Let's hear it for Dayna
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| Title: | Let's hear it for Dayna |
| Creator: | Neil Faulkner |
| Date(s): | January 1996 |
| Medium: | print, then online |
| Fandom: | Blake's 7 |
| Topic: | |
| External Links: | at AO3; at Hermit |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Let's hear it for Dayna is a 1996 Blake's 7 essay by Neil Faulkner.
It was originally printed in Altazine #0, archived online at Hermit.org, and is now on Archive of Our Own.
Some Topics Discussed
- thoughts on on writing the B7 characters
- Dayna Mellanby
Excerpts
Some B7 characters attract more attention that others. Some. like Avon are simply popular. Others get noticed because nobody seems to care much about them - Gan's a good example. Dayna, on the other hand, tends to get overlooked, largely through not leaning to either extreme. Most people seem to like her, but not very much. I think this is a shame, because she's quite an interesting character and deserves more attention than she gets.
Not that I'm a rabid Dayna fan myself, but I can't help wondering why she should get neglected like this. Possibly because she only features very strongly in two episodes, and in one of those Aftermath - she got pushed aside by Avon and Servalan, while in the other - Animals - she took centre stage in one of the worst scripts ever written for the series and was just filling in for Cally anyway. The rest of the time she's just sort of there, chipping in when opportunity allows. I can't help thinking that another reason might lie in Josette Simon's conspicuous non-appearance at conventions, and if that's the case then it just goes to show what a self-centred shower some fans can be. Tough luck, kiddies, she's got her own life to lead, and it sure aint for your gratification.
f I had to reduce Dayna to some kind of social archetype, I'd probably settle for 'bolshy teenager'. This in itself makes her refreshing, a welcome change from all those sensible professional types from the first two seasons. Not that I particularly like bolshy teenagers - in fact I'd gladly see them all guillotined - but as a contrast to the previous crew Dayna was a shot in the arm. Her practice of carping at Vila captures her immaturity rather nicely, though actual examples are hard to pin down. It was most marked in Sarcophagus, where Tanith Lee managed to bring out many of the essential facets of the main characters without reducing them to crude stereotypes. It was a good piece of writing by any standards, and bloody marvellous for a first episode - Lee had obviously done her homework. Dayna has another withering go at Vila in Stardrive, suggesting that even in the 4th Season he remained a focus for her impatience, though by then everyone seemed to be losing patience with Vila anyway.
In conclusion, Dayna can be regarded as the most frequently disregarded regular character in fan discussion, and yet - paradoxically one of the best defined in the episodes regarding her background and the effect it has on her future development. She is, in many respects, a B7 character par excellence, with a good mix of positive and negative qualities. Intelligent yet recklessly spontaneous, undoubtedly brave yet hardly invulnerable to fear (witness her reaction to Doorman's cave monster), quick to form an opinion but nevertheless open to reasoned argument. She is petty, immature and potentially quite spiteful, but also loyal, trustworthy and dependable. I'm also inclined to think she was rather lonely' alienated from the others by her age and her isolated upbringing, and it was this that brought out both the best and worst in her.