Vila could probably only exist *in* a show like Blakes 7. He'd never make it aboard a ship manned in a more conventional way (desirable attributes for heroes not normally including scattiness, cowardice, selfishness and self-indulgence) but he is able to stay because - *being* as it is a small group of fighters - his skills and humour, the unconventional advantages he brings, outweigh those drawbacks (well, most of the time - I doubt Blake or Cally thought they did in Shadow :-)).
And while it might be more sensible for him, as Leia says, to ask to be dropped off somewhere nice, it also makes sense that there doesn't seem to *be* anywhere that he thinks better than where he is (which, given his lack of enthusiasm for Fighting for Freedom in S1-2, and the company he is made to keep in S3-4, says something about what he came from, methinks). Maybe what they all came from.
Even in series 4, Xenon seems to still be better than being alone anywhere else ...
_________________________________________________________________ Send and receive Hotmail on your mobile device: http://mobile.msn.com
Sally M wrote:
And while it might be more sensible for him, as Leia says, to ask to be dropped off somewhere nice...
That was me actually. :-)
...it also makes sense that there doesn't seem to *be* anywhere that he thinks better than where he is (which, given his
lack
of enthusiasm for Fighting for Freedom in S1-2, and the company he is made to keep in S3-4, says something about what he came from, methinks). Maybe what they all came from.
The Federation certainly seems to value viciousness, ruthlessness and a complete lack of affection or consideration for others, but given that Vila just doesn't fit that mould, where he came from can't have been too bad or he wouldn't have survived as long as he did with such lousy defences. Perhaps the Delta levels have something going for them--among all the poverty and deprivation, some warm family life or friendships perhaps?
[An aside--Vila uses religious terms quite a lot for a society which has banned religion: God (twice), judgement day, hell. A thought--perhaps there are secret Christians among the downtrodden Deltas, which may modify their society's values.]
Even in series 4, Xenon seems to still be better than being alone anywhere else ...
I found that hard to believe, but Vila does seem terrified of being on his own, preferring at least twice to risk danger than stay alone in the base. Mind you, I bet it wasn't a nice place to be, having been inhabited by the evil Dorian for a couple of centuries... The vibes would not be pleasant.
Nico
Nico Mody-Nikoloff wrote:
The Federation certainly seems to value viciousness, ruthlessness and a complete lack of affection or consideration for others, but given that Vila just doesn't fit that mould, where he came from can't have been too bad or he wouldn't have survived as long as he did with such lousy defences.
Oh, I think Vila's got excellent defenses. They're just of a different sort than everybody else's. Vila's philosophy seems to be: don't be percieved as a threat (and thus a target), but be likeable and funny enough (or useful enough!) that people bigger and badder than you will be willing to protect you, even if they're condescending about it. It does seem to work for him.
Betty Ragan wrote:
Nico Mody-Nikoloff wrote:
The Federation certainly seems to value viciousness, ruthlessness and a complete lack of affection or consideration for others, but given that
Vila
just doesn't fit that mould, where he came from can't have been too bad
or
he wouldn't have survived as long as he did with such lousy defences.
Oh, I think Vila's got excellent defenses. They're just of a different sort than everybody else's. Vila's philosophy seems to be: don't be percieved as a threat (and thus a target), but be likeable and funny enough (or useful enough!) that people bigger and badder than you will be willing to protect you, even if they're condescending about it. It does seem to work for him.
I agree those are Vila's defences ("I'm harmless"), and they've obviously served him very well up to 'The Way Back'. and continue to work well enough after that in that he's still alive in 'Blake', but by then he's very different from the start. In early season 1, certainly up to Seek-Locate-Destroy, he's nervous, yes, but relatively confident in action and around the others. He becomes more cowardly after that, the nadir being 'Hostage', and by season 3 he's not even useful (they just don't need locks picked). By season 4 he's so depressed he can hardly raise a smile.
This implies (to me anyway) that he found his past life a lot easier, for whatever reason (more accepted by others perhaps, treated as an equal?). Being harmless and amusing just don't work that well on the Liberator or Scorpio. Being despised and barely tolerated is hardly conducive to mental health--as Cally said once he might come to find it easier to just give up than go on, and I think that's the point he's reached by 'Blake'. So he'd have been much better off leaving and taking his chances elsewhere.
Nico
-
Betty Ragan -
Nico Mody-Nikoloff -
Sally M