(Yes, Merlin and Doctor Who fans, the BBC has a long and noble history of killing characters for Christmas!)
It's just not a BBC Christmas without the end of all you love and hold dear.
Another series that I know nothing of besides what you have told me, but it is an eternal joy to see you gush about the things you enjoy :D
I always find it baffling when actors don't remember much about a role years later, or get a character so wrong. I know sometimes a paycheck is a paycheck and they're not really invested, but I just can't fathom it.
Another series that I know nothing of besides what you have told me, but it is an eternal joy to see you gush about the things you enjoy :D
And I've really loved doing it! :)
I always find it baffling when actors don't remember much about a role years later, or get a character so wrong. I know sometimes a paycheck is a paycheck and they're not really invested, but I just can't fathom it.
To be fair, the guy playing Tarrant was quite young! But Darrow is just mystifying, he wrote a piece of profic about Avon and it was just. So. Wrong. Also, very very badly written! o_O
Surprising how much Colm Meaney can remind you of Gareth Thomas when he's shot in the right light and given the right stubble -- and the design choices, from Nana Visitor in pleather to the karate outfits with a little Earth patch on them, couldn't be more a propos.
*blinks* You know, you're right! I'm going to assume that was on purpose, because it's pretty perfect!
It required a lot of autonomy and a solid image of who your character was, and Darrow certainly had that, even though his image kept drifting further from anything people were actually seeing.
Oh, I very much like the way you put this! And it is fascinating to watch the actors try to keep their characters somewhere close to consistent when the writers seem willing to make them fit whatever the plot needs. I wish Pacey had had a little of Darrow's spine--I really liked Tarrant in Power Play, not so much later...
It was very interesting to hear about your first encounters with B7 and how it was your stepping stone into fandom!
It is most notable for being witty, sardonic, morally gray and bleak while also managing to sport some of the most utterly insane costuming choices known to humanity.That may now be my favorite description of the show. ;D I love B7 for the witty pieces of dialogue and banter, the willingness to let things go from grey to all out dark, the ending and most of all the strange accumulation of accidentally complex characters
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I love B7 for the witty pieces of dialogue and banter, the willingness to let things go from grey to all out dark, the ending and most of all the strange accumulation of accidentally complex characters.
Mmmmm, banter banter banter. And yes, "accidentally complex characters" is such a good way of putting it! I was just complaining a little with my husband that lately it seems show creators are so very careful to create purposefully complex characters, but there's something especially endearing and oddly realistic about the kind of complex you get with a lot of odds and ends thrown together.
Oh man, that line! I loved it, and it made me sad when I saw people sometimes take it as a lie, because there are obvious points when he doesn't trust Avon, but aralias explained it in a way I liked--that it's very much true in the deep sense, if not always in the mundane sense. :) The very end of Star One is a pretty perfect summary of their relationship--Avon charging into certain death simply because Blake asked him to, all with a wry smile on
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I have to agree with you there. Sometimes the carefully planned complexity feels a little to purposeful and too clever, while life is actually full of all these little consistencies and contradictions - and when that happens in fiction that actually can make it feel more charming and real.
I always thought that Blake meant he had been trusting Avon to be Avon and ultimately do the right thing, instead of being the person Avon pretended to be. So, he trusts him, even when he has his doubts about him. So that explanation makes total sense to me.
No need to thank me! I love people talking about this show! Can't wait for the fic. :D
B7 Memories... My introduction to the show was entirely by accident. I had ordered a couple of 'zines from England for their Doctor Who content, since that was my big thing at the time. Call it coincidence or call it kismet, but along with the DW material there were several articles about Blake's 7 and specifically what happened on Gauda Prime, as it had just aired. I had no clue about anything really and was even dubious about its being anything that would appeal to me--except there was this photo of Blake, all scruffy and with the scar and something in me went, "Ohhhh..."
It's funny, but despite knowing that ultimate outcome I was able to watch it with an open mind. This is a guess, especially since I doubt it was ever a conscious choice, but because of not knowing anything that had gone before, that ending wasn't so much a spoiler as a kind of prologue. Like the way Sunset Boulevard starts with William Holden dead. You know something happened but you don't how or why
( ... )
Yessss. I really love the aesthetic of the actors, I love how the kind of look like actual guys and aren't all chiseled and handsome, but their features are so distinctive and interesting...
This is a guess, especially since I doubt it was ever a conscious choice, but because of not knowing anything that had gone before, that ending wasn't so much a spoiler as a kind of prologue. Like the way Sunset Boulevard starts with William Holden dead. You know something happened but you don't how or why.
Oh, yes! What a good way of putting it! It's the mystery that drives the whole show, working backwards...
Servalan's gowns, oh my. I especially loved the one with the huge diamond lizard on the front! And I agree, that silver shirt was delicious. That loose black shirt he wore in...Power Play, I think? Also lovely. And then he goes off the edge into SPIKY STUDS and I just want to hug him, but it's a daunting prospect!
i've read bits and pieces from textual poachers and enterprising women - after knowing the show quite well - and it's just utterly bizarre, less history more alternate universe almost, because the show may be old but the thing about fiction is that it's always sort of in the present, you have to talk about characters in the present tense or sound like a loony. so it's like all these conversations about the show are happening at the same time ... but theirs are in an alternate universe where everyone knows about blake's 7, it's insanely popular but there's no internet
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and - because i read enterprising women really recently and this part really stuck out - loads of the people writing for it have not seen most of the episode of the show! there was some crazy suggestion that you introduce people to the show with 'star one'. now - that's one of the best episodes, but how can you possibly know what it means without the previous 25???
I feel kind of like that's changed in fannish culture--it seems like back then there was more of a "show one middle episode to hook them" feeling, whereas now people tend to sit down and watch EVERYTHING FROM THE BEGINNING. It can't be the technology exactly...but I wonder if being on the Internet means that things like gifsets and meta and other peoples' fics serve in place of that "introductory episode"? I was pretty sure I was going to like "Sherlock" before I started watching it, just from the gifsets... [Note to self: Tumblr needs more B7 gifsets]
but yes, i write PGP fic not because i want to give them happy endings exactly... because i think that is the way
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It's just not a BBC Christmas without the end of all you love and hold dear.
Another series that I know nothing of besides what you have told me, but it is an eternal joy to see you gush about the things you enjoy :D
I always find it baffling when actors don't remember much about a role years later, or get a character so wrong. I know sometimes a paycheck is a paycheck and they're not really invested, but I just can't fathom it.
Reply
And I've really loved doing it! :)
I always find it baffling when actors don't remember much about a role years later, or get a character so wrong. I know sometimes a paycheck is a paycheck and they're not really invested, but I just can't fathom it.
To be fair, the guy playing Tarrant was quite young! But Darrow is just mystifying, he wrote a piece of profic about Avon and it was just. So. Wrong. Also, very very badly written! o_O
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(The comment has been removed)
*blinks* You know, you're right! I'm going to assume that was on purpose, because it's pretty perfect!
It required a lot of autonomy and a solid image of who your character was, and Darrow certainly had that, even though his image kept drifting further from anything people were actually seeing.
Oh, I very much like the way you put this! And it is fascinating to watch the actors try to keep their characters somewhere close to consistent when the writers seem willing to make them fit whatever the plot needs. I wish Pacey had had a little of Darrow's spine--I really liked Tarrant in Power Play, not so much later...
Reply
It is most notable for being witty, sardonic, morally gray and bleak while also managing to sport some of the most utterly insane costuming choices known to humanity.That may now be my favorite description of the show. ;D I love B7 for the witty pieces of dialogue and banter, the willingness to let things go from grey to all out dark, the ending and most of all the strange accumulation of accidentally complex characters ( ... )
Reply
Mmmmm, banter banter banter. And yes, "accidentally complex characters" is such a good way of putting it! I was just complaining a little with my husband that lately it seems show creators are so very careful to create purposefully complex characters, but there's something especially endearing and oddly realistic about the kind of complex you get with a lot of odds and ends thrown together.
Oh man, that line! I loved it, and it made me sad when I saw people sometimes take it as a lie, because there are obvious points when he doesn't trust Avon, but aralias explained it in a way I liked--that it's very much true in the deep sense, if not always in the mundane sense. :) The very end of Star One is a pretty perfect summary of their relationship--Avon charging into certain death simply because Blake asked him to, all with a wry smile on ( ... )
Reply
I always thought that Blake meant he had been trusting Avon to be Avon and ultimately do the right thing, instead of being the person Avon pretended to be. So, he trusts him, even when he has his doubts about him. So that explanation makes total sense to me.
No need to thank me! I love people talking about this show! Can't wait for the fic. :D
Reply
It's funny, but despite knowing that ultimate outcome I was able to watch it with an open mind. This is a guess, especially since I doubt it was ever a conscious choice, but because of not knowing anything that had gone before, that ending wasn't so much a spoiler as a kind of prologue. Like the way Sunset Boulevard starts with William Holden dead. You know something happened but you don't how or why ( ... )
Reply
Yessss. I really love the aesthetic of the actors, I love how the kind of look like actual guys and aren't all chiseled and handsome, but their features are so distinctive and interesting...
This is a guess, especially since I doubt it was ever a conscious choice, but because of not knowing anything that had gone before, that ending wasn't so much a spoiler as a kind of prologue. Like the way Sunset Boulevard starts with William Holden dead. You know something happened but you don't how or why.
Oh, yes! What a good way of putting it! It's the mystery that drives the whole show, working backwards...
Servalan's gowns, oh my. I especially loved the one with the huge diamond lizard on the front! And I agree, that silver shirt was delicious. That loose black shirt he wore in...Power Play, I think? Also lovely. And then he goes off the edge into SPIKY STUDS and I just want to hug him, but it's a daunting prospect!
Reply
Reply
I feel kind of like that's changed in fannish culture--it seems like back then there was more of a "show one middle episode to hook them" feeling, whereas now people tend to sit down and watch EVERYTHING FROM THE BEGINNING. It can't be the technology exactly...but I wonder if being on the Internet means that things like gifsets and meta and other peoples' fics serve in place of that "introductory episode"? I was pretty sure I was going to like "Sherlock" before I started watching it, just from the gifsets... [Note to self: Tumblr needs more B7 gifsets]
but yes, i write PGP fic not because i want to give them happy endings exactly... because i think that is the way ( ... )
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