30 Days of Blake's 7 - day 18

[vilakins]

Day 18: Favourite Liberator moment
Day 18: Ideas that should have been used more

Feel free to use my alternative if you prefer it.

The treasure room
Avon said, "Do you know how much is in there? Millions. Millions. And this is just a sample. There must be almost as much wealth in that single room as there is in the entire Federation banking system."
They could have funded planetary revolutions with that vast wealth but the only time I can remember it being used was to tempt Largo with two gems.

The Clonemasters and their clones
Fully sentient humans could be grown in five hours. There could have been so many possibilities: clones of the rebels used for public trial; clones of Servalan, Travis, and other high command as decoys; cloned armies (a la Star Wars)...

Androids
The Avalon one was relatively simple, but Vinni was much more sophisticated and regarded itself as human. There are lots of possibilities there, as with the clones. 

I'm sure there are more I haven't thought of.

[Edit] And yes, there was a major one which julesjones rightly posted: Cally's telepathy which could have been a major asset for the crew.

All the original questions are on Tumblr.

Comments

[kitarella_imagines]

Now that is a great idea for a question. Good thinking! May I borrow it?

I think the weirdest dead end is the treasure room. Did they forget about it? Because as time went by Avon was always doing heists, but why did he need to do heists if he already had all that money? Surely focusing on the rebellion would have been better.

Although like your Lynx, using all the admin systems to take down the Federation was much more effective than gun battles.

And about androids, that was basically why I put the android guards in my Children of the 7, because I like androids! lol. And Avon and Brook were planning to capture an android weren't they, and use it for who knows what.😅

[vilakins]

Go for it! It's hard to find questions that fit B7 with its lack of pairings and friendships etc.

I like androids too and would have liked to know what they used them for, given they had mutoids who must have been cheaper.

[kitarella_imagines]

I shall, thank you.

I don't like mutoids, androids are much better, so I decided that some problem had been discovered with mutoids and they'd stopped being used. Maybe I should have put that in more clearly. I think Avon was just overcome with excitement seeing such advanced technology and got a techno-boner. Or maybe it was me who got a techno-boner thinking of androids 🤣🤣

[watervole]

The treasure room always struck me as a stupid idea - quietly forgetting it was probably best. there was no sensible reason for it to exist, and it was too powerful.

Same with the clones really. On both counts...

[vilakins]

I agree that having more money than the Federation was ridiculous (and they'd have to fence the gems) but they should have dealt with it - e.g. found out that the gems were fake.

The clothing room was another. The Altas were barely dressed, so why was there a limitless supply of clothes in different sizes and styles?

[executrix]

They would have needed the money if there was nothing in the Wardrobe Room but size-2 leopard-skin bikinis.

[vilakins]

And now I have that image in my head. I think Cally and Avon are the only ones who could carry it off as I don't think Cally cares much about appearances, and Avon would just look haughty and dignified. After all, he wears some kinky gear and maybe does have something silky and brief under his leather.

[executrix]

And they're jolly lucky that Liberator has potable water and human-safe food.

[vilakins]

Maybe Zen's nanobots created the clothes and food etc. I wish we'd seen some meals, not just a few unidentifiable snacks.

[watervole]

ooh! Zen can connect to human minds like Jenna's and sense her wants. Therefore he provides food and clothing suitable for her.

But everything is transient and not all of it can be taken off the ship for long. eg. The treasure is rather like fairy gold, and they soon find this out - hence why they never use it!

[executrix]

Not so much fairy as Zerok gold, eh?
But it would make perfect sense for a ship to carry money in order to replenish supplies. As a show, B7 is rather unconcerned with day-to-day life on the ship, so there could be plenty of times when they went to a neutral planet to buy food and, of course, crystals, but it just didn't get memorialized onscreen.

[watervole]

Yes, fake gems or an illusion would make good sense.

With you all the way on the clothing room as well...

[julesjones]

Maybe that's where Sleer came from - the original did die on the Liberator, but she had a pre-programmed backup under a different name with a real (even if forged or stolen) history to hide behind.

The problem with treasure rooms is that if you use that much wealth in a relatively short timescale you devalue the currency and the wealth becomes a lot less valuable. Blake may well have been drip-feeding it. He certainly wasn't handing it out to Avon and Vila, although I think they broke the bank at the casino as much for the fun of it as wanting the money itself.

I'm now reminded of one of my favourite Liberator moments - Blake simply holding out his hand and Avon dropping the bag of gems into it with a look of disgust. :-) Avon, dear, Blake was never going to let you get away with that...

[vilakins]

Ooh, I like that! She could have all of Servalan's memories from a brain print and effectively be her.

I agree the Gambit con was for fun and thrills (if not Thrylce, poor drugged bugger) and one in the eye for Blake. Plus the money was immediately negotiable, unlike the gems. I hope they found some way of banking the tuff so they had some after the Liberator was eaten.

I always thought that was rather petty and authoritarian of Blake, given there were that many more. Let the guy keep them!

[julesjones]

The problem with interesting plot bunnies is that by now not just someone but someones will have thought of them first. I am getting multiple story ideas generated from this meme, and feeling disinclined to write them because there'll be someone going "you copied that!".

[watervole]

Do people really do that? Complain if someone else comes up with the same idea?

Sigh...

[julesjones]

Oh yes. I've seen it mostly in profic - there was one years ago where someone had a very public tantrum about someone else Plagiarising Her Book, because the someone had described a character approaching a castle with sheep on the surrounding hills, or some such. We all pointed and laughed. But also in fanfic. I had someone email me after one of the Tales zines came out because she desperately needed me to know that she had already used a particular quote as a title for one of *her* stories before I used it for one of mine. She got a terse reply noting that my story had been written for a zine that had still not come out some years after submissions closed, so I'd pulled it and put it in my own zine. I did not spell out how long before her story was published that was, but presumably the message got through because I got a reply back saying that she absolutely hadn't intended to suggest she'd thought of it first...

[watervole]

Quotes are common property in any case.

I remember winning a competition at Who's 7 for writing a story for any quote from Paradise Lost.

Dunno what the other's chose, but if there had been any overlap, I'm sure the stories would have been different in any case.