![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jedibuttercupSo, I promised that I would post my research notes for Now That The Dawn Has Come, my 100,000+ word Falling Skies fic. *grin* So here they are, in all their over-wordy glory; overall notes first, then specific references pertaining to the chapters.
Let me know if you have any questions or comments, or if you spotted something in the story you want to know more about that isn't listed here! The building blocks of story-writing is always an interesting topic to me. :)
TL;DR Research Notes for Now That The Dawn Has Come
Overall Notes
Chapter quotes are all cited directly in the text, from the Dennis Tedlock translation of the Popol Vuh.
Please note that any locations in this story ever seen on camera in the show (for example: Charleston) are described from the images on-screen, even where it obviously doesn't match the physical makeup of the real-life city. But everything else, I researched intensively online, down to Google Maps Street View images (even some of the forest parts), Norfolk Southern Railway schedules, and locations of businesses.
Also, I have to link here one of those pre-season 4 advertising clips TNT put out, where a red shirt character was going around interviewing all the cast. Because LOL. Pope's pretty much boils down to "Tom Mason needs me, and I'm pissed that he pretends otherwise," and this is canon: https://youtu.be/DcJscrGh5sM
For most of the references below, I wrote what came to me, then looked up the obvious quotes to make sure I was using them right, or so I could cite their origins properly. A lot of them are common or obvious, but I found the research interesting anyway! Other references are science or history related, because Falling Skies didn't often bother to explain or go into detail on their sources (probably because a close look would make their usage fall apart). And a handful are citations for lines I borrowed directly from the show's episodes.
Chapter One
"EMP weapons" - An electromagnetic pulse (EMP) is a short burst of electromagnetic energy. Such a pulse's origination may be a natural occurrence or man-made. EMP interference is generally disruptive or damaging to electronic equipment.
"life is more than just surviving" - A quote repeated often enough in pop culture to have its own TV Tropes page. Mentioned because, well, TV Tropes. You're welcome. :)
"Maslow's Hierarchy" - Maslow's hierarchy of needs is a theory in psychology proposed by Abraham Maslow in his 1943 paper "A Theory of Human Motivation" in Psychological Review. He used the terms "physiological", "safety", "belongingness" and "love", "esteem", "self-actualization", and "self-transcendence" to describe the pattern that human motivations generally move through.
Chapter Two
"Just keep an eye out for potential blue-on-blues." - From Wikipedia: "The term friendly fire was originally adopted by the United States military. Many North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) militaries refer to these incidents as blue on blue, which derives from military exercises where NATO forces were identified by blue pennants and units representing Warsaw Pact forces by orange pennants."
"For what we are about to receive, may the Lord make us truly thankful." - A common grace prayer, especially (according to Wikipedia) used at religious schools.
"Ave, Imperator, morituri te salutant." - Translates as "Hail, Emperor, those who are about to die salute you", a Latin phrase quoted in Suetonius, De Vita Caesarum ("The Life of the Caesars", or "The Twelve Caesars") that has been picked up by modern popular culture (ex: Gladiator).
"The object of war is not to die for your country, but to make the other guy die for his." - Attributed to General George S. Patton, known as "America's Fightingest General" in World War II; a variant on the opening of a speech he made to the troops on May 31, 1944.
"Every happiness is a hostage to fortune." - Sir Arthur Helps, a 19th century British writer.
"You pays your money, and you takes your chances." - Popular variant on a quote that first saw print in a British cartoon in 1846 (You pays your money, and you takes your choice).
"I lie to everyone. Including myself. Every day. Sometimes every hour of every day. And sometimes that's not even enough, and I do it anyway. Because if people think that there's no hope... They damn well better believe that I think that there is." - A direct quote from Falling Skies Season 4, Episode 8, "Saturday Night Massacre".
Chapter Three
"It ain't over 'til it's over." - Original quote attributed to Yogi Berra, spoken to a reporter in 1973.
"I've heard such different accounts of him as... let's say, puzzle me exceedingly." - From Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 18, Elizabeth to Darcy regarding her trying to illustrate his character: "I hear such different accounts of you as puzzle me exceedingly."
"Pride in good regulation, ha." - From Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 11, Darcy to Elizabeth, speaking of himself: "Where there is a real superiority of mind, pride will be always under good regulation.''
The song Tom hums from the Liberty Tree's christening is "One Voice", by the Wailin' Jennys. Listen at YouTube.
"Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving." - Albert Einstein, from a letter to his son Eduard in 1930.
"Two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I am not yet sure about the universe." - Gestalt therapist Frederick S. Perls wrote in 1972 that Einstein once said this to him.
"My President is an Alien" - A play on either the 1989 YA book titled My Teacher is an Alien, or the 1988 movie My Stepmother is an Alien.
"hope-- that thing with feathers--" Refers to the Emily Dickinson poem whose first two lines read, "Hope is the thing with feathers / That perches in the soul."
"electricity is electricity, and physics is physics - Almost a direct quote from Falling Skies Season 4 Episode 1, "Ghost in the Machine".
"BFG" - In this context, "Big Fucking Gun" rather than "Big Friendly Giant." Notably appears as an acronym with this meaning in the DOOM video game series, the first of which came out in 1993.
Hemofiltration machine - This and other related references were cobbled together from the show's depiction of "extracorporeal hyperthermia" in 2.6 "Homecoming" plus research on the actual procedure by that name. Which boils down to: It's possible, but much more complicated than the show made it look.
Chapter Four
Darwin Award - As defined by the eponymous website: "In the spirit of Charles Darwin, the Darwin Awards commemorate individuals who protect our gene pool by making the ultimate sacrifice of their own lives. Darwin Award winners eliminate themselves in an extraordinarily idiotic manner, thereby improving our species' chances of long-term survival."
"Looks like someone's been eating the porridge" - The obligatory fairy tale reference! This one, to Goldilocks and the Three Bears.
The sports banners found in the house at the organic farm are in the colors (black and gold) of the Fairfield Central High School Griffins.
"sufficiently advanced technology" - Reference to futurist and author Arthur C. Clarke's famous Third Law, "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."
Witching hour - According to Wikipedia, a term in occult belief that refers to the time at which creatures such as witches, demons, and ghosts are thought to appear and be at their most powerful, and at which black magic is at its most effective. Traditionally 3 to 4 AM for various religion-related reasons, but in modern times used for anything after midnight.
Adverse property laws, also known as squatter's rights, are defined differently in different states; the ten year figure John quotes for claiming title is accurate in South Carolina, though it's twenty in Massachusetts.
Intrant Skitters - According to the dictionaries I sprained my brain on, this is in fact the proper plural for "Entrant" in Latin, used in this context as a stage reference.
Miter - By definition, "a tall headdress worn by bishops and senior abbots as a symbol of office, tapering to a point at front and back with a deep cleft between." What the Catholic Pope's pointy hat is commonly called. :)
"Maggie May" - Given the context in which John called her this in canon, I figured it wasn't just a nickname, it was a reference; and sure enough, there's a 1971 Rod Stewart song by that title, expressing the ambivalence and contradictory emotions of a 16 year old boy involved in a relationship with an older woman....
stage of the self-actualization pyramid - Another reference to Maslow's hierarchy of needs, a theory of human motivation. It's often portrayed in the shape of a pyramid with the largest, most fundamental levels of needs at the bottom and the need for self-actualization at the top.
"I would by no means suspend any pleasure of yours." - From Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 18, spoken by an irritated Darcy to a critical Elizabeth.
"No flies on Tom Mason" - According to various dictionary sites, "no flies on" means: one is wide awake; there is nothing slow or dull about one. For example, 'She may be new to this field, but there are no flies on her.' This slangy expression, which alludes to flies settling on a sluggish animal, was being used in Australia in the 1840s but did not appear in America until the last decades of the 1800s.
Chapter Five
"strip a building for that Pink Panther shit" - Owens Corning brand residential insulation licenses the Pink Panther character from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios for use in its logo.
"Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow. It empties today of its strength. -- Attributed to Corrie Ten Boom, a Dutch watchmaker and Christian who, along with her father and other family members, helped many Jews escape the Nazi Holocaust during World War II. She was imprisoned for her actions.
The story of the Broughton Suspension Bridge and its collapse is true; though an investigation later concluded that while the vibration caused by the marching precipitated the failure, it would have happened anyway.
Sophont - Defined as "an intelligent being; a being with a base reasoning capacity roughly equivalent to or greater than that of a human being." First (proven to be) used in 1966 by Poul Anderson, noted science fiction author.
"The substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." -- The definition of faith given in the Bible, in Hebrews 11:1.
"We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own. Your culture will adapt to service us." -- Part of the typical Borg conquering speech from Star Trek: the Next Generation; though this variant is actually from the movie Star Trek: First Contact, not the Season 3/4 cliffhanger "The Best of Both Worlds".
Chapter Six
"He checked his horse's girth, out of recently and awkwardly acquired habit" - Some horses puff up when being saddled, leaving the girth loose when they relax. I figured at least one of the main characters would have experienced the consequences of not checking at least once, being new to riding horses.
Charlie Brown characters - Referring to the "whaa-whaa-whaa" trombone effect from Peanuts TV specials, used to indicate when an adult was speaking.
"John had suddenly found himself in the middle before he hardly knew he'd begun." - From Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 60, after Elizabeth asks Darcy to account for how he fell in love with her, he says: "I was in the middle before I knew that I had begun."
Sitz bone - Sitz bones, or sitting bones, is the common name for the ischial tuberosity, and it's the lowest of the three major bones that make up the pelvis (in Greek ischion means “hip”). It's part of the pelvis that takes our weight when we sit.
"Any more last minute caveats or addendums?" - From the Firefly episode "Out of Gas", Mal to Inara: "That's an awful lot of caveats and addendums there, Miss."
"holing up where he could do no harm seemed like the better part of valor." - The original is from Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part I, though it's often reversed when quoted: "The better part of valour is discretion."
Chapter Seven
"It's not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters." - Attributed to Epictetus, the Greek Stoic philosopher; Anne gave Tom a copy of one of his works in late Season 4 canon.
"Except in the most cynical sense of the word: 'someone who gets other people killed'." - From the movie Serenity, Zoe to a bystander reaching for a gun: "Do you know what the definition of a hero is? Someone who gets other people killed."
"Welcome, Tom Mason" - A few lines of dialogue in this scene are lifted word-for-word from 4.2, "The Eye".
The show never really defined the Faraday suit, probably because it wouldn't really work the way they portrayed it; I filled in the actual definition of a Faraday cage to make it sound a little more authentic. The same with the power plant on the moon, which the show handwaves with "Tesla's theories"; I gave it a little more background from actual science, including scattering in the atmosphere and the resulting bump in background radiation.
"Teaching them to love the shining wire." - From Chapter 17 of Watership Down: "And since they could not bear the truth, these singers, who might in some other place have been wise, were squeezed under the terrible weight of the warren's secret until they gulped out fine folly—about dignity and acquiescence, and anything else that could make believe that the rabbits loved the shining wire."
"The equivalent of a death star exhaust port just waiting for a lucky rebel to fire a torpedo through" - The obligatory reference to the triumphant winning move in the original Star Wars movie.
"Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof" - an aphorism which appears in the Sermon on the Mount in the Biblical Gospel of Matthew, specifically Matthew 6:34.
"taking Tom's claims with a grain of salt" - According to Wikipedia, "(With) a grain of salt," (or "a pinch of salt") means to view something with skepticism, or to not take it literally. Sources vary, but date back to Latin phrases attributed to Pliny the Elder or Pompey, both Romans, making this idiom older than dirt!
"Too wise to woo peaceably, eh?" - From Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing, Act V, Scene 2, Benedick to Beatrice: "Thou and I are too wise to woo peaceably."
"I pray thee now tell me, for which of my bad parts did thou first fall in love with me?" - Also from Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing, Act V, Scene 2, Benedick to Beatrice.
Chapter Eight
"going down in flames like a latter-day Hindenburg" - This one should still be living memory, but for completeness's sake: The Hindenburg disaster occurred on May 6, 1937, as the German passenger airship LZ 129 Hindenburg caught fire and was destroyed during its attempt to dock with its mooring mast at Naval Air Station Lakehurst in Manchester Township, New Jersey, United States. Footage uploaded to YouTube here.
"the emerald-city glow of the fence" - The obligatory Wizard of Oz reference!
"Prince with a Thousand Enemies" - Another Watership Down reference, to El-ahrairah, the rabbit trickster folk hero, whose name supposedly literally translates that way.
"Vitamin I" - Slang reference for Ibuprofen, overheard from experienced hikers.
"Yeah, your milkshake brings all the aliens to the yard" - From the lyrics of Kelis' 2003 song Milkshake, "My milkshake brings all the boys to the yard." According to Kelis, "milkshake" in the song is used as a metaphor for "something that makes women special." Ahem.
"You're a pain in the ass, Mason" - These are Pope's exact last words in canon. Not so in this AU!
"It wasn't as if their particular apocalyptic wasteland came equipped with a Gastown still pumping and refining the good stuff to trade for water or bullets." - Another Mad Max reference, with bonus more-accurate-than-show science regarding the gradual degradation of gasoline.
"The AC/ DC thing" - The so-called War of the Currents raged in the 1880's and 1890's between competing electrical power transmission systems: Westinghouse's Alternating Current (invented by Tesla) and Edison's Direct Current.
"do not pass go, do not collect $200" - Phrase from the Monopoly board game widely used in popular culture to describe an action forced upon a person that has only negative results.
"...think only of the past as its remembrance gives me pleasure." - From Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 58, Elizabeth to Darcy, speaking of their past offenses against each other.
"Love is two imperfect people refusing to give up on each other." - I couldn't track down a reference for this one online; it's attributed to 'unknown'.
"Whither thou goest...." - This, and following snippets, are from the Bible, King James Version: "And Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God." - Ruth 1:16.
Chapter Nine
"Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world." - One of many variant translations of Archimedes, ancient Greek mathematician, philosopher, scientist and engineer, demonstrating the principle of the lever.
"You do know that endorphins are the body's natural painkillers, right?" - According to various medical sites, endorphins interact with the opiate receptors in the brain to reduce our perception of pain and act similarly to drugs such as morphine and codeine. They can be triggered by various human activities, including vigorous aerobic exercise, sex, and according to some studies, laughter.
"When acquiring other forms of life, we determine their value to the Dorniya and utilize them accordingly." - Direct quote from Falling Skies Season 5 Episode 9, "Reunion".
"you deliberately did unto yourselves before they could do unto you" - For the Stargate fans among my readers: I envision what happened to the Dorniya as being similar to Ascension, and the genetic alterations to Tom and Alexis as a sort of super-ATA-gene therapy.
"You are the love of my life, Tom Mason. The father of my beautiful boys; my faithful and adoring husband. I love everything about you, about our life together. I cherish every memory, every heated word, every murmur of affection between us." - Direct quote from Falling Skies Season 3 Episode 8, "Strange Brew".
"Stop the world, I want to get off" - According to Wiki, the origin of this phrase is the title of a 1966 British play: "Stop the World – I Want to Get Off".
"I can even scan for eyebugs now without an X-Ray machine" - Nobody called me on this in the last story, but as long as I'm explaining things: in Season 3 of the show, when Hal has the eyebug, Lourdes says nothing shows up on the X-Rays. But it's LOURDES THE ESPHENI MOLE saying that, and there's clearly metal in the things. So I postulate that without her sowing misinformation, they actually could detect them that way.
The Nazca lines - All references to location and origin of the geoglyphs in the story are pulled from historical articles, to give them a little more context than the show's throwaway references to Peru.
The brownie story is a personal one; very close to actual events from my own parents' early married years.
The Twenty-Fifth Amendment to the Constitution, Section 4, has never actually been invoked, though it was a near thing a couple of times! It begins as follows: "Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President."
"Quantity has a quality all its own" - Widely misattributed to Stalin; probable actual origin in the US.
"the whip hand" - The hand that holds the whip in driving (a horse-drawn vehicle); a dominating position or advantage. Dates back to the 17th century.
Chapter Ten
"The good of the many" - Another Star Trek reference. In The Wrath of Khan, Spock famously says, "Logic clearly dictates that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few." Captain Kirk answers, "Or the one."
"If you can't beat 'em, join 'em" - The earliest citation given for this quote, in the form "If you can't lick 'em, jine 'em," is from the Atlantic Monthly, February 1932, where it is described as one of Senator James E. Watson's "favorite sayings."
"carbon-steel edge" - As the carbon percentage content rises, steel has the ability to become harder and stronger through heat treating.
"have another think coming" - I've been questioned on this before, like the blue-on-blue thing; so here's my rationale. According to Wiktionary and other sources, this is defined as "To be deluded, to be mistaken; to need to rethink something one has determined; to need to reconsider one's plans or expectations." Further: "the form to have another thing coming is often seen, and may have been aided by a mishearing of the /k/ of think blended with the /k/ of coming, making think sound like thing."
"This ain't American Pickers" - The reality TV show American Pickers follows antiques collectors who travel the U.S. looking for rare artifacts and national treasures.
"Schrödinger's President" - A reference to the Schrödinger's cat thought experiment, sometimes described as a paradox, devised by Austrian physicist Erwin Schrödinger in 1935. The original scenario presents a cat that may be simultaneously both alive and dead, a state known as a quantum superposition, as a result of being linked to a random subatomic event that may or may not occur. So, here: is he the President, or isn't he?
"EMCON" - In telecommunications, radio silence or Emissions Control (EMCON) is a status in which all fixed or mobile radio stations in an area are asked to stop transmitting for safety or security reasons.
"perception becomes the reality" - Various sources and attributions; though the one I like best tracks back to another Einstein quote, "Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one."
The Art of War quote was pulled from the translation by Ralph D. Sawyer published in 1994.
Massachusetts legalized gay marriage by state court decision on May 17, 2004; South Carolina legalized it by federal court decision on November 20, 2014; but the events of Falling Skies begin somewhere in 2011. Full list of US legalization dates on Wikipedia.
"Professor Emeritus at some new United Nations University, or something?" - The actual post-war fate of Tom Mason, according to the last episode of the show.
"Living well is the best revenge." - George Herbert, 17th century Welsh poet, orator and Anglican priest.
Let me know if you have any questions or comments, or if you spotted something in the story you want to know more about that isn't listed here! The building blocks of story-writing is always an interesting topic to me. :)
TL;DR Research Notes for Now That The Dawn Has Come
Overall Notes
Chapter quotes are all cited directly in the text, from the Dennis Tedlock translation of the Popol Vuh.
Please note that any locations in this story ever seen on camera in the show (for example: Charleston) are described from the images on-screen, even where it obviously doesn't match the physical makeup of the real-life city. But everything else, I researched intensively online, down to Google Maps Street View images (even some of the forest parts), Norfolk Southern Railway schedules, and locations of businesses.
Also, I have to link here one of those pre-season 4 advertising clips TNT put out, where a red shirt character was going around interviewing all the cast. Because LOL. Pope's pretty much boils down to "Tom Mason needs me, and I'm pissed that he pretends otherwise," and this is canon: https://youtu.be/DcJscrGh5sM
For most of the references below, I wrote what came to me, then looked up the obvious quotes to make sure I was using them right, or so I could cite their origins properly. A lot of them are common or obvious, but I found the research interesting anyway! Other references are science or history related, because Falling Skies didn't often bother to explain or go into detail on their sources (probably because a close look would make their usage fall apart). And a handful are citations for lines I borrowed directly from the show's episodes.
Chapter One
"EMP weapons" - An electromagnetic pulse (EMP) is a short burst of electromagnetic energy. Such a pulse's origination may be a natural occurrence or man-made. EMP interference is generally disruptive or damaging to electronic equipment.
"life is more than just surviving" - A quote repeated often enough in pop culture to have its own TV Tropes page. Mentioned because, well, TV Tropes. You're welcome. :)
"Maslow's Hierarchy" - Maslow's hierarchy of needs is a theory in psychology proposed by Abraham Maslow in his 1943 paper "A Theory of Human Motivation" in Psychological Review. He used the terms "physiological", "safety", "belongingness" and "love", "esteem", "self-actualization", and "self-transcendence" to describe the pattern that human motivations generally move through.
Chapter Two
"Just keep an eye out for potential blue-on-blues." - From Wikipedia: "The term friendly fire was originally adopted by the United States military. Many North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) militaries refer to these incidents as blue on blue, which derives from military exercises where NATO forces were identified by blue pennants and units representing Warsaw Pact forces by orange pennants."
"For what we are about to receive, may the Lord make us truly thankful." - A common grace prayer, especially (according to Wikipedia) used at religious schools.
"Ave, Imperator, morituri te salutant." - Translates as "Hail, Emperor, those who are about to die salute you", a Latin phrase quoted in Suetonius, De Vita Caesarum ("The Life of the Caesars", or "The Twelve Caesars") that has been picked up by modern popular culture (ex: Gladiator).
"The object of war is not to die for your country, but to make the other guy die for his." - Attributed to General George S. Patton, known as "America's Fightingest General" in World War II; a variant on the opening of a speech he made to the troops on May 31, 1944.
"Every happiness is a hostage to fortune." - Sir Arthur Helps, a 19th century British writer.
"You pays your money, and you takes your chances." - Popular variant on a quote that first saw print in a British cartoon in 1846 (You pays your money, and you takes your choice).
"I lie to everyone. Including myself. Every day. Sometimes every hour of every day. And sometimes that's not even enough, and I do it anyway. Because if people think that there's no hope... They damn well better believe that I think that there is." - A direct quote from Falling Skies Season 4, Episode 8, "Saturday Night Massacre".
Chapter Three
"It ain't over 'til it's over." - Original quote attributed to Yogi Berra, spoken to a reporter in 1973.
"I've heard such different accounts of him as... let's say, puzzle me exceedingly." - From Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 18, Elizabeth to Darcy regarding her trying to illustrate his character: "I hear such different accounts of you as puzzle me exceedingly."
"Pride in good regulation, ha." - From Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 11, Darcy to Elizabeth, speaking of himself: "Where there is a real superiority of mind, pride will be always under good regulation.''
The song Tom hums from the Liberty Tree's christening is "One Voice", by the Wailin' Jennys. Listen at YouTube.
"Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving." - Albert Einstein, from a letter to his son Eduard in 1930.
"Two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I am not yet sure about the universe." - Gestalt therapist Frederick S. Perls wrote in 1972 that Einstein once said this to him.
"My President is an Alien" - A play on either the 1989 YA book titled My Teacher is an Alien, or the 1988 movie My Stepmother is an Alien.
"hope-- that thing with feathers--" Refers to the Emily Dickinson poem whose first two lines read, "Hope is the thing with feathers / That perches in the soul."
"electricity is electricity, and physics is physics - Almost a direct quote from Falling Skies Season 4 Episode 1, "Ghost in the Machine".
"BFG" - In this context, "Big Fucking Gun" rather than "Big Friendly Giant." Notably appears as an acronym with this meaning in the DOOM video game series, the first of which came out in 1993.
Hemofiltration machine - This and other related references were cobbled together from the show's depiction of "extracorporeal hyperthermia" in 2.6 "Homecoming" plus research on the actual procedure by that name. Which boils down to: It's possible, but much more complicated than the show made it look.
Chapter Four
Darwin Award - As defined by the eponymous website: "In the spirit of Charles Darwin, the Darwin Awards commemorate individuals who protect our gene pool by making the ultimate sacrifice of their own lives. Darwin Award winners eliminate themselves in an extraordinarily idiotic manner, thereby improving our species' chances of long-term survival."
"Looks like someone's been eating the porridge" - The obligatory fairy tale reference! This one, to Goldilocks and the Three Bears.
The sports banners found in the house at the organic farm are in the colors (black and gold) of the Fairfield Central High School Griffins.
"sufficiently advanced technology" - Reference to futurist and author Arthur C. Clarke's famous Third Law, "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."
Witching hour - According to Wikipedia, a term in occult belief that refers to the time at which creatures such as witches, demons, and ghosts are thought to appear and be at their most powerful, and at which black magic is at its most effective. Traditionally 3 to 4 AM for various religion-related reasons, but in modern times used for anything after midnight.
Adverse property laws, also known as squatter's rights, are defined differently in different states; the ten year figure John quotes for claiming title is accurate in South Carolina, though it's twenty in Massachusetts.
Intrant Skitters - According to the dictionaries I sprained my brain on, this is in fact the proper plural for "Entrant" in Latin, used in this context as a stage reference.
Miter - By definition, "a tall headdress worn by bishops and senior abbots as a symbol of office, tapering to a point at front and back with a deep cleft between." What the Catholic Pope's pointy hat is commonly called. :)
"Maggie May" - Given the context in which John called her this in canon, I figured it wasn't just a nickname, it was a reference; and sure enough, there's a 1971 Rod Stewart song by that title, expressing the ambivalence and contradictory emotions of a 16 year old boy involved in a relationship with an older woman....
stage of the self-actualization pyramid - Another reference to Maslow's hierarchy of needs, a theory of human motivation. It's often portrayed in the shape of a pyramid with the largest, most fundamental levels of needs at the bottom and the need for self-actualization at the top.
"I would by no means suspend any pleasure of yours." - From Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 18, spoken by an irritated Darcy to a critical Elizabeth.
"No flies on Tom Mason" - According to various dictionary sites, "no flies on" means: one is wide awake; there is nothing slow or dull about one. For example, 'She may be new to this field, but there are no flies on her.' This slangy expression, which alludes to flies settling on a sluggish animal, was being used in Australia in the 1840s but did not appear in America until the last decades of the 1800s.
Chapter Five
"strip a building for that Pink Panther shit" - Owens Corning brand residential insulation licenses the Pink Panther character from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios for use in its logo.
"Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow. It empties today of its strength. -- Attributed to Corrie Ten Boom, a Dutch watchmaker and Christian who, along with her father and other family members, helped many Jews escape the Nazi Holocaust during World War II. She was imprisoned for her actions.
The story of the Broughton Suspension Bridge and its collapse is true; though an investigation later concluded that while the vibration caused by the marching precipitated the failure, it would have happened anyway.
Sophont - Defined as "an intelligent being; a being with a base reasoning capacity roughly equivalent to or greater than that of a human being." First (proven to be) used in 1966 by Poul Anderson, noted science fiction author.
"The substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." -- The definition of faith given in the Bible, in Hebrews 11:1.
"We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own. Your culture will adapt to service us." -- Part of the typical Borg conquering speech from Star Trek: the Next Generation; though this variant is actually from the movie Star Trek: First Contact, not the Season 3/4 cliffhanger "The Best of Both Worlds".
Chapter Six
"He checked his horse's girth, out of recently and awkwardly acquired habit" - Some horses puff up when being saddled, leaving the girth loose when they relax. I figured at least one of the main characters would have experienced the consequences of not checking at least once, being new to riding horses.
Charlie Brown characters - Referring to the "whaa-whaa-whaa" trombone effect from Peanuts TV specials, used to indicate when an adult was speaking.
"John had suddenly found himself in the middle before he hardly knew he'd begun." - From Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 60, after Elizabeth asks Darcy to account for how he fell in love with her, he says: "I was in the middle before I knew that I had begun."
Sitz bone - Sitz bones, or sitting bones, is the common name for the ischial tuberosity, and it's the lowest of the three major bones that make up the pelvis (in Greek ischion means “hip”). It's part of the pelvis that takes our weight when we sit.
"Any more last minute caveats or addendums?" - From the Firefly episode "Out of Gas", Mal to Inara: "That's an awful lot of caveats and addendums there, Miss."
"holing up where he could do no harm seemed like the better part of valor." - The original is from Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part I, though it's often reversed when quoted: "The better part of valour is discretion."
Chapter Seven
"It's not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters." - Attributed to Epictetus, the Greek Stoic philosopher; Anne gave Tom a copy of one of his works in late Season 4 canon.
"Except in the most cynical sense of the word: 'someone who gets other people killed'." - From the movie Serenity, Zoe to a bystander reaching for a gun: "Do you know what the definition of a hero is? Someone who gets other people killed."
"Welcome, Tom Mason" - A few lines of dialogue in this scene are lifted word-for-word from 4.2, "The Eye".
The show never really defined the Faraday suit, probably because it wouldn't really work the way they portrayed it; I filled in the actual definition of a Faraday cage to make it sound a little more authentic. The same with the power plant on the moon, which the show handwaves with "Tesla's theories"; I gave it a little more background from actual science, including scattering in the atmosphere and the resulting bump in background radiation.
"Teaching them to love the shining wire." - From Chapter 17 of Watership Down: "And since they could not bear the truth, these singers, who might in some other place have been wise, were squeezed under the terrible weight of the warren's secret until they gulped out fine folly—about dignity and acquiescence, and anything else that could make believe that the rabbits loved the shining wire."
"The equivalent of a death star exhaust port just waiting for a lucky rebel to fire a torpedo through" - The obligatory reference to the triumphant winning move in the original Star Wars movie.
"Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof" - an aphorism which appears in the Sermon on the Mount in the Biblical Gospel of Matthew, specifically Matthew 6:34.
"taking Tom's claims with a grain of salt" - According to Wikipedia, "(With) a grain of salt," (or "a pinch of salt") means to view something with skepticism, or to not take it literally. Sources vary, but date back to Latin phrases attributed to Pliny the Elder or Pompey, both Romans, making this idiom older than dirt!
"Too wise to woo peaceably, eh?" - From Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing, Act V, Scene 2, Benedick to Beatrice: "Thou and I are too wise to woo peaceably."
"I pray thee now tell me, for which of my bad parts did thou first fall in love with me?" - Also from Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing, Act V, Scene 2, Benedick to Beatrice.
Chapter Eight
"going down in flames like a latter-day Hindenburg" - This one should still be living memory, but for completeness's sake: The Hindenburg disaster occurred on May 6, 1937, as the German passenger airship LZ 129 Hindenburg caught fire and was destroyed during its attempt to dock with its mooring mast at Naval Air Station Lakehurst in Manchester Township, New Jersey, United States. Footage uploaded to YouTube here.
"the emerald-city glow of the fence" - The obligatory Wizard of Oz reference!
"Prince with a Thousand Enemies" - Another Watership Down reference, to El-ahrairah, the rabbit trickster folk hero, whose name supposedly literally translates that way.
"Vitamin I" - Slang reference for Ibuprofen, overheard from experienced hikers.
"Yeah, your milkshake brings all the aliens to the yard" - From the lyrics of Kelis' 2003 song Milkshake, "My milkshake brings all the boys to the yard." According to Kelis, "milkshake" in the song is used as a metaphor for "something that makes women special." Ahem.
"You're a pain in the ass, Mason" - These are Pope's exact last words in canon. Not so in this AU!
"It wasn't as if their particular apocalyptic wasteland came equipped with a Gastown still pumping and refining the good stuff to trade for water or bullets." - Another Mad Max reference, with bonus more-accurate-than-show science regarding the gradual degradation of gasoline.
"The AC/ DC thing" - The so-called War of the Currents raged in the 1880's and 1890's between competing electrical power transmission systems: Westinghouse's Alternating Current (invented by Tesla) and Edison's Direct Current.
"do not pass go, do not collect $200" - Phrase from the Monopoly board game widely used in popular culture to describe an action forced upon a person that has only negative results.
"...think only of the past as its remembrance gives me pleasure." - From Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 58, Elizabeth to Darcy, speaking of their past offenses against each other.
"Love is two imperfect people refusing to give up on each other." - I couldn't track down a reference for this one online; it's attributed to 'unknown'.
"Whither thou goest...." - This, and following snippets, are from the Bible, King James Version: "And Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God." - Ruth 1:16.
Chapter Nine
"Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world." - One of many variant translations of Archimedes, ancient Greek mathematician, philosopher, scientist and engineer, demonstrating the principle of the lever.
"You do know that endorphins are the body's natural painkillers, right?" - According to various medical sites, endorphins interact with the opiate receptors in the brain to reduce our perception of pain and act similarly to drugs such as morphine and codeine. They can be triggered by various human activities, including vigorous aerobic exercise, sex, and according to some studies, laughter.
"When acquiring other forms of life, we determine their value to the Dorniya and utilize them accordingly." - Direct quote from Falling Skies Season 5 Episode 9, "Reunion".
"you deliberately did unto yourselves before they could do unto you" - For the Stargate fans among my readers: I envision what happened to the Dorniya as being similar to Ascension, and the genetic alterations to Tom and Alexis as a sort of super-ATA-gene therapy.
"You are the love of my life, Tom Mason. The father of my beautiful boys; my faithful and adoring husband. I love everything about you, about our life together. I cherish every memory, every heated word, every murmur of affection between us." - Direct quote from Falling Skies Season 3 Episode 8, "Strange Brew".
"Stop the world, I want to get off" - According to Wiki, the origin of this phrase is the title of a 1966 British play: "Stop the World – I Want to Get Off".
"I can even scan for eyebugs now without an X-Ray machine" - Nobody called me on this in the last story, but as long as I'm explaining things: in Season 3 of the show, when Hal has the eyebug, Lourdes says nothing shows up on the X-Rays. But it's LOURDES THE ESPHENI MOLE saying that, and there's clearly metal in the things. So I postulate that without her sowing misinformation, they actually could detect them that way.
The Nazca lines - All references to location and origin of the geoglyphs in the story are pulled from historical articles, to give them a little more context than the show's throwaway references to Peru.
The brownie story is a personal one; very close to actual events from my own parents' early married years.
The Twenty-Fifth Amendment to the Constitution, Section 4, has never actually been invoked, though it was a near thing a couple of times! It begins as follows: "Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President."
"Quantity has a quality all its own" - Widely misattributed to Stalin; probable actual origin in the US.
"the whip hand" - The hand that holds the whip in driving (a horse-drawn vehicle); a dominating position or advantage. Dates back to the 17th century.
Chapter Ten
"The good of the many" - Another Star Trek reference. In The Wrath of Khan, Spock famously says, "Logic clearly dictates that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few." Captain Kirk answers, "Or the one."
"If you can't beat 'em, join 'em" - The earliest citation given for this quote, in the form "If you can't lick 'em, jine 'em," is from the Atlantic Monthly, February 1932, where it is described as one of Senator James E. Watson's "favorite sayings."
"carbon-steel edge" - As the carbon percentage content rises, steel has the ability to become harder and stronger through heat treating.
"have another think coming" - I've been questioned on this before, like the blue-on-blue thing; so here's my rationale. According to Wiktionary and other sources, this is defined as "To be deluded, to be mistaken; to need to rethink something one has determined; to need to reconsider one's plans or expectations." Further: "the form to have another thing coming is often seen, and may have been aided by a mishearing of the /k/ of think blended with the /k/ of coming, making think sound like thing."
"This ain't American Pickers" - The reality TV show American Pickers follows antiques collectors who travel the U.S. looking for rare artifacts and national treasures.
"Schrödinger's President" - A reference to the Schrödinger's cat thought experiment, sometimes described as a paradox, devised by Austrian physicist Erwin Schrödinger in 1935. The original scenario presents a cat that may be simultaneously both alive and dead, a state known as a quantum superposition, as a result of being linked to a random subatomic event that may or may not occur. So, here: is he the President, or isn't he?
"EMCON" - In telecommunications, radio silence or Emissions Control (EMCON) is a status in which all fixed or mobile radio stations in an area are asked to stop transmitting for safety or security reasons.
"perception becomes the reality" - Various sources and attributions; though the one I like best tracks back to another Einstein quote, "Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one."
The Art of War quote was pulled from the translation by Ralph D. Sawyer published in 1994.
Massachusetts legalized gay marriage by state court decision on May 17, 2004; South Carolina legalized it by federal court decision on November 20, 2014; but the events of Falling Skies begin somewhere in 2011. Full list of US legalization dates on Wikipedia.
"Professor Emeritus at some new United Nations University, or something?" - The actual post-war fate of Tom Mason, according to the last episode of the show.
"Living well is the best revenge." - George Herbert, 17th century Welsh poet, orator and Anglican priest.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2016-07-29 07:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-08-10 08:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-08-10 02:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-08-10 09:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-07-31 12:29 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-08-10 08:46 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-08-10 03:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-08-10 09:05 pm (UTC)