Account 1 -
Beautiful Suffering
The main object of interest for people who loaded significantly on this fator is episodes which have a strong focus on character portrayal. As one respondent put it:
'I think that episodes that heavily feature your favourite character(s) are more likely to appeal to you than ones in which they contribute to a lesser degree... Episodes which feature a lot of special effects are not as good as those that concentrate on the inter-reactions between the characters.'
In their responses, people would give the fact that a particular character features prominently as the explanation for liking a certain episodes. Episodes such as Animals were disliked in part 'because of the un-canon like behaviour of characters'.
The episodes which were rated highly were:
+5 Aftermath; Rumours of Death
+4 Sarcophagus;Orbit; Blake
For many people, this interest in 'character' has a more specific focus - Avon. Rumours of Death is popular for being 'the peak of Avon angst/torture'; 'Avon suffers beautifully'; and for the way in which it reveals aspects of his character. 'My favourite episodes involve some glimpses into Avon's personality'. There is also, of course, a certain amount of fondness for the Man in Black's physical attributes! - particularly in Aftermath, which is liked for 'Avon being beautiful' and having 'Avon as a sex-object.'
Avon realizes in horror that Anna does not put the top back on the toothpaste tube.
This account is not solely articulated around 'Avon worship': thus when other characters figure prominently in episodes, it is also met with a great deal of approval, for example, in City at the Edge of the World (+2); when all the characters can be seen in action, as in Deathwatch (+3). Also, there are approving noises when an under-used character features prominently, even if thse episodes don't rate highly, e.g. Time Squad (0) does not rank well, but provokes special comment: 'Jenna kicks ass!'
The primacy placed on character means that episodes are even described in the context of the character who features most prominently. As one respondent put it: 'My favourite character is Avon, but 3 of my favourite episodes are Sand and Deathwatch, which are Tarrant episodes, and City, which is a Vila episode.'
The episodes which were considered poor were as follows:
-5 The Web; Animals
-4 Cygnus Alpha; Volcano; Stardrive
The aspects of these episodes which are disliked are bad plot, shoddy or tacky sets and costumes, and SF clichés. Typical comments include: 'I loathe the Decimas, I loathe the body in the bottle'; 'The idea of confusing a computer with riddles was decades old, and the pulsating brain was laughable'; 'Travis in bandages'; 'Brian Blessed overacting is not for me'; 'bad mohicans'; 'Og'. These are, simply, not what constitutes good B7: The Web and Animals are disliked 'because of monsters - B7 never excelled at these.' As another respondent summed it up: 'I'm more interested in character interactions than pitched space battles vs aliens.'
The responses give the impression that the whole programme is viewed as a series of vignettes or character 'bites', which make most of the show enjoyable: 'I had only 3 dislikes and 34 likes!' and 'I really like most of the episodes and would really hate to do without any of them.' Several people expressed the fact that they had found it difficult to rank the episodes in such a forced way, and that they would have liked to rate many episodes more highly: 'You really should have allowed more episodes in the upper + zones!'
One respondent annotated nearly every episode with particular 'Avon moments'; even episodes which were particularly disliked had good aspects. Speaking about The Web, it was noted that 'there are a couple of nice B/A moments, but not enought to make me watch more than once a year.' Another respondent would the exchanges between Vila and Avon in Gambit and 'end up fast-forwarding through the rest because I don't like it.' This mode of watching was common to repondents expressing this account; one admitted that when introducing a friend to the show she had fast-forwarded through episodes, saying, 'We don't need this - it's just plot!'
Exceptionally good character 'moments' can redeem an entire episode. In the case of Orbit, a humdrum plot is saved by the final confrontation: one respondent rated it highly 'because of Avon being driven to the edge of his pragmatism against his affections - the first 40 minutes are forgettable set-up.' As another respondent summed it up, 'Orbit ended up as one of my favourite episodes even though the story is basically crap. I guess it's the 'Vila, where are you, Vila?' parts that put it in the favourite column.'
This account therefore reflects an emphasis on scenes (as opposed to episodes which provide strong character portrayal, interaction, and development, particularly the character of Avon. Intrusively bad plotting and special effects are frowned upon, although this can be ignored if situations are created in which the characters are able to interact in novel and interesting ways.
Nicked from Judith Proctor's website, designed by Richard Proctor
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