Posted by J A on
URL: https://www.shado-forum.com/Fw-SHADO-Various-Questions-tp2392403p2432399.html



I think I need to clarify my stance on this.  I've received e-mails offlist enquiring as to why my take on Straker is what it is.

Understand, I'm NOT calling Straker soulless, friendless or uncaring.  In fact, the problem, if you wish to call it such, is that he cares almost TOO much; look at the task he's been charged to carry out.  That proves that he's a caring man.

It's apparent to me now that I didn't word my post correctly.  The comment I made about Straker being possibly the loneliest man on Earth is the crux of it.  He's a human being who has hopes and aspirations with the best of us, but he's chosen to safeguard us as a species, and in order to do that, he has to maintain a certain level of detachment from those under his command.  There's every real possibility that each time he scrambles an Interceptor, Sky 1 or a Mobile may well be the time he sends them to their deaths.  He has to go against the (human) nature of wanting to befriend the people he works with in order to do his job effectively.

Straker, especially as portrayed by Ed Bishop, conceals the anguish of his position in juxtaposition with his nature with extreme gravitas.  He can't afford to be seen as 'weak' in a moment of crisis, as he's got an entire complex under his command, yet his facial expressions betray him constantly (to us, the viewers) as to the agony and gravity of his role as the decision maker.

-- Jamie




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