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blakes7-d Digest Volume 00 : Issue 134
Today's Topics:
Re: [B7L] Review of Muir's 'History and Critical Analysis' - long
[B7L] Review of Muir's 'History and Critical Analysis' - long
Re: [B7L] Orac and Star One
[B7L] RE: Review of Muir's book by Una
[B7L] B7 on BBC
Re: [B7L] FINALACT
North American Magazines
Re: [B7L] 20 things that never happen...
[B7L] Re: blakes7-d Digest V00 #132 UNSUBSCRIBE
Re: [B7L] Plague in Killer
Re: [B7L] Orac and Star One
Re: [B7L] 20 things that never happen...
Re: [B7L] Orac and Star One
[B7L] Article on Roj Blake
Re: [B7L] Plague in Killer
[B7L] FLAG test
RE: [B7L] FINALACT
Re: [B7L] Plague in Killer
Re: [B7L] 20 things that never happen...
Re: [B7L] Orac and Star One
Re: [B7L] B7 - the ballet (was FC: Re: songs)
Re: [B7L] 20 things that never happen...
Re: [B7L] 20 things that never happen...
[B7L] Galaxy Quest + Paul D at Nexus
RE: [B7L] Galaxy Quest + Paul D at Nexus
Re: [B7L] Orac and Star One
Re: [B7L] B7 - the ballet (was FC: Re: songs)
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 12 May 2000 07:58:19 -0700
From: mistral@ptinet.net
To: B7 List <blakes7@lysator.liu.se>
Subject: Re: [B7L] Review of Muir's 'History and Critical Analysis' - long
Message-ID: <391C1C0A.EEFF56E@ptinet.net>
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Una McCormack wrote:
> At the heart of the book is an essay in which Muir attempts to justify his
> claim that 'Blake's 7' is a 'video novel' and that its narrative constitutes
> the first use of a story arc in TVSF. Notwithstanding the fact that 'Dr Who'
> had a story arc way back in the 1960s, and used and reused the format
> repeatedly throughout its lifetime, Muir is simply making claims for
> 'Blake's 7' that can't be substantiated in terms of its production history.
>
> Part of the problem is Muir's bizarre attempt to deny the existence of a
> story arc in 'Babylon 5' by redefining what is meant by a 'story arc'. He
> quotes 'Babylon 5' creator J. Michael Straczynski:
>
> 'A true arc has to know where it's going, and commit itself in earlier
> episodes, setting up and paying off threads. Many series use a retroactive
> arc - they don't know where they're going, but they try to be consistent as
> they go with what went before - but that ain't the same thing.'
Muir's book is indefensibly sloppy and superficial.
Having said that, JMS is mistaken about a 'true arc'. What he's really
referring to is a planned arc. To say that an arc that's not preplanned
is not an arc is IMO roughly analogous to saying that a novel that is not
preplotted has no plot, but many novelists start without a plan; they
still wind up going somewhere by the end.
Bab5 is remarkable in that it had a multi-year story plan before it
went into production, but it was adapted during the run of the show
as necessary, for example due to the departure of key actors. How
much deviation will JMS allow for before his 'true arc' is invalidated?
Story arcs were around long before Bab5, for example the Prisoner.
Doctor Who did indeed use multi-part stories, even season-long arcs,
but the entire run of Doctor Who cannot easily be viewed as one
continuous story, with one theme or set of themes. Blakes 7 can. In
fact, B7 can be viewed as a continuous story in more than one way.
The fact that this was not preplanned, but was the result of careful
tying together of loose ends by Chris Boucher doesn't make it any
less a whole. If anything, it is a more remarkable feat of creativity.
<snip>
> It is, of course, perfectly valid to 'read' 'Blake's 7' as a continuous
> narrative which forms a coherent whole. It is also perfectly valid to read
> it as the story of Avon and Blake and their conflicting personalities and
> ideologies. Muir's mistake is to see his own interpretation as the only one,
Surely it was incumbent on Muir to have a point to make? An essay
or thesis usually takes a position, rather than simply presenting all the
possible alternatives and drawing no conclusions. The reader may or
may not agree with his conclusion. When I read Harold Bloom on
Shakespeare, his essays only present his interpretation; I don't assume
it's the only interpretation.
Still, it's too bad about Muir's book. There are easily at least two
dozen people on this lyst who could have done far better.
Mistral
--
I won't get to get what I'm after till the day I die.--Pete Townsend
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 12 May 2000 14:12:59 +0100
From: "Una McCormack" <una@q-research.connectfree.co.uk>
To: "lysator" <blakes7@lysator.liu.se>
Subject: [B7L] Review of Muir's 'History and Critical Analysis' - long
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Hi all,
I'm resubbing for a little while as my copy of Muir's 'History and Critical
Analysis' of B7 arrived at the start of the week. I thought you might enjoy
a review of it.
Una
--------------------
Putting the Critical Analysis into Muir's 'History and Critical Analysis'
by Una McCormack
CS Lewis once described his dismay whenever he realized he was trapped with
someone whose 'conversational style was purely narrative'. This was
precisely how I felt after an hour in the company of this book. Muir gives
us much in the way of description (how the programme was pitched and
developed, what happens in particular episodes), which presumably constitute
the 'History' of the title. Unfortunately, there is little in the way of
'Critical Analysis' to complement this.
The introduction summarizes Muir's main theme: that 'Blake's 7' is a 'video
novel' which was innovative in television science fiction in presenting its
narrative as a story arc. There are flaws with this argument which I will
discuss below; moreover, and in the spirit of self-citation, Muir's
representation of the show in these terms bears a striking resemblance to
one of the factors which emerged from the Q-study.
Part 1 of the book describes the familiar story of the programme's genesis:
we get a potted bio of Terry Nation, the well-known pitch of the show as
'the Dirty Dozen in Space', and then a run-through of production history,
and the show's reception in the US. This is all decently done, if familiar,
and the writing style is rather awkward. Muir very quickly runs out of
synonyms for 'wrote': his thesaurus has come up with some rather odd
alternatives in 'penned', 'scribed', and 'formulated'. He also insists on
using the word 'lensed' as a shorthand for 'filmed' or 'recorded', which I
found rather jarring.
Other sections of the book include a whistle-stop tour of the tapes, books,
and websites out there. It was pleasing to see Judith's site mentioned (and
a particular nod to Neil's article 'Let's Hear it for Dayna'), but there was
no listing of URLs for the sites, which is simply sloppy. There was a
similar slapdash approach to listing the books, some of which were given
ISBNs and others not. I don't mind either way, but I would prefer
consistency. As it's a relatively simple task to reference your sources in
this way, this sort of carelessness makes the book feel amateurish. There
are also several irritating mistakes which should have been picked up:
Harlan Ellison is both 'Ellison' and 'Elison' on a single page; a discussion
of sexism in 'Power' consistently refers to the episode as 'Rescue'; a DS9
episode is mistitled 'In the Shadow of Purgatory' (this is a key Garak
episode, so I'm being particularly unforgiving here). But these errors could
be easily corrected, and they leave you with the impression that Muir either
doesn't know his subject as well as he should, or doesn't really care enough
to check.
One little section which is interesting is an appendix called 'Genre
Conventions in B7', which runs through eight story conventions common to B7
and other series. These include 'The Great Escape', in which main characters
are imprisoned and must breakout; 'The "Arena" Template', in which
ideological differences are settled by personal combat; and 'The
Doppelganger', in which it is found that the galaxy is littered with doubles
of series regulars. But this little section stays at nothing more than a
thumbnail sketch of the conventions and a list of episodes which fit into
them. There's an entire chapter to be written on this, particularly if one
brought into the analysis Henry Jenkins' brilliant list of 'Ten Ways to
Rewrite a Television Show' and discussed the ways in which fan writing
breaks from or conforms to series' norms. But there's nothing like this,
which is a shame, because that seems to be what critical analysis is all
about.
The bulk of the book is an episode guide with season overviews and
commentary on individual episodes. Most of these commentaries consist of
making connections between actors and their appearances in other well-known
television science-fiction shows but, just occasionally, they rise above
this. The analysis of the way shots are used in 'The Way Back' to reinforce
a sense of entrapment is fascinating; for example, I had not realized that
in our first glimpse of Blake, he is shown framed within the arms of a piece
of sculpture. These are the kinds of details I invariably miss, and I found
them very interesting. I just wish there were more.
A rather brief section entitled 'Essays' should contain much more than it
does. There is a facile comparison with 'Star Trek' on the lines of 'they
both have a Federation, but in 'Blake's 7' it's *bad*!' and a truly
atrocious section called 'Sex on the Liberator' in which Muir reduces the
entire literature on gender representations in popular culture to the level
of 'you can see Sinofar's nipples in 'Duel', you know!' Shortly after
berating 'Power' (or 'Rescue') for its sexism, he produces, without any
apparent irony, the sentence 'Paul Darrow can spin any line to be sexy, as
can the lovely Glynis Barber'. Actresses in this book are invariably
'lovely'; actors are apparently in need of no adjectives to justify their
presence.
At the heart of the book is an essay in which Muir attempts to justify his
claim that 'Blake's 7' is a 'video novel' and that its narrative constitutes
the first use of a story arc in TVSF. Notwithstanding the fact that 'Dr Who'
had a story arc way back in the 1960s, and used and reused the format
repeatedly throughout its lifetime, Muir is simply making claims for
'Blake's 7' that can't be substantiated in terms of its production history.
Part of the problem is Muir's bizarre attempt to deny the existence of a
story arc in 'Babylon 5' by redefining what is meant by a 'story arc'. He
quotes 'Babylon 5' creator J. Michael Straczynski:
'A true arc has to know where it's going, and commit itself in earlier
episodes, setting up and paying off threads. Many series use a retroactive
arc - they don't know where they're going, but they try to be consistent as
they go with what went before - but that ain't the same thing.'
This strikes me as a pretty good definition - and the last sentence also
neatly sums up what happens in 'Blake's 7'. This is not to deny that there
is progression in the storyline in 'Blake's 7', or that links between
episodes are maintained (characters die and there are repercussions, there
is the search for Star One in season 2 and the hunt for scientists in season
4). But 'Blake's 7' notoriously didn't know where it was going to end up -
the announcement of a fourth season over the closing credits of 'Terminal'
was a surprise to all concerned, and something of a production headache!
To counter all this, Muir introduces the odd notion that a real story arc
should form a perfect circle; in fact, he uses the two words
interchangeably. Now, I don't know much geometry, but I'm pretty sure an arc
and a circle are not quite the same. The argument then goes down rather
different lines: where Straczynski is describing a story arc in terms of its
preplanning and the tight control of plotting in the production process,
Muir's argument derives from his own interpretation of the 'Blake's 7'
narrative when the series is viewed as a whole. The two views are ultimately
irreconcilable: one is concerned with production, the other with
interpretation.
Moreover, as the Q-study demonstrates, Muir's interpretation is one among
many. To summarize account 4, 'Universal Constancy':
'Internal consistency of episodes within this universe is essential, and an
overarching structure, a 'story arc' is seen in the narrative of the show
(although no story arc was plotted into the programme by the writers and
script editor of 'Blake's 7' comparable to that written explicitly into
programmes such as 'Babylon 5' and 'Star Trek: Deep Space Nine')'
(McCormack, 2000).
(Incidentally, those sharing this account have a preference for the first
two seasons, which Muir also expresses on several occasions.)
It is, of course, perfectly valid to 'read' 'Blake's 7' as a continuous
narrative which forms a coherent whole. It is also perfectly valid to read
it as the story of Avon and Blake and their conflicting personalities and
ideologies. Muir's mistake is to see his own interpretation as the only one,
and to fail to see that 'Blake's 7' was *not conceived by its production
team* as having a continuous narrative from 'The Way Back' to 'Blake' in any
way comparable to 'Babylon 5'. The section eventually degenerates into a
rant about 'Babylon 5' which is neither critical nor analytical, merely
tedious.
Ultimately, then, the book disappoints on two counts. It is only a passable
piece of documentation, derived from better production histories in 'The
Inside Story', or in many articles in magazines such as 'Starburst' or
'Timescreen'. As a piece of cultural scholarship, however, the book fails
dismally. Its analyses are trite and uninformed, and there are only brief
flickers that anything more than superficial thought has gone into them. It
captures only a tiny fraction of the context in which the show was produced
(the unique environment of the BBC in the 1970s), it fails to engage with
cultural theory on genre, or social studies on fan activity, and there is no
attempt to place the show in a broader context of dystopic literature or
representations of resistance in popular culture (one would never know, for
instance, that the word 'resistance' presses particular buttons in cultural
studies, and a popular TV show *about* resistance is particularly
interesting).
A 'History and Critical Analysis' of 'Blake's 7' *could* be written - this
book isn't it.
References
Jenkins, H. (1992) Textual Poachers. London: Routledge.
McCormack, U. (2000) 'Reality is a dangerous concept: Accounts of
appreciation amongst an online fan community.' Diegesis, forthcoming.
Muir, J. K. (2000) A History and Critical Analysis of Blake's 7, the
1978-1981 British Television Space Adventure. Jefferson, NC: McFarland.
Nazzaro, J. and Wells, S. (1997) Blake's 7: The Inside Story. London:
Virgin.
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 12 May 2000 14:48:56 -0400
From: "Christine+Steve" <cgorman@idirect.com>
To: "Blakes 7 List" <blakes7-d@lysator.liu.se>
Subject: Re: [B7L] Orac and Star One
Message-ID: <008401bfbc42$eaaaf8c0$14259ad8@cgorman>
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----- Original Message -----
From: Julia Jones <julia.lysator@jajones.demon.co.uk>
Cc: Blakes 7 List <blakes7-d@lysator.liu.se>
Sent: May 11, 2000 12:30 PM
Subject: Re: [B7L] Orac and Star One
> Thirty years ago would have been not that many years after the Tarriel
> Cell was invented - and you don't trust equipment that critical to
> cutting edge technology. Maybe Iain knows which generation of x86 chip
> NASA will now use in space-going equipment - it wasn't even a first
> generation pentium, the last I heard some while back.
Ahhh yes, never thought of that, maybe Control is old enough not to have
TC's. Good point, Julia!
> The other argument is that being able to tap into the signals is not the
> same as being able to trace their location. It's quite possible that the
> underlying mechanism (some twaddle about passing through another
> dimension, IIRC as I don't have my copies of the scripts available)
> doesn't allow for phyisically tracking the signals. If the signals
> contain no information, such as a pretty picture of the galaxy someone's
> sending home to mother, that allow you to deduce it, you're not going to
> get very far from being able to read the data.
Think of the amount of control the systems on Star One had, such as weather
control on the outer planets. These control commands must be transmitted
between Star One and these planets somehow. Presumably planetary weather
control would be controlled from some form of orbiting satellite systems -
pretty visable structures - and I don't think it would have been too
difficult to find their signals and trace them in and out of relay stations
back to Star One. Unless there was some excellent encryption systems that
even Orac couldn't decode.
Steve Dobson
The Blakes 7 Files
http://webhome.idirect.com/~cgorman/b7/index.htm
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 12 May 2000 14:57:11 EDT
From: JEB31538@cs.com
To: blakes7@lysator.liu.se
Subject: [B7L] RE: Review of Muir's book by Una
Message-ID: <de.4dc74d5.264dae07@cs.com>
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Thank you very much, Una, for the review.
The book simply sucks. The research is very faulty, and does basically
consist of Sheelagh and Joe's book B7: THE INSIDE STORY, a much better and
cheaper book. He didn't even use a lot of the superior magazine articles
that he could have used, nor did he use any of the Marvel publications. At
the approximate $40 this cost most Americans, it's a true waste of money.
And yes, I bought it.
I noticed that the summary of "The Way Forward" was far superior to most of
the other summaries. It was as if Muir tried a little for the first one and
then gave up.
This book is only of value to the B7 completist. I own it because I am a
compulsive collector. There is no reason to buy the book unless you are
compulsive or you find it used later on for about $10 which is still more
money than it is worth.
I did reviews for two APAs--On the Wing and Rallying Call. If anyone wants a
snail mail copy of them, Email me privately and I'll send them on your way.
Sorry, I no longer have any electronic versions of them left.
(JEB31538@cs.com) However, I think Una does a very good job of letting you
know how good the book is, or I should say how bad the book is.
Joyce Bowen
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 12 May 2000 21:01:00 +0200
From: "Marian de Haan" <maya@multiweb.nl>
To: <blakes7@lysator.liu.se>
Subject: [B7L] B7 on BBC
Message-ID: <000b01bfbc44$6d808340$1eee72c3@marian-de-haan.multiweb.nl>
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As a curiosity, it may be interesting that in my Dutch TV guide I find B7
still scheduled for tomorrow (Sat. 13 May) at BBC2. It also gives the
ominous word: 'end'.
As I imagine the guide getting the foreign schedules well in advance, this
seems to indicate that
a) the BBC had intended to screen Orac this week;
b) they have already definitely decided to stop the repeats. :-(
Marian
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 12 May 2000 21:17:14 +0200
From: "Marian de Haan" <maya@multiweb.nl>
To: "Lysator" <blakes7@lysator.liu.se>
Subject: Re: [B7L] FINALACT
Message-ID: <001401bfbc46$aed6ab60$1eee72c3@marian-de-haan.multiweb.nl>
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Jacqueline Thijsen wrote:
>Besides, the new and infinitely improved Travis gets a lot closer to
catching Blake than the other one ever did.
He also manages to get himself killed. The FINAL ACT for him indeed. :-)
Marian
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 12 May 2000 15:27:31 -0400
From: "Christine+Steve" <cgorman@idirect.com>
To: "Blakes 7 List" <blakes7-d@lysator.liu.se>
Subject: North American Magazines
Message-ID: <002201bfbc48$4cbec0a0$32259ad8@cgorman>
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Does anyone know any good Sci-Fi magazines available in North America? =
Particularly with Blake's 7 sections. I've recently moved to Toronto, =
Canada from the UK and I was wondering if the group had any =
recommendations or mags I can get my hands on.
Thanks!
Steve Dobson
The Blakes 7 Files
http://webhome.idirect.com/~cgorman/b7/index.htm
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<HTML><HEAD>
<META content=3D"text/html; charset=3Diso-8859-1" =
http-equiv=3DContent-Type>
<META content=3D"MSHTML 5.00.2014.210" name=3DGENERATOR>
<STYLE></STYLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY bgColor=3D#ffffff>
<DIV><FONT size=3D2>Does anyone know any good Sci-Fi magazines available =
in North=20
America? Particularly with Blake's 7 sections.=20
I've recently moved to Toronto, Canada from the UK and I was =
wondering if=20
the group had any recommendations or mags I can get my hands=20
on.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3D2>Thanks!</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3D2><EM>Steve Dobson<BR>The Blakes 7 Files<BR><A=20
href=3D"http://webhome.idirect.com/~cgorman/b7/index.htm">http://webhome.=
idirect.com/~cgorman/b7/index.htm</A></EM></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>
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------------------------------
Date: Fri, 12 May 2000 20:26:44 +0100
From: "David A McIntee" <Master@allisurvey.freeserve.co.uk>
To: <blakes7@lysator.liu.se>
Subject: Re: [B7L] 20 things that never happen...
Message-Id: <E12qLCG-000618-00.2000-05-12-20-34-05@cmailg1.svr.pol.co.uk>
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----------
> From: Mat Shayde <dorian17@hotmail.com>
> 20 Things That Never Happen in "Star Trek"
>
> 1. The Enterprise runs into a mysterious energy field of a type it
> has encountered several times before.
Has happened a couple of times.
> 3. Some of the crew visit the holodeck, and it works properly.
Has happened nearly as often as it malfunctions
> 4. The crew of the Enterprise discover a totally new lifeform, which
> later turns out to be a rather well-known old lifeform wearing a
> funny hat.
I'm sure this has actually happened, though I can't think of episode titles
off-hand
> 7. The Enterprise successfully ferries an alien VIP from one place
> to another without serious incident.
Data's Day (but then the VIP turns out to be a Romulan spy!)
> 14. The Enterprise is involved in a bizarre time-warp experience
> which is in some way unconnected with the Late 20th Century.
And it was all going so well till now: Time Squared, Timescape, Cause And
Effect, Generations...
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 12 May 2000 21:27:28 +0100
From: "BARRIE" <barrieogden@lineone.net>
To: <blakes7@lysator.liu.se>
Subject: [B7L] Re: blakes7-d Digest V00 #132 UNSUBSCRIBE
Message-ID: <000301bfbc50$7efa4640$08238cd4@default>
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----- Original Message -----
From: <blakes7-d-request@lysator.liu.se>
To: <blakes7-d@lysator.liu.se>
Sent: Thursday, May 11, 2000 6:14 PM
Subject: blakes7-d Digest V00 #132
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 14 May 2000 21:37:46 +0100
From: "Andrew Ellis" <Andrew.D.Ellis@btinternet.com>
To: <blakes7@lysator.liu.se>
Subject: Re: [B7L] Plague in Killer
Message-ID: <006a01bfbde7$dbfc3fe0$8b9701d5@leanet>
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Date: 12 May 2000 02:58
Subject: [B7L] Plague in Killer
>Ellynne
Forgive me if I have remembered incorrectly, but wasn't space ague something
that affected ALL humans, and so the authorities inoculated all space
travellers against it, altering the body chemistry in some subtle way. The
alien virus is only able to function in inoculated humans, so restricting
the species to its home planet. Perhaps the alien virus mutates the ague
antibodies so that they attack the host, rather than the ague.
Gnog
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 12 May 2000 14:26:46 -0700
From: Nick Moffitt <nick@zork.net>
To: blakes7@lysator.liu.se
Subject: Re: [B7L] Orac and Star One
Message-ID: <20000512142646.D9537@zork.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
begin Iain Coleman quotation:
> The important criteria for spaceborne computers are high reliability
> and low power consumption. This encourages the use of mature (or
> obsolete, if you prefer) technology.
yeah, but they're not exactly running Windows NT on them.
They're probably running FORTH or bare-to-the-metal embedded assembly
programs.
--
CrackMonkey.Org - Non-sequitur arguments and ad-hominem personal attacks
LinuxCabal.Org - Co-location facilities and meeting space
Pigdog.Org - The Online Handbook for Bad People of the Future
You are not entitled to your opinions.
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 12 May 2000 14:38:04 -0700
From: Nick Moffitt <nick@zork.net>
To: B7 List <blakes7@lysator.liu.se>
Subject: Re: [B7L] 20 things that never happen...
Message-ID: <20000512143804.E9537@zork.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
How about:
Blake and crew teleport down into a life-threatening, hostile
environment, and Avon *doesn't* pull the ship out of teleport range.
...or...
Blake and crew teleport down into a life-threatening, hostile
environment, and manage to keep their teleport bracelets on through
the whole affair.
--
CrackMonkey.Org - Non-sequitur arguments and ad-hominem personal attacks
LinuxCabal.Org - Co-location facilities and meeting space
Pigdog.Org - The Online Handbook for Bad People of the Future
You are not entitled to your opinions.
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 14 May 2000 21:45:28 +0100
From: "Andrew Ellis" <Andrew.D.Ellis@btinternet.com>
To: <blakes7@lysator.liu.se>
Subject: Re: [B7L] Orac and Star One
Message-ID: <006c01bfbde7$e077b5e0$8b9701d5@leanet>
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>On Thu, 11 May 2000, Julia Jones wrote:
>>. Maybe Iain knows which generation of x86 chip
>> NASA will now use in space-going equipment - it wasn't even a first
>> generation pentium, the last I heard some while back.
>
>Spacecraft hardware isn't really my field, but I do know that expecting a
>pentium processor on a spacecraft is pretty optimistic.
>
>Current missions use various processors. There are recently launched
>satellites which still use multiple radiation-hardened 8-bit processors,
>for reliability and redundancy. The faster-cheaper-better drive (or
>faster-cheaper-broken, as I tend to call it) has encouraged the use of
>off-the-shelf components, and there are a few 386s out there at the
>moment. From the little digging I've done, the current favourite processor
>is a Honeywell job manufactured especially for the space market. It's a
>radiation-hardened 32-bit processor. I don't know how it stacks up against
>the x86 range, but I'd be surprised if it's much better than a 486.
Tragically the European Ariane project got mixed up when they moved to 32
bits.
Gnog
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 12 May 2000 21:17:57 EDT
From: JEB31538@cs.com
To: freedom-city@blakes-7.org, blakes7@lysator.liu.se
Subject: [B7L] Article on Roj Blake
Message-ID: <46.54648c1.264e0745@cs.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
CLASSIC TELEVISION did a four page article on Roj Blake recently. The
article written by William Hadcroft is "the first of an occasional series
examining the significance of individual TV characters." IF anyone can tell
me the issue number and the date, I would appreciate it. I am assuming that
it's a Jan. 2000 issue, but that's just a guess.
The article is accompnaied 7 nice B&W photos: the Liberator, lst season
Blake. Gauda Prime Blake, 4th season studded Avon, Servalan, first series
crew and a Tarrant and Blake combo. The article is well written and ends
this way:
As if not seeing the massacre, Avon stared at Blake's lifeless body. It was
the end of an ideal, a crusade, and a fiery relationship which from the start
had festered with mistrust and misunderstanding.
Having dealt with the rebel handful, the guards closed in on the last man
standing. The picture froze and the credits rolled. Blake's 7 was over.
The appeal of Roj Blake was his resolve and determination in the face of
overwhelming odds, enhanced by his relationship with the crew and highlighted
by the tension between him and Kerr Avon.
The part was well written by the series creator Terry Nation and developed
consistently by contracted writers and script editor Chris Boucher, who
wrote the final episode.
GarethThomas delivered the lines naturally, making Blake a believable,
fallible hero. Paul Darrow's hard portrayal of Avon complemented Blake
effortlessly.
In view of the series ending, it really was a case of the revenger taking on
the establishment and not standing a cat in hell's chance. Blake was both
the hero and the tragedy.
Then the article ends with a the note Blake's 7 shows on BBC2 on Saturday
and Gold on Sunday which is how I based my conclusion that this was probably
a Jan. 2000 issue.
The article is mainly about Blake, and thus it recounts lst & 2nd season
as well as "Terminal" and "Blake." It gives a very good summary of what
the show is about, unless you are a 3rd and 4th season person.
I was certainly pleased to see an article on the series which highlighted
Blake. I think every UK fan who is a B7 fan should try to get this issue and
support the magazine for doing something on Blake's 7. As far as I can tell
these days, articles on Blake's 7 are very rare in the current UK sci-fi
magazine scene.
It was, also, lovely to have two newspapers recently do articles on B7,
mainly because of the proposed TV movie, and use a picture which included
Blake. That's fairly ironic since as far as we know the only original
character who will be in the proposed TV movie will be Paul Darrow's Avon.
Thanks to the friends who sent me the clippings. They were much appreciated.
Joyce
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 13 May 2000 08:00:02 +1000
From: Kathryn Andersen <kat@welkin.apana.org.au>
To: "Blake's 7 list" <blakes7@lysator.liu.se>
Subject: Re: [B7L] Plague in Killer
Message-ID: <20000513080002.A3349@welkin.apana.org.au>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
On Sun, May 14, 2000 at 09:37:46PM +0100, Andrew Ellis wrote:
>
> Forgive me if I have remembered incorrectly, but wasn't space ague something
> that affected ALL humans, and so the authorities inoculated all space
> travellers against it, altering the body chemistry in some subtle way. The
> alien virus is only able to function in inoculated humans, so restricting
> the species to its home planet. Perhaps the alien virus mutates the ague
> antibodies so that they attack the host, rather than the ague.
You have remembered incorrectly. Here is the quote:
BELLFRIAR: Everyone who's been into deep space has had the Terran
ague, or the three-day sweats as it's commonly known as.
It's a sort of a mild infection, it slightly alters
the body's nucleic structure, it seems to be a metabolic
reaction to space travel. Well this new virus, Paratype
926, attacks those altered cells and acts as a catalyst,
they burst and, well the effects are literally a series
of explosions that race through the body's neural cell
structure. The virus is easily cultured in human tissue
or in nucleic acid solution. Now, here is the formula
for the antiserum...
BLAKE: [On Liberator] Dr. Bellfriar, are you saying that this virus
is only effective against human beings who've been in deep
space?
BELLFRIAR: [In Laboratory] Precisely. It fits your theory. But I don't
think that the virus was designed to destroy man, merely
to confine him to his own planet.
(I love those transcripts!)
Kathryn Andersen
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
MS-DOS isn't dead, it just smells that way.
-Henry Spencer
--
_--_|\ | Kathryn Andersen <kat@foobox.net>
/ \ | http://foobox.net/~kat
\_.--.*/ | #include "standard/disclaimer.h"
v |
------------| Melbourne -> Victoria -> Australia -> Southern Hemisphere
Maranatha! | -> Earth -> Sol -> Milky Way Galaxy -> Universe
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 12 May 2000 19:50:03 -0700
From: Helen Krummenacker <avona@jps.net>
To: blakes7@lysator.liu.se
Subject: [B7L] FLAG test
Message-ID: <391CC2DA.77C2@jps.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
I don't need a test to tell me I don't have fantabulous leadership
potential. I don't want to lead, ergo, I do not sparkle at it. OTOH
liveliness, etc can be faked when necessary. Mmm... Avon's more 'space
pirate-y' style of season 4 might have been a way of trying to come
across as a better leader?
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 13 May 2000 06:07:03 +0200
From: Jacqueline Thijsen <jacqueline.thijsen@cmg.nl>
To: Lysator <blakes7@lysator.liu.se>
Subject: RE: [B7L] FINALACT
Message-ID: <39DCDDFD014ED21185C300104BB3F99FF993BB@NL-ARN-MAIL01>
Content-Type: text/plain;
charset="iso-8859-1"
Marian de Haan wrote:
>
> Jacqueline Thijsen wrote:
>
> >Besides, the new and infinitely improved Travis gets a lot closer to
> >catching Blake than the other one ever did.
>
> He also manages to get himself killed. The FINAL ACT for him
> indeed. :-)
A trifling detail. He did manage to put Blake out of action first, even if
it was just temporary.
Jacqueline
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 12 May 2000 21:45:56 -0600
From: "Ellynne G." <rilliara@juno.com>
To: blakes7@lysator.liu.se
Subject: Re: [B7L] Plague in Killer
Message-ID: <20000512.221317.-76727.0.rilliara@juno.com>
Content-Type: text/plain
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
On Sun, 14 May 2000 21:37:46 +0100 "Andrew Ellis"
<Andrew.D.Ellis@btinternet.com> writes:
>
> Date: 12 May 2000 02:58
> Subject: [B7L] Plague in Killer
>
> >Ellynne
> >
> Forgive me if I have remembered incorrectly, but wasn't space ague
> something
> that affected ALL humans, and so the authorities inoculated all
> space
> travellers against it, altering the body chemistry in some subtle
> way.
This could be. The way I understood it, they said all space travelers
got the ague or "three day sweats," but perhaps I missed the past tense
element.
The storyline advantage is that it once again casts serious doubts on
whether the aliens only meant to ground humanity (yes, the isolation and
cut off from trade would cause serious problems, but it still falls short
of genocide [decimation, the deliberate killing of every tenth person, on
the other hand ....]). After all, the only humans they met _were_ space
travelers (as far as we know). Of course, if they _captured_ anyone from
the ships that vanished in their territory or if they just knew a little
about cloning, they might realize a planet born population had this minor
difference ....
I really wish they'd gotten back to these people.
Ellynne
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------------------------------
Date: Fri, 12 May 2000 22:13:13 -0600
From: "Ellynne G." <rilliara@juno.com>
To: blakes7@lysator.liu.se
Subject: Re: [B7L] 20 things that never happen...
Message-ID: <20000512.221318.-76727.1.rilliara@juno.com>
Content-Type: text/plain
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
On Fri, 12 May 2000 08:33:07 -0700 mistral@ptinet.net writes:
>
>
> Dorian wrote:
>
> > <G>) now the question is - can we come up with a similar list for
> Blake's 7?
10. The crew on the Liberator are sitting around playing a friendly game
of cards. Cally pauses as an alien telepath attacks, trying to take over
her mind. Cally promptly counterattacks and squishes him/her/it/them.
She then finishes her turn without anyone noticing anything had happened.
11. When dealing with a difficult situation, a philosophically deep
proverb is cited by Vila. Cally makes a cutting remark about it.
12. They go to meet a leader/potential leader of rebels/nonFederation
planet. Everything goes as planned and the leader quickly sees the sense
in going along with Blake's/Avon's plan. The leader really means this.
It is not a trap. Everything goes well.
13. Avon is diagnosed as suffering from depression. After a calming
vacation without either invasion attempts or cumputer crimes, along with
a course of anti-depressents, he's able to get his act together,
overthrow the Federation, and find his teddy bear. He proposes to the
episode guest star (Mary Sue) and when, against all reasonable
expetations, she doesn't get killed by the closing credits, decides to go
through with it. They marry and move to a nice, half-hour sitcom to raise
their three boys while Avon gets a job on a local, home improvement show
(with unusually high ratings among women). Blake grows a beard, develops
a fondness for plaid shirts, and becomes his sidekick. He continues to
date Jenna, who has become a dental hygienist. Naturally, Tarrant is one
of her main customers. Dayna opens a hardware store (experimenting with
how to turn an auger into a ray gun in her spare time. Soolin gets a job
on Avon's show (but changes her name to Heidi [it should also be
mentioned that Gan "This Old Dome" Olag gets slightly better ratings than
Avon and Blake]). Vila owns a bar. Cally moves next door to the Avon
family. Whenever Avon needs advice, he chats with her across the fence
but, for some unknown reason, never sees her face....
Servalan and Travis try to make it on another channel in the same time
block but fail miserably. Finally, they can only find work by changing
their names to Boris and Natasha. Although Travis doesn't want to be
called Natasha, they agree.
Hey, it was number thirteen. What else could happen?
Ellynne
________________________________________________________________
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------------------------------
Date: Sat, 13 May 2000 11:15:45 +0100 (BST)
From: Iain Coleman <ijc@bsfiles.nerc-bas.ac.uk>
To: blakes7@lysator.liu.se
Subject: Re: [B7L] Orac and Star One
Message-Id: <Pine.OSF.3.96.1000513111306.13560A-100000@bsauasc>
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
On Sun, 14 May 2000, Andrew Ellis wrote:
>
> Tragically the European Ariane project got mixed up when they moved to 32
> bits.
>
Leaving the Cluster spacecraft in lots and lots of bits.
I know a few people who quite literally saw their jobs go up in flames
that day.
Iain
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 13 May 2000 21:59:31 EST
From: "J MacQueen" <j_macqueen@hotmail.com>
To: blakes7@lysator.liu.se
Subject: Re: [B7L] B7 - the ballet (was FC: Re: songs)
Message-ID: <20000513115931.20177.qmail@hotmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed
>From: "Sally Manton" <smanton@hotmail.com>
>Avon - Danse Macabre, Saint-Saen.
You do know, for some people, that might just conjure up the spectre of a
crossover with Jonathan Creek? I don't know whether to be pleased at the
idea or scared.
Regards
Joanne
________________________________________________________________________
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------------------------------
Date: Sat, 13 May 2000 13:10:35 +0000
From: Murray <mjsmith@tcd.ie>
To: Lysator <Blakes7@lysator.liu.se>
Subject: Re: [B7L] 20 things that never happen...
Message-Id: <l03110701b54303ef4a92@[134.226.96.44]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
I've a few more if anyone's interested:
14. Dayna kills Servalan,
or
Avon kills Servalan,
or
Dayna and Avon both kill Servalan.
15. Servalan reappears as Commissioner Sleer; but the audience and the B7
crew are unaware of her true identity until much later due to her brilliant
disguise.
Murray
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 13 May 2000 04:53:51 -0700
From: mistral@ptinet.net
To: B7 List <blakes7@lysator.liu.se>
Subject: Re: [B7L] 20 things that never happen...
Message-ID: <391D424E.815A6FDF@ptinet.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Nick's two didn't get numbered, so let's call them 16 & 17.
18. Servalan's latest scheme requires her to go to a planet with
rough terrain and harsh weather, where her ship must land several
miles from her destination. To walk there, she wears sensible
fatigues, an anorak, and hiking boots.
Mistral
--
I won't get to get what I'm after till the day I die.--Pete Townsend
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 13 May 2000 17:34:14 +0100 (BST)
From: Judith Proctor <Judith@blakes-7.com>
To: Lysator List <Blakes7@lysator.liu.se>
Subject: [B7L] Galaxy Quest + Paul D at Nexus
Message-ID: <Marcel-1.46-0513163414-0e8Rr9i@blakes-7.demon.co.uk>
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII
If there's anyone out there who hasn't seen Galaxy Quest, then go now. I
haven't laughed so much since heaven knows when. It's absolutely wonderful. A
mickey take by people who obviously love the genre.
It isn't B7, but I still cheered for the fans who found that their beloved ship
was real and was out there.
It's a mickey take, but it's also about the dream.
Judith
PS. And Tim Allen's impersonation of William Shatner is amazing!
PPS. Valiantly trying to bring this onto topic, Paul Darrow's impersonation of
William Shatner is pretty funny too. I'm still off-list, so I don't know if
anyone else has mentioned it, but Paul just signed up as a guest for Nexus. The
convention is 7-9 July in Bristol and Paul will be there for the Saturday only.
Their web site is www.cosham.demon.co.uk
--
http://www.hermit.org/Blakes7 - Fanzines for Blake's 7, B7 Filk songs,
pictures, news, Conventions past and present, Blake's 7 fan clubs, Gareth
Thomas, etc. (also non-Blake's 7 zines at http://www.nas.com/~lknight )
Redemption '01 23-25 Feb 2001 http://www.smof.com/redemption/
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 13 May 2000 19:46:04 +0200
From: Jacqueline Thijsen <jacqueline.thijsen@cmg.nl>
To: Lysator List <Blakes7@lysator.liu.se>
Subject: RE: [B7L] Galaxy Quest + Paul D at Nexus
Message-ID: <39DCDDFD014ED21185C300104BB3F99FF993CE@NL-ARN-MAIL01>
Content-Type: text/plain;
charset="iso-8859-1"
Judith wrote:
>
> If there's anyone out there who hasn't seen Galaxy Quest,
> then go now.
I'd love to, but it hasn't hit the Dutch cinemas yet. Does anyone know when
that's going to happen?
Jacqueline
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 13 May 2000 12:33:27 +0200
From: Julia Jones <julia.lysator@jajones.demon.co.uk>
To: blakes7@lysator.liu.se
Cc: blakes7@lysator.liu.se
Subject: Re: [B7L] Orac and Star One
Message-ID: <QVj+WQB39SH5Ewmc@jajones.demon.co.uk>
In message <Pine.OSF.3.96.1000512103946.31685A-100000@bsauasc>, Iain
Coleman <ijc@bsfiles.nerc-bas.ac.uk> writes
>The faster-cheaper-better drive (or
>faster-cheaper-broken, as I tend to call it)
<grin>
> has encouraged the use of
>off-the-shelf components, and there are a few 386s out there at the
>moment.
Yes, sounds pretty much like what I'd recalled, but it was a couple of
years ago and I wasn't sure I'd remembered correctly.
--
Julia Jones
"Don't philosophise with me, you electronic moron!"
The Turing test - as interpreted by Kerr Avon.
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 13 May 2000 20:37:38 +0200
From: Julia Jones <julia.lysator@jajones.demon.co.uk>
To: blakes7@lysator.liu.se
Cc: blakes7@lysator.liu.se
Subject: Re: [B7L] B7 - the ballet (was FC: Re: songs)
Message-ID: <2NC3AwAyDaH5EwiG@jajones.demon.co.uk>
In message <20000513115931.20177.qmail@hotmail.com>, J MacQueen
<j_macqueen@hotmail.com> writes
>
>>From: "Sally Manton" <smanton@hotmail.com>
>>Avon - Danse Macabre, Saint-Saen.
>
>You do know, for some people, that might just conjure up the spectre of a
>crossover with Jonathan Creek?
It did. Wonder whether Avon could refrain from airlocking Jonathan for
long enough to find out that he's useful?
--
Julia Jones
"Don't philosophise with me, you electronic moron!"
The Turing test - as interpreted by Kerr Avon.
--------------------------------
End of blakes7-d Digest V00 Issue #134
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