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blakes7-d Digest				Volume 00 : Issue 289

Today's Topics:
  Re: [B7L] Gallows humour              [ "Dana Shilling" <dshilling@worldnet ]
  Re: [B7L] Christmas presents          [ "Dana Shilling" <dshilling@worldnet ]
  Re: Re [B7L] Fantasy, SF and all tha  [ "Dana Shilling" <dshilling@worldnet ]
  [B7L] I'm enjoying this brand new sh  [ Bizarro7@aol.com ]
  [B7L] Re: New Ape                     [ Calle Dybedahl <calle@lysator.liu.s ]
  [B7L] Sad news- Mary Ridge            [ "David A McIntee" <Master@allisurve ]
  Re: [B7L] Christmas presents          [ Tavia Chalcraft <tavia@btinternet.c ]
  [B7L] Dear Brutus                     [ Tavia Chalcraft <tavia@btinternet.c ]
  Re: [[B7L] B7 gods]                   [ Harriet Monkhouse <101637.2064@comp ]
  Re: [B7L] Christmas presents          [ "Marian de Haan" <maya@multiweb.nl> ]
  Re: [B7L] Christmas presents          [ Penny Dreadful <pennydreadful@power ]
  [B7L] Sleer & Servalan                [ "Marian de Haan" <maya@multiweb.nl> ]
  [B7L] Gareth's plays                  [ Judith Proctor <Judith@blakes-7.com ]
  [B7L] Mutoids                         [ Jacqui Speel <jacquispeel@netscape. ]
  [B7L] Re: B7 gods]]]                  [ Jacqui Speel <jacquispeel@netscape. ]
  [B7L] Liberator model on ebay         [ Julia Jones <julia.lysator@jajones. ]
  [B7L] DVD                             [ Julia Jones <julia.lysator@jajones. ]
  Re: [B7L] DVD                         [ "Una McCormack" <una@q-research.con ]
  Re: [B7L] Sleer & Servalan            [ Kathryn Andersen <kat@welkin.apana. ]
  Re: [B7L] Sleer & Servalan            [ "Marian de Haan" <maya@multiweb.nl> ]

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 15 Oct 2000 20:10:08 -0400
From: "Dana Shilling" <dshilling@worldnet.att.net>
To: <blakes7@lysator.liu.se>
Subject: Re: [B7L] Gallows humour
Message-ID: <006b01c0370a$dc4e6620$6f684e0c@dshilling>
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Natasa cited:
> JENNA: What do you think they'll do to us?
> BLAKE: Something unfriendly.
from SpaceFall--I think it's in the same episode where
Blake suggests that Jenna experiment with the instruments;
she asks what'll happen if she finds the Auto-Destruct (as she
presumably did in earnest, later on) and Blake says he'll 
never speak to her again.

-(Y)

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 15 Oct 2000 20:17:42 -0400
From: "Dana Shilling" <dshilling@worldnet.att.net>
To: "b7" <blakes7@lysator.liu.se>
Subject: Re: [B7L] Christmas presents
Message-ID: <006c01c0370a$e2c2ed00$6f684e0c@dshilling>
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Sally said:
> But giving wonderful presents (expensive or not) involves actually
> *thinking* about the other person and what they might personally want.
Avon
> doesn't do that unless made to, does he?
Of course he does. He has to have the information before he can decide
whether
or not to act on it.
>
> Tarrant and especially Dayna would be better off (and probably happier)
with
> the money IMHO (mind you, I can see Tarrant at least trying  VERY
OBVIOUSLY
> to pretend he *liked* whatever Dayna and/or Vila gave him.  Oh joy ...)
I can imagine that it would exceed even the weeks of pleased anticipation
when
Avon sees Tarrant unwrap a working HO-scale model of an Apollo spacecraft
that 17 nuns* went blind building, receiving a small gift certificate in
return...

-(Y)

*Of course they have nuns if they have nuns' habits in Gambit.

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 15 Oct 2000 20:17:49 -0400
From: "Dana Shilling" <dshilling@worldnet.att.net>
To: "b7" <blakes7@lysator.liu.se>
Subject: Re: Re [B7L] Fantasy, SF and all that stuff
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Joanne said:
> 
> Argh. Vicar of Dibley cross-over, anyone?
I used to have my screen wallpaper set to a tightly-cropped
image of Avon wearing the silver tunic. Unfortunately, the
combination of Surplice Value and his fringe DID bear an
unfortunate resemblance to said Vicar....

-(Y)

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 15 Oct 2000 23:33:42 EDT
From: Bizarro7@aol.com
To: freedom-city@blakes-7.org, blakes7@lysator.liu.se
Subject: [B7L] I'm enjoying this brand new show about a bloody big ship...
Message-ID: <58.1ec64bf.271bd116@aol.com>
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...with a crew of seven, captained by a big idealist. Among his crew of seven 
are the ship's computer itself, a machiavellian cynic, a blond pilot, an 
alien empath and several others. They are fighting a rebellion to restore 
justice and bring the downfall of the evil powers that be, while they do a 
great deal of bickering with each other. I like the show. In fact, I like the 
show very much; it's got complex characterizations and scripting, great 
dialogue and loads of surprises, thrills, and snappy costumes. 

It's called Gene Roddenberry's ANDROMEDA. 

Pity the Beeb waited a couple of decades too long to get off its bum and 
revive B7 at this caliber. ANDROMEDA will never be B7, but it certainly 
showed the wasted opportunity. Pardon my frustrated rant.

------------------------------

Date: 16 Oct 2000 09:56:33 +0200
From: Calle Dybedahl <calle@lysator.liu.se>
To: "lysator" <blakes7@lysator.liu.se>
Subject: [B7L] Re: New Ape
Message-ID: <86itqti5hq.fsf@tezcatlipoca.algonet.se>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

Una's sending from an address that's Not Allowed:

>>>>> "Una" == Una McCormack <una@q-research.connectfree.co.uk> writes:

> I forwarded this the other day, but I don't think it got through. Anyway,
> here it is again, from Pita.


> Una

> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Pita Enriquez Harris <pita@manutd.com>
> To: Una McCormack <una@q-research.connectfree.co.uk>
> Sent: 11 October 2000 16:53
> Subject: New Ape


>> Hi everyone,
>> 
>> Thanks to those of you who supported issue 1 of Ape Magazine -
>> the editors were delighted with the response from B7 fans and the
>> magazine sold out in most places (not because of B7, I fancy, but
>> you never know...).
>> 
>> The B7 story continues in issue 2, which is now in the shops
>> (Borders, WHSmiths, MOMA bookshop in London, a shop in
>> Cambridge with a funny name which escapes me...some other
>> places too but I forget which).
>> 
>> Or try emailing the editors: cornelius@apemag.demon.co.uk
>> 
>> I still haven't ever met or spoken to Susumu the illustrator, who I
>> think does a terrific job. It's all a bit intriguing for me; I write this
>> story and hear nothing until I see the final version. This makes it
>> very exciting for me, because  illustrator does much of the
>> interpretation himself (although follows 'stage directions' very
>> closely) and so far I've been really impressed with what he does.
>> 
>> Part 2 is written for other A/C fans (after many years of thinking
>> about it, I've finally decided that the one non-strictly-canonical
>> relationship I can remotely believe in is A/C.
>> 
>> The editors all like the B7 strip so far so they will be continuing the
>> series. Part 3 will continue the story, and will this time feature Vila
>> and Soolin. But maybe Not As We Know them...
>> 
>> best wishes,
>> Pita Harris (Loulou)
>> 
>> 

-- 
 Calle Dybedahl, Vasav. 82, S-177 52 Jaerfaella,SWEDEN | calle@lysator.liu.se
           Maintainer of the Blake's 7 mailing list. Mail for info.

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 16 Oct 2000 08:58:00 +0100
From: "David A McIntee" <Master@allisurvey.freeserve.co.uk>
To: <blakes7@lysator.liu.se>
Subject: [B7L] Sad news- Mary Ridge
Message-Id: <E13l59T-0001dx-00.2000-10-16-08-57-43@cmailg6.svr.pol.co.uk>
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Dunno if it's been mentioned on here yet (I was back visiting my parents
over the weekend) but Mary Ridge, director of Terminal and Blake, died
recently.

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 16 Oct 2000 11:16:27 +0100
From: Tavia Chalcraft <tavia@btinternet.com>
To: 'Lysator mailing list' <blakes7@lysator.liu.se>
Subject: Re: [B7L] Christmas presents 
Message-ID: <01C03762.8C9399E0.tavia@btinternet.com>
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Dana and Sally:
> But giving wonderful presents (expensive or not) involves actually
> *thinking* about the other person and what they might personally 
want.Avon
> doesn't do that unless made to, does he?
>>Of course he does. He has to have the information before he can decide
>>whether or not to act on it.

I can't see Avon buying presents just because it's conventional. I agree 
with Dana he would acquire something choice and expensive (especially as 
the money is communal) but he would only do it for people he was interested 
in, and he wouldn't give them at the conventional time. The interesting 
adventure would be to try and give Avon something...

Blake, as I've said before, would give something too generous, useful on 
the surface but actually de trop.

I agree Vila might well be the most imaginative present bearer. I can 
imagine that he would enjoy the challenge of stealing something perfect for 
each of the crew. Gan might actually be quite good too; he has a generous 
nature, would enjoy receiving presents himself, and I think he understands 
the others surprisingly well.

Tavia
http://www.viragene.com/ 

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 16 Oct 2000 11:51:34 +0100
From: Tavia Chalcraft <tavia@btinternet.com>
To: 'Lysator mailing list' <blakes7@lysator.liu.se>,
	'Freedom City mailing list' <freedom-city@blakes-7.org>
Subject: [B7L] Dear Brutus
Message-ID: <01C03767.700D8FB0.tavia@btinternet.com>
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Well, for me this was an unexpected gem. Anyone who can should go and see 
it (this is the last week). As it hasn't been performed since 1948 (?), 
this might be your only chance.

Tavia
http://www.viragene.com/

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 16 Oct 2000 11:09:34 -0400
From: Harriet Monkhouse <101637.2064@compuserve.com>
To: "INTERNET:blakes7@lysator.liu.se" <blakes7@lysator.liu.se>
Subject: Re: [[B7L] B7 gods]
Message-ID: <200010161110_MC2-B71A-438@compuserve.com>
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Ellynne wrote:
>The only problem is this would seem to make Vila Thor....  =


I had been pondering over the Norse pantheon, and got stuck because the
Thor/Loki relationship in certain myths is clearly very close to the
Avon/Vila relationship, but I couldn't quite tie either of them to one or=

the other.  If anything, I'd have them the other way round, but Thor isn'=
t
really bright enough for either.

Harriet

------------------------------

Date:   Mon, 16 Oct 2000 19:00:26 +0200
From: "Marian de Haan" <maya@multiweb.nl>
To: "b7" <blakes7@lysator.liu.se>
Subject: Re: [B7L] Christmas presents
Message-ID: <001a01c03792$95029060$30ee72c3@marian-de-haan.multiweb.nl>
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Dana wrote:
>*Of course they have nuns if they have nuns' habits in Gambit.<

That was a fancy dress party - we see all kinds of historical costumes.
Considering the fact that the habit is worn by a man, it's all too
conceivable its original function has been long forgotten :-)

By the way, do we see any "futuristic" costumes in that gambling hall or are
they all pre-20th-Century-of-the-old-calendar?  I mean, B7 is supposed to be
set some 800 years into the future, so something from, say, 2500 AD would
still be a historical costume by that time.

Marian

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 16 Oct 2000 11:27:32 -0600
From: Penny Dreadful <pennydreadful@powersurfr.com>
To: blakes7@lysator.liu.se
Subject: Re: [B7L] Christmas presents
Message-Id: <4.1.20001016112315.009db930@mail.powersurfr.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

At 07:00 PM 10/16/00 +0200, Marian de Haan wrote:

>By the way, do we see any "futuristic" costumes in that gambling hall or are
>they all pre-20th-Century-of-the-old-calendar?  I mean, B7 is supposed to be
>set some 800 years into the future, so something from, say, 2500 AD would
>still be a historical costume by that time.

http://space_scum.tripod.com/gam028.jpg
Dig those groovy moonboots.
--
      For A Dread Time, Call Penny:
http://members.tripod.com/~Penny_Dreadful/

------------------------------

Date:   Mon, 16 Oct 2000 19:49:52 +0200
From: "Marian de Haan" <maya@multiweb.nl>
To: <Blakes7@lysator.liu.se>
Subject: [B7L] Sleer & Servalan
Message-ID: <002001c03799$7e4eeec0$30ee72c3@marian-de-haan.multiweb.nl>
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What always baffles me about Servalan is that she can get away with all
those secret missions.  Surely a Supreme Commander or President has to keep
in touch with the government at all times?

In Moloch her journey to Sardos takes 27 days and presumably she needs as
much time to go back, which means she's incommunicado for about two months.
In those circumstances she must be very sure of her position and have a very
trusted deputy.  So who would she trust to mind the store during her
absence?

Now this has set me thinking.  [Do I hear groaning? :-)].  What if she used
her dealings with the clone masters to acquire not only two fake Blakes but
also a copy of herself.  Then she could have let her clone take her place
while she was away.  (Or send the clone out to catch Liberator while she
stayed at home to govern, but somehow I think Servalan would like to do the
chasing herself and leave the boring job of government to her clone.)

Thus we can discard that lame 'power surge' tale; Servalan did get killed
when Liberator disintegrated.  It is her clone, Commissioner Sleer, who
turns up in S4.  This would also explain Sleer's existing identity and
background: Servalan set them up for her clone.

With her resources it would have been child's play to find someone to feed
the false information into the administration computers.  (And once that
task was done he/she would have very swiftly met with an accident.)

Of course this doesn't explain how Servalan got deposed, but that's
something that isn't explained in the Series either, IIRC.  If she was there
at the time of the coup, she would have been executed or locked up.  If she
was absent at the time of the coup, you'd expect the new regime to be
searching for her very hard.  But maybe that's why the clone keeps to her
Sleer identity and starts killing everyone who recognises her as Servalan.

Comments, anyone?

Marian

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 16 Oct 2000 18:52:16 +0100 (BST)
From: Judith Proctor <Judith@blakes-7.com>
To: Lysator List <Blakes7@lysator.liu.se>
Subject: [B7L] Gareth's plays
Message-ID: <Marcel-1.46-1016175216-bc8Rr9i@blakes-7.demon.co.uk>
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII

Those of you who just want to read about the plays can skip the earlier bits of
this ramble, but for me, half the pleasure of a play trip is meeting with
friends, etc. so I'm going to waffle on about that too.

I packed my bags on Thursday.  I know from long experience that I will always
forget something if I don't do my packing early.  Usually something critical
like the theatre/rail tickets or underwear.

Friday morning, my nearest and dearest dropped me off at the station and I
settled down for the trip to Nottingham.  One of the reasons I like travelling
by train is that you so often meet interesting people.  I always book table
seats - more space for books and embroidery, but also people tend to choose
those if they don't mind company.  I ended up chatting to a retired man who was
a keen stamp collector and we discussed a few comparisons between running stamp
fairs and SF conventions.  I wonder how viable universities are for SF cons? 
I've come across a few small events done at them, but don't know if they meet
all the requirements for larger ones.  I make a mental note that it might be
worth looking into.

After that, I settle down to reading some Byron.  I'm sharing a room with Tanja
(pronounced Tanya for non-Germans) and she expressed an interest in visiting
Newstead Abbey, a place near Nottingham that's associated with Byron (Sadly, it
later turned out not to be open in October.).  Never averse to a little culture,
and feeling a tiny bit ashamed that Tanja knows English poets better than I do,
I get through several poems including 'The Vision of Judgement'.  My morale is
slightly restored when I find I've marked one of the verses which rather
suggests I've actually read the poem before, though none of it rang any bells
except the verse I'd marked.  It made me think of PGP Avon and Blake, which is
why I'd marked it.  (If you're interested, it's when St Michael meets Satan and
they acknowledge they remember their old friendship even though they are now on
opposite sides.)

Arriving at Nottingham, I look at the weather.  The incessent rain of the last
few days has stopped and it looks a nice day for a walk.  I decide to hump my
luggage and stuff taxis.  Besides, according to the map that I got from tourist
information, there's a canal just down the road.

I have a weakness for canals and canal history and this turns out to be a
pleasant stretch of canal.  Nottingham is one of the cities that have realised
canals are an asset and many buildings have been built along the banks in recent
years that take advantage of the setting.  Nice architecture, particularly the
new magistrates court.  There's also a lock, double width, thus establishing
this as a wide canal, though as I explained to Tanja later, a wide canal in
British terms is still very narrow compared to what she told me of German canals
(which link major freight-carrying rivers).

I walked my way from the lock to the Strathdon hotel, pausing only to chat to
two Japanese students who were doing a questionaire on tourism in Nottingham. I
cheerfully filled in 'none of the above' to nearly all the questions as the
theatre wasn't even on their list of attractions.  Chatted briefly on the nature
of questionaires and swopped comparisons between English and Japenese culture.  

The Strathdon hotel is bang opposite the Nottingham Playhouse (bounus points go
to Nottingham tourist information who told me this when I was checking out
possible hotels).  It also, by happy coincidence, had the best room rate that I
was able to negotiate for us as a group.

Once I'd dumped my bags, I went to the Playhouse and worked my way through the
contact sheets for the two plays.  There's a lot of very good photos and they're
very reasonably priced (4.25 and 3.25 for B+W and colour 8*10in photos plus
postage).  I'll post a list of the photos and what's on them shortly, for anyone
who wants to order.

I got back to the hotel to meet Tanja.  We had a chat, went out for a walk, had
a meal and after some confusion over time zones (Tanja's watch was still on
German time) we went to watch Billy Elliot, which I'll happily recommend to
anyone.  We later had a very interesting discussion on why succesful British
films: The Full Monty, Billy Elliott, Brassed Off, etc. all seem to show
depressed areas of Britain. 

Saturday morning, we went to visit the Nottingham lace museum.  Very interesting
and has some working lace-making machines. If you're interested, go while you
still can as I'll be very surprised if they have anyone to work the machines in
a few years time.  The 'twisthands' as the machine operators are called, are all
well past retirement age and it took a seven year apprenticeship to learn to use
the machines properly.

Saturday afternoon, we all met up in the theatre foyer and introduced everyone
who hadn't met before.  We managed to sort out which ticket was whose
(complicated discount schemes for booking meals and plays together had made it
an interesting exercise booking everything) and went in to see the Dream.

It was a good play.  Good, but not fantastic.  The costumes were very good - it
was done in Elizabethan dress (which makes sense as the Athenians would have
been dressed in Elizabethan costume in Shakespeare's day), but this did mean
that a couple of the actors had very heavy costumes which Gareth said were a
problem.  Gareth had three different costumes (four if you add the breastplate
Theseus wears at the start) and one very fast change to do.  The fairies
looked rather liked teletubbies.  Some of us liked that, some didn't.  There
were two sets - the interior of the palace and the forest.  I liked the palace
set (which was used in a redressed form for Dear Brutus) but wasn't too keen on
the forest.  They'd gone for various ramps which asceded and descended and these
were noisy when they moved which was distracting on occasion.  Hidden doors
opened and closed all over the place for Puck to appear by surprise.

The play starts with Theseus and Hippolyta quarreling - a pretty physical
quarrel.  This didn't work for me for two reasons.  Firstly, they were both
talking too fast and I find (and several others of the group said the same
thing) that it takes me five or ten minutes to attune my ears to Shakespearean
English.  After that time, I'm fine and I follow the dialogue, but I missed
quite a bit at the beginning and would have preferred it slower.

Secondly, I just don't buy it as a quarrel. I can't see it in the written text
at all.  They're talking about their forthcoming marriage.  I can understand why
it's done this way, though.  The Dream is a collection of separate stories held
together by extremely loose strands.  'Theseus and Hippolyta' and 'Oberon and
Titiana' are two of those strands.  If they can be woven together, that adds an
extra degree of continuity.   Hence the double casting with the same actors
playing two parts.  (Also saves money - the 'mechanicals' mostly doubled up as
fairies and one guy had three parts)  In this version of the play, Theseus and
Hippolyta start with an argument and so do Oberon and Titania (which is far more
reasonable) and as the relationship between one couple changes, so does the
other.  The only change that has to be made to the text is to make Bottom awaken
from his 'dream' a little earlier so that Oberon and Titania have time for a
very fast costume change (it would require it to be done in about two seconds
flat otherwise).

The one bonus from my point of view from the interlinking of the characters is
that it gives a real buzz to Theseus's line near the end when he says "Lovers to
bed, 'tis almost fairy time" and for an instant you wonder, 'are they the same
people?'

I did like Oberon's costume.  It picks up on Titania's comment that he has come
from India and includes a wonderfully exotic-looking green turban.  It also
shows a lot of bare chest, which kept several female fans happily drooling.

Acting honours go to Veronica Leer as Puck (a very hemaphrodite Puck this - s/he
pees in a pool when s/he first appears) and also to Martin Herdman as Bottom. 
Gareth said Martin was unwell the day we saw him, so if that was Martin unwell,
then he must be amazing when fit.

Having seen Gareth in a number of plays, we've found that other actors often
share plays in common with him (possibly due to the same directors being
involved).  Playing 'spot the actor' we found people who'd appeared with him in
the Clearing, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and Sleeping Beauty.  Well, it may have been
Gareth who pointed out the man from Sleeping Beauty.  We may be excused there:
he was playing the frog which does make him a bit hard to recognise in other
roles...

After the play, we met up with Gareth in the bar and swopped comments and
thoughts on the play.  An interesting discussion.  I find I get a lot more out
of a play when I talk over it afterwards with friends - so much so that I hate
going on my own - and talking it over with a cast member gives one even more
insights as to why things were done a particular way.

We'd a meal booked for 6pm in the restaurant, so Gareth went to check his lines
and we went to eat.  They'd managed a table for all twelve of us which was
great.  Even better was when Julia produced a birthday cake (it was my birthday
the following day) and a card signed by all present.  I had happy birthday sung
in three different languages and was totally over the moon.  And you should see
Julia's taste in birthday cards <evil grin>.  No wonder Gareth signed it with an
exclamation mark!

The food was excellent.  If anyone visits Nottingham, the Limelight Restaurant
gets my seal of approval.

And then onto Dear Brutus.  Gareth had said that he felt it was the better
production of the two.  It was.  In spades.

This was truely excellent and I was crying by the end.

'Dear Brutus' was written by JM Barrie who is best known for Peter Pan.  I
greatly enjoyed Peter Pan when I saw it this Christmas, but if I could see one
of his plays again, it would be 'Dear Brutus'.

The play starts with a group of women in a country house who have caught the
butler stealing.  He says it isn't his fault.  If his life had taken a different
turn and he'd taken a clerk's job that he was once offered, he'd be a different
man now,

Slowly, we come to realise that all Lob's guests have this one thing in common. 
They all have a decision that they regret making, or wish that one thing could
be different in their lives.  Mr Purdie feels that he married the wrong woman. 
His scenes with Joanna are a masterpiece of commedy as they justify their
actions behind his wife's back.  When his wife comes in, they self-righteously
accuse her of eves-dropping and trying to put them in the wrong.

Mr Coade wishes that he had led a more useful life and feels that if he hadn't
been rich, he might have done so.  (His delightful, elderly, wife is the only
character who is totally content with her lot.)

Mrs Death, a sharp, intelligent woman, excellently played by Sandra Duncan,
wishes she had married a different man.  Her artist husband is now an alcoholic
and though they seem well off, she despises him.

Mr Dearth, Gareth, is the last of the house guests to appear on stage.  He has
the geniality of the drunk and his hands shake with the DTs.  (Interestingly
enough, Gareth said that one person who saw the play asked him whether he was
always so nervous coming on stage that he shook with nerves!)  He and his wife
argue and bicker, yet one gets the feeling that he still cares for her.  There's
a wonderfully portrayed relationship between the two.  Though there is little
love shown, they know each other incredibly well and there seems almost to be an
invisible link between them.  (Sandra also played Titania and Hipolyta, but she
was far better in this role)

Lob, it transpires, has invited his guests here for a reason.  He wants to
entice them into the enchanted forest which only appears on Midsummer's Eve. 
Lob is another name for Puck and this is one of the more obvious parallels
between the two plays apart from them both being set on midsummer night.  I
don't know whose idea it was to run the two plays together, but it works very
well for a number of reasons.  The chemistry between Mr and Mrs Dearth is almost
certainly aided by them also having played Theseus and Hipolyta together only a
few hours before.

One by one, the cast depart into the wood and we see who they become in their
'second chance'.  Mr Purdie is shown for the philanderer that we all suspected
him to be.  In the wood, he is married to Joanna and flirting madly with Mabel
(who was his wife in the world outside the wood).  Matey, the butler, is now
rich, but turns out to be still dishonest.  Mr Code is still aimless (he wanders
around playing a flute and I'm ashamed to saw that I mistook him for Lob.  I was
rather relieved afterwards to discover that someone else had made the same
mistake).  

The title of the play comes from Shakespeare's Julius Caesar.

"The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars
But in ourselves, that we are underlings."

The quote proves to be true for everyone except Dearth.

In the forest, Dearth is still an artist. He's not well off, but he has a
daughter whom he has brought up since her mother died and they are incredibly
happy together.  They joke, they tease and they laugh.  She's a wild child, very
much a free spirit (and here the relationship between the two plays comes in
again as Veronica Leer plays both Puck and Margaret and the father/daughter
relationship between Dearth and Margaret is allowed to seep a little into the
byplay between Puck and Oberon).  Into the idyll of a day's painting in the
forest comes a starving woman.  The audience, but not the characters, recognise
her as Mrs Dearth - in this life, she married another man and has been abandoned
by him.  Dearth and Margaret are concerned.  They aren't rich, but they hate to
see another suffering when they are happy.  They give her some money and she
leaves, but Dearth is still concerned.  He feels connected to her in some way
and wants to help more.  He goes towards a house in the distance to seek food
for her.  Margaret tries to stop him.  She has a premonition that something
terrible will happen if he goes there.

"Daddy," she calls after him, "I don't want to be a might-have-been."

As each of the characters re-enters the house, it takes them time to recover
their memory of who they really are.  During that lapse, the people who have
already returned take their entertainment in watching the confusion of the
newcommers.  Their entertainment is easy until Dearth returns.  He comes asking
for food for another and they recognise a different man in him.  This isn't the
drunk whom they knew.  His hands are steady, he's confident, relaxed and the
moment when memory returns is truely terrible.  With a cry of despair, Dearth
realises that he has lost his beloved daughter forever.


I'm sure I wasn't the only one crying.

---------

We caught up with Gareth later in the evening and had an interesting discussion
on the motivations of the various characters, while cursing the noise and smoke
levels in the bar.  Gareth commented on the way that he and Sandra had discussed
the relationship between Mr and Mrs Dearth and the way that changing the way
that you say a line can alter the entire meaning of it.

I got a birthday hug off Gareth and am reliably informed that I still had a big
goofy grin all over my face several minutes later.

-------

Sunday morning, we went off to see the Nottingham caves - Nottingham has many
man-made caves going back centuries and they're well worth a visit. After that,
we all said our farewells and headed for home.


Gareth told us that he'd just got a part in Hamlet at the Brunton Theatre in
Mussleburgh near Edinburgh.  He's playing Polonius and the (now
Welsh) gravedigger.  He didn't know the exact dates but thought they were
January/February.  Instant heart failure on my part as Redemption is at the end
of February and Gareth is a guest, work permitting.  I phoned the theatre
Monday.  Touch wood, the lady at the Brunton theatre thinks Hamlet will probably
run for two or three weeks towards the end of January.  Fingers crossed, but it
looks as if Gareth is still safe for Redemption. The theatre will send me the
dates as soon as their new brochure is out.  I'm already on their books as I
went to see Gareth in Twelth Night at the Brunton.


So, anyone who will be interested in a weekend in Edinburgh to see Hamlet, drop
me a line and I'll work out a date nearer the time and sort out somewhere to
stay.

Judith

PS.  You escaped a detailed description of the caves <grin> because it's taken
me all day to manage to type this much!
-- 
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.knightwriter.org )
Redemption '01  23-25 Feb 2001 http://www.smof.com/redemption/

------------------------------

Date: 16 Oct 00 12:48:27 PDT
From: Jacqui Speel <jacquispeel@netscape.net>
To: <blakes7@lysator.liu.se>
Subject: [B7L] Mutoids
Message-ID: <20001016194827.28672.qmail@www0x.netaddress.usa.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

Why are most of the mutoids shown female (I think there is one male one i=
n one
of the early episodes)

____________________________________________________________________
Get your own FREE, personal Netscape WebMail account today at http://home=
=2Enetscape.com/webmail

------------------------------

Date: 16 Oct 00 12:50:20 PDT
From: Jacqui Speel <jacquispeel@netscape.net>
To: blakes7@lysator.liu.se
Subject: [B7L] Re:  B7 gods]]]
Message-ID: <20001016195020.8133.qmail@wwcst271.netaddress.usa.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

And is Servalan Kali (Indian goddess)

What about Travis?

____________________________________________________________________
Get your own FREE, personal Netscape WebMail account today at http://home=
=2Enetscape.com/webmail

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 16 Oct 2000 08:18:18 +0100
From: Julia Jones <julia.lysator@jajones.demon.co.uk>
To: blakes7@lysator.liu.se
Subject: [B7L] Liberator model on ebay
Message-ID: <3pvqzTA6uq65Ewp3@jajones.demon.co.uk>

Right, I know nothing about this other than it appeared on
alt.fan.blakes7 and I thought some of you who don't read the newsgroup
might be interested:

Blake's 7 Liberator on eBay UK,
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=468235449

-- 
Julia Jones
"Don't philosophise with me, you electronic moron!"
        The Turing test - as interpreted by Kerr Avon.

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 16 Oct 2000 08:21:44 +0100
From: Julia Jones <julia.lysator@jajones.demon.co.uk>
To: blakes7@lysator.liu.se
Subject: [B7L] DVD
Message-ID: <oJTt7cAIyq65EwpH@jajones.demon.co.uk>

Posted by Phil Tate to alt.fan.blakes-7 this weekend:


According to www.dvddebate.com:

"After a lengthy chat with the UK distributors we can exclusively reveal
that Fabulous Films have some very definite plans for a region 2 DVD
release of the classic 80's sci-fi series Blakes 7. The bad news is that
they're looking at a 2nd quarter 2001 release date at present so don't
start looking on shelves until about Easter time.

It's a little too early for specifics right now, but Fabulous assure us
that Blake will lead their entry into DVD, possibly to be followed by
their other potentially massive titles, Monkey and The Water Margin."

That was posted on Friday.
-- 
Julia Jones
"Don't philosophise with me, you electronic moron!"
        The Turing test - as interpreted by Kerr Avon.

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 16 Oct 2000 21:57:12 +0100
From: "Una McCormack" <una@q-research.connectfree.co.uk>
To: <blakes7@lysator.liu.se>
Subject: Re: [B7L] DVD
Message-ID: <001c01c037b3$aef3f0b0$0d01a8c0@codex>
Content-Type: text/plain;
	charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

No sooner do I cough up for a new set of videos, when...

Julia wrote:

> Posted by Phil Tate to alt.fan.blakes-7 this weekend:
>
> According to www.dvddebate.com:
>
> "After a lengthy chat with the UK distributors we can exclusively reveal
> that Fabulous Films have some very definite plans for a region 2 DVD
> release of the classic 80's sci-fi series Blakes 7.

What is it about B7 being an 80s show? I only ever think of it as a 70s
show - even tho' I only started watching it in the 80s.


> The bad news is that
> they're looking at a 2nd quarter 2001 release date at present so don't
> start looking on shelves until about Easter time.

Oh well, enough time to watch the video set once more...


> It's a little too early for specifics right now, but Fabulous assure us
> that Blake will lead their entry into DVD, possibly to be followed by
> their other potentially massive titles, Monkey and The Water Margin."

'The Water Margin' - cool!

I hope they do these DVDs properly, and have lots of extras and voiceover
material. I'm looking forward to the next 'Dr Who' DVD, for example, which
has Boucher talking about 'Robots of Death'. It would be great if the B7
ones could have similar material.


Una

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 17 Oct 2000 06:46:56 +1100
From: Kathryn Andersen <kat@welkin.apana.org.au>
To: "Blake's 7 list" <blakes7@lysator.liu.se>
Subject: Re: [B7L] Sleer & Servalan
Message-ID: <20001017064656.B7990@welkin.apana.org.au>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

On Mon, Oct 16, 2000 at 07:49:52PM +0200, Marian de Haan wrote:
> Now this has set me thinking.  [Do I hear groaning? :-)].  What if she used
> her dealings with the clone masters to acquire not only two fake Blakes but
> also a copy of herself.  Then she could have let her clone take her place
> while she was away.  (Or send the clone out to catch Liberator while she
> stayed at home to govern, but somehow I think Servalan would like to do the
> chasing herself and leave the boring job of government to her clone.)

The only problem with this is, why, then, does Servalan get the Aurons
to clone her in Children of Auron?

Kathryn Andersen
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
It's no use complaining of boredom when you don't do anything about it.
						-- Godfrey Winn
-- 
 _--_|\	    | Kathryn Andersen		<kat@foobox.net>
/      \    | 	<http://www.foobox.net/~kat>
\_.--.*/    | 	<http://angelcities.com/members/rubykat>
      v	    | #include "standard/disclaimer.h"
------------| Melbourne -> Victoria -> Australia -> Southern Hemisphere
Maranatha!  |	-> Earth -> Sol -> Milky Way Galaxy -> Universe

------------------------------

Date:   Tue, 17 Oct 2000 08:08:26 +0200
From: "Marian de Haan" <maya@multiweb.nl>
To: "Blake's 7 list" <blakes7@lysator.liu.se>
Subject: Re: [B7L] Sleer & Servalan
Message-ID: <000c01c03800$a9d778c0$30ee72c3@marian-de-haan.multiweb.nl>
Content-Type: text/plain;
	charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

To my assumption that Sleer may be a clone of Servalan produced by the clone
masters, Kathryn Andersen replied:

>The only problem with this is, why, then, does Servalan get the Aurons to
clone her in Children of Auron?

I don't see this as a problem.  Even with Sleer at hand (who she'd probably
regard as merely a useful tool) Servalan can still develop an urge to breed.
Besides, would a megalomaniac like Servalan be content with just one copy of
herself? :-)

Marian

--------------------------------
End of blakes7-d Digest V00 Issue #289
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