Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Pilots

[rachelindeed.livejournal.com]

Okay, I realize this is an odd topic, even for me, but hey, it's the beginning of a long weekend for many of us, so why not sit back and make room for something just a little bit surreal? :)

For those of you who've never encountered it, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead is a play by Tom Stoppard that is set inside Shakespeare's play Hamlet.  The idea is that two minor characters from Hamlet - Rosencrantz and Guildenstern - become the main characters of this play, and they spend most of their time wandering around trying to figure out what is going on.  They only get caught up in the action for very brief moments, and the rest of the time they analyze the few things they've been told to try to understand who they are supposed to be and what they are supposed to do (for example, Hamlet calls them his "friends" so they assume they knew him at school.  The King and Queen ask them to help Hamlet, so they spend a lot of time trying to figure out what's wrong with him).  They don't remember anything from the past because they only exist when they're onstage or waiting to be onstage.  They don't know their own names, they don't know what relationships they're supposed to have with people, they just act polite and hope they can make it through the play in one piece.  Of course, they don't.  In the play Hamlet they are killed, and once they begin to suspect that they are trapped in a tragedy their story becomes a meditation on fate and free will and the meaning of death.

I would like to reimagine Season 4-4.5 of BSG as Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Pilots.  Let's imagine that Kara and Lee pop into existence at the beginning of this Season with no memory of what has happened before or who they are supposed to be, they just know that they're in this together.  In their copious time off-screen, they wander around and have secret conferences to try to deduce what is going on and how they are supposed to feel about each other and about the other characters in their lives, but they only know whatever they can piece together through observation and the clues that other characters drop in passing.  What would the last season look like through their eyes if they were uninformed observers just going along for the ride and trying to act like they know what they're doing?  What right (and wrong) conclusions might they jump to?  What impressions would they form of other characters?  Would they even try to figure out the plot?  What would they decide about their Fates, and how might they try to change them?  Most importantly, what would they decide about each other?

And if all of this seems too weird and/or complicated to think about over the weekend, then feel free to get into the spirit of the play by sharing pics of Kara and Lee (or Jamie and Katee) with their best confused, WTF? expressions.  That will help us all get into the proper frame of mind! :)

Here's a little quote from the play to give you a sense of what it's like:

Player (Leoben?): Events must play themselves out to their aesthetic, moral and logical conclusion.
Guildenstern (Kara?): And what's that, in this case?
Player: It never varies — we aim at the point where everyone who is marked for death dies.
Guildenstern: Marked?
Player: Between "just desserts" and "tragic irony" we are given quite a large scope for our particular talent. Generally speaking, things have gone about as far as they can possibly go when things have gotten about as bad as they can reasonably get.
Guildenstern: Who decides?
Player: Decides? It is written. We're tragedians, you see. We follow direction. There is no choice involved. The bad end unhappily, the good unluckily. That is what tragedy means.

Comments

[callmeonetrack.livejournal.com]

LOL. I firmly believe that after about 25 minutes of everyone's bullshit questions, Kara would grab the nearest bottle of alcohol and Lee and find a nice quiet rack to make better use of their time than getting involved in that shitstorm. Ha ha.

(She'd probably have to kiss the frak out of him and promise some rather more creative sexual favors to convince him, because Lee would love that kind of living logic problem, no doubt, but she can be very persuasive. *nods*)

[rachelindeed.livejournal.com]

Hee!

No history = NO EMOTIONAL BAGGAGE FTW!!

We've already solved all their biggest relationship problems right there. Sweet! :)

[callmeonetrack.livejournal.com]

Right?! Hee. Seriously. The girl has eyes. As does Leland. What more do they need really? ;)

(This is a great idea for a topic, as are all of yours. You're so creative! ♥ ♥ ♥)

[rachelindeed.livejournal.com]

Thank you! **hugs**

In the play they never do figure out which of them is Rosencrantz and which is Guildenstern. I do kind of love the idea of Kara and Lee wandering around for half a season trying to figure out which one of them is Starbuck, and what that even means :)

[coffeesuperhero.livejournal.com]

I have so much love for Tom Stoppard in general, and R&G Are Dead in particular. The whole "Consistency is all I ask / Give us this day our daily mask," line never fails to make me go, "Ooooooh."

That said: I agree with Tara on this one, lol. Man, now I want to reread that play and write the scene Tara is describing, in the style of Tom Stoppard. Hee.

[rachelindeed.livejournal.com]

Hee! So glad you are sharing the surreal Stoppard lovetrain!

We're more of the love, blood and rhetoric school. Well, we can do you blood and love without the rhetoric, and we can do you blood and rhetoric without the love, and we can do you all three concurrent or consecutive. But we can't give you love and rhetoric without the blood. Blood is compulsory. They're all blood, you see.

[ninety6tears.livejournal.com]

I saw the subject line and just had this total moment of giggly love for this community, LOL. Just. Yes.

So I was thinking about how a big complaint we have about that season is the fact that even though there are some nice moments with Kara and Lee, they don't have nearly enough scenes together. So I picture them in that situation, and how the scenes that the two of them have together (in comparison with other stuff the characters are involved in) would probably make the most sense out of context and sort of be easier for the existentially challenged, and I'm also thinking about how Kara would hate the on-stage part because she's probably more drawn to being in the dark than being told what to do, and I think: She'd probably be most drawn to Lee because she doesn't have to play as much of a part with him, and being on stage with him doesn't consist of the types of freak-outs she has to pull when she's around other characters. Leoben? "Where did all this paint come from anyway?" Sam? "I guess I'm supposed to pistol-whip you now or something, except...I love you. I don't know."

Lee: "So I think, we're old friends, and we're saying goodbye for a while, and we kiss."
Kara: "We're old friends...except that we kiss?"
Lee: "No, we're old friends, and we kiss."
Kara: "...Oh. Yeah, that doesn't sound too bad."

[rachelindeed.livejournal.com]

Kara: "Wait, though, so what kind of kiss should it be? Do you like me, or love me, or are you my functional brother or something?"
Lee: "Uh...well...my Dad seemed to think...but then my wife was really mad, so...I tell you what. How about we cover as many different kinds of kisses as we can, just to be safe?"
Kara: "I don't think I like playing safe."
Lee: "Well, humor me this once. Just hold still, okay?"
Kara: (rolling eyes) "Okay."

[fifteen seconds later, he pulls back and hugs her and she whispers in his ear: "I enjoyed that."]

Lee: (a tiny bit smug) "I believe you."

Hee!

Kara would hate the on-stage part because she's probably more drawn to being in the dark than being told what to do

I love that insight!

Yes, one of the things that amuses me about this idea is that it could help explain the sense of ambiguity in many of Kara and Lee's scenes together, where they are playing both "in love" and "I have no idea what our actual relationship looks like anymore, though."

I can also see them huddling together on the hangar deck for whispered conferences:

Lee: "Look, if I stick to broad statements about freedom and democracy that have no actual context in anything specific, and you act crazy and repeat the word 'Earth' for long enough, then eventually someone else will be forced to fill in the details for us, right? I mean, we can't just go on like that indefinitely."
Kara: (contemplating the ceiling) "Do you think that Death could possibly be a Spaceship?
Lee: No. Death is Not. It's the ultimate negative - Not-Being. You can't Not-Be on a spaceship.
Kara: I've frequently not been on spaceships.
Lee: No, what you've *been* is not on spaceships. At least, I'd like to think there was a time we weren't on spaceships.

La la la!

[kdbleu.livejournal.com]

Lee: "Look, if I stick to broad statements about freedom and democracy that have no actual context in anything specific, and you act crazy and repeat the word 'Earth' for long enough, then eventually someone else will be forced to fill in the details for us, right? I mean, we can't just go on like that indefinitely."
Kara: (contemplating the ceiling) "Do you think that Death could possibly be a Spaceship?
Lee: No. Death is Not. It's the ultimate negative - Not-Being. You can't Not-Be on a spaceship.
Kara: I've frequently not been on spaceships.
Lee: No, what you've *been* is not on spaceships. At least, I'd like to think there was a time we weren't on spaceships.

This is hysterical.

Kara would be so good at circular nonsense logic, which would drive Lee crazy. In fact, not knowing who they were would drive Lee crazy.

[ninety6tears.livejournal.com]

Heheee. Yeah, the fact of the ambiguity being a result of just messing around until something works is hilarious.

Lee: No. Death is Not. It's the ultimate negative - Not-Being. You can't Not-Be on a spaceship.
Kara: I've frequently not been on spaceships.
LOL. And somehow I can totally see Lee saying these things.

[kdbleu.livejournal.com]

Oh, Rachel is such a fantastic topic. My love from Stoppard knows virtually no bounds. I've got a horrible cold and my brains not working so if I don't get back to you, know that this is wonderful. *hugs*

[rachelindeed.livejournal.com]

*hugs back* Thank you, I'm glad it made you laugh! I hope you feel better soon :)

[eridani8.livejournal.com]

Rozencrantz & Guildenstern are Pilots is the coolest concept I've seen in a while and I love that there are so many people in this community that know their Stoppard. It's vaguely coincidental that you brought up this topic, because I distinctly remember hearing Katee describe the way she played Starbuck in S4 as being as though she were a new player, loaded down with this person, Starbuck's, memories, trying to figure out how she was supposed to behave, how she was supposed to be. I got the impression that Katee interpretted her S4 character as someone who (at some level) wasn't the same Starbuck that we said goodbye to in Maelstrom, but rather a new person who had to learn to put on the Starbuck persona. Which, in a roundabout way, is very much like the Ros&Guil set up.


Lee & Kara sit perched on an empty ammo crate in one of Galactica's halls, waiting for their next scene. They pass a bottle of purloined ambrosia between them.
Lee: Did you get a load of that Baltar guy?
Kara: (Snorts) Crazier than a shithouse rat.
Lee: (Nodding) Yep. Absolutely frakkin' cracked.

[rachelindeed.livejournal.com]

Wow, I had totally forgotten about that interview of Katee's until you brought it up, but you're so right -- she was halfway playing her role as R & G would in Season Four! How awesome :)

And yes, Gaius Baltar would clearly be a good topic of gossip and bafflement. To steal a few lines from Stoppard:

Lee: I think I have it. A man talking sense to himself is no madder than a man talking nonsense not to himself.
Kara: Or just as mad.
Lee: Or just as mad.
Kara: So there you have it.
Lee: Stark raving sane. (sighs) Half of what he says means something else and the other half doesn't mean anything at all.
**They both shrug and pass the bottle**

[koolaidmom11.livejournal.com]

I was in London this day and missed this entire topic. FRAKKIN AWESOME!!!! K. I'm done

[rachelindeed.livejournal.com]

Oh, yay, I'm so glad it made you smile! I would much rather have been in London than just imagining weird British literature crossovers :) I hope you had a fantastic trip!

**hugs**