Live Forever or Die Trying - Vila Restal
Title: Live Forever or Die Trying - Vila Restal
Author: the_summoning_d
Character: Vila Restal
Fandom: Blake's 7
Spoilers: All four series, especially the final episode of season 4
Disclaimer: I own nothing
Author's Note: Uh...my computer was rebelling, and I only managed to finish this in the early hours of the morning. Sorry in advance if it's a little incoherent...
What to say about Vila Restal?
At a casual glance, he's a witless kleptomaniac coward. But's he's a survivor, and the only character who appears in every single episode: and as such we gradually gain a deeper insight into his character. Vila isn't stupid; but he acts that way to dodge responsibility. He isn't a coward; he just has a healthy regard for the safety of his own skin. (I'm not going to deny that he's a thief and a shameless liar, but not maliciously so)
First Impressions
We first encounter Vila in The Way Back, the first episode in the series. Our first impression is not particularly favourable: he steals a watch from an unconscious Blake and only returns it when Jenna quite blatantly drops the hint to Blake about what's going on. His first line in the episode - in the entire series - says quite a lot about him:
"Easy, take it easy! I hate personal violence...especially when I'm the person..." [He yells frantically, cowering away from Blake...]
But having recovered from the initial shock he is thereafter witty, charming, and all in all surprisingly relaxed considering that he is about to be shipped to a penal colony for life with numerous dangerous thugs. And tellingly, although Vila is supposedly the coward it is Jenna who admits to being scared, while Vila jokes about the situation and overall seems supremely unconcerned.
There is also speculation among fans that Vila deliberately allowed Jenna to see him stealing from Blake - a move meant to make him appear clumsy and harmless. Although never confirmed in canon, this makes a great deal of sense as the Vila we come to know in the following episodes is far too skilled a thief to make such a mistake.
Strengths
Well, quick summary: Vila's intelligent, loyal, calm under fire and a supremely talented thief. And now in more detail...
Intelligent:
It's through other characters we see this - the alien possessing Cally in Sarcophagus remarks that Vila is highly intelligent but acts like an idiot. He claims he bought his 'Grade Four Ignorant' rating from a friend at the testing centre, and it's quite easy to believe this. It is Vila, after all, who always knows when something will go wrong before it does, who comes up with a way to repair Scorpio's engine when Avon and Tarrant can't. Vila tries to appear stupid to avoid responsibility, and occasionally he slips up enough to show us how intelligent he really is.
Loyal:
It is significant that Vila, a self-confessed coward, stays with Blake - and later Avon - living an insanely dangerous lifestyle. Why would he do that? Avon asks him once why he stays with Blake, and he replies simply "I like him". One would think that someone like Vila would get the hell out at the earliest opportunity, but he stays out of loyalty to his comrades.
Calm under fire:
The most notable example of this is in The City at the Edge of the World. Vila mouths off to Bayban's thugs with little or no regard for his own safety, opens an extremely complex lock - he's certainly good enough to impress Kerril. He refuses to stay behind on Homeworld because she has seen him at his best while cracking the safe and would probably be unimpressed with his attempts to survive on a pioneer planet. (Although why she doesn't come back to the Liberator with him is something of a mystery to me...). Of course, he doesn't always cope well with danger, but it's helplessness which brings on his more notable attacks of cowardice - when doing something he knows he's good at, he stays in control.
Talented thief:
Do I even have to detail this? It's his defining characteristic ("A thief isn't what I am, it's who I am" ~City at the Edge of the World), the reason he gets sent to Cygnus Alpha, the reason he's so useful to the rebellion. His skill at thievery is his most important trait, more so than anything else. As he says himself; "It's what makes me me."
Weaknesses
Again, the summary: Vila's unreliable, irresponsible, and a coward. And once more in greater detail:
Unreliable/Irresponsible:
The most obvious and well known example of this is in Shadow, when Vila abandons his post to go carousing in Space City and gets so drunk he completely forgets the entire incident. He endangers the entire crew - and in fact, given Orac's 'possession', the entire universe - on a whim. And he is, of course, (in)famous for falling asleep in teleport duty and/or watch. However, this tendency lessens throughout the series, and by Gold he's considered trustworthy enough that he is left in sole charge of Scorpio for extended periods of time.
A Coward
Once again, I don't have to explain or justify this one. It's just one of the things that makes Vila the person he is. Vila appears to have an extremely low pain threshhold, and is afraid of physical pain. Tellingly, he complains of 'pins and needles' when under stress - generally recognised as a symptom of nerve damage, possibly inflicted by the failed conditioning he was repeatedly subjected to (Uh, this isn't an original thought. I can't remember where I read it, but kudos to whoever thought it up).
So let's take a look at his history and development.
History and Development
Vila - like Avon, Blake, and Jenna - is from Earth. He was a Delta-class (the lowest) and although classes are supposedly determined by intelligence, it is sometimes evident that Vila is far more intelligent than he allows himself to appear. He apparently spent quite some time in juvenile detention wards, and was sent to a penal colony for the first time at the tender age of fourteen (but later escaped...obviously). He was allegedly the 'technical advisor' for the escape from CF-1, which may or may not be the penal colony he was sent to. He is resistant to conditioning or brainwashing (The Way Back: "I've had my head adjusted by the best in the business...but it just won't stay adjusted.")
He does care what people think of him, but usually is able to bounce back almost immediately after an initial moment of hurt. However, even he can only take so much. The stress of the situation begins to take its toll on him in series four, mainly due to the loss of Cally and the Liberator and Avon's increasing instability. This is mainly shown through his increased drinking and periods of depression (Notably in Sand)
As time goes on, he becomes more reliable, and by Gold he's considered trustworthy enough that he is left in sole charge of Scorpio. His famed cowardice lessens too - he stands up to Tarrant in Moloch (The same episode in which he also held Servalan at gunpoint). Then, in Blake he singlehandedly disarms and knocks out a Federation agent...shame he gets shot only moments later.
Relationships
Relationships with the other characters are very important in the characterisation of Vila, and given the wild variations - from friendly banter to outright hostility - it seems best to consider each seperately. I will however have to cut them all quite short, since each relationship is by rights an entire essay in itself. Summaries, then:
Blake
Vila trusts Blake completely: more so, it might be said, than any of the rest of the crew trust him. Certainly in Voice from the Past Vila is the only one willing to co-operate with Blake's ideas, and immediately believes his accusation of an affair between Avon and Cally (Alright, so you can't exactly blame him, but this is not the Avon/Cally manifest...maybe another time...).
Also, despite Vila's first obligation being to the safety of his own skin, he stays with Blake and participates in numerous dangerous missions. However, there is a tendency on Blake's part to regard Vila - much as he regards the rest of his crew - as not so much a person, but a tool to be used to further his cause.
Avon
Ah...now this is a complicated one.
It could be said that Avon looks down on Vila, but it should be taken into account that Avon looks down on near enough everyone, and in fact often seems to disdain Vila less than most. The bickering between them is rarely malicious and on more than one occasion (When they take The Big Wheel for ten million credits, for example) they are presented as accomplices - partners in crime. It could be said that Avon is the crew member with whom Vila has the most in common: both are intelligent, inclined to save their own skins, and share a love of causing trouble and stealing large amounts of money.
But, despite my own millitantly A/V tendencies, we must address the matter of Malodaar.
I could dust off all the traditional defenses about the limited number of hiding places in a shuttle and a certain subconscious desperation not to find Vila, but I'm not going to. The fact of the matter is that, when presented with a dire situation, it becomes clear that Avon is willing to sacrifice Vila to save his own life. Neither of them ever quite recover fully from this revelation. There is a clear indication of just how badly Vila is affected by Avon's betrayal - in the few shots of him hiding aboard the shuttle, he is shaking badly and quite obviously crying. Much of this footage was cut out of the broadcast episode as it was thought to be 'too intense' to show.
And although any psychiatrist could write several large books on the emotional wreckage that is Avon, I think I'd better cut this one short. I'll sum it up thusly: in the early days there is never anything beyond mild dislike between them (I'm excluding certain comments aboard the London for obvious reasons) and they become friendlier and more relaxed in each others' company throughout the first two series. They begin to drift apart after Terminal, probably due to stress and Avon's deteriorating mental state, until the relationship is dealt an irreparable blow by the events of Orbit.
Perhaps, if things had gone differently on Gauda Prime, they could have worked it out...
Gan
Not much to say here, mainly because Gan is the first crewmember to die and the least developed character. But Gan and Vila get on well, even aboard the London, and co-operate well despite being on completely different mental wavelengths (Vila is a highly intelligent, highly-strung thief; whereas Gan is slow, reliable, and painfully honest). The difference can be seen quite clearly on various occasions. Vila is delighted to be going to Space City (The "Satellite of Sin"), while Gan is appalled by the thought of dealing with such ruthless criminals. And on more than one occasion Gan utterly fails to understand Vila's jokes.
Jenna
Jenna and Vila obviously already know each other before the start of the series; they seem perfectly comfortable with each other when Blake first meets them in the holding cell in The Way Back. They tease each other, but all - apparently - in good humour. In The Keeper she convinces Gola to let Vila out of the dungeons - although it's possible she just wanted some sort of back-up, even if it was only Vila.
Cally
Cally is patient with Vila's antics (With the notable exception of Shadow, in which she asks for a necklace made of his teeth), more so than any of the other crew members. When the base is destroyed on Terminal, he risks his life to go back and attempt to save her, but the final explosion kills her before he gets the chance.
Dayna
The relationship here is ambiguous at best. There are moments when they seem to be friends - in The Harvest of Kairos for example, when they hug after blowing up a pursuit ship together. But at other times there seems to be a lot of latent hostilty, especially on Dayna's part, which manifests in taunts and petty bullying. In short, a deeply bewildering relationship I'm going to avoid unless I write the Vila/Dayna manifest. Which I'm not going to.
Tarrant
For most of series three, the relationship between Vila and Tarrant is not a happy one. Vila is openly critical of Tarrant's plans and skills in Volcano, and we all know about City at the Edge of the World. Tarrant bullies Vila into taking an extremely dangerous job, threatening to throw him off the ship and saying that none of the others would stop him. Cally and Avon are both plainly angry with Tarrant for this, and even Dayna - who tends to side with Tarrant - says that if she were in Vila's place she would try to kill him. But by the start of series four they have come to accept each other, enough so that Vila risks his life to rescue Tarrant from the explosion, and in the final episode. Vila is persistant about wanting to know where Tarrant is, and if he was survived the crash.
Soolin
Since they only appear together for some of series four, Vila and Soolin have little on-screen interaction. However; in Power his first impressions of are good enough that he vouches for her when she wants to join the crew, and despite her skill with a gun, he puts her firmly in her place when she is (In his view anyway) disrespectful to Cally's memory in Sand. Although he admits to being scared of her initially, there is never anything more than minor bickering between them - certainly no overt hostility.
What Keeps You Interested?
Of course I can't speak for any other B7 fans on this one, but personally, I find Vila an absolutely fascinating character to read or write about. He's a firm favourite with fans despite - or perhaps because of - his failings and weaknesses. He's charming when he wants to be, talented, witty, and the flaws he does have - his irresponsibility and cowardice - just made all the more human and easy to sympathise with.
Links and Recommendations
If you are interested in finding fanfiction on Vila, I reccommend this site: http://www.hermit.org/Blakes7/Library/SrchRslt.cgi
And there is of course the lovely essay 'In Defense of Vila' by Sally Manton: http://www.hermit.org/Blakes7/Essays/VilaDef.html
And another by Nicola Mody: http://www.hermit.org/Blakes7/Essays/VilaMyers.html
Author: the_summoning_d
Character: Vila Restal
Fandom: Blake's 7
Spoilers: All four series, especially the final episode of season 4
Disclaimer: I own nothing
Author's Note: Uh...my computer was rebelling, and I only managed to finish this in the early hours of the morning. Sorry in advance if it's a little incoherent...
What to say about Vila Restal?
At a casual glance, he's a witless kleptomaniac coward. But's he's a survivor, and the only character who appears in every single episode: and as such we gradually gain a deeper insight into his character. Vila isn't stupid; but he acts that way to dodge responsibility. He isn't a coward; he just has a healthy regard for the safety of his own skin. (I'm not going to deny that he's a thief and a shameless liar, but not maliciously so)
First Impressions
We first encounter Vila in The Way Back, the first episode in the series. Our first impression is not particularly favourable: he steals a watch from an unconscious Blake and only returns it when Jenna quite blatantly drops the hint to Blake about what's going on. His first line in the episode - in the entire series - says quite a lot about him:
"Easy, take it easy! I hate personal violence...especially when I'm the person..." [He yells frantically, cowering away from Blake...]
But having recovered from the initial shock he is thereafter witty, charming, and all in all surprisingly relaxed considering that he is about to be shipped to a penal colony for life with numerous dangerous thugs. And tellingly, although Vila is supposedly the coward it is Jenna who admits to being scared, while Vila jokes about the situation and overall seems supremely unconcerned.
There is also speculation among fans that Vila deliberately allowed Jenna to see him stealing from Blake - a move meant to make him appear clumsy and harmless. Although never confirmed in canon, this makes a great deal of sense as the Vila we come to know in the following episodes is far too skilled a thief to make such a mistake.
Strengths
Well, quick summary: Vila's intelligent, loyal, calm under fire and a supremely talented thief. And now in more detail...
Intelligent:
It's through other characters we see this - the alien possessing Cally in Sarcophagus remarks that Vila is highly intelligent but acts like an idiot. He claims he bought his 'Grade Four Ignorant' rating from a friend at the testing centre, and it's quite easy to believe this. It is Vila, after all, who always knows when something will go wrong before it does, who comes up with a way to repair Scorpio's engine when Avon and Tarrant can't. Vila tries to appear stupid to avoid responsibility, and occasionally he slips up enough to show us how intelligent he really is.
Loyal:
It is significant that Vila, a self-confessed coward, stays with Blake - and later Avon - living an insanely dangerous lifestyle. Why would he do that? Avon asks him once why he stays with Blake, and he replies simply "I like him". One would think that someone like Vila would get the hell out at the earliest opportunity, but he stays out of loyalty to his comrades.
Calm under fire:
The most notable example of this is in The City at the Edge of the World. Vila mouths off to Bayban's thugs with little or no regard for his own safety, opens an extremely complex lock - he's certainly good enough to impress Kerril. He refuses to stay behind on Homeworld because she has seen him at his best while cracking the safe and would probably be unimpressed with his attempts to survive on a pioneer planet. (Although why she doesn't come back to the Liberator with him is something of a mystery to me...). Of course, he doesn't always cope well with danger, but it's helplessness which brings on his more notable attacks of cowardice - when doing something he knows he's good at, he stays in control.
Talented thief:
Do I even have to detail this? It's his defining characteristic ("A thief isn't what I am, it's who I am" ~City at the Edge of the World), the reason he gets sent to Cygnus Alpha, the reason he's so useful to the rebellion. His skill at thievery is his most important trait, more so than anything else. As he says himself; "It's what makes me me."
Weaknesses
Again, the summary: Vila's unreliable, irresponsible, and a coward. And once more in greater detail:
Unreliable/Irresponsible:
The most obvious and well known example of this is in Shadow, when Vila abandons his post to go carousing in Space City and gets so drunk he completely forgets the entire incident. He endangers the entire crew - and in fact, given Orac's 'possession', the entire universe - on a whim. And he is, of course, (in)famous for falling asleep in teleport duty and/or watch. However, this tendency lessens throughout the series, and by Gold he's considered trustworthy enough that he is left in sole charge of Scorpio for extended periods of time.
A Coward
Once again, I don't have to explain or justify this one. It's just one of the things that makes Vila the person he is. Vila appears to have an extremely low pain threshhold, and is afraid of physical pain. Tellingly, he complains of 'pins and needles' when under stress - generally recognised as a symptom of nerve damage, possibly inflicted by the failed conditioning he was repeatedly subjected to (Uh, this isn't an original thought. I can't remember where I read it, but kudos to whoever thought it up).
So let's take a look at his history and development.
History and Development
Vila - like Avon, Blake, and Jenna - is from Earth. He was a Delta-class (the lowest) and although classes are supposedly determined by intelligence, it is sometimes evident that Vila is far more intelligent than he allows himself to appear. He apparently spent quite some time in juvenile detention wards, and was sent to a penal colony for the first time at the tender age of fourteen (but later escaped...obviously). He was allegedly the 'technical advisor' for the escape from CF-1, which may or may not be the penal colony he was sent to. He is resistant to conditioning or brainwashing (The Way Back: "I've had my head adjusted by the best in the business...but it just won't stay adjusted.")
He does care what people think of him, but usually is able to bounce back almost immediately after an initial moment of hurt. However, even he can only take so much. The stress of the situation begins to take its toll on him in series four, mainly due to the loss of Cally and the Liberator and Avon's increasing instability. This is mainly shown through his increased drinking and periods of depression (Notably in Sand)
As time goes on, he becomes more reliable, and by Gold he's considered trustworthy enough that he is left in sole charge of Scorpio. His famed cowardice lessens too - he stands up to Tarrant in Moloch (The same episode in which he also held Servalan at gunpoint). Then, in Blake he singlehandedly disarms and knocks out a Federation agent...shame he gets shot only moments later.
Relationships
Relationships with the other characters are very important in the characterisation of Vila, and given the wild variations - from friendly banter to outright hostility - it seems best to consider each seperately. I will however have to cut them all quite short, since each relationship is by rights an entire essay in itself. Summaries, then:
Blake
Vila trusts Blake completely: more so, it might be said, than any of the rest of the crew trust him. Certainly in Voice from the Past Vila is the only one willing to co-operate with Blake's ideas, and immediately believes his accusation of an affair between Avon and Cally (Alright, so you can't exactly blame him, but this is not the Avon/Cally manifest...maybe another time...).
Also, despite Vila's first obligation being to the safety of his own skin, he stays with Blake and participates in numerous dangerous missions. However, there is a tendency on Blake's part to regard Vila - much as he regards the rest of his crew - as not so much a person, but a tool to be used to further his cause.
Avon
Ah...now this is a complicated one.
It could be said that Avon looks down on Vila, but it should be taken into account that Avon looks down on near enough everyone, and in fact often seems to disdain Vila less than most. The bickering between them is rarely malicious and on more than one occasion (When they take The Big Wheel for ten million credits, for example) they are presented as accomplices - partners in crime. It could be said that Avon is the crew member with whom Vila has the most in common: both are intelligent, inclined to save their own skins, and share a love of causing trouble and stealing large amounts of money.
But, despite my own millitantly A/V tendencies, we must address the matter of Malodaar.
I could dust off all the traditional defenses about the limited number of hiding places in a shuttle and a certain subconscious desperation not to find Vila, but I'm not going to. The fact of the matter is that, when presented with a dire situation, it becomes clear that Avon is willing to sacrifice Vila to save his own life. Neither of them ever quite recover fully from this revelation. There is a clear indication of just how badly Vila is affected by Avon's betrayal - in the few shots of him hiding aboard the shuttle, he is shaking badly and quite obviously crying. Much of this footage was cut out of the broadcast episode as it was thought to be 'too intense' to show.
And although any psychiatrist could write several large books on the emotional wreckage that is Avon, I think I'd better cut this one short. I'll sum it up thusly: in the early days there is never anything beyond mild dislike between them (I'm excluding certain comments aboard the London for obvious reasons) and they become friendlier and more relaxed in each others' company throughout the first two series. They begin to drift apart after Terminal, probably due to stress and Avon's deteriorating mental state, until the relationship is dealt an irreparable blow by the events of Orbit.
Perhaps, if things had gone differently on Gauda Prime, they could have worked it out...
Gan
Not much to say here, mainly because Gan is the first crewmember to die and the least developed character. But Gan and Vila get on well, even aboard the London, and co-operate well despite being on completely different mental wavelengths (Vila is a highly intelligent, highly-strung thief; whereas Gan is slow, reliable, and painfully honest). The difference can be seen quite clearly on various occasions. Vila is delighted to be going to Space City (The "Satellite of Sin"), while Gan is appalled by the thought of dealing with such ruthless criminals. And on more than one occasion Gan utterly fails to understand Vila's jokes.
Jenna
Jenna and Vila obviously already know each other before the start of the series; they seem perfectly comfortable with each other when Blake first meets them in the holding cell in The Way Back. They tease each other, but all - apparently - in good humour. In The Keeper she convinces Gola to let Vila out of the dungeons - although it's possible she just wanted some sort of back-up, even if it was only Vila.
Cally
Cally is patient with Vila's antics (With the notable exception of Shadow, in which she asks for a necklace made of his teeth), more so than any of the other crew members. When the base is destroyed on Terminal, he risks his life to go back and attempt to save her, but the final explosion kills her before he gets the chance.
Dayna
The relationship here is ambiguous at best. There are moments when they seem to be friends - in The Harvest of Kairos for example, when they hug after blowing up a pursuit ship together. But at other times there seems to be a lot of latent hostilty, especially on Dayna's part, which manifests in taunts and petty bullying. In short, a deeply bewildering relationship I'm going to avoid unless I write the Vila/Dayna manifest. Which I'm not going to.
Tarrant
For most of series three, the relationship between Vila and Tarrant is not a happy one. Vila is openly critical of Tarrant's plans and skills in Volcano, and we all know about City at the Edge of the World. Tarrant bullies Vila into taking an extremely dangerous job, threatening to throw him off the ship and saying that none of the others would stop him. Cally and Avon are both plainly angry with Tarrant for this, and even Dayna - who tends to side with Tarrant - says that if she were in Vila's place she would try to kill him. But by the start of series four they have come to accept each other, enough so that Vila risks his life to rescue Tarrant from the explosion, and in the final episode. Vila is persistant about wanting to know where Tarrant is, and if he was survived the crash.
Soolin
Since they only appear together for some of series four, Vila and Soolin have little on-screen interaction. However; in Power his first impressions of are good enough that he vouches for her when she wants to join the crew, and despite her skill with a gun, he puts her firmly in her place when she is (In his view anyway) disrespectful to Cally's memory in Sand. Although he admits to being scared of her initially, there is never anything more than minor bickering between them - certainly no overt hostility.
What Keeps You Interested?
Of course I can't speak for any other B7 fans on this one, but personally, I find Vila an absolutely fascinating character to read or write about. He's a firm favourite with fans despite - or perhaps because of - his failings and weaknesses. He's charming when he wants to be, talented, witty, and the flaws he does have - his irresponsibility and cowardice - just made all the more human and easy to sympathise with.
Links and Recommendations
If you are interested in finding fanfiction on Vila, I reccommend this site: http://www.hermit.org/Blakes7/Library/SrchRslt.cgi
And there is of course the lovely essay 'In Defense of Vila' by Sally Manton: http://www.hermit.org/Blakes7/Essays/VilaDef.html
And another by Nicola Mody: http://www.hermit.org/Blakes7/Essays/VilaMyers.html