At the Tuesday rewatch, it was decided that Dortmunn had been sleeping on top of the cupboard when he was unexpectedy murdered. Why he should choose to sleep there was not explained.

Perhaps he climbed up there to get away from the killer?

Well MsVirn, chalk up another gratuitous death to Blake.

No idea why people go on about Avon hitting Sara. Seems a normal thing to do in the circumstances.

It's that he says that he enjoys it that is worrying.

Why didn't they check that the neutrotope was in the box before sending it off.

Perhaps he climbed up there to get away from the killer?

It's that he says that he enjoys it that is worrying.

Already did. The man is a menace.

Yes, and he enjoys THAT far more than poor Avon does giving someone a punch.

How do people feel about Big Finish? My facebook feed was covered with pictures of grinning Tarrants yesterday. Not that I object to that, but apparently he now has his own Big Finish episodes. And I have to say that I am torn - their Tarrant backstory will not be mine. I don't know why I feel like this, as I don't have the same problem with fan fiction. Do other people feel this way?

How do people feel about Big Finish? My facebook feed was covered with pictures of grinning Tarrants yesterday. Not that I object to that, but apparently he now has his own Big Finish episodes. And I have to say that I am torn - their Tarrant backstory will not be mine. I don't know why I feel like this, as I don't have the same problem with fan fiction. Do other people feel this way?

What gratuitous death is this, and what evidence do you have that Blake enjoys it?

Yeah, I haven't bought a whole lot of them because I don't believe in them at all. I've got the Chronicles and the Classics and even some of those are really nothing like the characters from the show. They are often made-up stories by people not even born when the show came out and so have no feeling for what might have driven it. They are anachronistic and use speech totally unlike that of the show. It shouldn't be difficult to replicate as the scripts are available. I just don't like so many of the recordings. They are WRONG! I wouldn't buy Tarrant stuff just because it's Tarrant. But if you want the voice above all, why not?

BF's just another set of fan fiction stories. The galling thing is that they get paid for them and we don't. (Although James Goss is worth it!) And theirs tend to be taken as 'canon', while ours happen in a parallel universe. Doesn't mean they're not real, or not well-written. Sad but true. You could always try sending stuff to BF!

He has a great bring happy grin when he describes putting an explosive device on the Destiny spacecraft, a device that is going to wipe out Sara and the pirates coming to get her and the neutrotope (they hope).

He has a great bring happy grin when he describes putting an explosive device on the Destiny spacecraft, a device that is going to wipe out Sara and the pirates coming to get her and the neutrotope (they hope).

Not my thing either. No that I’m a huge fan of fanfic either though. But I do wonder if they are going to do stories why they don’t ask fans to write them. That would seem to make more sense to me. They could even perhaps do it as a competition and get multiple fans to submit stories for them to choose from.

I think he expects that it will be the Federation, not pirates? And I suppose he has good enough reason to want them dead.

Yep - he's solved the problem - to his own satisfaction, and the consequences don't concern him at all. A dangerous person to have running around loose!

Yeah, that 'canon' thing really bugs me. I'd much rather that some of the earlier, paper fan fics got recorded than this new stuff. It's dross, mostly.

It is the canon thing that annoys me too. Like a lot of people (I imagine) I have my own little Blakes 7 universe based on the four series of programmes - who Tarrant was, how Avon survives Gauda Prime, what happened to the Blake clone etc. etc. etc. (Ridiculous, I know). And I enjoy reading other people's takes on these things. But I find that I prefer fanfic in old-fashioned A4 fanzines, or, nowadays, online - I am a bit more uneasy with professional-looking published books, and I feel quite hostile to Big Finish. And I think that it's the feeling that it's semi-professionally done and that it's meant to be definitive that annoys me. Especially when it doesn't seem to be much in keeping with the tone of the original series.

How do people feel about Big Finish? [...snip...]
I have to say that I am torn - their Tarrant backstory will not be mine. I don't know why I feel like this, as I don't have the same problem with fan fiction. Do other people feel this way?

The problem is that when the writer isn't particularly a fan, or fully immersed in the B7 universe, the characters and overall 'feel' can get changed to fit the tale, not the other way around.

How our murderer got Dortmunn on top of the lockers is beyond me.

I'm not sure you could have a stowaway on a spaceship. Not only would the life support systems need a lot of margin - which would be expensive - and/or the technology would include sensors that can detect life forms, and/or the security systems would detect anyone moving about.

Alan DAvies and Fiona Moore have the gas as SONA vapour.

If Avon, as a mathematician, hadn't been the first to look at the bloody clue, the whole thing would have been resolved immediately.

mathematicians enjoyed making rude words from numbers on upside-down calculators as much as normal people. You'd have thought Avon would have known that.

How our murderer got Dortmunn on top of the lockers is beyond me.

Yeah, I was trying to make a similar comment but my Internet won’t let me. Anyway, it’s really strange that Avon comments the dragging Dortmunn to the launch bay is too hard - but apparently getting him up on the top of a locker is quite easy. LOL

I wouldn't buy Tarrant stuff just because it's Tarrant. But if you want the voice above all, why not?

Oops, I forgot the rewatch.



I am with you all the way, Anne. I hate to say it, but I find it frustrating in a way that doesn't arise with other fan fiction. I think partly because there's a sense that it could be really so much better with just a little more effort. They don't seem to grasp some of the things that really make B7, and they just don't realise or don't care.

The Liberator is not the near-invulnerable ship of the series. I really hate the treatment of this fantastic vessel. If only the System had built her from Plot Impervium rather than Herculanium.

The misunderstanding that the B7 analogy is more akin to the RAF than the RN. Space Command, flight deck, etc.

The repeated defaulting to Star Trek terminology. One of the unique things about B7 is that it has its own special lingo - time distort, not warp; detectors are the norm over sensors and scanners; force wall more often than force field, etc. Giving it the right verbals is part of setting the scene. 'Bridge', 'photon torpedo', 'warp', 'pulse drive' should all be actively avoided, in the same way you'd never call a laser sword a light sabre.

The use of current day parlance also moves it away from the feel of the show. I particularly hate all the 'OMG!"'s in it. There was nothing like that in B7 ever, obviously due to the era it was made in, but it was entirely fitting for a group of people who exist in a time when religion is banned and do not even know what a church is (Pressure Point).

The writer who said Chris Boucher gave him a tip to always write Avon with two motives, a selfish one and a selfless one, to give him that sense of ambiguity. No, really? You had to be told that? I think I'd be embarrassed to admit it. It's like the Sevenfold Crown writer thinking Vila had an addiction to eating...

Various comments from the producers that the cast know the characters so well that they just let them get on with it, when the truth is the opposite. Just look at Judith Proctor's thoughts written at the time of Paul Darrow's passing ("I don't think he ever understood Avon"), and similar comments made throughout the years on various fan platforms (e.g. Linda Terrell in the last issue of Neutal Arbiter (published as an issue of the Revel Times)).

Not convincing Steven Pacey to use his Tarrant voice. (To be fair, perhaps they tried...)

Poor treatment of Blake. I was surprised when I read my first B7 fanfic from the UK. It was all so utterly grim. There's a real creepy-crawly feeling of futility in some of these.

Character names, place names, etc, that don't have the same 'feel' as names we heard in the series. Hyper Cola, I'm looking at you, too.

Making Vila stupid. Vila knows the difference between fingers and thumbs. Not only that, he's the one everyone shares their jokes with, so he's heard all those riddles, puzzles, and brain teasers before.

The overuse of "What is it now?" as Orac's default opening remark. They need to think of something else.

And, the stiffest cheddar, they never asked me to write any! Chiz chiz chiz!