Date: Wed, 14 Feb 1996 11:34:19 -0800
From: Claudia Coles (ccoles@dcez.dcez4tag.com)
Subject: Happy Valentine's / What if...Alphan Holidays?
Hi fellow Alphans! I just want to wish you all a Happy Valentine's Day
from the United States. And BTW, that brings up a topic of discussion:
do you think that Alphans could have made any effort to hold holiday or
special day celebrations of some sort? Understanding, of course, that
Alpha was made up of international personnel, could they still have strove
to maintain or create special days that they could all participate in
celebrating, in order to "keep in touch with their *humanity* and/or
*earthliness*" so-to-speak?
Perhaps holding onto national holidays might prove difficult since,
collectivel speaking, every other day would end up being some national
holiday :). But what about creating their own? For example, how about a
holiday where they could: 1) focus on certain positive things that they
have undergone over the many months (years - in space calculations?); 2)
celebrate birthdays; 3) remember deaths/losses, or; 4) a day to just plain
relax?
Are holidays indicative of a more stable society or could a community
such as Alpha be able to develop and maintain special days within their
social structure? Just a thought. What do you all think? See you around.
Date: Wed, 14 Feb 1996 12:48:01 -0800
From: Sfcafeguy@aol4tag.com
Subject: Alphan Holidays
Ooh, Claudia, what an interesting topic.
Off the top of my head I’d think they would try to maintain holidays after
they got over the initial disaster of the nuclear explosion. I think this
would be very important for them, and that Koenig and Dr. Russell would be
all for it for morale purposes. I don’t think they could shut down Alpha and
have everyone take the day off, but they could certainly observe their
particular holidays in their own way and amongst friends in a relaxed
atmosphere some time.
I think if I were commanding I would let them observe in this way, put in for
time off on particular days if they liked, etc. In addition, I might create
a special Alphan holiday in which everyone could join in and share a mutual
bond, regardless of their particular backgrounds. This could be one day all
Alphans share, sort of like Thanksgiving in America wherein the pilgrims got
together to count their blessings at getting through their hardships. I see
this as a day to be thankful but also for Koenig to address everyone and to
reaffirm their accomplishments during the preceding year, and that they
shouldn’t give up on the dream of finding a new home. As for a day,
September 13 comes to mind, the anniversary of the nuclear catastrophe, and
the first day of their new lives.
Robert
Date: Wed, 14 Feb 1996 13:25:26 -0800
From: Ryan Minor (hunter@elder44hostel.org)
Thanks for the holiday greeting, Claudia!
I remember one "holiday" scene on Alpha, in
_Guardian of Piri_ when the Alphans were
celebrating Koenig's findings about living
conditions on Piri (which of course were
fabricated by the Guardian/Central
Computer). The juxtaposition of Koenig,
battered and bloody, being toasted by Helena,
et al. was an excellent illustration of the madness
that had overtaken Alpha.
I don't know if Alpha would celebrate the most
obvious anniversary (September 13th, duh!);
I have a feeling that they would at least party
and remember their loved ones back on Earth
and those lost on the Moon's journey so far
rather than succumb to what otherwise must
be one of the sombrest of days on Alpha.
Birthdays would be big hits, I'd wager.
Holidays and other celebrations must have
been very central to Alpha's mental hygiene;
maybe we would have seen more in Season III...
I've been curious about Alphans' hobbies. As
a model railroader, I'm very jealous of Alphan
free time. They must have developed some
interesting pastimes to endure the boredom
between alien encounters, planetfalls, etc.
P.S. Is Valentine's Day celebrated anywhere
outside of the U.S. and Canada, or is it another
of those Hallmark greeting card-created
holidays?
P.P.S. Does anyone on the list know for
sure that S:1999 will NOT be coming back
in some form for the "fin de siecle"? If Fox
brought back _The Munsters_, why not
S:1999? We must have some insiders
lurking somewhere...
Regards.
===============================
Ryan Minor
Elderhostel, Inc.
75 Federal Street
Boston, MA 02110
United States of America
===============================
Elderhostel is a non-profit organization
dedicated to serving the educational
needs of older adults. Please visit us at:
http://www.elderhostel.org
===============================
Date: Wed, 14 Feb 1996 14:34:53 -0800
From: Sfcafeguy@aol4tag.com
Ryan (and group):
I read with pleasure your thoughtful take on the holiday situation on Alpha,
and I also wondered if Valentine’s day or equivalent is celebrated (and how)
by those of us on the list from outside the U.S. At the risk of going off
topic, I’d be curious to hear from the international set on this.
One thing, though, wouldn’t it make sense for Koenig to purposely choose
September 13 to reclaim the date and to change the focus and give the Alphans
something to look forward to rather than something that’s going to cause them
to reflect on the disaster year after year?
Just a thought,
Robert
Date: Wed, 14 Feb 1996 15:05:26 -0800
From: jsullivan@internet.kronos4tag.com
Say,
Since we talking about holidays and all. I was wondering if there
were any births on Alpha? I remember something about one child born
and he turned into some sort of 'god' but it was so long ago and my
memory is fuzzy of the details. Does anybody remember this episode?
Jim Sullivan
#111 Planetary Survey Team Leader
QUOTE: "Someone's got to explore the planets Koenig doesn't."
Date: Wed, 14 Feb 1996 14:34:47 -0800
From: PatriEmb@aol4tag.com
I would think that the Alphans would celebrate holidays, especially during
their first Christmas out of earth's orbit, to help boost morale. Alphans
would remember the times they had while on earth, and would want to IMHO,
celebrate them.
Date: Wed, 14 Feb 1996 17:18:18 -0800
From: Petiepry@aol4tag.com
I have to agree with Claudia in that the international mixture of residents
would bring into the organization a variety of holidays. Maybe they would
celebrate them all and then make up their own holidays.
This also brings up a question that I have had-how did moon base Alpha come
to be? In other words, how was it organized. What was the state of the
world in the fictional 1999? I think I remember something about a big war
where Koenig's wife was killed?
Date: Wed, 14 Feb 1996 21:16:14 -0800
From: dwelle@online.dct4tag.com (David Welle)
Subject: Re: Alphan Hobbies
Ryan Minor (hunter@elderhostel.org) wrote:
>I've been curious about Alphans' hobbies. As
>a model railroader, I'm very jealous of Alphan
>free time. They must have developed some
>interesting pastimes to endure the boredom
>between alien encounters, planetfalls, etc.
Not to spoil the thought of lots of free time (which I could use right about
now!), but I suspect they'd have less free time than one would expect at
first glance. When in Earth orbit, many of their food and material supplies
could come from Earth. Now, they have to work to recycle every bit they
can; plus, in the case of minerals, mine for more, and process it, and
anything they found on the planets they found. The biology departments
would be busy trying to grow alien plants for possible for or pharmaceutical
uses. Plus, with all the damage Alpha and its Eagles were taking, all of
which had to be repaired (or recycled in the case of Eagles damaged beyond
repair).
Yet, despite all of that, they certainly weren't working all the time, as we
saw several times in the series. In fact, they /did/ sometimes look
downright bored! These people obviously excelled at what they did--which is
why they got to Alpha in the first place. Alpha was always repaired by the
next encounter, with plenty of Eagles in excellent working condition. So
come to think of it, on top of everything else, they did indeed have to
fight boredom.
That's where the sheer diversity of Alpha's people comes in. They had the
art, music, games, literary pursuits, and other pastimes of many cultures to
draw on. And I think we saw some of each. Furthermore, with all of those
people and ideas almost caged together on a lonely world with lots of time
on their hands, and potentially lots of fear of what might lie ahead, and
pain over what they left behind, one can imagine them huddled together in
the warmer corners of the base, honing their skills on long-favorite
pastimes, and creating new ones in the mix.
Well, guess I waxed poetic instead of specific, so can anyone add anything here?
Date: Wed, 14 Feb 1996 21:16:14 -0800
From: dwelle@online.dct4tag.com (David Welle)
Subject: Re: Alphan Holidays
Ryan Minor (hunter@elderhostel.org) wrote:
>I don't know if Alpha would celebrate the most
>obvious anniversary (September 13th, duh!);
>I have a feeling that they would at least party
>and remember their loved ones back on Earth
>and those lost on the Moon's journey so far
>rather than succumb to what otherwise must
>be one of the sombrest of days on Alpha.
Sfcafeguy@aol.com (Robert) wrote:
>One thing, though, wouldn't it make sense for Koenig to purposely choose
>September 13 to reclaim the date and to change the focus and give the Alphans
>something to look forward to rather than something that's going to cause them
>to reflect on the disaster year after year?
Perhaps a two-day combination of both would be celebrated. I think that
reflection on the disaster and what/who they lost would be inevitable. But
September 14 could be a kind of day of thanks, celebrating both the fact
they survived the 13th, but the continuing years in deep space--as well as a
chance to look forward, as Robert suggested. I don't think that Koenig
could really "choose" it though, so much as maybe suggest the idea (or
perhaps someone else would), and see if others take it up.
Speaking of two-day holidays, I think there's similar examples of
negative-turned-into-positive holiday here. The only one that comes to mind
at the moment is Eastertime in the Christian religion, though this is spread
over four days (ignoring Lent). I think I'm overlooking an obvious two-day
example, but can't remember which.
On to the broader subject of other holidays. Many of the major holidays,
religious or otherwise, especially those common to at least a large fraction
of the Alphans, would likely continue to be celebrated in a semi-public
fashion. I don't know of any holiday that is common to the entire Earth (in
the sense of being generally recognized by all countries, since there will
almost always be some people in each nation that celebrate a holiday the
others don't). For example, not even New Years Day is celebrated the same
day over the whole planet.
Considering the very international flavor of Alpha and other factors (e.g.
the WWIII of S19's "alternate reality"), some national holidays may have
faded, or at least become private, instead of public celebrations, since
there might be only one or a few representatives of the region that
celebrated the holiday left on Alpha.
Valentine's Day? I suppose that hinges on how international it is /now/. I
don't have a clue on this. Anyone else?
Then again, even if it is not very international, it or other national
holidays could suddenly become so important to the Alphans that it becomes
major, just because the feelings surrounding it become very important to them.
So perhaps holidays on Alpha could be a multi-cultural (multi-planet?)
patchwork of already "major" holidays, formerly "minor" holidays turned
"major," and totally new holidays, like a one- or two-day Breakaway observance.
Of course, other than some apparently spontaneous, unnamed celebrations
(perhaps new holidays, or perhaps just parties), we didn't see much of that
on Alpha. As someone suggested, maybe this would have been mentioned if a
third season had been broadcast (or maybe not). Perhaps it's up to us to
decide?
Opinions?
Date: Wed, 14 Feb 1996 22:17:53 -0800
From: Sfcafeguy@aol4tag.com
Subject: Alphan Holidays and Hobbies
Responding to a pair of posts from David Welle on 96-02-15
concerning Alphan Holidays and Hobbies:
David! My kind of guy! I like this sort of realistic exploring/delving into
the psychology of the Alphan situation in terms of real human needs and
emotions.
As for "I don't think that Koenig could really ‘choose’ it [the observance
date] though, so much as maybe suggest the idea (or perhaps someone else
would), and see if others take it up," I totally agree.
I was assuming that someone (Helena, or perhaps a committee) reports to John
on base morale and that they would have just naturally come up with the idea
of doing something to counteract the painful associations of the breakaway
anniversary and also to boost morale with some sort of affirmation
celebration and the equivalent of a state of the union address or pep talk.
I also don’t think this would start out as an official holiday so much as a
gathering of affirmation, but that it would become a holiday over the course
of the first two or three years in space through repetition and the constant
need to address morale issues. (I know that I’m always more high spirited,
for instance, as Christmas approaches, even though it’s not for particularly
religious reasons.) Besides, John’s already busy enough without deciding
EVERYthing. As I was saying to Ggreg recently, Koenig doesn’t seem to
delegate, and even says things like "Alan take Eagle 1 down there and…" which
always makes me wonder how he knows which Eagles are launch ready, and why
doesn’t someone there in flight control know better than Koenig which Eagle
to assign. How can he keep up on all these details (and presumably in other
areas) and still get anything done on Alpha?
As for hobbies, we’ve seen Helena sculpting and Tony making beer, various
Alphans tanning or playing games in rec rooms, and God knows Kano was
probably surfing the net and scoping out IRC chat rooms for the technically
minded, but have we seen any other Alphans’ hobbies presented in any
episodes?
Thoughts please.
Robert
Date: Thu, 15 Feb 1996 07:46:47 -0800
From: Mark Eidemiller (Mark_Eidemiller@pgn4tag.com)
A few random thoughts on the subject:
Once they stabilized their situation (gotten past the need for survival),
and pondered on their future (if indeed they would have a future), they
might have considered a major archival project.
Face it. Everyone wants to live forever, in some form, even if it's in the
memories of those who follow. If the people of Alpha thought they'd
never see home again, they might turn their efforts towards recording
their thoughts and feelings for posterity. There's a project like that going
on now (if it isn't done already), where the thoughts, feelings, and
images of the survivors of the Holocaust were recorded and put on
CD-ROM for future generations.
With their free time, they could compose diaries. Tie the comlocks into
some storage set aside, to make recording their thoughts easier. On the
scientific side, there might be an effort to save a library of sorts of tissue
samples for potential cloning.
And in looking within, they might take their eyes off of the hopelessness
of ever returning home.
As far as the holidays go, anything's possible. In times long past, many
holidays were just excuses for time off by the people, whose existance
was busy and tedious. Holidays are times of remembering (Easter,
Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc.), and would be a strong morale booster in
times of extreme stress.
Even an Oktoberfest (with beer) would be a welcome break
in the routine.
Take care, all.
Pastor Mark Eidemiller
Moonbase Chaplain
Date: Thu, 15 Feb 1996 12:43:10 -0800
From: Levi@spirit4tag.com.au (Graham Levi and Cecilia Levi)
Subject: Re: Alphan Hobbies.
Hi Everyone,
This is a quirky little topic, but in the series we see some of
the hobbies that stop the boardem - Space Brain shows us Jigsaw
competitions, The exiles - art and pottery, The Lambda Factor - games of
chance/poker, The Troubled Spirit - a concert, plus rummurs of chess
competitions, Paul and his guitar, video and film watching. They probably
had a special evening with films like "Plan 9 From Outer Space". You would
have to keep your sense of humour in space. You could also be a serious
Solarium junkie. The books talk more about hobbies - eg/ someone suggested
flower arranging, but Paul was very cruel about locating flowers on a
Moonbase. So that idea died in the bud, you could say.
Yours,
Cecilia.
Date: Thu, 15 Feb 1996 15:33:21 -0800
From: Carol Naylor (100645.2613@compu44serve.com)
Hi Jeanette
>Yes, there was a jigsaw competition, but if I remember correctly it is
>mentioned only in the books and was not actually part of the televised series.
Actually there was are jigsaws at the opening of "Space Brain" to emphasise that
the Alphans have nuttin' better to do - Koenig breaks the moonbase speed record
for one featuring a Medieval-style painting while Kelly and his wife (?) are
completing one in their quarters.
>The only mention of music I remember from the actual television series is
>Paul's guitar playing.
There was also the Sittar concert being attended by many of the Alphans at the
opening of "Troubled Spirit". The music was then used throughout the rest of the
episode to indicate that Matteo's dopplganger was on the loose (really good use
of the sound - well, it spooked me anyway)
Date: Thu, 15 Feb 1996 21:53:35 -0800
From: Levi@spirit4tag.com.au (Graham Levi and Cecilia Levi)
Subject: Re: Holidays & Valentines.
Hi Everyone,
As one of the International Set (Australia), Valentines day is
celebrated here. I think the world of the Alphans, would be similar to ours,
in that advertising and multinational companies would be setting the agenda
with marketing of world wide holidays and special days. Sure, countries
would still have their own special days, but the world is rapidly shrinking
in communication terms. This means that marketing has a bigger reach and
effect on us. I remember, in the dim dark past of Australia's recent
history, when Valentine's Day was not celebrated or even remembered. It is
now very popular and very lucrative for marketing industries. The signs for
Easter went up today. What does that tell us about our world??
Cecilia.