In this issue: why I'm enjoying Galactica, Starbuck vs. Cavil: the ultimate showdown, why A-Team is smarter than it looks, and Tommy Westphall's Universe explained
Bad dreams.
I've been thinking about Galactica again this morning. I've suddenly taken a shine to it, not sure why. Perhaps it's because Season 4 has so much more Cylon-y goodness - when she's not being use purely as a pair of walking breasts (hello Season 1?), Six has some fascinating scenes and developments. Perhaps it's because the plot is winding to a climax, and they've cut all the trivia. Perhaps because the "kids" were always more trivia? Perhaps, after 90 hours of television, because I've got to know the characters better than some members of my family?
Perhaps it's because I've been waiting for 14 episodes for Tigh to do something, and last week he finally did it, and I wasn't disappointed in the slightest with the results? And this coincided very neatly with Gaius finally getting on with a scene I've been waiting for since episode one.
Like Law and Order, another one of Oceanic's favourite shows, Galactica has a big split between what my brain has termed the "kids" and everyone else. Like Law and Order, the Police and Prosecutors interact all the time - but sometimes it'll be heavy for one, and sometimes heavy for the rest. I've never been that interested in the "Law". Sure, I like the Chief, and I like Callie, and Helo is great, and Starbuck is possibly the best female character of all time in a contest of one. But compared to what's going on with the President, the Admiral, Gaeta, Gaius and Tigh - well I can't match the enthusiasm. The "law" are important, for balance, to give a more human story. But "order" has all the characters I like, and most of the interest. Interestingly, Apollo has moved into "order" recently and become more interesting as a result.
In any case, it's been a fun morning. I've been reading the Aeneid - in Latin - but with a translation close by for the knotty bits. I'm some 8 pages in, when I came across this line from Aeneas to his disheartened companions:
"o passi graviora, dabit deus his quoque finem."
"You who have suffered worse, this also God will end"
It instantly reminded me of Galactica. Earth is the mythical home of humanity, and my dad was quick to point out it was strange to have such an advanced society still having polytheism was bizzare. In any case, I'm not yet sure whether they're going to inspire the Ancient Greeks or the other way around, but it struck me that if their gods are Athena, Apollo, Zeus, and the names of their planets derived from constellations, which in turn derive from Latin (and some of those from Greek, such as Taurus, but many are basically Latinate), those wretched Scrolls of Pythia are probably written in Greek or Latin. Which suggested me an intensely nerdy translation project over the summer, to translate all the Pythia quotes.
Although perhaps not - because even if the planet names, and presumably therefore the names of the tribes, even if they come from Latin - the Pythia herself is most definitely a Greek. It's not only Galactica who can pinch from the Ancients - the Timelords significantly inspired Greek society. Old High Gallifreyan has a definite resemblence to the Greek alphabet, and many of their words and ideas are Greek. In particular, Academy, Arcadia, Capitol and Panopticon derive from Greek - and the Pythia, who is a figure involved with Ancient Gallifrey, is likewise.
Suggesting that any scrolls written by a Pythia, in any continuum, are likely to be Greek before they're Latin. Although again it's not that simple - Castellan is a Latin term, and Ulysses a Roman name. I wonder where Valeyard came from? Wikipedia doesn't know.
I've yet to work out the relationship between Greece and Rome, but it's a hard one because they're close yet far. For example, Aphrodite was a lot more fun than Venus, who as the mother of founder Aeneas had to be a lot more serious and matronly than her Greek counterpart - "Venus Genatrix"
In any case, to tie this all together, it leaves a further question - are the Cylons Timelords? Interestingly, the 12 tribes of Israel were arranged around what we now call the zodiac, which reminded me instantly of Kobol's 12 tribes.
This was all set off by The A-Team, which I stuck on to get over the aforementioned uncomfortable dream. I think it's smarter than it appears. In any case, it's a light-hearted fun reaction to 'Nam. It'd certainly make an interesting addition to any essay on fiction of that period. There's a real anti-authority thread running through it, literally every week it's corrupt governers, corrupt cops, corrupt establishment figures of all kinds - with basically vigilantes, on the run from the law, as our heroes. Plus, Murdoch is crazy. In a comic way, true, but it's a light twist on all the post-traumatic-stress fiction that came out after the aforementioned war. I don't know enough about American history or American literature to define what I'm talking about, all I know is it slips right in. Because there's something dark lurking straight under the surface, and I can't define quite what it is.
In any case, today's episode was fun. One of the young extras was played by the actor who'd later become the villainous Cylon Cavill in Battlestar Galactica. This lead to much amusement, about how their "plan" involved infiltrating the police of 1980s America. With the amount of disguise and double crossing that goes on in that show, it does make a sort of sense that every time an ex-Cylon actor appears in anything else, there's a possibility that character is also a Cylon, either pretending or unaware. In a Tommy Westphall's Universe sort of way.
This was especially fun because Dirk Benedict, who plays Face in The A-Team was the original Starbuck in the original Galactica. Starbuck vs. Cavill! Oh yeah! Especially fun when they actually ended up in a fight together.
And now we're going to talk about Tommy Westphall's Universe. Pay attention, because this is real brain-pain territory. As someone who has a very skewed vision of what is/isn't real, this theory fascinates and scares me in equal measure.
Tommy Westphall was an autistic child, and minor character, on the show St. Elsewhere. The show ends with a very strong implication that the entire series was merely in Tommy's imagination. Which is a valid plot kink. Unfortunately, characters from St. Elsewhere have since crossed over into other TV shows - for example, two doctors have since appeared on Homicide:Life on the Streets. This strongly, indeed, irrefutably suggests the two are in the same universe, so if you take the snowglobe as proof that St. Elsewhere was all imaginary, the illogical extention is Homicide is also part of Tommy Westphall's dream.
I do believe the theory has got out of control - the multiverse site claims there are 280 crossovers, but some are more tenous than others. For example, to get Doctor Who into Tommy's brain, they merely have to play Kevin Bacon thus:
St Elsewhere's Westphall, Craig and Auschlander visited Cheers' bar
Cheers spun-off Fraiser.
John Larroquette Show's John Hemingway called into Fraiser's show.
John Larroquette Show referenced Yoyodyne. Yoyodyne was also a client of
Angel's Wolfram & Hart.
Weyland-Utani is also a client of Angel's Wolfram & Hart. Weyland-Utani made
some of the weapons usedby Firefly's Malcolm Reynolds in the Battle of Serenity.
In the Red Dwarf episode "Psirens", the crew of the Red Dwarf come across a
space ship graveyard which includes a Weyland-Utani ship
The TARDIS from Doctor Who appears in the hangar bay of the Red Dwarf -
it can be seen during the launch of Starbug
They forget to mention that it's accepted fan speculation that Blake's 7 exists in the Whoniverse,
for various reasons I forget. I buy all this. I certainly feel the Doctor can exist in any continuum
he wants to exist - the TARDIS is a crossover device extrodinaire, we've seen it cross
paralell timelines before, and furthermore Iris Wildthyme's TARDIS actually does intrude on other fictional texts all the time while fully being aware they're fictional.
Arguably, we imagine things about people all the time, and they still have real lives outside of our dreams - Brian Wetherstone, philosopher, points out we can dream about meeting Gordon Brown without invalidating his entire existance. Yet St. Elsewhere doesn't define what is or isn't real - so if he's dreaming about two doctors, then that's fine and Homicide happens (as far as fiction can happen.) But potentially they don't exist at all. And in that case neither does Homicide, he's imagining the lot. Just because McFly endorse Saxon in Doctor Who, doesn't mean they were created by the production team, and in turn by Tommy.
Oh yes, Wikipedia links to several websites all saying the same thing: this is bloody nuts. And arguably, there is something bonkers in proving that a bunch of fictional TV shows are even more fictional than they were before, but I think that's mostly because the implications are so terrifying.
Because there is a very solid crossover with Law & Order. In which Michael Bloomberg plays city mayor. A role he also inhabits in real life.
Suggesting that we too are part of Tommy's dream. Perhaps the worst bit is, I don't find that idea even remotely alarming...
Bad dreams.
I've been thinking about Galactica again this morning. I've suddenly taken a shine to it, not sure why. Perhaps it's because Season 4 has so much more Cylon-y goodness - when she's not being use purely as a pair of walking breasts (hello Season 1?), Six has some fascinating scenes and developments. Perhaps it's because the plot is winding to a climax, and they've cut all the trivia. Perhaps because the "kids" were always more trivia? Perhaps, after 90 hours of television, because I've got to know the characters better than some members of my family?
Perhaps it's because I've been waiting for 14 episodes for Tigh to do something, and last week he finally did it, and I wasn't disappointed in the slightest with the results? And this coincided very neatly with Gaius finally getting on with a scene I've been waiting for since episode one.
Like Law and Order, another one of Oceanic's favourite shows, Galactica has a big split between what my brain has termed the "kids" and everyone else. Like Law and Order, the Police and Prosecutors interact all the time - but sometimes it'll be heavy for one, and sometimes heavy for the rest. I've never been that interested in the "Law". Sure, I like the Chief, and I like Callie, and Helo is great, and Starbuck is possibly the best female character of all time in a contest of one. But compared to what's going on with the President, the Admiral, Gaeta, Gaius and Tigh - well I can't match the enthusiasm. The "law" are important, for balance, to give a more human story. But "order" has all the characters I like, and most of the interest. Interestingly, Apollo has moved into "order" recently and become more interesting as a result.
In any case, it's been a fun morning. I've been reading the Aeneid - in Latin - but with a translation close by for the knotty bits. I'm some 8 pages in, when I came across this line from Aeneas to his disheartened companions:
"o passi graviora, dabit deus his quoque finem."
"You who have suffered worse, this also God will end"
It instantly reminded me of Galactica. Earth is the mythical home of humanity, and my dad was quick to point out it was strange to have such an advanced society still having polytheism was bizzare. In any case, I'm not yet sure whether they're going to inspire the Ancient Greeks or the other way around, but it struck me that if their gods are Athena, Apollo, Zeus, and the names of their planets derived from constellations, which in turn derive from Latin (and some of those from Greek, such as Taurus, but many are basically Latinate), those wretched Scrolls of Pythia are probably written in Greek or Latin. Which suggested me an intensely nerdy translation project over the summer, to translate all the Pythia quotes.
Although perhaps not - because even if the planet names, and presumably therefore the names of the tribes, even if they come from Latin - the Pythia herself is most definitely a Greek. It's not only Galactica who can pinch from the Ancients - the Timelords significantly inspired Greek society. Old High Gallifreyan has a definite resemblence to the Greek alphabet, and many of their words and ideas are Greek. In particular, Academy, Arcadia, Capitol and Panopticon derive from Greek - and the Pythia, who is a figure involved with Ancient Gallifrey, is likewise.
Suggesting that any scrolls written by a Pythia, in any continuum, are likely to be Greek before they're Latin. Although again it's not that simple - Castellan is a Latin term, and Ulysses a Roman name. I wonder where Valeyard came from? Wikipedia doesn't know.
I've yet to work out the relationship between Greece and Rome, but it's a hard one because they're close yet far. For example, Aphrodite was a lot more fun than Venus, who as the mother of founder Aeneas had to be a lot more serious and matronly than her Greek counterpart - "Venus Genatrix"
In any case, to tie this all together, it leaves a further question - are the Cylons Timelords? Interestingly, the 12 tribes of Israel were arranged around what we now call the zodiac, which reminded me instantly of Kobol's 12 tribes.
This was all set off by The A-Team, which I stuck on to get over the aforementioned uncomfortable dream. I think it's smarter than it appears. In any case, it's a light-hearted fun reaction to 'Nam. It'd certainly make an interesting addition to any essay on fiction of that period. There's a real anti-authority thread running through it, literally every week it's corrupt governers, corrupt cops, corrupt establishment figures of all kinds - with basically vigilantes, on the run from the law, as our heroes. Plus, Murdoch is crazy. In a comic way, true, but it's a light twist on all the post-traumatic-stress fiction that came out after the aforementioned war. I don't know enough about American history or American literature to define what I'm talking about, all I know is it slips right in. Because there's something dark lurking straight under the surface, and I can't define quite what it is.
In any case, today's episode was fun. One of the young extras was played by the actor who'd later become the villainous Cylon Cavill in Battlestar Galactica. This lead to much amusement, about how their "plan" involved infiltrating the police of 1980s America. With the amount of disguise and double crossing that goes on in that show, it does make a sort of sense that every time an ex-Cylon actor appears in anything else, there's a possibility that character is also a Cylon, either pretending or unaware. In a Tommy Westphall's Universe sort of way.
This was especially fun because Dirk Benedict, who plays Face in The A-Team was the original Starbuck in the original Galactica. Starbuck vs. Cavill! Oh yeah! Especially fun when they actually ended up in a fight together.
And now we're going to talk about Tommy Westphall's Universe. Pay attention, because this is real brain-pain territory. As someone who has a very skewed vision of what is/isn't real, this theory fascinates and scares me in equal measure.
Tommy Westphall was an autistic child, and minor character, on the show St. Elsewhere. The show ends with a very strong implication that the entire series was merely in Tommy's imagination. Which is a valid plot kink. Unfortunately, characters from St. Elsewhere have since crossed over into other TV shows - for example, two doctors have since appeared on Homicide:Life on the Streets. This strongly, indeed, irrefutably suggests the two are in the same universe, so if you take the snowglobe as proof that St. Elsewhere was all imaginary, the illogical extention is Homicide is also part of Tommy Westphall's dream.
I do believe the theory has got out of control - the multiverse site claims there are 280 crossovers, but some are more tenous than others. For example, to get Doctor Who into Tommy's brain, they merely have to play Kevin Bacon thus:
St Elsewhere's Westphall, Craig and Auschlander visited Cheers' bar
Cheers spun-off Fraiser.
John Larroquette Show's John Hemingway called into Fraiser's show.
John Larroquette Show referenced Yoyodyne. Yoyodyne was also a client of
Angel's Wolfram & Hart.
Weyland-Utani is also a client of Angel's Wolfram & Hart. Weyland-Utani made
some of the weapons usedby Firefly's Malcolm Reynolds in the Battle of Serenity.
In the Red Dwarf episode "Psirens", the crew of the Red Dwarf come across a
space ship graveyard which includes a Weyland-Utani ship
The TARDIS from Doctor Who appears in the hangar bay of the Red Dwarf -
it can be seen during the launch of Starbug
They forget to mention that it's accepted fan speculation that Blake's 7 exists in the Whoniverse,
for various reasons I forget. I buy all this. I certainly feel the Doctor can exist in any continuum
he wants to exist - the TARDIS is a crossover device extrodinaire, we've seen it cross
paralell timelines before, and furthermore Iris Wildthyme's TARDIS actually does intrude on other fictional texts all the time while fully being aware they're fictional.
Arguably, we imagine things about people all the time, and they still have real lives outside of our dreams - Brian Wetherstone, philosopher, points out we can dream about meeting Gordon Brown without invalidating his entire existance. Yet St. Elsewhere doesn't define what is or isn't real - so if he's dreaming about two doctors, then that's fine and Homicide happens (as far as fiction can happen.) But potentially they don't exist at all. And in that case neither does Homicide, he's imagining the lot. Just because McFly endorse Saxon in Doctor Who, doesn't mean they were created by the production team, and in turn by Tommy.
Oh yes, Wikipedia links to several websites all saying the same thing: this is bloody nuts. And arguably, there is something bonkers in proving that a bunch of fictional TV shows are even more fictional than they were before, but I think that's mostly because the implications are so terrifying.
Because there is a very solid crossover with Law & Order. In which Michael Bloomberg plays city mayor. A role he also inhabits in real life.
Suggesting that we too are part of Tommy's dream. Perhaps the worst bit is, I don't find that idea even remotely alarming...
Comments (1)
Greece and Rome. I always think of England and the USA. Much that the Romans admire came out of Greece (architecture, theatre, etc) and posh Romans accentuated their learning with Greek stuff. You often see token Greeks crop up in Roman history (the Hugh Grant effect). As I recall Greeks were also regarded as a bit effete and old-fashioned compared to the Robust, practical Romans. The Romans oddly combined a stiff public morality with some quite beastly immorality and a brutal approach to warfare (Bush Administration, anyone?). The Greeks had an aloofness from the upstarts but were ultimately dominated by them (51st State). Indeed the Romans did bigger, better, more techno advanced than the Greeks. The Romans would have loved Disneyland (especially if more killing was involved).