Daibhid's Journal

 Day 9: Least favourite series

As with "most favourite", I'm pairing two seasons, and for the same reason - the Blakeless series 3 and 4. Blake, and the interplay between Blake and the others, is what transfixed me about the show in the first place, and that's gone. Tarrant's constant sniping at and jockeying with Avon for control of the ship and crew doesn't work for me, and doesn't have the same dynamic, in the way Avon doing it to Blake does. Ditto Jenna's mild hero worship of Blake, and Dayna's (initially) of Avon.

There's also a lot of aimless drifting in series 3 and 4, and 4 suffers terribly from the change in producer and the incoherent characterisation from a parade of writers who knew nothing about the series (and also Ben Steed...). This doesn't mean there are no redeeming features, because there are some good to stunning episodes, including anything written by Chris Boucher. There's a reason why that man had his own fan following, not just the actors.

Day 7: Favourite friendship

Dithering between two here - Blake and Avon because of the fireworks, and Vila and Avon because of the lack of fireworks.

Blake and Avon *are* friends, at least by midway through series 1 - it's just that Avon is spiky even with people he likes, especially when he resents liking them. And Blake is very good at getting Avon to do what Blake wants, even if Avon bitches and digs his heels in all the way. (A plot bunny that's been gambolling through my brain for a few weeks now involves Jenna realising that Avon's hurt by "you really do hate me", even though he brought it on himself.)

Avon and Vila together are charming and silly and *fun*. They understand each other's strengths and weaknesses, and enjoy each other's company. Their escapade in Gambit is peak A-V, but there are plenty of other lovely moments, even early in series 4 as the years on the run are starting to take their toll on the mental health of both of them.

Day 5: Favourite male character

Blake.

He's the reason for the entire story. Nation created him as something more complex than just a gung-ho freedom fighter; and Boucher as script editor for the entire four year run plus writer of some of the key episodes put a lot of work into making him even more complex and, for want of a better word, real. He's not always likeable as a person, but it's very easy to understand why he's the way he is, why the others follow him, and why he believes (with good reason) that what he's doing is the least bad option. And he does know it's the least bad option, rather than the best option. He's a good man in a bad situation, who still stops to help individuals along the way.

I pre-ordered the Blu-ray boxes for series 1 and 2 as soon as they were announced, because I loved the idea of having remastered and restored episodes. It is not a coincidence that I am buying the series 3 and 4 Blu- ray editions more for the new extras that aren't on the DVDs than the remastering.

Just rewatched Star One after watching it last night; this time with the audio commentary, which turns out to be a new one recorded for the Blu-ray release. Sally Knyvette, Brian Croucher and Mat Irvine. A couple of snippets I either didn't know or had forgotten - David A Hardy did a lot of the space backdrop paintings in the second series, and Brian Croucher did not like Paul Darrow. 🤣 

Day 2: Favourite episode


Star One (which coincidentally I'm watching tonight with Kalypso as we work our way through the Blu-ray boxset). It's the culmination of the revolutionary story arc, where Blake has to confront what it's going to cost to take down the Federation, and the others have to confront it too. And then they find out the price is far higher then they could have imagined, and have to make a very different decision.

There are flaws, notably Cally getting cold feet even though she started as the most bloodthirsty of them, far more so than Blake was at that point in the storyline. They are greatly outweighed by the episode as a whole. A more plausible and interesting break in character, to me at least, is Servalan's immediate acceptance of the message from the Liberator. She knows who probably has the location of Star One, she presumably knows what Star One's other purpose is, and she knows a lot about the inside of Blake's head. She believes the warning and acts on it. You suddenly see that in spite of the ridiculous outfits and political plots she is a high ranking military officer who genuinely believes in protecting humanity and the Federation.

An interesting thing Chris Boucher said is that he wrote the "It's the only way I can be sure that I was right" line intending the emphasis to be on the word "right". Gareth Thomas spoke it with the emphasis on the word "I". As Boucher pointed out, that change in emphasis changes the meaning. (It happened again in Blake, with Paul Darrow shifting the emphasis from "Have you betrayed me" to "Have you betrayed me".) Regardless, Blake's influence over the others is such that they follow him (yes, even you, Avon) through the original plan, and then when things change drastically those with him on the surface follow his lead and those on the ship do what they think is right even though they think it betrays Blake - not knowing that it is exactly the decision Blake himself has made. It leads to one hell of a cliffhanger that would also have worked as a final episode.

And I will never, ever tire of Avon's "I want to be free of him." tantrum. :-)