The Anorak Zone Forums

[jcompton]

B7 tells many stories of failure--not just tainted victory, but outright defeat. Season 4 is basically wall-to-wall tales of failure, but the gang goes away empty-handed other times as well.

When I watched B7 for the first time as an 11-year old, I had to tape the episodes off late-night TV and then watched them the following morning. (I'm not sure Avon is an ideal role model for an 11-year old.) I didn't have many blank tapes so I generally taped over what I had just seen, but I did keep four of them on hand for repeat viewing. And although it wasn't a conscious choice, as it turned out, three of the four episodes I found compelling enough to keep were in fact these stories of abject failure.

Invoking season finales almost feels like cheating, so I set them aside. But I'm still not sure which is my "favorite" tale of failure.

Pressure Point has it all. A dramatic climax which immediately plunges into a nadir. Blake's futile gesture directly leads to the wipeout of the organized on-Earth resistance and to the death of his biggest fan. Plus, great character moments for pretty much everybody, and Blake even lets his ego show a bit: "We've done it--I've done it!" But, alas, all for nothing. The stakes are huge and they lose it all.

Then there's Gold. The stakes are much lower than Pressure Point--only money, albeit a lot of it. The gang comes out of it no better or worse off than before (presumably the murders aboard the Space Princess have boosted the bounty on their lives, if you want to count that). But the caper is so intricate and the levels of failure are so many. The reprogramming raid on Ziroc fails so the gold is turned black anyway. The last-minute substitution of a competent doctor messes up the diversion plan, making Dayna less of a factor. The security camera spinny cube job breaks. And then the twist where Avon knows he's being played, plays along because he thinks he can turn the tables, and ends up being bested. Everything goes wrong. It's incredible that they managed to cram it all into 50 minutes, and I guess that's why I keep coming back to it.

(and, why am I picking on this board? Because it was the first to answer a search for "Oh, it hurts, Pella.")

[Anorak]

Hi JC, welcome to the board.

I'll think on this question, very interesting...

[Apparatchik]

Welcome Jcompton!! I think you have a great point. For me the best failure is in the fact that despite the destruction of Star One, the Federation did continue, although it was weaker in the early part of season three. Even if Blake had managed to destroy Star One without the Travis/alien invasion plotline, it would not have been the killing blow he imagined. Moreover, the weakening of the civilian government, via the tampering and destruction of Star One, leads to Space Command's coup, making Servalan president.

[bandraginus6]

When I watched B7 for the first time as an 11-year old, I had to tape the episodes off late-night TV and then watched them the following morning. (I'm not sure Avon is an ideal role model for an 11-year old.)

Funny you should say that! Avon was my role model for several years from the age of nine onwards. All I ever seemed to do was draw pictures of him (or Mad Max or Rick Deckard), and later, every time Paul Darrow ever appeared in another TV programme (albeit not very often) my Mum would say 'there's your mate'.

It all probably led to me being the cynical, cold old f***er I am now.