Gatchamania.net (http://www.gatchamania.net/index.php)
- [Speak Up!] (http://www.gatchamania.net/board.php?boardid=500)
-- General Discussion (http://www.gatchamania.net/board.php?boardid=2)
--- BotP question: G-Force Defector (http://www.gatchamania.net/threadid.php?threadid=3659)
Posted by jublke on 19-04-2011 at 05:59:
BotP question: G-Force Defector
I am working up a re-write of G-Force Defector (isn't this like required of all BotP fanfic writers sooner or later?) and I have a question.
What do you think Jason's motivation is for taking flowers with a note from Don to Mrs. Wade?
I totally understand why he brings her flowers - he either hit or nearly hit (depending upon if we believe Zark) this woman with his car and she clearly didn't press charges and still seems to like him.
What I'm having trouble with is the card & note from Don. Clearly, this would entail Jason visiting Don, probably in a holding cell somewhere, and making him write his mother a letter. Why does he care so much?
Thanks for your thoughts --
Julie K.
(jublke)
__________________
"The heart has its reasons, of which reason knows nothing." -- Blaise Pascal
Posted by Madilayn on 19-04-2011 at 07:07:
I think that Jason really started to pity Mrs Wade when he found out who she was and the faith she had in her son. Being without parents himself, I also think that he was horrified to think that a child would completely not contact their parent (for whatever reason).
I like to think that they took him back o the Phoenix, and on the trip back, Jason put the hard word on him about writing to his mother.
__________________
"When I'm old, I don't want them to say of me, "She's so charming." I want them to say, "Be careful, I think she's armed." -G. Stoddart
Posted by clouddancer on 19-04-2011 at 12:12:
Turning that around, I always wondered if it was Don who, like Maddy says while on the Phoenix, convinced Jason to revisit his mother. Taking the note (and flowers) from him because he could not go (since he was in prison or was going to be) and was feeling remorseful.
__________________
Don't sweat the petty things and don't pet the sweaty things.
Posted by Transmute Jun on 19-04-2011 at 13:10:
It could go either way. I'm guessing that it's a mixture of what Maddy and CD have suggested. Don was rmorseful on the journey back on the Phoenix, because he understood the error he had made ni trusting Zoltar. These regrets included his Mom, and as he spoke with Jason about this, Jason encouraged him to contact his mother, promising to ensure the note was delivered.
__________________
Posted by amethyst on 19-04-2011 at 16:10:
I got the feeling that he was doing it more for Don's mother than for Don.
__________________
Perspective Alters Reality
Posted by jublke on 19-04-2011 at 17:04:
Thanks, gals! You've given me a lot to ponder ... hmmm.
Julie K.
__________________
"The heart has its reasons, of which reason knows nothing." -- Blaise Pascal
Posted by lborgia88 on 19-04-2011 at 17:09:
Me, I've never sensed much remorse on Don's part, and always found it a tad implausible that he merely receives probation as a punishment. I mean, it was Zoltar who turned on him, not the other way around. Granted, it could be a form of probation that entails very close monitoring of his activities and all communications such that it amounts to prison-with-mobility.
I've always figured that the flowers and card were entirely Jason's idea. There's no guarantee, even that the card is in Don's handwriting -it could be entirely Jason's composition. Florists often take orders over the phone and write the messages on the cards themselves. Someone, like Don, who "is on some kind of secret mission. Some day it will be finished and he’ll come back," would plausibly do this and his mother wouldn't necessarily expect to see Don's handwriting on the card.
As for why Jason would do this, I think it's largely compassion. He knows she's worried about Don and he wants to make her feel better. I find it quite telling that he doesn't reveal the truth to Mrs. Wade, that her son is a defector, but rather lets her continue to believe a "white lie" that Don is on a secret mission. I can't imagine that bit of dishonesty is being made on Don's behalf!
Maybe, lacking a mother of his own, Jason's projected a bit onto Mrs. Wade here, imagining how he would try to reassure his own mother -if he had one- that he was safe and sound even though he's in a very dangerous line of work. Having a "secret identity" and participating in missions that, presumably, are classified, he's probably encountered situations with civilians -possibly girls ;-) - where he can't tell them the truth about what he's doing but wants to tell them at least something so they don't worry when he disappears suddenly, possibly for days at a time.
Or with his own recent anxiety over his double vision, numb hands etc, maybe an opportunity to be able to tell someone "Don't worry, everything's going to be okay," is suddenly especially appealing, although the person who really needs such reassurance is himself.
Posted by Transmute Jun on 19-04-2011 at 20:09:
You know, I just thought of something. I know why Don was kicked off the original G-Force Team! It's because he wasn't an orphan! 
__________________
Posted by amethyst on 19-04-2011 at 20:39:
| quote: | |
|
I was wondering about that, too.
So Don has a mother, but he either left or didn't make the final cut.
Mark has a father, but Cronus was absent most of the time, so he might as well have been an orphan.
Keyop was grown, created, or whatever you want to call it and has no parents, to speak of.
Tiny has Captain Jack, but is he a friend or a relative of some sorts.
What about Princess and Jason?
__________________
Perspective Alters Reality
Posted by clouddancer on 19-04-2011 at 21:12:
| quote: | |
|
I was just thinking that in my AU as well. Don had parents where as many of the other children brought into the project were orphans. Although, in my AU, I don't think that is the main reason Don is removed from the program, so whether his family plays a part in his dismissal I will have to look into further.
__________________
Don't sweat the petty things and don't pet the sweaty things.
Posted by clouddancer on 19-04-2011 at 21:17:
| quote: | ||||
|
Interestingly enough last night I was just trying to figure out Jason's past myself, for a short segment in one of my stories. I wondered if he might have a similar story to Joe and if I wrote one that was, would people accept it.
__________________
Don't sweat the petty things and don't pet the sweaty things.
Posted by amethyst on 19-04-2011 at 22:33:
| quote: | |||||||
|
I don't see why not. I think many people just automatically assume that. I look forward to seeing what you come up with.
__________________
Perspective Alters Reality
Posted by clouddancer on 19-04-2011 at 23:36:
| quote: | |
|
Which is what I am a little afraid of. I have always know in my AU that Jason's parents were assassinated by Spectran spies. Once I saw Gatch, then I got the "location" of where they were assassinated. Now I worry if I write the same beach scene it will feel like copying. So, I flip-flop about where I should place the killing.
__________________
Don't sweat the petty things and don't pet the sweaty things.
Posted by Transmute Jun on 19-04-2011 at 23:55:
CD, technically MUCH of BOTP is 'copying'. I don't think you need to worry about that!
Amethyst, the BOTP Team are all supposed to be 'five fearless young orphans'. It's in the opening credits. I don't think Mark was intended to have a father, but the BOTP writers figured it out partway through the series (after trying to pass Cronus off as a 'good friend' of Mark's) and sort of put it in half-heartedly at a late date.
__________________
Posted by Becky Rock on 20-04-2011 at 00:19:
I agree more with LB. I think it was all Jason. I can't see Jason being nice on Don's behalf, but I can see him being nice for Mrs. Wade.
__________________
I'm writing a book. I've got the page numbers so far...
Posted by amethyst on 20-04-2011 at 00:59:
| quote: | |
|
True, but it is still fun to try and figure it out. It's odd that they incorporated some of Ken and Ryu's backgrounds, but none of Joe's.
Why is it that neither Jun nor Princess got a background (of course Princess couldn't get much of one since Jun didn't)? Even Jinpei got a glimpse of where he might have come from.
__________________
Perspective Alters Reality
Posted by lborgia88 on 20-04-2011 at 02:03:
| quote: | |
|
Yeah, especially as Don tried to shoot him! And would have succeeded if not for Mark showing up and the fact that even the Spectrans didn't trust the rat with live ammo.
| quote: | |
|
It does seem like it was something of a conscious choice on the part of the BOTP creators not to supply much background info on any of them, doesn't it? If they'd really wanted to, I think there would have been ways to work some details into the dialogue here and there, in episodes, or even have Zark tell the viewers things.
As you say, though, even in Gatch, only Ken and Joe got a lot of attention to their backgrounds, and Jun got almost none. We've seen how they ended up using some of the "Ken/Red Impulse" story arc for Mark, but I agree that it is a bit odd that they used none of Joe's. Granted, they never got Gatch episodes 78 or 81, which would have been ideal for that purpose (though with some serious editing for violence needed!)
But they did get episode 31, where Joe's driving at the track and he remembers seeing a Devil Star and his parents getting shot. I think they could have used that as a way to work in some background information about Jason, especially if they wanted to make it that he was an orphan because his parents had been killed by a Galaxy Girl. But they cut all that out. I guess it was one thing to present characters as orphans, but a little too grim to show that one of them saw his parents get murdered right in front of him. Unless they could have made it such that his parents were kidnapped, not killed?
On the other hand, leaving their backgrounds vague and mysterious might have been seen as a way for kids to imagine whatever they wanted and fill in the blanks themselves? Heh, just like we do now with fics...
Posted by Transmute Jun on 20-04-2011 at 14:36:
I think, as a kid, I always imagined that they were truly orphans like in stories... abandoned at someone's doorstep as infants, and then raised together 'practically since birth' to be part of G-Force.
__________________
Posted by lborgia88 on 20-04-2011 at 18:24:
I can see the appeal there, the idea of them all being raised together from a very young age, especially as that means they wouldn't have any traumatic memories of losing their parents and they'd have very close ties, having always known each other.
That would be a nice contrast to Gatch too, where Ken might have been with Dr. Nambu at age four (though his mother didn't die until he was eleven) but Joe certainly didn't show up until he was about age 9. Jinpei and Jun must have come later still, and I've generally assumed Ryu was last...
The only catch -wouldn't Mark and Princess would feel like a "brother" and "sister" to each other, if they'd been raised together from very young ages? Can you grow up in the same household with someone that you know isn't your biological sibling and then develop romantic feelings for them? I wouldn't know, personally, but then, I think it could be possible. Probably depends a lot on how the 'parental figure(s)' raise and treat the children in question and how they explain the situation to them from young ages onward.
Granted, this isn't something we'd likely have been contemplating as kids watching BOTP! 
Posted by UnpublishedWriter on 20-04-2011 at 21:56:
The 'Westermarck Effect' would be in play. It's why unrelated animals of different sexes, raised together, often will not mate. They see each other as siblings.
This is why, in my AU, Princess was the first adopted, with Mark entering the family only after Cronus leaves him with Anderson. He knew Princess as the Chief's daughter, and sees Anderson as his guardian. (I've toyed with the idea that he spent some time in Dr. Harland's household, given some lines in that episode, and to explain how he knows Debbie.)
Given that we know very little about Don Wade (such as the reason for his hatred of G-Force), we have to presume that Jason's actions are on behalf of Mamma Wade. Maybe, like Joe, he's feeling the lack of a mother figure. Or he's trying to spare her the shock of learning her son's a traitor.
BTW, given her apparent age (she looks on the far side of 55), Don must have been born late in her life. Learning of his treachery would be even more cruel because of that.
(Let's remember that BotP tended to treat defection as a mere peccadillo rather than the serious matter that it is. Both Dr. Carig and Don Wade are welcomed back to the fold rather than imprisoned, and I think that Dr. Strecker would have been treated the same way if the scriptwriters had been able to get him out of his exploding mecha.)
__________________
Benefits, not features; benefits, not features
Powered by: Burning Board Lite 1.1.2c © 2001-2004 WoltLab GmbH
English translation by Satelk
Site Coded by Cep