Jo Ann (quoting me):

...

From: Mac4781@aol.com > > His face is firty,

I've been trying to resist asking just how old the rest of him is at this point. Haven't succeeded, have I?

;-P That will be mocha coolers at ten paces; no straws allowed.

I guess I should proofed it. <g> "His face is filthy."

Wildean wrote:

Incidentally does BCU stand for Big Close Up?

I'm not sure what it stands for. I've always presumed the CU part stands for Close Up; but I don't know about the B. I can ask a friend who is a screenwriter if no one on the list can answer the question.

Here's the rest of the descriptive lead-in for the first Blake-Arlen scene. (Note: spelling is per the script, including typos <g>)

"He stares past CAMERA, deep in thought until a breaking twig nearbye snaps his attention back.

"Casually he leans forward and puts a piece of wood on a campfire over which a small animal is roasting.

"The WIDER SHOT shows BLAKE to be dressed in rough well-worn leathers. At his belt is a handgun and a large hunting knife.

"He sits back, relaxed and comfortable against a tree and watches the fire.

"If possible the woodland should be Forestry Commision type pine plantation rather than natural deciduous woods.

"BLAKE without taking his eyes from the fire."

It goes into his first line there.

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. That helps to explain how Tarrant could be so young and have so much experience (FSA-Space Command long enough to rise through the ranks to Captain--mercenary/smuggler) before he shows up on Liberator.

There's quite a bit of specific direction in the initial Arlen-Blake scene, telling the actors when to move, how to move. Here's a long passage later in the scene, just after "Arlen pays her debts" and Blake agrees to keep the gun.

"BLAKE remains sitting where he is as ARLEN moves backwards away from him covering him as she goes. When she is satisfied that she is far enough away she turns to leave. As she is turning CUT abruptly to her POV.

"On the CUT a BOUNTY HUNTER jumps up - or forward or down - into the frame, filling it and bellowing savagely. He is a fearsomely rough-looking individual and the whole effect of the cut should be to make normal people, like the audience, jump.

"It should be so sudden and startling that a normal person would freeze.

"The BOUNTY HUNTER expects ARLEN to react that way. But ARLEN is not normal.

"She shoots the BOUNTY HUNTER immediately, without a flicker of emotion or hesitation.

"As he crashes backwards TWO more BOUNTY HUNTERS run through the trees towards ARLEN.

"She shoots ONE and he goes down hard.

"The other fires hitting ARLEN high on the leg (a small blood pellet here really wouldn't upset anyone) spinning her to the ground and flinging the pistol form her hand.

"With a yell of triumph the BOUNTY HUNTER plunges on towards her. She tries to reach the pistol.

"A gun fires O.O.V.

"The BOUNTY HUNTER goes down in a flurry just short of ARLEN. BLAKE moves unhurriedly to stand over the fallen GIRL.

"The Federation gun is cradled in his ARMS."

Question: What would Blake have done if those other bounty hunters hadn't shown up? Gone after Arlen? His intent was to arrest and test her, after all.

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.

Carol