being
>themselves.
>Let's face it - could you ever see Avon letting himself be 'nice'
>to anybody?  And I don't mean that because I think Avon was nasty,
>I mean that because I think Avon could not let himself be
>vulnerable.  He paid a big enough price those times when he did!

Kathryn brings up a good point about Avon's famous "walls" of
isolation.  However, to the people who knew him (Vila, Cally,
Blake) these walls were thick, but transparent.  They had a hard
time reaching in to him, but they could see who and what he was.
This relates back to what I mentioned above - there has to be a
reason why the crew remained loyal, other than just stupidity
and blindness on their parts.  Avon "protested too much", and I
think this was clear to all of them.


On 09/29, Dave told us in verse of his decision to
abandon B7 . . .

>But the episode about the crazed mutant guardians
>Of the Space Capsule
>Was just too stupid
>For words.
>The director must be an Idiot
>Or a civil servant.

Harsh, but obviously from the heart, Dave :-)  .

Actually, "Time Squad" has some favorite scenes in it for me.
We get one of the very first Avon "technobabble" soliloquies
in this episode, when Avon is investigating the capsule.  I
just go crazy when Avon talks technical  :-)  .  And how about
the early "Zen goes nite-nite during critical situation" plot
device?  Leaving Avon to rescue his fearless leader Blake.
What about the very tense scene between Avon and Jenna when
the capsule is recovered?  I'll admit, the aliens were a little
much, but there were some good scenes, nevertheless.

Even the all time most appalling episode (IMHO, of course), 
"Dawn of the Gods", has redeeming scenes - Tarrant holding
up a finger and announcing it is for pushing computer buttons,
not for pushing a pencil.  And "Animals" has that wonderful
Paul Darrow goof where Avon goes busting into Justin's lab,
trips over a chair, slides and just manages to keep his 
balance.


Sandy added fuel to the fire . . .

>Also, it is good to go back and watch TOS episodes and realize
>that bad BBC effects weren't *that* much worse than bad hollywood
>effects. 

Ah yes, those wonderful special effects . . .  My favorite is
what I refer to as _Liberator_'s "clutch".  Occasionally in the
outside model shots of the _L_ when it is starting into motion,
you will see it drift back first and then go forward.  Whenever
this happens, I think, "Oops, Jenna just slipped the clutch again."
Anyone else notice this?  I can look up the exact episode, can't
remember offhand.  And how about those lovely space wires holding
our beloved spacecraft securely in the firmament?

I get an occasional yuck from the SFX, but for the most part, I
think they are just fine.  Because, after all, what makes B7
good (IMHO) is the strength of the characterizations.  And the
quality of the people on the show far and away makes up for the
occasional slipped clutch.

Well, now.  I seem to have caught up with the last month's
discussion.  Sorry for the informality of the quoting mechanism,
but I figure a lot of those messages have been dumped from all
your respective disk storage anyway.  If anyone wants a specific
reference to anything I quoted, just ask and I'll look it up
for you.

I'm posting this to rec.arts.sf.tv only, as it seems the B7
discussion has moved there from r.a.tv.uk, where I was
posting when forced into lurkerdom.  Anyone want to
enlighten me as to how this happened?  Have to fight
thru all the Quantum Leap stuff here in r.a.sf.tv.  Not
that I can't live with it or anything, just curious.

Now to get to work on some new original postings of my own . . .
Yeah!!  I have net.play.time again!!

Take care and have a great week . . .

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