[thunda]

Some cultures are enamored with the “thief.” The “thief” has a rich culture going back hundreds maybe even thousands of years in folk lore or books. I’m referring to the thief that doesn’t kill, hurt or carry a weapon but rather uses his/her intellect and cunning to get what they want. What makes them likeable is that they don’t take from the average person, they instead set their sights on some mythological creature or an overly rich bad person. I think that may be part of the appeal of Vila, that and the fact that you tend to sympathize with him right from the beginning. He’s caught between a rock and a hard place because he wouldn’t last one week on Cygnus Alpha and he’s not into the whole revolution thing. He chooses what he believes to be the safest option, which is going with Blake.

Vila may be the only character that’s honest about himself from the start. He likes to steal, is comfortable around criminals, is self centered, has a high survival instinct (I dislike the word coward), and can’t be counted on. Unfortunately he’s pressured by Blake, then Avon, then Tarrant into applying his talents for their needs. Is it any wonder he turned to drink?

Only one episode I question whether he was in character; Games when he killed a trooper. That doesn’t seem like something he would do. It’s possible that he hardened up being in the company of killers and was afraid if he didn’t become like them they might turn on him. That still doesn’t explain the way he killed him. Why get him to turn around first? Avon did something similar in Assassin but that was because he wanted Benos to know who killed him. The rest of the crew kill from behind all the time.

In Animals I question Vila’s technical abilities. He’s a thief not a mechanic. What would he know about fixing the glycolene ballast channels? For that matter how would the crew know how to fix a spacecraft even with Orac’s help? Are space ships in the future more user friendly?

Sidebar: In old American movies the “good guy” never shot anyone in the back. I believe this may have come from the code of the old west(American) where it was kind of okay to shoot a man, being that everyone was armed, but shooting him in the back was a definite no-no. The notorious outlaw Jesse James was killed from behind by Robert Ford, one of his gang seeking the reward. Ford was tried and sentenced to be hung all in one day until the governor intervened. It’s likely this code originated in Great Britain like most American customs.
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"Women, food, and inflicting pain -- in no particular order."
- The Fifth Legion

[Ron]

Vila is not a bad lad. He's self centred in as far as he has a general healthy interest in self preservation. He'll do this more often and at smaller things than Avon - who is very self-centred but keeps it to himself and only voices things when more major decisions are involved. So it is habitual with Vila, who is well known to say "I don't like the sound of that much" when someone's enthusing about a change to his present safety through some more risky sounding course of action. However there are lots of times Vila is asked to go and help in some situation and he usually, if reluctantly, does. He's not cowardly at those times and (I can't remember the episode) once pretended to be intoxicated only to then help later. He helps his companions who he genuinely cares about in the background.
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Last Watched: Seek, Locate and Destroy, 15/3/2018

[thunda]

[Ron]

[thunda]

I like to substitute myself in place of the characters and when I take Vila’s spot I ask ‘would I act differently than him?’ I don’t think of myself as a coward but I can’t honestly say that I’d be enthusiastic about performing arguably terrorist activities against the most powerful empire in history with a bunch of criminals led by a megalomaniac. With a few exceptions, like Hostage where he gives Travis the teleport signal, I don’t think he acted differently than an average person in his position would. Also, after Gan dies and Blake leaves he really has no one he can trust to watch his back. Can you really blame him for being overly cautious?
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"Women, food, and inflicting pain -- in no particular order."
- The Fifth Legion

[Commissioner Sleer]

[thunda]