If he literally had no breath, he wouldn't be able to speak either.
I think Joss wanked it with a "spark of life" sort of thing.
Mal: Inara, think you could stoop to being on my arm? Inara: Will you wash it first?
'Heart Of Gold'
Buffy and Angel 1: BUFFYNANGLE4EVA!!!!!1!
Is it better the second time around? Or the third? Or tenth? This is the place to come when you have a burning desire to talk about an old episode that was just re-run.
§ ita § - Nov 18, 2005 8:04:29 pm PST #2455 of 10459
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.
Matt the Bruins fan - Nov 18, 2005 9:18:24 pm PST #2456 of 10459
"I remember when they eventually introduced that drug kingpin who murdered people and smuggled drugs inside snakes and I was like 'Finally. A normal person.'” —RahvinDragand
Which should mean that hospital equipment can't resuscitate people, since it doesn't have the spark of life either (well, except for defibrilators, I guess...). Sometimes Joss wasn't so much with the sense-making.
§ ita § - Nov 19, 2005 5:01:00 am PST #2457 of 10459
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.
Maybe if the equipment is operated by a human, the spark is conveyed?
Yeah -- lovely metaphor, shame about the logic.
DavidS - Nov 19, 2005 6:15:11 am PST #2458 of 10459
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."
Joss' handwave was that metaphorically a vampire shouldn't be able to give life. Which sits okay with me, but isn't much of a handwave in the worldbuilding department.
A better handwave is that a vampire can force his lungs to breathe in and out pushing air, but that once the air goes in, whatever property animates the vamp taints the air making it unfit for resusscitation.
Kalshane - Nov 19, 2005 6:35:40 am PST #2459 of 10459
GS: If you had to choose between kicking evil in the head or the behind, which would you choose, and why?
Minsc: I'm not sure I understand the question. I have two feet, do I not? You do not take a small plate when the feast of evil welcomes seconds.
I'm with Hec on the whole "Taint of death" thing. In a mystical sense, air is a different animal than breath. Vampires can move air with their lungs, but they don't breathe. Which scientifically means they should still be able to ressuscitate someone, but as Angel said about vampires and cameras versus mirrors, it's metaphysics, not physics.
(Edited because one "but" is plenty for anyone.)
Matt the Bruins fan - Nov 19, 2005 8:45:00 am PST #2460 of 10459
"I remember when they eventually introduced that drug kingpin who murdered people and smuggled drugs inside snakes and I was like 'Finally. A normal person.'” —RahvinDragand
Technically, someone who doesn't use oxygen or generate carbon dioxide should be better at giving CPR than a living person who would be blowing secondhand air into the patient's lungs. I can see some less-than-clean vampires being a health hazard in their own right, what with having old blood and the blood-borne germs of dozens of victims in their mouths. But most anything infectious that a person could catch would be better than the not being resuscitated option. And you can't tell me that Angel's daily routine didn't involve toothpaste and mouthwash in addition to all the hair products.
§ ita § - Nov 19, 2005 6:03:23 pm PST #2461 of 10459
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.
Well, I'm fresh off a CPR course, where I was told that we only yank 25% of the oxygen normally available in a given breath, so that there's no need to concentrate on pushing "fresh" air into the person's mouth.
Of course, we were also told "Well, they're already dead -- how much worse can you make it?" so take that as you will.
billytea - Nov 19, 2005 6:05:27 pm PST #2462 of 10459
You were a wrong baby who grew up wrong. The wrong kind of wrong. It's better you hear it from a friend.
Of course, we were also told "Well, they're already dead -- how much worse can you make it?" so take that as you will.
Did anyone in the class respond, "Well, I'm always up for a challenge"?
§ ita § - Nov 19, 2005 6:12:15 pm PST #2463 of 10459
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.
There were enough questions like "So do we put the dismembered finger or the ejected eyeball in our mouth?" that the challenge part was barely even subtextual.
Lee - Nov 19, 2005 8:04:31 pm PST #2464 of 10459
The feeling you get when your brain finally lets your heart get in its pants.
Of course, we were also told "Well, they're already dead -- how much worse can you make it?" so take that as you will.
Did you ask if they were really dead, or merely mostly dead?