Quote:Matrix Dragon wrote:I'm not sure he was ever meant to come across as anything less than "maybe just slightly less than harmless crazy". Although as Mal said, his creator hasn't been around for a while.
So, this has escalated well beyond what I was originally planning. A little context on where this story came from.
Two weeks back, while stuck over the middle of the Pacific ocean, I was filling time by rereading Legend of Galactic Girls. (Because I had internet access on an international flight. I love technology sometimes) And I got to the part where the Professor shows up. And all I could think was 'wow. What an unlikable asshole. Wasn't he supposed to be a somewhat harmless mad where the main problem was either people overreacting to his presence, or him not realizing the consequences of his science?'
I went and looked at his bio, and maybe it's just changes in opinion since I last looked at it years ago, but I couldn't help but side with the French.
I would suspect that he's only really been around for a while because he has a bolt hole and no one's really been arsed to find him when he's been, well, relatively quiet.
Quote:And then I got to the Julian Friez entry. And I thought about it. And then I realized that, to me at least, that machine is right up there with the Catgirling Machine in terms of horror. Every use of the Julian Friez machine is essentially the forced biomodding of an innocent individual, ripping them from their own place and time, trapping them in a world they can never be comfortable or happy in, unable to go home. Their very identity is stolen, replaced with being A Julian Friez. Really disturbing.Yes, it is disturbing, even if it's a simple cloning thing.
... The shit you think about when it's dark, the world is shaking, and you've got another 12 hours in a sealed metal tin before seeing light again.
Regarding my part of the "escalation"... while it's something of relative denial/polite fiction to the contrary, Jeph Antilles is effectively the Big Man in Serenity Valley. JMC is one of the larger employers there, albeit the one you really do want to work for because it is a nice place to work. Granted, there are a LOT of decisions that occur that he doesn't have a hand in... but in light of that, when he speaks, people listen. All he has to do is Say Those Six Words, and you might as well go find someplace else to have your power games. Combine that with the fact that The Professor has, well, effectively escalated to lethal force against someone who was trying to give him an out before engaging in defense of others, and avoiding lethal force in that process... Jeph Antilles is neither Happy, nor Fun, right at the moment, and it's gonna show in the probable scene of the SMOF conference.
(Myk: "Jeph... OK, dude, you might wanna step back for a few days, you're making me wet my pants over here.")
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"You know how parents tell you everything's going to fine, but you know they're lying to make you feel better? Everything's going to be fine." - The Doctor