Great ideas!

-----Original Message-----
From: PotaDG@yahoogroups.com [PotaDG@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Dario Sciola
Sent: Saturday, 25 June 2005 3:33 AM
To: PotaDG@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [PotaDG] Home Page Picture

Agreed! That is SO Cool!

I wish some of the South Park people could see this. I'm sure this
would open up possibilities to be incorporated into a future episode.

Awesome! Think about it...
Lobotomized Landon rolling around in "Timmy"'s wheelchair.
Cartman's mom prancing around in Nova-like shreded bikini.
Mutant SP figures.

Thanks Neil!

Dario


----- Original Message -----
From: Michael Whitty <whitty@...>
Date: Friday, June 24, 2005 5:36 am
Subject: [PotaDG] Home Page Picture

> Neil,
>
> LOVE the new picture!
>
> http://movies.groups.yahoo.com/group/PotaDG/
>
> "Oh my God, they killed DODGE!  You BASTARDS!"

It’s been a while since I read that script – could you tell me what happened in it and how it MIGHT have been made more “Hollywood Friendly”?  I seem to recall it was fairly CEREBRAL.

I suppose if they gave the script to Serling and Wilson…..?

Did Boulle ever comment on Beneath or any of the others?

Michael

-----Original Message-----
From: PotaDG@yahoogroups.com [PotaDG@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Haristas@...
Sent: Saturday, 25 June 2005 10:42 AM
To: PotaDG@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [PotaDG] Re: Beneath: who's fault was it?

In a message dated 6/24/05 8:39:04 PM Eastern Daylight Time, taebokitti@... writes:

I wish that a sequel to Planet had gone in another direction, maybe focusing on ape society or Taylor and Nova living in the jungle, starting a family etc. Elaine

That's what Pierre Boulle wanted to do.  They should have just taken Boulle's PLANET OF THE MEN script and got another writer or two to polish it.

-- Rory

Apparently there is a German musical road show for Planet of the Apes.

I know there was a Tranny stage play version of it in Sydney , but this looks “legit” (however it looks based on POTA 2001?).

I know very little about it.

Michael

-----Original Message-----
From: PotaDG@yahoogroups.com [PotaDG@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Haristas@...
Sent: Saturday, 25 June 2005 10:58 AM
To: PotaDG@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [PotaDG] Re: German Touring Stage Play

In a message dated 6/24/05 8:55:27 PM Eastern Daylight Time, taebokitti@... writes:

Just awesome! Our pota musical has arrived! Makes me want to fly to Germany to see it. Thanks for sharing this, Michael. Elaine

What's this all about?

-- Rory

Anybody been watching the new Doctor Who?

Michael

Hi Elaine.

Sorry for your loss.

At the moment there is a rift between myself and my parents that seems irreparable.  Thinking of their mortality makes me wish there is something that can be done to make us all happy or at least not resentful.

I hope you and your dad were on good terms.

Michael

-----Original Message-----
From: PotaDG@yahoogroups.com [PotaDG@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of taebokitti@...
Sent: Saturday, 25 June 2005 11:14 AM
To: PotaDG@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [PotaDG] Home page

Love the home page especially little Taylor! Reminds me of the Kubrick figures. A great cheerer upper, unfortunately my father died Thursday morning. Elaine

Just this link I sent before:

www.stevenhumes.com/photo_rigoletto.htm

Michael

-----Original Message-----
From: PotaDG@yahoogroups.com [PotaDG@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of LordTZer0@...
Sent: Saturday, 25 June 2005 12:03 PM
To: PotaDG@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [PotaDG] Re: German Touring Stage Play

Wanna see it Rory?

-----Original Message-----
From: PotaDG@yahoogroups.com [PotaDG@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Haristas@...
Sent: Saturday, 25 June 2005 11:27 AM
To: PotaDG@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [PotaDG] Re: Dr Zaius - Dr WHO?

In a message dated 6/24/05 9:05:39 PM Eastern Daylight Time, whitty@... writes:

Anybody been watching the new Doctor Who?



Michael

We haven't got it here in the States yet.

-- Rory

Not sure but here’s an interesting one….

www.allmoviescripts.com/scripts/7101167323f4eba92c0e0a.txt

Michael

-----Original Message-----
From: PotaDG@yahoogroups.com [PotaDG@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of LordTZer0@...
Sent: Saturday, 25 June 2005 12:01 PM
To: PotaDG@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [PotaDG] Re: Beneath: who's fault was it?

If you go here you scroll down and click a link to get to these photos.

Interesting…..

http://www.stevenhumes.com/photos.htm

Michael

-----Original Message-----
From: PotaDG@yahoogroups.com [PotaDG@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Michael Whitty
Sent: Saturday, 25 June 2005 12:08 PM
To: PotaDG@yahoogroups.com
Subject: RE: [PotaDG] Re: German Touring Stage Play

Just this link I sent before:

www.stevenhumes.com/photo_rigoletto.htm

Michael

-----Original Message-----
From: PotaDG@yahoogroups.com [PotaDG@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of LordTZer0@...
Sent: Saturday, 25 June 2005 12:03 PM
To: PotaDG@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [PotaDG] Re: German Touring Stage Play

It would make sense.

-----Original Message-----
From: PotaDG@yahoogroups.com [PotaDG@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of PhoenixCa7@...
Sent: Saturday, 25 June 2005 12:55 PM
To: PotaDG@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [PotaDG] Dr Zaius - Dr WHO?

Hey Patrick

I like the idea of having Ursus be the Hunt Leader!

Michael

-----Original Message-----
From: PotaDG@yahoogroups.com [PotaDG@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of patrickmichaeltilton
Sent: Saturday, 25 June 2005 11:59 PM
To: PotaDG@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [PotaDG] Re: The only good human...

--- In PotaDG@yahoogroups.com, LordTZer0@A... wrote:
> 
*** According to Eric Greene (in his book), Ursus' line -- "The only
GOOD human is a DEAD human!" -- "... is adapted from U.S. General
Sheridan's genocidal curse that "the only good Indian is a dead
Indian." (page 63).

Of course, this ISN'T the first time that that phrase had
been 'uttered' -- if, that is, they actually filmed as-scripted the
scene when the Hunt Club tries to commandeer Zira's wagon
in "PLANET". She and Lucius convince them that the humans in their
wagon are rabid (etc), and the gorillas reluctantly let them go on
their way, and the Hunt Leader says: "I still say the only good human
is a dead human." This is in scene 305 of the Serling/Wilson
screenplay, BTW.

I get the impression that Dehn liked that line and -- perhaps working
from the 1st film's script when he wrote the sequel -- decided to
include it in his sequel story. Based on all this, in my POTA
project, I'm gonna have it that the Hunt Leader in this filmed-yet-
edited-out scene actually IS Ursus -- and that this "catch phrase" is
something he tends to say rather often, to whomever may be around to
hear it. The "PLANET" script never named this character -- in scene
305 he's just called "LEADER" and "the leader of the Hunt Club".

Patrick

I have a drawing of Neil’s doodle and it does not require a very big frame!

Michael

-----Original Message-----
From: PotaDG@yahoogroups.com [PotaDG@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of John
Sent: Sunday, 26 June 2005 12:04 PM
To: PotaDG@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [PotaDG] Re: PLOOG!

That is incredible that he took the time and drew that for you. I am
so jealous. You have a picture drawn by "the man" and there is no
arguing over this one. Lucky bastard. I gotta get Neil to draw me a
quick original doodle before he gets too big and I have to stand in
line for him to write his name on a comic book. :)




--- In PotaDG@yahoogroups.com, "Tim" <apefan23@y...> wrote:
> Today I went to the Heroes Comic Convention here in Charlotte, NC
and
> stood and waited for Mr. Mike Ploog to autograph a Marvel Issue No.
1 ! Right
> under the Lawgiver in "Terror". Then I asked if he could draw an
ape for
> me....and he did! I have posted the drawing under Photos>Art. ..He
was a very
> nice gentleman. I asked  where he got his references for the series
(which he
> LOVED working on) and he said he had some pics but  also was
friends with
> the original storyboard artist whose name I, of course, have
forgotten! I
> thouroughly enjoyed meeting him and it made my day!
>
> Tim

Oh boy – Rory calling someone childish!  The irony!  ;)

Next we’ll have James accusing someone of being a thief.

Michael

-----Original Message-----
From: PotaDG@yahoogroups.com [PotaDG@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Haristas@...
Sent: Sunday, 26 June 2005 2:41 AM
To: PotaDG@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [PotaDG] Re: Map and Distances (Revised)

In a message dated 6/25/05 12:25:56 PM Eastern Daylight Time, patrickmichaeltilton@... writes:

they still delivered a story
that I, for one, do not consider "juvenile" and crappy or whatever
negative epithet you want to slag it with.

Which just goes to shown how in some ways you're still a little boy, Patrick! 

Patrick Peter-Pan, that's you!

-- Rory

Neil,

Do you have a story to share with everyone regarding our good friends at Simian Scrolls?

Michael

-----Original Message-----
From: PotaDG@yahoogroups.com [PotaDG@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of John
Sent: Sunday, 26 June 2005 12:04 PM
To: PotaDG@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [PotaDG] Re: PLOOG!

That is incredible that he took the time and drew that for you. I am
so jealous. You have a picture drawn by "the man" and there is no
arguing over this one. Lucky bastard. I gotta get Neil to draw me a
quick original doodle before he gets too big and I have to stand in
line for him to write his name on a comic book. :)




--- In PotaDG@yahoogroups.com, "Tim" <apefan23@y...> wrote:
> Today I went to the Heroes Comic Convention here in Charlotte , NC
and
> stood and waited for Mr. Mike Ploog to autograph a Marvel Issue No.
1 ! Right
> under the Lawgiver in "Terror". Then I asked if he could draw an
ape for
> me....and he did! I have posted the drawing under Photos>Art. ..He
was a very
> nice gentleman. I asked  where he got his references for the series
(which he
> LOVED working on) and he said he had some pics but  also was
friends with
> the original storyboard artist whose name I, of course, have
forgotten! I
> thouroughly enjoyed meeting him and it made my day!
>
> Tim

I like 7 of 9 too and the stories in Voyager got REALLY good around the time of her arrival.

-----Original Message-----
From: PotaDG@yahoogroups.com [PotaDG@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of taebokitti@...
Sent: Sunday, 26 June 2005 7:55 AM
To: PotaDG@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [PotaDG] Home page

Hi Elaine.

 

Sorry for your loss.

 

At the moment there is a rift between myself and my parents that seems irreparable.  Thinking of their mortality makes me wish there is something that can be done to make us all happy or at least not resentful.

 

I hope you and your dad were on good terms.

 

Michael

 

 

Oh, I was a Daddy's girl. I have a few stuffed apes he gave me. My mother who died in 2003 was a sci-fi nut like me and even went to a few Star Trek conventions with me. She loved the original pota as well. My father never could quite understand my sci-fi obsession but started watching Voyager because he liked Seven of Nine. Hope you are able to reconcile with your parents. Elaine

             

 

              

 

--

 

--

Like I say with any enormous project, Patrick, BREAK IT UP INTO MANAGEABLE CHUNKS!!!  ;)

Michael

-----Original Message-----
From: PotaDG@yahoogroups.com [PotaDG@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of patrickmichaeltilton
Sent: Sunday, 26 June 2005 4:09 AM
To: PotaDG@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [PotaDG] Re: Another ship and my "brilliant scenario"

--- In PotaDG@yahoogroups.com, Haristas@a... wrote:
> In a message dated 6/22/05 2:17:20 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
> patrickmichaeltilton@y... writes:
>
>
> > After BOTH those ships had gone down along that same flightpath
("Taylor's trajectory"), the 3rd ship's crew radio'd up that
telemetry to their orbiting Command ship, and at some point -- WEEKS
later -- the Command ship transmitted that same telemetric
information over to Skipper/Brent's ship while they were still
hibernating away, to conserve on air & food, so that they could later
make use of it when THEY did their re-entry burn, to land near
Taylor's spot.
>
>
> Has it ever occurred to as odd, Patrick, that the astronauts in
PLANET make no mention of there being another ship?  How does your
brilliant scenario deal with that paradox?
>
> Patrick, you make me so tired.
---------------------------------------------------------------
*** Well, it's all part of my overall Scenario, and you did ASK, so
here goes again...

1. Taylor's mission is out to an unnamed planet orbiting a star 320
lightyears away in Orion.

2. After seeing the EARTH-TIME clock read "11-25-3978" Taylor assumes
that they made it to their destination. He doesn't have a CLUE that
they somehow wound up back on Earth. He thinks the planet Earth is
320 lightyears away -- "another planet in another solar system".

3. He told whomever "are reading me now" (when the EARTH-TIME clock
reads March 2673) that he was completing his Final Report UNTIL WE
REACH TOUCHDOWN. He wasn't talking about a football game -- he was
saying that WHEN they reached their destination and actually landed
on the planet they were supposed to reach, he would THEN make ANOTHER
REPORT, probably a "Mission Status" report of some kind. In other
words, he would beam a radio signal from Destination to the planet
Earth, to let the descendants of those who had sent him on the
journey know what's going on.

4. When they woke up -- already on the planet's surface, after
landing in the water despite being programmed NOT to do so -- Taylor
orders Landon, after the PRIMARY power fritzes out, to "Get out a
last signal!" -- "What signal?" -- "To EARTH, that we've landed!"

They don't have the luxury of transmitting a Mission Status report at
their leisure. The ship is SINKING. The AUXILIARY power is about to
be fritzed out (which is why he orders Dodge to "blow the hatch,
before we lose Auxiliary Power!"). Taylor TRIED to "read the tapes"
in those few desperate moments, but TIME was running out and the
power cut out so that they had no choice but to "Abandon ship!"

If they had only made "PLANET", then Taylor's line to Landon would
make the MOST sense to mean, "Landon, get out a Last Signal... to the
PLANET EARTH, that we've landed!"

However, Taylor doesn't have the luxury of knowing that it would even
work. A radio signal, sent from a spaceship on the surface of a
planet and beamed out across 320 lightyears of space, in order for it
to reach Earth it would HAVE to be on the "clear" side of the planet
to begin with. For all Taylor knows, the Sol System is currently in
that part of the sky over the OTHER side of the planet. Any radio
signal would have -- at best -- a 50% chance of getting to Earth...
320 years later.

If he WERE where he anticipated being -- on that alien planet in the
year 3978 -- then he would have to assume that Earthlings back on
planet Earth wouldn't receive his transmission (if at all) until the
year 4298. It would take 320 years for the radio transmission to
travel all the way back to the Sol System.

I've chosen to re-interpret Taylor's line (as well as dialogue
from "BENEATH" between Skipper and Brent) so that the word "EARTH" is
in reference NOT to the planet they came from, but to the Command
Ship (the "Mothership") that he thinks MIGHT be in orbit and within
RADIO-TRANSMISSION/RECEPTION RANGE.

It would be like if the shuttlecraft GALILEO were to crash into a
lake, and Spock were to tell Scotty: "Mister Scott, get out a last
signal... to ENTERPRISE, that we've landed."

Thus, the word "EARTH" would denote (in this line of dialogue) the
name of the Mission's Command ship. It would be a "Spaceship Earth".

I know that there are those who find THIS particular bit of re-
interpretation to be hard to take. Past messages in the old Yahoo
group from my vehement detractors gave me plenty of guff about it,
and they don't have to accept it or like it, it don't bother me. But
I think it makes MORE sense than what was intended by the script-
writers in the first place.

First off, Taylor KNOWS that the PRIMARY power is lost. They're
restricted to a rapidly depleting AUXILIARY power supply. They're
sinking, and when he orders Landon to "get out a last signal" they
are TRAPPED inside this sinking ship.

What if they run out of AUXILIARY/secondary power BEFORE Dodge has a
chance to "blow the hatch"? Dodge is testing the outside air, and
they can only HOPE that it's breathable. But even if it IS, they
won't have a CHANCE to breathe it if the hatch's blast-mechanism
doesn't have the power to activate. If that hatch doesn't get blown
off, they'll die when the ship goes down. They'll drown to death, all
because the auxiliary power ran out.

So, why WASTE any precious auxiliary power by having some of it
shunted to the RADIO COMMUNICATIONS gear? Electrical power, at that
point, is as precious to them as the 8 ounces of water left in that
canteen some days later.

Lucky for them that Dodge "reads the atmosphere" in good time,
informs them that it's "okay" and has time to press that button to
make the hatch explode off. A mere FEW SECONDS later, the auxiliary
power is gone.

I don't think it makes as much sense for Taylor to be giving Landon a
task that really doesn't matter much -- sending a radio signal out
which won't reach Earth until 320 years have gone by, if at all --
when electrical power is so critical to their very survival.

I think it makes MUCH more sense that Taylor -- in his whirlwind
state-of-mine, trying to make sense of the fact that they've landed
in such a way that they weren't programmed to ('in the water') --
perhaps guesses that the Command ship that their shuttle HAD BEEN
attached to had suffered some sort of snafu requiring the emergency
disconnection of its shuttles -- both the one seen in "PLANET" and
the one eventually seen in "BENEATH". Thus, while HE and his
shuttle's crew are on the surface of the planet, their Command Ship
just MIGHT still be up in space, in orbit, within radio range. And IF
it is, then some of the other ANSA astronauts in the larger crew
Taylor commanded might be "up there".

Why not send up a radio message to fellow astronauts who MAY be up
there waiting to hear from them?

I've just thought of something. When Landon goes about his task of
getting out that 'last signal', he doesn't SAY anything. He just
starts pressing buttons, and so forth. We never hear him say
something like, "This is Lieutenant Landon, of the starship ICARUS,
calling Earth... We have reached our destination, and are sending out
this confirmation... We've landed in a body of water and are sinking,
I repeat: Sinking..." etc etc.

Why doesn't Landon say ANYTHING, I wonder? Unless the "signal" he's
supposed to get out can be delivered by the mere press of a button,
as if it's pre-programmed.

What if... he doesn't say anything because he's trying to "tune in"
the radio frequency of the "U.S.S. EARTH" -- the Command ship he also
thinks may be up in space? Imagine trying to tune in an AM radio
station, amidst all the hiss and static. Perhaps he is waiting to
hear a CLEAR and undeniable radio link-up radio signal -- perhaps
some sort of periodic "ping" or tone, or even the voice of somebody
on the other end of that radio transceiver.

"--calling Shuttle One: Taylor... do you read me? Over. This is
U.S.S. EARTH calling Shuttle One: Taylor... do you read me? Over.
This is U.S.S. EARTH calling--"

Perhaps Landon's waiting to hear something like THAT from the radio,
so that he can then send out a REPLY after the next time the
word "Over" is spoken. But the power runs out before he can get into
radio CONTACT with that orbiting ship.

With no means of getting into radio contact with ANY orbiting ship,
there's no way they know of for their fellow ANSA astronauts who MAY
be up there to know where they are, to send down any other ship to
pick 'em up.

"We're here to stay," Taylor says, after the ship sinks below the
surface of the lake. If an orbiting ship is "up there" looking down,
it won't see any traces of the shuttle. They evidently don't have any
portable radio units in their backpacks, since Taylor's inventory of
them doesn't mention it.

Perhaps Taylor DID mention their Command ship when he told Landon (in
my re-interpretation of this dialogue) to "get out a last signal...
to [the maybe-orbiting U.S.S.] Earth, that we've landed!"

Taking into account the scene in "BENEATH" when Skipper asks
Brent "Did you contact Earth?" helps to bolster this re-
interpretation.

Brent and Skipper have every reason to believe that they are on an
ALIEN PLANET, lightyears away from Earth. Neither one of 'em knows
that the sun shining down on them is Sol, the Earth's sun. Skipper
laments, "If only I could see the sun!" and Brent says, "You can feel
it" (Skipper's blind, but his skin feels the heat).

"Yes, but... which sun?"

HE DOESN'T KNOW. He must, then, think that it is some star OTHER THAN
THE ONE OUR PLANET EARTH ORBITS.

It is ONE thing to send out a "signal" to a planet that is LIGHTYEARS
away -- which is what is implied in "PLANET" that Landon was ordered
to attempt. But it is another thing entirely to be able to "CONTACT"
a planet that is believed to be lightyears away.

Unless they have a STAR TREK-like "subspace radio", there is NO way
they can get into radio contact with a planet orbiting around another
star. Hell, you can't even get into contact with a planet in the same
star system -- not in a "real-time" conversation, anyway. If Venus
were habitable, and Earth was at its closest approach to it, they'd
be separated by a distance of 0.3 astronomical units, which is about
2.5 light-minutes. If Brent said, "Hello?" into a radio while on
Venus -- the planet CLOSEST to Earth -- then the EARLIEST he could
hope to receive a reply would be 5 minutes later, even assuming that
Venus were habitable (it isn't) and at its closest approach, rather
than at some other location in its orbit relative to Earth's location.

The only way for Skipper's line to make sense is if by "Earth" he
does NOT mean the planet Earth... but something ELSE named "Earth"
that IS (perhaps) within radio-transception range, and is also
lightyears away from the star which people on planet Earth call
the "Sun". Skipper and Brent erroneously believe that they've landed
on a planet -- a world with a BREATHABLE ATMOSPHERE (which rules out
any other planet in the Sol System) -- which is NOT the planet Earth,
but a world orbiting some OTHER star.

As Brent says, "I don't know what planet we're on..." etc. He doesn't
know they're on the planet Earth. Believing he's on an ALIEN planet
with a breathable atmosphere, lightyears from Sol and Earth, he has
recently been attempting to CONTACT "EARTH".

He CAN'T have been attempting to contact the planet Earth without a
subspace radio, and I don't see these ANSA ships being equipped with
such a device. These ANSA ships may be able to traverse 320
lightyears of space, but they cannot get into "real-time" radio
contact with places lightyears away.

I submit that the best interpretation of Skipper & Brent's dialogue
is NOT what Dehn originally intended it to mean (which puts it at
odds with the scenario established in "PLANET"), but instead has it
that there is something called "EARTH" other than the planet these
ANSA ships came from. Something named "EARTH" that is "up there" when
Brent -- shocked at hearing Ursus, an ape, talking and rabble-rousing
against Humans -- says to himself: "I gotta get back... UP THERE... I
don't know HOW or WHAT WITH... but I'm not staying here..."

In other words, he needs to get back to the Orion Mission's main
ship, the Command ship, named "U.S.S. EARTH"... but he doesn't know
HOW he's gonna do that, since the ship he piloted down to the surface
crashed and its computer has since become "shot".

His only hope is to acquire either a working RADIO -- so that he can
contact that orbiting U.S.S. EARTH and have them send down another
shuttle to the vicinity of his radio transmission, to pick him up --
or to use a working radio to contact one of the other ANSA shuttles
that may have also landed on the planet's surface, so that he can go
to it and hitch a ride off the planet of the talking monkeys.

He never mentions being the ONLY one sent to find Taylor. He does say
that he's alone, his Skipper being dead. He doesn't know one way or
another if any other ANSA ship might be around -- either docked to
the orbiting mothership U.S.S. EARTH or perhaps also having landed on
the surface. Either way, if he can somehow find a WORKING RADIO, he
just MIGHT be able to avoid getting killed by the Apes and get his
ass off this crazy 'alien' planet.

He needs to get back "up there"... NOT just into Space, which
wouldn't do him much good if there was nowhere to go. At least on the
planet there's breathable air... water... nearly naked chicks in
tattered bikinis... He needs to get back "up there" because there's
something THERE to go TO.

They had a gun in one of Taylor's crew's backpacks, with 20 rounds of
ammo, if I recall. Chances are, any supplies up in the orbiting ship,
all part of the "cargo" Taylor implies was available above and beyond
their most precious cargo, Lieutenant Stewart, would include GUNS and
AMMUNITION. If the Orion Mission were entirely one of peace, then why
did the landing party backpacks include a weapon? Is it "standard
issue" for ANSA astronauts? If they were to come across Creatures
who -- by Taylor's standards -- were "better than Man", what would
They think of these Earthlings, bringing a HANDGUN along with 'em on
their interstellar journey?

One last thing. When Taylor first sees Brent, he says, "You're...
BRENT! How in HELL did you GET here?!"

Brent ain't wearing his ANSA uniform, and it takes him a second or
two to recognize him... but he does. Taylor, in my re-interpretation,
doesn't know how it was possible for Brent to be there, because when
his own ship sank into Dead Lake, LANDON HADN'T HAD ANY SUCCESS WHEN
ATTEMPTING TO GET OUT THAT LAST SIGNAL TO "EARTH". The secondary
power had fritzed out, the attempt failed. There was no signal sent
out for ANY other ship to receive. So, how could Brent have gotten to
him?

Brent knows -- as he tells Skipper -- that they had been following
Taylor's trajectory; in my interpretation, an ORBIT-TO-LANDING RE-
ENTRY TRAJECTORY. Brent knew that Taylor's ship had landed somewhere
near his landing site. Taylor hasn't figured out yet HOW Brent
could've known where that was, just as he hasn't figured out yet how
it is that his own ship managed to land "in the water" despite the
fact that it wasn't programmed to do that very thing.

Taylor hasn't figured out that somebody on one of the other ANSA
shuttles had REMOTELY-PILOTED his ship down to its water landing, by-
passing the programming so that the ship was no longer "on full
automatic in the hands of the computers". And those SAME people who
managed to land Taylor's ship while he and his crew were still under
the effects of the hibernation drugs also, then, transmitted that re-
entry flightpath trajectory telemetry into BRENT'S ship's computer,
so that Brent could then follow that path down to the same area.

There was so much for Taylor to ask Brent, and for Brent to tell
Taylor... but that creepy Negro mutant was there, and before they
know it, his eyes are closed and they're mind-controlled into trying
to slaughter each other.

Any other such conversations as to the Hows and Whys and What the
Hell Happened, evidently, happen OFF SCREEN.

And, that's enough for now. Damn, I do tend to post long messages,
don't I? I make Rory tired, and T's probably fast asleep by now...

Patrick