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blakes7-d Digest Volume 00 : Issue 97
Today's Topics:
[B7L] Action figures
[B7L] deportation (was Avon's Skills)
Re: [B7L] Re: blakes7 action figures... the line expands
Re: [B7L] UnAmerican Activities
Re: [B7L] First impressions: "Mission to Destiny"
[B7L] Avon's Skills
Re: [B7L] Action figures
Re: [B7L] UnAmerican Activities
Re: [B7L] UnAmerican Activities
Re: [B7L] UnAmerican Activities
Re: [B7L] Re: blakes7 action figures... the line expands
Re: [B7L] MS3K/B7
[B7L] Re: First impressions: "Mission to Destiny"
Re: [B7L] RE: [B7] Avon's Skills
Re: [B7L] RE: [B7] Avon's Skills
Re: [B7L] Re: [B7] Anna's attempted coup (Was: Avon's skills)
Re: [B7L] Re: Fan Fiction
[B7L] Re: [B7] Anna's attempted coup (Was: Avon's skills)
Re: [B7L] UnAmerican Activities
Re: [B7L] Avon's Skills
RE: [B7L] cost of email
Re: [B7L] Avon's Skills
Re: [B7L] UnAmerican Activities
Re: [B7L] UnAmerican Activities
Re: [B7L] cost of email
Re: [B7L] cost of email
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 03 Apr 2000 21:22:27 -0700
From: Pat Patera <patpatera@netzero.net>
To: B7 Lysator <blakes7@lysator.liu.se>
Subject: [B7L] Action figures
Message-ID: <38E96E03.4C74B57@netzero.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
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Trish wrote:
>All right, I started the ball rolling, so I thought I'd keep it in play.
>(Pat, you're just encouraging me you know)
Can't have that! Employee morale must always be left with lots of room
to improve, otherwise how can the pointy haired manager demonstrate
motivational skills? So here is a creative, wildly enthuisiatic about
this new line of action figures. heh heh <evil overlord chortle> I'll
sic the Marketing Department on this idea! <evil cackle>
>The Roj Blake Doll
>Swivel ball head that can be turned up, down, left or right, but has a
>tendency to prefer the left
Meet with Legal to work out plan to sell Leftist Leader as mascot to the
U.S. Democratic Party
*not* to the U.S. Freedom Party, which crashed and burned already (deja
vu?)
>Great big bleeding heart
Sending this idea to Legal; investigate liability for blood borne
diseases.
>A mind that can be wiped clean and rewritten as many times as you like.
Etch a Sketch may claim copyright violation. Table for further study.
>Accessories include oversized vests and tunic a la Robin Hood, and wellies
Make it disco leisure suit. That's as far back as today's kids can
relate to the retro look.
>The Jenna Stannis doll
>Perfect blonde hair that never needs to be set
Make it purple chopped punk look.
>High heels
Platform shoes were last season; Doc Martins are still rad.
>Resistance wear for ladies can also be worn as formalwear
Add multiple piercings: nose, brow, navel. Cut tops above breastbone to
display.
Include nipple (etc.) rings as additional purchase accessories.
>The Kerr (I don't really ever use a first name) Avon doll
>Battery operated model comes with limitless supply of sarcasm,
Batteries not included
>Comes with black leather pants and interchangeable jackets
One outfit only in package; additional outfits for separate purchase.
>Blowdryer and hairspray
See above: chopped punk Mohawk
>Red lobster suit
Refered to Legal; SPCA might lodge boycott protest
>Intermittant conscience optional
Separate packaging at additional price
>Heart considered an additional purchase and is available in limited quantities
Design set of bubblegum trading cards; include only one heart per 1,000
cards.
Marketing will provide campaign to get kids collecting the whole set.
>The Slash Avon doll
>Studded black leather clothing and gauntlets
Can't sell sex to kids. Can sell violence. Make it The Slasher Avon
doll.
Include full collectable set of brutal murder tools. And bottle of
blood.
Design video game on this theme: suggest title: Avon: A Terrible
Slasher.
>The Vila Restal doll
>Set of breaking and entering tools
Nix. Shop class is passe. Make it a set of bomb building bits.
>Bottomless bottle of adrenaline and soma
Nix. Legal Dept. says MADD will be on us like flies on shit.
Happy juice is bad bad bad stuff to show kids.
Make it a bottomless moltov cocktail.
Recast Vila as The Mad Bomber; adjunct to The Terrible Slasher.
>The Cally doll
>Hair can be cut drastically and grows back
See above: punk grunge crop; better still, bald.
>Ability to change from forceful figure to moralizing wimp.
Great idea. P.R. is working up a diet book for little girls, ages 6-12
to get them going on that anorexic look.
Meet with Legal Dept. next week to work out plan to sell Moralizing wimp
as campaign mascot to U.S. Republican Party.
>(You'll need to buy a new one if you want the forceful figure back)
Marketing really really likes this. make each doll deflate into a
rubbery wimp within 30 days max.
>Easily possessed by alien creatures
OK. We'll work up a cross promotion with Ninja Turtle action figure set.
>Comes with her own personal moon disc
Great! Work up whole line of jewelry to sell to girls. Use New Age
theme; make it a mother-daughter thing; we'll two of every piece.
>The Olag Gan doll
>Come with his own limiter
Nix. This is so so uncool. Kids do not have their behavior limited these
days.
>Interchangeable with Paul Bunyan action figures
Have you been in a closet the past 100 years? It's Schwarzenegger action
figures.
>The Del Tarrant doll
>A set of 64 oversized very white teeth rather than the normal 32
>Personality optional
Can't do a thing with that hair. Make it gay.
>The Dayna Mellanby doll
>Bow, arrow, spear,
No. No. No. This is *so* politically incorrect. You may as well suggest
packaging her in a zebra skin sarong with a big bone thru her nose!
>High heels,
Better. Package her as a dominatrix with a large, angry Afro.
>The Soolin doll
>Includes 24 piece set of guns
Package each gun separately; make kids collect the whole set.
>Hair can be set in any style, limited only by your imagination
Create instruction book. Imagination is passe. It went south with the
SAT scores.
>The Servalan doll (can also be used for voodoo)
>Includes the Servalan couture line, as designed by Joan Collins
No. Old hat. Use whoever designs for Kate Moss / Sarah Michelle Geller.
Get rad.
And lose the lumpy hips. Thin is in.
>Knifes for backstabbing
>Poison for use with friends
*Now* you're catching up with kids in the 21st century. Cultivate this
attitude and you might still have a job next year.
>The Travis I doll
>Black leather attire and eyepatch
>Simulated laser arm and gadget ring
>Optional conscience
Make it a Borg. Legal is talking cross promotion with Trek franchise.
>The Anna Grant doll
>Just turn her head to see the multiple faces
Legal likes this idea for a Politically Correct figure: make each face a
different race.
Have new designs on my desk Monday morning. (or else)
PatPat, VP Marketing
Supreme Commander Enterprises, Inc.
--
http://www.geocities.com/area51/1707
_____________________________________________
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------------------------------
Date: Tue, 4 Apr 2000 01:06:46 EDT
From: Pherber@aol.com
To: blakes7@lysator.liu.se
Subject: [B7L] deportation (was Avon's Skills)
Message-ID: <b8.3ede542.261ad266@aol.com>
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In a message dated 4/3/00 2:47:38 PM Mountain Daylight Time,
Andrew.Otewalt@kla-tencor.com writes:
Hi andrew -- welcome!
> i would think in on a planet that has to drug it's citizens so they wont
> revolt, that the workforce productivity would be as low as their moral.
> a drugged worker isn't leading the revolt, nor are they leading the
> workforce to out produce the other shifts.
> so, low productivity means less resources available to the federation.
Good point. From the available evidence, however, it doesn't look like the
higher classes were being drugged heavily, if at all. (At least until
pylene-50 became available.) The most probable scenario, IMHO, is that the
level of suppression increased as the grade level went down, i.e., Alphas got
the minimum level of suppressants and Deltas the highest. I expect the
Administration was willing to accept a certain level of lower production
output in exchange for the control they had over the workers.
> i forget how long the trip to, eh, now i forget the name of the prison
> planet that blake & co. get sent to.
> anyway, it was a long trip, wasn't it at least a couple of weeks ?
8 months, ship time per Raiker. Don't know what that works out to in real
time - Neil? Any idea what the conversion factor might be?
> a space flight like that has got to cost and arm and a leg, so to speak.
> it would have been much much cheaper to just kill them all.
It seems to me that the mundane details, like transporting prisoners, were
contracted out to civilian organizations -- the London is a "Civil
Administration" ship, not a military one, and Jenna tells Blake they're on a
fixed-price contract. The Federation might not care how much the actual cost
is, or even if they get there at all in the case of Cygnus Alpha. But given
the evidence we see in The Way Back, summary execution would probably not be
a politically feasible solution for the administration. They seem to want to
maintain at least the trappings of a just and impartial governing system, and
that would probably be more important to them than the cost of deporting the
"undesirables." After all, it's just tax money - there's plenty more where
that came from! <g>
Nina
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 4 Apr 2000 01:06:47 EDT
From: Pherber@aol.com
To: blakes7@lysator.liu.se
Subject: Re: [B7L] Re: blakes7 action figures... the line expands
Message-ID: <4d.29835a3.261ad267@aol.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
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In a message dated 4/3/00 12:37:01 PM Mountain Daylight Time, avona@jps.net
writes:
> Bomb action set, fun to assemble and disassemble
>
Also interchangeable with the Dayna set...<g>
Nina
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 4 Apr 2000 01:06:42 EDT
From: Pherber@aol.com
To: blakes7@lysator.liu.se
Subject: Re: [B7L] UnAmerican Activities
Message-ID: <5b.404ab5d.261ad262@aol.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
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In a message dated 4/3/00 2:18:30 PM Mountain Daylight Time, sjk3@cornell.edu
writes:
> Which, of course, explains why Babylon 5 never sold (nor ran for 5
> years on American TV, nor sold to the European market).
Ah, but B5 is *not* morally ambiguous. B5 is in most respects pretty
mainstream good-guys vs bad-guys stuff. The protagonists are upright members
of the community, taking action to protect that community, not a group of
unrepentant escaped convicts engaged (willingly or otherwise) in a guerilla
war against the established government. And, of course, the ultimate ending
is success for the heroes, if somewhat bittersweet, instead of everyone going
down in a hail of gunfire.
And remember - B5 didn't run on one of the mainstream networks, either.
My point is that mainstream American TV would never support a series like B7,
that doesn't appeal to their image of the ideal consumer. To borrow a phrase
from Carnell: (The media) will forgive anything they can understand, which
makes intelligence about the only sin.
Nina
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 4 Apr 2000 01:06:51 EDT
From: Pherber@aol.com
To: blakes7@lysator.liu.se
Subject: Re: [B7L] First impressions: "Mission to Destiny"
Message-ID: <b0.3562fc7.261ad26b@aol.com>
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In a message dated 4/2/00 7:00:51 AM Mountain Daylight Time,
ariana@ndirect.co.uk writes:
> Avon cast as Hercule Poirot
Oh jeez, what a mental image *that* brings on! <snicker> Though he *is* a
bit like the little Belgian fuss-pot, isn't he? <bg>
> After the last couple of episodes, I was beginning to wonder what
> people saw in Cally. Now I see it.
>
> In this episode, she proves to be intelligent and resourceful, and another
> female who does not scream despite ample opportunity to do so.
This is indeed a great episode for Cally. I even like the green outfit she
wears.
> She obviously doesn't pay too much attention to Avon's
> biting remarks either -- I particularly loved the way she rolled her eyes
> when he complained about her volunteering them as hostages. I gather the
> general concensus on the Liberator by now is that Avon's bark is worse than
> his bite.
Well, *she* takes him that way, evidently! I get the feeling she finds his
griping rather amusing.
> Speaking of which, it was interesting to to see Avon do something else than
> twiddle knobs and snarl a lot. He still does plenty of both, but also gets
> to strut around with his hands behind his back, putting on a fine display
of
> Holmesian superciliousness.
I quite like the scene where he pokes his head into the corridor after Sara
threatens them, and then says "You'd better get after her" rather than follow
her himself.
> Nitpicks and Preposterous Props:
> ================================
> I do have a few nits about the Liberator's trip to Destiny. If it would
take
> the Ortega five months to get back to Destiny at sub-light speed, doesn't
> that mean they should be pretty much in Destiny's solar system?
Oh, picky, picky, picky! <g>
> Dialogue Gems:
> ==============
> CALLY: We must help these people. [She and Avon hand their teleport
> bracelets to Blake]
> AVON: Must we? Personally, I don't care if their whole planet turns
> into a mushroom.
Ah, Mr. Charm at work...
> ======
> CALLY: I agree. So who do you think it is?
> AVON: Mandrian.
> CALLY: Why?
> AVON: Instinct. I discount Dr. Kendall.
> CALLY: I thought you mistrusted instinct.
> AVON: I do, so I am probably wrong.
<smile> I really like his expression when he says that.
> [[Tada! Avon Reveals All (er, not to be misinterpreted by the Avon
> enthusiasts out there ;)]]
Rats! <veg>
> ======
> BLAKE: So do I. [Opens box - empty] It's still on the Ortega. We've
> got to get back to them.
> VILA: Now I know I don't feel very well.
>
> [[But while you're at it, how about whacking Blake for not checking the
> contents of the box before he left?!]]
Hear, Hear! One thump (at least) upside the head for Fearless Leader!
One thing I find very interesting about this ep is Blake's bloodthirsty
streak at the end, deliberately mining the Ortega's entry hatch. The
approaching ship wasn't any threat to Liberator, or to the crew of the Ortega
at that point, so why blow them up? There's no suggestion that they were
Federation, so this seems rather odd for Blake. (OTOH, if *Avon* had done
it, it wouldn't surprise me at all.) I also think it's interesting, and very
much in character, that Avon let go of Sara so she had enough time to remove
the teleport bracelet -- do you think Blake had told him about the
explosives? Seems likely to me.
Nina
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 03 Apr 2000 22:05:26 -0700
From: Pat Patera <patpatera@netzero.net>
To: B7 Lysator <blakes7@lysator.liu.se>
Subject: [B7L] Avon's Skills
Message-ID: <38E97816.BD9FEDBC@netzero.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
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Mistral wrote:
>What if Anna didn't realise that she loved Avon until after she'd
>taken the money? Maybe even after she'd seen him the last time?
>And she had him captured and shipped away to cover her tracks,
>but once he's gone she's sorry, but it's too late. This could explain
>why she acts so contradictorily in Rumors. Ooh. Like it :-D
sing it (60s song):
"Don't it always seem to go;
you don't know what you've got til it's gone.
Big yellow taxi;
took away my old man."
ooooohhhh I love it. What a wonderful wallow it would make for Anna.
And how ironic that the same thing happened to Avon once Blake was gone.
For two seasons, all Avon talked about was how he wanted to be rid of
*him*
... and have the ship for his own. And then ...
He spent the next two seasons looking for Blake.
hmmmm I wonder if Anna went out looking for Avon? Her attempts to
infiltrate the rebels in order to locate Blake/Avon would make an
interesting tale. Perhaps this could explain just what Sulu Chesku was
*doing* running about in the woods with a band of muddy-booted rebels.
It seemed that she should have been dining on fine china at the new
palace.
Pat
--
http://www.geocities.com/area51/1707
_____________________________________________
NetZero - Defenders of the Free World
Click here for FREE Internet Access and Email
http://www.netzero.net/download/index.html
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 4 Apr 2000 01:32:30 EDT
From: Prmolloy@aol.com
To: blakes7@lysator.liu.se
Subject: Re: [B7L] Action figures
Message-ID: <7f.28cf69f.261ad86e@aol.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
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To: PatPat, VP Marketing
Supreme Commander Enterprises, Inc.
From: Trish, Engineer, who holds Marketing in contempt (do you really need a
degree to make up products that violate the laws of physics, are impossible
to produce, and were promised yesterday?)
re: Revisions to B7 Action figure line
Text: Rolling on the floor laughing my ass off so hard that I may have to
call in sick to work tomorrow.
In order to present full gender equality, suggest body piercings on the male
dolls as well as the Jenna doll. Black leather seems to go well with body
piercings, unsure whether to go with nipple piercing or straight to the manly
men body piercings.
******************************************************************************
******************
>The Roj Blake Doll
>Swivel ball head that can be turned up, down, left or right, but has a
>tendency to prefer the left
Meet with Legal to work out plan to sell Leftist Leader as mascot to the
U.S. Democratic Party
*not* to the U.S. Freedom Party, which crashed and burned already (deja
vu?)
>Great big bleeding heart
Sending this idea to Legal; investigate liability for blood borne
diseases.
>A mind that can be wiped clean and rewritten as many times as you like.
Etch a Sketch may claim copyright violation. Table for further study.
>Accessories include oversized vests and tunic a la Robin Hood, and wellies
Make it disco leisure suit. That's as far back as today's kids can
relate to the retro look.
>The Jenna Stannis doll
>Perfect blonde hair that never needs to be set
Make it purple chopped punk look.
>High heels
Platform shoes were last season; Doc Martins are still rad.
>Resistance wear for ladies can also be worn as formalwear
Add multiple piercings: nose, brow, navel. Cut tops above breastbone to
display.
Include nipple (etc.) rings as additional purchase accessories.
>The Kerr (I don't really ever use a first name) Avon doll
>Battery operated model comes with limitless supply of sarcasm,
Batteries not included
>Comes with black leather pants and interchangeable jackets
One outfit only in package; additional outfits for separate purchase.
>Blowdryer and hairspray
See above: chopped punk Mohawk
>Red lobster suit
Refered to Legal; SPCA might lodge boycott protest
>Intermittant conscience optional
Separate packaging at additional price
>Heart considered an additional purchase and is available in limited
quantities
Design set of bubblegum trading cards; include only one heart per 1,000
cards.
Marketing will provide campaign to get kids collecting the whole set.
>The Slash Avon doll
>Studded black leather clothing and gauntlets
Can't sell sex to kids. Can sell violence. Make it The Slasher Avon
doll.
Include full collectable set of brutal murder tools. And bottle of
blood.
Design video game on this theme: suggest title: Avon: A Terrible
Slasher.
>The Vila Restal doll
>Set of breaking and entering tools
Nix. Shop class is passe. Make it a set of bomb building bits.
>Bottomless bottle of adrenaline and soma
Nix. Legal Dept. says MADD will be on us like flies on shit.
Happy juice is bad bad bad stuff to show kids.
Make it a bottomless moltov cocktail.
Recast Vila as The Mad Bomber; adjunct to The Terrible Slasher.
>The Cally doll
>Hair can be cut drastically and grows back
See above: punk grunge crop; better still, bald.
>Ability to change from forceful figure to moralizing wimp.
Great idea. P.R. is working up a diet book for little girls, ages 6-12
to get them going on that anorexic look.
Meet with Legal Dept. next week to work out plan to sell Moralizing wimp
as campaign mascot to U.S. Republican Party.
>(You'll need to buy a new one if you want the forceful figure back)
Marketing really really likes this. make each doll deflate into a
rubbery wimp within 30 days max.
>Easily possessed by alien creatures
OK. We'll work up a cross promotion with Ninja Turtle action figure set.
>Comes with her own personal moon disc
Great! Work up whole line of jewelry to sell to girls. Use New Age
theme; make it a mother-daughter thing; we'll two of every piece.
>The Olag Gan doll
>Come with his own limiter
Nix. This is so so uncool. Kids do not have their behavior limited these
days.
>Interchangeable with Paul Bunyan action figures
Have you been in a closet the past 100 years? It's Schwarzenegger action
figures.
>The Del Tarrant doll
>A set of 64 oversized very white teeth rather than the normal 32
>Personality optional
Can't do a thing with that hair. Make it gay.
>The Dayna Mellanby doll
>Bow, arrow, spear,
No. No. No. This is *so* politically incorrect. You may as well suggest
packaging her in a zebra skin sarong with a big bone thru her nose!
>High heels,
Better. Package her as a dominatrix with a large, angry Afro.
>The Soolin doll
>Includes 24 piece set of guns
Package each gun separately; make kids collect the whole set.
>Hair can be set in any style, limited only by your imagination
Create instruction book. Imagination is passe. It went south with the
SAT scores.
>The Servalan doll (can also be used for voodoo)
>Includes the Servalan couture line, as designed by Joan Collins
No. Old hat. Use whoever designs for Kate Moss / Sarah Michelle Geller.
Get rad.
And lose the lumpy hips. Thin is in.
>Knifes for backstabbing
>Poison for use with friends
*Now* you're catching up with kids in the 21st century. Cultivate this
attitude and you might still have a job next year.
>The Travis I doll
>Black leather attire and eyepatch
>Simulated laser arm and gadget ring
>Optional conscience
Make it a Borg. Legal is talking cross promotion with Trek franchise.
>The Anna Grant doll
>Just turn her head to see the multiple faces
Legal likes this idea for a Politically Correct figure: make each face a
different race.
Have new designs on my desk Monday morning. (or else)
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 3 Apr 2000 22:45:11 -0600
From: "Ellynne G." <rilliara@juno.com>
To: blakes7@lysator.liu.se
Subject: Re: [B7L] UnAmerican Activities
Message-ID: <20000403.234250.-93195.1.rilliara@juno.com>
Content-Type: text/plain
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
On Mon, 3 Apr 2000 22:13:05 +0300 (EET DST) Kai V Karmanheimo
>
Orac repeatedly reduced to
> incoherence by
> human irrationality, yet constantly longing to become one;
This may not interest anyone but me, but the 'longing to be human' in so
many U.S. SF shows, besides being a cliche, is probably rooted in our
melting pot history. It goes beyond the idea that everyone wants to be
the way we are. It's the belief that everyone _is_ like us with only a
few, superficial differences (and those superficial differences are
probably best done away with anyhow). It's not without it's benefits.
Although there's been historically high levels of pressure for groups to
join the mainstream, it's also fostered an environment where someone on
the fringes _can_ move into the mainstream (some, I grant you, with
unfortunately higher degrees of difficulty than others, and others who
are still working on it. But still).
Cally > speaking
> in a foreign accent and telling mystical, New Age wisdoms,
Huh? You mean she didn't?
while > learning
> how much nicer it is to be a human;
If anyone wants a plot device to turn Cally the philosopher back into
Cally the warrior, I suggest having someone try to convince her she wants
to be human. That'll get blood in her eye.
Vila doing something stupid
> to > endanger the crew in every episode but learning a valuable lesson
in
> the > process and after saying how sorry he is, forgiven and joining in
> for the > mandatory group hug at the end of the episode;
Westly Vila Crusher.
lots of references to baseball
Hold it! Baseball defense! I actually enjoyed it when certain shows
made references to baseball and a few other things contemporary instead
of pretending the future existed in some vacuum (other than the obvious
space kind) with no contact to the past. I mean, if the Doctor can play
cricket ....
and somebody always
> telling
> small moral allegories about how he lost some important match as a
> kid
> because he traded his trusty old glove for a new one;
Oh, this happened all the time in B7. Except the old glove shoots him.
>
Ellynne
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------------------------------
Date: Mon, 3 Apr 2000 23:42:38 -0600
From: "Ellynne G." <rilliara@juno.com>
To: blakes7@lysator.liu.se
Subject: Re: [B7L] UnAmerican Activities
Message-ID: <20000403.234250.-93195.2.rilliara@juno.com>
Content-Type: text/plain
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On Mon, 3 Apr 2000 22:13:05 +0300 (EET DST) Kai V Karmanheimo
>
> So it's not just American tradition that Blake's 7 goes against.
> It's over
> two thousand years of story-telling tradition
> desperately crying: "NO! DON'T DO IT!" All in vain...
>
Interesting idea. THis post has gotten me all philosophical. First,
that American need for justice issue. It's not that I don't expect the
world to have plenty of flaws and injustices, I just think the point is
TO GO DOWN FIGHTING! And, hopefully, LEAVE THINGS BETTER FOR THOSE WHO
COME AFTER YOU!
Which is not a call for revolution. I mean, pulling weeds in a garden
when you expect to be two thousand miles away when harvest time comes
qualifies. Pioneers who levelled trails in ways that did them little
good but helped those coming after qualifies. Trying to raise the next
generation and prepare them for what lies ahead, with little idea what
they'll face except (going by current social trends) it'll be harder than
what you went through, qualifies.
If little, ol' American me had been writing Blake's 7, yeah, there would
have been a happy ending. Or, no, there would have been a _redemptive_
ending. Like Shakespeare's Winter's Tale, which takes the characters
through a tragedy as complete as Othello's and then follows them through
what happens _after_ as they try to put the pieces back together and the
world tries to right itself.
The Federation might not have been overthrown, but it would have either
been put on a path to correcting its wrongs or else there would have been
some chance for real refuge and escape.
Events at GP might have been the same, but Avon would have had to survive
and deal with the aftermath (actually, from a writer's POV, I am always
peeved with Tarrant, Dayna's, and Soolin's deaths. They had loose
storylines _needing_ resolution [although I have to admit Avon, Blake,
and Vila had fitting endings]). And, the thing is, Avon _needs_ to deal
with it. He reminds me of a line from Bujold's book, Memory (one of
whose characters is Avon derived, I understand), which I'm going to try
and paraphrase.
Conventional wisdom had it the criminal wanted to be caught. No,
criminals only wanted to get away. It was the sinner who wanted to be
caught, to be forced onto the long road of punishment and repentance....
to find some state of grace, no matter how shattered.
That's what I always see Avon as needing. I may have the occassional
burst of Avon drool (although, in real life, it would probably be only a
matter of time before I introduced him to the wonders of mace and a few
other elements of self-defense), I admit the main interest in his
character is seeing how needy he is. He's a guy who keeps destroying
himself. By the end of the series, he could be as ugly as whichever
version of Travis you consider the abominable imitation of the _real_ one
and it wouldn't matter. He needs help. He needs some sense of
redemption completely beyond his own power to achieve.
Heh, guess you were right. B7 does fly completely in the face of
Judeo-Christian expectations.
Ellynne
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Date: Tue, 04 Apr 2000 16:12:09 EST
From: "J MacQueen" <j_macqueen@hotmail.com>
To: blakes7@lysator.liu.se
Subject: Re: [B7L] UnAmerican Activities
Message-ID: <20000404061209.14940.qmail@hotmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed
>From: "Ellynne G." <rilliara@juno.com>
>and somebody always
> > telling
> > small moral allegories about how he lost some important match as a
> > kid
> > because he traded his trusty old glove for a new one;
>Oh, this happened all the time in B7. Except the old glove shoots him.
<snicker> I'm in trouble now - vision of Travis (either one) as an old
glove. With a bit of the Yellow Submarine mixed in.
Good thing it's nearly the end of the day.
Regards
Joanne
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Date: Tue, 04 Apr 2000 08:37:03 EST
From: "J MacQueen" <j_macqueen@hotmail.com>
To: blakes7@lysator.liu.se
Subject: Re: [B7L] Re: blakes7 action figures... the line expands
Message-ID: <20000403223703.26117.qmail@hotmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed
>From: Helen Krummenacker <avona@jps.net>
>Carnell figure comes with
>marionette strings which attatch to other figures.
>Fluttering eyelashes
Shouldn't the strings be attached to the fluttering eyelashes too?
(Well, wouldn't the Carnell fans appreciate having a bit more fun with him?
Enlighten me...)
Regards
Joanne
(who still can't see the eyelashes for the chin)
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Date: Tue, 4 Apr 2000 01:06:49 EDT
From: Pherber@aol.com
To: blakes7@lysator.liu.se
Subject: Re: [B7L] MS3K/B7
Message-ID: <7f.28cc520.261ad269@aol.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
In a message dated 4/3/00 9:39:07 AM Mountain Daylight Time,
rilliara@juno.com writes:
> Avon looked at Joel, trapped in solitary confinement in his satellite and
> screaming in horror as another bad movie began. Then he looked
> speculatively at Vila.
>
> Avon gathered up his missing tools and went to talk with Orac. He had a
> new project in mind ....
<giggle> Might be hard to find something bad enough to torture Vila with,
though.
Some sort of depressing, intellectual art films, perhaps? I don't think Plan
9 From Outer Space is going to do it...
Nina
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 3 Apr 2000 20:00:26 -0400
From: Harriet Monkhouse <101637.2064@compuserve.com>
To: "INTERNET:blakes7@lysator.liu.se" <blakes7@lysator.liu.se>
Subject: [B7L] Re: First impressions: "Mission to Destiny"
Message-ID: <200004032001_MC2-9FC0-32D7@compuserve.com>
Content-Type: text/plain;
charset=ISO-8859-1
Content-Disposition: inline
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
Ariana wrote:
>But while you're at it, how about whacking Blake for not
>checking the contents of the box before he left?!
I assumed that was Kendall's responsibility - they were to deliver the box
which he handed over. But I was a lot more worried by the fact that they
left a box containing something so valuable and rather fragile-looking
sitting around where it could fall off a table and get smashed...
Harriet
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 3 Apr 2000 22:53:19 +0100
From: Julia Jones <julia.lysator@jajones.demon.co.uk>
To: blakes7@lysator.liu.se
Cc: "'blakes7@lysator.liu.se'" <blakes7@lysator.liu.se>
Subject: Re: [B7L] RE: [B7] Avon's Skills
Message-ID: <JCCVp8BPLR64Ew5g@jajones.demon.co.uk>
In message <3B5D5F691204D3118C0400A0C911A490012F9021@milxpr05.kla-
tencor.com>, Otewalt, Andrew <Andrew.Otewalt@kla-tencor.com> writes
>so, why keep them alive ?
>i guess it is simply a way to keep the story going.
Well, the British made a convict colony out of Australia, at a time when
the travel was measured in months or years, so there's no reason why the
Federation couldn't have the same motives.
--
Julia Jones
"Don't philosophise with me, you electronic moron!"
The Turing test - as interpreted by Kerr Avon.
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 04 Apr 2000 08:53:55 EST
From: "J MacQueen" <j_macqueen@hotmail.com>
To: blakes7@lysator.liu.se
Subject: Re: [B7L] RE: [B7] Avon's Skills
Message-ID: <20000403225355.68365.qmail@hotmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed
>From: "Otewalt, Andrew" <Andrew.Otewalt@kla-tencor.com>
>has anyone thought about the cost of transporting convicts to prison
>planets? [snip] anyway, it was a long trip, wasn't it at least a couple of
>weeks ?
>a space flight like that has got to cost and arm and a leg, so to speak.
>it would have been much much cheaper to just kill them all.
Very probably, but you could speculate that the London had been chartered by
some corporation or the other to transport convicts on a profit basis, along
the lines of the way British convicts were transported to the American
colonies. Though who their labour would have been sold to on Cygnus Alpha is
something I haven't considered as yet, let alone how there would have been
money for this (Cygnus Alpha's main produce, for lack of further evidence,
seems to be corpses of those who fell foul of the Vargas family).
Life appears to have been pretty cheap in Britain too, but the powers that
be decided that they couldn't go on hanging people, hence sentences being
commuted to transportation. Convicts, for the term of their sentence, are a
fairly cheap source of labour (slaves would have been cheaper, of course).
Then again, I've yet to consider what exactly the Federation might've had in
mind for Cygnus Alpha. They may have forgotten themselves, thus allowing the
Vargas family to take charge.
Have to go hunting in the archives, I think - I'm sure Judith or someone had
a theory on this once.
Regards
Joanne
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------------------------------
Date: Mon, 3 Apr 2000 10:17:00 -0600
From: "Ellynne G." <rilliara@juno.com>
To: blakes7@lysator.liu.se
Subject: Re: [B7L] Re: [B7] Anna's attempted coup (Was: Avon's skills)
Message-ID: <20000403.220026.-93195.0.rilliara@juno.com>
Content-Type: text/plain
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
On Mon, 3 Apr 2000 17:03:44 +0000 Murray Smith <mjsmith@tcd.ie> writes:
> While
> they
> managed to capture Servalan, does anyone honestly believe that the
> military
> would obey orders from a President and Supreme Commander they knew
> to be a
> prisoner? I recall Frederick the Great leaving orders that if he was
> captured in battle, any commands supposedly coming from him were not
> to be
> obeyed.
>
Well, yes, but Servalan probably left orders more like, "If I am ever
captured in battle, you do anything and everything necessary to get me
back in one piece no matter how many you have to sacrifice doing it. Do
I make myself clear?"
To be honest, Servalan was a useful but limited piece. I would have
thought the main uses were PR oriented, depending on how much they could
_publicize_ news clips of her handing over power and perhaps a public
trial, etc. Then there's getting her to talk and admit what all the
secret computer commands are and where she's hidden the blackmail goods
on half the Federation.
The real problem is that we're talking guerillas dumb enough to stay in
an undefensible position where they can be easily located and killed
rather than making off for parts unknown (and giving the Federation the
added difficulty of never knowing if the rebel bases they were about to
bomb might not have Servalan in them).
Ellynne
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Date: Mon, 03 Apr 2000 16:53:26 -0700
From: mistral@ptinet.net
To: B7 List <blakes7@lysator.liu.se>
Subject: Re: [B7L] Re: Fan Fiction
Message-ID: <38E92EF6.ED09C704@ptinet.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Dana Shilling wrote:
> "Because you're never fully dressed without a snarl"
<g> This surely belongs on the box of the Avon doll.
Mistral
--
"Consider it an adventure."--Galen, 'Crusade'
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 4 Apr 2000 13:15:19 +0000
From: Murray Smith <mjsmith@tcd.ie>
To: Lysator <Blakes7@lysator.liu.se>
Subject: [B7L] Re: [B7] Anna's attempted coup (Was: Avon's skills)
Message-Id: <l03110701b50f98ef86ee@[134.226.96.44]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Ellynne,
>Well, yes, but Servalan probably left orders more like, "If I am ever
>captured in battle, you do anything and everything necessary to get me
>back in one piece no matter how many you have to sacrifice doing it. Do
>I make myself clear?"
That's presuming that her temporary successor as President and Supreme
Commander doesn't countermand said orders.<g>
>To be honest, Servalan was a useful but limited piece. I would have
>thought the main uses were PR oriented, depending on how much they could
>_publicize_ news clips of her handing over power and perhaps a public
>trial, etc. Then there's getting her to talk and admit what all the
>secret computer commands are and where she's hidden the blackmail goods
>on half the Federation.
True. I believe that the result of 'Rumours of Death' was that, even though
the coup failed, the fact that Servalan was captured in what should have
been the centre of her power dealt a huge blow to her reputation, and
caused her later deposition.
>The real problem is that we're talking guerillas dumb enough to stay in
>an undefensible position where they can be easily located and killed
>rather than making off for parts unknown (and giving the Federation the
>added difficulty of never knowing if the rebel bases they were about to
>bomb might not have Servalan in them).
Why would the Federation hold back in bombing rebel bases? I'm sure that
they would take the attitude that if they kill the former President and
Supreme Commander, too bad; she's in the military and will understand the
importance of sacrificing her life for the greater good.<bg> Look at
Travis. Whatever we think of him, he at least was prepared to sacrifice his
life if it meant killing the enemies of the Federation. In 'S-L-D' he told
the troopers to kill Blake and Cally and not to worry about killing him;
and in 'Pressure Point' he was prepared to sacrifice Servalan's life to
kill the B7 crew, something for which she never forgave him.
Murray
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 4 Apr 2000 13:39:24 +0100
From: Alison Page <alison_page@becta.org.uk>
To: "'blakes7@lysator.liu.se'" <blakes7@lysator.liu.se>
Subject: Re: [B7L] UnAmerican Activities
Message-ID: <21B0197931E1D211A26E0008C79F6C4AB0C4E4@BRAMLEY>
Content-Type: text/plain
Ellyne said
>This may not interest anyone but me, but the 'longing to be human' in so
many U.S. SF shows, besides being a cliche, is probably rooted in our
melting pot >history. It goes beyond the idea that everyone wants to be the
way we are. It's the belief that everyone _is_ like us with only a few,
superficial differences (and >those superficial differences are probably
best done away with anyhow).
I think it is very true that the attitude to 'Aliens' in US films and TV
shows reflects US attitudes to 'foreigners' (also called Aliens in American
English of course). There are basically three attitudes:
- they are different, hostile and evil
- they are cute, harmless and inferior
- they are just like us, with a few superficial differences (mainly in the
forehead area)
I can see how the latter point of view is a 'good thing' from the point of
view of assimilating and binding together immigrant cultures. I think it is
less good when these three attitudes are the only options for developing a
global foreign policy. I was thinking of the attitudes to the Japans
expressed on this list about a month ago: 'Families committed suicide rather
than surrender to the invading US army.' 'Women thought they were going to
be raped and they would rather die' Yes. Cultural difference. 'Alien'
attitudes.
I was raving about the film Three Kings a few weeks ago because I felt it
represented a new departure for American depiction of foreigners. the Iraqis
in this film are flawed human beings, with big cultural and linguistic
differences from the American soldiers, but they are treated as fully
rounded human beings. This is a really good development I think.
Alison
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 04 Apr 2000 14:04:14 GMT
From: "Mat Shayde" <dorian17@hotmail.com>
To: blakes7@lysator.liu.se
Subject: Re: [B7L] Avon's Skills
Message-ID: <20000404140414.99298.qmail@hotmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed
<snip>
>sing it (60s song):
>"Don't it always seem to go;
>you don't know what you've got til it's gone.
>Big yellow taxi;
>took away my old man."
>
>ooooohhhh I love it. What a wonderful wallow it would make for Anna.
>
>And how ironic that the same thing happened to Avon once Blake was gone.
>For two seasons, all Avon talked about was how he wanted to be rid of
>*him*
>... and have the ship for his own. And then ...
>He spent the next two seasons looking for Blake.
Yeah - he doesn't exactly look very *hard* though does he? The whole search
is rather apathetic. In Terminal he only seems interested in Blake's
discovery and in Blake he wouldn't have bothered at all were it not for
Zukan's betrayal.
Dorian - "You mean you're here by choice?"
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------------------------------
Date: Tue, 4 Apr 100 16:03:45 +0200 (CEST)
From: "Jeroen J. Kwast" <jeroenkw@gns.getronics.nl>
To: Blakes7@lysator.liu.se
Subject: RE: [B7L] cost of email
Message-Id: <200004041403.QAA29433@pampus.gns.getronics.nl>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Kathryn not Judith again wrote ...
*snip *
>
> (Judith has just pointed out to me that Julia also suffers from RSI, not
> to mention Sondra Sweigman who has tendonitis. So that's three already.)
Make that four! :( (Left thumb, hand, arm and a bit of shoulder)
Jeroen
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 04 Apr 2000 09:28:10 -0500
From: Lisa Williams <lcw@dallas.net>
To: blakes7@lysator.liu.se
Subject: Re: [B7L] Avon's Skills
Message-Id: <4.2.2.20000404092740.00abcc10@mail.dallas.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed
Mat Shayde wrote:
>In Terminal he only seems interested in Blake's discovery
Ah, yet another of those "Were we watching the same show?" moments...
- Lisa
--
_____________________________________________________________
Lisa Williams: lcw@dallas.net or lwilliams@raytheon.com
Lisa's Video Frame Capture Library: http://lcw.simplenet.com/
From Eroica With Love: http://eroica.simplenet.com/
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 4 Apr 2000 18:09:55 +0300 (EET DST)
From: Kai V Karmanheimo <karmanhe@cc.helsinki.fi>
To: Blakes7@lysator.liu.se
Subject: Re: [B7L] UnAmerican Activities
Message-ID: <Pine.SOL.4.20.0004041807590.26271-100000@kruuna.Helsinki.FI>
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
Sandra wrote:
<That said, not all American TV is Star Trek! Sure, there's lots of bad
American TV out there, but I'm sure European TV has its share of bad
programming too. We just don't see a lot of it in the US. Then again,
maybe everybody *likes* Teletubbies?>
For one thing Star Trek is one of the better programmes American TV has
produced <smile>. Basically, I was just playing with stereotypes there (no
offence meant). We do get quite a lot of American programmes here, though
of course only a small portion of the whole output, and frankly most of
them are rather irritating. But you are right, bad programmes are
naturally prolific, good ones an endangered species - and that's true
everywhere. Remembering of course that not every one agrees on what good
television is.
As for Teletubbies, if everyone really starts liking them, I'm going to
drop my anti-paranoia stance and start thinking that someone is lacing our
food and drink with Tubbylene-50...
Kai
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 4 Apr 2000 16:18:53 +0100
From: "Una McCormack" <una@q-research.connectfree.co.uk>
To: <blakes7@lysator.liu.se>
Subject: Re: [B7L] UnAmerican Activities
Message-ID: <02d601bf9e49$f6b21390$0d01a8c0@codex>
Content-Type: text/plain;
charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Sandra Kisner wrote:
> That said, not all American TV is Star Trek!
<mutter, mutter> like DS9 it's dead good 'In the Pale Moonlight' top episode
worthy of B7 in my opinion not that anyone listens to me life don't talk to
me about life...
Una
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 4 Apr 2000 16:22:43 +0100
From: "Una McCormack" <una@q-research.connectfree.co.uk>
To: "lysator" <blakes7@lysator.liu.se>
Subject: Re: [B7L] cost of email
Message-ID: <02d901bf9e49$f7187680$0d01a8c0@codex>
Content-Type: text/plain;
charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Jeroen:
> Kathryn not Judith again wrote ...
>
> *snip *
> >
> > (Judith has just pointed out to me that Julia also suffers from RSI, not
> > to mention Sondra Sweigman who has tendonitis. So that's three
already.)
>
>
> Make that four! :( (Left thumb, hand, arm and a bit of shoulder)
Five - both arms, elbows to tips of middle fingers :(
Una
Oh, and just so this isn't simply a 'me too' post, that *is* my name. Unless
you're pronouncing it 'Yoo-na', in which case it isn't.
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 4 Apr 2000 17:01:37 +0100 (BST)
From: Iain Coleman <ijc@bsfiles.nerc-bas.ac.uk>
To: lysator <blakes7@lysator.liu.se>
Subject: Re: [B7L] cost of email
Message-Id: <Pine.OSF.3.96.1000404170041.22863B-100000@bsauasc>
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
On Tue, 4 Apr 2000, Una McCormack wrote:
>
> Una
>
> Oh, and just so this isn't simply a 'me too' post, that *is* my name. Unless
> you're pronouncing it 'Yoo-na', in which case it isn't.
>
Would now be a good time to point out that, although 'Iain' is indeed my
real name, it is pronounced 'Trixie"?
Iain
--------------------------------
End of blakes7-d Digest V00 Issue #97
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