One of the things some people on LJ pointed out is how creepy the Eidolons actually are:
- they abduct hominids from Earth and genetically modify them to use as a kind of Praetorian Guard;
- their vaunted peace-making skills look an awful lot like
Jasmine in S4 of Angel -- the business with Staleek reneging on the agreement as soon as Yolanda was shot indicates to me that he was not operating under free will.
I think it's fascinating that Aeryn, the soldier, is one of the ones pushing for peace, but I wonder how far she's willing to hold to that before she decides that violence may well be the solution. Because negotiated settlements and genocide rarely work out well, I think...
I think it's fascinating that Aeryn, the soldier, is one of the ones pushing for peace
Violence hasn't helped, either.
I'd like Stark to use the line "can't we all just get along?" and then by shot at by all parties.
the business with Staleek....
Did that sound like anything you'd ever hear Staleek say? I got a very similar vibe to yours about all that.
The Eidelon did seem just as fond of giving orders as every other featured leader. He should definately add some new spin to Stark's crazy though.
I think it's fascinating that Aeryn, the soldier, is one of the ones pushing for peace
I think it's totally in character for her, though, going back to Different Destinations. She's always seemed, to me, to be completely committed to the idea that a Peacekeeper's true purpose is to keep peace (albiet using military superiority as the method). She likes violence, not war.
She likes violence, not war.
True. However, I'm waiting for her to step up and say that here, in this place, the best way to stop the war is through the targeted application of violence: either the reality or the threat.
We shall see.
I had a bunch of thoughts typed up but they got eaten. It mostly boiled down to Aeryn and John in leather = I'll be in my bunk.
And a more spoilerly comment
everyone grabbing Stark (I always want to call him Sark) and forcing his mask off was extremely disturbing, and it seemed like afterward Aeryn and John were a little horrified.
I have to go put stuff in the mail when I get home so I can get Farscape.
In Re; Stark: I
can see where some might get a rape vibe from the scene. On the other hand, rape doesn't involve forcing someone to do something for the good of all civilization, because they don't believe they are "good enough" to do it. Sometimes to good of the many outweighs the good of the one, or the few. (See the bombing of Coventry, and Winston Churchill) It doesn't make you feel any better about yourself in doing it, but there were no second chances.
Except that everybody's reaction afterwards seemed to indicate that they were only guessing that it was just due to humility on Stark's part, and that maybe it was more than that.
I wonder if Stark's magical deus ex machina whatever-can-go-wrong-WILL-go wrong powers will enable him to actually create the same effect as the Eidolon, or if he'll be limited to passing on the knowledge to those who can use it.
I was actually a bit surpised that John, Aeryn and Nuranti had no compunctions about the Eidolon using what amounts to mind control to achieve peace. Particularly given how many times the first two have had their brains screwed with.
How nonsensical is it that the Ancients didn't give John the knowledge to create specific wormhole weapons that can blow ships up, but they DID give him knowledge that allows him to navigate wormholes temporally and endanger the entire ordered structure of the universe's timeline?!? Yeah, good risk management there Einstein.
