[Cockroach Boy]

[Turnidus]

[thunda]

[Slushprodukt]

Yes. It's unclear how much of a conscious decision Gan has in it all. It seems to me that this is the situation:

1. Gan has a mad compulsion, which he can't control, to attack vulnerable women.

2. The limiter is supposed to cut in when he is alone with a woman, or in a situation where he could attack a woman.

3. The limiter is old, or failing. When Gan is alone with Jenna, it is probably the first time that he has been alone with a woman for years. Ever since his arrest he has been either locked up alone or locked up with lots of other people, so he's never had a chance to attack a woman. Thus, when his natural compulsion to attack Jenna kicks in it does so with extra force. The limiter cuts in, but because it's failing and because Gan's compulsion to attack is so strong, the limiter sends a distress signal to "shut him down", basically to black him out. (These events possibly cause or precipitate the limiter burning out a few episodes later.)

4. Caught between these two powerful influences, Gan has a real headf*** to deal with, and after fighting it for a while he just blacks out.

5. There is also the issue of the brood warriors. This is an additional thing for Gan to deal with. His compulsion to rape/kill Jenna, the limiter counteracting that, and then the increasing threat of being killed by the warriors.

It is unsure (or rather, I am unsure) if Gan has any influence on himself about attacking women. Does he make a conscious decision to do it, or is he just a slave to this impulse? He seems to be a decent, well-meaning guy at heart, so at first glance you'd think he would try to fight against his psychotic impulses but they were too strong and that's why the Federation fitted him with a limiter.

But the Liberation book suggests that actually Gan is very clever. Much cleverer than he appears. He engineers situations where he will be alone with women. I can't remember the details of this. I think the book gives a few examples of incidents in the first series when Gan engineers situations, but I can't remember them just now. If you want, I can dig the book out and have a look.

Incidentally, Chris Boucher has stated that "the Gan subtext" was present when they did the first series. In other words, there is a subtle thing going on with him throughout the first series. But they were told to get rid of it for series 2 because it was deemed too adult. Perhaps that's why he was the first one to be killed off? Boucher/Nation felt that without the subtext, Gan was of much less interest...?

[Cockroach Boy]

[Turnidus]

I'm sorry, but I just don't buy all this crap about Gan. I could understand it if he had had the limiter put in because he raped and murdered a woman, but he didn't - he was defending the honour of his woman who was murdered by someone else. So how do we read into this that he is a woman hater and wants to hurt them if left alone with them?

It just doesn't wash with me.
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[Cockroach Boy]

[Slushprodukt]

[Turnidus]

[Futsie]

I was watching Cygnus Alpha the other day and just noticed something in the dialogue...

When Kara and Laran are watching the London arriving with the new prisoners, she says to Laran: "Go to him and tell him new bounty has come from the darkness. I will go to the place of rebirth."

Then it cuts to the flight deck of the London, and Leylan says "Berthing sequence automatic committed."

So, birth and berth... Could just be a coincidence, or could be that the writer subconsciously used one of the words after using the other. But I like the idea that it's an example of the Cygus religion appropriating language, or changing something scientific and technical into a spiritual idea for its own ends...

[Mary Lou Jensen]

Can I just go back to the conversation between Turnidus and Slushprodukt for a moment (not wanting to stir up bad feelings and stuff or anything) but I must say I agree with Turnidus this time BUT as a what if scenario it's an interesting idea.

Can I ask - was Liberation a fan product or a professional book - either way I hope none of this was presented as fact merely as speculation.

[thunda]

Can't figure out how the Liberator's teleporter works. It's sophisticated enough to beam someone from space down to a planet that's revolving, orbiting, vibrating, taking into consideration dust, insects, wind, bacteria, gases, and who knows what else you could materialize into, but there's no failsafe to keep from being teleported beyond the teleporter's range.
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"Women, food, and inflicting pain -- in no particular order."
- The Fifth Legion

[dave]

If coordinates are specified in the middle of space then what else should it do? There are many occasions when you may want to send someone or something into space (its faster than the airlock). I still don't understand why he exploded though...

Also the Liberator was a very complex beast - it probably did have a safety system but there could easily be an override.

[white afro in space]

I daresay that 'being out of teleport range' is indeed a fail-safe for being teleported out of teleport range. The range exists as a limit that cannot be surpassed, hence there is no risk of the teleport accidentally exceeding the range. Being teleported to an unintended location within teleport range is another matter.

Vargas exploding (a sign he may not have become a god, but we as viewers certainly thanked god at the time) depicts the notion that human bodies would explode in the vacuum of space, given that atmospheric pressure prevents non-curry related bodily explosions while on earth. That the explosion looks like a mechanical (smoky) explosion rather than a bodily (gore) explosion is down to the show's budget constraints.
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As I was saying, we all have to learn to live with disappointment

[thunda]