Thanks for your thoughtful comments, Jenny. I agree with most of what you said, but I have a few replies:
Another indication of imperfect drugging is the public address
announcement: "President to answer
questions on population control". So clearly there are people
questioning authority
and public announcements about it
Or it's just a pretence that you have a say.
But why bother with the pretence if you have total control (including population drugging)?
- I am sure the writers want us to believe some global nuclear or
biological war.
No. There were never any atomic wars. The reference to "pre-atomic" in ROD is a reference to the atomic age not an atomic war. The "Galaxy wide
atomic
wars" crap only appeared in the pre-publicity hand outs for season 4. It
is
never referenced in the series itself.
Well, I don't know anything about B7 publicity blurbs, but at the time the series was written/broadcast, the threat of nuclear war was a real possibilty, which would require bunkers to survive and afterwards the planet surface would be too contaminated to live on - so you live in a dome. The series itself does not directly tell us why they lived in domes, but my supposition was based on the context in which it was broadcast. Maybe other list members who were in their "formative years" in the 1970's would like to comment on my perceptions?? It could just be I lived near fylingdales (early warning station for non-UK/Yorkshire types) and was therfore more worried about these things??
You can't trust anyone anymore. Why is Tarrant following them? And why
is
he following them if there are surveillance cameras everywhere? ......
No. He's following them because he knows where they are going. Outside. There are no cameras outside.
Good point! I just hadn't thought of this, Duh!
The legal records technician is a character beaureaucrat - listening to music instead of working. Like all small minded people with a little
power
he is actually happy that they do not have the right security clearance. But he is easily bribed. Varon is very naïve - if someone is easy to
bribe
you have just established that they can't be trusted - it then becomes obvious that he will stab you in the back and turn you in to the authorities.
No it isn't. You don't report people who give you money; it makes you look bad.
1. The technician doesn't have to turn them in for the bribe, but for the enquiries they are making. 2. You can report people who bribe you. For example, give a police officer $50 to not give you a speeding ticket. He takes the money, gives you the ticket and then says you tried to bribe him. Simple. You are in trouble and he isn't.
Another thing. They take three children out of school and implant in their minds a horror that will destroy their lives. They then accuse an innocent man of the crime, and say "Justice must be seen to be done." This is a
crime
of the most horrendous evil. They are mentally raping these children, but for what? Because they can. We are not talking about the sad, pathetic inadequacies of Gan here. We are talking about the ultimate demonstration evil, and its casual banality tells us that, within the Administration, such evil is common place.
I agree. This is very disturbing.
Like some others, one of my favourite things about B7 is the insight into the federation. They aren't bad just because they wear black hats :-), the things they do to people in this episode (and other episodes) are completely apalling. Unfortunately, later episodes/series tend to focus on one blackhatted individual (you know who I mean ;-))
- Iain W.