Pynchon on the Larroquette show

[Joseph Andrew Bono]

	I'll admit to being a big enough geek to having the episode on
hand, as well as the DS9 Companion and its associated notes.

	There's no indication in the production notes that Truly Barr
Clark, Scott J Neal, or Ron Moore based the episode in any way on CoL49,
or that they are even aware of Pynchon, but nevertheless the episode
does have a number of Pynchonian elements.

	The Willie Mays baseball card that Jake and Nog work to obtain
throughout the episode is a MacGuffin, it doesn't have any particular
powers or represent a link to a deep conspiracy. But it does spawn a
brief, virtual conspiracy when Jake and Nog provide Weyoun with a
whopper of a cover up story, that:

"Until yesterday, that man, one Willie Mays, did not exist in any
historical documents. Then, in a blink of an eye, that card appeared on
the station. And at same moment a bust of Willie Mays appeared at the
Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. There's only one explanation: we
suspect that this man is from the future. 
[...]
And so far, that card is the only link we have to him. We must find out
what he has done in the past, or what he may have done already. We need
that card. The entire future of the galaxy may depend on tracking down
Willie Mays and stopping him."

	I believe the secret underground network of communications Joe
refers to is the series of machinations Nog goes through to provide Dr.
Geiger with the supplies he needs in trade for the Willie Mays baseball
card. Again, it seems like a surface similarity, as these are not
particularly pre-existing networks, nor do they have a mysterious other
quality. Dr. Geiger, however, seems to be a very pynchonian character -
he's quite paranoid, delusional, and fleeing from the "Soulless minions
of Orthodoxy." Oh and his invention? "The Cellular Regeneration and
Entertainment Chamber" which he designed to alleviate "cellular ennui" -
you see, you die not because your body decays, or evolved to reach a
certain lifespan, but because your cells get bored. But if you relieve
their boredom, if you keep them constantly entertained, you can live
forever. Geiger's name stems from a bad, pynchonesque pun/joke - "Lions,
and Geiger's, and bears . . . Oh my!" (ref ST:DS9 Companion), and has
few fantastic lines:

"I haven't broken any laws, except perhaps the laws of nature."
"Let me ask you both a simple question: Do you want to die?" "No" "Not
really"
"And you, the unwary victim of cellular ennui, are quite literally bored
to death"
"What does it do?" [Bunch of technobable] "And send uplifting and
entertaining messages to the nuclei of every cell in your body. Spend
eight hours a day in this machine, and your cells will never get bored,
you will never get old, and most important, you will never die!"
"I'm not crazy - I'm just a little obsessed"
"Do you know how many germs are transmitted by a handshake? Do you want
to kill me?"

	I don't think it is meant to be a Pynchon parody. Rather, the
series hit upon a particularly deranged and absurd character, who
provides us with moments of Pynchonesque dialogue.

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-pynchon-l at waste.org [mailto:owner-pynchon-l at waste.org] On
Behalf Of vze422fs at verizon.net
Sent: Wednesday, December 18, 2002 9:48 PM
To: jbor; pynchon-l at waste.org
Subject: Re: Pynchon on the Larroquette show


on 12/19/02 2:13 AM, jbor at jbor at bigpond.com wrote:

> So, what's the connection to _Lot 49?_
> 
> best
> 

I haven't seen it in a while and I'm not a big enough geek to have these
things on hand. My memory is a little hazy, so I tossed it out as a
question. There was a lot of stuff about a secret underground
communications network, an excess of plot convolutions, questions about
the nature of truth and perceived truth, alternate histories, etc. At
the time, I recognized it as a Pynchon parody and called several friends
to say "Check this out." and they agreed. I would have to watch it again
to be specific. Little help here, Dave and Mark?

Peace
Joe> 
> on 18/12/02 2:49 AM, Dave Monroe at davidmmonroe at yahoo.com wrote:
> 
>> Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Season 5, Episode 523,
>> "In the Cards," Stardate 50929.4 (aired 6/09/97) ...
>> 
>> "As the Dominion threat to the Alpha Quadrant
>> intensifies, Jake notices Sisko is growing
>> increasingly depressed. Hearing that Quark plans to
>> auction off a collection of antiquities that includes
>> a vintage Willie Mays baseball card, he decides
>> obtaining the card for his father is the perfect way
>> to lift his spirits. Jake persuades Nog to use his
>> life savings to bid on the collection, but a man named
>> Dr. Giger outbids them, taking the card and crushing
>> Jake's hopes.
>> 
>> "Jake and Nog approach Dr. Giger with an offer to buy
>> the card, but he refuses.
>> 
>> [...]
>> 
>> "After learning that Odo has no record of Giger being
>> on the station, Jake and Nog spot Kai Winn on the Promemenade, 
>> talking with a man who bid against them at the auction. Jake assumes 
>> they kidnapped Giger and confronts Kai. This lands him and Nog in 
>> Sisko's office where, determined to keep the baseball card a
>> secret, Jake tells his father they were drunk. Sisko
>> confines them to quarters, but on their way they are
>> suddenly transported to a Jem'Hadar interrogation
>> room.
>> 
>> "Jake and Nog explain their quest to obtain the
>> baseball card from Giger, who is being held captive,
>> but Weyoun believes they are plotting against him. Desperate, Jake 
>> makes up a story about working for Starfleet Intelligence. The tale 
>> is so preposterous Weyoun decides he belives the first story. In 
>> fact, he is actually interested in Giger's work! Weyoun lets
>> the boys take the baseball card, which, as Jake
>> predicted, succeeds in improving his father's mood."
>> 
>> http://www.psiphi.org/DS9/ep/523.html
>> 
>> It's available on video ...
>> 
>> --- Mark Wright AIA <mwaia at yahoo.com> wrote:
>>> 
>>>> Star Trek Deep Space 9 had an episode that was a
>>>> parody of COL49 where the baseball card collection
>>>> was a stand in for the stamp collection.
>>> 
>>> And OW! Consider me bitch-slapped silly!! Or are you serious, God 
>>> help us...
>> 
>