Um. So blowing up the base. Not totally sure it was required; not sure I think Avon would have done it without finding a new base first. It seems very rash compared to his usual calculated caution
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It seems very rash compared to his usual calculated caution. Perhaps it's some kind of motivational technique - going after Blake obviously wasn't an easy choice, given that he's apparently known about the possibility for a while without acting on it. So burning his bridges perhaps (only, unfortunately, everyone else's too) to prevent himself from going back on that decision. And a first sign that calculated caution is not going to be what we can expect from him in this ep...
I am so happy pantomime Servalan is absent Yes, that would have been too much. And the very fact that she is absent suggests that this trap had nothing to do with her (because, come on, nobody likes to gloat like Servalan. She would have been there if she had known.) So now I'm imagining her reading the report, or even hearing it on the news, somewhere a long way from Gauda Prime and starting to feel, over the days that follow, a certain emptiness in her life...(I wonder if there are any PGP:s where Servalan is the one to rescue them, having had some last-
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This still chills me every single time, even though I've seen it so many times I can almost quote it line for line. It's like watching a terrible car crash in slow motion.
I'd love to hear people's memories of when they first watched Blake if you are happy to share! This was all of two months ago for me...
Somehow, I'd managed to avoid spoilers of what was going to happen. I only know that something bad was coming, though I'd had that feeling since The Way Back. Various things suggested that Avon would be responsible for the bad and that he'd probably be killing Blake, but I hadn't seen anything solid to confirm this. So I went in with great trepidation...
and then that damn alarm went off and I'd thought that the insane would be Avon going mad, or Avon betraying everyone to the Federation, or Blake betraying everyone to the Federation... but then it was just them misunderstanding each other, like they always do, and their own paranoia and personality flaws leading to a tragic and inevitable result.
I didn't expect everyone to die. When Vila went, and then when everyone went, and Avon was just standing there not able to comprehend what was going on... Damn.
Welcome to the fandom! (And the pain. Sorry about that.)
Yes, I was never really in any doubt that Avon would have to bite the dust, but Vila? He's the funny little guy! They wouldn't kill the funny little guy, right? Right? D:
As I first watched this as an adult, on DVD, fully aware that it was the last episode EVER and vaguely spoiled that it was going to be upsetting (though THAT wouldn't have been too difficult to guess anyway) it never really shocked me, not the way 'Orbit' did. Which is not to say that it's not painful, but if anything I find rewatching it now, when I know exactly what's in store, to be a more harrowing experience. It's not just the ending, it's right there from the start, and throughout the whole thing, knowing that these are their last hours - and watching them not knowing it themselves
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Oh absolutely! The ending seems to fit the series so well, in retrospect, that it's interesting to rewatch the whole thing and realize that they weren't obviously heading for disaster from the start. But it somehow feels so right that they end up like this. For me it turns Blakes 7 from good to great - just as the ending of Babylon 5 (my other great sci-fi love) always feels like a letdown. And this is a wonderful episode too, for just about all the cast.
I first saw it when it first aired, as a teenager, with my family. About two minutes before the end, I expected it to work out - Blake would catch up with Tarrant and explain, and they would all fight the Federation together. And then everything just went wrong, so horribly plausibly, and we were left sitting with our mouths open as the gunshots rang out over the closing credits. One of the most memorable pieces of TV ever - for me.
Absolutely. That last episode was painfully sentimental and added almost nothing, IMO - it would have been much better to finish with the penultimate one.
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Perhaps it's some kind of motivational technique - going after Blake obviously wasn't an easy choice, given that he's apparently known about the possibility for a while without acting on it. So burning his bridges perhaps (only, unfortunately, everyone else's too) to prevent himself from going back on that decision. And a first sign that calculated caution is not going to be what we can expect from him in this ep...
I am so happy pantomime Servalan is absent
Yes, that would have been too much. And the very fact that she is absent suggests that this trap had nothing to do with her (because, come on, nobody likes to gloat like Servalan. She would have been there if she had known.) So now I'm imagining her reading the report, or even hearing it on the news, somewhere a long way from Gauda Prime and starting to feel, over the days that follow, a certain emptiness in her life...(I wonder if there are any PGP:s where Servalan is the one to rescue them, having had some last- ( ... )
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Somehow, I'd managed to avoid spoilers of what was going to happen. I only know that something bad was coming, though I'd had that feeling since The Way Back. Various things suggested that Avon would be responsible for the bad and that he'd probably be killing Blake, but I hadn't seen anything solid to confirm this. So I went in with great trepidation...
and then that damn alarm went off and I'd thought that the insane would be Avon going mad, or Avon betraying everyone to the Federation, or Blake betraying everyone to the Federation... but then it was just them misunderstanding each other, like they always do, and their own paranoia and personality flaws leading to a tragic and inevitable result.
I didn't expect everyone to die. When Vila went, and then when everyone went, and Avon was just standing there not able to comprehend what was going on... Damn.
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Yes, I was never really in any doubt that Avon would have to bite the dust, but Vila? He's the funny little guy! They wouldn't kill the funny little guy, right? Right? D:
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I first saw it when it first aired, as a teenager, with my family. About two minutes before the end, I expected it to work out - Blake would catch up with Tarrant and explain, and they would all fight the Federation together. And then everything just went wrong, so horribly plausibly, and we were left sitting with our mouths open as the gunshots rang out over the closing credits. One of the most memorable pieces of TV ever - for me.
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I agree - I still thought they would work it out right up until the continuity announcer came on!
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