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blakes7-d Digest Volume 00 : Issue 133
Today's Topics:
Re: [B7L] Re: SCHOOL
Re: [B7L] FLAG test
Re: [B7L] Re: SCHOOL
Re: [B7L] Orac and Star One
Re: [B7L] Orac and Star One
Re: [B7L] favourite quotes
Re: [B7L] ??Age??
Re: [B7L] ??Age??
Re: [B7L] ??Age??
Re: [B7L] Orac and Star One
Re: [B7L] Orac and Star One
[B7L] Re: FC: Traitorous Blake
Re: [B7L] Re: FC: Traitorous Blake
[B7L] Plague in Killer
[B7L] Re: ??age??
[B7L] Poor Tarrant (was FLAG test)
[B7L] B7 - the ballet (was FC: Re: songs)
Re: [B7L] Re: blakes7-d Digest V00 #124: female fans?
[B7L] 20 things that never happen...
Re: [B7L] Orac and Star One
Re: [B7L] Last days of Pompeii -
[B7L] Review of Muir's 'History and Critical Analysis' - long
Re: [B7L] Review of Muir's 'History and Critical Analysis' - long
Re: [B7L] Review of Muir's 'History and Critical Analysis' - long
Re: [B7L] 20 things that never happen...
Re: [B7L] SCHOOL
Re: [B7L] 20 things that never happen...
Re: [B7L] Re: ??age??
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 11 May 2000 10:19:05 +0100
From: "Neil Faulkner" <N.Faulkner@tesco.net>
To: "b7" <blakes7@lysator.liu.se>
Subject: Re: [B7L] Re: SCHOOL
Message-ID: <000901bfbb70$c2f79540$e535fea9@neilfaulkner>
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This SCHOOL idea sounds rather like the B7 Fan Writers Network that I ran
for several years. Since that seemed to do a good job for at least some of
those who were involved in it, then SCHOOL might prove equally useful.
The B7FWN operated by snail mail, so it had a very long turnaround time.
But I know that several sets of comments on a story I'd written proved very
useful in pointing out flaws in the plotting/characterisation etc that I'd
overlooked, awkward phrases, canonical and technical errors, basically all
the pitfalls that writers can stumble into. An email version sounds like a
great idea.
Pity I don't write fanfic any more:(
Neil
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 11 May 2000 10:08:20 +0100
From: "Neil Faulkner" <N.Faulkner@tesco.net>
To: "b7" <blakes7@lysator.liu.se>
Subject: Re: [B7L] FLAG test
Message-ID: <000801bfbb70$c144b520$e535fea9@neilfaulkner>
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Alison wrote:
> the 'FLAG' type is supposed to be optimum for leadership (i.e. factual,
> lively, aggressive, group oriented). Without going into all the other
types,
> I think it is clear that by these criteria Blake is the most suitable
person
> for leadership that we encounter on the show. Servalan, funnily enough
comes
> fairly close (FLAI) but is let down by her own selfishness. And Avon,
though
> forced into leadership, is even more unsuitable (FCAI) - not only
> self-oriented but too calm (given the chance he'd quietly get on with
> examining Sopron) .
I notice that the perfect leader is the only combination that spells a
decent word. (SLAG is a word, but less than complimentary. Is this another
way of sniping at women in management?)
I would probably be rated FCPI, which doesn't spell anything at all. Though
I suppose you could say it as 'fuck-uppy', which is actually a pretty
accurate assessment of my leadership potential.
Neil
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 11 May 2000 15:29:47 EDT
From: B7Morrigan@aol.com
To: blakes7@lysator.liu.se
Subject: Re: [B7L] Re: SCHOOL
Message-ID: <7c.55fe038.264c642b@aol.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
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Neil wrote:
> This SCHOOL idea sounds rather like the B7 Fan Writers Network that I ran
> for several years.
Exactly, but an electronic version with the addition that people who just
want to read but aren't writing can ask for stories and provide comments if
they choose.
> Pity I don't write fanfic any more:(
Our loss really.
The fact that you understood the concept behind SCHOOL is of course exactly
why I proposed in the first place.
Sigh,
Trish
SCHOOL
"Auron may be different, Cally, but on Earth it is considered ill-mannered
to kill your friends while committing suicide."
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 11 May 2000 18:30:05 +0200
From: Julia Jones <julia.lysator@jajones.demon.co.uk>
Cc: Blakes 7 List <blakes7-d@lysator.liu.se>
Subject: Re: [B7L] Orac and Star One
Message-ID: <xJ82hjANAuG5EwLh@jajones.demon.co.uk>
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In message <001501bfbac3$e1eda460$e5249ad8@cgorman>, Christine+Steve
<cgorman@idirect.com> writes
> One thing I was wondering about though, is why Orac couldn't find
> Star One for them. Every computer in the known Federation is
> supposed to use Tarriel cells, allowing Orac access to their data.
> I would guess the systems on Star One would be no different. I
> would have thought he would have been able to intercept commands
> going in and out of Star One, and easily been able to trace them.
>
Depends on whether you believe Travis when he says that Central Control
was moved thirty years ago. Note that the fact that some of the
scientists marooned at Star One can't have been there for thirty years
means only that only that all knowledge of its location was erased a
good deal less than thirty years ago - it may have been moved, and the
location kept a very careful secret for some decades before TPTB decided
even that was too risky. After all, the fact that it had been moved at
all was a closely guarded secret, to provide both bait and an extra
layer of security for the real location.
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.
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.
--
Julia Jones
"Don't philosophise with me, you electronic moron!"
The Turing test - as interpreted by Kerr Avon.
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 11 May 2000 15:45:31 -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: <006901bfbb81$8d2ee7e0$4b259ad8@cgorman>
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----- Original Message -----
From: Steve Kilbane <steve@whitecrow.demon.co.uk>
To: Christine+Steve <cgorman@idirect.com>
Cc: Blakes 7 List <blakes7-d@lysator.liu.se>
Sent: May 11, 2000 1:06 AM
Subject: Re: [B7L] Orac and Star One
> A couple of reasons come to mind. First, it might not have used TCs,
> although that's unlikely. Secondly, the transmissions might be carried
> mechanically before being transmitted, such as in a spaceship. (unlikely,
> but that's the joys of rationalisation). Multiple transmission points and
> broadcast response signals would give no fixed place for the computation
> units. Finally, Orac might have searched the likely area - the galaxy -
and
> found nothing. Starting on the rest of the universe outside the galaxy
> might have taken a bit more commitment from the crew. :-)
Yes, guess it could be the limitations of computer logic; Orac may have
searched the galaxy and not outside purely because it wasn't told to search
outside. That would explain it. Don't think the crew knew Star One was
outside the galaxy until the last moment.
Oh, and any ideas how I can read Nick's messages? They come in as an
attached .dat file. I use the digest version of the list, and read email
with Outlook Express.
Steve Dobson
The Blakes 7 Files
http://webhome.idirect.com/~cgorman/b7/index.htm
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 11 May 2000 15:49:14 -0400
From: "Christine+Steve" <cgorman@idirect.com>
To: "Blakes 7 List" <blakes7-d@lysator.liu.se>
Subject: Re: [B7L] favourite quotes
Message-ID: <00c501bfbb82$10659aa0$4b259ad8@cgorman>
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charset="iso-8859-1"
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I tend to love quotes where Vila ends up talking to himself, like in Voice
From the Past.
VILA: Ever been to Del Ten before, Blake. Blake?
[Blake exits]
VILA: No, Vila, I've never been to Del Ten. And in bad need
of a dose of the betas, as are we all.
Steve Dobson
The Blakes 7 Files
http://webhome.idirect.com/~cgorman/b7/index.htm
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 11 May 2000 13:59:42 -0700
From: Nick Moffitt <nick@zork.net>
To: blakes7@lysator.liu.se
Subject: Re: [B7L] ??Age??
Message-ID: <20000511135942.M9537@zork.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
begin Julia Jones quotation:
> > Ah, the conspiracy of 23-year-olds! Why, all of us in the
> >Monday-Night B7 marathons in San Francisco are 23.
> There's a meet in SF? Why did nobody tell me?
Well, it's really just my circle of friends. It's not an
official fandom thing. I take it from your UK e-mail address that you
wouldn't be able to attend.
I'd have to ask if we were to invite anyone else along.
--
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: Thu, 11 May 2000 18:16:02 +0200
From: Julia Jones <julia.lysator@jajones.demon.co.uk>
To: blakes7@lysator.liu.se
Cc: blakes7@lysator.liu.se
Subject: Re: [B7L] ??Age??
Message-ID: <I6vIdLACztG5Ewf3@jajones.demon.co.uk>
In message <20000510151218.U25607@zork.net>, Nick Moffitt
<nick@zork.net> writes
>
> Ah, the conspiracy of 23-year-olds! Why, all of us in the
>Monday-Night B7 marathons in San Francisco are 23.
>
There's a meet in SF? Why did nobody tell me?
--
Julia Jones
"Don't philosophise with me, you electronic moron!"
The Turing test - as interpreted by Kerr Avon.
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 11 May 2000 18:16:55 +0200
From: Julia Jones <julia.lysator@jajones.demon.co.uk>
To: blakes7@lysator.liu.se
Cc: B7 list <blakes7@lysator.liu.se>
Subject: Re: [B7L] ??Age??
Message-ID: <PqSJJUA3ztG5Ewfu@jajones.demon.co.uk>
In message <Pine.LNX.4.10.10005101713350.29240-100000@offcenter.org>,
Tegan Donnelly <tegan@offcenter.org> writes
>Uh, ObB7: What
>do you think the crew was doing in their early 20's?
Well, we saw what Dayna and Tarrant were doing in their early
twenties:-)
--
Julia Jones
"Don't philosophise with me, you electronic moron!"
The Turing test - as interpreted by Kerr Avon.
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 12 May 2000 08:34:04 EST
From: "J MacQueen" <j_macqueen@hotmail.com>
To: blakes7@lysator.liu.se
Subject: Re: [B7L] Orac and Star One
Message-ID: <20000511223404.48805.qmail@hotmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed
>From: "Christine+Steve" <cgorman@idirect.com>
>Oh, and any ideas how I can read Nick's messages? They come in as an
>attached .dat file.
If his e-mail address is any indication, that is a grue and you shouldn't
open it in the dark <silly grin>
Regards
Joanne
________________________________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 11 May 2000 15:47:55 -0700
From: Nick Moffitt <nick@zork.net>
To: blakes7@lysator.liu.se
Subject: Re: [B7L] Orac and Star One
Message-ID: <20000511154755.S9537@zork.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
begin J MacQueen quotation:
> From: "Christine+Steve" <cgorman@idirect.com>
> >Oh, and any ideas how I can read Nick's messages? They come in as
> >an attached .dat file.
>
> If his e-mail address is any indication, that is a grue and you
> shouldn't open it in the dark <silly grin>
It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue!
You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike.
You have died. Please install a better mailreader.
--
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: Thu, 11 May 2000 20:40:28 -0400
From: Harriet Monkhouse <101637.2064@compuserve.com>
To: "Blake's 7 (Lysator)" <BLAKES7@lysator.liu.se>
Subject: [B7L] Re: FC: Traitorous Blake
Message-ID: <200005112040_MC2-A4B9-3366@compuserve.com>
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charset=ISO-8859-1
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Joyce wrote:
>I think the view that Blake was a traitor
>cheapens the entire series and ruins the
>impact of the conclusion. And, if this is
> the view that the BBC has about
>BLAKE'S 7, then it should be corrected.
I don't think it's anything more sinister than sloppy journalism. The
original Radio Times trailer for the episode, back in 1981, was "Is the man
who hunts people for money really Blake?" And of course most of the
episode is teasing us with the possibility that he might be a genuine
bounty hunter. So the reporter, who has probably never seen the episode,
has quickly looked up some summary on the lines of "Blake is discovered
acting as a bounty hunter" and then thought "Oh yes, and he gets killed, so
he must be the bad guy, because good guys win." We see all kinds of weird
misreports, such as the account of Gareth Hunt starring as Blake.
Harriet
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 11 May 2000 19:14:08 -0600
From: "Ellynne G." <rilliara@juno.com>
To: blakes7@lysator.liu.se
Subject: Re: [B7L] Re: FC: Traitorous Blake
Message-ID: <20000511.195132.-6423.0.rilliara@juno.com>
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On Thu, 11 May 2000 20:40:28 -0400 Harriet Monkhouse
<101637.2064@compuserve.com> writes:
> Joyce wrote:
> >I think the view that Blake was a traitor
> >cheapens the entire series and ruins the
> >impact of the conclusion. And, if this is
> > the view that the BBC has about
> >BLAKE'S 7, then it should be corrected.
>
> I don't think it's anything more sinister than sloppy journalism.
[snip]
So the reporter, who has probably never seen the
> episode,
> has quickly looked up some summary on the lines of "Blake is
> discovered
> acting as a bounty hunter" and then thought "Oh yes, and he gets
> killed, so
> he must be the bad guy, because good guys win."
It could have happened even with better research. Maybe somebody gave a
reasonable summary of the series, a summary of the final episode
("They're looking for Blake to use him as a figurehead/leader of the
rebellion, but he's become a bounty hunter. It keeps you guessing most of
the way through as to whether or not he'll sell the out" [hey, I never
doubted Blake, but the person giving the summary is trying to play it
up]), then maybe a clip of the last minute or so of Blake.
I mean, Avon fell for it. Does anyone really think the add people at the
BBC are smarter than he was?
Ellynne
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------------------------------
Date: Thu, 11 May 2000 19:46:31 -0600
From: "Ellynne G." <rilliara@juno.com>
To: blakes7@lysator.liu.se
Subject: [B7L] Plague in Killer
Message-ID: <20000511.195132.-6423.1.rilliara@juno.com>
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I know we had this debate a while back, but I had an idea about it.
The question was how this artificial plague could effect only people
who'd traveled in space since it seemed unlikely the ague space travelers
had could result in a large enough change to account for this. If the
ague was actually a disease, instead of a physical condition, it raised a
host of other questions (including why it wouldn't result in the
genetically altered ague virus/whatever infecting nonspacetravelers or
[if it couldn't be transmitted in the altered state] why the presumeably
genetically altered space travelers didn't hand on genetically altered
genes to their kids, therebye making many humans on Earth and all of them
off Earth vulnerable.
So, suppose the ague results from an artificially created virus _or_
equivalent, a relatively harmless disease causing no symptoms in nonspace
travelers, possibly designed so human technology couldn't (or, anyway)
didn't detect it at first. After all, it could have been something
different enough to slip past normal disease detection. The ague is
initially put off as some kind of biological response to space travel.
The slight changes in cell structure may be detectable, but they stop
worrying about them since 1) they can't do anything about it and 2) they
seem harmless enough.
By the time someone does realize the ague is caused by a disease, you've
had enough years (perhaps generations) of space travel that it doesn't
cause much notice. Besides, they still can't do anything about it (add
in the possibility that the alterations may even be considered beneficial
for space travelers [it doesn't even have to be if there's some kind of
attitude about it (healthy tans, crash dieting, and other less than
intelligent things people have done for 'health,' vanity, or just to
prove they're 'tough.' Or maybe it's like sailors' tattoos or soldiers'
scars [or elderly ladies' gallbladder surgeries], something that makes
you a member of the 'in' crowd)]) and why cause panic (can't you just see
the headlines if they found an extraterrestrial virus caused zits?)?
But the ague is an artificial disease designed to evolve/mutate/pupate
only in space travelers - so it can react when _the second_ virus is
introduced. For whatever reason, these aliens decided the time had come
to push humanity out of space (assuming Bellfriar's brain was still
working when he told Blake about the ague).
This is assuming they didn't target Tynus' base for some reason of their
own or that the high oxygen levels didn't effect the virus in any
significant way.
Or maybe they just didn't like Tynus.
Now, as to why they would use an unappealing, semi-animate corpse as the
delivery system, I'm still working on it (personally, I doubt it was the
original astronaut, since it looked rather good for 800 years dead and
they've evidently been capturing humans for centuries. There wasn't time
to check dental records. All they needed was the dog tags).
Ellynne
________________________________________________________________
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------------------------------
Date: Thu, 11 May 2000 22:25:50 EDT
From: JEB31538@cs.com
To: blakes7@lysator.liu.se
Subject: [B7L] Re: ??age??
Message-ID: <c9.4952ea5.264cc5ae@cs.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
> From: "DragonFly" <dragonfly@pond65.fsnet.co.uk>
Just a quick question : Am I the youngest reader on the list at 23?
>
It looks as if there are some other youngsters on the list. I imagine I am
one of the oldest (now 57).
I got introduced to B7 when I turned 50. I know some of you saw B7 when you
were kids--really kids, like 8 or so. I think I'm unusual to have been
capitavated by B7 so late. I am assuming that most people get interested in
B7 is their 20's and 30's. AND I am also assuming that most people on the
list are in their 30's and perhaps early 40's. I don't know why I say that,
but I think overall fandoms tend to be young....and in my book someone in
their 30's is young.
Since we know a several list members are in the low 20's, are their list
members in their 60's and above? Did anyone else on the list get intoduced
B7 later than age 50? I'm just curious.
Joyce
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 11 May 2000 22:14:35 PDT
From: "Sally Manton" <smanton@hotmail.com>
To: blakes7@lysator.liu.se
Subject: [B7L] Poor Tarrant (was FLAG test)
Message-ID: <20000512051435.39179.qmail@hotmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed
Ellyne wrote:
<Actually (I know this would take a lot of fun out of the series), they
could have had a wonderful survival rate if, in S3, they'd gone into hiding.
The food selection may not have been great, but Liberator could have just
hung out in a corner of space for a few years.>
<grin> strictly speaking, they could have done that right from the start,
cruised the safer bits of the galaxy and concentrated on using the dubious
skills the Good Lord gave them…as Vila points out very early: "in this we
can outstroll them." And Avon was calculating the worth of deals with the
Federation in The Web. Unfortunately, Fearless-and-Spoiling-for-a-Fight
Leader had other ideas and an annoying habit of winning the 'what next?'
discussions on points...
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------------------------------
Date: Thu, 11 May 2000 22:32:53 PDT
From: "Sally Manton" <smanton@hotmail.com>
To: blakes7@lysator.liu.se
Subject: [B7L] B7 - the ballet (was FC: Re: songs)
Message-ID: <20000512053253.19684.qmail@hotmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed
Harriet wrote:
<I've now gone through the score and have very gloomily concluded that the
ballet is probably third season. Can't find a theme that suits Blake
(actually, Avon was tricky) whereas Vila, Cally, Dayna and Tarrant are all
readily identifiable.>
Well, we'll just have to put together our own ballet - err - symphony - err
- classical whatzit.
As I have told you, Blake and Avon's theme is Nimrod by Elgar (okay, so
maybe mixed in with 'Let's Call the Whole Thing Off' <g>)
Blake - Shostakovich, 'The Gadfly' Overture & Scene. Dignity, energy, and
passion, *and* a sense of humour. What more could one want?
Avon - Danse Macabre, Saint-Saen.
Vila - cheerful, disarmingly honest, deceptively strong - is Elgar's
Cockaigne to a tee.
Cally - The Tyger by John Tavener. Beautiful but rather strange...
Jenna - Adagio from Spartacus by Khachaturian (yes, the one from the Oneidon
Line <g>).
Tarrant - Flight of the Bumble Bee or March to the Scaffold, by Berlioz.
Dayna - Ride of the Valkyies. Very very loudly. *Any* arguments here?
Soolin - the Spitfire overture.
Travis I - Mars, from the Planets by Holst.
Travis II - the Devil's Galop (not very classical, but I do not *care*. It's
him.)
I haven't found Servalan's theme yet.
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------------------------------
Date: Thu, 11 May 2000 19:18:53 +0100
From: "Neil Faulkner" <N.Faulkner@tesco.net>
To: "b7" <blakes7@lysator.liu.se>
Subject: Re: [B7L] Re: blakes7-d Digest V00 #124: female fans?
Message-ID: <000a01bfbbdf$bd5c30e0$e535fea9@neilfaulkner>
Content-Type: text/plain;
charset="iso-8859-1"
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Helen wrote:
> Neil, have you forgotten all those marriage offers you got a month or so
> ago?
There was only one, IIRC. And I think Trish was really telling me, in a
rather elliptical way, to shut up.
Neil
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 12 May 2000 07:35:46 GMT
From: "Mat Shayde" <dorian17@hotmail.com>
To: blakes7@lysator.liu.se
Subject: [B7L] 20 things that never happen...
Message-ID: <20000512073546.89816.qmail@hotmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed
Hi Guys,
I know it's a bit non-Blake's 7 but I was sent this by a friend and I
thought I would post it for general enjoyment, (if only the enjoyment of
knowing that 'our show' is superior and would never be flawed like this!
<G>) now the question is - can we come up with a similar list for Blake's 7?
Dorian
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.
2. The Enterprise goes to visit a remote outpost of scientists, who
are all perfectly alright.
3. Some of the crew visit the holodeck, and it works properly.
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.
5. The crew ofthe Enterprise are struck by a mysterious plague, for
which the only cure can be found in the well-stocked Enterprise
sick-bay.
6.The Captain has to make a difficult decision about a less advanced
people which is made a great deal easier by the Starfleet Prime
Directive.
7. The Enterprise successfully ferries an alien VIP from one place
to another without serious incident.
8. An enigmatic being composed of pure energy attempts to interface
to the Enterprise's computer, only to find out that it has forgotten
to bring the right leads.
9. A power surge on the Bridge is rapidly and correctly diagnosed as
a faulty capacitor by the highly-trained and competent engineering
staff.
10. The Enterprise is captured by a vastly superior alien intelligence
which does not put them on trial.
11. The Enterprise is captured by a vastly inferior alien
intelligence which they easily pacify by offering it some sweeties.
12. The Enterprise visits an earth-type planet called "Paradise"
where everyone is happy all of the time. However, everything is soon
revealed to be exactly what it seems.
13. A major Starfleet emergency breaks out near the Enterprise, but
fortunately some other ships in the area are able to deal with it to
everyone's satisfaction.
14. The Enterprise is involved in a bizarre time-warp experience
which is in some way unconnected with the Late 20th Century.
15. Kirk (or Riker) falls in love with a woman on a planet he visits, and
isn't tragically separated from her at the end of the episode.
16. Counsellor Troi states something other than the blindingly obvious.
17. The warp engines start playing up a bit, but seem to sort
themselves out after a while without any intervention from boy genius Wesley
Crusher.
18. Wesley Crusher gets beaten up by his classmates for being a
smarmy git, and consequently has a go at making some friends of his own age
for a change.
19. Spock (or Data) is fired from his high-ranking position for not
being able to understand the most basic nuances of about one in
three sentences that anyone says to him.
20. Most things that are new or in some way unexpected.
________________________________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 12 May 2000 10:49:38 +0100 (BST)
From: Iain Coleman <ijc@bsfiles.nerc-bas.ac.uk>
To: blakes7@lysator.liu.se
Cc: blakes7@lysator.liu.se
Subject: Re: [B7L] Orac and Star One
Message-Id: <Pine.OSF.3.96.1000512103946.31685A-100000@bsauasc>
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
On Thu, 11 May 2000, Julia Jones wrote:
> 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.
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.
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.
Iain
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 12 May 2000 07:29:12 EDT
From: Mac4781@aol.com
To: blakes7-d@lysator.liu.se
Subject: Re: [B7L] Last days of Pompeii -
Message-ID: <b9.2eff8fc.264d4508@aol.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
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Julie asked (and I've not yet seen a reply):
> When I was young, so I can't remember it that well, but my mum and dad let
> me stay up to see a 2 part tv film called Last days of Pompeii - I have
just
> scene that Stephen Greif starred in a film by the same name. The one I
> really saw when I was little was about the eruption of the volcano.
That's the same film. Brian Croucher was also in it. They both play
gladiators. In those scant little gladiator outfits. :)
The last time I checked, the film wasn't out on videotape (alas!). If anyone
hears that it is released or hears that it is being aired on tv, please give
a yell. I'd love to get a good copy of it.
Carol Mc
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 12 May 2000 13:57:42 +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
Message-ID: <06a301bfbc13$b4b451a0$0d01a8c0@codex>
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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 14:41:34 +0100
From: "Alison Page" <alison@alisonpage.demon.co.uk>
To: "lysator" <blakes7@lysator.liu.se>
Subject: Re: [B7L] Review of Muir's 'History and Critical Analysis' - long
Message-ID: <011901bfbc17$ec5f4700$ca8edec2@pre-installedco>
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Thanks for that Una, I hope you are still subscribed to get this reply.
That was interesting to me because I am increasingly coming to see that my
enjoyment of B7 is rather as a 'novel', a continuous narrative arc.
(off topic, I've never read Sayers' Whimsey novels but I know a lot of you
have, I read an account of those in the same terms once, that they exhibit
story arc, and should be considered as a single epic work)
In fact I think B7 is two novels one after the other
- series 1/2 - humanity regains star one
- series 3/4 - Avon struggles and goes under
Having said all that, I can see what you are criticising about the book: its
shoddiness and its dogmatism, and its lack of depth - all pretty severe
failings.
Alison
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 12 May 2000 16:55:10 +0100
From: "Una McCormack" <una@q-research.connectfree.co.uk>
To: "lysator" <blakes7@lysator.liu.se>
Subject: Re: [B7L] Review of Muir's 'History and Critical Analysis' - long
Message-ID: <070e01bfbc2a$c5b5d660$0d01a8c0@codex>
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charset="iso-8859-1"
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Alison wrote:
> (off topic, I've never read Sayers' Whimsey novels but I know a lot of you
> have, I read an account of those in the same terms once, that they exhibit
> story arc, and should be considered as a single epic work)
They certainly develop and build on previous novels. One big difference, of
course, is that the Wimsey books only have one author constructing her own
'universe' whereas a single episode of B7 would have a script writer, script
editor, producer and perhaps even a director each having substantial impact
on the content. I imagine time pressures (so the context in which B7 was
being made) also made a big difference to the amount of effort that could be
put into internal consistency.
> In fact I think B7 is two novels one after the other
>
> - series 1/2 - humanity regains star one
> - series 3/4 - Avon struggles and goes under
>
> Having said all that, I can see what you are criticising about the book:
its
> shoddiness and its dogmatism, and its lack of depth - all pretty severe
> failings.
That's my basic complaint. I think the idea of the continuous arc is very
interesting, but I would argue it's not implicitly in the material and is
basically a construction: that's not problematic - on the contrary,
interpreting and reinterpreting the programme is what continues to make it
interesting, and its the 'gaps' in the show that allow such a construction.
Una
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 12 May 2000 08:33:07 -0700
From: mistral@ptinet.net
To: B7 List <blakes7@lysator.liu.se>
Subject: Re: [B7L] 20 things that never happen...
Message-ID: <391C2432.26A902F6@ptinet.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
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Dorian wrote:
> <G>) now the question is - can we come up with a similar list for Blake's 7?
I'm hoping we can do 52--enough for a new set of eps. Here are
a few that might do to start with:
1. A hostile, lonely, telepathic alien attempts to take over Cally's
mind. Due to Cally's soothing influence, it turns benign and decides
to dedicate its existence to helping sentients throughout the galaxy.
2. The story opens with this week's guest stars--either a group of
hard-pressed rebels or scheming villains. We learn about their
current situation. Cut to the Liberator, where we learn about the
crew's current short-term goals. The story cuts back and forth
between the two groups until finally...the episode ends, without
any interaction between the two groups whatsoever.
3. A dangerous mission requires our heroes to teleport to a planet
with sub-zero temperatures. Avon volunteers to go down, because
he's tired of always being cozy and safe on the Liberator.
4. Blake teleports down on a rescue mission. For some unfathomable
reason, the planet bears absolutely no resemblance to a quarry.
5. Vila interrupts Orac's investigations to request some obscure
but badly needed information. Orac responds by giving the
information promptly, pleasantly, and simply enough for Vila to
understand it.
6. After much hardship and many perils, the crew recover a
shipment of rare crystals. Avon points out that the crystals are
worthless, crystal technology having been abandoned centuries
ago, so they leave empty-handed, glad not to have to carry the
loot away.
7. We meet Soolin's long-lost twin. He looks nothing like her.
8. Our heroes need to meet a contact on the most notorious
pleasure planet in the galaxy. Blake sends Avon and Vila down
with a large bag of money, and assigns himself teleport duty.
*
Mistral
--
I won't get to get what I'm after till the day I die.--Pete Townsend
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 12 May 2000 08:38:03 -0700
From: mistral@ptinet.net
To: B7 List <blakes7@lysator.liu.se>
Subject: Re: [B7L] SCHOOL
Message-ID: <391C255A.578158F7@ptinet.net>
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Trish wrote:
> g. Just add "SCHOOL" to your sig.
> h. If you have a new story, etc., just post to the lists that you've added to
> your SCHOOL list, perhaps giving a little information about the new addition.
I do like this whole idea; can I suggest that it might be useful to
put the last date updated in the sig, as in, 'SCHOOL 5/12/00'.
Mistral
--
I won't get to get what I'm after till the day I die.--Pete Townsend
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 12 May 2000 18:18:10 +0100
From: "Una McCormack" <una@q-research.connectfree.co.uk>
To: "B7 List" <blakes7@lysator.liu.se>
Subject: Re: [B7L] 20 things that never happen...
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Mistral wrote:
> 8. Our heroes need to meet a contact on the most notorious
> pleasure planet in the galaxy. Blake sends Avon and Vila down
> with a large bag of money, and assigns himself teleport duty.
I like that one in particular.
How about:
9. Avon kisses the female guest character. They subsequently marry in a
charming white wedding, have three children, and remain happily married for
40+ years.
Una
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 12 May 2000 07:59:16 -0700
From: "Ann Basart" <abasart@dnai.com>
To: "Blake's7" <blakes7@lysator.liu.se>, <JEB31538@cs.com>
Subject: Re: [B7L] Re: ??age??
Message-ID: <005901bfbc23$789e9800$e3eeb5cf@flp1>
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Joyce said:
>It looks as if there are some other youngsters on the list. I imagine I am
one of the oldest (now 57).
. . . And I'm 68. Was introduced to B7 in my 50s (55 perhaps?) when PBS
rebroadcast it. Am now a fan.
--Ann
abasart@dnai.com
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End of blakes7-d Digest V00 Issue #133
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