RHW series arc?

[wbe @ubeblock.psr.com.invalid (Winston)]

Did Robert H. Wolfe ever make his original series arc available online?
In theory, that was going to happen after the series was over and someone
was going to post the URL for it in this newsgroup. Thanks,
-WBE

[Mark Brown]

Post by wbe @ubeblock.psr.com.invalid (Winston)
Did Robert H. Wolfe ever make his original series arc available online?
In theory, that was going to happen after the series was over and someone
was going to post the URL for it in this newsgroup. Thanks,
-WBE

http://www.rhwolfe.com/Insider%20Info.htm
(courtesy of KT3000)

Mark
"Not so much the arc as a glimpse at the end of it."

[KT3000]

Post by Mark Brown

Post by wbe @ubeblock.psr.com.invalid (Winston)
Did Robert H. Wolfe ever make his original series arc available online?
In theory, that was going to happen after the series was over and someone
was going to post the URL for it in this newsgroup. Thanks,
-WBE

http://www.rhwolfe.com/Insider%20Info.htm
(courtesy of KT3000)
Mark
"Not so much the arc as a glimpse at the end of it."

Now extensively supplemented by RHW in a Q&A at Ex Isle.

http://www.exisle.net/mb/index.php?showtopic=28187&st=0.


K

[YKhan]

Hey great, thanks for the links. Just read RHW's story arc, which he
wrote up in the form of one story. It was complicated, involving "love"
(as represented by the Abyss, believe it or not) and the devils (again
unbelievably represented by Trance). Also at some point in time, each
member of the crew becomes the head of his own galactic empire and goes
to war with each other, and then eventually ally with each other again.


I'm not sure I would've enjoyed RWH's story arc all that much more than
what we eventually ended up getting. It would've gotten tremendously
frazzled, I think by the fourth year. It seems to be similar to what
happened to Deep Space 9 in its final years -- too many alliances
breaking up and then reforming at the drop of a hat.

At its heart, RHW wanted to tell the story of the Big Bang and the Big
Crunch. But he wanted to frame it like something that is brought about
by a few people. That's simply unbelievable.

Yousuf Khan

[Mark Brown]

Post by YKhan
Hey great, thanks for the links. Just read RHW's story arc, which he
wrote up in the form of one story. It was complicated, involving "love"
(as represented by the Abyss, believe it or not) and the devils (again
unbelievably represented by Trance).

I don't find it unbelievable, actually, given how Wolfe articulates the
ideas. It's about Order & Chaos, or, as RHW puts it: "Love and Blowing Stuff
Up." Order is stagnant, uniformly equal, while Chaos is unpredictable and
dynamic. The Abyss wants everything quiet and stable (and united in one big
hug), while the Lucifers want to play their music too loud and keep the
party going. Even with all the risk to them and the people they care about,
it's worth it.

Post by YKhan
Also at some point in time, each
member of the crew becomes the head of his own galactic empire and goes
to war with each other, and then eventually ally with each other again.

Well, not each of them. Dylan heads the Commonwealth, Tyr heads the united
Nietzschean Empire, and the Wayists and Consensus are just caught in the
middle. Likely the Concensus attack (that assimilates Harper) would've been
independant of the war with Tyr, so Harper would've stayed with Dylan
through the whole thing, as would Beka & Trance (and Rommie, obviously).

As for the war, I can't imagine Rev leading the Wayists into actual combat.
More likely he'd do what he could to limit the carnage,
protecting/evacuating civilians, providing medical help to both
sides --Probably even Tyr would respect Rev's pacifism, so there might be a
mutual armistice where neither the Nietzscheans nor the Commonwealth would
shoot at the Wayists (the CW out of compassion, the Nietzscheans out of not
wanting to waste their ammo). Even after things quicken (the Niets start
using Wayist transports to deploy their troops, and Dylan is forced to open
fire on them), I can't imagine Rev would take up arms (or allow his
followers to). He's a pacifist. The ~most~ active thing he'd do is to
quietly start lending logistical assistance (food, communications, medicine,
etc) to the Commonwealth.

I can see the Consensus acting as a wild card for most of the war, like
techno-Magog sweeping across the battlefield. Eventually, they corner
Andromeda and try to consume her, and Harper absorbs them. Even then, I
can't see Harper turning against Andromeda, so the Consensus would probably
become allies right then and there. Meanwhile, Beka would start to become
addicted to the Engine, but would learn to control it (based on learning to
control her Flash-addiction). She'd only use it for small things (fixing
Andromeda, healing people, saving worlds, bringing her father back, etc).

Meanwhile, the Pyrian/Magog (or Lucifer/Abyss) war would play out in the
background (nobody pays attention to the Pyrians, the Magog seem like just
random swarms), until it starts escalating (and Trance forces Dylan to get
involved, probably giving "full disclosure" on her true nature and the
nature of the war). Trance would likely play a part in revealing the truth
to "Emperor Anasazi" as well, who would appreciate the importance of their
common enemy. Finally, the Pyrians would ratify the charter, and the
Commonwealth (now including the Consensus, the united Nietzscheans, and the
Wayist "support system") would give the Magog their full attention.

There'd probably be a few episodes before things got bad enough for Beka to
use the Engine on such a huge scale, precipitating the finale. End outcome:
Harper's body is gone, but Harper remains as a non-AI, alongside his beloved
Andromeda (who would likely have evolved into more than just an AI herself),
Beka has gone Neo and become one with the Universe, Tyr & Dylan are as much
at peace as they could ever be, Trance is happy, Rev is serene. . . happy
endings all-around.

Post by YKhan
I'm not sure I would've enjoyed RWH's story arc all that much more than
what we eventually ended up getting. It would've gotten tremendously
frazzled, I think by the fourth year. It seems to be similar to what
happened to Deep Space 9 in its final years -- too many alliances
breaking up and then reforming at the drop of a hat.

Maybe, but I ~liked~ DS9, and the alliances weren't "breaking up and
reforming at the drop of a hat" --it was all ~organized,~ precipitated by
the lead characters and the events that we saw on screen. Everything made
perfect sense. I can see RHW's Andromeda playing out a lot like that; each
major event naturally spiralling out from all of the others (just like what
happens in real life).

RHW was weaving a tapestry, which is what he does best. There aren't many
people able or willing to do that in television, but the few who ~do~ try
tend to make TV history.

Post by YKhan
At its heart, RHW wanted to tell the story of the Big Bang and the Big
Crunch. But he wanted to frame it like something that is brought about
by a few people. That's simply unbelievable.

To you, maybe, but with Trance pulling the strings, and manipulating
everybody into place. . . It would've been a hell of a ride. One person (or,
as Trance says, "one beautiful thing"), in the right place, at the right
time, ~can~ change history. If the stakes get high enough, they might be
able to change the universe itself.

Mark
"Sol is a prick." --RHW, sun-worshipper

[Edward McArdle]

Well, I've snipped the lot.
I have only seen Season 2 completely - I bought the set - but I thought
the Engine of Creation episode was an entertaining interlude allowable
only as a break in the plot. It was too ludicrous to be an important
plotline. I think "Mickey Mouse" is the local vernacular.

To say that it was going to be a fundamental part of the plotline....

[KT3000]

Post by Edward McArdle
Well, I've snipped the lot.
I have only seen Season 2 completely - I bought the set - but I thought
the Engine of Creation episode was an entertaining interlude allowable
only as a break in the plot. It was too ludicrous to be an important
plotline. I think "Mickey Mouse" is the local vernacular.
To say that it was going to be a fundamental part of the plotline....

Consider that "Coda" takes place during "Ourobours". From "Coda's" perspective
everything seen on screen after "Ourobours" could just be Trance on
*overload*.

Some of the episodes immediately after "Ourobours" may have been originally
conceived under RHW's supervision but what ended up on screen was not his
vision - with "In Heaven Now Are Three" apparently being the worse offender.

quote Robert Hewitt Wolfe
http://www.exisle.net/mb/index.php?showtopic=28187&st=600

"I was pretty happy with most of the scripts up until my departure.
Changes were made after I left that I think made a mess out of
IHNAT, and, to a lesser extent DOTM."


K

[Lee Jamilkowski]

Keep in mind that the Engine of Creation was planned as part of the
story from the beginning, and even mentioned in season one. It's not like
it was dropped-in out of the blue. It just took more importance in season
two before the following season's staffs dropped it.

Lee

Post by Edward McArdle
Well, I've snipped the lot.
I have only seen Season 2 completely - I bought the set - but I thought
the Engine of Creation episode was an entertaining interlude allowable
only as a break in the plot. It was too ludicrous to be an important
plotline. I think "Mickey Mouse" is the local vernacular.
To say that it was going to be a fundamental part of the plotline....
--
my URL,
http://www.ozemail.com.au/~mcardle

[YKhan]

Post by Mark Brown
I can see the Consensus acting as a wild card for most of the war, like
techno-Magog sweeping across the battlefield. Eventually, they corner
Andromeda and try to consume her, and Harper absorbs them. Even then, I
can't see Harper turning against Andromeda, so the Consensus would probably
become allies right then and there. Meanwhile, Beka would start to become
addicted to the Engine, but would learn to control it (based on learning to
control her Flash-addiction). She'd only use it for small things (fixing
Andromeda, healing people, saving worlds, bringing her father back, etc).

Here's another part that I have trouble accepting. What's the point of
the Engine of Creation? It's quite obvious that the universe can be
created and destroyed without the need for any sort of engine. Why
would they even bother with this dramatic plot device? It has the
strong potential to become a deus ex machina machine, which is always a
bad sign for a show.

Post by Mark Brown
Meanwhile, the Pyrian/Magog (or Lucifer/Abyss) war would play out in the
background (nobody pays attention to the Pyrians, the Magog seem like just
random swarms), until it starts escalating (and Trance forces Dylan to get
involved, probably giving "full disclosure" on her true nature and the
nature of the war). Trance would likely play a part in revealing the truth
to "Emperor Anasazi" as well, who would appreciate the importance of their
common enemy. Finally, the Pyrians would ratify the charter, and the
Commonwealth (now including the Consensus, the united Nietzscheans, and the
Wayist "support system") would give the Magog their full attention.

I found one thing very interesting about RHW's choice here. It's the
fact that he decided to call the group from which Trance comes from as
the Lucifers. It seemed odd to choose the name of the devil as the name
of the group which will help the universe survive.

So it got me fascinated enough to go do a little research about the
name Lucifer. It would seem that Lucifer was the original name of the
planet Venus in the ancient Roman times. The Romans knew the planet as
Lucifer not Venus. Lucifer in Latin means "bringer of light" (such as
Venus, the morning star, brings the light of the Sun). Again, this
seemed like an odd choice for the writers of the bible to choose as the
name of the devil; but it turns out that the people who were
translating the original Hebrew texts into Latin for the Bible, made a
translation error and ever since afterwards the word Lucifer has been
associated with Satan. Knowing what we know about the planet Venus
nowadays (which the Romans had no way of knowing), it's atmosphere is
blisteringly hot, so in a way Lucifer might be a more appropriate name
than Venus (i.e. hot as hell).

Also early on in the Andromeda series there was a website setup to
explain the various species in the series, The All Systems University.
The Pyrians were described as creatures who inhabited Venus-like
planets. So again the Lucifer/Pyrian connection seemed very
appropriate.

Actually it brings up all kinds of questions not even relating to
Andromeda. For example, what was John Lennon referring to in the
Beatles song, Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds? Some people thought he was
referring to the drug LSD (Lucy Sky Diamond), but perhaps he was more
clever than that, and he was referring to the ancient name for Venus,
but he didn't want to be accused of devil worship so he changed it to
Lucy; the Beatles were already being accused of the moral decay of
society back then, but these days they're the safe bet for Superbowl
halftime shows. Perhaps one day we'll be able to figure out who the
rocking horse people are. The mind boggles! :-)

Post by Mark Brown
There'd probably be a few episodes before things got bad enough for Beka to
Harper's body is gone, but Harper remains as a non-AI, alongside his beloved
Andromeda (who would likely have evolved into more than just an AI herself),
Beka has gone Neo and become one with the Universe, Tyr & Dylan are as much
at peace as they could ever be, Trance is happy, Rev is serene. . . happy
endings all-around.

This Engine of Creation would've been the source of a lot of fan
complaints, I'm pretty sure of it. I'm not even happy about the idea of
Harper of Borg.

Post by Mark Brown
Maybe, but I ~liked~ DS9, and the alliances weren't "breaking up and
reforming at the drop of a hat" --it was all ~organized,~ precipitated by
the lead characters and the events that we saw on screen. Everything made
perfect sense. I can see RHW's Andromeda playing out a lot like that; each
major event naturally spiralling out from all of the others (just like what
happens in real life).

Those plot twists took away from the pace of the building season-long
story in DS9. The Wormhole Prophets gave Sisko a gift foresight once,
which gave him a headache, so they took it away. It was a one episode
story and it never really played out again. I would've wished that he'd
retain certain parts of that power and start doing really odd and
mysterious things that only he understood, but were an utter mystery to
the rest of his crew.

Post by Mark Brown
RHW was weaving a tapestry, which is what he does best. There aren't many
people able or willing to do that in television, but the few who ~do~ try
tend to make TV history.

I think his blueprint could been great given some modifications.

Incidently, Manny Coto over at Star Trek Enterprise also recently
released his plans for the fifth season of Enterprise, which he never
got a chance to realize. He was going to really explain the origins of
the Federation in that season.

Yousuf Khan

[KT3000]

Post by YKhan
I'm not even happy about the idea of
Harper of Borg.

More similiar maybe to 9JACK9 if you're familiar with Zot.


K

[Mark Brown]

*SNIP*

Post by YKhan

Post by Mark Brown
Meanwhile, Beka would start to become
addicted to the Engine, but would learn to control it (based on learning to
control her Flash-addiction). She'd only use it for small things (fixing
Andromeda, healing people, saving worlds, bringing her father back, etc).

Here's another part that I have trouble accepting. What's the point of
the Engine of Creation? It's quite obvious that the universe can be
created and destroyed without the need for any sort of engine. Why
would they even bother with this dramatic plot device? It has the
strong potential to become a deus ex machina machine, which is always a
bad sign for a show.

But they ~needed~ a deus ex machina to end the series. They can't destroy
the Abyss or the Lucifers (not physically possible), and ending the show
with the destruction of the entire universe (which is what ~both~ sides were
technically aiming for) would be pretty depressing (and blow their entire
effects budget ;) ). Besides, allowing the universe to end/reboot (as it had
before) would just make all of this play out again (that suggested remake in
a few years?).

The ultimate goal of the Engine is to ~stabilize~ the universe, so that
neither the Abyss nor the Lucifers can end it. Along the way, it ~would~ be
a deus ex machina, which is exactly the point --that's how Beka would start
to get addicted to it.

The question of who originally built the Engine is a good one though.
Possibly it wasn't built so much as it's a natural aspect of the recurring
Universe that just happens to look like a machine ('cause, really, what ~is~
the universe if not a machine?).

*SNIP*

Post by YKhan
I found one thing very interesting about RHW's choice here. It's the
fact that he decided to call the group from which Trance comes from as
the Lucifers. It seemed odd to choose the name of the devil as the name
of the group which will help the universe survive.

Not really; as he spells out in "Coda," it's all about Love (the Abyss,
which wants to bring everything together) and "blowing stuff up" (the
Lucifers, who bring about chaos, and wars, and destruction).

RHW's point is that chaos and wars and destruction are ~good~ things --they
create change, and dynamism, and growth.

Post by YKhan
So it got me fascinated enough to go do a little research about the
name Lucifer. It would seem that Lucifer was the original name of the
planet Venus in the ancient Roman times. The Romans knew the planet as
Lucifer not Venus. Lucifer in Latin means "bringer of light" (such as
Venus, the morning star, brings the light of the Sun).

Again, as Trance tells Harper in "Coda" (though she renders it as
"light-bringer").

Post by YKhan
Again, this
seemed like an odd choice for the writers of the bible to choose as the
name of the devil; but it turns out that the people who were
translating the original Hebrew texts into Latin for the Bible, made a
translation error and ever since afterwards the word Lucifer has been
associated with Satan.

IIRC the proper translation should've been something like: "the
light-bringer, and the one who fell from Heaven" (as in two different
Angels). The ~actual~ translation missed the "and," implying "the
light-bringer, the one who fell from Heaven" (as in the same Angel).

Of course, as RHW observes at Ex Isle, the guy who's responsible for our
(Earth-wide) idea of Lucifer/Satan as Evil would logically be Sol (our sun),
which probably gives a bit of insight as to his personality.

Post by YKhan
Knowing what we know about the planet Venus
nowadays (which the Romans had no way of knowing), it's atmosphere is
blisteringly hot, so in a way Lucifer might be a more appropriate name
than Venus (i.e. hot as hell).

Venus also means "bright one," I think (being an appropriate name for the
goddess of Beauty).

*SNIP*

Post by YKhan

Post by Mark Brown
There'd probably be a few episodes before things got bad enough for Beka to
Harper's body is gone, but Harper remains as a non-AI, alongside his beloved
Andromeda (who would likely have evolved into more than just an AI herself),
Beka has gone Neo and become one with the Universe, Tyr & Dylan are as much
at peace as they could ever be, Trance is happy, Rev is serene. . . happy
endings all-around.

This Engine of Creation would've been the source of a lot of fan
complaints, I'm pretty sure of it. I'm not even happy about the idea of
Harper of Borg.

Fan complaints (like war, chaos, and destruction) are good; it means people
are watching (and more, ~caring~). You can't have fan complaints without
fans.

And "Harper of Borg" is perfectly logical, given everything that we've seen
of his character (during the Wolfe administration, anyway). The lousy immune
system, the frail body, the dataport, the tech fascination, the
Rommie-crush. . .

It would've likely gone on to the Magog larvae doing enough damage that he
needed cybernetic organs. Then a nanobot immune-boost (and to avoid tissue
rejection). Then something would've claimed his arm, so he'd replace that. A
little at a time --more like Anakin becoming Darth Vader than Picard
becoming Locutus.

Post by YKhan

Post by Mark Brown
Maybe, but I ~liked~ DS9, and the alliances weren't "breaking up and
reforming at the drop of a hat" --it was all ~organized,~ precipitated by
the lead characters and the events that we saw on screen. Everything made
perfect sense. I can see RHW's Andromeda playing out a lot like that; each
major event naturally spiralling out from all of the others (just like what
happens in real life).

Those plot twists took away from the pace of the building season-long
story in DS9.

We must be thinking of different plot twists; the ones I recall are ~part~
off the season-long story. Take them out and it would've had all the
coherence & depth of Revenge_of_the_Sith.

Post by YKhan
The Wormhole Prophets gave Sisko a gift foresight once,
which gave him a headache, so they took it away.

Bit more than a headache, it would've killed him. But it did open the door
to his learning the truth about his nature as the Emissary.

Post by YKhan
It was a one episode
story and it never really played out again.

Yes it did. It was another step on his road to apotheosis. It led directly
to the finale, where a flash of Prophet-insight led him to the Fire Caves in
time to stop Dukat and Winn, and to take his place among the Prophets.

Post by YKhan
I would've wished that he'd
retain certain parts of that power and start doing really odd and
mysterious things that only he understood, but were an utter mystery to
the rest of his crew.

*SNIP*

Which he sort of did (well, no mystery to Kira, because of her own Faith).
In fact, Sisko's connection to the Prophets (& Kira's reaction to it) played
directly into Kai Winn's betrayal, and likely Dukat's slide into insanity as
well (styling himself as Emissary of the Pagh Wraiths).

Mark
"That is the planet Venus. It reminds me of you."
"Toxic. Poisonous. Deadly. . . You're so sweet!" --Silverbolt &
Blackarachnia (Beast_Wars)

[Bill]

Post by Mark Brown
*SNIP*

Post by YKhan
I found one thing very interesting about RHW's choice here. It's the
fact that he decided to call the group from which Trance comes from as
the Lucifers. It seemed odd to choose the name of the devil as the name
of the group which will help the universe survive.

Not really; as he spells out in "Coda," it's all about Love (the Abyss,
which wants to bring everything together) and "blowing stuff up" (the
Lucifers, who bring about chaos, and wars, and destruction).

That's curious. It just occured to me that this is similar to the Vorlons and
Shadows in Babylon 5. (TV series) Vorlons wanted logic and order. The Shadows
were into chaos.

Post by Mark Brown
RHW's point is that chaos and wars and destruction are ~good~ things --they
create change, and dynamism, and growth.

Bill

[Mark Brown]

*SNIP*

Post by Bill

Post by Mark Brown
Not really; as he spells out in "Coda," it's all about Love (the Abyss,
which wants to bring everything together) and "blowing stuff up" (the
Lucifers, who bring about chaos, and wars, and destruction).

That's curious. It just occured to me that this is similar to the Vorlons
and Shadows in Babylon 5. (TV series) Vorlons wanted logic and order. The
Shadows were into chaos.

*SNIP*

Yep, similar, except the Vorlons were portrayed as being just a shade more
benevolent (at least Kosh was), until the truth was revealed, then they
became Evil. The Shadows were always rendered as Evil. RHW is saying that
this view is stereotypical; the Chaos-worshippers are actually the good
guys. And the Lord of Order. . . is actually a good guy too.

Mark
"Love. . . Beneath the Hatred is Love." --Rev Bem, on the Abyss.

[YKhan]

Post by Mark Brown

Post by YKhan
Again, this
seemed like an odd choice for the writers of the bible to choose as the
name of the devil; but it turns out that the people who were
translating the original Hebrew texts into Latin for the Bible, made a
translation error and ever since afterwards the word Lucifer has been
associated with Satan.

IIRC the proper translation should've been something like: "the
light-bringer, and the one who fell from Heaven" (as in two different
Angels). The ~actual~ translation missed the "and," implying "the
light-bringer, the one who fell from Heaven" (as in the same Angel).

Actually no, the translation of the name was more or less correct but
it seems the people who were reading the original texts had a
misunderstanding about who they were reading about. The original Hebrew
texts were talking about a king, an earthly king, not a supernatural
king, who was the ruler of Babylon and a ruthless enemy of the Jews.
This evil king's fate was to fall to the ground into fire -- it sounded
similar to the story of the fall of Satan. The name of this king was
"Hellal Ben Chachal" -- "Light, Son of the Dawn" (he was named "Light",
while his father was "Dawn"). This then became Lucifer in Latin, "Light
Bringer".

In a translation centuries later, the Muslims took the same Hebrew
texts and came up with a different name for Satan, other than "Light
Bringer". Muslims call him Iblis. You might recall that in the original
Battlestar Galactica series, they had a villain by the name of Count
Iblis.

Post by Mark Brown
Of course, as RHW observes at Ex Isle, the guy who's responsible for our
(Earth-wide) idea of Lucifer/Satan as Evil would logically be Sol (our sun),
which probably gives a bit of insight as to his personality.

I haven't read this in Ex Isle yet, it's hard to find stuff in that Ex
Isle thread, it's gotten way too big. But anyways, the belief in Satan
as evil is not as universally earth-wide as you think, not even among
the Abrahamic religions (Christians/Jews/Muslims). Christians and
Muslims believe in a disobedient angel who is now the enemy of god. The
Jews believe in Satan as a servant of god; much like there is an angel
of death, an angel of famine, etc: Satan is just the angel of evil. He
is just fulfilling his duties as instructed to do so by god. To the
Jews, God isn't just the one who does all of the good things, while the
devil does all of the evil things, God is the ultimate owner of it all,
including all things good and evil. Hindus also have similar belief,
their god of evil is just fulfilling his duties to the universe.

Post by Mark Brown
And "Harper of Borg" is perfectly logical, given everything that we've seen
of his character (during the Wolfe administration, anyway). The lousy immune
system, the frail body, the dataport, the tech fascination, the
Rommie-crush. . .
It would've likely gone on to the Magog larvae doing enough damage that he
needed cybernetic organs. Then a nanobot immune-boost (and to avoid tissue
rejection). Then something would've claimed his arm, so he'd replace that. A
little at a time --more like Anakin becoming Darth Vader than Picard
becoming Locutus.

I'm sure that's how Harper's transformation would've begun, but that's
not the issue. The issue was whether this story arc would've needed to
go in that direction at all.

Yousuf Khan

[Mark Brown]

"YKhan" <***@gmail.com> wrote in message news:***@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com...
*SNIP*

Post by YKhan
I'm sure that's how Harper's transformation would've begun, but that's
not the issue. The issue was whether this story arc would've needed to
go in that direction at all.

Well, the only way to avoid it would've been to omit the Concensus of Parts.

If they were around at all, they would've tried to consume Andromeda
eventually. The only way to stop them would be either wiping them out or
somehow overwriting their "program," and I can't see Dylan condoning
genocide, not even against people who try to kill him. Hell, he ~likes~
people who try to kill him. ;)

Besides, Harper & Andromeda (not Rommie) were intended to have their
romance; Harper's crush would've grown into genuine love. He'd need to
become more and more of an "AI" to be with her, so ultimately his body is
forfeit. And his sucky immune system was a plot point from the first
episode. Harper's spirit has always been more willing than his weak flesh.
Becoming pure mind (and perhaps a part of him remaining with Andromeda in
the VR core) is a natural step for him. He'd also be sacrificing his body to
save the "woman" he loves --of ~course~ Harper would do that. That's kinda
why he's Harper.

RHW's point is that there are many ways to build civilizations, from Tyr's
Machiavellian dictatorship, to Rev's martial theocracy, to Dylan's
constitutional republic, to the pure democracy of the Concensus. The "pure
democracy" would be needed to underline the difference between democracy
(everyone votes on everything) and republic (people vote to elect leaders,
who make their decisions for them, according to the
Constitution/Charter) --a difference that escapes a great many people (all
those folks in Washington who refer to America as a shining example of
democracy ;) ).

Mark
"We're with the government."
"No thanks, we've got all the government we need." --The Tick

[wbe @ubeblock.psr.com.invalid (Winston)]

Mark and K,
Thanks for the URLs!

22 pages of "Coda". :-) 857 messages. :-O
-WBE