(no subject)

[voleuse.livejournal.com]

In the process of working out some fic, I've posted thoughts on the character of Zak Adama, and military education in general. Spoilers up to "Act of Contrition."

I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Comments

[livelyvc.livejournal.com]

We assume Lee is older because of the original series...but is he? The actor playing him looks older than Lee to me. I think it would be an interesting twist if Zak was the oldest....

Adama pushed him,as parents might be tempted to do with the oldest. Perhaps he felt he had to please his father and had confided some of his fears about his flying abilities to Lee.

Perhaps it is a stretch...but an interesting one...I think

A stretch...

[kimbari.livejournal.com]

I dunno, I keep hearing Lee yelling at his father "Zak did not belong in that plane!" That isn't something the *little* brother would say about the big brother. The dynamic is just wrong.

That Adama pushed *Lee* as the oldest, and expected a lot more from him, comes across pretty obviously. Adama's expections of Lee are very high - maybe too high. Who could ever live up to that?

Re: A stretch...

[livelyvc.livejournal.com]

"Adama's expections of Lee are very high - maybe too high. Who could ever live up to that?"

I don't know about that. I think his doubts about Lee's abilities come through loud and clear.

--Adama brushes off Lee's concern after he shot down the Olympic Carrier.

--That bit about not having choosen sides in Bastile Day.

--Giving Lee the good luck charm in before the big mission--don't remeber the episode.

--The boxing match in Kobols last gleaming.

Re: A stretch...

[kimbari.livejournal.com]

That's EXACTLY what I'm talking about! Adama has these expectations of Lee and Lee hardly ever hits the mark.

Re: Olympic Carrier, that was more a difference in worldview.

Re: choosing sides = expectations

Re: good luck charm. That was Hand of God. Lee thought Adama gave him that because Adama didn't think he could cut it. What was telling to me was when Lee asked him what made him (Adama) think he could do it and Adama said "because you're my son." He was supposed to excel just by dint of being a child of William Adama's loins. Serious expectations.

Re: boxing match, difference in worldview. I don't think one (staying in control) is any better than the other (losing control).

I think Lee is learning to pick *his* sides, and to live with the fact that they might not be the same ones as his father's.

[shanna-s.livejournal.com]

I think a lot of the assumptions about which brother is older are based on the fact that Zak was in flight training after Lee was. Lee has to have been a Viper pilot for more than two years or he wouldn't be a captain or eligible to be CAG now. He outranks Kara, and Kara was an experienced enough pilot to be Zak's flight instructor. So Lee was already a fairly experienced pilot when Zak was still in training to be a pilot.

It is possible that Zak was older and on some other military path then changed to go to flight school because he felt like his younger brother was showing him up, but that's unlikely.

This isn't official canon, but I noticed in the "making of" thing about the miniseries in the DVD set that EJO talks about how his character's younger son was killed. I doubt they would have used that clip if the Powers that Be thought that was incorrect.

I'm just trying to figure out which boy is which in the pictures of them as children. I guess we're supposed to assume Lee is the fairer one, since he supposedly takes after his mother.

[voleuse.livejournal.com]

In terms of timeline, I agree, because it does work a lot better if Lee is taken as the older sibling.

It's odd, because in my mind, Lee-as-older-brother is canon. Everything about his behavior kind of screams it, to me, and it didn't occur to me that there might be some other option.

[kimbari.livejournal.com]

I'm just trying to figure out which boy is which in the pictures of them as children. I guess we're supposed to assume Lee is the fairer one, since he supposedly takes after his mother.

Yeah, that keeps me up nights, too. Seriously! LOL

I think a blond kid's hair gets darker as he ages, but not as dark as Lee's did! Maybe he and his dad share the Grecian Formula. ;)

[shanna-s.livejournal.com]

I think a blond kid's hair gets darker as he ages, but not as dark as Lee's did!

Actually, it can. My little brother's hair was white blond as a very small child (so he looked bald), darkened to regular blond as he got older, was dark blond in his teens and now in his 30s is almost black. I was always the "dark" one in the family with brown hair, and now if you look at pictures of us together, his hair is darker than mine, and my medium shade reddish brown hair looks almost red in contrast to his dark brown hair. My dad's the same way. He was always blond, then his hair was almost black before it started turning gray, so he now has pepper and salt hair.

I guess the blond childhood would explain how Lee has the eyelashes and eyebrows of a blond, in spite of that dark hair. ;-) (That's one thing I find disconcerting -- normally men with his coloring have those really long, dark eyelashes women envy, and his eyelashes are nearly invisible.)

[kimbari.livejournal.com]

his eyelashes are nearly invisible.)

Yet YOU found them! *snrk*

LOL Nothing like devotion, I tellya! :)

Okay, I guess dad didn't need to share his hair dye after all. THAT's what *I* find disconcerting. That Adama's hair was grayer *before* the End of the World than it was after. You'd think it'd be the other way around!

[shanna-s.livejournal.com]

That Adama's hair was grayer *before* the End of the World than it was after. You'd think it'd be the other way around!

Hmm, maybe it's something to do with the water? More minerals in this new stuff they're using?

Or maybe the gray was hair dye to make himself look more distinguished for the decommissioning ceremony, and his dye supply ran out.

And now I'm just stretching.

As for the eyelashes, I tend to notice weird things, and the fair skin/dark hair/blue eyes combo is my absolute favorite coloring in men, but those men tend to have lovely eyelashes, so I notice it when one fits that profile, but doesn't have the eyelashes to go with it. Not that I've spent much time studying it. And if I did, it was purely research for a book I've been working on, where I have to get the coloring right for a character who fits that coloring profile. Really. Ahem.

[kimbari.livejournal.com]

Or maybe the gray was hair dye to make himself look more distinguished for the decommissioning ceremony, and his dye supply ran out.

*snort* Or maybe OUR eyes are bad and there WAS no difference! LOL

I notice eyelashes, too. I noticed Stanley Tucci's eyelashes in The Terminal. He has no hair, but he has great eyelashes. :) (I'm partial to bald men, though, which makes my letch for Adama a total mystery to me.) Apollo doesn't fit the eyelash profile because the actor is a natural blond. Maybe he should use mascara... (or not)

Not that I've spent much time studying it. And if I did, it was purely research for a book I've been working on, where I have to get the coloring right for a character who fits that coloring profile. Really. Ahem.

Riiiiiight! >:)

Sell it to someone who's gonna *buy* it! LOL