Inspired Ape-shit

[Experiencer7]

Take an average joe or joelene., going about their business when suddenly they encounter something beyond their abillity to fully comprehend. It could be a sighting, contact or abduction. The phenomena does not deign to explain itself. Why is a huge question., lots of room for speculation to become belief or explaination. Lets say I see a bug crawling across the floor of my deck. I reach down and pick it up. I turn it over., maybe let it crawl across my hand. I set it back down.. maybe a little further down the path it seemed to be taking. From the bug's point of view? Well, I don't know. But the more complex joe or joelene experiencing a similar set of circumstances., (from a bug's point of view) might well think they had touched the face of god or gods or aliens. They might now have an agenda., not based on anything learned from the encounter, (other than perhaps humility)., but rather entirely imagined to justify their role in the experience.

 

[CapnG]

You a fan of Babylon 5 by chance?

 

[Experiencer7]

You a fan of Babylon 5 by chance?

Vorlons and Shadows., eh? Of course Ray Bradbury's "Mars is Heaven" predates that series. Or lest we forget Arthur C. Clarke's "Childhoods End".

 

[CapnG]

Well it's just your example is almost verbatum from an episode I remember (almost solely for that piece of dialogue in fact). What it may or may not be derivitive of is not something I can speak to.

 

[Experiencer7]

Well it's just your example is almost verbatum from an episode I remember (almost solely for that piece of dialogue in fact). What it may or may not be derivitive of is not something I can speak to.

I assure you., it wasn't intentional plagiarism. I'll have to take your word for it. I wouldn't call myself a fan of the series., though I did enjoy it. Probably peripheral memory. But back to the point I was trying to make...


"Take an average joe or joelene., going about their business when suddenly they encounter something beyond their abillity to fully comprehend. It could be a sighting, contact or abduction. The phenomena does not deign to explain itself. Why is a huge question., lots of room for speculation to become belief or explaination. Lets say I see a bug crawling across the floor of my deck. I reach down and pick it up. I turn it over., maybe let it crawl across my hand. I set it back down.. maybe a little further down the path it seemed to be taking. From the bug's point of view? Well, I don't know. But the more complex joe or joelene experiencing a similar set of circumstances., (from a bug's point of view) might well think they had touched the face of god or gods or aliens. They might now have an agenda., not based on anything learned from the encounter, (other than perhaps humility)., but rather entirely imagined to justify their role in the experience."

All better.

 

[CapnG]

In brief, during one episode Ivanova encounters one of the "first ones", ancient aliens millions of years old and incomprehensibly powerful. Later, still troubled by her encounter, she asks G'kar "What was that?"

G'Kar resonds by picking an ant up off of a nearby flower and then putting it back down. He tells her that if it now goes off and asks a fellow ant "What was that?" how could he answer? Neither ant knows more than the other and never will. He concludes by saying that there are beings in the universe older than we can believe and so powerful that if they are aware of us AT ALL, it is merely as ants. And that it is in our best interest to stay out of their way and not provoke them lest they step on us.

So you can see why a) it sticks with me after all these years and b) your comments reminded me of it.

 

[Experiencer7]

I think Harlan Ellison was a technical consultant for the series. I liked the political intrigue aspect of the show., and the evolution of the characters., the intertwining destinies leading up to the shadow war.
SF should stand for Speculative Fiction.