Well, Youppi, you certainly beat my time for reading those books. Wow.

It never occurred to me to reply to the new poll announcements – I thought they were FYI only.

Those six-word novels/statements seem to be all the rage, so: What do I like about Y3? I like it because it exists.

Here’s the thing – assuming we all, or nearly all, started watching S19 in Year 1, [i]that [/i]is what hooked us. And we all liked it for different reasons, and we all had our favorite episodes based on what we liked. For reasons that have been discussed [i]ad nauseum[/i], things changed. Some for the better, some because of economics, blah…blah…blah. BUT, the basic premise was still there and that is what kept most of us – the sense of adventure, the sense of wonder, the sense of people who would be approximately our age in 1999 being thrown into an impossible situation. We could grasp it.

As loyal fans, we felt cheated, because these changes were made for no explained reason. I remember being so confused, but there was enough I still enjoyed so I scoured TV Guide in the fall of 1977 waiting for the Y3 premiere that never came. Fast-forward to 1993 and my introduction to the World Wide Web, and suddenly discovering that there were other people in the world who remembered and actually enjoyed this show. I thought my father and I were the only ones! But, despite some excellent fanfic, there was nothing official, until [i][b]Message from Moonbase Alpha [/b][/i], and so no real sense of closure.

What have Powys and Y3 done for me? They have distilled the best of both worlds. They have kept the essence of what more that 95% of us like (judging by current poll results). They have been blended in what one may say requires a certain amount of suspension of disbelief – but don’t most of us do that anyway, out of necessity? So, no problem. Plus, my eternally 39-year old brain looks at things differently than my 12-year old brain did (my own personal time warp – I stopped aging at 39…). I have lived and had a career and seen corporate politics and known obnoxious people that I had to deal with anyway, etc. So, I have a different appreciation for situations, people, and so on. The rich special effects of Y1 allowed me to see the battles in [u]Born For Adversity[/u]. The in-depth characters of Y2 allowed me to appreciate the stories in [u]Shepherd Moon[/u]. The changes between Y1 and Y2 allowed me to enjoy [u]The Forsaken[/u] and [u]Survival[/u]. The promise of the short films [b][i]Space:Eternal[/i][/b] and [b][i]Message from Moonbase Alpha[/i][/b] made me long for the Alphans to indeed find a home.

It seems to me that the [i]change [/i]phase has ended. I mean – what’s left? Well, the only thing left is a planetfall, but with MfMA being canon, that is probably in the future offerings. [i](Side question – how much of MfMA is canon? Does it include Johnny Byrne’s premise for a relaunch?) [/i]

What would I like to see? I’ve mentioned this in other posts, but in summary – address things that have been hinted at: the incident between [i]The Metamorph[/i] and [i]The Exiles[/i] that makes Koenig accept and rely on Maya and her abilities (referenced in the beginning of [i]The Exiles[/i] in the Y2 Omnibus); how did Tony and Helena recognize the symbol on the stasis chamber Pasc and Etrec were in?; how did they recognize the plague warning coming from Sahala’s ship?; what – if anything – happened between [i]The Dorcon’s [/i]and [u]Born for Adversity[/u]? ( I think there is a reference in [u]BfA [/u]to it being several years since [i]The Dorcons[/i]); what happened in that very dangerous stretch of space the Korth commander mentioned?

Short stories…Novellas…Novels…I don’t care. It’s like pizza – it’s all good.

I think perhaps traffic is down at this site because we are in a lull between releases. I’d really encourage anyone who read this far to add his or her own comments to the thread. Unlike 30-odd years ago, this is an opportunity for our voices to be heard! Don’t let silence suggest apathy.

-Pat.

thank you…

over to you Mateo…

steve jansen B)

Actually I was the one that emailed about Fraser’s sleeve color way back when.

I had read in the Catacombs that he was the only Moonbase pilot with a red sleeve, signifying Main Mission/Command Center, rather than the orange pilot’s sleeve. It probably wasn’t a wardrobe mistake, but it was an incongruity that I was intrigued by.

Martin Willey writes in the character guide section of his site, “It is hard to explain why an Eagle pilot wears the red colour code.” Martin says Fraser was presumably Carter’s deputy since in some episodes he steps up to his Command Center post.

I had thought there could be an interesting anecdote or piece of character development behind the reason for his red sleeve. But, as you say Mateo, these things aren’t “seen” in novels anyway. I get it now that in writing a book this would probably be too far out of the scope of the story to be brought up naturally.

I like the idea that Fraser had already begun his interdisciplinary training to become a Command Center operative.

[b]mateo wrote:[/b]
[quote]The “loose ends” stick in our minds, but do they a story make? Sometimes a loose end can be cleared up with a single line in a novel or story. Only if the loose end suggests that it is actually the beginning of a big ball of yarn (pun intended) does it warrant developing.[/quote]

While i am not sure I agree with this, why not then address loose ends in a short story anthology? While a ‘single line’ may serve to clear up many loose ends, I am certain the clever writers you have rounded up could develop more of a story, albeit a short story, if they were so inclined.

[quote]Once I got an email asking if we’d explain why Fraser’s sleeve color was different in one episode. I said, no. Books are in black and white and no one can see the color of the sleeves in a novel. So drawing attention to what was most likely just a wardrobe mistake didn’t make sense story-wise. Nor would any of the characters comment on such a thing–not without drawing undue attention to it.[/quote]

Two thoughts on this answer: One… adjectives are a wonderful thing. I think we readers can handle the descriptors of ‘red’ and ‘orange’ well enough. 🙂 Two… the readers of these books are, I imagine, almost to a person fans of the series, and we all know Fraser is running about with the red sleeve. And wardrobe malfunction of not, it was consistent throughout Y2, so why not address it?

[quote] If an answer is needed, here is one: Koenig (in our novels) is having all the Alphans trained in other areas, so as to guard against losses. If all the nuclear engineers die, or all the hydroponic staff die, or all the doctors die, then what do they do. Also EVERYONE is being trained to fly Eagles in our books. So maybe Fraser was working in another section that day as part of his interdisciplinary training. [/quote]

Well enough, and I agree the cross-training would be inevitable. Given this, why not run with it and include it formally in a story?

[quote]The point is that I know it drives us crazy, but it doesn’t necessarily work in a novel to answer such questions. [/quote]

It could. Many of the novels to date are almost over-full with details, it seems that this rather obvious incongruity could be addressed somewhere along the line.

[quote] What I’m really surprised no one has asked about is the alien ship from Space Warp. I didn’t know what to do with it, so I left the question alone. Next thing you know the book is published–question unanswered! :blink:[/quote]

Rather, take it one step further and ask what about any and all of the ships that ended up on the moon in the run of the series. It has always seemed to me that this was one potential resource that went begging to be explored and possibly used.

And by the way – although this is not really Y3 related – there are certain little things that are wonderful subtle yet meaningful changes. For example, in the Y2 Omnibus edition of “One Moment of Humanity” having Zarl’s advances amount to assault rather than seduction is much more in keeping with JK’s reaction and HR’s character. There are, indeed, many of these small sentences and changes that crop up that do answer some things.

-P.

[b]mateo wrote:[/b]
[quote] Martin Willey gave me a list of 65 issues with Y2 that he thought should be addressed. We tackled as many as we could within the context of storytelling.[/quote]

Now this is a list I’d love to see!

Don’t worry, Zack — as much as everybody’s input is important, part of “stewardship” is knowing how to maintain a balance of mystery and anticipation.

One of the more enjoyable parts of Year Three (if anybody’s noticed) is related to some of Pat’s observations — for most people, Space:1999 has evolved with them, as they’ve come to know the world as teenagers, then adults, and now…ahem…older adults. While there are still science fiction threats that the Alphans are facing in Year Three, they’re also dealing with very grown-up problems — parenthood issues, resolving often complex relationship issues (and not just with the folks on Alpha), issues of mortality, even mid-life crises. We know teenagers probably aren’t reading these books — so we’re often inserting conflicts that would be of interest to people who are approaching middle age. As much as the franchise has been tweaked a time or two over the last few books, Year Three is pretty much established, now (although many things can, and will, happen before MFMA). But we’re not finished with Years One and Two, yet.

The last three novels have established a milestone of sorts between the end of Year Two and MFMA — a solid plateau on which to build new stories, now with all of the best tools at our disposal (or at least our favorite tools). Getting us to this new plateau has taken years. At the same time, we’ve tried to get everyone to expect the unexpected. This old show can still surprise people! It still has power!

It also still has mystery — and we’re not finished adding to that just yet. In many ways, our goal hasn’t been to provide answers — it’s been to get people to start asking questions again instead of recasting the show with modern actors. And you know what? We’ve succeeded.