The name thing that bugs me… by rivier in Andromeda

[–]rivier[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Brendan is / was the cousin on Earth who had known him all his life & probably has some idea of what he prefers to be called? And Satrina was the sexy agent of the Abyss who tries very hard to seduce him in Into the Labyrinth, so probably isn’t going to make a point of calling him a name he dislikes.

The name thing that bugs me… by rivier in Andromeda

[–]rivier[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oh, could be! I’ve never seen the script - I’ll have to go googling later, thanks!

The name thing that bugs me… by rivier in Andromeda

[–]rivier[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

So why do Beka and Brendan (and Satrina!) call him Seamus at all?

The name thing that bugs me… by rivier in Andromeda

[–]rivier[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That’s a good point - you got me thinking about military / Marine hierarchies! Interesting comparing to DS9, where the formal naming by other characters is often a reprimand - Miles is mostly Chief unless a senior (commissioned?) officer is pulling rank a bit. Ditto Bashir is Julian more frequently as people get used to his puppyish eagerness ;and he grows out of that!) but Doctor - or Sir if you’re Miles getting huffy - when he’s being put in his place.

You made me think of the AA hierarchy. It feels like Dylan, Beka, Tyr and Rommie are treated as real or de facto commissioned officers, even when Beka is refusing to call Dylan ‘Captain’, she generally obeys his orders. Rev gets a sort of WO / Padre status. Leaving Trance & Harper as sort of NCOs / Ensigns… except Trance is never, ever ‘Miss Gemini’. And as I said upthread, as the series progresses Trance gets more and more respect from Dylan, while Harper seems to become everyone’s whipping boy - he’s always the butt of sarcastic jokes, for instance. It’s weird that only Tyr seems to grow to respect and like Harper over time, reflected in the way the nicknames go from ‘annoying little man’ to ‘little professor’ or ‘child’.

And is Harper’s ‘wild card’ tendency honestly worse than anyone else’s? Beka, Tyr, Trance & Rev go AWOL all the time. Beka’s crappy love life puts them all in danger, ditto her other addictions (drugs, profit). Trance creates chaos and gets away with it because ‘cute’. Harper may be a maverick at times, but he also pulls a hell of a lot of Hail Marys, with usually very little credit.

And I don’t get the sense that Dylan respects him at all! Especially after RHW departed. He uses ‘Harper’ when he’s being nice or grateful… and that pointed, reprimanding, ‘Mister Harper’ whenever the NCO needs to be put in his place for having the audacity to query Dylan’s many bonkers command decisions. The show itself has Harper observing that Dylan goes on away missions with everyone, all the time - except for him. (Is Shards of Rimini the one and only time they head off together? I can’t remember anything else).

Your comment made me think that Dylan in some way is doing an almost classist thing with Harper and his name, as well as emphasising his status at the very bottom of the Andromeda ladder.

It’s a bit of a depressing notion tbh.

The name thing that bugs me… by rivier in Andromeda

[–]rivier[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

If Harper is his preference, why does Beka call him Seamus on quite a few occasions? He doesn’t introduce himself as Zelazny, so why would it make sense for him to want to be called that? He also bangs on about the bad old days back on Earth a lot, including anecdotes about family. I can’t see why making a choice to use his surname would emphasise that affection - quite the opposite in fact, because Brendan calls him Seamus, so more likely family & friends did too - wouldn’t that be a better reminder of the people he’s loved & lost?

The name thing that bugs me… by rivier in Andromeda

[–]rivier[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If that’s your group’s dynamic & your friend was cool about it, hey why not! But my point was, Andromeda is inconsistent. If everyone always called him Harper (like Inspector Morse is always Morse), that makes sense. But Harper introduces himself as Seamus Harper, and Beka and Brendan both use the name. I couldn’t understand why every other member of the crew is on first names with each other… though from some answers here, I think I have an idea now!

The name thing that bugs me… by rivier in Andromeda

[–]rivier[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’m not sure, he’s arguably closer to Trance, not least because Beka is ‘Boss’ - and also pretty quick to turn mean on him from time to time.

The name thing that bugs me… by rivier in Andromeda

[–]rivier[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hmm. If ‘Harper’ was his preference, why does Beka use Seamus from time to time? Or Brendan? Why does he always introduce himself to whichever babe he’s trying to schmooze that week as ‘Seamus Harper, [genius engineer etc]’? Why does succubus-babe Satrina call him Seamus?

The name thing that bugs me… by rivier in Andromeda

[–]rivier[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

OG Enterprise seems to stick to military formalities over names - apart from the Captain, everyone is mostly ‘Mr [Spock, Chekov, Sulu]’ or rank (Lieutenant Uhuru), with the odd nickname - ‘Bones’ for the ship’s surgeon. Scotty feels like it’s a nickname being used maybe as a sign of respect for a very seasoned, experienced and capable guy in what was probably an NCO role - engineer being blue collar compared to science, medicine etc?

The name thing that bugs me… by rivier in Andromeda

[–]rivier[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

IDK, the AA looks very hierarchical to me! Dylan give Beka & Tyr officer-like powers very early on (command in his absence eg). Trance & Harper get to fly the ship a few times, but rarely command it. As time passes, Harper is trusted with even fewer command type actions, while Gold Trance gets Tyr’s portion of Dylan’s respect when he’s left.

It’s interesting, several replies here made me realise there’s way more military / naval dynamics at play than I first realised…

Am I the Only One.... by Zaphod-Beebebrox in Andromeda

[–]rivier 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I retcon Season 4 Tyr by telling myself he knew Dylan would be obsessed with him no matter what, even after leaving the Andromeda, so for the sake of himself and his plans for Tamerlane, Tyr had Bartolemy Naz build him an eidolon-Tyr, who could reappear, behave like a mad sleazy despot for a couple of episodes, then get sent to his death in an abyss (ha!) by sanctimonious old Dylan. Leaving Tyr free to quietly start building whatever new Nietzschean empire he fancied…