Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Mercury Retrograde & Odyssey 5

We're around midway through a Mercury Retrograde period at present. During such periods, lasting 3 or 4 weeks, astrologers expect more communication hiccups of various kinds and transportation difficulties. Reviewing the past is also something in tune with the Mercury Retro "atmosphere".

All of which brings to mind the theme of a sci-fi TV series in which five occupants of a space shuttle have their consciousness sent back to Earth to inhabit the five bodies as they were 5 years earler. The five individuals are to try to re-write history. It takes a while for the full implications of that 5-year leap back, with current consciousness intact, to sink in, I found.

Think about it. Think about being yourself 5 years ago, but knowing what you know now. During some periods of 5 years it wouldn't make a big difference for me, but during certain other periods it would be a horrendous, painful and awkward thing to live through again, knowing the future.

Anyway - a little about the TV series in question -

Showtime cut off the series, Odyssey 5, in its prime after 19 episodes. I bought the "Complete Series" DVD set, knowing it was incomplete, and we'd never know the ending. The storyline sounded intriguing enough to warrant investigation.

On 7 August 2007 space shuttle Odyssey with 6 people on board: 4 astronauts, a scientist, and a TV news reporter is in space on routine duty. Those on board watch with horror as a red glow creeps over planet Earth and it implodes. The shuttle is sent out of control for a while, one astronaut dies. Remaining crew members: Commander Chuck Taggert (Peter Weller) and his son Neil (Christopher Gorham), Nobel Prize winning geneticist Kurt Mendel (Sebastian Roché), newscaster Sarah Forbes (Leslie Silva) and shuttle pilot, Angela Perry (Tamara Crag Thomas) resign themselves to their fate and wait to run out of oxygen.

The survivors accept that their own deaths are inevitable, but then the shuttle is sucked into a kaleidoscopic crystalline object, a humanoid figure appears: "The Seeker", an ancient non-organic being of artificial intelligence. The Seeker tells the five that he has seen 50 other worlds meet the same fate as Earth, but was never able to find survivors in time to help. He explains that he has the ability to send them back in time to attempt to avert the tragedy - but no more than 5 years back, and not their physical bodies, that would not be possible. Their current consciousness can be sent back to inhabit their 2002 bodies.

An extra layer of intrigue is added as the five find themselves back in 2002, five years younger physically, but with an added five years of experience. They have still to deal with physical problems of their younger years: unhappy marriage, corrupt father, drug problem, sick child, high school mentality.....classic cases of "If I'd known then what I know now" - in this case they do!

The 19 episodes document the search for perpetrators of Earth's destruction, and reasons behind it, all played out against the backdrop of said personal problems, and other new ones. Thanks to Showtime the series was not allowed to reach conclusion, so each viewer must invent their own version. No problem really - that's what we have to do in real life..... isn't it?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

GP: Mercury retrograding: Experienced during the last 3-4 days the most incredible confusions between my bank/credit cards/and messengers suposed to sort out the mess. One of them even paid out of his own pocket (which i will reimburse him of course). It was a literal "Wall of incompetence and mis-communication".

Having looked up the map of when the EURO went official (Jan 1. 2002) and seing that Mercury there retrogrades in opposition to natal Uranus, one did not need to be surprised that the "Mercozy" meeting ended in disappointment today.

You may be worrying about the Dollar and "Helicopter Bernanke", but the rest of the Globe gets more concerned about the Euro right now.

Twilight said...

Anonymous/Gian Paul ~~ Sometimes the retro periods manifest more clearly than others I've found.
Probably when the degrees involved link to our individual charts?
So far, so good this time - apart from the water tank leaking and needing replacement - but that was
hardly a Mercury matter.....and a general feeling of depression howering around (for me), but for no reason I can easily identify.

Glad your hitch was sorted out.

I'm not well informed on Euro matters. I've just had a look to see how the USD/GBP exchange rate is doing and its $1:64 to the pound sterling. I never did move some money I have still in the UK to the US - maybe if I wait even longer now it'll improve a bit more..
:-)