Discussion post for "Time, Space, and the Incurable Romantic"

[ruuger]

This is the discussion post for "Time, Space, and the Incurable Romantic" by JMS. Spoilers for the whole of the series, including the spin-offs and tie-ins, are allowed here so newbies beware.

Next week, we'll be discussing "True Seeker" by Fiona Avery.

Comments

[aris-tgd.livejournal.com]

Okay, so...

WTF, even? I personally just can't with this one. Anyone else have more nuanced thoughts?

[the_antichris.livejournal.com]

Nope, I can't with this one either. I must have made very peculiar faces when I first read it, because wtf.

[imhilien.livejournal.com]

I read it once and that was enough. :(

[alexcat.livejournal.com]

I wonder what he had in mind when he wrote it... seriously. Having said that, I had never read this one before and it was better than I'd read it was though the whole premise was lame.

Sometimes I wonder if we're all becoming like the Star Wars fan who hate everything about Star Wars... I hope not.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Well, the love for the show itself is as fervent as ever. There is no reason why one should love all the tie-ins. (To stay with Star Wars, there are SW fans who never read a single book of the EU and aren't the less fans for it.)

[alexcat.livejournal.com]

But there are many Sw fans who seem to hate the movies as well. Not real sure why they're fans.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

I had heard about this particular short story before, but had avoided reading it for a) lack of interest in Marcus Cole, and b) being squicked by the premise.

Now that I've actually read it: Marcus's situation - 300 years away from all he knew - is very poignant, and makes you question Ivanova's decision to keep him frozen. (He has a point complaining, too.) I'd say it was mostly because of her sense guilt. BUT. The solution Marcus and the story come up with is indeed as squicky as I feared. Cloning Ivanova, adding her memories up to Marcus' death and keeping the truth from her so Marcus has an Ivanova of his very own - really, JMS? Basicallly Marcus creates a new life - because cloned! Susan is not the late Ivanova, whatever he tells himself, we're all individuals, and this is a new person - to finally get his romantic reward. :( I suppose the one thing that separates Marcus from Warren Mears in Buffy is that cloned!Ivanova has no programming to punish her when she does something he does not want. I hope.

Because squicked me thinks directly after this story ends, NeoSusan wants to check on her old friends, finds out the truth, tells Marcus she never wants to see him again and strikes out on her own. That gets the bad taste out of my mouth. Somewhat.

[tariqa.livejournal.com]

I read this once a while back, and being the nitpicker that I am it really annoyed me that Ivanova's hair was described as being black. She didn't have black hair! Marcus had darker hair than hers!

That aside, I can see what JMS was trying to do, taking the request from many (not necessarily most) fans for Marcus and Susan to have some fairytale, happily-ever-after ending and shoving it firmly into one of the ethically dubious grey areas that so many of the show's characters operated in from time to time. But for me it just didn't work. Ivanova was (or Ivanova Mark II is) too smart to totally fall for it, for a start, and even if they were stuck there I don't think she'd fall for Marcus solely because he's the only man there. And the decision Marcus made to go for this crazy plan don't seem right at all. We're talking about a close-enough-to-40-year-old virgin who said he'd never met the right person; how does that lead to cloning a deceased comrade-in-arms who he pined after for years with barely any indication of reciprocal interest?

I mean really, if he didn't want to make an attempt to live out his life, he could have just been an eccentric recluse with a fancy blow up doll or something. I'm sure they'll be able to do great things with robotics in the mid-25th century, and clearly he had the money.