This article researched/written by Jessica Leenstra.

Vila is a hard character to try to nail down through quotes. Firstly, he was in so many episodes, and talks so much that searching is difficult. And unlike Tarrant, almost nothing of what Vila says about himself is corroborated by outside sources or by his display of knowledge and his abilities. This, his general character, and the contradictory nature of some of the details, means that we cannot merely accept the uncorroborated information as also being truthful.

My Vila background might not be complete and I'd be most interested in any additions to it. In particular, I'd be interested in any quotes pertaining to his truthfulness.

"The Way Back"

VILA: They didn't give me a choice. I steal things. Compulsive, I'm afraid. I've had my head adjusted by some of the best in the business. But it just won't stay adjusted.
BLAKE: A professional thief.
VILA: More a vocation than a profession. Other people's property comes naturally to me.
JENNA: [Sits down next to Blake. To Blake] What's the time?
VILA: [Hands the watch back to Blake] Just taking care of it while you were unconscious. The place is full of criminals.
BLAKE: [To Jenna] Thanks.
VILA: [Indicating her] Jenna.
BLAKE: [Also to her] Blake.
JENNA: What's your story?
BLAKE: Well, I'm innocent -- of what I was charged with anyway.
VILA: We have something in common, then. We're all victims of a miscarriage of justice.

"Shadow"

VILA: Look, he was an Alpha grade on Earth. A highly privileged group, the Alphas. Wouldn't last five minutes among the Delta service grades where I grew up. And it's the service grades where the Terra Nostra really operate. Without anesthetic, usually.

"Horizon"

"Countdown"

"Powerplay"

KLEGG: Jenna Stannis, Kerr Avon, Vila Restal?

"Volcano"

"Power"

"Stardrive"

Summary

Vila first introduced himself to Blake as Vila Restal, and this name was corroborated by Klegg in "Powerplay." He was under arrest for theft (rightly so, apparently), which was corroborated by Jenna, and claimed to be compulsive, which was corroborated by his own behavior. This ends the corroborated material. Most everything else about his background comes from his own words, uncorroborated, and has to be taken with caution.

There is no explanation as to why Vila is the only male addressed by his first name. My own theory is that that there was another Restal around at some stage and people started calling him Vila to distinguish them.

Vila claimed to have been a grade four ignorant but Avon says that he was grade five. He claimed to have bought the classification at the testing centre to avoid ending up as a space captain. This is not the same as claiming to have actually been classified so! Avon, for one, doubted that he would have been. (However, it provides an interesting snippet for Tarrant and Travis' backgrounds, as it appears that testing was part of classification, and opens the possibility of being sent to special schools early and of social mobility within Space Command at least.) However, the notion that class is not heritary is refuted by his comment on his parents. Vila also claimed to have grown up in the delta service grades. In Hostage,these are considered by Joban to be the lowest grades. It is unclear what the relationship between "Delta" and "grade ignorant" is, if any. [The Sevencyclopaedia is in error in its quote on page 136 that Vila 'could have been an alpha'? This appears nowhere in the scripts. Now I'll have to rewatch "Volcano"!]

Vila claimed to have been wanted all his life; to have done time in Juvenile Detention Wards, to have undergone psychotherapy (which failed), to have been sent to a Penal Colony at 14 and to have been involved in an escape attempt from CF-1 (Correctional Facility Number One?). For corroboration, Vila certainly appears to have been through the penal colony roundabout before.

Vila could certainly be very clever, and liked to demonstrate his cleverness.

Vila is of course the expert at opening locks and doors, which occurs inpractically every episode, and can handle the very sophisticated equipment required to do so.

Vila can also do sleight of hand tricks, as in "Space Fall," "Keeper," "City on the Edge of the World," and "Sarcophagus."

It's interesting; Vila displays on several occasions a good deal of both intelligence and specific knowledge, but you can never be quite sure whether any particular is true. He wants to be underestimated and ignored, and keep the true details secret. I sometimes find his pov thehardest to write, because he is so complicated and misleading.

PELLA: How do you know how thick it is?
VILA: By the stress pattern.
PELLA: I don't see anything.
VILA: Not without this you won't. [Picks up an instrument]
PELLA: Oh, I see. And what does that tell you?
VILA: The weight of the door. I know the height, the width, what it's made of, how dense it is.
PELLA: And the computer works it out?
VILA: Computer? Who needs computers? I just have to look at it.
PELLA: You must be very clever.

I find this very interesting. It could be looked at as more of the knack he has for breaking-and-entering, as we see in City On The Edge, or suggestive of some past work experience. And as in City, heuses a combination of special tools, specialized knowledge, and an uncanny knack.

I also found this interesting because I didn't remember it when I wrote a PGP in which Vila claims to have been a construction worker at one point and to know a lot about construction methods,materials as an explanation of how he escaped from Blake's base when it was demolished.

"There is no explanation as to why Vila is the only male addressed by his first name."

It's interesting that while it's generally assumed that it was simply his low status, there's no canonical explanation for it. Nor do we see who started it; perhaps Vila deliberately got everyone to call him by his first name as part of his protective coloring.

AAF

Vila may behave that way, but I think he has very simple goals: stay alive and undamaged, and avoid anything he doesn't want to do. He seems to like having people around to talk to, also, if he can manage it. I don't even think he has huge ambitions; he would enjoy wealth if he had it, but he doesn't go out of his way to get it or hold onto it that I can remember;same with alcohol/drugs, I think he regards them as temporary amusements,not huge goals. He's practical when it comes to essentials, such as in "Terminal" when he saves Orac, and "Rescue," when he saves Tarrant.

Erica

I was just wondering how you feel about the idea (crops up in fanfic a bit,I understand) that Vila and Avon knew each other before they were on the London.

Avon is always making disparaging remarks about Vila's social class. Avon's a snob, really, and I think much more class-conscious than Blake and the rest; subscribers to the Avon-is-a-Beta-and-tested-into-the-Alpha-grade theory might argue that this attitude is merely a pride in his intelligence;it occurs to me that Avon's remark in Space Fall that others "have the same chances I have" would concur with this theory. Also explains Avon's skillsat unarmed combat, incidentally; speaking as the formersmart-kid-of-the-class myself I can't imagine his school lifewas very pleasant. Especially if he was the only Beta in a class full ofAlphas. I'd have an attitude too if that had happened to me. It's a nice theory.

But I digress...

The quotes from "Volcano" are not really early enough in the series to make it clear whether Avon was (a) speaking from his knowledge of Vila prior to the series; (b)speaking from what he has picked up about Vila since they met on the London; or (c) speaking from little or no knowledge at all and just being a bastard.

Some people extrapolate the they-knew-each-other-before-the-London idea from the way Vila introduces Avon to Blake in "Space Fall." I dunno. Seems to methat a habitual criminal like Vila would run in circles that would be likelyto hear about something as audacious as a plan to defraud the Federation ofhowever many million credits it was. Indeed his tone is one of admirationfor the idea but he also takes a certain amount of glee from the fact that Avon got caught, which might suggest that Avon had insulted him in the past about being such an ignorant and he's getting his own back.

But to me, the most cogent (ah, there's a good law school word :-) ) piece of evidence that they knew each other previously is in the episode "Killer":

VILA: I hope you can trust him.
AVON: I told you, he's a friend of mine.
VILA: Yes, I always knew you had a friend. I used to say to people, "I bet Avon's got a friend, somewhere in the galaxy."
AVON: And you were right. That must be a novel experience for you.

Of course, it could just be Vila being his facetious self. But "I used to say to people..." seems a strange thing to say unless he is talking about some time before.

Sarah Thompson

My take on this is that Vila is the kind of guy who makes a point of finding out all he can about everyone; he doesn't actually know Avon personally, but he's been gossiping with the other crooks about him.

When the subject of Avon's possible ability to fix the running log (enablingthe London crew to get away with killing the prisoners rather than delivering them to Cygnus Alpha) comes up, Vila's response of "Let's kill him now!" sounds sincere to me. (It's also, come to think of it, a neat bit of character development, since it lets us know that this weaselly-looking little guy could be dangerous if he felt he was threatened.)

Also, in the early episodes it seems to me that Vila really dislikes Avon, much as he dislikes Tarrant during the early third season. In both cases he gets used to them pretty quickly, thought moments of friction flash up occasionally even much later.

"Killer" is a second-series episode, so Vila has known Avon now for at least a year, even if they met for the first time on the London. I took this comment as meaning something like, "I used to say to Blake and Jenna..."

The idea that A and V not only knew each other before the show started, but were good friends or maybe even lovers, is a staple of fan fiction. But I just don't buy it, even thought I've often enjoyed stories that use the idea.

orac@plover.com

Vila seemed to be pretty good with the weaponry systems--just practice, or was that part of his training in security systems?

I love the way Vila is in the first few episodes (I know I've said that before). Yet at the same time, there is his expression of horror when he stabs someone in "Cygnus Alpha" in order to save Blake's life.

Another thing I love in "Spacefall" is Vila denying he knows how the doorworks (thus prompting Avon to speak up and lecture on it to Blake). I'm sure he must be lying, so Blake won't ask him to do anything dangerous, and to conceal his skills perhaps for future bargaining purposes.

In "Time Squad," when we first see Vila's abilities with doors, he calls Avon "Fingers" and warns him off his turf. That's friction between Vila and Avon, I think.

As for being called by his first name, maybe Vila was a younger brother? I've always puzzled over why the vision of Avon's brother calls him "Avon" rather than "Kerr," unless they haddifferent last names, of course. It seems unlikely that only the eldest ina family would be called by the last name. Yours is a good idea.

Re the sleight of hand, I've often assumed he's a good card player/cheat, but there is no evidence for this in the series.

Another fact: He's good at chess ("Gambit"), or at least good enough to stand up to the Klute, even with Orac's help. Playing with Avon is no guarantee of being good, there is no proof Avon was a good player, either.

I'm astonished that you left out Vila's knowledge of alcohol, but then again a lot of the evidence can be read several ways.

Andrew Williams

My thought is that Vila misinterprets the question. In "Seek-Locate-Destroy," Blake asks the same thing and Vila gives him a very detailed explanation. When Blake asked him about doors onboard the London in "Spacefall," I think Vila meant he just didn't know the mechanics of it that well. To say that the door works by putting your hand on a panel which then scans your palm-print would be too obvious for words--anyone who had seen the door being used would have to know that! So Avon then states the obvious. Blake, who wants to get Avon's help, is tactful and says "Neat," thus keeping Avon on his side.

Misha

Vila may be assuming that nobody's paying attention to him anyway, or trying to sound tough, but I tend to think he has no qualms about taking drastic measures or killing someone else when he feels threatened. Of course, he doesn't keep quiet and kill Avon in the middle of the night, either. The stabbing in CA looks like that's the first time he's killed someone personally, but I wouldn't be surprised if he was part of a group which was threatened by an individual and someone else ended up killing him.

Vila

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