The religions of Spectrum personnel

[Spectrum Strikeforce]

"Sorry, am I missing something? Frankenstein stories? I'm not sure what what this has to do with religion."

Intensity Angel was referring to stories where the protagonist might have committed some sort of blasphemy against what Mary Shelley called "the Creator of the World." Victor "Fronkonsteen's" blasphemy was in creating a humanlike creature, a noble enough quest, then abandoning him like so much garbage.

Parker Gabriel - please let members of this forum speak for themselves. It is very impolite to answer for them unless you have their permission to do so, putting words into their mouths that they may not have intended. If you are putting your own interpretation on what someone else has said, please make it clear that this is your own thought, and not what the other person may or may not have meant.

[Parker Gabriel]

All I was doing was answering a question. My apologies for any impropriety.

[Intensity Angel]

Lucky I'm already depressed. No harm done.

I used 'Frankenstein stories' as another way of saying not stepping over the boundary/ crossing the line of what is right and what is wrong.

Religion is in my opinion one of the worst things to start firing bullets at (not real bullets, I'm using a metaphor). Religion has caused wars due to different beliefs clashing. The last thing Chris would want on here is for a massive argument to happen and for someone to feel as if their beliefs were being treated like rubbish on the floor.

[Parker Gabriel]

The Colonel is hereby petitioned to close the subject against any additional discussion, before I find myself Mysteronized and electrically destroyed.

[Intensity Angel]

Captain Scarlet came back you know.

I think this regelion topic could remain open providing that we avoid the sensitive areas. Focus could be given instead to areas like the afterlife and whether we, as fan fiction writers, believe Scarlet passes into it during times of being deceased.

And I'm getting through the worst of my depression! The sunshine is radient for the first time in ages!!!

[Skybase Girl]

Intensity - glad you are feeling better and have sunshine in your life once more !

The part that religion plays in the interpretation of the whole Captain Scarlet experience is indeed fascinating and is the subject of continuing debate on other threads.

However, it's not the thread that Parker Gabriel opened, which was about the religious beliefs of Spectrum personnel. If Mr Gabriel thinks it's time that thread was closed, then perhaps he is right and personally, I would agree with that view point.

[chrisbishop]

Thanks, folks!

I'm glad to see that you all at least agree to stay away from topics that might put people ill-at-ease. That said, the only fact that you do agree to avoid such topics, I think it is not imperative to close down this thread.

So carry on with the same decorum and carefulness you mostly used up until now.

It'll always be time to close the thread if the topic should become a little too hot or uncomfortable for some.

[Intensity Angel]

Understood Chris.

I've been thinking, in NCS we do see religious aspects, the men who bury Scarlet in Shapeshifter. Could it be safe to say that they are religious or at the least beleiev in God. Is this the kind of proof we need to determine the religions of OS characters?

[Marion]

Difficult to find any religious evidence in OCS - apart from the Temple of the Sun God at Najama - although, I think Destiny probably says 'sacre bleu' at some point. Mind you, apart from the obvious reference to God's Gift to Good Looking Puppets, I've never understood why blue is sacred... Perhaps Colonel Chris can enlighten me?

[chrisbishop]

I needed to do some research on that one... I mostly knew what it meant, but I needed confirmation.

It's quite an old fashion swearing word in French, one of those that survived from medieval times. Not that much in use, in fact, and the English speakers would know it because it was often put in the mouth of French-speaking characters in books, movies and television shows (such as Destiny). Really, the correct way to write it is in one word: 'sacrebleu'.

The word "sacre" means "curse" - which is still used in French Canada but as I understand, not that much anymore in France. As for "bleu" (blue) it was simply used to replace "Dieu" (God), in order to avoid the deep blasphemous aspect of the word. It had many variants in the past that are not in use anymore, but that you can often hear or see in movies or books, like "The Three Musketeers".

There is another etymology saying that the word 'blue' was associated to the Virgin Mary, but apparently, the explanation above is the more current.

For those who are curious, check the Wikipedia page on the subject. I was rather surprised to find it!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacrebleu

[Intensity Angel]

Yet another interesting article!

The phrase does appear in an old version of The Man In the Iron Mask, Athos (one of the Musketeers) says it. I watched it recently because I'd wondered what it meant. So thanx for clearing that one up Chris!

I've had a good look through the episodes that I do have DVD. One of my mates is sure they saw a St Christopher somewhere. I think they saw it in the Thunderbirds Are Go movie, but nonetheless I'm looking.

Looking at it from a gothic POV, the Mysterons can be seen as taboo.

[Marion]

I did consider the St Christopher medal, but thought it more of a 'cultural' icon than a religious one. It is popular as a 'good luck' talisman with travellers'. The CS St Christopher medal is in 'Manhunt'. Symphony loses it when she lands to chase Captain Black and Blue finds it when he and Scarlet are looking for her. He says he gave it to her for her birthday.

While the Roman Catholic Church still approves devotion to him, listing him in the Roman Martyrology among the saints venerated on 25 July, it removed his feast day from the Roman Catholic calendar of saints in 1969. At that time the church declared that this commemoration was not of Roman tradition, in view of the relatively late date (about 1550) and limited manner in which it was accepted into the Roman calendar.

[Intensity Angel]

I guess it is more of cultural thing, less of a religious thing. Looking back, I don't think saints are considered as religious people, more heros than anything else. Like St George who killed the dragon.

Oh and did you know that ROVER, the car company, put St Christophers in every Rover P6 that came off the production line. Just a little fact I thought I'd share.

Thanx for the info Marion, I've only got six episode and 'Manhunt' ain't one of them.

[Parker Gabriel]

I seem to have broken open TWO hornets's nests with this.

[Intensity Angel]

TWO?! That's gotta be a record!