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Post by Casey on Nov 6, 2009 18:06:56 GMT
I wonder where S1 is now? Do you think they left him, brainless, in his kneeling position in front of the shrine? That would be fitting. Perhaps we'll find out on Monday.
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Post by the bandit on Nov 6, 2009 19:20:14 GMT
or if they're just random robots doing it out of whatever piety they feel they have towards Jeanne's portrait. This.
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Post by warrl on Nov 6, 2009 20:36:26 GMT
My origins speculation:
Diego was a techie like Kat, and (obviously) very much in love with Jeanne.
Jeanne was ethereally focused, and while she was probably aware of Diego's feelings toward her, simply respected him for his mental abilities and was a not-super-close friend.
The original robots were actually a collaborative effort. Diego did the techie work, but could not get the needed results in some way (probably a lack of either compassion or creativity, or maybe both); Jeanne created, hooked in, and "programmed" the EPUs.
Then, while Diego was in one of his periodic fits of anger/depression over Jeanne's failure to return his affection, there was some sort of a conflict and Jeanne fell from the bridge and died. Diego felt that if he had not been in a funk, he could have done something that might have saved her. Lay heavy self-imposed-guilt trips on top of everything else.
So he adjusted the robots' programming a bit (not much, they probably idolized their creators anyway), built the shrine and the arena, and also created the tic-tocs so that nobody else would fall from the bridge and die.
Meantime, the rest of the Court wasn't that impressed with Jeanne's behavior at the end of her life. Maybe they thought the conflict was her fault. Anyway, since the records of her were not uniformly praising, the robots removed them.
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Post by wynne on Nov 6, 2009 20:45:30 GMT
So now Robot is essentially a mix between a hip underground tour guide and those Hari Krishna guys who walk around airports in their orange togas and musical instruments looking for converts. How about Stabby McGhostly?
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Post by Rasselas on Nov 6, 2009 22:58:53 GMT
I love the change in Sky Watcher from his first appearance to the most recent. At first he is master of his domain, unapproachable and unknown. One word from Robot, one glance from Kat, and he's a poignant little critter, preparing to face whatever awaits beyond the tunnel.
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Post by todd on Nov 6, 2009 23:36:12 GMT
#1: Diego worked more like Ann than Kat. His robots are built the way a wizard would build them, not an actual scientist. Kat gets upset because they don't look like they should work, and Ann is able to build Robot without any scientific knowledge. Annie was just re-assembling Robot, in an "Insert Tab A in Slot A" manner; her action probably has about as much in common with building Robot to begin with as assembling the pieces of a simple child's toy has with making those pieces. But I agree that the robots do seem to be running on something etheric, rather than conventional technology (and certainly seem far too emotion-prone to be products of conventional technology). Since a lot of the robots at Gunnerkrigg seem inept and easily outwitted, I wonder if Diego's programming has been decaying over the years, causing most of the robots to become more scatter-brained. Or did he simply have a quirky sense of humor and like programming them that way?
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Post by zbeeblebrox on Nov 9, 2009 7:59:30 GMT
Slightly off-topic, this page got me thinking: How do you pronounce Jeanne, exactly? My first sense is to say "Gee-anne" with a soft "G"...but then I think it's more likely that you just say "Jean"...but then there's the matter of Jeanne D'Arc, where I just assume it's pronounced "Joan" either way.
Can anyone shed some light on this?
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Post by fuzzyone on Nov 9, 2009 8:18:12 GMT
I typically pronounce it in the French manner... Kind of a 'Zhahn'... I don't know if that makes much sense.
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Post by Casey on Nov 9, 2009 14:22:03 GMT
It would be nice if Tom answered this question. Now you've got me wondering too.
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Post by wynne on Nov 9, 2009 21:09:22 GMT
I always thought it was just "Jeanne", like "Gene" (Hackman or Kelly) or "Jeans" minus the s, except, I guess, more tenderly? I mean, you don't go, "Gene Hackman. He died and we did nothing." But the difference isn't really enough to warrant a different pronunciation except to say that I pronounce Jeanne slightly softer.
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Post by Ulysses on Nov 9, 2009 22:56:54 GMT
Yeah, I pronounce it 'gee-n' too. I think the Magic E (as we were taught to call it in primary school) at the end makes the first 'e' a strong eee sound.
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Post by wynne on Nov 10, 2009 0:31:37 GMT
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Post by Casey on Nov 10, 2009 5:36:50 GMT
God I love Tom Lehrer. Thank you Wynne.
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Post by wynne on Nov 10, 2009 22:19:30 GMT
*curtsy*
He is a genius.
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Post by Ulysses on Nov 11, 2009 0:14:32 GMT
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