Re Re Confetti Check A-OK

I don't see why if Mary Straker once had a job in a high
place as a secretary, she could not hold a position at SHADO.
She would then see what her husband's job involved and the
marriage could have been saved.
Although with nosey parents, it would not be a good idea to
send her to Moonbase to work as she would have to be away
from home for long periods of time.
Although do I wonder what she would have looked like in a
purple wig and silver catsuit.

Regards, (the other) Kevin.

>
> Dragon... how nice to see you! :-D I haven't
> participated for
> months... years... either.
>
hi *waves*

> Yes, your're right -
> - Mary was a plot device and badly thought out...
> but very useful to
> add shade to the usually very black and white
> Straker

so they added .... gray???? *laughter*

> - Mary's behaviour - some say irrational behaviour -
> probably wasn't
> so irrational if you factor in the hormone overload
> that can be pregnancy

i will question whether or not the writers factored in
the hormone overload, but i quite agree, the timing of
everything was just rotten for those two.

> - the timelines weren't addressed at the time of the
> episodes being
> written because - as is frequently pointed out but
> is still valid to
> mention - the Anderson gang never imagined
> thesis-level discussions
> with international participation 30+ years later :-D
> How unimaginative
> were they?

they were writing a children's show with live actors
.... i suspect they're occasionally astonished that
anyone remembers the show, much less discusses the
deep inner meaning of Mary and Straker's relationship
... or lack there of.

> - I've never bought into the "Mary was an airhead"
> theory frequently
> expounded by others on this list. It prompts the
> obvious question:
> would Straker ever have been *that* daft?

*snerk* doubtful. if she had been that much of an
airhead, Alec would've pushed them into bed, not tried
to keep them apart.

Mary wore glasses? why was i not informed? where was
my memo? LOL. sorry. hope they gave her contacts
later. much easier to live with. (or would rutland
have insisted???) *chuckle* maybe there was something
between the pages she was actually reading. can we
consider Mary with a mania for lust in the dust
romances?? *dragon falls over laughing again* oh, my.
time for another Mary story.

laters

dragon





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hi all,

hmmm, elfriede out of lurking mode and feeling the need to add her 2 pennies
resp. asking for your help reg. some issues i keep pondering about (took the
time yesterday evening watching the episode one more time).

1/ mary working at SHADO in any position whatsoever? i personally think she
would not have passed the psychological tests. she's not tough enough for
this -- yes, still! -- male-dominated working environment (as a female, i
may state this :-), having been working in a male-dominated environment
since 13 years now). ginny and gay are the famous exceptions. most relevant
/ high positions still are being held by males at SHADO, let's face the
truth (i would have liked to see a female in henderson's job, the
madeleine-albright or maggie thatcher type).

mary should have had a nice little job in some nice little company. part of
the straker-mary problem was certainly that you never see her doing anything
but waiting for her husband, reading, decorating, cooking or phoning with
her parents, complaining. pretty boring, isn't it?

2/ husband and wife working in the same 'company', especially in a military
organisation?!? sounds very unlikely to me, even for the 80s. OK, i don't
have any experience in the military sector, but i think rules there are much
stricter than in non-military organisations.

two reasons come immediately to mind:
a/ emotional # 1: people normally react less rational, when a relative /
loved on / lover / family member is affected by a decision. very
counterproductive in the case of SHADO. humans cannot completely switch off
their feelings, even if they are able to control them to a very high extent.

b/ emotional # 2 and formal: avoid legal problems right from the beginning,
e.g. if a couple splits and afterwards are forced to work together under
pressure? i doubt that works.

legal / financial: i can only add my own experiences. especially US-based
companies like to avoid any personal relationships between their personnel
beyond mere friendship, as after a separation there is a high risk that
(mainly) females start going to court, claiming enormous sums of money from
their employer for having been 'sexually harrassed' by their former mate.

in the case of 'intel corporation' e.g. it is pointed out right from the
start that close relationships / love affairs are VERY unwelcome and one of
the two has to leave the company ASAP ifit happens.

having originally been hired by my sweetheart (now he is my sweetheart, in
1992 he was my
manager), i know what i am talking about :-), and i could name at least half
a dozen similar cases that happened in the european LSOs of 'intel' plus 2
cases at 'motorola'. we had a crush for each other right from the beginning,
but only started the relationship after one of us had left the company
voluntarily (and the settlement had arrived on the bank-account, VBG).

was already wondering about ginny and gay ellis flirting with paul and
'rubber lips' craig collins. i would have expected a VERY strict policy at
SHADO about relationships, especially from henderson's side (who would have
after all be the one who needed to raise the money ...)

3/ how long were mary and ed actually married? i am confused with some
dates.

the baby was due in early april, so she was in the 8th / 9th month or so
when she delivered (prematurely) after falling down those stairs. their
wedding must have taken place in october or so, judging fom the autumn
leaves on the roads and the empty trees you can see when they drive to their
hotel. counting back from end of march to early october makes a max. of 6
months, right?

allegedly they had only known each other 2 months before getting married.
count it all together, at it makes roughly 8 months.

2 possibilities:
number 1: maybe they HAD to marry because she got pregnant immediately after
having met? however, she only tells him about the baby some time after
having moved into their new home. or did she know long before revealing the
truth? would fit with her very conservative role-models, but i doubt she was
that evil. she's a bit naive and a bit boring, but not evil. and it seems in
the beginning both of them really were in love with each other.

number 2: the pregnancy happened 1 or 2 years later, but by then she should
have found in the meantime a way of dealing with her husband's workload and
finding herself a new job or some hobbies.

and a blooper: the baby was due in spring, as mentioned above. however, the
leaves outside the hospital again look very late summer / autumn-like, don't
they?

that's it for now, best regards to all,

elfriede






----- Original Message -----
From: "croprobz" <[hidden email]>
To: <[hidden email]>
Sent: Thursday, March 03, 2005 12:05 PM
Subject: [SHADO] Re Re Confetti Check A-OK




I don't see why if Mary Straker once had a job in a high
place as a secretary, she could not hold a position at SHADO.
She would then see what her husband's job involved and the
marriage could have been saved.
Although with nosey parents, it would not be a good idea to
send her to Moonbase to work as she would have to be away
from home for long periods of time.
Although do I wonder what she would have looked like in a
purple wig and silver catsuit.

Regards, (the other) Kevin.






Yahoo! Groups Links

oh, my. first day back on the list and i can't resist.
dragon has periodically defended Mary in fan fic, i
just gotta throw in my absent minded 2cents as well.
>
> 1/ mary working at SHADO in any position whatsoever?
> i personally think she would not have passed the
psychological tests. she's not tough enough for
> this -- yes, still! -- male-dominated working
> environment (as a female, i may state this :-),
having been working in a male-dominated environment
> since 13 years now). ginny and gay are the famous
> exceptions. most relevant / high positions still are
being held by males at SHADO, let's face the truth (i
would have liked to see a female in henderson's job,
the madeleine-albright or maggie thatcher type).

OMG ... yes to the latter. if mary was working in a
position as a secretary someplace important -- i
missed that entirely .... she may also have been
blessed with the writer's 1960's understanding of the
world that women worked until they found a mate and
then quit. even when UFO was filmed, regardless of the
1980's venu inside the series, this was still the very
stereotypical attitude about women at the time. They
go from Straker's secretary capable to twits in the
twinkling of a ceremony and a wedding ring. as
written, mary would be a no go at SHADO.
>
> mary should have had a nice little job in some nice
> little company. part of the straker-mary problem was
certainly that you never see her doing anything
> but waiting for her husband, reading, decorating,
> cooking or phoning with her parents, complaining.
pretty boring, isn't it?

again, the writers' fault ... and the stereotype
working. any military wife, and Ed was, bless 'im,
still military when they started out, would have been
expected as the wife of an officer to be busy with the
officers' wives and their missions. She would not have
been sitting at home with nothing to do until Ed
"retired". Given the nature of the organizations
military wives were expected to support, she should
still have had volunteer work or outside interests to
keep her busy. (how does dragon know this? sometime in
the late 70's she got her hands on a little tome
devoted to the duties of an Air Force Wife :-) )
>
> 2/ husband and wife working in the same 'company',
> especially in a military organisation?!? sounds very
unlikely to me, even for the 80s. OK, i don't
> have any experience in the military sector, but i
> think rules there are much stricter than in
non-military organisations.

from what i understand, very much not. not in the same
company (as the military uses that term) platoon, etc.
although they do try to post couples in the military
to the same base. they prefer they not be in the same
specialty at all. no two MI people. can't both work on
aircraft. although i'm not so sure about medical. that
probably isn't a problem.
>
> legal / financial: i can only add my own
> experiences. especially US-based
> companies like to avoid any personal relationships
> between their personnel beyond mere friendship, as
after a separation there is a high risk that
> (mainly) females start going to court, claiming
> enormous sums of money from their employer for
having been 'sexually harrassed' by their former mate.

this is always a good one, and sometimes the
harrassment is real.

> was already wondering about ginny and gay ellis
> flirting with paul and 'rubber lips' craig collins.
i would have expected a VERY strict policy at
> SHADO about relationships, especially from
> henderson's side (who would have after all be the
one who needed to raise the money ...)

*snerk* i think the flirtations were allowable because
of the time it was filmed rather than any reality
basis. and for some people, that kind of thing is a
tension release, nothing is meant by it.
>
> 3/ how long were mary and ed actually married? i am
> confused with some dates.
>
> the baby was due in early april, so she was in the
> 8th / 9th month or so when she delivered
(prematurely) after falling down those stairs. their
> wedding must have taken place in october or so,
> judging fom the autumn leaves on the roads and the
empty trees you can see when they drive to their
> hotel. counting back from end of march to early
> october makes a max. of 6 months, right?
>
> allegedly they had only known each other 2 months
> before getting married. count it all together, at it
makes roughly 8 months.
>

it occurs to me that if they only knew each other for
2 months before they got married, Mary was an alien
plot. *dragon falls over laughing*

sorry. Having known an enlisted AF who went home on
leave and got married and had merry h*** to pay when
he returned with his wife because he was supposed to
alert his commanding officer to the impending nuptuals
and get his approval for said marriage. Given that he
had a security clearance for working jets, i suspect
the kind of clearance our commander had would have
demanded a background check of the young lady. In 1971
(quick math here: Johnny was 8 when he died in 1980,
puts year of birth no later than 1972, puts marriage a
minimum of 8 months earlier --- if he was born in
April/due in April we back up to --- September 1971
.... ) it could have taken a couple of months of
interviews and background checks -- and Henderson
saying yes??????? the writers did not take any of this
into consideration when they gave Straker his
background .............. And can you hear Henderson
if he went off, got married and had not gone through
channels? (for that matter, can we imagine our
stickler commander not going through channels????
*dragon falls over laughing again*)

personally, i have always felt that the writers saw
Mary only as a plot device and not as a real
character.

--- In [hidden email], dragon haven <dragonhavn@y...> wrote:
>
> oh, my. first day back on the list and i can't resist.
> dragon has periodically defended Mary in fan fic, i
> just gotta throw in my absent minded 2cents as well.

Dragon... how nice to see you! :-D I haven't participated for
months... years... either.

Yes, your're right -
- Mary was a plot device and badly thought out... but very useful to
add shade to the usually very black and white Straker
- Mary's behaviour - some say irrational behaviour - probably wasn't
so irrational if you factor in the hormone overload that can be pregnancy
- the timelines weren't addressed at the time of the episodes being
written because - as is frequently pointed out but is still valid to
mention - the Anderson gang never imagined thesis-level discussions
with international participation 30+ years later :-D How unimaginative
were they?
- I've never bought into the "Mary was an airhead" theory frequently
expounded by others on this list. It prompts the obvious question:
would Straker ever have been *that* daft?
- thinking of the heavy specs and books Mary usually had as props, it
occurred to me a long time ago the Andersons were trying to indicate
that Mary had a brain. They could have had her waiting up with
knitting or sewing... tho' I do seem to remember she had difficulty
deciding which way up you had to hold a book to read it efficiently...

Poor Mary. LOL!

Bisous,
Carly

Wow - dragon's post was great and I have to agree with all of it. Pam