B7 on Mastermind

[vilakins]

One of my friends is appearing on UK Mastermind with the specialised subject of Blake's 7. Go, her!

When the contender comes back to the black chair for their second round of questions (the general knowledge round), John Humphrys, the question master, likes to have a little chat with them. He will probably want to talk about B7. My friend would like some ideas of what likely questions might be, and some suggestions for answers to them. So far she's thought of:

1. What was so good about B7?
   
2. Wasn't it really cheap and ropey?
   
3. Is it relevant today?
   
4. What makes it different to other SF shows?
   
5. Why has it become a cult?

To clarify her answers, she would like input from other fans, and someone's bound to think of something she hasn't thought of. John Humphrys is a political journalist and that sometimes carries over into his little chats on Mastermind. She would like to be able to defend B7 well, and put forward some good arguments.

So far I've come up with::

1. The complex and witty characters of moral ambiguity.
   
2. The sets and the SFX were, but the plots, characterisation, and dialogue more than make up for that.
   
3. The series carries the initial message that we should fight against injustice and oppression, and that sometimes the people on the right side aren't exactly angels, yet ends with the very bleak and cynical message that the fight is a hopeless and doomed one. Do we accept that?
   
4. It was the first to use plot arcs and morally ambiguous characters living in a dystopia.
   
5. Because the characters are so interesting and snarkily witty, and because we are not told everything we need to know so there's so much room for speculation and discussion.

What do you think?

Comments

[executrix.livejournal.com]

Reluctantly, I must agree with Cavil #3. What possible contemporary relevance could a show about a surveillance society that fights colonial wars for resources under the command of a ruthless woman have to anything that could happen today?

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Apart from the sex of the leader, you mean?

[executrix.livejournal.com]

You had the good fortune of missing the way that a lot of people talked about Hillary Clinton during the earlier centuries of the campaign.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Ah. I did hear about some of the nastier gender-based attacks. Funny that the maleness or appearance of the other candidates isn't an issue.

I was thinking of the incumbent.

[astrogirl2.livejournal.com]

Funny that the maleness or appearance of the other candidates isn't an issue.

Appearance except insofar as it applies to skin color, you mean? :)

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

They've actually used that against him? Wow.

[kerravonsen]

Another part of #4 -- how many shows kill of their entire cast in the last episode? Or, to put it another way, one can consider the whole thing a classic Tragedy, with the flaws of the main characters leading to the tragic end.

[astrogirl2.livejournal.com]

I was going to say that I could think of at least one, but then I realized that that one actually spread it out over several episodes. :)

(I won't name it for spoiler reasons, and also because it's more fun to make people rack their brains trying to figure it out. ;))

This, of course, does not negate the point!

[kerravonsen]

But was it made before or after B7?

[astrogirl2.livejournal.com]

Ah, definitely after. :)

[jaxomsride.livejournal.com]

Dynasty had a massacre at a wedding!
Black Adder also killed most off in the final show.

[hafren.livejournal.com]

Humphrys was feared by politicians - Blair wouldn't go near him - but is less sarky with the public. I'm sure though that he has no knowledge of SF and will see it as a geek genre. But he's open-minded enough to be impressed by some of the points you've mentioned so far. B7 is still famed for awful SFX so maybe she should point out that other things matter more...

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

I'm sure she will. :-)

[communicator.livejournal.com]

Wonderful news, I'll look out for that one

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

I wish I could see it. :-(

[hafren.livejournal.com]

I've always thought I might do OK on B7 as a specialist subject. My general ignorance would do for me, though. Good luck to her.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

I think I'd choose B7 too, but you have to have several subjects to get through which would stop me. She's already done well on a book series--'The Romney Marsh Novels of Monica Edwards'--and will do 'The Life of Alex Harvey' if she gets further.

I suppose I could do B7 and the Marlow novels of Antonia Forest but I'd be stumped for another one. Perhaps Asimov's Foundation series? Both of those I could bone up on.

But I'd be far too nervous to do well anyway. I was once on a winning school team, but that's different, being one of four.

[bramblyhedge.livejournal.com]

You pretty much covered it all there - and very eloquently, I might add - so I just have one cent to add instead of the usual two cents.

4. The bad guys win. There's no irony, or back-pedalling, or allusions to hope for the future - and there's no punches pulled. They just win.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

And that's what I hate so much about the ending.

[jaxomsride.livejournal.com]

Good luck to her!

[san-valentine.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the comments and good wishes, everyone. Nico has far more B7 fans on her flist, so I asked her to help, as she has so kindly done.

I chatted to one of the production assistants on Tues and Wed about B7 - he watched it himself when it was first broadcast, and wrangled the job of being the one to talk to me about it. In fact, we spent far longer gossiping about B7 than really necessary (and other stuff, including Life On Mars - *points at icon*) I put a post about it on my lj.

I think he intends to get back to me closer to the recording date, with some more focussed questions. I believe Jonh Humphrys will have looked at his notes, and picked out aspects he's interested in.

The shows won't be broadcast until the autumn (I don't have a date yet), but should be available to download on the BBC iplayer after transmission, I'd imagine.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

I think that's only available in the UK, sadly. However I'd love to know about the chat, how you did, and what the questions were.

I hope this was some help.

[deploys own redscharlach birthday gift icon]

[san-valentine.livejournal.com]

I'd assumed that if iplayer was on the web, it would be available pretty much anywhere on the planet. Maybe not then.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

You have to have a UK ISP address. I can't even look at some of the Doctor Who pages so I don't bother going there any more.

I can listen to radio programmes though.

I'd love a list of the questions. If you're interested, Australia's Einstein Factor did B7 and had some very easy questions (http://www.abc.net.au/einsteinfactor/txt/s1968887.htm)--I could answer all but one. Mind you, I may not have been able to on camera!