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OK. If you haven’t read ALPHA, go & buy it NOW! & whilst you’re at it, go & buy OMEGA as well as they’re both brilliant! 😉
That aside… here’s a question about Year 3:
[spoiler]We know that at the end of ALPHA, the “Another Time, Another Place” version of Tony Cellini decides not to settle on New Arkadia. Instead, he settles on Alpha. With Cellini having come back from the dead (so to speak), have other characters who died in Year 1 and Year 2 decided to make the same decision? Will we see that others have returned to Alpha in post OMEGA/ALPHA Year 3 novels? If so, specific characters who I think could add something to the infinite storytelling possibilities available to future Powys writers in Year 3 include:
– Dan Mateo & Laura (both of whom died in “The Troubled Spirit”)
– Mike Baxter (who, as we all know, died in “End of Eternity”. Can you imagine the Alphan’s reactions to him after their experiences with Balor and Mike’s re-animated cadaver in “Resurrection”!?!) How would all these characters react to seeing their own graves on Boothill? & whilst we’re on the subject, how do Koenig & Carter deal with the knowledge that alternative versions of themselves are buried on Boothill? It’d be pretty unnerving for anyone…
– David Kano. This’d be interesting because of the unique fate of Alpha’s Kano (revealed in “Born for Adversity”). It’d certainly be interesting to add the ATAP Kano to the mix allowing both versions of the same person (the human ATAP one and the Ghost in the Machine version of the long dead Kano of our universe) to meet at some point in the future. With the AI version of Kano being a copy, their presence in the same place wouldn’t cause the ATAP Kano to die. I still wish the AI Version of Kano from BfA had remained on Alpha at the end of that story. It was an ingenious way of writing Clifton Jones’ character back into the ongoing continuity of the series! It’s just a shame he was written out of it again at the end of the novel, but at least we finally found out how he died & we’re left with the certain knowledge that he’s “out there” on a unique Odyssey of his own).These are just a couple of people I’d like to see return to Alpha. The genius of OMEGA & ALPHA is that you can bring everyone back from the dead quite believably and answer the problem of Alpha’s dwindling population by doing so, whilst still leaving a healthy number of ATAP Alphan’s on New Arkadia to build a new life there.
Oh, & whilst I’m at it… I had a thought the other day: Former Commissioner Simmonds.
What if… he [i]didn’t[/i] die at the end of “Earthbound?
What if… someone, or someTHING, intercepted the Kaldorian spaceship on its way to Earth?
What if… Commissioner Simmonds returned to Alpha to take his revenge on the people who left him to die?[/spoiler]I think the possibilities that Year 3 presents are very exciting! B)
Any thoughts anyone?
[b]Steve F wrote:[/b]
[quote]OK.I think the possibilities that Year 3 presents are very exciting! B)
Any thoughts anyone?[/quote]
I think there has to be a good reason for a character to come back. [spoiler]Like a fish out of water, Cellini just didn’t fit in on the ATAP Earth, and relished the opportunity to get back into space. But if the others had established themselves and their families, why go back to an unwelcoming place to live when a whole new planet complete with infrastructure is there for them? Would I rather live in Pyongyang or Suva? Morrow would never, ever go back to Alpha; he and Koenig were on the verge of a pissing contest as it was. [/spoiler]
I think a re-set button has to be used very carefully, or else it becomes a platitude or a snowclone. It’s the same reason that, dramatically[spoiler]Maya had to lose her ability to change for her to grow as a character[/spoiler] and not be pigeon-holed into the same role crisis after crisis.
Them’s me thoughts.
I agree Pat, it would have been a bit of overkill if everyone had returned for year three. Maybe the ATAP Alphans were married and their spouses were still alive on Alpha. Certainly the ATAP Morrow was married to Sandra so he couldn’t have come unless he either abandoned his wife, or brought her along with him thus dooming one of the Sandras to certain death. I do think Kano could have come along though, it would have been nice for him to renew his relationship with his one true love, computer. I would also be nice if, by accident or design he was now permanently linked to computer via telepathic link his alternate set up whilst trapped… It would make for an interesting plot element to have an alternate means of communication with computer and the base.
I’m with you there Zack – bringing Kano back would have allowed for some great story twists ! I loved Kano – he had a really dry sense of humour and was a true and loyal Alphan right up until the end.
btw – it’s raining in Spain B)
It’s been interesting to read everyone’s thoughts on what I’ve said… I’ve been trying to get a bit of debate/discussion going on the message boards recently. Nice to see that that’s beggining to happen B)
Glad to see that I’m not the only reader who’d like to see the AI Kano return to Alpha full time. And to think… I remember a time when, as a big Year 2 fan, I was dead against having Kano, Matthias & Victor returning to Alpha in Year 3! Though I still don’t see the point of…
[spoiler]bringing Bob Matthias back in “Born for Adversity” only to kill him off 2 books later! Still, at least by doing that, there remains the possibility that Doctors Ben Vincent & Ed Spencer will start to get some “onscreen” time in future novels. I’m very keen to read more about them. Hopefully, Petrov will make an appearance in a future novel too.[/spoiler]
I’ve realised that my vision of where I thought the series should go after Year 2 was far too narrow. Bringing Victor & Kano back in the way that Powys has, along with returning everyone to Main Mission & leaving Command Centre behind now makes sense to me. I guess… I just found it hard to let go of Year 2… but I can always revisit Year 2 anytime I like…
[spoiler]which I’m VERY MUCH looking forward to doing when Powys release “The Whispering Sea”.[/spoiler]
All I know, is that whatever actually happens in the Year 3 novels will probably come as a complete and utter surprise to all of us! Afterall, who would have thought that…
[spoiler]Arra would turn out to be a fibber? Or that the good MUF was actually trying to destroy the Alphans whereas the bad MUF was actually the one that kept saving them!?![/spoiler]
Those Powys writers sure are a devious bunch! (But that’s one of the many reasons why we love ’em! LOL!).
Thanks for your comments everyone :kiss:
[b]Steve F wrote:[/b]
[quote]… I still don’t see the point of…[spoiler]bringing Bob Matthias back in “Born for Adversity” only to kill him off 2 books later! Still, at least by doing that, there remains the possibility that Doctors Ben Vincent & Ed Spencer will start to get some “onscreen” time in future novels.[/spoiler][/quote]
[spoiler]As an aside, this is the 3rd time I’ve had to type this because of a computer MUBAR. (That’s an “M” for “mucked”, guys and gals.)
One thing that struck me from “The Forsaken” through “Omelpha” is the closeness of Helena and Matthias’ relationship. Matthias has far different interactions with Helena than any of the other physicians, regardless of how skilled they may be, and different from pretty much anybody else. For example, it is he who scoots her out of Medical Centre when she is trying to find a work-around and save the Cryptodira, and essentially tells her she’s being foolish when she considers terminating her pregnancy. In both cases, he is telling her she is reacting emotionally rather than objectively. Keep in mind that Helena takes [i]pride[/i] in being scientifically rational, and must actively tame her impulsive, emotional side in order to be effective. Matthias is therefore a professional peer, a confidant, a friend, and a little voice that keeps her together when others may hesitate to poke the tiger.
Now, he is gone, and his parting “gift” to her is a [i]*bonk*[/i] upside the head that stops her from once again burying herself in her work – categorizing the casualties – in order to avoid an unpleasant task/reality – facing Robert and John Koenig. According to the narrative, she was more moved by his death (and the fact that she didn’t notice he was missing, which may also grate on her at some point) than at anything else that had happened, although the cork-out-of-the-bottle effect could have something to do with that. His death will affect her somehow, either by pushing her further away from her (medical) colleagues & re-honing the edges that have softened over the years, or else shaking her sufficiently to keep her living in the moment and not seeing every relationship as a potential for pain.
I also found it interesting that Robert Koenig and Liliana Matthias had a parallel relationship in their parallel universe. They probably grew up together, and Bob Matthias would have been the person she would turn to when things were heading south in her relationship with Koenig. [/spoiler][b]Steve F continued:[/b]
[quote]I’ve realised that my vision of where I thought the series should go after Year 2 was far too narrow. Bringing … Kano back in the way that Powys … now makes sense to me.[/quote]
Although it can’t happen at this point, it would be fun to witness[spoiler]computer-embodied Kano playing chess and arguing with his ATAP self. Which would concede a point?[/spoiler][url=http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys.php][img]http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys/smiley-computer005.gif[/img][/url]Omelpha? I’m still giggling over that one. Too funny.
Somebody finally noticed that Helena’s son and Bob Mathias’ daughter hooked up in the future! There was some special bond between Bob and Helena — I’m gonna miss having them interact.
Y’know, having Kano come back is something we really talked about. We were bringing Victor back. Late in the game, we decided to bring Celllini back (that was never planned in the beginning). Even bringing Cellini back was scary — we were nervous people were going to complain that we were using the scenario to make things too neat and tidy. Bringing Kano back felt excessive — besides, we’d just brought him back in Born for Adversity — as far as we’re concerned, David Kano is back.
I’m remembering a conversation I had with Mateo about a decade ago when Balor was resurrecting folks in Boot Hill and we knew John Koenig/ATAP was buried there. Oh, the options that present themselves, and the paths that open up, only to be left unexplored.
For now.
Oh Bill, your hints into alternate realities are so tantalizing. It will be interesting to see how the stories develop over time, if they develop that is.
@ Pat – The very idea of Kano playing chess with a computer embodied version of himself was too funny, the conversations I imagined are keeping me amused for hours…
[quote=”blatham” post=3081]It will be interesting to revisit this thread a year from now…[/quote]
Oh Bill… you’re such a tease! 😉
Do you know… reading back through this thread this evening, I’m genuinely impressed by what I wrote. I was clearly very passionate about the [b]SPACE: 1999[/b] Powysverse back then & wrote some pretty decent Posts. The nice thing now, is that although I rarely Post anything on here these days, I’m still just as passionate about these books and where our beloved Alphans are going in them 🙂 so I’m just gonna sit here patiently and await some news about future books.
“Black Doves” is next hopefully, and then Mr Latham’s “Final Revolution” will take flight and after that we’ll have “Prodigal Moon” (please get John Kenneth Muir to write a new Short Story or two for this! He’s just so good!), Odysseus Wept and then many more I hope :kiss:
Long live the Powysverse! B)
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