What if Gareth Thomas had decided to stayed on the show?

[Whitestar]

I've always wondered how the show would have ended if Gareth Thomas had decided to stay on the show. I recalled the episode entitled, "Pressure Point", a scene between Blake and Avon that caught my interest:

BLAKE The others have decided to go with me.
AVON [smiles] I thought they would. Not very bright, but loyal.
BLAKE That leaves you.
AVON I have thought about it
BLAKE And? [pause] Come on Avon, stop playing games. Are you going to go with me or not?
AVON Well, of course. I am surprised you ever doubted it.
BLAKE Thank you.
AVON Frankly, I don't see how you can do it without me. Your strongest enemies are going to be the defense computers. I am the only one qualified to tackle them.
BLAKE Yes, that had occurred to me. You better start getting kitted up. Do you want to tell me why?
AVON I like the challenge.
BLAKE You don't want to tell me why.
AVON If we succeed, if we destroy Control, the Federation will be at its weakest. It will be more vulnerable than it has been for centuries. The revolt in the Outer Worlds will grow. The resistance movements on Earth will launch an all-out attack to destroy the Federation. They will need unifying. They will need a leader. YOU will be the natural choice.
BLAKE Possibly.
AVON Don't be modest, Blake. You are the only one that they would all follow. You would have no choice. You would have to stay on Earth and organize the revolt.
BLAKE If there's no other way.
AVON There wouldn't be.
BLAKE That still doesn't explain why you're backing me.
AVON With you running the campaign on Earth, somebody has to take charge of all this.
BLAKE [Laughs] You want the Liberator.
AVON [Almost laughs] Exactly. If we succeed, the destruction of Control gives us both what we want.
BLAKE Could be you're planning just a little far ahead.
AVON [Nods] Perhaps. But sooner or later, I will have my chance.
BLAKE There's no hurry.

Curious, does this mean that Blake was originally supposed to leave the show? Was this the way Terry Nation originally envisioned it? Or, did the following dialogue between Blake and Avon inspired Thomas to leave the show? And what if Gareth Thomas had decided to stayed on the show? How do you think the show would have turned out?

 

[Who?]

I'm not sure, but Avon has brought out some very popular cosmetics over the years. I hope that helps?

 

[Harry Kilmer]

Much as I liked the later episodes, I've always thought that the last ep of Series 2 - Star One - would have made a great ending to the series. The chemistry between Blake and Avon was what made the show for me. And I'll never figure out why they destroyed the Liberator and replaced with with that ragtag ship they picked up.

I've often wondered why Blake too Gans death so hard as well. Blake got people killed in pretty much every episode - his lawyer and wife, the prisoners during his failed mutiny, more prisoners during his escape in ep 3..and he was willing to destroy Star One despite knowing the millions of casualties it might cause.

 

[Perpetual Man]

Thinking about this is a good stretching of the old memory muscles!

I seem to recall at the time, that Gareth Thomas decided to go of his own accord. It was never intended that he should leave, he just had enough, not wanting to be typecast to the role. (A year or two later he turned up in the ITV SF series Knights of God, playing a rebel leader so go figure).

The earlier seasons were a lot harder, and it's one of those funny things - when I watched them back then in TV, with the wide eyed wonder of an 11 year old, Blake was the hero, the champion of the series. But watching the same episodes now, I cannot help but notice how hard he is, as seen from his perspective he is a freedom fighter, but many of his actions definitely when viewed by the Federation and more than likely the general population he was by definition a terrorist.

His actions against the Federation cost countless lives, many of them innocents, all in service to his cause, overthrowing a corrupt (and it is) regime.

Season Three changed the show, Thomas had gone, Terry Nation took a bit of a backseat, and it evolved. The Federation was in turmoil after the war with the Star One aliens, and Avon assumed control of the Liberator, and seemed more determined to stay out of trouble.

Had Gareth Thomas stayed, perhaps Blake would have taken a bigger advantage of the wounded Federation, perhaps they might have drawn the war out with the aliens some more - after all the season ended with the Liberator alone making a stand. (It is reported that Nation, series creator and creator of the Daleks originally intended them to be the Star One aliens, so when copyright restrictions prevented this from happening things had to change)

I think the show would have been a lot different, Blake was about pro-active action, Avon was about preserving his skin, it was only towards the end of season 4 when he started really showing an interest in fighting the re-established Federation because 'In the end, winning is the only safety')

The Liberator was destroyed at the end of the third season, because it was meant to be the last episode, only after it had been filmed and I think just after it was broadcast did the Beeb recant and say there would be a fourth, leaving everyone in a pickle about what to do!

 

[Dave]

It would certainly have been very different had we met the aliens who build the Liberator as PM suggested. I liked the change in the series after the Liberator was destroyed, but it was different, almost another series.

 

[Perpetual Man]

I agree Dave, the whole change in format with the fourth season reboot gave the show a totally different feel, leading to the superb, but hard to watch final episode - Blake. The events of which have been debated for years.

I see the ultimate showdown, Avon versus Blake as a highlight of the show, Blake's almost naive optimism leaving him open to Avon's paranoia. As Blake stated at the end of season 2, "For what it's worth, I always trusted you." But the Avon at the end was not the Avon of the earlier years.

The aliens who built the Liberator, I'm struggling now, but were they the invaders of Star One. I'm not so sure, did we not meet them at the start of season 2, called The System, and they had another Liberator type ship, DSV2...

One final thing that I always felt intriguing was an interview with Chris Boucher, the writer of the final episode. He pointed out that each season previous had ended on a horrendous cliffhanger - S1 Orac's prediction of the Liberator being destroyed; S2 The Alien's massive invasion fleet with Blake wounded and only the Liberator standing against them; S3 The Liberator destroyed after Avon fell for Servalan's trap and the crew trapped on Terminal - and that the end of S4 was his attempt at doing one of those cliffhangers, and that he knew where he was going to go with S5 had it been made...