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blakes7-d Digest Volume 98 : Issue 222
Today's Topics:
[B7L] OT: Oxford
Re: [B7L] books
[B7L] PNW Alert! - Neverwhere
Re: [B7L] Re: a response to a response
[B7L] Encyclopedia of SF
Re: [B7L] Encyclopedia of SF
RE: [B7L] Encyclopedia of SF
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 27 Aug 1998 17:40:40 +1000
From: vera@c031.aone.net.au
To: blakes7@lysator.liu.se
Subject: [B7L] OT: Oxford
Message-Id: <3.0.5.32.19980827174040.007edb00@mail01.mel.aone.net.au>
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Hi,
This is a question for our British members.
A friend of mine will be in Oxford Jan/Feb/Mar next year looking at a few
boxes of old letters held by the Bodleian Library, for her PhD.
She's asked me to find out if anyone can give her clues on reasonably
priced accomodation that isn't too far from the library. She is, of course,
a poor but honest student!
Thanks for bearing with the OT post.
OB7: If the crew were cocktails, which would they each be?
Avon without doubt the dry Martini - dry, cold and with a brutal kick
Blake the Rob Roy (for no reason to do with the whiskey/vermouth/bitters
but because it's named after a rebel hero)
Vila brings to mind the long island iced tea, just because there's so much
alcohol in it.
Regards, Malissa
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Date: Thu, 27 Aug 1998 10:47:31 EDT
From: VulcanXYZ@aol.com
To: blakes7@lysator.liu.se
Subject: Re: [B7L] books
Message-ID: <6818b306.35e57184@aol.com>
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The couple of B7 novels that I have managed to get ahold of aren't very good.
Among other things, I remember them as being irritatingly inaccurate. You
would probably do better to read the amazingly diverse fanfiction, available
not only through the fan clubs, but also on the internet. There is so much
talent out there. Here's my thanks to all you writers!
Gail Gawlik
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Date: Thu, 27 Aug 1998 15:07:55 -0600
From: CHERYL_MARKS@HP-LakeStevens-om2.om.hp.com
TO: blakes7@lysator.liu.se
Subject: [B7L] PNW Alert! - Neverwhere
Message-Id: <H00008030dce19d0@MHS>
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Folks in the Pacific Northwest (or anyone with a Satellite that can get
KCTS - Seattle's PBS station.)
They've begun to broadcast a great BBC series called Neverwhere.
Totally engrossing. B7 connection - Sheelaugh Wells did the makeup.
Appears to be on Tuesday evenings at 10 - however, they may be
repeating the 1st two episodes sometime this weekend.
Friends across the pond: How many episodes are there to Neverwhere?
Cheryl
********************************************************************************
*
* Cheryl Marks Email: cherylm@lsid.hp.com
* "Some days you're the dog; some days you're the hydrant." -- Unknown
********************************************************************************
**
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Date: Thu, 27 Aug 1998 21:12:42 +0100
From: Julia Jones <Julia.lysator@jajones.demon.co.uk>
To: blakes7@lysator.liu.se
Subject: Re: [B7L] Re: a response to a response
Message-ID: <I9ZlXdA62b51EwWf@jajones.demon.co.uk>
In message <efeff94.35e47c1a@aol.com>, ShilLance@aol.com writes
> Possibly we should remind those list-members living in countries with free
> local phone calls that some of us live in countries which don't have free
> local phone calls, so longer messages mean longer phone calls mean more
> expense... >>
>
>I didn't know. And lurking does a seem a bit more safe. And my local phone
>calls are at a set rate.
Aside from the phone bill factor, it also means having to scroll through
several screens to find the bit that actually says something new. This
is a waste of time for all of us, and painful for some of us. You might
recall Judith Proctor sounding off about this when she had a fractured
elbow a few weeks ago. I pulled a shoulder muscle last week - I can't
spend much time at the keyboard at the moment. If the lists weren't so
quiet right now, I wouldn't have seen the offending post, because Gwynn
is one of the people I killfile when I can't read everything. And
that's because Gwynn is one of the people who has apparently never read
a guide to netiquette.
It's a shame, because the ones I do see tend to be interesting, once
I've disentangled the relevant bits. The trouble is, I don't care how
interesting someone's posts are, if that person makes it unnecessarily
difficult for me to read the posts, that person is first to be killfiled
when I have to trim the mailspool.
--
Julia Jones
"Don't philosophise with me, you electronic moron!"
The Turing test - as interpreted by Kerr Avon.
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Date: Fri, 28 Aug 98 03:50:00 GMT
From: s.thompson8@genie.com
To: blakes7@lysator.liu.se
Subject: [B7L] Encyclopedia of SF
Message-Id: <199808280351.DAA19953@rock103.genie.net>
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Recently I visited a friend who had in her library =The
Encyclopedia of Science Fiction= by John Clute and Peter Nicholls
(1993, updated 1995). Naturally, I looked up B7.
This entry sounded somewhat familiar, and I think perhaps someone
already posted it to this list, back when the book first came out.
But I can't remember for certain, so here it is (perhaps again).
"The series began rather crudely with some hoary sf cliches
(political rebels against the totalitarian Federation are sent to
a prison planet) but picked up considerably in the later episodes
of the first season, where Blake and his allies take part in
spirited space-opera adventures in a miraculous spaceship (later to
be operated by an ill tempered computer called Orac) which they
find conveninetly abandoned in space. Although free-spirited-
rebles-vs-oppressive-empire is a theme straight form Star Wars--
coincidentally, since the UK premiere of both was on the same day--
the feeling is very different. Blake's crew are quarrelsome,
depressive, pessimistic and-- especially Avon-- cynical. Blake
himself disappeared at the end of the second season, to reappear,
apparently now on the wrong side, only at the very end. After the
first season BS degenerated into sub-Dr Who tackiness, with much
popping-off of ray guns in extraterrestial quarries and poaching of
second-hand plots (The Picture of Dorian Grey, etc.). The fourth
season wound up on a depressing note as the bulk of the somewhat-
changed cast were killed off by the villains. Despite this falling
off, the series was addictive, and notable for the sense of doomed
helplessness with which the rebels managed to inflict mere
pinpricks on the seemingly indestructible Federation-- no doubt a
reflection of the times, and seemingly not too off-putting for the
audience, for BS developed a large and passionate fan following,
which it still retains."
The article is credited to PN, presumably Peter Nicholls, and KN,
but I forgot to check the key to abbreviations so am not sure who
the latter is. Too bad they were not more familiar with the show!
Let's see-- Blake was the only political rebel, and the rest (well,
except Cally) were genuine criminals; they seem to have conflated
Orac and Zen; and I for one think the second season is better than
the first, even if one prefers the original crew (though
personally, I like seasons three and four better than one and two).
At least they note the existence of the fan following!
Sarah T.
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Date: 28 Aug 1998 06:24:27 +0200
From: Calle Dybedahl <calle@lysator.liu.se>
To: blakes7@lysator.liu.se
Subject: Re: [B7L] Encyclopedia of SF
Message-ID: <usogt5hgxw.fsf@sally.lysator.liu.se>
s.thompson8@genie.com writes:
> The article is credited to PN, presumably Peter Nicholls, and KN,
> but I forgot to check the key to abbreviations so am not sure who
> the latter is.
Kim Newman, according to my copy of the encyclopedia.
--
Calle Dybedahl, Vasav. 82, S-177 52 Jaerfaella,SWEDEN | calle@lysator.liu.se
"I'd rather hang on to madness than normality" -- KaTe Bush
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Date: Fri, 28 Aug 1998 10:35:36 +0100
From: "Gregory Graham" <greg@geharris.co.uk>
To: <blakes7@lysator.liu.se>
Subject: RE: [B7L] Encyclopedia of SF
Message-ID: <000301bdd267$364507c0$82ba46c2@barny.ascada.com>
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Wasn't Cally a freedom fighter and actually military, and Avon seems, at
times, to believe (or perhaps, to have believed) in the cause. Admittedly
Jenna, Vila, Tarrant, and Su Lyn had little or no rebel tendencies but Blake
was not alone.
Also, that wonderful scene with Servalan chained to a wall said to me that
B7 had sort of won at least one of there aims, i.e. to disrupt the
leadership of the Fed'.
-----Gregory Graham-------
Milan@es.co.nz||greg@geharris.co.uk
WARNING: The opinions expressed may not reflect upon reality let alone GE
Harris
-----Original Message-----
From: s.thompson8@genie.com [mailto:s.thompson8@genie.com]
Sent: 28 August 1998 04:50
To: blakes7@lysator.liu.se
Subject: [B7L] Encyclopedia of SF
..snip..
Let's see-- Blake was the only political rebel, and the rest (well,
except Cally) were genuine criminals; they seem to have conflated
Orac and Zen; and I for one think the second season is better than
the first, even if one prefers the original crew (though
personally, I like seasons three and four better than one and two).
At least they note the existence of the fan following!
Sarah T.
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End of blakes7-d Digest V98 Issue #222
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