Thoughts on the Origin of Dash
Mar. 9th, 2008 04:07 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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eerieindianaThe big mystery of Eerie is, of course Dash-X. While the show never did get around to providing answers, a few things can be deducted.
That he's an alien is fairly obvious; while his exact relation to Ned is unknown, it can at least be assumed that they're of the same species.
The symbols on their hands are interesting; something that occurred to me when watching the Hole in the Head gang, when Dash held down the contacts on the battery -- they're not just a dash and an ex; they're not just plus and minus signs; they're positive and negative symbols, like you'll see on each end of a battery. Quite possibly, the species has figured out a way to tap thier body's own energy, like a battery.
In The Loyal Order of Corn, we see what could be examples of this technology -- the doors and cabinet that can only be opened by someone with the marks on their hands could essentially be their planet's version of an automatic door.
As for Ned . . . Ned doesn't strike me as that nice a guy. He asks Marshall to come with him to explore the galaxy, and I felt a sinister undertone. Think about it: He's only met Marshall a few hours previously, and Marshall has presented himself as a nosy kid who asks inconvenient questions. One who, Ned might see, could cause trouble for his replacement if left on Earth. So he tries to take him away (but only willingly, with both his parents there to witness, so as to avoid other inconveniences for his replacement). Marshall's lucky he said no -- I doubt he'd have liked what he'd find on the other side of the portal. Ned would see Simon as less of a concern -- with all due respect to Simon, it would be fair for Ned to view him as a foolish child who was stupid enough to get stuck on Pluto.
Perhaps Dash's habit of looking out for himself, regardless of the harm that might come to others as a result, is a trait of his species. It would likely be different around his own kind, but see Ned -- even the Order, the people closest to him, he treats as slaves in mind-control hats. Marshall's influence on Dash is stronger than we've realized, if it needs to overcome a biological trait. It's an interesting example of Nature vs. Nurture, and I wish the series had lasted long enough to explore it.
Then again, this might be a case where we've put more thought into it than the show's writers did, having years to consider it when they'd only have a few weeks to write up a script.
That he's an alien is fairly obvious; while his exact relation to Ned is unknown, it can at least be assumed that they're of the same species.
The symbols on their hands are interesting; something that occurred to me when watching the Hole in the Head gang, when Dash held down the contacts on the battery -- they're not just a dash and an ex; they're not just plus and minus signs; they're positive and negative symbols, like you'll see on each end of a battery. Quite possibly, the species has figured out a way to tap thier body's own energy, like a battery.
In The Loyal Order of Corn, we see what could be examples of this technology -- the doors and cabinet that can only be opened by someone with the marks on their hands could essentially be their planet's version of an automatic door.
As for Ned . . . Ned doesn't strike me as that nice a guy. He asks Marshall to come with him to explore the galaxy, and I felt a sinister undertone. Think about it: He's only met Marshall a few hours previously, and Marshall has presented himself as a nosy kid who asks inconvenient questions. One who, Ned might see, could cause trouble for his replacement if left on Earth. So he tries to take him away (but only willingly, with both his parents there to witness, so as to avoid other inconveniences for his replacement). Marshall's lucky he said no -- I doubt he'd have liked what he'd find on the other side of the portal. Ned would see Simon as less of a concern -- with all due respect to Simon, it would be fair for Ned to view him as a foolish child who was stupid enough to get stuck on Pluto.
Perhaps Dash's habit of looking out for himself, regardless of the harm that might come to others as a result, is a trait of his species. It would likely be different around his own kind, but see Ned -- even the Order, the people closest to him, he treats as slaves in mind-control hats. Marshall's influence on Dash is stronger than we've realized, if it needs to overcome a biological trait. It's an interesting example of Nature vs. Nurture, and I wish the series had lasted long enough to explore it.
Then again, this might be a case where we've put more thought into it than the show's writers did, having years to consider it when they'd only have a few weeks to write up a script.
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Date: 2008-03-10 04:06 pm (UTC)As I said, common genetic strand is plausable enough. In any case, he'd be annoyed at them when he got back with knowledge they'd been there and didn't bother checking for him.
But then, Ned seemed to have been aware of Dash being in Eerie already -- putting out the sign, apparently in an effort to directly seek another of his kind, and he was aware that Dash had no knowledge of thier race. Perhaps an experiment on Ned's part, a cloned replacement he grew on his own -- perhaps with a few bugs ironed out, so Dash would become ageless at an earlier point and not be stuck as an old guy for a century. There was some glitch in the clone tank, and Dash got released early. On his own, in Eerie, with no actual memories and no means to support himself, he did what he could and became the Dash we meet in Hole in the Head Gang. Ned noticed him in town and put up the notice in hopes of drawing him in, to take up the role that Ned had intended for him.
Well, I've seen it in other storylines involving clones -- to speed up the rate at which they can develop, language files and so forth are loaded directly into their brains so they don't have to spend an extra decade in Clone School.