Blakes7 August 2001

blakes7@lists.lysator.liu.se

51 participants
264 discussions

RE: Re: [B7L] Orac and pronouns
by jacquispeel＠netscape.net 15 Aug '01

15 Aug '01

Harriet Monkhouse <hflysator(a)jarriere.demon.co.uk> wrote: >Iain replied to me: >>> I really think eponym is a fairly large blanket. >> >>No, that's 'duvet'. Eponym is something quite different. > >I'm a bit worried if you can't distinguish sheep from geese. >-- >Harriet > >"Would you like me to go and stick my head in a bucket of water? I've gotone ready." - Marvin, HHGTTG My original comment was that as a specific word had been created for 'names from places' why not 'names from things/ideas etc' - these might be 'useful words' Jacqui __________________________________________________________________ Your favorite stores, helpful shopping tools and great gift ideas. Experience the convenience of buying online with Shop@Netscape! http://shopnow.netscape.com/ Get your own FREE, personal Netscape Mail account today at http://webmail.netscape.com/

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RE: Re: [B7L] The view from the top
by jacquispeel＠netscape.net 15 Aug '01

15 Aug '01

Harriet Monkhouse <hflysator(a)jarriere.demon.co.uk> wrote: >Andrew wrote: >>Okay, so why is it that if Space Command is a rotating space station (or >>series of stations, as has been suggested), the view out of Servalan's >>window is always static? > >They found that the rotating view made people (or at any rate, Servalan) >space sick. So what you see isn't really a window at all - it's a >screen which always projects the same sector of the sky outside. >-- >Harriet > Or - it is the view from her home planet/a prediction from Orac so she knows where not to go Jacqui __________________________________________________________________ Your favorite stores, helpful shopping tools and great gift ideas. Experience the convenience of buying online with Shop@Netscape! http://shopnow.netscape.com/ Get your own FREE, personal Netscape Mail account today at http://webmail.netscape.com/

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Re: The view from the top
by jacquispeel＠netscape.net 15 Aug '01

15 Aug '01

Iain Coleman <ijc(a)bas.ac.uk> wrote: > > >On Wed, 15 Aug 2001, Alison Page wrote: > >> The Liberator appears to have artificial gravity, but that could be Alta >> technology. The pursuit ships seem to have it too, and they are Federation. >> The scientific research station (forget name) in 'Breakdown' doesn't spin >> does it? I'm blanking out on Space Command. Are we sure it spins? > >It either spins, or is consistently filmed from a rotating camera. > >> >> I think that if you have artificial gravity you can get by with much lower >> tech in respect of everything else that you do. > >I don't understand what you mean by that. > >Iain > Perhaps the reason why Avon can shove the bit of neutron star in Shuttle the last foot or so is that the artificial gravity 'fades out' near the door - the fragment of star then just moves under momentum (and how was the bit of neutron star obtained in the first place - slightly difficult to 'mine' I would imagine) Jacqui __________________________________________________________________ Your favorite stores, helpful shopping tools and great gift ideas. Experience the convenience of buying online with Shop@Netscape! http://shopnow.netscape.com/ Get your own FREE, personal Netscape Mail account today at http://webmail.netscape.com/

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Re: [B7L] Re: Location, Location, Location
by Marian de Haan 15 Aug '01

15 Aug '01

Betty wrote: >Avon as literal bastard is an idea you see a lot in fanfic, and it seems like a pretty plausible one to me. The man obviously has a chip on his shoulder that's been there for a very long time, and having grown up under some kind of social stigma, or in a disadvantaged social position due to something like illegitimacy could certainly explain it.< Only if illigitimacy causes a social stigma or disadvantage in the Federation. We have no canonical evidence for or against that, but considering the tolerant attitude to unmarried couples, I would assume that illigitimicy doesn't carry the stigma it did until recently in our Western societies. Marian

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The Human Factor
by Judith Proctor 15 Aug '01

15 Aug '01

I listened to part two of Invasion of the Daleks last night - it's called 'the Human Factor' It's got a lot going for it, and has some particular resonances for B7 fans. It's raising serious questions: Is collaboration with an enemy justified if it saves lives? What price are you willing to pay to for a revolution to succeed? This story does't duck the issues, it's facing them head on. The joy of the 4 CD format is that it's allowing the story to go at its own pace, rather than trying to pack everything into four half-hour episodes. It allows for slower pacing and for more time to examine the issues. Having said that, there's also plenty of action, planetary invasions, and occasional humour (and one minor character who totally fails to work for me), but for me, the real appeal of this series (apart from Gareth) is the questions it is starting to raise. Sometimes fiction allows us to ask the questions that are almost too sensitive to raise in real life. Does anyone remember 'The Bridge over the River Kwai'? It's many many years since I saw it, but some related issues are surfacing here. Where does the line lie between survival and collaboration, between hope and despair? What's right, what's wrong? If you've argued long and hard with regard to whether Blake was right to want to destroy Star One, then you may well find this CD interesting (but don't buy it on it's own, you need 'Invasion of the Daleks' as well as that starts the story and leads to the situation in the second CD), but I'd recommend it as a good story in any case. It's ironically entertaining to hear Gareth's character being the one to express doubts about the price being paid for possible feeedom in The Human Factor. Kalendorf (Gareth) is a bit of a dark horse and I have one or two personal speculations about what he may do in the final CD. Right now, he wants to defeat the daleks by any means possible, but his entire back history is one of hatred for the Earth Alliance (think of him as a man bred to warfare). What will he do if Earth Alliance finally defeats the daleks? I enjoyed the first CD, but feel this is the better of the two. Copies for sale on http://www.hermit.org/Blakes7 Judith PS. The weakest Big Finish CD of those I've tried so far is 'The Sirens of Time'. It's well acted and has 3 doctors, but when the plot was finally resolved at the end, I thought the solution lacked conviction and have no desire to listen to that one again. Some of the others, I know I will come back to. -- HTTP://WWW.HERMIT.ORG/bLAKES7 - Fanzines for Blake's 7, B7 Filk songs, pictures, news, Conventions past and present, Blake's 7 fan clubs, Gareth Thomas, etc. (also non-Blake's 7 zines at http://www.knightwriter.org ) Redemption '03 21-23 Feb 2003 http://www.smof.com/redemption/

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Re: The view from the top
by Alison Page 15 Aug '01

15 Aug '01

Andrew >>Okay, so why is it that if Space Command is a rotating space station (or series of stations, as has been suggested), the view out of Servalan's window is always static? Oh, this is an apposite question to me, because I am just wrestling with the same issue in a story I am writing (non B7). In this there are two human cultures in space, one of which has artificial gravity, and the other does not. There are a lot of knock-on effects. The Liberator appears to have artificial gravity, but that could be Alta technology. The pursuit ships seem to have it too, and they are Federation. The scientific research station (forget name) in 'Breakdown' doesn't spin does it? I'm blanking out on Space Command. Are we sure it spins? I think that if you have artificial gravity you can get by with much lower tech in respect of everything else that you do. Also you can use artificial gravity in a kind of hand-waving way to get round various scientific and logical anomalies, on the basis that you can prove anything once you have believed one impossible thing before breakfast. So I'd always go for space-and-time warping and artificial gravity as one big package that lets you close your eyes to a lot of the illogical plot stuff in B7. Alison ********************************************************************** This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. If you have received this email in error please notify the system manager. This footnote also confirms that this email message has been swept by MIMEsweeper for the presence of computer viruses. www.mimesweeper.com **********************************************************************

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TV guide
by Alison Page 15 Aug '01

15 Aug '01

Someone on a Farscape list has shared the front cover of a magazine called 'TV Guide - Ultimate cable' for this week. It seems to have a special on 'SF's sexiest guys'. Tagline 'Meet the heavenly hunks who battle evil aliens and demons - and look great at the same time!' I think it must be American because they call autumn 'fall'. Anybody seen inside this mag? Do the B7 gang get a mention? Alison ********************************************************************** This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. If you have received this email in error please notify the system manager. This footnote also confirms that this email message has been swept by MIMEsweeper for the presence of computer viruses. www.mimesweeper.com **********************************************************************

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The view from the top
by Andrew Williams 15 Aug '01

15 Aug '01

Okay, so why is it that if Space Command is a rotating space station (or series of stations, as has been suggested), the view out of Servalan's window is always static? Andrew. - - - - "In the Iran-Iraq war, Iran has issued a statement accusing Iraq over Irans' denial of Iraqs' allegation that Iran has lied about Iraqi planes attacking Irani positions on Iraqi territory occupied by Iran. Experts on both sides are studying the statement." - Max Headroom - - - -

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Crusades of Blake: some thoughts (not nearly as long)
by Sally Manton 15 Aug '01

15 Aug '01

I enjoyed this a lot, Natasa (of course, talking about Fearless Leader is so difficult for me as well :-)) A lot of it's so much better than frivolous moi could manage, but just a few words about: < In 'Fellow Feeling', Blake replies to Vila that the injustice done to him is in a way universal. He draws an analogy between altering historical records and erasing the memories of one's personal past. He recalls, for instance, a group of Federation officials present at Servalan's inauguration, who later became undesirables and were erased from the vistapes showing this event. 'They took the records and wiped out whole lives, Vila... like they wiped out whole lives in my mind, even my own. They changed you - they erased me... Are you so surprised I want to save others from that?' Mind manipulation, on a larger scale, parallels the Federation's manipulation of truth and history.> Thank you sooo much - this last sentence *does* express what I was trying to put into that little scene :-) I have to admit, that bit of the story (which, for everyone else, is basically a shameless hurt-comfort born of my enthusiasm for what VftP *isn't*) was inspired by a book I'd just bought about how repressive regimes 'edited' non-persons out of the public eye, with heaps of fascinating photos showing the care with these people were cut or airbrushed out of official existence - it got grimly farcical in some cases (30s-40s Russia, in particular) where more and more ex-comrades were deleted until there were more ex's than comrades and heroic attempts were made to fill the spaces (because the PWBs still wanted the photos of the *not*-yet-exs). I can so clearly see the Federation doing things like this - in fact, the attempt to turn Blake into a non-person *is* there, if very sketchily handled (mind you, having broadcast his unknowing recantation far and wide, they were in trouble from the start :-)) and there is also the indication that the same was tried with Servalan in S4 ... perhaps that links into the reason no one recognised her. Maybe people really did *make* themselves forget her to order, erase the ex-President from their consciousness as she was erased from public records (as people in Nazi Germany learned to believe - to *genuinely* believe - to order). But they had to tear Blake's brain apart to make him do it. And on someone else's story (we all love our own babies best, I know) :-) <Blake's not a survivor, Vila surmises in the same story. 'Avon and I are survivors. We just keep on going. Blake's exactly the sort to up and die and leave everyone else with too much to think about.'> I did *love* that last sentence from the moment I read it - the bit about leaving everyone with too much to think about *did* strike me as both perfect Blake and perfect Vila. But would people agree that Blake *isn't* a survivor? When you look at the bald facts of the matter, he keeps managing to come back after repeated mental and physical savaging that defy imagination. Maybe parts of his soul get tattered in the process (I do think there's a clear increase in the stress and exhaustion you can feel in him after VftP, and - given that and his injury at Travis's hand - am of the opinion that after Star One he may have have suffered a complete physical and spiritual collapse for a while). Then pulled himself back together *yet again* and kept going ... all the way to Gauda Prime. _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp

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Orac and pronouns
by jacquispeel＠netscape.net 15 Aug '01

15 Aug '01

This is going back a few days, but Ensor uses 'he' of Orac in the eponymous episode, as does Avon in the same episode. I suppose it could also be argued that it is a 'human tendency' to refer to 'that using a male/female' voice by the appropriate gender. (nb. if eponym is for 'named after/derived from' a person, toponym for a place, what is the word for 'things', ideas etc: eg the word 'bolshie' derives from 'Bolshevik') __________________________________________________________________ Your favorite stores, helpful shopping tools and great gift ideas. Experience the convenience of buying online with Shop@Netscape! http://shopnow.netscape.com/ Get your own FREE, personal Netscape Mail account today at http://webmail.netscape.com/

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Blakes7 August 2001