marguerite Posted January 16, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 16, 2008 I have no problem with this back story except for Catch 1. It seems to be in conflict with Catch 3. Or is our hero descended from squirrels and super chimps? In any event, Catch 1 seems unnecessary. Obviously "Mom" is in for a lot of character development in order to keep her sinister and convincingly threatening. Who writes her up front? I suppose we can each take a piece of her in the bridging chapters but character inconsistencies are likely (but you never know). Okay. To keep the ball rolling, I'm perfectly happy to go with this back story (except for Catch 1). Crazy lady in the 31st Century turns mean people in Stepfordoids using contagious nanites. She allows her son to try to talk her out of it by proving man's basic humanity using time travel (a bit extreme given that there must still be some non-Stepfords left in the world). All the while she is threatening to rob him (her son) of his free will (making her the most inhumane, so why didn't the nanites get her too? Or do they?) It can work. How do the rest of you feel? Still recovering form 9AM eye-surgery today, -Thoth. I have no problem with dropping Catch 1. I was just throwing out possibilities--didn't expect them all to fly. Your point about Mom not being Stepfordized is a good one. Perhaps she has immunized herself? If she can de-nanitize the planet, she must have some antidote. Say, she can't face her own evil/intolerance, so she protects herself and nukes everyone else (except the kid, because of the toothy grin). How has the kid escaped until now? Total isolation from the pod people? Perhaps the scientist also has an Angelina Jolie-type assistant who interferes in each of our hero's attempts to set things right, providing opportunities for protagonist/antagonist conflict in each chapter. Or perhaps we supply our own antagonists, since our hero is stuck unraveling conflict situations throughout time (that is, the antagonist is inherent in the conflict). Thoughts? The one love interest/many love interests question crops up here too (I'm assuming the Angelina Jolie character, if any, would double as a love interest, at least in some personae.) But let me reiterate, no actual time travel would take place in this scenario. Our hero merely links to people in different time periods and experiences/influences their lives. Otherwise we again find ourselves juggling the hot potato of why he can't just leap back in time and smash the original nanite injection out of Mom's hands. Marguerite Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve E Posted January 16, 2008 Report Share Posted January 16, 2008 I have no problem with dropping Catch 1. I was just throwing out possibilities--didn't expect them all to fly. Your point about Mom not being Stepfordized is a good one. Perhaps she has immunized herself? If she can de-nanitize the planet, she must have some antidote. Say, she can't face her own evil/intolerance, so she protects herself and nukes everyone else (except the kid, because of the toothy grin). It makes sense that she would immunized herself. But it's worth pointing out that she is obviously more than a little crazy. How has the kid escaped until now? Total isolation from the pod people? Makes sense. Or perhaps she immunized him too and is threatening to undo it once he realizes somethings wrong. ("Mommy, why does everybody do everything I tell them to except you?") Perhaps the scientist also has an Angelina Jolie-type assistant who interferes in each of our hero's attempts to set things right, Another immunized person who rather likes everybody doing everything she tells them to. But what's an Angelina Jolie-type? "Tomb Raider" Jolie or "Girl, Interrupted" Jolie? The former is a tough-minded adventurer, the latter is a crazy teenager. Or perhaps you just meant she's busty? The one love interest/many love interests question crops up here too (I'm assuming the Angelina Jolie character, if any, would double as a love interest, at least in some personae.) There's a whole lotta linking goin' on here. But let me reiterate, no actual time travel would take place in this scenario. Our hero merely links to people in different time periods and experiences/influences their lives. Otherwise we again find ourselves juggling the hot potato of why he can't just leap back in time and smash the original nanite injection out of Mom's hands. The potato remains hot unless the "linking" is controlled by Mommy. Otherwise our hero could go back in time and "influence" his mother or the assistant or simply warn the police, the President, and a bunch of other people. You know, that could be our ending. Just a thought. -Thoth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marguerite Posted January 16, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 16, 2008 It makes sense that she would immunized herself. But it's worth pointing out that she is obviously more than a little crazy. So many of your self-respecting world dominatrixes are. Makes sense. Or perhaps she immunized him too and is threatening to undo it once he realizes somethings wrong. ("Mommy, why does everybody do everything I tell them to except you?") Yes, I like that. I was trying to think of a way to have him immunized and yet still have the threat credible. Or perhaps he needs a booster shot that she won't provide unless he fulfills his task. Another immunized person who rather likes everybody doing everything she tells them to. But what's an Angelina Jolie-type? "Tomb Raider" Jolie or "Girl, Interrupted" Jolie? The former is a tough-minded adventurer, the latter is a crazy teenager. Or perhaps you just meant she's busty? More "Tomb Raider" Jolie. One would need to be a tough-minded adventuress to serve the cause of (well-intentioned but misguided) world domination, no? In any case, a plausible antagonist's henchwoman attractive enough to double as a love interest and susceptible to being "turned" toward good was what I had in mind. The potato remains hot unless the "linking" is controlled by Mommy. Otherwise our hero could go back in time and "influence" his mother or the assistant or simply warn the police, the President, and a bunch of other people. You know, that could be our ending. Just a thought. If we assume he's actually changing history, yes. But suppose he's demonstrating that people are capable of good, and were even in the past, regardless of how events worked out? Is that too cerebral? Likely to send Mom running for more nanites, on the theory that if folks chose to go to the Dark Side even though they had options, she really ought to nuke 'em? But maybe Mom does control the linking. Maybe she's trying to set him the most difficult cases possible, so she sets him up for failure and doesn't have to face the error of her ways. (These mad scientists can be very tough to deal with! ) In fact, maybe it's after a few of these that Angelina starts having second thoughts.... M Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marguerite Posted January 16, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 16, 2008 I did reply, but the Invision board didn't recognize it.... M Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve E Posted January 17, 2008 Report Share Posted January 17, 2008 But maybe Mom does control the linking. Maybe she's trying to set him the most difficult cases possible, so she sets him up for failure and doesn't have to face the error of her ways. (These mad scientists can be very tough to deal with! ) In fact, maybe it's after a few of these that Angelina starts having second thoughts.... Good ideas, I think. History has more than a few intractable badguys (Caligula, Hitler, Zog The Abductor). As for changing history, isn't that inevitable? If our hero is influencing his host (and not just along for the ride) then history will get changed. Maybe for the better. Maybe for the worse. One wonders what the world would have been like without its badguys. The US was barely out of its Third World status before WWI. And without WWII would the US have ever become a world power? If Genghis Khan never tried to conquer the known world (and came very close to succeeding), and installing his Confucius-guided Mandarin overseers, China would be a very different place today (and there wouldn't be a Great Wall). If the Archduke Ferdinand were never assassinated would there have been a WWI? If there were no WWI would there have been a WWII? If JFK were never assassinated would we have been on Mars by now? Lincoln? Jesus? If...if...if... And how would these changes have effected Mommy and her nanites? And I think Angelina has possibilities as an antagonist. -Thoth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
astillac Posted February 16, 2008 Report Share Posted February 16, 2008 .... whoa. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marguerite Posted February 16, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 16, 2008 .... whoa. Is this right, Ms. C? We wait months for you to comment on the nanites, evil moms, super-chimps, hound dogs, teenage Elvis, and Carve the Flying Squirrel, and your entire response is a whoa? Come to think of it, what else can one say to a plotline like that? ("You lot ought to be committed" is just too harsh, I suppose.) BTW, congrats on dropping the 30 lbs. Marguerite Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve E Posted February 16, 2008 Report Share Posted February 16, 2008 .... whoa. Whoa? Giddy-up! -Thoth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
astillac Posted February 17, 2008 Report Share Posted February 17, 2008 I stick by my whoa. And raise you all a "...holy crap." - Calli Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve E Posted February 17, 2008 Report Share Posted February 17, 2008 I stick by my whoa. And raise you all a "...holy crap." I see your "crap" and blush accordingly. -Thoth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
astillac Posted February 18, 2008 Report Share Posted February 18, 2008 Oh, what a crazy train you people are. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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