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Avon & Byron
by Sally Manton 10 Jul '01

10 Jul '01

Natasa wrote: <I'm grappling with Child Harold these days and so it occured to me that Avon is in a way akin to Byron's heroes. Pale, attractive to women, high-born(possibly), educated, world-weary, cynical, and as a rule there's a hint that behind this mask of disinterest and cold disdain some secret past woe is deeply buried...> I have to doubt that Avon's Byronic aura would be nearly as noticable were it not for mid-to-late S3 - the start of Children of Auron, and all of Rumours of Death and Sarcophagus are the most Tortured-Hero episodes (am still trying to decide about Terminal). In S1-2, he's got more varied shading of light and dark, and there's the streak of pure brattishness (not normally a trait of the species :-)), and in S4 it gets *too* harsh and a bit skewed (mind you, *that* scene in Power is pure old-fashioned-bodice-ripper IMO :-)). Would this be one of the things that attracts Avon-lovers (well, apart from me) to S3? It's interesting, however, that neither the writers (Nation or Boucher) nor PD seem to have had any intention of investing him with *any* Byronic or Wromantic overtones (maybe Tanith Lee did, of course). In some ways Avon puts me in mind of a pushme-pullyou from Dr Doolittle - there's writers pushing him on one direction - the cold computer genius/'psychopath' (CB's word, not mine!), Darrow pulling him in another (Dirty Harry, not that I can see it) and the fans standing to each side poking and pulling in all different ways. And again, it makes for a much richer, more interesting character; had PD seen him and *played* him as Byronic Doomed Hero, I can't help feeling it wouldn't have worked nearly so well. JMO. _________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com.

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Avon & Byron
by Andrew Williams 10 Jul '01

10 Jul '01

Natasa wrote: >it occured to me that Avon is in a way akin to Byron's heroes. I'm always reminded of Ozymandias by Shelley: "...whose frown, And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command"

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Re: [B7L] Re: names
by J MacQueen 10 Jul '01

10 Jul '01

>From: "Dana Shilling" <dshilling(a)worldnet.att.net> >New reality show: "This Old Dome" with Bob Vila Restal? "This Old Dome"? Sorry, Dana, never mind the host suggestion, because you've just brought up the image of Shakin' Stevens singing "Ain't gunna need this dome no longer, ain't gunna need this dome no more, ain't got time to find the tunnels that they built beneath the floor, ain't got time for exit visas or a ship to fly away, ain't-a gunna need this dome no longer, I'm-a gettin' ready for a prison stay." Yes, well, it is still before 9am. Regards Joanne _________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com.

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Re: [B7L] Re: Jarvik's 7
by Sally Manton 10 Jul '01

10 Jul '01

Stephen wrote: <Given Steed's penchant for butchering the characters we know and love, Blondie would probably have been called Jenna. Or Soolin.> and be played by the Piri 'actress'. <Avon would be challenge to Jarvik's dominance. He would therefore be conflated with Vila to create a new character Vivon who would retain Vila's cowardice and skill with locks but have computer expertise added.> Hey, I rather like this idea ... and he'd keep the leather and studs, but it'd be in small-furry-animal colours instead of red and black. <Dayna would be part of the crew and her tendency to get into scrapes by challenging men to fights when she is biologically weaker would be another fruitful source of plots.> and a chance for Our Hero to act indulgent and patronising ... Actually, am now trying to imagine a meeting of This Fearless Leader and *my* Fearless Leader ... ouch. _________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com.

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Re: Nexus
by Steve Rogerson 10 Jul '01

10 Jul '01

Una wrote: >Appeared on one of my DS9 lists: > >http://search.bbc.co.uk/bristol/content/features/2001/07/06/nexus/nexus.sht… They also had a good piece in the local paper before the con. The sad thing, after seven Nexuses, this was the last one (or so they say). The good news is that it was a nice con, very relaxed and friendly. Gareth Thomas was there for his fourth convention in less than a year. He told me at the bar that he'll probably have a break from the convention circuit for a while now, but I suspect he'll be back eventually. Sylvester McCoy was entertaining as usual and told us the story of how he nearly became a priest. Rene Auberjonois gave us a lesson on how to pronounce his name and said he only does charity cons these days. Nexus had a good alternative programme too and I went to panels on will we all speak the same language in the 23rd century and what makes a revolution. However, the event got off to a poor start on the Friday evening when we came second in the quiz thingy by one point despite doing really well on the questions. We lost out cos part of the quiz was to build a space station out of junk and ours was voted the worst by the panel, who weighted that item far too high. We reckon thet didn't give us enough points for the zero-grav sex laboratory or our AV presentation. Sulk. I brought out my Sunnydale High costume for its second outing for the Saturday night fancy dress but surprisingly didn't win anything despite the pom-poms Rita made out of an old newspaper. The judges were biased again, this time in favour of far superior costumes. Judith won just-a-minute on Sunday night, though I missed the end. Harriet and I wrote some limericks for the limerick competition. We didn't win but Rene read ours out on stage. We took the 100th membership for Redemption, some six months earlier than the same point last time. What else? We did a Wobblevision, this time run by Louise and Simon who now host it on their web site. The episode we chose was Warlord and I played Zeeona. There's probably more that the others will fill in on. -- cheers Steve Rogerson http://homepages.poptel.org.uk/steve.rogerson Redemption 03, 21-23 February 2003, Ashford, Kent Celebrating 25 years of Blake's 7 and 10 years of Babylon 5 http://www.smof.com/redemption

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Re: [B7L] Re: names
by J MacQueen 10 Jul '01

10 Jul '01

>From: "Dana Shilling" <dshilling(a)worldnet.att.net> >2. I fear that My Client is unaware of any esoteric knowledge that has to >be gained by *joining a club* and *going to meetings* and *exchanging >funny handshakes.* Not to mention that it's Vila who seems to take notice of architecture. Not that "Early Maniac" is one of the three Classical Orders likely to rate a mention from a Mason... Regards Joanne _________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com.

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Daleks PS
by Judith Proctor 09 Jul '01

09 Jul '01

A PS to my 'Invasion of the Daleks' review - PS. Henry, being inspired to go and listen to other Big Finish CDs after listening to Invasion of the Daleks, has just picked The Genocide Machine, The Apocalypse Element and The Mutant Phase out of my stock box as he's worked out that they are prequels to Invasion of the Daleks. He read the blurbs on the back and spotted common plot elements and then we realised that they are all part of the Dalek Empire series - I think I'll probably listen to them all after he's listened to them (he's listening while washing the dishes). 'Invasion of the Daleks' stands up well on its own so far, but I'm interested enough to hear some of the earlier Dalek histories in the same series. This is terrible -- I'm not even a Dr Who fan! I do like listening to audios though. I can listen to them lying down when my neck hurts and there's never any wobbly sets on audio either. I find it an ideal medium for an older series like Dr Who where the actors are all older - voices stay pretty much the same even when faces age. -- 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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Invasion of the Daleks (Gareth Thomas)
by Judith Proctor 09 Jul '01

09 Jul '01

I've now listened to Invasion of the Daleks twice, which is a recommendation in iteself. Henry (age 14) borrowed my copy and promptly listened to it a second time almost as soon as he'd finished his first pass, so that's another recommendation. The strength of this Big Finish product partly derives from good solid script-writing, in this case by Nicholas Briggs, who also directed and helped produce. This may help explain the coherent feel of the final result. I've become a lot more aware of some of the technical aspects of writing for audio since I started mentally comparing Big Finish's work to the B7 radio plays. Some of the reasons this story works so well include the fact that there are never more than two main characters in any one scene, a cast with distinctive voices, careful use of background sounds to establish the location, and a story line that uses flashback in just the right amount to add variety and establish the scene visually on occasion. So what's it all about? This is a Dalek story without Dr Who. The main characters are Susan Mendes (a geologist) played by Sarah Mowat, Alby Brook (a young man who is in love with Susan and working incognito for Space Security), and Kalendorf played by Gareth Thomas. Kalendorf is a man of mystery. He's on some kind of mission and is a wanted man, but we don't know why he is wanted, expect that the body looking for him is some kind of Intelligence organisation. When the Daleks attack, he is injured and has virtually given up hope, but is pulled back from the brink by Susan. (This loss of hope is probably why he reminds me of Blake on Gauda Prime). He definitely has more to him than meets the eye as he was trained by the Knights of Velyshaa and we get one or two hints of what he may be capable of and the strength that underlies his character. I'm certain we'll find out more about him in the later CDs in the series - Gareth says the second one has already been recorded and there are to be four in all. All the cast give a good performance. Susan is a very strong character who has the courage to insist on reason even when she is frightened and directly threatened by daleks. Alby is cynical, but with layers to his character. Kalendorf is even more cynical, but there's humanity in him too. The daleks themselves work very well on audio. Their distinctive voices are instantly recognisable. The invasion fleet is massive, there's actually a reason for them using slave labour rather than machines, and they have some plan that is more complex than meets the eye. I haven't quite figured out what they are up to yet, but I have suspicions... (Henry had the intelligence to read the blurb in the slipcase booklet, so he also has ideas as to what the daleks are seeking.) As for special effects - well, you know what they say about the pictures being better on the radio. I can even see the cute robot in my mind's eye! (Alby's attempts to manipulate it provide necessary light amusement to counterbalance a plot in which millions of people get exterminated) I'm glad Gareth is in this one, as I might not have listened to it otherwise, and it's well worth listening to, both for Gareth and for an interesting, well-produced story that has me looking forward to the next installment. Being a single CD rather than a double, it's not even expensive. You can buy copies via http://www.hermit.org/Blakes7 for 10 pounds in the UK and $19 to America. (we've also added a load of Big Finish Dr Who CDs to the site) Judith -- 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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Blake's & - As Time Goes By
by Leia Fee 09 Jul '01

09 Jul '01

Murray wrote... >To provoke further laughter, are you aware of an episode of the series >'Space: 1999' called 'The Rules of Luton', set on and around a planet >called Luton? Oh dear... Leia

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Re: [B7L] Re: Jarvik's 7
by Ellynne G. 09 Jul '01

09 Jul '01

On Thu, 5 Jul 2001 11:06:38 -0400 "Dana Shilling" <dshilling(a)worldnet.att.net> writes: > Helen's suggestion for Jarvik's 7: > > > Let's see, the brothers from the tents of Goth, Gunn Sar, Bayban's > > lantern-jawed sidekick, who else? > > Pella in an "I Dream of Jeannie" outfit? Other possibilities - Rocky: Yo, Adrian! [Jarvik whispers instructions to him] What? Huh? Oh. [Breathes deep, trying hard to re-envision his character] Yo, Avalon! Rambo [standing admist ruins of Star One and a great deal of the rest of the galaxy]: It was first blood, sir. They started it! Terminator [Last episode of series, "Jarvik," T1 looks around at all the dead bodies just before the Federation guards shoot him down]: I'll be back. [Excerpt from between shootings interview of Jarvik's 7's computer] Hal: So, they asked me what my last job was, and I said I worked on a ship with an all male crew. Then, they asked how it ended, and I had to admit killing the rest of the crew when they started questioning my judgement. So, they hired me. Ace "Tarrant" Rimmer: Wait, I have to wear a _curly_ wig for this part? Important female character named Blondie: EEEEEEEEEK! Jarvik, save me! Blondie's other memorable lines: "I don't understand, Jarvik. Can you explain it to me?" "Huh?" "Oh, Jarvik, you saved me!" And, of course, "Oh, Jarvik, going out with you makes life worth living." Now, how about Avalon's 7? 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/tagj.

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