Lines: 85 X-Admin: news@aol.com From: johnnypez9@aol.commiepinko (Johnny Pez) Newsgroups: rec.arts.books.tolkien Date: 05 Mar 2004 16:35:49 GMT Organization: AOL http://www.aol.com Subject: A Conversation at Lunch Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Message-ID: <20040305113549.20709.00000834@mb-m24.aol.com> Path: redlance.franklin.ch!pfaff2.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!switch.ch!news.imp.ch!news.imp.ch!nntp-out.monmouth.com!newspeer.monmouth.com!border1.nntp.ash.giganews.com!nntp.giganews.com!ngpeer.news.aol.com!audrey-m1.news.aol.com!not-for-mail Xref: redlance.franklin.ch rec.arts.books.tolkien:145378 Starbase Deep Space Nine Stardate 52407.6 "Doctor," said Elim Garak, "are you /quite/ certain this novel is four hundred years old?" It was, Julian Bashir reflected, an odd response. Of course, the thing about Garak was that you could never anticipate how he would respond to anything. He decided it would be simplest to give Garak a literal answer. "Quite apart from the numerous references to the novel in archival data going back four centuries, Garak, there are a number of printed copies in existence which have been reliably authenticated as dating back to the twentieth century." "If you say so, Doctor, then I'll take your word for it," Garak said, in a tone that implied that he would certainly /not/ take Bashir's word for it. "It's just that, in the course of reading it, I got the distinct impression that I was reading a thinly veiled account of the Dominion War." Surprised, Bashir said, "That's an interpretation that I'd never heard before. Would you care to elucidate?" "Certainly, Doctor. We begin with the hobbits, blissfully living out their lives in the pastoral paradise of the Shire. The parallel with the current state of your own race on its homeworld couldn't be more obvious. But the hobbits find their paradise compromised by the appearance of immaterial beings who obviously mean them harm. Who else could they represent but the shapeshifting Founders of the Dominion?" "Go on," said Bashir, "this is fascinating." "Well, I won't bore you with the whole exegesis, Doctor, simply point out the more obvious points of similarity. The elves are obviously meant to stand in for the Vulcans, while the Rohirrim are a picture-perfect duplication of the Klingons. The orcs couldn't be any more like the Jem'Hadar, and the Haradrim are a none-too-subtle representation of my own people, voluntarily allying themselves with the evil Dominion, as do the Easterlings, who can only be the Breen. The similarity of the dwarves to the Ferengi is quite clear, as well. The Kingdom of Gondor, of course, is meant to represent the Federation, the leader in the fight against evil." "If Gondor is the Federation," Bashir pointed out, "shouldn't the hobbits be part of it?" "Aren't they?" Garak responded. "They were apparently part of a sister kingdom called Arnor, and still under the protection of the Arnorian Rangers, who, I might add, sound suspiciously like Starfleet." Fascinated, Bashir asked, "And what about the wizards, Garak? Who do Gandalf and Saruman represent in this, ah, allegorical Dominion War?" "Oh, Doctor, I should have thought those were the most obvious of all!" said Garak with a smile. "Gandalf is an emissary from the Valar, sent to lend moral support to the forces of Good, so naturally . . . " "Naturally," Bashir finished, "he must be none other than Captain Benjamin Sisko, Emissary of the Prophets of the Celestial Temple." "Exactly! And Saruman, who is Galdalf's evil counterpart, can be none other than Gul Dukat, Emissary of the Pagh-wraiths, who betrayed the Federation and the Klingons by allying himself with the Dominion. It all fits together perfectly, Doctor." "And yet, Garak, the novel is indisputably four hundred years old," Bashir reminded his friend." "So," said Garak, "we must conjecture that this fellow Tolkien was somehow able to look forward four centuries into the future for the inspiration for his novel, perhaps through the use of his own personal palantir." "Or," Bashir countered, "Tolkien's work was so universal in its scope that even now, four hundred years later, we can see parallels between the story he told and the events of our own times." Garak smiled his inscrutable smile once again. "A novel for the ages, Doctor? Perhaps. I'd love nothing more than to continue debating the possibility, but unfortunately I must return to my shop." Bashir found himself smiling in return as the other man rose from the table. "Good-bye, Garak." "Good-bye, Doctor. Or should I say, namárië?" -- Johnny Pez Newport, Rhode Island March 2004 ###### From: coyotes rand mair fheal greykitten tomys des anges Newsgroups: rec.arts.books.tolkien Subject: Re: A Conversation at Lunch Date: Fri, 05 Mar 2004 08:50:56 -0800 Organization: 384 dis stanislaus Message-ID: References: <20040305113549.20709.00000834@mb-m24.aol.com> User-Agent: MT-NewsWatcher/3.3b1 (PPC Mac OS X) X-Complaints-To: abuse@supernews.com Lines: 10 Path: redlance.franklin.ch!pfaff2.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!switch.ch!news.mailgate.org!nntp.infostrada.it!newsfeed01.sul.t-online.de!t-online.de!195.185.185.44.MISMATCH!feed.news.tiscali.de!tiscali!newsfeed1.ip.tiscali.net!proxad.net!freenix!sn-xit-02!sn-xit-01!sn-post-02!sn-post-01!supernews.com!corp.supernews.com!mair_fheal Xref: redlance.franklin.ch rec.arts.books.tolkien:145380 In article <20040305113549.20709.00000834@mb-m24.aol.com>, johnnypez9@aol.commiepinko (Johnny Pez) wrote: > Starbase Deep Space Nine > Stardate 52407.6 said it befoere and ill say it again gosh durn those time travellers for letting jrrt steal the plot of babylon 5 and every other great story ###### Lines: 11 X-Admin: news@aol.com From: johnnypez9@aol.commiepinko (Johnny Pez) Newsgroups: rec.arts.books.tolkien Date: 05 Mar 2004 17:51:28 GMT References: Organization: AOL http://www.aol.com Subject: Re: A Conversation at Lunch Message-ID: <20040305125128.20488.00000893@mb-m28.aol.com> Path: redlance.franklin.ch!pfaff2.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!switch.ch!news.mailgate.org!newscore.univie.ac.at!newsgate.cistron.nl!news2.euro.net!news.cambrium.nl!news.cambrium.nl!border1.nntp.ash.giganews.com!nntp.giganews.com!ngpeer.news.aol.com!audrey-m2.news.aol.com!not-for-mail Xref: redlance.franklin.ch rec.arts.books.tolkien:145385 mair fheal writes: >gosh durn those time travellers for letting jrrt steal the plot >of babylon 5 and every other great story I'll leave it to the B5 fans to figure out the parallels between LotR and that show. -- Johnny Pez Newport, Rhode Island March 2004 ###### From: stealthy_tanuki@-remove-yahoo.com Newsgroups: rec.arts.books.tolkien Subject: Re: A Conversation at Lunch Organization: minimal Message-ID: <4048ca83.16843599@netnews.worldnet.att.net> References: <20040305113549.20709.00000834@mb-m24.aol.com> X-Newsreader: Forte Agent 1.5/32.452 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Lines: 9 Date: Fri, 05 Mar 2004 18:48:33 GMT NNTP-Posting-Host: 12.75.144.92 X-Complaints-To: abuse@worldnet.att.net X-Trace: bgtnsc04-news.ops.worldnet.att.net 1078512513 12.75.144.92 (Fri, 05 Mar 2004 18:48:33 GMT) NNTP-Posting-Date: Fri, 05 Mar 2004 18:48:33 GMT Path: redlance.franklin.ch!pfaff2.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!switch.ch!news.imp.ch!news.imp.ch!zen.net.uk!dedekind.zen.co.uk!news.glorb.com!wn14feed!worldnet.att.net!bgtnsc04-news.ops.worldnet.att.net.POSTED!not-for-mail Xref: redlance.franklin.ch rec.arts.books.tolkien:145388 On 05 Mar 2004 16:35:49 GMT, johnnypez9@aol.commiepinko (Johnny Pez) wrote: SNIP VERY nicely done. Pachi, pachi! -- PJ Trilogy and New Coke ###### From: Stug Newsgroups: rec.arts.books.tolkien Subject: Re: A Conversation at Lunch Date: Fri, 05 Mar 2004 14:42:06 -0500 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com Message-ID: References: <20040305113549.20709.00000834@mb-m24.aol.com> X-Newsreader: Forte Free Agent 1.92/32.572 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Complaints-To: abuse@supernews.com Lines: 21 Path: redlance.franklin.ch!pfaff2.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!switch.ch!news.imp.ch!news.imp.ch!snoopy.risq.qc.ca!peer1.stngva01.us.to.verio.net!news.verio.net!news.harvard.edu!news.dfci.harvard.edu!news.cis.ohio-state.edu!news.maxwell.syr.edu!sn-xit-03!sn-xit-01!sn-post-01!supernews.com!corp.supernews.com!not-for-mail Xref: redlance.franklin.ch rec.arts.books.tolkien:145391 On 05 Mar 2004 16:35:49 GMT, johnnypez9@aol.commiepinko (Johnny Pez) carved in mystic runes upon the very living rock: >Starbase Deep Space Nine >Stardate 52407.6 > >"Doctor," said Elim Garak, "are you /quite/ certain this novel is four hundred >years old?" > I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed that. Well done! Stug "...the Balrogs get hence with a measureless booty." --Meglin, The Fall of Gondolin (Remove 'stug' from e-mail address to contact me) FAQ-like Guide to the Letters of JRRT: http://users.telerama.com/~taliesen/tolkien/lettersfaq.html Guide to U.S. Editions: http://users.telerama.com/~taliesen/tolkien/editions.html ###### From: jsolinas7@netscape.net (Flame of the West) Newsgroups: rec.arts.books.tolkien Subject: Re: A Conversation at Lunch Date: 7 Mar 2004 22:20:55 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com Lines: 10 Message-ID: <29ddc11e.0403072220.6ae6fe9a@posting.google.com> References: <20040305113549.20709.00000834@mb-m24.aol.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: 68.48.109.158 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Trace: posting.google.com 1078726855 5146 127.0.0.1 (8 Mar 2004 06:20:55 GMT) X-Complaints-To: groups-abuse@google.com NNTP-Posting-Date: Mon, 8 Mar 2004 06:20:55 +0000 (UTC) Path: redlance.franklin.ch!pfaff2.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!irazu.switch.ch!switch.ch!in.100proofnews.com!in.100proofnews.com!news.glorb.com!postnews1.google.com!not-for-mail Xref: redlance.franklin.ch rec.arts.books.tolkien:145563 johnnypez9@aol.commiepinko (Johnny Pez) wrote in message news:<20040305113549.20709.00000834@mb-m24.aol.com>... > Starbase Deep Space Nine > Stardate 52407.6 Pardon the "me-too" post, but this was superb - a keeper. -- FotW Reality is for those who cannot cope with Middle-earth.