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'tofpa': a review (long)
by Tavia 04 Oct '01

04 Oct '01

Review of 'Trooper Orac's Fantastic Plastic Army', edited by Neil Faulkner 'Trooper Orac's Fantastic Plastic Army' is rather different from Mr Faulkner's previous anthology zines. For a start, at 134 pages -- with ten meaty stories plus assorted shorts and cartoons -- it's exactly the size of 'Stadler Link' and 'Pressure Point' combined (can this be a coincidence?). For seconds, the production values have leaped: gone forever the black-and-white, ink-jet printed, side-stapled, coffee-stained covers in favour of an all-singing, all-dancing (all too literally) colour photomontage. 'tofpa' also contains a more equitable distribution of B7 characters than either of the previous zines, as well as a much higher concentration of serious pieces. And finally, the zine includes several stories with 'adult' content, and thus must probably be considered a 'mixed' zine. The typesetting is unpretentious, clean and readable. In general, the proofing is of a reasonable quality, though someone should probably inform Mr Faulkner of the difference between 'discrete' and 'discreet' (we all have our blind spots...). 'tofpa' might be considered an art-lite zine -- apart from the covers, there are only three small illos by Andrew Williams (including an excellent seedy Justin on p118) plus a single full-page Cally by me. The deficit is supplied by occasional photomontages and an amusing couple of cartoons masquerading as Aunty Anna's Casebook. 'tofpa' contains three long pieces and, while two illustrate different archetypes of the 'Blake's 7' fanfic genre, Ika's 'With/out Blake' is an original. In a style somewhat reminiscent of Neil Faulkner's own 'Kriegspielen', 'With/out Blake' creates the supremely believable Space Commander Siv Holland and her post-Galactic war world. With excellent characterisation of the third season crew, plus cameos from various well-known figures, the saga moves effortlessly from an outer-world refugee camp to Space Command HQ to an interrogation unit and finally to the _Liberator_, taking in asides into revolutionary and sexual politics, not to mention a bit of fanfic clich� bashing along the way. On the other hand, Marian de Haan's rollicking ensemble adventure 'A Clever Plan' makes ingenious use of a familiar format, with a mission that just *keeps on* going awry. Great characterisation and deft humour in this light-hearted story where almost everybody wins. Morrigan's 'Physics 101' is an illustration of Newton's third law -- the Action being Blake's destruction of the shadow farm on Zondar, the Reaction being the Terra Nostra's response -- in the form of a hurt/comfort story. Though the idea is novel and intelligently handled, Ihope the author will forgive me if I say that I felt nearly 30 pages might be a little too long for the exposition. Morrigan also contributes two medium-length pieces. Quite simply, 'The One Shot' is the most moving PGP I've ever read, and I'm delighted that it's found a home here. 'The Second' is primarily an Avon--Blake character piece, written to illustrate the Freedom City 'Seven Deadly Virtues' theme. Set in a skilfully evoked primitive culture, it's the little details that make this piece so entrancing: Avon tearing his hanky in half, little boys scuttling after pistol shot for melting down and recasting, the collaborative ruse to persuade Blake to wear body armour... 'tofpa' appears to be a particularly masculine zine: not only a male editor, but no fewer than *three* male contributors! The editor's warning 'Escaping from imprisonment by pretending to be violently sick, or crawling through conveniently large ventilation ducts, does not normally win me over' seems to have inspired Tom Forsyth's story 'Escape', which gives a reasonably realistic view (with one obvious initial caveat) of the options open to a particularly ingenuous prisoner in a Federation base. There are some interesting thoughts on mutoid technology along the way, as well as a few cute jokes. I found the characterisation a touch bland, but you can't have it all. Readers of a delicate stomach might appreciate a four sick-bag 'ick' warning for Andrew Williams' 'Animal Nature' -- a well-written attempt to make something interesting and biologically plausible out of the similarly named episode. (For those of us who can count to three, Steve Rogerson also contributed to the shorts.) Another justly reviled episode is the focus of 'Twilight', by Ellynne Grant. (I won't reveal which for spoiler reasons.) While nicely written with a lovely dreamlike feel, I felt that this was a somewhat less successful rehabilitation job: Avon as a repressed telepath has become a bit of a clich� and the plot developments felt to me to have been rather shoe-horned into the author's ideas. And finally there are my two contributions, both prequels. 'A Short Ride in a Fast Machine' was conceived cinematically with accompanying music for each section, and speaks to the difficulties of connecting with others in a city environment. It's a five PoV piece which was great fun to write; the reader can decide how successful it is. 'What Might Have Been' examines the life of a revolutionary in the sterile environment of the Earth domes. The story brings together Blake and Avon in an environment without guns, bombs or pursuit ships, only to find that problems with trust as well as their differing political ideologies still lead inevitably to tragedy. For what it's worth, I personally consider this to be my best story yet using the B7 characters. Among the shorts, the Executrixian 'Begin As You Mean To Go On' stood out for me as an examplar of the great effect a skilful author can achieve with just a few hundred well-chosen words. Interestingly, Mr Faulkner does not appear to deign to put his name on this zine, though interested parties might spy his face hiding near the back on the cover. He does, however, contend in his editorial that this is the best collection of B7 fan fiction he has ever amassed. Given the quality of its antecedents, this is rather a forceful claim: 'Stadler Link' and 'Pressure Point' each contain unforgettable, stand-out pieces of fiction -- I'm referring, of course, to Alison Page's 'The Young Ladies Home Companion' and Nickey Barnard's 'Haunted' -- which make one look differently at the series afterwards. I don't see in 'tofpa' any such stand-out piece; in my opinion, the strength of the new zine lies in the uniformly high quality of *all* the contributions, as well as the exceptionally varied nature of the contents. In this light, I find it interesting to compare 'tofpa' with two other recently published anthology zines with predominantly gen content, Judith Proctor's 'Star Four' (Autumn 2000) and my own 'ttba' (February 2001). (All three zines are available via Judith.) Unsurprisingly, the three zines overlap substantially in their contributor base (of 26 authors, 11 appeared in two or more), yet the differing tastes of the editors have made for rather different flavours. Making generalisations is bound to reflect a degree of observer bias. With that caveat, I'd say 'Star Four' focuses on character and character interactions, with a strong bias towards ensemble pieces (50--60%); stylistically, it generally sticks to the more traditional end of the spectrum. In 'ttba' I set out with the aim of accumulating a range of writing styles and structures, and was lucky enough to receive tribs that reflected my interests. My bias as a reader is towards small intimate character pieces, and that's again reflected in the contents (only 30% ensemble). I'd say that 'tofpa' is more similar to 'ttba', in that it encompasses a wide range of writing styles and treatments, and tends to focus on the individual/small group, rather than large ensemble pieces (again around 30%). In terms of looks, 'tofpa' has a much more straightforward typesetting style than 'ttba', and is much less heavily illustrated than either 'Star Four' or 'ttba'. In conclusion, I'd say that 'Trooper Orac's Fantastic Plastic Army' is an excellent zine, well worth its asking price, whose contents are sufficiently wide ranging to please anyone but the most ardent slash fan. The high quality of the fiction included in 'tofpa', 'Star Four' and 'ttba' (if I might be so immodest), as well as 'Stadler Link' and 'Pressure Point', is a tribute to the B7 fans who continue to write it. Personally, I'd have been sad to have missed out on *any* of these zines. Tavia & Firerose October 2001

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RE: Re: [B7L] Internal parallels
by jacquispeel＠netscape.net 04 Oct '01

04 Oct '01

"Dana Shilling" <dshilling(a)worldnet.att.net> wrote: >Sally said: > >> >Oh dear, the mental picture of Brian Blessed throwing himself at Blake's >> >feet every five minutes ... >I WOULD enjoy Avon's stage-whispered "Counting yourself, that's two people >who think you're wonderful, Blake." > >-(Y) > I was comparing the contexts - but Meegat could not have been on duty 24 hours of the day out of 24 (or whatever the local equivalent was). So her 'other half was...' Would be 'interesting' to know what became of Vargas' religion after he vanished - did the architecture go to 'middle maniac'? Any comments on the contrasts between the two 'reactions to outsiders'? 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] Tape Availability
by Judith Proctor 03 Oct '01

03 Oct '01

Leia said: > >As far as the 'Together Again' cast interview tapes go, the first two are > >now out of print. > > Rats! Are there any plans to rerelase them? Or failing that does anyone > have copies they could bear to part with? No plans to re-release to the best of my knowledge. When copying tapes, you have to do a large number to make it viable. On the older tapes, sales get very slow and the cost of doing another run simply isn't worth it. I think Sheelagh did a very short re-run of one of the tapes, but only because she had enough pre-orders to make it worthwhile. I think she's unlikely to do it again as it involves a lot of hassle and she's very busy at the moment. I don't expect her to do any more copies of 'Action' and I think she's out of copies herself. She (like me) still has copies of Kingmaker, Elements, Solstice and Seven. ('solstice' is one of my favourites - I liked listening to Mary Ridge talking about directing. I know they'd hoped to interview her again as there was more they wanted to ask her, but sadly, she died before that could happen) Judith PS. Now down to last three copies of the Travis tape and two of 'Action' (there's a little bit of Micheal Keating on 'Action' as well as Paul, GAreth and Stephen Greif). -- 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: [B7L] Pirates
by Ellynne G. 03 Oct '01

03 Oct '01

It's a totally nothing part but Sheelagh knew that > Gareth > loved Vikings and would do it if he could. > And now I have visions of Blake singing the song from this one spoof of Gilbert and Sullivan We're vikings! What do you know? The terrors of the sea. We're vikings! Wherever we go, Pillaging happily. And visions of Gan visiting one of the planets where Avon and Vila were not well supervised - Dear monks, dear monks, what can I say? My friends have taken your stuff away. Dear monks, dear monks, what can I do? I've come to bring stuff back to you. I could not bring back all your stuff, For they are [meaner] and older. But I have brought back what I could and some of my own pot holders. Come to think of it, has anyone ever tried to do Star One as Monty Python skit? Blake: I am Blake, leader of the rebels. I have come to ask your leader to join me on a quest for Star One. Jarriere [using really bad French accent]: He's already got one! Jarriere [having heard Blake's explanation of how he got to be in charge of Liberator]: Mental bonding with a computer is no basis for a system of government! Power is derived from a mandate from the people. If I went around saying I was Supreme Commander because the toaster liked me, people would say I was balmy! Ellynne ________________________________________________________________ GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO! Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less! Join Juno today! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/web/.

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Re: [B7L] Pirates
by Ellynne G. 03 Oct '01

03 Oct '01

On Tue, 02 Oct 2001 00:16:56 -0700 Mistral <mistral(a)centurytel.net> writes: > > Gan is the chef (Horatio?) and Vila, of course, The Fair Ophelia. And now I have visions of Vila singing "You Are His Cheeseburger." Not to mention a bunch of Federation guards (using really fake accents) singing taunts to Blake and the others while they wander around Central Control. Also, this means season 5 would have started with Blake curled up in an all night ice cream bar having nightmares about where it all went wrong, muttering "Cebu" over and over again (yes, I just shifted the blame for what happened to someone in the film department losing some critical scenes and putting the others in out of order. And I called Avon an Asparagus). And I'm hoping someone besides me and Mistral gets the joke . . . . Ellynne ________________________________________________________________ GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO! Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less! Join Juno today! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/web/.

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Re: [B7L] Cally
by Ellynne G. 03 Oct '01

03 Oct '01

On Tue, 2 Oct 2001 07:14:10 EDT Mac4781(a)aol.com writes: > Ellynne wrote: > > > With the exception of getting them to got to Auron, she's rarely > (if > > ever) able to persuade them to change their minds and follow a > course of > > action she outlines. > > Cally doesn't persuade them to go to Auron. Tarrant takes charge of > that. Good point. > > > At first, this seems ironic since Cally is one of the more > sociable > > members of the crew, > > Sociable doesn't equate with leadership material. True, but the ability to persuade people, to a certain degree, is a social skill. It's like a woman in a club I was part of in college. She was in charge of the budget for the simple reason that the rest of us used to like muggers when we asked people to remember to toss in their five dollars or whatever. She, however, could ask you for your right arm and you would hand it over without thinking just because she'd asked so nicely. OTOH, she was never the leader. In a similar way, Vila has few leadership skills but has fairly good social skills. He frequently manages to get what he wants while still remaining on friendly terms with the others and without forcing a confrontation. The others usually resort to confrontation. OTOH, if Vila ever suggested the others put him down on Earth and let him get tortured for a few days, arguing it was the only way he could find someone, they'd probably just take away his teleport bracelet till he was sober. > > > Just as Cally may be unable to argue her position persuasively > > to the others, they may find themselves exerting pressures on her > without > > realizing that's how it comes across to her > > I don't think they worry about how they come across to her. It's a > case of > the stronger wills prevailing. The stronger wills rise to the top > of the > leadership ladder. Sometimes. This group in particular seems given to the blunt instrument school of persuasion. However, to some degree, I think they tend to be aware of _how much_ blunt force they're using and will pull back if it passes a certain point (which point varies). So, Avon gives in in Children but is willing to pull a gun on the others in Terminal. Tarrant misjudges in City, not only pushing Vila to a point where can't and won't do what Tarrant wants but also reaching a point where Avon and Cally won't work with him either. This is the drawback of the blunt instrument approach. When every choice of action becomes a battle of wills, a lot of energy is used up before anything is ever done. Then, once something is done, you're dealing with people who may be willing to break loose at the first opportunity. The ability to inspire trust and confidence is just as important if not more so. However, I do wonder if, with Cally, they aren't misjudging how hard and how far they're pushing (as with Tarrant did with Vila). That, and I wonder why she puts up with it. Anyhow, back to persuasion. I think Cally's used to having some ability to persuade others. With this group, she's unable to tap into things she might have been able to use with Aurons or the more usual rebel types. Appeals to conscience (for anything short of a whole planet dying) are a lost cause. There also isn't much in the way of shared background or values. Again, the blunt instrument approach seems to be all that's left. Ellynne ________________________________________________________________ GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO! Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less! Join Juno today! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/web/.

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Re: [B7L] Internal parallels
by J MacQueen 03 Oct '01

03 Oct '01

>From: "Sally Manton" <smanton(a)hotmail.com> >Oh dear, the mental picture of Brian Blessed throwing himself at Blake's >feet every five minutes ... Is Meegat roaring "I rule" at Avon and crushing teleport bracelets under her dainty sandals any better as a mental picture, Sally? Or shouldn't I have mentioned that? Regards Joanne _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp

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Fwd: Re: [B7L] Internal parallels
by Sally Manton 03 Oct '01

03 Oct '01

Joanne wrote: <Is Meegat roaring "I rule" at Avon and crushing teleport bracelets under her dainty sandals any better as a mental picture, Sally? Or shouldn't I have mentioned that?> I dunno, that sounds rather fun ... and she'd get to torture him too (would he have given in, do you think? It's very early, his self-preservation instinct might win out :-)) _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp

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Re: [B7L] Pirates
by Pherber＠aol.com 03 Oct '01

03 Oct '01

In a message dated 10/01/2001 10:55:10 PM Mountain Daylight Time, rilliara(a)juno.com writes: > Come to think of it, has anyone ever tried to do Star One as Monty Python > skit? Blake [after a song and dance routine by Travis and the Andromedans} : On second thought, let's not go to Star One - it is a silly place. <snicker> I like this idea! Nina

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RE: [B7L] Arlen
by jacquispeel＠netscape.net 03 Oct '01

03 Oct '01

"Nathan Hook" <nhook(a)bemail.org> wrote: >I haven't written to the list in simply ages, but here goes... > > >There probably aren't too many equivalents to the SAS, but that depends on who you talk to and what you believe. The US's Navy Seals or Delta Force as examples perhaps? > >It's an interesting point Arlen as an officer, risng from the working grades. Her accent is obviously not "Alpha-Class", if we choose to accept other "accents" on which to base the presumption that the educated classes speak differently. Brian Croucher's Travis another example. >Arlen may have been chosen specifically for the role. Her accent being natural, not learned or put on to fool people like Blake. >The SAS often choose their under-cover operatives for their ability to be inconspicuous, what is termed the "grey man". If you ever meet such a person, and they don't announce themselves, your first reaction is, "I'd never have thought he was that type of person." The James Bond persona isn't appropriate...far too conspicuous and many SAS guys are outwardly quite run of the mill. >Looking at Arlen, she had a bad attitude, but you wouldn't pick her for an officer. It was enough to fool Blake...his supposed testing of individuals to ensure they're right to join his cause. > >Just a thought. >Nathan. > > > I was using 'SAS' in the sense of a specialist movement setting up an entrance for established forces, and other 'peculiar' events. Besides the Federation do not know that it is Blake they have made contact with - perhaps 'any number of' people are claiming to be him for the kudos. 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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