artyartie

So, 52-odd episodes and hours later, I'm at last done with Blake's 7 - and even though I spoiled myself like mad, both accidentally and with intent, a good deal of my reactions still managed to surprise me. Thoughts, musings, and general summings up beneath the cut.

Thanks to

babel's interest, especially the fact that she plays an incredible Vila over on

wastedlands (where I play Cicero, surprise surprise), my curiosity was piqued as to this older series. At first, I thought it would be enough just to watch a few episodes, get a feel for the voices so as to interact with the characters better in the game. Needless to say, this did not happen, and I found myself on a very, very long and otherwise miserably overnight layover in Atlanta watching over five episodes of B7 in a go.

It's then you usually realize you're hooked.

My brain, which mocked a Fifth Doctor episode of the classic Who for a spaceship that looked suspiciously like a microphone, did not mind the high cheese factor ~~except for S2E1 and those horrible, horrible outfits~~ - the characters are just that damn good. My apologies if my brain is a bit fuzzy on S1 and S2, but the Liberator crew is just one big pile of <3. They all have such widely different motivations, both for remaining on Liberator and otherwise, and dynamics with each other, but it all works. Admittingly, I'm a big fan of snappy banter, and B7 is a marvelous fix - especially Vila or Avon and everyone else.

Everyone else being the wonderful characters with a shorter shelf life than organic milk. I admit, after Star Trek and Stargate, to watch a series that isn't afraid of killing off characters, no matter how much it hurts (aka Cally and Gan), and to wholeheartedly embrace pessimism - I couldn't have made it through S4 otherwise. I wish we could have seen Jenna make a return, and I admit, Tarrant was positively growing on me by the end - there's something almost Tobias Menzies about him! His 'act' in Gold made me giggle far more than it should - even though in S3 I just couldn't stand how he treated Vila, even if they had come to a curious truce in 'Headhunter,' even if it didn't last long. I admit, besides Vila, Dayna is probably my favorite character, although Cally would be a very, very close second. And not to leave out villains, I did so love Servalan and her increasingly Avon-esque wardrobe - and the ridiculous chemistry those two have. And we can't forget the brilliant and ever cranky Orac - nor the slew of Avon's exes that populate the galaxy.

Oh, Avon. It was almost heartbreaking to watch him the last season - from refusing to let Tarrant and Vila die in Headhunter to coming within a hair's breadth of killing Vila in Orbit, there's a shocking subtlety in his madness. And though I was already spoiled, the ending still hit me like a kick in the gut - and I was still holding out hope that it would come out otherwise.

That's what we have fic for, I suppose! My writing has been so lax as of late, I can't imagine when I would get to it, but I have a few ideas, niggling about in my brain. And because I know

babel and

vandonovan will ask, if I app a char, it would probably be Cally or Dayna. :)

And thus endeth my rambling, craptastic thoughts on a marvelous TV series!