BOC: Imaginos, part 9 - Susie

[Jon Jarrett]

On Mon, 18 Sep 2000, Johnny Firic wrote:

> >         I dunno. Why does he have to agree to join the Cult in the first
> >place?
>
> I've just remembered something, that i should've written in the previous
> post, in regards to the Secreta Treaties :) quote. Obviously that's about
> the 'deal' made between Imaginos (although why should be given the title of
> Foreign Minister is beyond me) and the oyster boyz (the Ambassadors from
> Plutonia, the ?'land' of Les Invisibles).

        No it isn't, it's about the origins of the First World War! He's
being described as Foreign Minister precisely because that's who he is,
the German Foreign Minister. But who the Ambassadors are, now, there's a
question.

> btw he decides _not to_ join the Cult. he wants to die as a human, and later
> finds out the choice had already been made for him.

        Nonsense! Re-read the sleeve notes, the bit where the songs are
laid out and it gives a precis of `Blue Oyster Cult' - the words "decides
to join their Cult" are right there.

> >- Von Ondine dies - the spirit flies and
> >a new Desdinova is born, reincarnation-like.
>
> he dies? is this in the song? and btw this reincarnation ... i don't know.
> not convincing. AND as I've said, songs like D+S, ME262 and the rest, can't
> be seriously scrutinized.

        Of course they can! They have obvious textual links and are
clearly based on related ideas. And, no, it's not said that Von Ondine
dies but Hitler tells him it's his last patrol and he's one man against 25
enemy aircraft, albeit those under-equipped to defend against a
jet-fighter. But I'd say the expectation is clear that he's not coming
back. The reincarnation may be putting it a bit strong, but Imaginos can't
be more than one person at one as far as we know - so if he's to be both
Von Ondine and the protagonist of D&S, whose probable death and probable
birth do match quite nicely, something of the sort must be going on. You
will of course say that he isn't both, possibly not either, and to that I
can only say, well, I can't see any other way of making the songs part of
the full cycle as Al has said he considers them to be.

> >But Act III looks awful like Desdinova
> >did an ET and phoned home, doesn't it?
>
> ha? et = extra time? I don't get it!
> (but I bet I'll be saying "d'oh!" soon)

        Sorry, Western cultural reference: _ET_ meaning extra-terrestrial
is a film about an alien who gets stranded on Earth, is taken in by some
kids and manages to get in contact with his home planet who come and get
him - his limited mastery of English causes him to explain this as "E T
phone home". I see the third act as Desdinova trying to get the aliens or
whatever to reclaim him and, disappointed, setting out on his own to
wreak vengeance on a slavish Earth. That, to me, is why `the joke's on
you'.

> oh, I know that. I thought of it at that moment, I didn't know what to write
> to look RUR2R seem uncanonical. i don't really seriously believe that...

        Well, I myself wouldn't see it as part of the cycle but Al's said
he saw it so. But for that you'd be spared my entire
`the-band-is-Imaginos' theory :-)

> well, me too! my 'serious' view is, in short, this: as I said in the Magna
> bit, most loose threads CAN be connected, to the point where most people at
> least agree that "there may be something to it"; however, because of the
> "and the joke's on you" thing, which I'm glad to say most people seem to
> have digested, I don't think it _deserves_ such serious scrutiny,
> theological discussion etc., such as the one that from time to time goes on
> at alt.fan.tolkien. example: the Orcs - were they a)soulless automatons, b)
> brainwashed, c) genetically modified, or d)even wilder theories!

        They're Goblin-pig halfbreeds, any fool knows that :-)

> i don't think that sort of thing fits Imaginos. most of my explanations are
> actually tangential stuff like the FWB. the main 'story', the plot of
> everything, is still in outlines. and there's no reason to suppose it ever
> went beyond that.

        I do very much agree. It's still random access and we're probably
all right :-) Yours,
                     Jon

--
     Jon Jarrett (01223 741219)       jjarrett at chiark.greenend.org.uk
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