aka Britgeekgrrl (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
fangrrl_squees) wrote2007-12-04 10:21 pm
fangrrl_squees) wrote2007-12-04 10:21 pm
B7 Silliness - Weapon, Horizon, Pressure Point, Trial
I think I've exceeded the FDA daily limit for campiness. Oh. My. God.
Weapon
Glammygoth Time Lords! At least, that's what I thought when I saw Coser and Rochelle. I mean, wow, really. Ow. Ow. Ow.
Oh, Servalan, how I adore your wardrobe. Not so much your taste in space commanders, tho'...
Actually, I have a sneaking sort of abide for Travis. I shouldn't be so hard on the poor psychopathic little sod.
IMIPAK - silly, silly, silly. "Let's create a sooperdooper weapon" said the writers "and then get it the hell out of the story before it can wreak too much damage on the rest of the series".
Carnell! Dude! As smug as ever, you bastard! (note: I'm much more familiar with the character via the Kaldor City audios, so it's kind of strange to encounter him here, y'know, 20 years younger, so to speak)
"The Rule of Life" the Rule of Pointless Plot Justification. *ahem* Was that out loud? Sorry.
The only reason I give a damn about this episode is that it lays down the groundwork for Blake and Servalan is a bit more obviously nasty than usual - cheerfully marking Travis with IMIPAK
***
Horizon
I'm sorry, I can't talk about this one as I'm still scrubbing the racism out of my frontal lobes. That and the terrible costumes.
Oh, wait, one memorable moment: "Missed". Yes, Avon, Blake figured you out ages ago.
Indeed, about the only positively-memorable aspect of this eps is how absolutely ready Avon is to cut and run when he thinks the odds are on his side. Granted, he's waited until he thinks the crew is doomed rather than, y'know, murdering them all in their bunks, but still, it's another aggressive step forward in the Blake/Avon conflict.
***
Pressure Point
Ten out of ten for Servalan's outfit in this one. She looks like she's ready for a day at Ascot - only her hat is far too sensible. And, wow, I think I've finally seen a frosted shade of lipstick, I like - that pale pink Jacqueline Pearce is wearing is utterly adorable, and flattering to boot. Most folks look awful in frosted lipstick - but with Pearce's gorgeously pale skin, she can pull it off.
But, er, what's with the modified flower-pots on the Mutoid's heads? It looks like someone dumped Sculpey on their noggins and shaped it until it looked 'interesting'. And how is Paul Darrow not sweating to death under all those yards of red vinyl?
Travis, you need to be spanked. A lot. Not neccesarily by Ms. Supreme Commander, either. (Mm, Blake/Travis slash. *ahem* Sorry, where was I?) Still, I love his mad obsessiveness. No wonder he and Servalan put up with each other.
Hey...ambient noise on the Liberator's flight deck. When did that happen? 'Tis a marked improvement over the usual silence.
I so love the fact that Avon flat-out admits that the only reason he's going along with the attack on Control is the chance of sheer personal gain - and if the attempt on Control fails, he's keeping his eyes open for other chances. 'Tain't often that a would-be nemesis is that honest about things, is it? But Blake, bless him, is so confident he can counter whatever Avon's got in mind - without losing Avon as a resource, either. *cheerful squeeings*
Excuse me. I just fell off the sofa laughing at Servalan bitchswatting Travis - and her outrage at Kosabi's "apology" (for not trying harder at preventing Servalan becoming who she is) is priceless, too.
*blink* did I just see Avon express sympathy? Nah, I must have been imagining it.
Mmm, unconscious Liberator crew. Hehehe.
Travis hits like a girl. I mean that in as non-sexist way as possible, of course, but damn, he can't throw a punch to save his life. Then again, there might have been some Beeb prohibition about too-intense violence on the books. Better a laughable slapfight than being taken off the air, I guess.
(as they're breaking in to Control) This isn't a break-in, it's a dungeon crawl!
*break for obligatory running-down-corridors* Ahh, the comfort of the familiar. ;)
Blake's as obssesive as Travis, of course, bless 'im. His absolute devastation at falling for the decoy is beautiful - and who's offering manly-and-not-at-all-campy support in that moment of distress? Avon, of course. *sighs happily*
Oh! OH! Servalan's dress in the closing scenes is even better. Cocktail dressing meets the 28th (or whatever) century. Gorgeous! (No more lovely frosted pink lipstick, tho'). And, man, if the off-screen aftermath to "You hesistated!" isn't angry sex, then I'll eat my hat. ;)
Gan's death is as unremarkable as I remember it being from the last time I watched this eps (approximately 20 years ago). Yeah, yeah, very noble and selfless. Next scene, please. And that's about as much reaction as we get from the crew, too. But I shouldn't expect the same level of emotion (in terms of character reactions) in a show produced in '79 than I would expect from, say, NBG in 2007. SF was a whole different animal back then...
Indeed, Gan's death was totally unsurprising from a narrative POV - the character's had diddly squat to do for quite some time. It's a shame they got slavishly devoted to the whole 'seven' thing, as it always seemed to result in a couple of margainalized characters - Gan, Jenna, Dayna, Soolin and even Cally. *sigh* Bloody Orac got more liines than some of 'em, some episodes. 'Tis a chronic problem, throughout as I recall.
"Oh yes, they'll dig us out eventually. And then I'll bury you!" It was worth sitting through the eps just for that line, really. ;)
***
Trial
Ten pounds of awesome in five-pound bag. Seriously. This one, I remember even from 20 years ago. Except for the weird spandex thingummy, Zil, that is. Zil is weird. Very, very weird. Although, to be fair, the costuming/makeup for Zil is pretty awesome, given the period. My memories are focused on the courtroom-drama aspect, not the plot that concerns the Liberator crew for the majority of the eps.
(Tangent: Dude! Rontane is being played by Peter Miles, also known as Nyder, the creepy sidekick to Davros in Genesis of the Daleks. Once again, the old-school Beeb casting practice of "Show up sober, on time and hit your mark and you're set for life" plays out... Damn, that actor gave me the heebiejeebies. And apparently he showed up in another of my favorites, The Sandbaggers. I'll have to dig up my DVDs and watch that eps again... Incidentally, here's a nifty interview with Peter Miles on the Magic Bullet website, in which he discusses his long-time association with Doctor Who, amongst other topics.)
I love the expository between the two guards at the court martial. Entertaining, not too contrived, a bit of a respite from the usual cast of characters. It's only a few seconds, but it's a palpable change from the status quo, regardless.
Could have done without the badly-presented pseudo-military prancing about, tho'...
Avon's costume: ugliest. Anorak. Evar. It's hard to take treachery seriously when the traitor's where a costume like that. Cally's looking pretty spiff, tho'.
Aww, poor little Avon looks so hurt, realizing that Blake has the strength to abandon them, when Avon couldn't do it, himself. The hell he thought Blake was faking it.
I can't take a military man seriously who has the waist of his trousers hiked up to somewhere around his armpits. Parr's legs look like they're 3/4 of his body. Okay for an anime character, not so much for regular humans. Meanwhile, I see fabulous heels are military issue in the Federation - for the women such as Thania, at least. No wonder Servalan dresses as she does, if she's got an officer corps like that to compete against. ;)
Vila: "You've decided to be led, like the rest of us."
Avon: "I shall continue to follow. That's not quite the same thing."
Me: *giggles madly*
The fencing between Blake and Avon continues to ratchet up the tension. Lovely.
Travis' yummy boots are cancelled out by his spandex trousers. Sorry. No amount of angsty shouting can save a man from trousers like that. And he still hits like a girl (knocking out Parr).
...aaaand Travis finally rebels, in his own way. *madluv for the Travis*
Oh dear god, did they really just end the eps with the Liberator crew all laughing together on the bridge? Gah! I deny that closing scene from my paradigm!
***
I laugh at the show, yes, but I love it, really - warts and all. It's one of the first TV shows I clearly remember watching (the others being Doctor Who and Yes, Minister - which explains a lot about how I turned out, doesn't it?) and it made a hell of an impression. Granted, eight (or so) years old is a bit young to be tackling some of the topics presented (fooling around with the enemy being the least of 'em, really) but... an impression's an impression. Looking back, it made far too much of one, really. Bits of it have been popping up all over my life, ever since - for good and ill. ;)
Still, that's enough for one day. *blinkblinkblink* Gonna have some weird dreams tonight, I'm sure.
Weapon
Glammygoth Time Lords! At least, that's what I thought when I saw Coser and Rochelle. I mean, wow, really. Ow. Ow. Ow.
Oh, Servalan, how I adore your wardrobe. Not so much your taste in space commanders, tho'...
Actually, I have a sneaking sort of abide for Travis. I shouldn't be so hard on the poor psychopathic little sod.
IMIPAK - silly, silly, silly. "Let's create a sooperdooper weapon" said the writers "and then get it the hell out of the story before it can wreak too much damage on the rest of the series".
Carnell! Dude! As smug as ever, you bastard! (note: I'm much more familiar with the character via the Kaldor City audios, so it's kind of strange to encounter him here, y'know, 20 years younger, so to speak)
"The Rule of Life" the Rule of Pointless Plot Justification. *ahem* Was that out loud? Sorry.
The only reason I give a damn about this episode is that it lays down the groundwork for Blake and Servalan is a bit more obviously nasty than usual - cheerfully marking Travis with IMIPAK
***
Horizon
I'm sorry, I can't talk about this one as I'm still scrubbing the racism out of my frontal lobes. That and the terrible costumes.
Oh, wait, one memorable moment: "Missed". Yes, Avon, Blake figured you out ages ago.
Indeed, about the only positively-memorable aspect of this eps is how absolutely ready Avon is to cut and run when he thinks the odds are on his side. Granted, he's waited until he thinks the crew is doomed rather than, y'know, murdering them all in their bunks, but still, it's another aggressive step forward in the Blake/Avon conflict.
***
Pressure Point
Ten out of ten for Servalan's outfit in this one. She looks like she's ready for a day at Ascot - only her hat is far too sensible. And, wow, I think I've finally seen a frosted shade of lipstick, I like - that pale pink Jacqueline Pearce is wearing is utterly adorable, and flattering to boot. Most folks look awful in frosted lipstick - but with Pearce's gorgeously pale skin, she can pull it off.
But, er, what's with the modified flower-pots on the Mutoid's heads? It looks like someone dumped Sculpey on their noggins and shaped it until it looked 'interesting'. And how is Paul Darrow not sweating to death under all those yards of red vinyl?
Travis, you need to be spanked. A lot. Not neccesarily by Ms. Supreme Commander, either. (Mm, Blake/Travis slash. *ahem* Sorry, where was I?) Still, I love his mad obsessiveness. No wonder he and Servalan put up with each other.
Hey...ambient noise on the Liberator's flight deck. When did that happen? 'Tis a marked improvement over the usual silence.
I so love the fact that Avon flat-out admits that the only reason he's going along with the attack on Control is the chance of sheer personal gain - and if the attempt on Control fails, he's keeping his eyes open for other chances. 'Tain't often that a would-be nemesis is that honest about things, is it? But Blake, bless him, is so confident he can counter whatever Avon's got in mind - without losing Avon as a resource, either. *cheerful squeeings*
Excuse me. I just fell off the sofa laughing at Servalan bitchswatting Travis - and her outrage at Kosabi's "apology" (for not trying harder at preventing Servalan becoming who she is) is priceless, too.
*blink* did I just see Avon express sympathy? Nah, I must have been imagining it.
Mmm, unconscious Liberator crew. Hehehe.
Travis hits like a girl. I mean that in as non-sexist way as possible, of course, but damn, he can't throw a punch to save his life. Then again, there might have been some Beeb prohibition about too-intense violence on the books. Better a laughable slapfight than being taken off the air, I guess.
(as they're breaking in to Control) This isn't a break-in, it's a dungeon crawl!
*break for obligatory running-down-corridors* Ahh, the comfort of the familiar. ;)
Blake's as obssesive as Travis, of course, bless 'im. His absolute devastation at falling for the decoy is beautiful - and who's offering manly-and-not-at-all-campy support in that moment of distress? Avon, of course. *sighs happily*
Oh! OH! Servalan's dress in the closing scenes is even better. Cocktail dressing meets the 28th (or whatever) century. Gorgeous! (No more lovely frosted pink lipstick, tho'). And, man, if the off-screen aftermath to "You hesistated!" isn't angry sex, then I'll eat my hat. ;)
Gan's death is as unremarkable as I remember it being from the last time I watched this eps (approximately 20 years ago). Yeah, yeah, very noble and selfless. Next scene, please. And that's about as much reaction as we get from the crew, too. But I shouldn't expect the same level of emotion (in terms of character reactions) in a show produced in '79 than I would expect from, say, NBG in 2007. SF was a whole different animal back then...
Indeed, Gan's death was totally unsurprising from a narrative POV - the character's had diddly squat to do for quite some time. It's a shame they got slavishly devoted to the whole 'seven' thing, as it always seemed to result in a couple of margainalized characters - Gan, Jenna, Dayna, Soolin and even Cally. *sigh* Bloody Orac got more liines than some of 'em, some episodes. 'Tis a chronic problem, throughout as I recall.
"Oh yes, they'll dig us out eventually. And then I'll bury you!" It was worth sitting through the eps just for that line, really. ;)
***
Trial
Ten pounds of awesome in five-pound bag. Seriously. This one, I remember even from 20 years ago. Except for the weird spandex thingummy, Zil, that is. Zil is weird. Very, very weird. Although, to be fair, the costuming/makeup for Zil is pretty awesome, given the period. My memories are focused on the courtroom-drama aspect, not the plot that concerns the Liberator crew for the majority of the eps.
(Tangent: Dude! Rontane is being played by Peter Miles, also known as Nyder, the creepy sidekick to Davros in Genesis of the Daleks. Once again, the old-school Beeb casting practice of "Show up sober, on time and hit your mark and you're set for life" plays out... Damn, that actor gave me the heebiejeebies. And apparently he showed up in another of my favorites, The Sandbaggers. I'll have to dig up my DVDs and watch that eps again... Incidentally, here's a nifty interview with Peter Miles on the Magic Bullet website, in which he discusses his long-time association with Doctor Who, amongst other topics.)
I love the expository between the two guards at the court martial. Entertaining, not too contrived, a bit of a respite from the usual cast of characters. It's only a few seconds, but it's a palpable change from the status quo, regardless.
Could have done without the badly-presented pseudo-military prancing about, tho'...
Avon's costume: ugliest. Anorak. Evar. It's hard to take treachery seriously when the traitor's where a costume like that. Cally's looking pretty spiff, tho'.
Aww, poor little Avon looks so hurt, realizing that Blake has the strength to abandon them, when Avon couldn't do it, himself. The hell he thought Blake was faking it.
I can't take a military man seriously who has the waist of his trousers hiked up to somewhere around his armpits. Parr's legs look like they're 3/4 of his body. Okay for an anime character, not so much for regular humans. Meanwhile, I see fabulous heels are military issue in the Federation - for the women such as Thania, at least. No wonder Servalan dresses as she does, if she's got an officer corps like that to compete against. ;)
Vila: "You've decided to be led, like the rest of us."
Avon: "I shall continue to follow. That's not quite the same thing."
Me: *giggles madly*
The fencing between Blake and Avon continues to ratchet up the tension. Lovely.
Travis' yummy boots are cancelled out by his spandex trousers. Sorry. No amount of angsty shouting can save a man from trousers like that. And he still hits like a girl (knocking out Parr).
...aaaand Travis finally rebels, in his own way. *madluv for the Travis*
Oh dear god, did they really just end the eps with the Liberator crew all laughing together on the bridge? Gah! I deny that closing scene from my paradigm!
***
I laugh at the show, yes, but I love it, really - warts and all. It's one of the first TV shows I clearly remember watching (the others being Doctor Who and Yes, Minister - which explains a lot about how I turned out, doesn't it?) and it made a hell of an impression. Granted, eight (or so) years old is a bit young to be tackling some of the topics presented (fooling around with the enemy being the least of 'em, really) but... an impression's an impression. Looking back, it made far too much of one, really. Bits of it have been popping up all over my life, ever since - for good and ill. ;)
Still, that's enough for one day. *blinkblinkblink* Gonna have some weird dreams tonight, I'm sure.
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I call those 'tinkly bits' (after the music ST:TOS used to signal them with) and that's a bad one, exceeded in awfulness only by those at the end of 'Breakdown' and 'Children of Auron'. You have been warned.
I still love this series and its characters dearly though.
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But, yeah, after all the heaviness that was "Pressure Point" and "Trial" a 'laughing on the bridge' ending seems totally out of place. Bah!
As I've said, I'm denying it from my fanon.
I've also long-since denied Travis' death from my fanon, too, but that's fodder for another entry. ;)
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I also don't think he's lying about the Space Fleet training he didn't fancy doing. He's actually very good at what he does on both ships and could have made captain, but then again he's allergic to responsibility. :-)
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And why's that, do you think?
('tis a serious inquiry, 'cause I know you've spent FAR more time thinking about the character's history and possible motivations than I have...)
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My brothers call that the "teasing Spock" music.
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Though oddly enough I've had Vila come out as Gryffindor in the online tests. I think he's rather a Neville at heart.
Drive-By Sandbaggers Squee!
Re: Drive-By Sandbaggers Squee!
Thanks for the lead for the Sandbaggers eps! That'll save me some hunting...
Re: Drive-By Sandbaggers Squee!
In regards to my icon, I've always been very partial to Ravon's 'lean' in that scene, where he appears to be resting his weight on the wall behind him - but he isn't, of course, because it would probably fall over if he did! It's a subtle thing, and Guy Siner does it quite well.
Re: Drive-By Sandbaggers Squee!
Re: Drive-By Sandbaggers Squee!
Great villains and dialogue, real moral dilemnas, a wonderful alien society, plus Daleks!
My icon folder would be considerably poorer were it not for this noble episode.
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