Topic: WCDT: 2131-35 (27 Feb- 2 Mar 2012) QC IN SPAAAAAACE! Week 6 (Read 75916 times)

jwhouk · « **Reply #150 on:** 29 Feb 2012, 23:50 »

What scares me: "It was like she was possessed."

akronnick · « **Reply #151 on:** 29 Feb 2012, 23:52 »

I don't think we need to worry about any supernatural phenomena.

Natural phenomena are scary enough.

jwhouk · « **Reply #152 on:** 29 Feb 2012, 23:54 »

Well she DID speak in the Old Tongues those two times...

I will say this - Station could have been her "distraction". He kept her mind off of her OCD, and eventually she learned she could control it. (With enough drugs, of course.) I suspect Winslow was probably Station's suggestion, too.

cpflux · « **Reply #153 on:** 01 Mar 2012, 00:04 »

Quote from: jwhouk on 29 Feb 2012, 23:54

Well she DID speak in the Old Tongues those two times...

Hey, if that correlates linearly to sanity, Dora's *only* half as crazy as Hanners!

I know she's explained why she's cut her hair so short, but... Hanners - Let your hair down.

... I feel somewhat strange for saying that.

jwhouk · « **Reply #154 on:** 01 Mar 2012, 00:09 »

Good. That means you'll fit in.

I just feel so incredibly sorry for that Hanner "child" in panel 2A. God, I actually hope her issues are biological and not because one of the nannies was abusive or something.

Skaltura · « **Reply #155 on:** 01 Mar 2012, 00:13 »

Okay ... I guess, shit's getting dark all of a sudden.

Mustakyy · « **Reply #156 on:** 01 Mar 2012, 00:17 »

So.

A new comic.

Uh, this was kinda mindblowing.

Quote from: jwhouk on 01 Mar 2012, 00:09

I just feel so incredibly sorry for that Hanner "child" in panel 2A. God, I actually hope her issues are biological and not because one of the nannies was abusive or something.

Augh, why did you even mention that. This was sad enough even without a thought of something horrible like that. (allthough, i have a hunch, what would happen if Mrs. E-C would even suspect something like that...)

Great comic nonetheless. But still, daaaaaaaaaaaaang.

jwhouk · « **Reply #157 on:** 01 Mar 2012, 00:21 »

Of course, what would REALLY be scary is if it was something with Station himself...

...NAAAAHHHHHH.

Soulsynger · « **Reply #158 on:** 01 Mar 2012, 00:24 »

Quote from: jwhouk on 01 Mar 2012, 00:21

Of course, what would REALLY be scary is if it was something with Station himself...
...NAAAAHHHHHH.

Station is not HAL, Station is not HAL, Station is not HAL, Station is not HAL, Station is not HAL ... Aaaaaaugh!

akronnick · « **Reply #159 on:** 01 Mar 2012, 00:26 »

Quote from: Mustakyy on 01 Mar 2012, 00:17

Augh, why did you even mention that. This was sad enough even without a thought of something horrible like that. (allthough, i have a hunch, what would happen if Mrs. E-C would even suspect something like that...)

Mr. E-C has access to airlocks, and it's super easy to hide a body in space.

jwhouk · « **Reply #160 on:** 01 Mar 2012, 00:27 »

Friday's comic could be the biggest WHAM episode since 504.

iduguphergrave · « **Reply #161 on:** 01 Mar 2012, 00:32 »

Poor, poor Hannelore.

This makes me so sad.

Her tolerance for Station and no one else makes sense; he poses no physical threat whatsoever (as long as he stays a hologram, anyway). This makes me extra-psyched to see his interactions with Hanners now. Getting quite interesting.

jwhouk · « **Reply #162 on:** 01 Mar 2012, 00:45 »

Well, there are those who found the ELIZA program of the 1960's to be helpful in therapy.

Wouldn't it be neat if the reason why Dr. EC created the world's first AI wasn't for some purpose of bettering society - but instead to help heal his daughter's mental illness?

(Or is that too Caprica?)

DSL · « **Reply #163 on:** 01 Mar 2012, 00:53 »

Gotta wonder, considering what we've seen of the major influences on her during her formative years, where did Hannelore pick up her ethical sense, which is one of the more finely tuned among the characters? Maybe her (considerable) empathy drove its development once she was around people who weren't preoccupied with their duties on the station.

J · « **Reply #164 on:** 01 Mar 2012, 01:18 »

Quote from: Deadlywonky on 29 Feb 2012, 23:47

I'm kinda surprised that young neurotic Hanners hadn't shaved her head.

Maybe Friday's comic is a dramatic zoom in covering 6 panels to a tiny scar/suggestive spot(zit)/birthmark in Hanners' hairline or similar

you think they'd let her have anything sharp?

i always assumed hannelore was crazy at least in part from growing up in the socially isolated & hypersteralized environment of the space station.

brew · « **Reply #165 on:** 01 Mar 2012, 01:29 »

Not a cyborg: http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=1175

pwhodges · « **Reply #166 on:** 01 Mar 2012, 01:59 »

Also, she said early on that she came to Earth because the therapy in space wasn't much good: 665. We knew she was messed up, and that must have gone back to her childhood, so I'm a bit bemused by the reaction to today's comic - it really doesn't feel in any way equivalent to the talk to me.

Killspree · « **Reply #167 on:** 01 Mar 2012, 02:02 »

If Station is that good for Hanner's mental health then maybe he should download a copy of himself into the boyfriendbot.

westrim · « **Reply #168 on:** 01 Mar 2012, 02:10 »

Is it me, or does she look like a blond stringy haired ghost girl in the second panel? At least she had halfway decent parents so she didn't end up like Alma from FEAR.

With all the stuff they must have tried, I'm surprised they didn't ship her to Earth, though they probably considered it. Maybe her mind did the same kind of overreaction the immune system does that makes it freak out at stuff like peanuts - not enough exposure to dirt and germs and people and plants and such, so encounters that did occur freaked her out. Something to consider if we ever get our asses into space.

Quote from: pwhodges on 01 Mar 2012, 01:59

Also, she said early on that she came to Earth because the therapy in space wasn't much good: 665. We knew she was messed up, and that must have gone back to her childhood, so I'm a bit bemused by the reaction to today's comic - it really doesn't feel in any way equivalent to the talk to me.

I agree with this. This strip wasn't exactly a giant revelation; we've gotten plenty of allusions to how much worse she used to be, as opposed to The Talk, which came out of the blue, and we had no idea that Faye had been through anything significantly bad at all. It's just that we're now getting specifics, which match pretty well with what I expected; the same, but worse and INSPACE.

Zorp is now my favorite word.

Zorp!

pendrake · « **Reply #169 on:** 01 Mar 2012, 02:22 »

For comic #2134...

1. Well we have had our space fun, now it looks like we are starting to move into our space drama. ...Or would that be space opera? *cue Stargate SG-1 theme music*

2. Great panel (#2) of depicting deeply disturbed young Hanners, definitely pulling off the "pitiable wretched creature" feel there.

3. It will be interesting to read how Hannelore did make the change from what she was then, to what she was when she first stalked down a drunken and depressed Marten. (If Jeph goes in that direction.)

4. pwhodges beat me to it for QC archive archaeology digging. But now makes me wonder at how many other childhood orbital AI friends has Hannelore had...?

5. I doubt I would want any cybernetic implants in my brain. What would you do when the technology you had became obsolete &/or no longer supported? ("Introducing the new 5-G neural stabilization & intercranial communications unit! Takes up less of your frontal lobes than the older 4-G implant so you lose only 15% of your brain-matter!" [legal voice]: all previous implant versions now voided for support. installation of the 5-G implant requires a fresh un-implanted section of the brain. not responsible for loss of memory, motor functions, &/or bowel movement controls. void where prohibited, prepayments mandatory, all sales final )

Welu · « **Reply #170 on:** 01 Mar 2012, 02:24 »

This is sad but it doesn't feel as deep as the Talk. Jeph seems like he's going to keep getting deeper into the issue. To guess, which feels kind of mean on Hanners, I would guess being back where's she grew up could bring back a lot of her triggers and I'm worried we might see her go back a few steps.

Deadlywonky · « **Reply #171 on:** 01 Mar 2012, 02:37 »

I was wondering if she might regress, but she's been OK up until she went to get ready for the party, my hope is that she might have at most a small (read funny) freak out over something. Serious psychosis or Hannerflail would be a major downer for the party

Manix · « **Reply #172 on:** 01 Mar 2012, 03:25 »

Quote from: Westrim on 01 Mar 2012, 02:10

Is it me, or does she look like a blond stringy haired ghost girl in the second panel? At least she had halfway decent parents so she didn't end up like Alma from FEAR.

With all the stuff they must have tried, I'm surprised they didn't ship her to Earth, though they probably considered it. Maybe her mind did the same kind of overreaction the immune system does that makes it freak out at stuff like peanuts - not enough exposure to dirt and germs and people and plants and such, so encounters that did occur freaked her out. Something to consider if we ever get our asses into space.

Quote from: pwhodges on 01 Mar 2012, 01:59
Also, she said early on that she came to Earth because the therapy in space wasn't much good: 665. We knew she was messed up, and that must have gone back to her childhood, so I'm a bit bemused by the reaction to today's comic - it really doesn't feel in any way equivalent to the talk to me.
I agree with this. This strip wasn't exactly a giant revelation; we've gotten plenty of allusions to how much worse she used to be, as opposed to The Talk, which came out of the blue, and we had no idea that Faye had been through anything significantly bad at all. It's just that we're now getting specifics, which match pretty well with what I expected; the same, but worse and INSPACE.

Zorp is now my favorite word.

Zorp!

We had no idea Faye had been through anything bad? I thought Jeph had been implying a had past for Faye for awhile. Of course, I thought he was implying that she had been in an abusive relationship.

Is it cold in here? · « **Reply #173 on:** 01 Mar 2012, 03:32 »

Dora felt bad about regarding Hanners has funny while also feeling sorry for her. child Hanners is purely sad.

Beatrice thouqht that was a discipline problem?! I think even less of her.now.

I vaguely remember that there are mental health problems that improve over tiime.

Should Winslow install a therapy module?

Is typing on an iPad punishment for my sins In a previous life?

Is it cold in here? · « **Reply #174 on:** 01 Mar 2012, 03:38 »

Quote from: DSL on 01 Mar 2012, 00:53

Gotta wonder, considering what we've seen of the major influences on her during her formative years, where did Hannelore pick up her ethical sense, which is one of the more finely tuned among the characters? Maybe her (considerable) empathy drove its development once she was around people who weren't preoccupied with their duties on the station.

Makes sense, or she could have come by it intellecttually, by thinking how she would have liked to have been treated. That would not work for most people but she does not seem to have a normally robust id.

Akima · « **Reply #175 on:** 01 Mar 2012, 05:13 »

Quote from: Mustakyy on 01 Mar 2012, 00:17

allthough, i have a hunch, what would happen if Mrs. E-C would even suspect something like that...

Yeah... She doesn't do mothering, but revenge would be right up her street. This is the woman who has a wood-chipper and shark-tank to deal with mere embezzlers...

Young Hanners is sad. And I know Marten and Marigold are friends, but should Hanners' doctor at the time be sharing these details with them?

LTK · « **Reply #176 on:** 01 Mar 2012, 05:43 »

She's not a doctor, she's a laser scientist, remember?

Skewbrow · « **Reply #177 on:** 01 Mar 2012, 05:46 »

Quote from: Akima on 01 Mar 2012, 05:13

Young Hanners is sad. And I know Marten and Marigold are friends, but should Hanners' doctor at the time be sharing these details with them?

I was wondering about that, too. Not very professional. But

1) Medicine is just a hobby for her.
2) It is an ideal way for Jeph to tell us a little bit more about Hannelore's childhood.

But I agree with Dr Case .... just think how much progress Hannelore has made in controlling her demons.

alienatedduck · « **Reply #178 on:** 01 Mar 2012, 05:53 »

I still think there's a piece of the puzzle missing. Learning just how bad she was is a little bit of a shock but I think we've still got a lot more to learn about her before this arc is over. There's just something there...

jwhouk · « **Reply #179 on:** 01 Mar 2012, 06:05 »

Quote from: Killspree on 01 Mar 2012, 02:02

If Station is that good for Hanner's mental health then maybe he should download a copy of himself into the boyfriendbot.

Winslow would get jealous and think he was going to be replaced.

SomeCanadianWeirdo · « **Reply #180 on:** 01 Mar 2012, 06:19 »

Interesting to see that I'm not the only one that thought Lt. Potter looked like Cosette in 2133. It would be funny if she turned out to be Cosette's sister, using her mother's maiden name because she figured no one would take her seriously as Lt. Hurlbut.

Yeah, there's no doubt Beatrice is a horribly clueless mom. Perhaps she herself was raised by "the help"(it's implied that she may have come from money) and so really never had any experience of being properly raised by a parent herself.

jwhouk · « **Reply #181 on:** 01 Mar 2012, 06:20 »

I think the reason why we're taking this so serious is because of how Jeph drew Hanners in 2A. We already knew that Station was her "friend" ("he kept the dust bunnies from being under the bed" I think is what she said), and it is entirely possible that they had conversations like in 2125 frequently.

For everything that HannerDad isn't (attentive and focused), he strikes me as being caring and moral - unlike Mommie Dearest. That is probably where she got her politeness and morality.

Black Sword · « **Reply #182 on:** 01 Mar 2012, 06:48 »

You know, according to the official exorcism manual of the Church, demons are known to "run quiet" for a time to reduce suspicion before they rise up again to make the lives of their victims an even greater misery than before.

by the way, does anyone know what Hannelore said in those two Cthulhu strips, and where Jeph got the fonts for it and such?

jwhouk · « **Reply #183 on:** 01 Mar 2012, 06:53 »

Geez, it was probably mentioned in the WCDT's for those strips...

EDIT: found 'em:

Quote from: bunnyThor on 15 Sep 2010, 09:41

Quote from: Blyss on 15 Sep 2010, 09:08
I'm going with the 'fill your scrotum with spiders and broken glass' theory.

It holds up pretty good IMHO. Look at them side by side:

A BCDEF FG HAI'I JGKL
MNLGFKO BAFP MQARSLM
CER TLUGVSE WICMM!

I WA*NT TO FIL'L YOUR
SCROTUM WITH SPIDERS
AND BR*OKEN GLASS!

If it was meant to be typed as gibberish, the chances of it being so close to correlating to an actual English sentence are very very low. Especially one that would be an apt and funny response to a male customer asking you out.

And the leftover letters are J,Q, V, X, and Z.

Go ahead and shuffle them around if you like. Here's a good site to do that: http://www.esg.montana.edu/meg/consbio/cryptogram/crypto.html

(Alternately, if anyone has the original font, they should try to type what Hanners said and see what keys were used. I think someone called it "Linear A".)

Quote from: Akima on 01 Mar 2011, 00:57

"Disturb me and i shall summon a horde of shoggoths to rend your flesh!"

Can Marigold understand the Dreamer's Tongue? Or does the very sound of those dread syllables banish sleep?

EDIT: Also, according to our lady from Australia, the font is Miskatonic.

TheEvilDog · « **Reply #184 on:** 01 Mar 2012, 06:56 »

Am I the only one who is kind of disturbed by Marigold's suggestion in the last panel? I've got visions of Suddenly, Last Summer, where instead of lobotomization, its cybernetic implants as the medical technique du jour.

jwhouk · « **Reply #185 on:** 01 Mar 2012, 07:08 »

Good God, could you imagine the horrors she saw when she was living with mom?

TinPenguin · « **Reply #186 on:** 01 Mar 2012, 07:28 »

I think today's comic fits in with what we know - when we first met Hannelore she was much more confident due to the meds she was on. This makes sense, she would probably have to be on pretty strong medication to manage with the move to Earth at first. But it seems that version of Hanners may only have been a brief respite.

slydon · « **Reply #187 on:** 01 Mar 2012, 07:32 »

Jeez. Hanners has come a long way. I remember when she was introduced to Marten's mom, who was surprised as how normal she was. Considering how messed up she was in earlier strips, this makes sense.

Carl-E · « **Reply #188 on:** 01 Mar 2012, 07:37 »

Well, the teenage years are usually the worst. Through childhood you either develop coping mechanisms, or get worse... also, some of the techniques (restraint, drugging) can leave the sufferer with so little control as to make OCD (which is all about cotrol) worse.

Maybe just gettig out was what she eeded. Station showed her the world below, and how she could get enough control over it to survive. Sometimes, the people closest to a sufferer (dad and Dr. Chase) are the worst ones to deal with the problems.

jwhouk · « **Reply #189 on:** 01 Mar 2012, 07:40 »

There's one thing that nags me, though. If Hanners saw Station as a good friend, why didn't she tell Sven a bit about the Station, and its importance to her?

Is it cold in here? · « **Reply #190 on:** 01 Mar 2012, 07:41 »

Nobody would have given her actual command access to the station AI. He's obeyed her out of family loyalty.

EDIT: she didn't tell Marten and Marigold how close she was to Station, either. Maybe it's too personal.

Mr. Doctor · « **Reply #191 on:** 01 Mar 2012, 07:43 »

Ah man, looking at young Hanners break my heart a little.

LTK · « **Reply #192 on:** 01 Mar 2012, 08:28 »

Quote from: jwhouk on 01 Mar 2012, 07:40

There's one thing that nags me, though. If Hanners saw Station as a good friend, why didn't she tell Sven a bit about the Station, and its importance to her?

Maybe she was taught as a child that a friend is necessarily human.

slydon · « **Reply #193 on:** 01 Mar 2012, 08:30 »

Quote from: Mr. Doctor on 01 Mar 2012, 07:43

Ah man, looking at young Hanners break my heart a little.

Same here. But then I keep thinking "Space... Madness!", and then I feel a bit better imagining Hanners as Ren. When I feel better, I might draw this.

autocorrect gave me "Hammers"

jmucchiello · « **Reply #194 on:** 01 Mar 2012, 09:28 »

Can someone explain what was so daaaannnngggg inspiring about 2134? I'm not seeing it. Nothing Dr. Chase said about Hanners' upbringing was particularly shocking to me given her personality when first introduced. I see a line drawn from her status today, through her status when first introduced to the descriptions in 2134 as reasonable in terms of character development.

Comparing this to the shock of 504 just makes no sense. There would have to be more to Hanners' upbringing to get it up to that level of mindscrew (in the audience's mind, not the characters).

DSL · « **Reply #195 on:** 01 Mar 2012, 10:18 »

Hanners, or Hannelore if you're not comfortable with the familiarity, is a favorite of many, many fans; I suspect Jeph wrote her to be appealing on an emotional level, delibrately taking her through a phase of adorable-ness he never seems to have tried with the other characters, except maybe Momo v.2.

She seems to have struck an empathetic chord among many vocal fans who are going to respond to this backstory on an emotional level beyond any critical appreciation of character development.

Interesting to me because I remember a brief discussion in the weekly threads about a year ago, our time, in which a surprising (to me, anyway) number of forumites, some of whom liked her as a character, seemed to be uncomfortable with the thought of having a Hanners around in real life.

tl;dr: D'aww Hanners.

steveb · « **Reply #196 on:** 01 Mar 2012, 13:23 »

Don't forget that this is Dr case's impression of Hanners childhood.
It probably does represent the way she was treated but it may or may not be how
Hanners (or station) would describe her early life.
I fear the medical professionals (or in this case the laser scientist acting as part-time medical staff) often tend to
see only the pathology and stop seeing the person. People may be able to function much better with their friends than
with somebody in a position of authority that thinks of them primarily as a patient.

Of course I could be wrong (lets see where the strips take us) but I think an interpretation of Dr case
having been out of her depth here is possible.

jwhouk · « **Reply #197 on:** 01 Mar 2012, 13:54 »

Kinda sounds like everyone involved was out of their depth with Hanners.

DSL - I think it was just the vision that panels 2A (and, to a lesser extent, 2B) brought to mind for us in the fan base that made us compare it to 504. 504, however, was 1,000 times more gut-wrenching than Stringy Haired Little Girl Hanners.

What Dr. Case may have perceived as a "sudden change" may have not, in fact, been anything like that. It may have been something as simple as dust bunnies and Station finally being able to replicate himself as a holo-avatar.

I mentioned previously the ELIZA computer program. When the program ported to the IBM PC in the early 1980's, some psychiatrists found it useful for persons who couldn't connect with a therapist. Oddly, I almost think the same thing happened with Station - except he managed to get Hanners to not be afraid of her world.

jmucchiello · « **Reply #198 on:** 01 Mar 2012, 14:27 »

I have to remember that my experience with QC is somewhat artificial since I didn't find QC until January when I archive binged it in about 5 days. It probably reads very differently to someone who read through the years.

Is it cold in here? · « **Reply #199 on:** 01 Mar 2012, 14:29 »

In 665 Hannelore made it sound like she could only get useful therapy planetside. When first introduced she said she started therapy at 11.

This doesn't line up neatly with therapists being flown up by the dozen. We have a challenge, then, to come up with a chronology for Hanners that's consistent with taking her literally.

No wonder her dad thought a robot would be the right companion for her.

--------

Jeph said she was limited in the number of friends she could bring. If it was a matter of having room to put them up, I bet Winslow would fit on an SD card, and does it seem just possible that there might be spare robot bodies lying around the station?

THESE FORUMS NOW CLOSED (read only)

Poll

It's back and BETTER Than EVER! What was the MOMENT of THE WEEK?

Author Topic: WCDT: 2131-35 (27 Feb- 2 Mar 2012) QC IN SPAAAAAACE! Week 6 (Read 75916 times)

westrim

TheEvilDog