"I think he'd look really good as an empty space."

[usuallyhats]

Hurray, am caught up with Blake's 7! vilakins, you are right, "Death-Watch" was good. Here be a reaction post thing, consisting of notes I made while I was watching it + a bit of editing as I typed them up.

• Luxury liner in spaaace! I like that sort of thing, and was a little sad that it wasn't more important.


• Oh, hello, is that Tarrant's remarkably similar brother? Saving on actors there, I see. Though Stephen Pacey is very good so they just about get away with it - Deeta's goodbye to Del was very touching.


• What on EARTH has Avon got on his shoulders? Oh dear me. Cally's outfit is rather good though, and Dayna's is an excellent shade of green, though I do not like the shape. /fashion notes.


• "Now, Cally, Dayna, let's not get violent, I hate to see a man cry, especially when it's me." There's some great dialogue in this episode!


• They've got cocktails and snacks! Hee.


• I loved the bits with Dravid (or whatever his name was). I have a weakness for people in sci-fi doing "ordinary" things, like presenting TV programmes and bickering with the producer.


• "You're going to look pretty silly flat on your back with a face full of footprints." One of several times I laughed out loud during this episode.


• The computer appears to have eschewed the deserts and jungles in favour of an abandoned industrial complex. Well I never.


• Poor Cally, she seems increasingly fed up with everything.


• "Oh, don't worry, I wasn't planning to be a hero." I think I love Tarrant all of a sudden, where did that come from?


• Ha, nice re-use of sets there at the end. Got to get their money's worth!


• Avon seems very uncertain at accidentally being helpful. Having his hand shaken in gratitude seems to be a new experience for him.


• The idea of two champions fighting a duel instead of having a war seems rather civilised: if you've got to have a war, at least this way only one person gets killed. But then add in all the partying and the psychic disc things and it suddenly takes a right turn into horrifying. :/


• Vila came off as oddly unsympathetic this episode, I thought. But other than that, it was a great episode with some excellent minor characters. Thumbs up!

Comments

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Now you can look at my post! Or the rewatch one. :-) I made some of the same points.

Vila came off as oddly unsympathetic because Boucher was writing and he disliked the character. It was Boucher who turned Vila into a drunken idiot from Nation's smart and artful thief. At least he's appalled at Deeta's death. Im fact he should be anti violence and Dayna pro, but it looks like Boucher went for the traditional gender stereotypes there.

The set chosen was soooo boring. esp after the build-up. A quarry might have been more interesting.

I think the whole single-combat system is redeemed by the sensor nets: people are vicariously fighting with their champions and kill or die with them, so on one hand the violent types will have catharsis and the rest will be put off the whole idea of killing and war. The rest of the galaxy are voyeurs though.

I think Avon regarded his personal space as invaded (and I meant to comment on that in my post, but did in comments somewhere). He's quite touchy himself with others, but never skin. I assume the Federation doesn't do handshakes.

[usuallyhats]

The Matador! Hee, that is an excellent description of Avon's outfit! What was the costume department thinking?

Boucher was writing and he disliked the character.
D: What a shame. I hate it when writers let their personal feelings about characters affect how they write them.

Im fact he should be anti violence and Dayna pro, but it looks like Boucher went for the traditional gender stereotypes there.
I'd been handwaving Dayna's reaction as distaste for the idea of experiencing violence vicariously, without consequences, which I can buy, but Vila's reaction is completely off.

so on one hand the violent types will have catharsis and the rest will be put off the whole idea of killing and war
I like that idea! Much more palatable than straightforward voyeurism.

I assume the Federation doesn't do handshakes.
Ooo, possibly. I also thought he looked a bit like he was hoping being the good guy wasn't contagious!

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Vila's reaction is completely off.

Boucher distorted him each time he wrote him, except for 'City at the Edge of the World' when Michael Keating asked for an episode where Vila wasn't stupid. It was Boucher who introduced the drunken idiot Vila; Nation's Vila was clever and witty.

Avon really did look shocked and disgusted, didn't he. I think it was the unexpectedness and the skin contact, implying that he's really not used to being touched that closely. And such a weird custom. "What was that? He just grabbed me by the hand and then moved it up and down? Why would he do that? To check my arm worked? To test if I was an android like Vinni?" ;-)

Actually I hate handshakes, esp in winter when bastards with colds do them anyway. Aaugh.

[vandonovan.livejournal.com]

Ahahhahaha, I never much liked Death-Watch, but your review of it is fun. I did like some of the small little character bits. Deeta and Max and the TV producers and stuff that gave it much more of a sense of "reality" than some of the others. I'm surprised you're loving Tarrant and wonder how that'll go through S4. I hated him a lot on and off, but after writing a big fic for him I think I understand him a bit better now and can like him in a weird roundabout way.

[usuallyhats]

Deeta and Max and the TV producers and stuff that gave it much more of a sense of "reality" than some of the others.
*nods* Making them so fleshed out really lifted the episode from ok to good, I thought.

I'm surprised you're loving Tarrant and wonder how that'll go through S4.
I was surprised too! It might have been just a this-episode thing, though - I shall reserve judgment until I've seen season 4.

[persiflage-1.livejournal.com]

I'm four episodes in to B7 S1, and finding it horribly slow and wondering if I've got time to watch this now (and thinking the answer is no). I hope lost_spook won't disown me. :(

[usuallyhats]

Alas! I'm sure lost_spook will understand. Are you enjoying it despite the slowness? If so, it might be worth spreading the episodes out a bit rather than watching them all in one go. I've been watching them, on and off, for about a decade! Maybe that's too slowly... :)

[persiflage-1.livejournal.com]

I'm bored by its slow pace. :(

I'm only watching one episode a day - but I can't afford to space it out too much as I'm borrowing the DVDs from the library.

[usuallyhats]

Ah, maybe not then! It's a shame you're not enjoying it - maybe it's not worth forcing yourself to persevere if it's not clicking for you.

[persiflage-1.livejournal.com]

No, well I didn't watch a single ep yesterday - had the whole day off work and didn't make time to fit it in. Seems to be a large hint!

[usuallyhats]

Heh, yeah, it might be!

[persiflage-1.livejournal.com]

I'm disappointed that I'm not enjoying it more, but there we go - we can't all like all the same things...

[usuallyhats]

True!

(It's nearly Leverage day! \o/)

[persiflage-1.livejournal.com]

Ooh, so it is! \O/