"I am not expendable, I'm not stupid and I'm not going."Avon: [about the Rebellion's new figurehead] He is strongly identified with rebels, you see, and very popular with rabbles. They will follow him, and he will fight to the last drop of *their* blood. Idealism is a wonderful thing. All you really need is someone rational to put it to proper use
Kerr Avon: Show me someone who believes in anything and I will show you a fool
Kerr Avon: I have never understood why it should be necessary to become irrational in order to prove that you care, or, indeed, why it should be necessary to prove it at all.
Kerr Avon is the ultimate in nihilistic pessimism. Unlike the loving Mr. Spock, who is never far from hugging Kirk and company, Avon is prone to kill the one's he loves. He kills his best friend, one of the heroes of the series, kills his lover, is willing to be a drugpusher to further the terrorist cause, and nearly kills another friend in order to save himself from crash-landing on a planet. And he's the hero - the villains are worse. Blake's 7 is the only science fiction series I've seen that really takes its pessimistic statements about human nature seriously. Avon does not believe in idealism, and takes his relativistic ethics to their logical conclusions, routinely threatening to kill his friends, his enemies, and even small cuddly aliens. Avon doesn't believe in idealism and the producers of Blake's 7, particularly in the last season continually reinforced the series's notion that rebellion against authority is ultimately futile, because the government is all powerful. This is a depressing message, and Kerr Avon a tragic messenger, but Blake's 7 is unique in how honest it is with its viewers. It tells us "We're fools. We are the mess. We are what's wrong with the world." And for that, this series deserves to be remembered as some of the best science fiction ever to grace the small screen.
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