The point I was trying to make is that "I'd amassed a certain affection for the culinary arts, that is to say, the construction of the edible" is so much more fun than "I enjoy cooking!". You don't honestly believe he takes himself seriously, writing like that? If you do you've kind of missed the point. I talk like that with my friends sometimes; it's fun trying to be as obscure and inventive as you can. Nobody sincerely believes they're any more intelectual for it. It's a difference of opinion; you think it's pretentious, I think it's hillarious.
I'm sure it was cute once. In large blocks four times a week, it's awful.
Anyway, each to their own.
Until someone feels the need to "retaliate".
(Seriously, kid -- of course anything I say is my opinion. Who elses opinion would it be? OH MY GOD! YOU DIDN'T EXPLICITLY STATE THAT SOME PEOPLE MIGHT NOT AGREE WITH YOU! holds water like a raft full of sea urchins.)
No, it wasn't 'stealing' from Star Wars. But I did think it was a cop out. And Blair's abilities in the movie are very much not pointless, but rather, a fairly substantial point of the plot.
I don't know -- as you point out in this same post, the "powers" weren't really necessary for the final jump.
And I already pointed out that my objection is not with Blair's religion, but with his special heritage. And as you've ignored now twice, his abilities are described as far more potent than what might translate to an excellent math score on the GRE. Paladin's little speech about the Pilgrims is a bit deeper than "you come from a proud people who developed beyond... beyond the need to use calculators!" He was gifted with an improved feel for the universe, he saw and did things better than the next guy down on the flightline, not on account of his training or his abilities as a pilot, but because he was fundamentally different. Yes, I do have a problem with that.
I guess I just don't see what you're getting at at all. You're talking about something historical rather than something that affects Blair's actual situation. Pilgrims were, initially, the only ones who could chart jump points -- computers to do the same function hadn't been invented yet. The fact that they were the majority of the people leaving the solar system lead them to create a religion and eventually splinter off into their own political group -- which lead to the whole backstory about the war.
The conflict about Blair's character comes from the prejudice against him assosciated with his relationship to these groups, not from some sort of amazing Jedi mind power. Computers can now (in 2654) do what Blair can, except under especially weird circumstances (like *charting* a pulsar).
I don't *love* the idea that Blair has a unique ability, however practically useless (though the connections created in the movie do help explain Tolwyn's interest in Blair -- because of having served with his father and because of Blair's unique genes... remember that Blair was one of the 'templates' used in the GE program.) I do, however, love the wealth of backstory the Pilgrim stuff added to the Wing Commander universe -- all sorts of conflict and background to hundreds of years of previously unexplored Wing Commander history. It's neat stuff.
I also understand why it was added to Blair's background -- because he didn't *have* a character beforehand. Blair was 'you' -- he didn't even have a name for five years... he doesn't even speak ten lines in the original game. That's fine for the games, but it doesn't hold up in a non-interactive story.
(Look at how the novel adaptations struggle with Blair's lack of personality -- both writers ended up having to focus on the fact that he was *old* as his flaw.)
Well played.
