Blakes7 September 2001

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56 participants
222 discussions

Fwd: [B7L] decentering morality
by Sally Manton 29 Sep '01

29 Sep '01

Leia wrote: <I love that bit. Especially as I've never quite been able to figure out if Vila was just being Vila and talking rubbish or if he really considered it.> Vila's own safety is at stake. Don't know if at this stage he'd be up to doing it himself, but he'd support anyone else doing it. _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp

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decentering morality
by Leia Fee 29 Sep '01

29 Sep '01

Harriet wrote >Jenna: He [Avon] fixes the log, the crew dump us [out of the airlock], >pocket the profit, and set him free. >Vila: That's immoral. The cold-hearted murdering -- let's kill him now >before he can do it. I love that bit. Especially as I've never quite been able to figure out if Vila was just being Vila and talking rubbish or if he really considered it. Leia

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RE: RE: Re: Interpretation (was Re: [B7L] Re: decentring morality)
by jacquispeel＠netscape.net 29 Sep '01

29 Sep '01

"R. L. Stroud" <rstroud(a)qwest.net> wrote: >Jacqui writes: >> I sometimes see Assassin as having 'sexist' overtones - >> Servalan's remark about simpering Piri being a credit to the >> female sex (rearranging quote), & there is a remark by Neebrox etc > >This might be a case of me seeing what I wanted to see, but I always took >Servalan's remark to mean that she knew Piri's true character and admired >her tactic of using the men's chivalrous and sexist nature against them. >Although now that I think about it, Servalan needn't be a feminist, after >all, most historian feel Elizabeth I wasn't either. > >rs > I meant in the sense that eg Powerplay 'shows' what one logical outcome of the gender war might be - but with Assassain the remarks are throwaway lines - which is perhaps what sexism etc is about. (and as was said a while back B7 does have a 'good record' for its time in treating women of the professional classes as equal to men - including eg Jenna as professional smuggler.) 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] decentring morality
by jacquispeel＠netscape.net 29 Sep '01

29 Sep '01

"Marian de Haan" <mariandehaan(a)chello.nl> wrote: >Carol wrote: >>Here's an interesting bit--the description of Arlen: >>"She is in her late teens - a thin harsh girl, fierce and ready to kill." >>Later we learn this *teen* is a Federation *officer*. Which goes along >with my theory that military officers were put through an accelerated >learning process that had them graduating from FSA before students in our >era would have begun university.< > >Or else they can buy their rank (thanks to family connections?) without >having to go through the training. > >>Re the eye injury/reference to Travis in the script: Chris knew Blake was >going to die at Avon's hands. And he was still expecting a fifth season >when he wrote this. He might have been setting it up so that Avon wouldn't >look so dastardly for killing Blake. He might have wanted Blake to appear >to have followed Travis' path of fanaticism. In word and deed Blake is >often shown to be more fanatical than rational in the episode. And that >leads to monumental failure. Travis' final act was an attempt to wipe out >the human race. Blake's final act is to wipe out his Gauda Prime base and >followers. And Avon is the man who rid the series of two "fanatics" who >were dangerous to others. < > >Considering that Boucher was responsible for Blake's darker side, this makes >sense. > >Thanks for sharing these details of the rehearsal script with us, Carol. > >Marian > And (as I noticed on a previous occasion) in Star One Avon stands briefly across Travis 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] decentring morality
by Marian de Haan 28 Sep '01

28 Sep '01

Carol wrote: >Here's an interesting bit--the description of Arlen: >"She is in her late teens - a thin harsh girl, fierce and ready to kill." >Later we learn this *teen* is a Federation *officer*. Which goes along with my theory that military officers were put through an accelerated learning process that had them graduating from FSA before students in our era would have begun university.< Or else they can buy their rank (thanks to family connections?) without having to go through the training. >Re the eye injury/reference to Travis in the script: Chris knew Blake was going to die at Avon's hands. And he was still expecting a fifth season when he wrote this. He might have been setting it up so that Avon wouldn't look so dastardly for killing Blake. He might have wanted Blake to appear to have followed Travis' path of fanaticism. In word and deed Blake is often shown to be more fanatical than rational in the episode. And that leads to monumental failure. Travis' final act was an attempt to wipe out the human race. Blake's final act is to wipe out his Gauda Prime base and followers. And Avon is the man who rid the series of two "fanatics" who were dangerous to others. < Considering that Boucher was responsible for Blake's darker side, this makes sense. Thanks for sharing these details of the rehearsal script with us, Carol. Marian

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Re: [B7L] decentring morality
by Natasa Tucev 28 Sep '01

28 Sep '01

Alison wrote: >I was thinking of the elegance and symmetry of the structure of B7, how >situations are set up, and then inverted. Let me just take one, >comparatively minor example, which is Jenna being invited to take the >Liberator and run, at the start of her journey (Cygnus Alpha) and at the end >of it (Star One), and refusing each time, with that refusal having a >different meaning. If that was the only example it wouldn't exactly tip the >scales, but we can uncover so many of a similar kind, in each character's >arc and in the multiple arcs of the different stories and the joint story. A few more examples of come to mind: -Gan saying he's willing to die for others in 'Bounty' - and actually dying that way in 'Pressure Point'; - Jenna and Blake sharing a joke about the self-destruct button in 'Cygnus Alpha' - and Blake talking about Jenna's death in the final episode; - the scene in which Avon points his gun at Blake in 'Cygnus Alpha', and Blake walks towards him unarmed, but certain that Avon won't fire - and that same scene echoed in 'Blake'. N.

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Jacqueline Pearce in Leeds
by Harriet Monkhouse 28 Sep '01

28 Sep '01

I gather Jacqueline Pearce is currently appearing in Priestley's Dangerous Corner at the West Yorkshire Playhouse - the Telegraph's review actually reminded readers that she was "Servelan [sic] from Blake's 7". -- Harriet Jarriere: "That's brilliant, Commander!" - Gambit

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Re: [B7L] decentring morality
by Natasa Tucev 28 Sep '01

28 Sep '01

Neil wrote: >I wouldn't be so sure of asserting that its irrational animosity is all that >unconscious. I haven't read Crichton's original novel (Eaters of the Dead), >but I gather he and director John 'Die Hard' McTiernan had a major bust-up >during filming and McTiernan won. The only Crichton novel I've read was >Jurassic Park, and that contained several sharp digs at the kind of attitude >embodied in 13W. Yes, I had quite a different impression while watching Jurassic Park (I haven't read the book). There is, for instance, the curious fact that practically everybody ends up with a leg injury - starting with the grandad who uses a walking stick from the start. What does it suggest, the warning that the society is moving in a wrong direction? Is it the same in the novel? N.

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Re: [B7L] Re: decentring morality
by Natasa Tucev 28 Sep '01

28 Sep '01

Alison quoted: >"The force of words being too weak to hold men to the performance of their >covenants, there are in man's nature but two imaginable helps to strengthen >it. And those are either a fear of the consequence of breaking their word, >or a glory or pride in appearing not to need to break it. This latter is a >generosity too rarely found to be presumed on, especially in the pursuers of >wealth, command, or sensual pleasure, which are the greatest part of >mankind. ... That which gives to human actions the relish of justice is a >certain nobleness or gallantness of courage, rarely found, by which a man >scorns to be beholding for the contentment of his life to fraud, or breach >of promise." This is similar to the notion of morality expressed in Conrad's 'Heart of Darkness', which I also find relevant to B7. Marlow says to the people listening to his story, 'It's easy for you to be moral - you have the butcher, the police and the asylum.' Within civilized world, most people don't have to kill anyone for food, they don't dare commit a crime or do anything deviant because they're afraid they might end up in jail or mental institution. But these are all *outer* restraints; on a steamer floating down Congo, they do not exist, and the only restraint which prevents man from going bad is found (or not found) within. In Marlow's eyes, the cannibals aboard the steamer have more inner restraint than the ivory traders - although their rations of hippo meat have gone rotten, they won't kill and eat the white men on board because they've made a deal with them. I think the idea of 'inner restraint' is applicable to B7 as well. Space is a kind of futuristic 'Wild West' or wild Africa, where societal laws cease to function (and in B7 they were unjust anyway) and the only thing which prevents a person from commiting a crime is his own inner maxim of humanity, compassion and morality. Blake often functions as an externalization of that maxim, preventing the others from gratifying their baser urges. Perhaps it's even possible to view the original crew as different aspects of one single personality - with Gan as the body, Avon as the intellect, Vila as the basic self-preservation instinct (for food, drink, sleep, safety), the two women as the feminine aspect of the psyche (emotions, intuition, sensuality), and Blake as the person's ethic principle. Of course, it's just for the sake of mental excercise - I prefer to see them as separate, complex characters that they really are. N.

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RE: borrowed quotes was [B7L] decentring morality
by jacquispeel＠netscape.net 28 Sep '01

28 Sep '01

"Sally Manton" <smanton(a)hotmail.com> wrote: >Neil wrote: ><I couldn't help but notice Eli Wallach's line, "Sooner or later, you must >answer for every good deed." Presumably this is where Chris Boucher got >Avon's "No good deed goes unpunished" in Rescue. Does anyone know which >other movies he lifted quotes from?> > >"I should stick to action, Blake. Thats what youre good at." - isn't that >paraphrased from somewhere (could be Butch Cassidy, but I'm not sure). > And wasn't the exchange from 'Orac' 'Good shot' 'I was aiming at his head' borrowed from some western (I think at PD's request) 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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Blakes7 September 2001