Characters or situations you'd like to see in the books?
- Thread starter JoeZhang
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I dunno... would you say a murderer's parents are directly responsible for the murders? Daystrom's culpability is enough of a grey area that I don't find it implausible that posterity would remember him more for his great achievements than his one great mistake. Given his breakdown, he might be remembered more as a tragic figure than an infamous one.
Anyway, it occurs to me that we're acting from a false assumption here, namely that the Daystrom Institute was named by others in his honor. Generally when something is called the [Person's Name] Institute or Institution, it's because it was instituted by the person of that name -- the Smithsonian Institution by Mr. Smithson, the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute by Mr. Van Rensselaer, etc. So it's quite possible that the recovered Richard Daystrom founded the institute himself, perhaps as a way of making amends for his role in the M5 tragedy.
I want a sequel to Santa Claus Conquers the Martians.
And I want Bill Leisner to write it.
And I want Bill Leisner to write it.
^^Would that be about Santa Claus conquering another world? Or about the Martian resistance movement to overthrow their conqueror?
Careful what you wish for...
hellsgate, as Christopher said, please don't post fan fiction story ideas in this forum. I've put your stories in spoiler codes, however it is best if they are deleted all together.
M5 wasn't so much Daystrom's *child*, as...his clone, really.
Daystrom should have known that M5 would be as unstable as he was. He is therefore responsible, at least to some degree, for what M5 did. And as has already been pointed out, Daystrom did nothing to *stop* M5 from its rampage.
Yes, I know, but AC Crispin did acknowledge TAS by the time of the sequel, "Time for Yesterday", with her (Commander) Arex cameo.
I think she was ignoring TAS for "Yesterday's Son" to avoid the second screen use of the Guardian, in the animated "Yesteryear".
Whoa. You win the Obscure Reference of the Week award! I'm surprised anyone else even remembers the terminology of the '88 War of the Worlds TV series.
Err, I find that a very odd statement. He should've known it was as unstable as he was? How exactly would he have known that he himself was unstable? Doesn't his very instability imply that his self-perception was not that clear?
And you exaggerate. Daystrom didn't do enough, perhaps, but it's totally wrong to say he did nothing. Once the threat became evident, he did indeed make a determined effort to talk M5 out of its actions. It was made very clear that he cherished human life and considered its destruction to be a mortal sin, that he was horrified by what M5 had done.
And Daystrom wasn't the only one who failed to stop M5. I'd say more of the blame lies with Starfleet, for authorizing the project and the test in the first place, giving an untested computer complete control over one of the most powerful starships in the Federation and throwing it right into a wargames situation. The whole affair was recklessly handled. And once it was underway and problems appeared, Kirk could've shut it down if he'd chosen to, but he allowed himself to be persuaded that the problems were not critical. Then, by the time M5's threat became evident, Kirk did order it shut down, but the M5 had developed the means to defend itself. Daystrom tried to shut it down after that, but he had no more success than anyone else did.
Besides, you can argue all you want that Daystrom should have been condemned for this tragedy or whatever, but the canonical fact is that history remembers him for his positive achievements. That can't be denied. So obviously history has forgiven him for the M5 tragedy. I'm just trying to offer reasons why. Time and distance make it easier to forgive, to weigh this one tragic incident against the immense good that Daystrom's other achievements have done.
Also, we don't know just how much of the M5 affair is known to the public or posterity. After all, it's not like they watch episodes of Star Trek in the Federation. We mustn't assume that they know every detail of every event like we do. Daystrom's role in the affair may have been glossed over in official reports out of deference to his importance and his medical condition. We've seen that happen before -- Kirk failing to mention Gary Mitchell's turn to megalomania in his log, for instance. Daystrom was a renowned man, an icon, a legend in his own time. I doubt many people would've been eager to demolish that legend. And I expect a lot of people in Starfleet would've been reluctant to admit the embarrassing details of the situation they set in motion.
Yeah, that's right. Daystrom suffered a nervous breakdown, joined the Enterprise for their mission to the Rift, and then afterwords helped create the prototype Holodeck technology, which the media referred to as "Daystrom's Comeback." The Rift. 
My knowledge of cheesy 70s-80s SF shows is a bit on the frightening side....
You haven't seen that delightful movie, have you?
(Pssst. I'll pass you a DVD at Shore Leave. Don't tell anyone.
)
^ Would such an act constitute assault?
I saw it on MST3K. But I never let the facts get in the way of a good bad joke.
See, I've never seen the MST3K version. I watch the original, uncut version every year on Christmas Eve. Just try watching that film as a piece of straight sci-fi. 
Then I drink heavily.
Then I drink heavily.
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