Review BLAKE'S 7: SPACE FALL - Episode 02

[ant-mac]

Sure, we don't know how the banking system and the entire economy work. But normally stealing public funds from the government is not the victimless crime many people want to believe it is. It usually has rippling effects all over the economy.

Very few crimes are victimless.

Often, something that's wrong is not considered a crime.

What was done to Blake was wrong, but I doubt anyone was charged with committing a crime.

Yes, that's what I would expect, so at some point Black will have to stop Avon from committing yet another crime and might even question his decision to let the others loose in the world.

Will he? What if he can't afford to?

He might need their help to achieve a greater good - at least in his opinion...

Based upon what's happened so far, he looks pretty determined to strike back at the Federation for what it's done to its citizens.

 

[Mad-Pac]

Very few crimes are victimless.

True. But this is an excuse used by many criminals, "But it's a victimless crime!"

Often, something that's wrong is not considered a crime.

What was done to Blake was wrong, but I doubt anyone was charged with committing a crime.

The fact that something wrong may not be considered a crime doesn't necessarily mean that something considered a crime is right. Anyway, I was specifically referring to crimes against popular economy, which are covered by law # 1.521/51. You may disagree with some items of this law, but I'd say this, in principle, is a good example of something that is wrong AND is a crime.

As for what happened to Blake, it's too early to tell. So far we've only heard one side of the story, and I'm sure your enemies wouldn't necessarily paint a good picture of you. Or maybe Blake *is* a dangerous extremist, the Federation is fighting some delicate cold war or something and sometimes a necessary evil is required. There could be several different explanations. But if there's a simple absolute answer to the question "Was what happened to Blake wrong?" only *two* episodes into the show, then that diminishes the quality of the show's writing.

Will he? What if he can't afford to?

A wise man always questions himself.

He might need their help to achieve a greater good - at least in his opinion...

In that case, he won't be able to afford looking a gift horse in the mouth, and will just have to accept his luck... After having seriously questioned his decision.

Based upon what's happened so far, he looks pretty determined to strike back at the Federation for what it's done to its citizens.

Yep. At least that's what he tells himself every night. It's *all* for the children. (LOL) I know I'm being provocative, but in theory that could be true, although by your replies I sincerely doubt it at this point.

 

[ant-mac]

True. But this is an excuse used by many criminals, "But it's a victimless crime!"

"It's a victimless crime" is often a close relation to "the ends justify the means".

The bad may sometimes use the former, but the later can be used by anyone - good or bad.

The fact that something wrong may not be considered a crime doesn't necessarily mean that something considered a crime is right. Anyway, I was specifically referring to crimes against popular economy, which are covered by law # 1.521/51. You may disagree with some items of this law, but I'd say this, in principle, is a good example of something that is wrong AND is a crime.

I never once implied that something considered to be a crime is right.

As for what happened to Blake, it's too early to tell. So far we've only heard one side of the story, and I'm sure your enemies wouldn't necessarily paint a good picture of you. Or maybe Blake *is* a dangerous extremist, the Federation is fighting some delicate cold war or something and sometimes a necessary evil is required. There could be several different explanations. But if there's a simple absolute answer to the question "Was what happened to Blake wrong?" only *two* episodes into the show, then that diminishes the quality of the show's writing.

Are you seriously attempting to defend an organization that drugs its citizens, lies to them, slaughters them - often in cold blood - and exposes their children to the mental torture - if not the physical torture - of sexual molestation?

Please feel free to give your several different explanations as to how this "necessary evil" could possibly be acceptable in any civilization. There were several other alternatives that would have been preferable to rational individuals who worked for a reasonable, if authoritarian, government.

And as you don't know what might lay ahead for the cast of BLAKE'S 7, how can you know whether two episodes is too soon, too late or just right for people to start making up their minds about the lead characters overall situation? Or about the quality of the writing based upon this fact? This TV series isn't STAR TREK - THE ORIGINAL SERIES, so please don't assume that the general status quo shown at the beginning will be the same at the end. This time around, there just might be a few twists and turns - and character development.

A wise man always questions himself.

Absolutely, but it doesn't always lead to action based upon those questions.

In that case, he won't be able to afford looking a gift horse in the mouth, and will just have to accept his luck... After having seriously questioned his decision.

As I previously indicated, just because he might question himself, it doesn't automatically follow that he will change his actions because of those questions.

Yep. At least that's what he tells himself every night. It's *all* for the children. (LOL)

Well, certainly those children who may have been left scarred for life by the intervention of Federation medical staff into their minds and memories.

And is that idea funny for some reason?

I know I'm being provocative, but in theory that could be true, although by your replies I sincerely doubt it at this point.

You're attempting to be provocative?

I'd never do that.

 

[Mad-Pac]

"It's a victimless crime" is often a close relation to "the ends justify the means".

The bad may sometimes use the former, but the later can be used by anyone - good or bad.

I often hear the expression "the ends justify the means" in the same category as "the road to hell..." But I understand that makes good fiction for sure.

I never once implied that something considered to be a crime is right.

Actually it could be. If, for example, the government that issued this law defining something as a crime is illegitimate, then lots of good things might be listed as crimes. But all I was saying before is that something wrong not being considered a crime and something right being considered one have no direct relationship. For instance, this illegitimate government could define several good things as crimes, but it also could define several terrible things as crimes as well, just because it's a severe (and often unfair) government. Or it could define good things as crimes and bad things as rights just because it's totally screwed anyway.

Are you seriously attempting to defend an organization that drugs its citizens, lies to them, slaughters them - often in cold blood - and exposes their children to the mental torture - if not the physical torture - of sexual molestation?

What I'm seriously attempting to do is establish a context for such harsh and even criminal actions. Some things are not justifiable, but it's possible to understand what has caused them to happen. It is a general belief that organizations like the CIA or the MI6 do, let's say, reprehensible things, so to speak, but people don't really want to know what they are and there's no denying that the society where these reprehensible actions originated is democratic and ruled by legitimate laws.

Please feel free to give your several different explanations as to how this "necessary evil" could possibly be acceptable in any civilization.

Again, CIA, Guantanamo prison, military and political interventions, etc. There are so many shades of gray I don't have to provide different explanations. I'm sure you can figure that out by yourself. And, again, I'm not justifying anything, just trying to understand the context. Oh, and there's also another possibility which I covered earlier, is that these actions area localized case of corruption with a single person or relatively small group of corrupt officers perverting government actions.

Absolutely, but it doesn't always lead to action based upon those questions.

I merely suggested Blake would question his decision, not that it would "always lead to action based on those questions."

As I previously indicated, just because he might question himself, it doesn't automatically follow that he will change his actions because of those questions.

Again, as I previously stated, Blake should eventually end questioning his decision, not that it would automatically follow that he will change his actions because of those questions. I never said that part.

how can you know whether two episodes is too soon, too late or just right for people to start making up their minds about the lead characters overall situation?

Well, well, I do hope that two episodes into the show we still have significant character development to witness ahead. It would be very disappointing if things are crystallized by the second episode, and that would be an example of a very basic dramatic premise. OK, here's what I think. The Federation is bad. They've told more than shown, and the cases described could easily be spun to make the Federation look much better, but I don't think the writers will bother to go any further, so the Federation is evil. But the resistance/rebels will show some sort of ugly side as well. This is a very common trope nowadays: to fight evil you have to become evil yourself, but since deep inside you're better, you'll never become just as evil as the evil ones. But writers usually have more leeway to make good guys act evil (becoming antiheroes) than to allow villains to show a more humanized side, even making the viewer think they have a point. But, yeah, in this show the Federation is evil.

This TV series isn't STAR TREK - THE ORIGINAL SERIES,

Nope, definitely it is not...

so please don't assume that the general status quo shown at the beginning will be the same at the end. This time around, there just might be a few twists and turns - and character development.

Ha! So you do agree with me that only two episodes into the show is way too soon for things to be settled.

Well, certainly those children who may have been left scarred for life by the intervention of Federation medical staff into their minds and memories.

And is that idea funny for some reason?

This is a work of fiction and the idea was told rather than shown, lacking much emotional impact. Besides, even in dead serious situations, children or old ladies or puppies are used as an excuse for the perpetrator to be seen as moral and justified. As for what's funny, I was referring to this funny bit:

You're attempting to be provocative?

I'd never do that.

Har, har! I did think you were going to say something like that!

 

[Gavin]

So I finally got to sit down last night and watch the second episode. Still moving along quite slowly and we're gradually being given more information as we go. We get to meet Avon for the first time and he's got just the right amount of cynicism for me to like him. We're beginning to see the gradual coming together of the 7 (which leads me to the question, is it Blake plus 6 others making Blake's 7? Or is it Blake and 7 others with the others being Blake's 7?) The attempt at taking over the ship was pretty predictable, and I'm astonished that the crew wasn't a bit more prepared for it. The guard in with the prisoners was definitely a bit of an idiot, given how obvious Vila was with his "just turn this direction and watch my magic trick" ploy. Then there's a mysterious space battle on their route. Who's fighting who? Is this an ongoing conflict or a one of skirmish just to set up the mysterious abandoned ship? The ship is holed and we're introduced to the sealant - obviously someone is going to die while in the crawlways and the ship gets holed again. And sure enough Nova volunteers to go after Avon (who I already knew was safe). As soon as he volunteered I knew he was dead (and what an awful way to die). Before that I'd half assumed he'd be one of the 7, given he was one of the few prisoners so far with speaking roles.

Meanwhile Avon gains control of the computer, following a fight that should have been unnecessary if he'd just tied up the crewman like someone of his supposed intelligence should have and the prisoners go off in search of the armory. They're captured solely due to Vila's idiocy (will he continue to be such a liability in the future?). With Blake, Jenna and Avon in control of the computer, Raiker gets permission to "take whatever action is necessary", which lost me a lot of respect for the Captain, who up to that point had been a reasonable authority figure. There's no way he didn't have some inkling of what Raiker was planning so the deaths of the prisoners is just as much his responsibility as Raiker.

Finally we meet the mysterious ship from the opening credits. And it is huge. I had no idea how big it was until we saw the London alongside it. Blake, Jenna and Avon are sent to rescue the missing crewmen who have boarded the ship (they're dead you idiots) and find a mysterious light thingy on the wall that attracts them with memories. Blake is able to resist (a side affect of his implanted memories?) and shoots the light and it disappears and they steal the ship (killing Raiker). So now we've got Blake and 2 of his crew with their ship and they're following the London to rescue the rest of the prisoners, some of whom I assume will be added to the crew.

Overall an interesting episode, which starts to set up the main players for the ongoing story. Still moving along slowly but not unreasonably so. There's no obvious padding and everything seems to add to the story. I'm definitely hooked and want to see where the story is going from here.

I'll give this one 8 out of 10.

 

[Mad-Pac]

is it Blake plus 6 others making Blake's 7?

That would mean Blake's his own man!

 

[Gavin]

The brief look at the London we get is good, it looks functional as prison transport probably should. I'm not keen on the little smoke sparkler to indicate the engines. It doesn't make much sense in space and I think it would work better without it.

Yeah I thought that was pretty awful. Given the limited effects budget they had they could have saved themselves some money and just blurred the stars or something. Using something that looks like chemical propulsion to power a ship that has to be travelling faster than light was just silly.

Leylan is a convincing commander, he tolerates Raiker's actions to a point but will reprimand him when he oversteps the mark.

And yet he gives permission to Raiker to kill prisoners in order to compel Blake and the others to surrender. I find it impossible to believe he didn't have any idea what Raiker would do.

I wonder if he finds Raiker useful to do the unpleasant things and then he can distance himself from the results. Overall he is a nice multifaceted character, he does some decent things but then turns a blind eye or even sanctions some terrible things.

And in my opinion that makes him every bit as bad as Raiker, regardless of how nice he seems.

The contrast between Blake and Avon is apparent from their first musings about the ship they've acquired.
BLAKE " with a ship like this and a full crew we can start fighting back"
AVON " This would be worth a fortune to the federation"

It will be interesting to see how that conflicting viewpoint plays out between them over the series.

But if he were a Capitalist instead, he would know that there's also the possibility of Producing wealth, which is how wealth is created in the first place.

I'm not sure I completely agree with that. Is wealth "created" or is it just transferred? Sure someone can "add value" to raw materials, but is there a net increase in wealth? If someone buys the added value material, their is an equal transfer of value. I agree that people's overall wealth can increase but I'd dispute that it's wealth creation. I'd suggest that somewhere there's an equal reduction in wealth, even if it's natural resource wealth that's not "owned" by any individual person.

Anyway, our trio of heroes/misfits try to start a mutiny, but Raker, the bad guy, does what bad guys do and start killing te prisoners one by one until Blake surrendered. And it becomes clear that Avon wouldn't have surrendered. Well, I happen to agree with him as far as that is concerned. If the prisoners started dying on my screen I'd consider that awfully said and unfortunate and I would end their families my thoughts and prayers, but I'd also say, "Hey, I'm not killing those men, you are! I have absolutely nothing to do with your decisions." In other words, never give in to terrorists.

I'd also agree with Avon. Given that Raiker killed another prisoner after they surrendered, what guarantee did they have that surrendering wouldn't just result in their execution (which they'd already been advised was an option).

Avon wouldn't come back for her, but Blake surely would. But no, instead, they had no reason to stay so they stole the ship. Clever, Commander.

Actually I was a bit surprised that they left anyway. I honestly had thought that Blake would try to rescue the other prisoners then and there. Maybe the commander also thought they wouldn't leave without the others?

 

[Brimfin]

The story picks up right where it left off last week – Blake on his way to the penal colony and confined to his chair. An eight month trip, too; but that’s realistic.

Let’s start with the crew of the transport ship. Typical stereotyped characters. Captain like Bligh, crew like a pirate ship – all determined to make life Hell for the prisoners. That’s exactly what we didn’t see here. In fact, the show opens with the crew making their preparations for the long flight, complaining about the ship’s poor maintenance by the bureaucracy. One of them is studying to be a captain so he won’t be forever stuck on transports ships like this. He starts to say this without thinking then stops, but the captain is okay with it and actually encourages him to study hard and improve his lot. In short, these all seem like decent people trying to do their jobs – the kind of people you’d like on your payroll. This show is clearly not going to be a Federation employees all bad; Blake good situation.

One of the crew, Raiker, does turn out to be a bad egg. He reminds the convicts that they are all dirt and will have few privileges. After he’s told by the captain to be discreet about the woman prisoner he not so discretely propositions her. She whispers something in his ear – probably for him to go f himself – and he smacks her hard. I like that she doesn’t rub her face until after he has left; she doesn’t want to show any weakness in front of him.

One of the convicts turns out to be the equivalent of a modern-day computer hacker. One of the prisoners is a tough woman, Jenna Stannis, who can pilot a spaceship. (Shades of Melinda May on AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D.) The automatic doors work on palm scans. Seriously – this was made 40 years ago? Some very forward thinkers involved.

We start to see Blake’s skills at organizing come into play as he recruits the hacker Kerr Avon to try to take over the ship. The pace is steady, not breakneck like so many shows today (and it’s usually not good, believe you me). At one point we see Blake climbing through the ventilation system in the ship with no explanation of how he got there. But then shortly afterward we see them create a diversion to get him back out, thus showing us the process. (One of the show’s few weak points; the diversion is one of the convicts doing sleight of hand with the guard. That might work once, but not repeatedly as they seem to imply.) Kerr is successful at hacking the ship’s controls although Blake has to improvise their escape from their quarters by forcing the guard to use his palm print. Again, clever that first he tries to ball up his fist to stop them, but he’s reminded that they only need his hand – does he wish to keep it attached? That does the trick without violence.

In the end, the plan is a failure. They do take over the ship’s controls, but then the rest of the convicts are captured – helped by a dunderhead convict who drops his own weapon instead when the large convict is calling for the guard to drop his. Raiker gets permission from the Captain to take any measures he can to get Blake and Kerr out of the computer control room. So he lines up the convicts and threatens to shoot one every 30 seconds until Blake caves. Blake does so immediately to stop the killing, showing strength of character. Raiker meanwhile deliberately kills one more man after Blake has fully surrendered. He taunts Blake that he could have won if he’d just shown some guts. It’s a pleasure to see Raiker get sucked into space at the end of the show.

Again, the captain shows character of his own by telling Raiker he crossed the line and will be reported. Raiker tries to tell the Captain that he was the one who gave him full authority to do it. The report will tell what we all did and said, including me, the captain assures him. Speaking of other characters not being just black or white, Kerr chides Blake for caving in as well. I did my job, he protests, you didn’t do yours.

Fate intervenes in the guise of a large derelict spacecraft found nearby. Tempted by the tons of credits they could earn by bringing such a ship in, the captain sends three men out to it only to investigate only to have them attacked by some unseen force. He’s about ready to give up when Raiker suggests using the convicts to check it out. So Blake, Jenna and Kerr get to go on board and fight the ship’s brain-like defense which projects images of people and uses them against you. Blake with all his brainwashing and conditioning is able to tell it isn’t real and switch the defense shield off. Our threesome try to leave with the ship but Raiker has other plans. Fortunately after he shoots Blake, Kerr and Jenna get the ship moving closing the hatch door and leaving Raiker caught in the transport tube as the ship pulls away and giving him a free ride into the vacuum of space.

So, thus far we have Blake’s 2 – Jenna and Kerr (or 3 if Blake is one of the 7). Who will be next? One of the other convicts, possibly – since Blake is determined to follow the ship and try to rescue the others. I look forward to finding out.

Weak points: The aforementioned diversion. Also the unnecessary subplot of some poor convict going after Kerr in the ventilation area only to get caught when the ship’s hull is punctured and he is killed. The whole brain defense system of the ship is a little weak on the delivery. But overall, still a strong storyline. I’ll give this another 8/10 rating.

 

[Mad-Pac]

I'm not sure I completely agree with that. Is wealth "created" or is it just transferred? Sure someone can "add value" to raw materials, but is there a net increase in wealth? If someone buys the added value material, their is an equal transfer of value.

I think you're focusing too much on the word "created," which I only used in order to explain "produced." But of course, nothing is magically "created" from nothing, out of thin air. Sure, if you become wealthy by selling something to millions of people, apparently they only transferred a small fraction of their money to you. But often the "added value" can be substantial. For instance, compare the minerals in a computer with the final result, a computer. The final product is much more than its parts added together, and in turn will help people increase their own productivity.

But let's not lose focus. Avon says the only way to accumulate wealth is stealing it from other people. That's obviously not true, unless he was making a criticism of the Capitalist System meaning that doing business is essentially ripping off other people.

Ironically what such shows and many comics fail to acknowledge is that if a character has such remarkable hacking skills, perhaps he could make, instead, a lot of money legally?

 

[Gavin]

An eight month trip, too; but that’s realistic.

It's one of the few space based shows where they are vaguely realistic about travel times. Space is so huge that even with faster than light speed, travel will still take a long time. Even at 10 times the speed of light it would take 6 months to get to Proxima Centauri (our closest star). Even allowing for higher multiples of light speed a travel time of 8 months isn't unreasonable.

Deneb (the star designated Alpha Cygni in the Cygnus constellation) is 2616 light years away. Assuming its the same star that they're travelling to, a travel time of 8 months suggests (if my math is correct) a speed of almost 4000 times the speed of light.

 

[Gavin]

Ironically what such shows and many comics fail to acknowledge is that if a character has such remarkable hacking skills, perhaps he could make, instead, a lot of money legally?

That's very true. I wonder if this suggests that, despite his comments, it's not completely about the money? There's possibly some other motivation that's driving him - a desire for danger? wanting to hit back at the system?

 

[Gavin]

Next ; EPISODE 3 CYGNUS ALPHA -where we meet the irrepressible force of BRIAN BLESSED!

Hang on while I grab my earplugs. Given the volume with which he usually delivers his lines, I've always wondered what he'd do if the script required him to shout.

 

[Cloister56]

It's one of the few space based shows where they are vaguely realistic about travel times. Space is so huge that even with faster than light speed, travel will still take a long time. Even at 10 times the speed of light it would take 6 months to get to Proxima Centauri (our closest star). Even allowing for higher multiples of light speed a travel time of 8 months isn't unreasonable.

I read an excellent series of books called the Lost Fleet by Jack Campbell. It tries to present what space battles would be like given the immense speeds that would be involved. Things like fleets arriving into a system would be able to see the layout of the system for several hours before the light of their arrival reached any of the planets. Targeting is done with computers as human reactions are woefully too slow to target at 0.8 of light speedIt made me reconsider all the space battles in other fiction.

 

[Mad-Pac]

It's one of the few space based shows where they are vaguely realistic about travel times. Space is so huge that even with faster than light speed, travel will still take a long time. Even at 10 times the speed of light it would take 6 months to get to Proxima Centauri (our closest star). Even allowing for higher multiples of light speed a travel time of 8 months isn't unreasonable.

Well, there are multiple theories covering this. In Star Trek, the warp factor increases geometrically. So, if I choose to go to Deneb, according to this calculator, at Warp Factor 1, I'll get there in 955,494 days, or approximately 2,618 years. But if I go at Warp Factor 2 (8 times the speed of light), it'll only take 119,437 days, or just 327 years! But forget about going there in a Constitution Class Starship, as it only goes as fast as Warp 8, which would take us there in... about 5 years, the same amount of time the Enterprise's original mission was supposed to cover.

So, forget T.O.S. Enterpise. We'll take a Galaxy Class Starship one century later. If we go there at Warp Factor 9.8 (with engines burning and smoking according to this!) we'll be there in mere 390 days, or... about 13 months...

OK, I'm in a hurry! I'll take the fastest ship I can find. What about an Intrepid Class Starship (USS Voyager)? At Warp 9.975 you won't even feel time pass, and these will be your quickest 186 days! Or... 6 months.

So... How can 8 months in an old prison transport be considered "vaguely realistic"? Unless the operative word is actually "vaguely". Because that's very, very fast! The fundamental problem with Blake's 7 Federation, methinks, is that it's trying to cover distances that are just too damn long. Let's not forget that the United Federation of Planets only covers the Alpha and Beta Quadrants, not the entire galaxy.

As far as other theories are concerned, other science fiction universes use hyperdrive (Star Wars), hyperspace (Isaac Asimov's Foundation novels), wormholes (lots, lots of examples), blink drive (Dark Matter), spore drive (Star Trek: Discovery).Each technique has its own characteristics. Some of them take you there in an instant because the distance is irrelevant. For instance, it doesn't matter how far Deneb is if you utilize a wormhole that pierces through the space/time continuum through another dimension, which is essentially a shortcut, or if you use the cosmic mycelium network to be here and also there practically at the same time, as the mycelia work according the the same principle that makes quantum entanglement between two identical particles happen.

 

[Gavin]

The fundamental problem with Blake's 7 Federation, methinks, is that it's trying to cover distances that are just too damn long.

That's a fundamental problem with almost all interstellar space based shows. To allow for reasonable travel time between star systems you need to have unbelievably fast travel speeds. The reason I said Blake's 7 was "vaguely" reasonable is that at least it doesn't suggest travel times of only a few hours or days between stars (at least not so far - I suspect the new ship might change that).

On the other hand the warp speed calculations for Star Trek do provide a realistic explanation as to why the Enterprise is always the only ship available. Even with thousands of ships available there would be no way another ship could get to where the Enterprise is quickly.

In the real world the sheer size of space is hard for people to grasp. That and the age of the universe. It's something that people seeking alien life don't seem to get. There could be an intelligent life form on a planet orbiting our nearest star and we might never get to meet them or communicate with them because of the distances involved. Or we might miss each other by a relatively short amount of time (a million years or so) with one race becoming extinct before the other gets to the level of being able to communicate.

 

[Mad-Pac]

The reason I said Blake's 7 was "vaguely" reasonable is that at least it doesn't suggest travel times of only a few hours or days between stars

But this is what I'm just trying to tell you. It takes days or hours to travel from star to star in Star Trek, because they go to nearby stars only! For instance, Vulcan (a planet in the 40 Eridani triple star system) is only 17 light years from earth. And it makes much more sense to build a federation with a planet 17 light years away than one 2600 light years from us. In fact, Blake's 7 makes one of the least convincing cases for a galactic organization, apart from Star Wars, (but then that one has a good explanation for this).Why would you include a star 2600 light years away in your empire or something when there are so many more conveniently located stars nearby? It doesn't make much sense.

In the real world the sheer size of space is hard for people to grasp. That and the age of the universe. It's something that people seeking alien life don't seem to get. There could be an intelligent life form on a planet orbiting our nearest star and we might never get to meet them or communicate with them because of the distances involved. Or we might miss each other by a relatively short amount of time (a million years or so) with one race becoming extinct before the other gets to the level of being able to communicate.

And there's another factor you're forgetting to consider: TIME! Maybe there was a highly advanced civilization on a planet orbiting our nearest star (Proxima Centauri) 1,000,000 years ago. Maybe one will exist one million years from now. In the cosmic scale, this means very little. Well, maybe there will be a highly advanced civilization... on our planet... one civilization that is not ours, by the way... one million years into the future. Even though this time difference is inconsequential for the age of the universe, it makes absolutely complete difference for us, and that's a barrier we cannot cross. So, you add space and time and you'll see how unlikely it is for us to meet an advanced civilization. Or any civilization for that matter.

 

[Gavin]

So, you add space and time and you'll see how unlikely it is for us to meet an advanced civilization. Or any civilization for that matter.

My general response to people asking if we'll ever find intelligent life in space is "we haven't even found it here on earth yet".

 

[Gavin]

Talking about distances, here's an image showing how far our radio signals (broadcast over the last 100 years) have travelled in our galaxy. It's a much larger area than I had thought but still only represents a tiny fraction of our galaxy.

 

[ant-mac]

I often hear the expression "the ends justify the means" in the same category as "the road to hell..." But I understand that makes good fiction for sure.

Many well-known expressions or proverbs have similar or overlapping messages.

Actually it could be. If, for example, the government that issued this law defining something as a crime is illegitimate, then lots of good things might be listed as crimes. But all I was saying before is that something wrong not being considered a crime and something right being considered one have no direct relationship. For instance, this illegitimate government could define several good things as crimes, but it also could define several terrible things as crimes as well, just because it's a severe (and often unfair) government. Or it could define good things as crimes and bad things as rights just because it's totally screwed anyway.

I'm sure it could.

However, I was not making that point.

What I'm seriously attempting to do is establish a context for such harsh and even criminal actions. Some things are not justifiable, but it's possible to understand what has caused them to happen. It is a general belief that organizations like the CIA or the MI6 do, let's say, reprehensible things, so to speak, but people don't really want to know what they are and there's no denying that the society where these reprehensible actions originated is democratic and ruled by legitimate laws.

It is still not defensible behaviour.

And if a so-called "democratic" and "legitimate" society is based upon those types of reprehensible actions, then it's not really a democratic and legitimate society after all.

Again, CIA, Guantanamo prison, military and political interventions, etc. There are so many shades of gray I don't have to provide different explanations. I'm sure you can figure that out by yourself. And, again, I'm not justifying anything, just trying to understand the context. Oh, and there's also another possibility which I covered earlier, is that these actions area localized case of corruption with a single person or relatively small group of corrupt officers perverting government actions.

There are so many shades of grey, you don't have to provide different explanations...

Welcome to BLAKE'S 7.

I merely suggested Blake would question his decision, not that it would "always lead to action based on those questions."

Fair enough.

Again, as I previously stated, Blake should eventually end questioning his decision, not that it would automatically follow that he will change his actions because of those questions. I never said that part.

Who said that you did?

I was just reinforcing my earlier point.

Well, well, I do hope that two episodes into the show we still have significant character development to witness ahead. It would be very disappointing if things are crystallized by the second episode, and that would be an example of a very basic dramatic premise. OK, here's what I think. The Federation is bad. They've told more than shown, and the cases described could easily be spun to make the Federation look much better, but I don't think the writers will bother to go any further, so the Federation is evil. But the resistance/rebels will show some sort of ugly side as well. This is a very common trope nowadays: to fight evil you have to become evil yourself, but since deep inside you're better, you'll never become just as evil as the evil ones. But writers usually have more leeway to make good guys act evil (becoming antiheroes) than to allow villains to show a more humanized side, even making the viewer think they have a point. But, yeah, in this show the Federation is evil.

Two episodes in, the basic outline or skeletal structure of one aspect - although a major aspect - of the BLAKE'S 7 universe has been fairly well established.

Minor details and more specific information will help to flesh it out more over the next 50 episodes.

Nope, definitely it is not...

Thankfully...

What fun would it be if they were all the same?

Even the various STAR TREK TV series have variations between them.

Ha! So you do agree with me that only two episodes into the show is way too soon for things to be settled.

I never said I did or did not agree.

I simply asked...

And as you don't know what might lay ahead for the cast of BLAKE'S 7, how can you know whether two episodes is too soon, too late or just right for people to start making up their minds about the lead characters overall situation?

I also made further reference to the developing themes of BLAKE'S 7 above.

This is a work of fiction and the idea was told rather than shown, lacking much emotional impact. Besides, even in dead serious situations, children or old ladies or puppies are used as an excuse for the perpetrator to be seen as moral and justified. As for what's funny, I was referring to this funny bit:

What funny bit?

Har, har! I did think you were going to say something like that!

Oh, you did, did you...?

Well, if you say so, then it must be true.

 

[ant-mac]

That would mean Blake's his own man!

Not an easy accomplishment, considering everything that's been done to him so far.