One thought on “TtBU E4: The return of the Archons”
Andrew says:
I am not sure if Landru actually controlled the population, so much as suppressed aspects of their behavior. The Festival may have been a way to express emotions, which could have enabled Landru to “reset” its suppression of the population’s behavior. If Landru was doing some kind of active signal broadcast to suppress behavior, then Landru would not necessarily be aware of someone who was not attuned to the broadcast. The Lawgivers were likely even more tightly connected to Landru, and may have been more closely connected. I think Abigail is correct: some people were born immune to the broadcast. The Lawgiver absorption is an active process where a person is forcibly attuned to the broadcast, to become part of the Body.
Chelsey asked why it would necessarily be a bad thing, that everyone is connected, and no one is suffering. I think that is a fair question, although I have a hypothesis, based on what Kirk said to Landru, quoted in Chelsey’s cartoon: without creativity, there is no life, and the Body dies. I think the Body was dying. It would not matter to a computer, but I would bet the planet’s population was dropping.
As for keeping the planet primitive, relatively speaking, it made behavior suppression easier. The more complex the technology, the more creative the population needs to be if the technology fails, or if innovation is required. Creativity might require those good and bad emotions that Landru was suppressing.
Anyway, great podcast. I am trying to catch up, and thought I would drop some comments.
I am not sure if Landru actually controlled the population, so much as suppressed aspects of their behavior. The Festival may have been a way to express emotions, which could have enabled Landru to “reset” its suppression of the population’s behavior. If Landru was doing some kind of active signal broadcast to suppress behavior, then Landru would not necessarily be aware of someone who was not attuned to the broadcast. The Lawgivers were likely even more tightly connected to Landru, and may have been more closely connected. I think Abigail is correct: some people were born immune to the broadcast. The Lawgiver absorption is an active process where a person is forcibly attuned to the broadcast, to become part of the Body.
Chelsey asked why it would necessarily be a bad thing, that everyone is connected, and no one is suffering. I think that is a fair question, although I have a hypothesis, based on what Kirk said to Landru, quoted in Chelsey’s cartoon: without creativity, there is no life, and the Body dies. I think the Body was dying. It would not matter to a computer, but I would bet the planet’s population was dropping.
As for keeping the planet primitive, relatively speaking, it made behavior suppression easier. The more complex the technology, the more creative the population needs to be if the technology fails, or if innovation is required. Creativity might require those good and bad emotions that Landru was suppressing.
Anyway, great podcast. I am trying to catch up, and thought I would drop some comments.