From: ekho@cybernet.cse.fau.edu (amanda rothman)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.tv
Subject: Re: B7: Orbit (SPOILERS) (was "Yet Another Blake's 7 Question")
Summary: Total agreement!! Hurrah! ;)
Keywords: Orbit, Avon, Vila, Blakes 7
Date: 7 Sep 92 02:36:52 GMT
Organization: Cybernet BBS, Boca Raton, Florida

ramsey@cua.edu (Betsy Ramsey) writes:

> In article <1992Sep4.183029.23586@u.washington.edu>, Sandra Hereld
> <rhiann@milton.u.washington.edu> writes:
> 
> >I just watched Orbit, and I am confused - sick and twisted as Avon is
> >definitely becoming, how could he possibly say that to Vila, and why
> >didn't Vila kill him since he did say it.  I just can't make sense of
> >it!
> 
> I think he said it because Vila pushed him into it.  Avon was prepared
> to say nothing about the incident, but Vila kept pressing the issue.
> 
> I've often wondered why Vila approached it in that manner.  What was
> he hoping for?  A public apology?  A public acknowledgement of what
> happened?  Unlikely to come from Avon, the man who unapologetically
> views self-interest as one of his great strengths.
> 
> To be fair to Avon, it was Vila who said he felt safe with Avon; Avon
> never said Vila was safe with him.  After four years, Vila should have
> known that it's very dangerous to stand between Avon and the only way
> out of a life-and-death situation.  You're safe with Avon as long as
> you're behind him.  Also to Avon's credit, it wasn't he who thought of
> Vila as a solution to the problem, it was Orac.
> 
> To Vila's credit, he did immediately recognize the danger he was in,
> and he did the only thing he could under the circumstances: get as far
> out of Avon's way as possible.
> 
> I'm one of those people who believes that Avon's heart wasn't in the
> search.  The shuttle was tiny.  There was really only one place for
> Vila to be hiding.  For all his skulking about in the hold, Avon
> wasn't actually doing much of a job of searching, as he should have
> been given the precious little time remaining to him.  If he was
> hoping to lure Vila out by words alone, he would have had to sound a
> lot more convincing than he did.  If he'd talked to me in that tone, I
> would have run 5 million spacials in the opposite direction.  His tone
> of voice changed immediately when he discovered the true cause of the
> problem.  I think that Avon was trapped between his instinct for
> survival, which is very strong, and his heart, in which he holds Vila
> close.  What he didn't do was take the extra few seconds to think, and
> realize that there must be another answer.
> 
> As to why Vila didn't kill Avon, that's not in Vila's nature.  On the
> other hand, we didn't see any warm moments between the two of them
> (with the possible exception of Vila's initial realization "You think
> you've found Blake") after that, and the Warlord alliance must have
> taken a fairly long amount of time to put together (weeks at least,
> more likely months).  I think it can be inferred that the incident
> aboard Egorian's shuttle did a significant amount of damage to their
> relationship.
> 
> -------
>    Betsy Ramsey, The Catholic University of America, Washington, DC
>             Internet: ramsey@cua.edu,  Bitnet: ramsey@cua
> 		 Opinions expressed here are my own.