TO: READERS OF TTGSiMH
FROM: CMDR SUE
Over the holidays my sister Cmdr Tal made a joke during a viewing of the Star Wars trilogy regarding the bureaucracy that would underlie an enormous undertaking like the Deathstar. She pointed out that any bureaucrat worth his salt would have documented when Darth Vader requested actions outside of normal policies and procedures, and would have popped over to a console to jot off a quick email to darth.vader@deathstar.gov, perhaps with a copy to the Emperor's executive assistant and two witness on the bridge, to back up why said actions were taken. "Lord Vader, as per your instructions on Imperial Date XXX, I have countermanded Imperial Code XV.I.2, subsection 3, paragraph 4." In the hopes of, you know, not getting blamed when the Deathstar blows up.
That made me start to think about all of the mundane bureaucracy that would be at the heart of our favorite sci-fi and makes me declare that Mondays will now be Sci-Fi Bureaucracy Day. Yep, I'm putting a FOIA request out for the future. Check in to see what emails, forms, and other gems of everyday documentation added up to form the underpinning of our favorite science fiction stories. (Except for The Hitchhiker's Guide, I suppose. It was very straightforward about the bureaucracy of the future.)
*Note: Due to a flux in the time/space continuum this post was drafted on Saturday and posted on Tuesday, but is documented with the date/time that was originally intended.*
Awesome idea. We actually get to see a little bit of the bureaucracy in Serenity...but mostly we're left to imagine the vast bureaucratic mess that is The Alliance.
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