Like Neil, Blake's 7 is the only thing of which I'd call myself a fan. In my case I think there are two major elements:
(1) the impressionable age at which I first saw the series (under 10)
(2) the believable nastiness of the background, and its relevance to the here and now
What I most like about the series is the characters, but there are plenty of series with similar believably mixed characters, and they haven't drawn me in in the same way.
Why write fanfiction? In my case, purely because I saw good fanfiction on the web last April/May, and thought 'hey, I can do that!' and 'that looks like fun'. Probably nothing to do with the series at all, except that (IMO) it appears to spawn better fanfic, on average, than other series. I've not come up with an explanation for this observation.
Tavia
From: Tavia Chalcraft tavia@btinternet.com
Like Neil, Blake's 7 is the only thing of which I'd call myself a fan. In my case I think there are two major elements:
(1) the impressionable age at which I first saw the series (under 10)
(2) the believable nastiness of the background, and its relevance to the here and now
I was 14 when I first saw it, when the first episode was broadcast. 2nd January 1978 - I was there! And hooked from the start. I was devising possible plots by the end of the 3rd Season (I spent my school lunch hour birwatching walks mapping out an entire 4th season, which was absolutely nothing like the real 4th Season we eventually got) and I was writing my first fanfic while the 4th Season was being broadcast. I was also heavily into Dr Who at the time, but never had any inclination to devise any fanfic for that. Nor had I any comparable leanings in that direction for Star Trek, though I would usually watch it whenever it was on.
I did construct (in my horrible teenaged mind) a space opera fantasy which owed a lot to Star Wars and Flash Gordon and freely pillaged both, though it was never written down, and I entertained some possible plot ideas for Grange Hill (I can't believe I'm confessing to this!) but not with the actual characters in the series. Again, never comitted to paper.
I can't really say what made B7 so special. The 'believable nastiness' was probably a factor, but that was just one element of realism in a lot of blatantly unrealistic stuff (like the Top Security gate in Seek-Locate-Destroy that couldn't keep out a stray sheep). The series seemed to offer a lot of plot possibilities, but then so did other SF shows. Thinking about it, it may have been the violence that tipped the balance. Killing people is intrinsic to B7 in a way that it isn't to Who or Trek (or Grange Hill). B7 almost justifies violence as a legitimate means to an end. It presumes conflict to be the underlying basis of virtually all interpersonal relations. That rings just as true to me now as it did back then.
What a belligerent little sod I am...
Neil
(For those who are wondering, Grange Hill was a BBC series set in a bog standard comprehensive school. There was a lot of unrealistic and boring stuff about a load of kids, and a bit of very unrealistic but somehow gripping stuff in the staff room. If nothing else I could sit and drool over the art teacher.)
What I most like about the series is the characters, but there are plenty of series with similar believably mixed characters, and they haven't drawn me in in the same way.
Why write fanfiction? In my case, purely because I saw good fanfiction on the web last April/May, and thought 'hey, I can do that!' and 'that looks like fun'. Probably nothing to do with the series at all, except that
(IMO)
it appears to spawn better fanfic, on average, than other series. I've not come up with an explanation for this observation.
Tavia
At 06:43 AM 2/17/01 +0000, Neil Faulkner wrote:
Thinking about it, it may have been the violence that tipped the balance. Killing people is intrinsic to B7 in a way that it isn't to Who or Trek (or Grange Hill). B7 almost justifies violence as a legitimate means to an end. It presumes conflict to be the underlying basis of virtually all interpersonal relations.
I am deeply disturbed by the fact that I agree with this statement/sentiment. But still stand by my "character junkie" affiliations. Youse guys are the best.
--"Dave"
P.S. ((s/Grange Hill/Degrassi Junior High)?) -- "This is the kind of conversation that can only end in a gunshot."
Space Fall
Vila when introduced does not come across as a regular news broadcast viewer/listener - but he is more aware of Avon's crime than who Blake is (or was). While his knowledge of what Avon did might be partially professional - they are both thieves of a sort - his remarks to Blake imply that Avon's embezzlement was 'big news.' (Avon is probably thinking along the lines of 'I'm cooped up with another door to door political salesman - and I can't foist him on another of his ilk and amuse myself by seeing them tie each other in knots.') Why does Blake not recognise the name at least - they are both professionals/white collar workers?
(BTW looking at the transit cell in The Way Back it appears that it had about 10-12 prisoners - so there were probably 2-3 more such - and each row of seats in the London might represent one such transit cell).
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jacquispeel@netscape.net wrote:
Vila when introduced does not come across as a regular news broadcast viewer/listener - but he is more aware of Avon's crime than who Blake is (or was).
I am inclined to think that either he *did* see Avon on the news (Maybe he just happened to turn it on that day? Or maybe he only pays attention to news about fellow thieves, and ignores it when the political types come on?), or was told about him by another prisoner. Or maybe he heard about it on the criminal grapevine. ("Hey, Vila, did you hear about the guy who tried to rob the Federation banking system and got caught? Bloody amateurs!")
Why does Blake not recognise the name at least - they are both professionals/white collar workers?
Blake's memory is still pretty chaotic at the moment, maybe? Or maybe *he* doesn't watch the news.
(BTW looking at the transit cell in The Way Back it appears that it had about 10-12 prisoners - so there were probably 2-3 more such - and each row of seats in the London might represent one such transit cell).
There must have been at least one more, seeing as Avon and Gan don't seem to have been in the cell with Vila, Jenna & Blake.
At 11:31 17-2-01 -0700, Betty Ragan wrote:
(BTW looking at the transit cell in The Way Back it appears that it had about 10-12 prisoners - so there were probably 2-3 more such - and each row of seats in the London might represent one such transit cell).
There must have been at least one more, seeing as Avon and Gan don't seem to have been in the cell with Vila, Jenna & Blake.
They were told to take their assigned seats, but Vila and Jenna weren't in the same row as Blake, so there wasn't any relationship between which cell and which row, except if they wanted to keep prisoners who already knew each other apart to keep things quiet. Also, the seats that Avon and Gan later occupied had different people in them in TWB, and several extras had also been exchanged for someone else between that episode and the next one. So that would imply a stopover somewhere else. After all, it couldn't possibly have been caused by a blatant disregard for continuity...
Jacqueline
Jacqueline Thijsen inquisitioner@wish.net wrote:
At 11:31 17-2-01 -0700, Betty Ragan wrote:
(BTW looking at the transit cell in The Way Back it appears that it had about 10-12 prisoners - so there were probably 2-3 more such - and each row of seats in the London might represent one such transit cell).
There must have been at least one more, seeing as Avon and Gan don't seem to have been in the cell with Vila, Jenna & Blake.
They were told to take their assigned seats, but Vila and Jenna weren't in the same row as Blake, so there wasn't any relationship between which cell and which row, except if they wanted to keep prisoners who already knew each other apart to keep things quiet. Also, the seats that Avon and Gan later occupied had different people in them in TWB, and several extras had also been exchanged for someone else between that episode and the next one. So that would imply a stopover somewhere else. After all, it couldn't possibly have been caused by a blatant disregard for continuity...
Jacqueline
It 'certainly' wasn't alphabetically by surname or Himself would be there in the first episode (g)
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Jacqui asked:
Vila when introduced does not come across as a regular news broadcast
viewer/listener - but he is more aware of Avon's crime than who Blake is (or was). While his knowledge of what Avon did might be partially professional - they are both thieves of a sort - his remarks to Blake imply that Avon's embezzlement was 'big news.' knots.') Why does Blake not recognise the name at least - they are both professionals/white collar workers? And formerly employed by the same project (although of course not everyone who works, say, for IBM knows everyone else there. But it seems to me the other way around--that Vila is claiming specialized knowledge. What I'd really like to know is why Jenna knows Avalon and Blake doesn't.
-(Y)
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Tavia Chalcraft