Ed & Mary

>[hidden email]
wrote:
>Surely her reaction is normal ? Having married a career military
>officer, he evades questions as to why he is never home. >

Actually, Andy, being a career military wife, she should have been MORE
understanding about the things he couldn't discuss. Military people have a
hell of a time dealing with Classified issues. And I don't consider any
whiner a "normal" woman.

>He made his choice. Couldn't even divert a SHADO plane for _an hour_
>to save the life of his son ! What a bastard ! (excuse my language).
>(See what you're saying, but... with the passage of time - or just
>getting older - the lack of humanity in Straker becomes more of a
>point of disagreement for me)...

It's the fault of the writer that the storyline didn't really give him an
adequate reason to make his choice the way he did. The situation called for
more conflict and didn't get it. But his performance made it seem as though
the needed conflict was there anyway. But yes, he wasn't very human.
Perhaps that's why women find him so interesting! That Spock-like aloofness
is very attractive. If you've read any of the fan fic at the SHADO Library,
you'll see that most of the writers there tend to humanize him at least a
little. And in defense of the show, they did give him an occasional moment
where he's very human.

It's good to hear a guy's perspective on him, though. And it says a lot
about you that you find him inhuman.
Yours,
Denise



_________________________________________________________________
Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com

Hi Denise,

<<It's the fault of the writer that the storyline
didn't really give him an adequate reason to make his
choice the way he did.>>

Which suggests that on the basis of what was in fact
shown, his choice was 'wrong', perhaps ? (We can
imagine other/additional scenarios, but they weren't
shown).

<<But yes, he wasn't very human. Perhaps that's why
women find him so interesting! That Spock-like
aloofness is very attractive.>>

Hmm. And I always thought, 'the guy who plays hard to
get, doesn't get... anything !' (certainly been my
experience :^ ).

<<If you've read any of the fan fic at the SHADO
Library, you'll see that most of the writers there
tend to humanize him at least a little.. And in
defense of the show, they did give him an occasional
moment
where he's very human.

It's good to hear a guy's perspective on him, though.
And it says a
lot
about you that you find him inhuman.
Yours,


____________________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Get your free @yahoo.co.uk address at http://mail.yahoo.co.uk
or your free @yahoo.ie address at http://mail.yahoo.ie

Hi (again) Denise,

Apolgies for the cut-off in my response to your message, the
technology went horribly wrong (again !)... to finish...

> It's good to hear a guy's perspective on him, though. And it says a
lot about you that you find him inhuman.

Well... one guy's perspective. And to nit pick, I only described him
as 'lacking in humanity'... though anyone who can put anything before
the life of their only child is more cold-blooded than I could ever
be - or want to be.

Regards,

Andy

[hidden email] wrote:-
> ... though anyone who can put anything before the life of their only child
> is more cold-blooded than I could ever be - or want to be.

It depends on what that "anything" is. Here it was an alien landing, or
aliens, number and dangerousness not known at the time, and the outcome could
have risked far more Earth-human lives than one, and Straker knew that and
refused to "let his heart rule his head".

"Anthony Appleyard" wrote:

Yes, I agree (with reservation noted in next para) - but
the main point (I feel) is that the SHADO plane is provided,
albeit unknowingly, by the taxpayers in order to take part in
operations against the Aliens, not to carry medical supplies
for members of the public. Straker knows that if SHADO
facilities were used every time such a crisis occurred they
would be rendered useless in the war against the Aliens.
I'm sure he has enough integrity to realise that the fact that
he's in charge of it all doesn't give him a right to make an
exception for himself. That's my take anyway.

So it's not just a case of weighing one risk against the other.
Although as I've pointed out, it's far from clear whether it
would have been possible to save the life of his son by the
time Straker finds out the transport has been diverted anyway.

James