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Post by todd on Oct 12, 2014 23:05:16 GMT
So I'm not going to discard the possibility that someone at the Court is involved in this mess, either actively (they secretly arranged the whole thing) or passively (they knew about Mr. Ship's crazy plan and decided to just let it go ahead and see how things played out) Truth to tell, I don't think the Court is going to come out of this looking good either way. If it's behind this or permitted it to happen, it's callously experimenting on its own children. If it doesn't know about this, then it's being unobservant and careless enough to allow the Seraphs and ship to take over the cruise. |
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Post by arkadi on Oct 13, 2014 20:54:44 GMT
It is entirely possible that there's someone who checks on Zimmy and Gamma every few days and makes sure everything is cool and there's nothing they need. We just haven't seen such a person in-comic. It's entirely possible, yeah; but we haven't seen any of it. All we have to go on is that Zimmy got really close to critical point -in 'Dobranoc, Gamma'- yet Gamma and Annie were the only people there for her; and that she was allowed to get on the cruise, which anyone could see wasn't a bright idea. (At first I assumed that Lindsey, with her brain working in different dimensions, would be up to the task if/when something weird happened; but so far she's been conspicuous for her absence) So I'm not going to discard the possibility that someone at the Court is involved in this mess, either actively (they secretly arranged the whole thing) or passively (they knew about Mr. Ship's crazy plan and decided to just let it go ahead and see how things played out) Truth to tell, I don't think the Court is going to come out of this looking good either way. If it's behind this or permitted it to happen, it's callously experimenting on its own children. If it doesn't know about this, then it's being unobservant and careless enough to allow the Seraphs and ship to take over the cruise. Yep, that was pretty much my point. |
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Post by todd on Oct 13, 2014 22:31:01 GMT
It is entirely possible that there's someone who checks on Zimmy and Gamma every few days and makes sure everything is cool and there's nothing they need. We just haven't seen such a person in-comic. It's entirely possible, yeah; but we haven't seen any of it. All we have to go on is that Zimmy got really close to critical point -in 'Dobranoc, Gamma'- yet Gamma and Annie were the only people there for her; and that she was allowed to get on the cruise, which anyone could see wasn't a bright idea. (At first I assumed that Lindsey, with her brain working in different dimensions, would be up to the task if/when something weird happened; but so far she's been conspicuous for her absence) . Maybe it's the same sort of thing as "Hogwarts is well-run, until the story calls for a Defense of the Dark Arts teacher who's secretly working for Voldemort, or a basilisk running amok through the school that can't be stopped until Harry confronts it near the end of the book". |
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Post by arkadi on Oct 13, 2014 22:46:59 GMT
It's entirely possible, yeah; but we haven't seen any of it. All we have to go on is that Zimmy got really close to critical point -in 'Dobranoc, Gamma'- yet Gamma and Annie were the only people there for her; and that she was allowed to get on the cruise, which anyone could see wasn't a bright idea. (At first I assumed that Lindsey, with her brain working in different dimensions, would be up to the task if/when something weird happened; but so far she's been conspicuous for her absence) . Maybe it's the same sort of thing as "Hogwarts is well-run, until the story calls for a Defense of the Dark Arts teacher who's secretly working for Voldemort, or a basilisk running amok through the school that can't be stopped until Harry confronts it near the end of the book". Somehow I get the feeling that Siddell would resent a comparation with Hogwarts  |
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Post by todd on Oct 13, 2014 22:57:35 GMT
Maybe it's the same sort of thing as "Hogwarts is well-run, until the story calls for a Defense of the Dark Arts teacher who's secretly working for Voldemort, or a basilisk running amok through the school that can't be stopped until Harry confronts it near the end of the book". Somehow I get the feeling that Siddell would resent a comparation with Hogwarts Most likely (he once said that he wished he'd read the Harry Potter books before he started writing "Gunnerkrigg Court" so that he could have made his comic less similar - though since the elements in "Gunnerkrigg Court" most evocative of "Harry Potter" - such as Annie's being an orphan and the "weird boarding school" - are so crucial to the story that it's probably just as well), but I do think it's the same kind of thing at work here - if the grown-ups' competency gets in the way of the story, it has to be temporarily removed. |
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Post by bykerhill on Oct 14, 2014 18:02:59 GMT
It is entirely possible that there's someone who checks on Zimmy and Gamma every few days and makes sure everything is cool and there's nothing they need. We just haven't seen such a person in-comic. It's entirely possible, yeah; but we haven't seen any of it. All we have to go on is that Zimmy got really close to critical point -in 'Dobranoc, Gamma'- yet Gamma and Annie were the only people there for her; and that she was allowed to get on the cruise, which anyone could see wasn't a bright idea. (At first I assumed that Lindsey, with her brain working in different dimensions, would be up to the task if/when something weird happened; but so far she's been conspicuous for her absence) Truth to tell, I don't think the Court is going to come out of this looking good either way. If it's behind this or permitted it to happen, it's callously experimenting on its own children. If it doesn't know about this, then it's being unobservant and careless enough to allow the Seraphs and ship to take over the cruise. Yep, that was pretty much my point. As for Annie being the only person there for her... the kids not bothering to inform adults of problems is nothing new in this comic, particularly if Zimmy thought that they couldn't actually help with her problem. Obviously Zimmy and Gamma going on the cruise is not a great idea, and the only thing I can put that down to is that Lindsey issued a blanket invite, and Zimmy and Gamma just slipped aboard with everyone else. I mean, if you know all the kids from the court have been invited, and you know all the people present are from the court, you're not going to notice two more girls of the right age in Gunnerkrigg uniforms getting on the ship. As for careless... I don't think it's a matter of carelessness so much as the fact that the Court is pretty dependent on robots, and those robots are normally pretty reliable. Paz seems to put a lot of trust in Bobby examining and caring for her animals, robots are largely seen serving as emergency security, etc. I think it's safe to assume (especially given that this voyage is not a new thing) that Shipbot is perfectly competent when it comes to matters of sailing the ship and looking after passengers. If the Court isn't aware of the Seriph cult lurking within it, or it's potential to do something like this, then they don't have any reason to be wary of Shipbot, any more than I have to suspect my local school bus driver who's been on the job for years of actually being a terrorist kidnapper. |
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Post by todd on Oct 14, 2014 22:12:52 GMT
Obviously Zimmy and Gamma going on the cruise is not a great idea, and the only thing I can put that down to is that Lindsey issued a blanket invite, and Zimmy and Gamma just slipped aboard with everyone else. I mean, if you know all the kids from the court have been invited, and you know all the people present are from the court, you're not going to notice two more girls of the right age in Gunnerkrigg uniforms getting on the ship. As for careless... I don't think it's a matter of carelessness so much as the fact that the Court is pretty dependent on robots, and those robots are normally pretty reliable. Paz seems to put a lot of trust in Bobby examining and caring for her animals, robots are largely seen serving as emergency security, etc. I think it's safe to assume (especially given that this voyage is not a new thing) that Shipbot is perfectly competent when it comes to matters of sailing the ship and looking after passengers. If the Court isn't aware of the Seriph cult lurking within it, or it's potential to do something like this, then they don't have any reason to be wary of Shipbot, any more than I have to suspect my local school bus driver who's been on the job for years of actually being a terrorist kidnapper. The kids were shown in "civvies" when they were boarding the ship, not school uniforms, but apart from that, you make some good points. Of course, after this, the Court is going to have to reconsider its trust in the robots - assuming the human adults ever find out. (Though since other robots are coming to the rescue, the Court shouldn't go to the opposite extreme and distrust all of them.) |
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Post by bykerhill on Oct 14, 2014 23:35:10 GMT
The kids were shown in "civvies" when they were boarding the ship, not school uniforms, but apart from that, you make some good points. Of course, after this, the Court is going to have to reconsider its trust in the robots - assuming the human adults ever find out. (Though since other robots are coming to the rescue, the Court shouldn't go to the opposite extreme and distrust all of them.) Yeah, I think you're right. Maybe that's one reason Annie had Renard go to the Robot King, although given her situation that may be too lofty and detatched a motive. But I think this definitely ought to have the rest of the Court pause and take a long hard look at the robots. Which might lead them to taking a long hard look at Kat. Alternately, they could try to enlist her and her influence. I suppose it depends on how coherent an account of this whole mess the rest of the Court gets. If the rest of the Robots subdue the S-models and rescue the kids, then turn up the next morning at the Court symposium and go, "Faulty robots got into the elderberry wine and ran amok on the cruise, but we totally sober robots restrained and paperclipped them, future robot drinking has been forbidden," the Court may well shrug and go "Those robots, what next." Since the account given by most of the kids would jibe with that. |
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Post by todd on Oct 14, 2014 23:49:27 GMT
Yes, let's just hope that this chapter doesn't lead into a "Great Robot Purge" where the Court administration decides "Don't take any chances; paper-clip the entire robot population".
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Post by warrl on Oct 15, 2014 0:45:30 GMT
If they paperclip the robot at the heart of the problem, nobody's gonna need to buy paperclips for a LONG time.
On the other hand, the next year's cruise faces a slight problem...
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Post by TBeholder on Oct 15, 2014 5:26:14 GMT
Maybe it's the same sort of thing as "Hogwarts is well-run, until the story calls for a Defense of the Dark Arts teacher who's secretly working for Voldemort, or a basilisk running amok through the school that can't be stopped until Harry confronts it near the end of the book". Hogwarts is a pretty cool guy, eh invented boarding schools and doesn't afraid of anything. The rest of it is a bit nonsensical to me, unless you mean the phenomenon of a plot that needs everyone to be suddenly struck blind and stupid at the same time. In which case, unlikely to happen on GC. |
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