Slaughterhouse Five
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Thank you for your podcasts. I have enjoyed your analysis of Watchmen and Westworld. Looking forward to next year’s season of Westworld so that you can help me keep track of the show with out resorting to a whiteboard and pushpins. While watching the episode with my daughter, we were both practically yelling at the screen when Dr. Manhattan saved Angela from the 7th Kavalry. The tachyon cannon was right behind him and obviously still functional. “move your blue ass!” My daughter has read the graphic novel, I have only seen the movie. She did point out that the episode showed a more accurate depiction of Dr. Manhattan. It was also one of the things that made Silk Spectre crazy when she was with him. That he could have so much information and still make stupid decisions, at least what Silk Spectre considered stupid decisions. Thinking about it though, the fact that Dr. Manhattan can interact with humans at all is amazing. How do you have a conversation with someone when you know exactly what they are going to say. Or more to the point, why would you bother. I know I have put off conversations that I thought could only have one outcome. Dr. Manhattan would have the conversation because he had the conversation, will have the conversation, is having the conversation. I had an OMG moment during your last podcast when one of you mentioned that Dr. Manhattan would not experience the death of a friend in the same way that everyone else does, since he experiences time as non-linear. I immediately remembered Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five and the Tralfamadorians that abduct Billy Pilgrim. I did look at the wiki for the novel, because I read it a long time ago and needed to refresh my linear memory. One of the key moments in that novel is the explanation by the aliens of how the way they experience time makes death inconsequential. The deceased is still with them ( and not in the sappy Hallmark averment “always in my heart”), but genuinely always and forever. Another call back to Slaughterhouse Five is the terrarium that Dr. Manhattan sees as a boy and then remakes on a grand scale on Europa. In the novel, Billy Pilgrim is kept in a geodesic dome after the Tralfamadorians abduct him. The aliens also abduct Montana Wildhack because a zoo needs mated pairs to keep the ‘resident’ happy. The Tralfamadorians also only have one eye, but I don’t think this is has anything to do with the Cyclops plotline. I thought it was more likely to be an Illuminati reference- the ultimate white man conspiracy. Sorry if this is a bit disjointed. Rushing to finish for the next podcast. I have enjoyed this series and hope the ending is as satisfying as the set up. Happy Holidays
Susan
Boalsburg, PA
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