Fun with names -- are these plot clues?

[Dave]

We have picked up on several of the sci-fi name references that they've been dropping in. Like the "Buck... Rogers..." thing in the episode 'LDU-7', but I was wondering if they may be more significant. Rather that just being fun, I think they are trying to tell us something.

Some episodes you may not have seen may be referenced here:

>>>>>>SPOILER ALERT>>>>>>>

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(1) First, there is Kurt Mendel, a world famous geneticist:

Every schoolboy, and school girl, knows that Gregor Mendel, an Austrian monk, carried out breeding experiments on the garden pea, and produced results that form the foundations on which the study of heredity is built.

(2) Next, there was 'Leviathan':

'Leviathan' was also the name of a 1989 TV movie. It actually starred Peter Weller as one of a group of deep-sea miners, who encounters a Soviet wreck, and bring back a dangerous cargo to their base on the ocean floor, with horrifying results.

(3) Then, we had Dr. Chandra, a computing researcher who invents Sentients, and claims to have let them loose on the web:

In '2010: The Odyssey Continues', and Dr. R Chandra is the eccentric computer genius who originally created the HAL 9000 computer, first seen in '2001: A Space Odyssey'.

(4) Next, there is Harry Mudd a Sentient in a Synthetic body. He warns the O5 team of the imminent destruction of the world by an insane Sentient and reminds them about what's important in life. (at this point I've not seen this episode, but it is meant to be a fan favourite.)

In 'Star Trek', Harry Mudd first passes off three women using an illegal Venus drug to make themselves look young. Then later appears with an entire race of sophisticated androids who desire to protect mankind from it's own destructive impulses by occupying the galaxy.

These could just be little amusing games they are playing, or they could be real clues to the plot:

Is 'Leviathan' a Trojan Horse, just like the 'Levianthan' in the film of the same name, a dangerous cargo which Project Bright Sky, the satellite laboratory platform, unknowingly lets loose?

Are the intentions of some of the Sentients, just like the Androids in 'Star Trek', actually to try to protect mankind from our own destructive impulses?

I'll keep my eyes open for any more.

 

[Tabitha]

innnnteresting.

I suppose several (or, in fact all) of the references ARE quite relevant to the plotlines. I thought to begin with that they were just dropped in there as a pop-culture reference, but your argument is very convincing.


Going to mull it over a bit more...

 

[RangerOne SG13 SOR]

I think your on the right track mate for sure.

Its more than coincedence. The links have been put there for those who wish to see

Good work.

Ranger

 

[Dave]

Thanks for that support. I was wondering whether there is anything to the use of the word:

(5) Cadre

I've just been in France and noticed that it is a fairly commonly used word, which means 'executive' or 'managerial', or also 'surrounding'. I have no idea if that could be a clue or not though.

(6) Kitten

For the Sentient Kit-10. Probably, there is also a K-9 (Canine).

 

[Tabitha]

This isn't really helpful, but Kit-10 made me think of alternatively Kit from Knight Rider, and Kryten from Red Dwarf - no particular reason for this connections other than the similar names


Cadre I think is quite a common term, which to my mind lends itself quite easily to ideas of conspiracy, or a malevolent group. Again, I don't really know why, but it is hard to imagine a 'cadre' being something inherently 'good'.

 

[Dave]

(7) Phadera

Phaedra, of greek mythology, was not a nice person. She was the daughter of King Minos, and the second wife of Theseus. She fell in love with her stepson, Hippolytus, and because he would not have her, killed herself. She made it look like it was because Hippolytus had raped her. Theseus saw this and cursed his son, who died soon afterward.

Phadera (which is how it was written in the episode 'The Trouble with Harry') is an LP by Tangerine Dream, and pop group in their own right, a womans soccer team in the US, and a rattlesnake.

..........

Just to add that there was a Dr. Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar who worked for NASA. The late Indian-American was a Nobel laureate. That may be were Arthur C. Clarke originally got the name. There is a space-based X-Ray Telescope in a high orbit that is named for him.