I always like a bit of taffy after a critique, so ...
We've done what changes we'd like. Now, would anyone like to give us:
[a] three things about Blake's 7 as a series that make it special for them, and different from other shows?
[b] if you can think of them, one thing in each of just three episodes that somehow lifted that episode for you? (For instance, I *know* Kairos is somewhat dodgy, but I love the portrayal of Avon as single-minded scientist intent of shuffling the leadership onto Tarrant; it works so well just for this brief post-War period for me.)
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Sally wrote:
I always like a bit of taffy after a critique, so ...
Fair enough.
We've done what changes we'd like. Now, would anyone like to give us:
[a] three things about Blake's 7 as a series that make it special for them, and different from other shows?
1. Avon. 2. 'Blake'. 3. Avon and Blake.
[b] if you can think of them, one thing in each of just three episodes that somehow lifted that episode for you? (For instance, I *know* Kairos is somewhat dodgy, but I love the portrayal of Avon as single-minded scientist intent of shuffling the leadership onto Tarrant; it works so well just for this brief post-War period for me.)
1. That bit you just mentioned. 2. Orac saying 'Encore!' in 'Ultraworld' (sorry, I just think it's funny). 3. The post Star One bits leading up to Avon passing out in the life capsule in 'Aftermath' (the rest of the episode is a bit pants, which I always forget until we get to the bits on Sarran, when I remember it's actually 'Powerplay' that I like).
Una
Sally Manton wrote:
We've done what changes we'd like. Now, would anyone like to give us:
[a] three things about Blake's 7 as a series that make it special for them, and different from other shows?
Hmm. It's kind of hard to express what I find special about the series in a list of this kind (mainly 'cause everything ties in together), but I'll try...
1) The gritty, bleak feel to the whole thing, with particular reference to the fact that the putative Good Guys are a) not all that Good (certainly not with a capital-G), and b) do not always (or even ultimately) win. Let's make this one really inclusive, and mention the ending as well, and the beautifully tragic nature of the whole thing.
2) Chris Boucher dialog!
3) The characters: three-dimensional, believable, interesting, and fun to attempt to psychoanalyze. I *also* absolutely love the fact that the things that happen to these people (most particularly Avon, but also Blake, of course, and the others to a certain extent) have an *effect* on them -- and a believably negative one, given the nature of the lives they're leading. B7 did *not* push the reset button every week, and particularly not when it came to characterization!
[b] if you can think of them, one thing in each of just three episodes that somehow lifted that episode for you?
Actually (rather to my surprise), I find that I can think of more than one thing that I really liked in even a couple of the worst episodes:
1) "Moloch": The apple-and-mouse scene, and also Vila's expression when he finally understands Doran's "problem with women."
2) "Dawn of the Gods": The monopoly game at the beginning. Yeah, I know, it's kinda goofy, and I'm sure some people hate it, but it does several things for me: a) it's extremely amusing, IMHO, especially Orac getting sulky about abandoning the game, b) it's just so *nice* -- and such a rare thing -- to see them all relaxing and having fun together, and c) it provides a tiny glimpse of the Amoral Manipulative Orac I've always suspected lies beneath that calm perspex exterior. I also love Tarrant's "bald dwarf" line, which I think is terribly clever and funny (no matter *what* Neil says! :)). Oh, there's one *more* thing about DotG, of course, but I don't *really* need to mention it, do I? ;)
3) Hmm. I'm trying desperately to think of *something* good to mention about HoK, but, no, *nothing* manages to redeem that episode for me. Not even the Sopron, which *was*, admittedly, kind of a cute idea...
Betty said, answering Sally's request for lists of three special/different things and three saving graces:
- The gritty, bleak feel to the whole thing, with particular reference
to the fact that the putative Good Guys are a) not all that Good (certainly not with a capital-G), and b) do not always (or even ultimately) win. Let's make this one really inclusive, and mention the ending as well, and the beautifully tragic nature of the whole thing.
Yes! Yes! Not to mention that Avon's rare excursions into empathy and affiliation just make things worse.
[...]
- The characters: three-dimensional, believable, interesting, and fun
to attempt to psychoanalyze.
I dunno...sometimes I suspect that the fun of the attempts to psycho- analyze stems in large part from trying to add a second dimension (or even to project an image onto a blank canvas)....which is why I love the sopron so much. It sums up the whole series for me (well, that and the robot in Volcano (e-mail me for reasons if you don't remember).
I like that Blake frequently looks nervous in conventional terms which is unusual for the as-close-as-we-get-to-a-hero-of-an- adventure-series.
- "Moloch": The apple-and-mouse scene, and also Vila's expression when
he finally understands Doran's "problem with women."
Grose is my favorite one-time villain, I even used "That would be like trying to choose between lust and good-old fashioned gluttony" as a sig for a while
"Orac" has my favorite Blake line of all time: when he mutters "I'm fed up wi' takin' orders" after a whole one and a half orders.
-(Y)
Responding to me, Dana Shilling wrote:
- The characters: three-dimensional, believable, interesting, and fun
to attempt to psychoanalyze.
I dunno...sometimes I suspect that the fun of the attempts to psycho- analyze stems in large part from trying to add a second dimension (or even to project an image onto a blank canvas)....
Well, I sort of half-agree with this, actually. To me, the characters (and, yes, I'm thinking most particularly of Avon here, but the others as well) are like icebergs, or maybe a better analogy would be undersea mountains. The island peaks are interesting enough in themselves to make you want to explore them a bit, but once you start doing so, you realize that there must be a whole lot to them that you *can't* see directly, and that's where the fun and the element of projection comes in. You get to try and figure out what the bulk of the mountain must look like, in order for *this* peak to connect to *that* peak in this sort of a way... (To thoroughly abuse a metaphor...)
On 6 May 2001 as I do recall, Dana Shilling wrote:
I like that Blake frequently looks nervous in conventional terms which is unusual for the as-close-as-we-get-to-a-hero-of-an- adventure-series.
One of my favourite Gareth Thomas scenes (i.e. where I'm admiring the actor as opposed to admiring the character!) is the moment in 'Bounty' where Sarkoff is holding Blake at revolver-point and Blake is desperately trying to convince him of his identity before getting killed by the man he's trying to rescue... He talks faster and faster as it becomes obvious Sarkoff is about to fire; and then there is a close-up shot of Blake's face as the trigger is actually pulled and he quite clearly thinks he's about to die.
Sally Manton wrote:
[a] three things about Blake's 7 as a series that make it special for them, and different from other shows?
1. I like dark/funny; or in B7's case, I suppose it should be bleak/funny. I haven't found many things with this particular vibe that hit my sense of humour, outside of the first two seasons of Buffy, and certain productions of Hamlet.
2. When you get to the end, it's a whole story (as opposed to just stopping). Not just any story, either, but a lovely little tragedy themed on trust, loyalty, betrayal. With not just one, but two tragic heroes. <Contented sigh> How I love tragedy - especially a funny one. Reminds me of my favourite play, Hamlet.
3. 'Tisn't very often I can identify with a main character on a TV show, instead of one relegated to second-tier status. Makes a nice change to have a dark, snarly, snarky anti-hero in the thick of things; sort of like - wait for it - Hamlet. <g!>
[b] if you can think of them, one thing in each of just three episodes that somehow lifted that episode for you?
Hm. Well, the sopron and Avon's bit as a lecturer in Moloch have already been mentioned, so I guess I'll have to think harder than I'd planned.
1. Mission to Destiny - the bit where Blake and Avon are looking for the air circulating system, and Avon gets temporarily turned around. It never fails to make me smile.
2. Gambit - the conversation where Avon and Vila trick Orac into shrinking itself. (Not to mention Jarriere, and Servie's detour into actual colour.)
3. Volcano - contains what is probably my favourite A-V scene in the whole run, the bit where they're sitting on the flight deck and Vila is having a drink, after Cally and Orac have been taken.
(In deference to Joanne, I won't mention the one thing that makes Deathwatch worth viewing ... )
Mistral
Mistral said:
- When you get to the end, it's a whole story (as opposed to just
stopping). Not just any story, either, but a lovely little tragedy themed on trust, loyalty, betrayal.
It really would make a good musical, of the they-all-died-miserably- ever-after genre With not just one, but two tragic
heroes. <Contented sigh> How I love tragedy - especially a funny one. Reminds me of my favourite play, Hamlet.
Ahah--so that's why Avon hesitated so much about finding Blake.
-(Y)
--- Sally wrote: > I always like a bit of taffy after a critique, so
...
We've done what changes we'd like. Now, would anyone like to give us:
[a] three things about Blake's 7 as a series that make it special for them, and different from other shows?
1. The moral ambiguity 2. The dialogue 3. The ending
[b] if you can think of them, one thing in each of just three episodes that somehow lifted that episode for you? (For instance, I *know* Kairos is somewhat dodgy, but I love the portrayal of Avon as single-minded scientist intent of shuffling the leadership onto Tarrant; it works so well just for this brief post-War period for me.)
1. Kevin Stoney and Servalan sparring in Hostage and Animals 2. Dayna telling Avon "After all, you are the dominant male" in Sand 3. The "I'm as surprised as you are"/ "I'm not surprised" bit in the Web.
Stephen.
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"Sally" == Sally Manton smanton@hotmail.com writes:
[a] three things about Blake's 7 as a series that make it special for them, and different from other shows?
1) It's quite uniquely bleak. As someone said here long ago, the protagonists really have their high point in episode three or so; after that it's steadily downhill until they all die due to bad luck and misunderstandings in a miserable hole on an unimportant planet.
I think the one B7 episode that in itself mirrors the entire series is "Pressure Point": after much effort and many trials everybody loses.
2) The baddies. Servalan is beautiful, smart and very nasty, and unlike almost every other villain she does *better* than the heroes in the long run.
3) Entertaining characters and much fun dialogue.
Could the enzyme cloud the Liberator encountered near Terminal be the remains of the cleaning process probably undertaken when it was moved to its new location and the process restarted? The planet's claimed destruction could have been placed during the transit so that whoever was intending to use it would have no-one else involved?
And, in view of Terminal's shape, could the Links' development be a response to massive variations in gravity across the planet?
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--- Jacqui wrote:
Could the enzyme cloud the Liberator encountered near Terminal be the remains of the cleaning process probably undertaken when it was moved to its new location and the process restarted? The planet's claimed destruction could have been placed during the transit so that whoever was intending to use it would have no-one else involved?
And, in view of Terminal's shape, could the Links' development be a response to massive variations in gravity across the planet?
I suppose it's concievable that the Enzyme cloud had something to do with the Links evolution. If we suppose that homo sapiens evolved at one stage on Terminal. Suppose then that Terminal passes through the cloud. The cloud obscures Terminal's sun and causes untold devastation. The remnants of homo sapiens evolve into Links as the new ice age and consequent shortage of resources favours mutations with fur and increased aggression.
Stephen.
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