--- Sally wrote:

I was watching Killer again (the pain, the pain:-)) and got to thinking about the fact that Robert Holmes, who wrote this, Gambit and Orbit, was offered the script editor's job ahead of Chris Boucher. And I do have to say I think we were lucky he turned it down.

I don't know. His stint at Dr Who was IMO the best in the programmes history. On the other hand I don't know if the Gothic feel he gave the programme would have translated well across to Blake's 7.

Don't get me wrong - I enjoy all three episodes, and absolutely *love* Killer, which I do think is the strongest, scriptwise, of the three. It's got its problems, but the contrasting Avon/Tynus and Blake/Bellfriar interactions are very appealing.

I always think that Killer is a Dr Who script that got put in the wrong in tray. Curly haired Bloke with all the answers swans into a futuristic environment menaced by human corpses animated by sinister alien invaders. Meanwhile a couple of loveable rogues are attempting to pull off a scam. The only difference is that the female companions stay in the TARDIS er.. Liberator and it doesn't all get neatly wrapped up at the end. I put the fact that Jenna becomes exposition fodder, losing her status as an expert on Space Flight, is because Holmes confused her with Sarah Jenna, er Jane, Smith.

Gambit suffers from extreme unevenness, with the Travis/Servalan/Krantor line getting all the attention and the Blake/Jenna/Cally/Docholli one being seriously starved of oxygen or interest, but its cleverness and the sheer style with which it was put together carry it through;

I think that Holmes was interested in the Duel of the memorable grotesques - I think he always managed to write Servalan well, which contrasts with his treatment of the female regulars. The search for Star One doesn't seem to have grabbed him. And of course the loveable rogues come off well. In the alternate universe where Holmes took the job I don't think we'd have got anything as good as the ending to season 2. No Star One, no Jenna betraying Blake, no Avon agreeing to hold off the bad guys until the bad guys arrive, no speeches about wading in blood.

Orbit is better than average fun, but IMO only gets its classic status because of that lethal kick in the last ten minutes.

I agree. I like Egrorian and Pindar. I think that Egrorian grovelling on his knees to Servalan is one of the highlights of Season 4. But it would have been your common or garden run around without the shuttle scenes. And by the end of S4 we all knew, the moment we saw the omnipotent Galaxian's console that our heroes hadn't a cat in hells chance of getting hold of it.

The main problem I have with his scripts is that, while he writes terrific Avon-Vila, good Travis, and wonderfully memorable guest characters (Jarriere, Krantor & Toise, Bellfriar, Tynus & Gambrill, Egrorian) he shows almost no interest *at all* in the rest of the crew (except Blake in Killer. But *only* in Killer.) Jenna (a bimbette in both of his S2 scripts) Cally (pure wallpaper) and the Scorpio youngsters are barely acknowledged.

Ah you have neglected Tarrant and Dayna in Traitor. But come to think of it Traitor is the story of Space Major Hunda and his gallant band of rebels fighting a doomed struggle against Servalan and a one eyed baddie. Tarrant and Dayna are, if not ciphers, almost incidental to the plot. (Dr Who fans - compare and contrast with Caves of Androzani). If Holmes had been allowed to create the show from scratch I think we'd have got something brilliant - not B7 but brilliant nonetheless. As it was if characters didn't interest him he cheerfully sidelined them and introduced his own gallery of memorable guest characters who certainly added to the richness of B7. But it's a bit frustrating if you like Jenna, Cally, Soolin or Blake to see them relegated to the sidelines.

Maybe it's unfair to compare, since CB wrote more scripts, but I have noticed that oft-mentioned favourites by him include those episodes - especially Shadow, Star One and DeathWatch - in which *all* of the crew get a goodly share of the action; Boucher had his favourites (and has freely acknowledged that Avon was No 1 :-)) but wrote well for *all* of the crew. Holmes episodes tend to be 'Blake's Two, Not Including Blake' ... would this, do you think, have bled over if he were overseeing the whole series? (I hate to think how his blatant disinterest in the Blake-Avon relationship might have affected the whole Star One crescendo, *especially* the episode itself).

Oh, Boucher and Nation made B7 IMO. If anyone else had done it we'd have got the same names but a different (and in most cases I can think of, inferior) product. If Holmes had taken over in the way Boucher did in S2 we'd have got Avon and Vila pulling of scams and getting into scrapes which is fun but not the same. It's a shame that Holmes didn't contribute in S3 as the nature of that season would have allowed for the sort of thing he liked to add in a way that S2 didn't.

Anyone like to throw some thoughts on either scriptwriter? Or maybe muse on how one of the other writers *might* have gone in the role? (Let no one mention Ben Stee ...)

Other Script Editors:

Terry Nation: Would have kept Blake as a much less ambiguous hero. The Andromedans would have travelled around in shiny pepperpots (Mark 3 travel machines) and said "exterminate" a lot. Allan Prior: All the episodes would have had plot holes you could drive a coach and horses through. Ben Steed: Wake up and smell the testosterone, Dayna would have been the only woman to do anything in 52 episodes. Avon would have pulled everyone out of the soup in 52 episodes. Jarvik would have been the new Travis. Tanith Lee: Much more sexual tension among the Liberator crew. Mystical villain(ess) of the week would have taken over from the mad scientists. Roger Parkes: Blake's 7 fans would not mention the dialogue as one of the high points of the show. Rod Beacham: It would have been great fun, but very shallow fun.

Stephen.

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Sally Manton wrote:

Orbit is better than average fun, but IMO only gets its classic status because of that lethal kick in the last ten minutes.

Surely that's the whole point? All the rest is comedic misdirection. Unfortunately, it only carries the full punch the first time, which is why I never show it to anyone who hasn't watched the whole thing up to that point.

The main problem I have with his scripts is that, while he writes terrific Avon-Vila, good Travis, and wonderfully memorable guest characters (Jarriere, Krantor & Toise, Bellfriar, Tynus & Gambrill, Egrorian) he shows almost no interest *at all* in the rest of the crew (except Blake in Killer. But *only* in Killer.) Jenna (a bimbette in both of his S2 scripts) Cally (pure wallpaper) and the Scorpio youngsters are barely acknowledged.

The Jenna thing is annoying, but I would put up with the rest for the lovely A-V, and for the guest characters - of course I *adore* Jarriere, and like Bellfriar very much. Krantor and Toise are okay, too. Also, I find the Tynus-Avon-Vila interaction in Killer to be crucial to my concept of Avon and also A-V. I wish Holmes had written more episodes, but then again, I'm a Killer junkie and probably need a 12-step program. (Seriously. Why do I watch Killer more than Shadow, when I *know* Shadow is the better ep, and love it, too? Unless it's the A-V in Killer, and the rotten Cally hallucination sequences in Shadow.)

Maybe it's unfair to compare, since CB wrote more scripts, but I have noticed that oft-mentioned favourites by him include those episodes - especially Shadow, Star One and DeathWatch - in which *all* of the crew get a goodly share of the action;

Curious, I don't see Deathwatch as being very ensemble at all. Tarrant, the Jacket, and that annoying, misplaced clinch. I could cheerfully chuck Deathwatch from canon, were I not such a purist.

Anyone like to throw some thoughts on either scriptwriter? Or maybe muse on how one of the other writers *might* have gone in the role?

Allan Prior might have given us a wider variety of 'splinter' cultures - groups that had left the Federation to pursue their own vision of a perfect society. And not much A-V, though what there was is very good, including my favourite A-V scene in Volcano. He was much worse about leaving regular characters with not much to do than Holmes was, although it seems to be different characters each time.

Mistral