Oh no

[selenak]

What sad news to to wake up to: Gareth Thomas is dead.

It's not "just" the "Blake from Blake's 7" part. I remember watervole taking me to watch him in Barrie's Dear Brutus, and then later to the pub to meet him. He had such a warm rl presence. (A very big contrast, btw, to the last on screen character I saw him play a few years later, the old serial killer in Torchwood's first season.) I'm usually highly inhibited and embarassed when I meet actors, preferring to watch them from a distance as they do their jobs, but he was really good at putting all of us at ease.

Speaking of jobs: he was great as Blake, and I think the later two seasons of B7 proved that something many fans claim they want, ditching the hero and putting the fan favorite in the center of the show, results in a lesser, not a better story. (Not least for the fan favorite, btw.) But for me the best performance of his that I've watched was in the mini Morgan's Boy, which watervole gave to me on video, and where he was heartbreaking as the taciturn Welsh farmer.

2016 continues to take away.

Comments

[andraste]

Sad news indeed. I've always heard that he was lovely and nice to fans :(. He did some great work for Big Finish, too, as both Blake and various Doctor Who characters.

As always, I agree about B7 - it's just not the same when Avon doesn't have Blake to butt heads with. (I am still irrationally convinced that The Harvest of Kairos would somehow have been less terrible if Blake were there. At least Avon could have snarked at him instead of being inexplicably obsessed with a rock all episode?)

[selenak]

Steed probably would have let Blake be obsessed with the rock instead, which isn't much of an improvement, but would have provided opportunity for said snark.

[watervole]

I have fond memories of 'Dear Brutus' even now. the way they did it back to back with 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' really added to the impact with the use of characters with similar relationships being played by the same actors in both plays.

I recall you and Gareth having an amazing conversation about Titania and Oberon. You were both enjoying the depth of the other's knowledge on the subject.

[selenak]

Yes, it was such a great choice to combine both plays this way, showing the texts in dialogue with each other.

He was a wonderful person to talk to. I was somewhat nervous at the start, but very into the subject, and he responded so to to the point and interestingly that I relaxed and just enjoyed the conversation!