HIGHLA-L Digest - 14 Oct 2002 to 15 Oct 2002 (#2002-176)
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Tue, 15 Oct 2002 22:00:01 -0400
There are 4 messages totalling 189 lines in this issue.
Topics of the day:
1. They also serve (3)
2. Literary references in HL (was--They also serve)
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Date: Tue, 15 Oct 2002 08:46:54 -0500
From: Johanne =?iso-8859-1?Q?Bri=E8re?= <jojoann@videotron.ca>
Subject: They also serve
Bon matin tout le monde,
Saw parts of "They also serve" on Thursday as I stayed home from work.
Now, I started to wonder about the title. Is it one of those idiomatic
expression that has another meaning which I do not know or is it simpler
than that ?
Who also serve and what do they serve ?
Isn't the point of the episode to show that the relationship between
Watchers and Immortals in a big no-no ? (beside the silly fact that Duncan
leave his sword behind in the safe safe-keeping of Richie!)
So if the point is to show that Watchers must only watch, should they also
serve ? and like I said serve what ?
Tigidou, à la prochaine,
JoAnne
jojoann@videotron.ca
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Date: Tue, 15 Oct 2002 09:13:04 -0400
From: Ace!Miracle <ke731458@pegasus.cc.ucf.edu>
Subject: Re: They also serve
On Tue, 15 Oct 2002, Johanne [iso-8859-1] Brière wrote:
> Saw parts of "They also serve" on Thursday as I stayed home from work.
[snip]
> So if the point is to show that Watchers must only watch, should they also
> serve ? and like I said serve what ?
I took it as "They watch, and they also serve." The title makes a
statement of fact (Joe and what's-her-face serve [help] their Immortals),
and then wrestles with the idea if they should serve. Which equals help.
Which equals interfere.
Joe has to make the decision to "serve" because the woman Watcher has
already done so and unleveled the playing field. I always felt there
should be a question mark at the end of that title...
--Miracle
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"I got power, I'm proud to be loud; my signal goes out clear. I want
everybody to know that Mozo is here--on the air." --Peter Gabriel, 1978
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Minor Major Miracle: Time Lady, Jedi Knight, Occasional Grad Student
and if you can read this you only live in 4 dimensions
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Date: Tue, 15 Oct 2002 08:21:38 -0500
From: Kamil <kamil@cox.net>
Subject: Re: They also serve
"Johanne Brière"
> Now, I started to wonder about the title. Is it one of those idiomatic
> expression that has another meaning which I do not know or is it simpler
> than that ?
It's part of a Milton poem entitled "On His Blindness". Text follows:
When I consider how my light is spent
Ere half my days in this dark world and wide,
And that one talent which is death to hide
Lodg'd with me useless, though my soul more bent
To serve therewith my Maker, and present
My true account, lest he returning chide,
"Doth God exact day-labour, light denied?"
I fondly ask. But Patience, to prevent
That murmur, soon replies: "God doth not need
Either man's work or his own gifts: who best
Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best. His state
Is kingly; thousands at his bidding speed
And post o'er land and ocean without rest:
They also serve who only stand and wait."
It's pretty obvious that the last line, 'they also stand and wait' is intended
to refer to the real purpose of the Watchers, not the perverted version that
whazhername was running. As I recall, Joe actually tells her, "Now we wait"
after he's sent Richie to take Duncan's sword to him.
So I suspect that's it. :)
--
Kamil
"Some people juggle geese."
"Our Mrs. Reynolds" Firefly
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Date: Tue, 15 Oct 2002 08:20:11 -1000
From: MacWestie <mac.westie@verizon.net>
Subject: Re: Literary references in HL (was--They also serve)
Way back when, I collected literary references in Highlander for a HL Forum
post, & this ep title from Milton's poem was one of them. As Kamil noted,
it seems to indicate that the Watchers are _supposed_ to watch, record,
wait--all passive behavior--as the Immortals rage upon the earth.
Below are several other literary references (ep titles & otherwise), some
just bare-bones that I lifted from Bartlett's Quotations. There were so
many Shakespearean references that I separated them out. Ditto for
Biblical/religious references.
Others I missed?
Nina
mac.westie@verizon,net
--Literary references in HL (other than Shakespeare, other than
Biblical/religious)
1. Revenge is Sweet--Lord Byron's "Don Juan" ("Sweet is revenge--especially
to women.")
2. Eye of the Beholder--Margaret Wolfe Hungerford's "Molly Bawn" ("Beauty
is in the eye of the beholder.") & Lew Wallace's "The Prince of India"
("Beauty is altogether in the eye of the beholder.")
3. They Also Serve--John Milton's "On His Blindness" ("They also serve who
only stand & wait."
4. Little Tin God--Kipling's "Public Waste" "Little Tin Gods on Wheels.")
5. The Valkyrie--Wagner's opera "Ride of the Valkyrie."
6. Chivalry--DM & Methos in the tag--"I dislike death, but there are some
things I dislike more than death. Therefore, there are occasions where I
will not avoid danger." Roughly--death before dishonor. Chinese philosopher
Mencius
7. Mortal Sins--DM to Ann--"The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is
for good men to do nothing." Edmund Burke
8. Band of Brothers--DM to Grayson--"The best laid plans of mice &
men...."--Robert Burns
9. The Modern Prometheus--lots of Lord Byron's verse, including a fragment
from the last canto of "Childe Harold" in the tag (& bits from "The Corsair"
during the Q)
10. Counterfeit I--Horton to Pete--"Divide & conquer."--Machiavelli (also,
DM says it to Tessa in The Hunters)
11. Mortal Sins--DM to goon--"Mens sana in corpore sano." (A sound mind in
a sound body.)--Decimus Juvenel
12. The Messenger--Methos re: the other Methos--"Imitation is the sincerest
form of flattery."--Charles C. Colton
13. Justice--DM & Baptista--"To lose one parent may be regarded as
misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness."--Oscar Wilde's "The
Importance of Being Earnest"
14. Two of Hearts--"Charity begins at home"--Terence (Publicus Terentius
Afer) & Sir Thomas Browne.
15. See No Evil--featured George Bernard Shaw's "Man & Superman."
16. Bless the Child--Terence's "Moderation in all things."
17. Dramatic License--in the teaser, Fantasy Duncan reads from Donne's "On
His Mistris."
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End of HIGHLA-L Digest - 14 Oct 2002 to 15 Oct 2002 (#2002-176)
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