Fifty Shades Final Update (I mean it this time)

[felineranger.livejournal.com]

Right. That's it. No more. Finito.


http://archiveofourown.org/works/2408453/chapters/6032564

Comments

[rosecathy1.livejournal.com]

Less useless comment, now that I've had time to re-read and think...***SPOILERS BELOW***









While the metaphysical difference between a human and their hologram was touched on in the first couple of episodes ("Lister, I'm not really here! I'm not really me! Don't you see? I'm a computer simulation of me"), it's not explored much later in the show. Lister's take on the situation (including the somewhat silly "Death isn't the handicap it used to be") is tacitly accepted as correct. The science gets fuzzy with regard to just how much knowledge a hologram has: It's shown in Me2 that Rimmer remembers everything up to and including his death, and that the double knows something of what happened before he was switched on ("Well, he did warn you"). I assume the fuzziness is for storyline purposes.


Your epilogue illustrates the difference more clearly than anything I've seen/read before. Lister's hologram remembers 99.9% of his life, but since the machine wasn't running at the final moment, he doesn't remember saying "I'll see you soon" (or the "Laters, baby" ;_;)...because the person who said it won't see Rimmer later. There's a little strand of heartbreakingness amid all the happiness of the ending.

But did Rimmer finally give in and let Lister top/take control once in awhile?? Inquiring minds want to know

[felineranger.livejournal.com]

Yeah, he did (but not often) ;-)

[felineranger.livejournal.com]

With regards to the hologram thing, I knew at the start of the story that I had to inject an element of real risk to it or the whole thing would feel empty. There's no tension if you can just kill the character off and bring them back with a snap of your fingers with no consequences (Lookin' at you here, Supernatural). It had to really matter whether Lister survived or not. At first I was just going to use the baby angle, he had to live if he wanted that child, but then I realised that was Rimmer's turning point in the story more than anything else. Rimmer's not certain he wants another child until he's faced with the possibility that the decision could be taken away. Besides, with all their resources etc they could always adopt or something. So I decided to pull apart the hologram thing in more detail to show why it's not just an instant solution and why Rimmer is as paranoid as he is despite having that apparent safety net there. Also, I don't think I put it in the story in the end, but making holograms of children is illegal in this AU. Hence why he's also so overprotective of the twins.

[janamelie.livejournal.com]

For some reason the thought of a child hologram never occurred to me (odd as that might seem). I can entirely understand that because bestowing that on someone without the emotional maturity and life experience to cope with it would be a really bad idea. This isn't a great analogy, but it puts me in mind of the child vampire in "Interview With The Vampire". Even most of the other vampires think what Louis did was wrong and Claudia herself comes to hate him for it, if I remember rightly.

Obviously holograms are different to vampires. But now I have an irresistible image of Rimmer frogmarching Jim, Bexley and Genevieve to have their holograms recorded on their 18th birthdays. Possibly even before they've opened their presents. ;)

[felineranger.livejournal.com]

Yes, I love that book and I had the spectre of Claudia lurking at the back of my mind too. It's kind of inverting the idea, isn't it? Claudia was a woman trapped in a child's body but a hologram would be permanently stuck mentally at whatever age they died, no matter how long they ended up existing. It's creepy, either way.