From: dejordy@faxon.com (Dorian)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.tv
Subject: B7 Character Analysis
Keywords: Blakes 7, Blake, Avon
Date: 13 Nov 92 01:16:03 GMT
Article-I.D.: netcon.1992Nov13.011603.3838
Organization: The Catholic University of America

[Dorian sent this message to the BLAKE7 mailing list today.  I am cross-
posting it here with permission.  --Betsy Ramsey]

Hello there.

I'm new to this list and figure a brief history is in order.  I am
relatively new to Blakes 7 but admit to being, at least temporarily,
obsessed.  I have, thanks to a good friend, all the episodes on tape and
try to watch at least two or three episodes a day.  I love this show.  Why?
Because of the characters.  Since we are discussing characters presently,
I'd like to offer my sentiments about the characters.  I'll do the big two
here and more later.

Roj Blake.

Even taking him off the show couldn't remove his presence.  During late
third and most of the fourth season his name is mentioned at least once
every two or three episodes.  Although Avon makes light of this, it is Avon
himself that keeps Blake's mission alive during the fourth season.  So, at
least Blake's mission is always in the fore-front of the show and it is
clear that he is never far from Avon's thoughts.

In fact, it is probably during the third and fourth seasons that we can
become the most attached to Blake.  Absence, as they say, makes the heart
grow fonder.  During the first season he's just a little too altruistic and
forgiving.  Avon in particular treats Blake terribly all during the first
season.  And Blake lets him get away with it!  About the best thing we can
say about Blake during the first season is that he is charismatic.

In the second season he is just a bit obsessed with his mission.  Being an
idealist, that's his right.  And, my theory is that it is his encounter
with "The System" in "Redemption" that pushes him over the edge.  It seems
as if he saw the fate of the people from those three planets as being the
fate of all the federation if Federation Central Control/Star One follows a
normal evolution.  Since that meant enslaving or dehumanizing all people in
the Federation, it was too much for him to bear, so he went "slightly
mad..."

Kerr Avon.

Clearly the most intriguing character in that he's always full of
paradoxical surprises, although in a cold, rational way we can explain
Avon's actions if we are willing to believe that Avon needs to be needed.
This actually fits in well with the "superiority complex" with which he is
branded, because it's impossible to be superior if there are not others
around to whom you are superior.

Given that assumption, and given that as the driving force behind all of
Avon's actions, his is the character that changes the least, in my opinion,
over the four series.  That's a pretty uncommon view, I would guess.
Nonetheless, everything that Avon does can be tied to his need to a) prove
he is superior and b) keep people who are only slightly inferior to him
around so feed his own ego...  This starts from his pronouncement that
"mine will be the most important job" in Space Fall and goes all the way to
"maybe they won't rely on you for all their information" in Redemption, to
"I don't need any of you" in Terminal (Although Blake/Avon relationship is
worth an entire thesis), to "Is staying alive too difficult for you" in
Blake.  All of these have one common theme, egotism.  And what good is
egotism if you have no one to gloat over.

In fact, it is this need for other people (to prove superiority) that, I
believe, drives Avon to single-handedly rescue everyone else in Horizon.
And, what Avon probably doesn't want to admit is that Blake (at least) is
rewarding to Avon in that Blake is his "equal" and therefore, proving
himself to be superior to Blake is VERY SATISFYING to Avon, and therefore
Avon actually grows fond of feeling that satisfied, and though he'd not
really admit it, he grows fond of Blake as result.

Avon has all the most interesting relationships in the show.  Avon/Soolin,
Avon/Vila, Avon/Orac, Avon/Cally, Avon/Jenna, Avon/Zen, Avon/Servalan,
etc...  It is not his "amazing capacity for reason" that makes him so
interesting, it is his amazing interaction with others...

Anyway, this is enough of a rant and is somewhat inciteful and hopefully
insightful as well.  Glad to have found a list to discuss this show on...

Dorian...