Warning - 'tis playtime, and totally uncanonical playtime at that ...
Dana wrote: <I can't make up my mind whether I think Blake went to one of [the universities] or to a specifically engineering school (something like CalTech or MIT, maybe).
Well, specifically we don't know that he's an engineer ... but I think he is :-) It's impossible to tell, of course. The Federation's educational structure could be completely different from our own. Wherever he went, I have the feeling he mixed a fair bit with other grades (which would help explain his marked egalitarian ideas and manner).
<We haven't been told whether one goes to Federation Space Academy after or instead of college--presumably the latter, if Tarrant is old enough to have various post-graduate adventures. Presumably Servalan also went to FSA, although my mind boggles.>
Maybe the Federation has special 'elite' schools where students who show great academic or political promise are sent whether they want to be or not (something like the Adolf Hitler schools); Servalan could have gone straight from there to officer cadet training; Avon *could* have also been sent there (as a prospective genius in a very useful field) and learned how the 'priveleged' lived, then got booted out :-) when he proved to be rather less than malleable. Blake wouldn't have lasted 10 days in such a places anyway, IMO, even as a child (I'll bet he was hell to try and order around from the age he learned the words 'no' and especially 'why???'
<We aren't told that Jenna DIDN'T go to FSA, but I tend to doubt it. So where, if anywhere, did she go to college?>
I doubt it too; again speculating, it's quite possible that she first learned piloting as part of a youth organisation (spaceship piloting being something you don't just pick up in high school :-)). The thing is, she *could* have come from a criminal family background, but I also doubt Servalan would describe such a background as 'superior', so the probability is that Jenna's family are more respectable than she is ... yes, yes, I know Blake's an Alhpa with political-criminal connections (Ushton) but I do think the word 'political' is important here.
<Gan and Vila probably didn't go to college ->
Though - if the fanfictional assumption that Gan comes from a farming background can be accepted - he could have been to the equivalent of an agricultural college. Vila's education, methinks, was definitely Artful-Dodgerish.
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Sally said:
The Federation's educational structure could be completely different from our own.
True--in fact, if you can wipe minds, maybe you can install information, and even if not, advances in cybernetics might reduce the length of the course.
I doubt it too; again speculating, it's quite possible that she first learned piloting as part of a youth organisation (spaceship piloting being something you don't just pick up in high school :-)).
However, from Time Squad we see that, even allowing for Jenna being an excellent teacher, in a few weeks? months? Gan, Vila, and Avon have picked up enough piloting not only to keep the thing upright but to perform the docking maneuver. And Jenna had to sleep sometime, and someone had to be responsible for piloting at those times.
The thing is, she
*could* have come from a criminal family background, but I also doubt Servalan would describe such a background as 'superior',
Unless she admired them for being good at it (and providing generous contributions to the Servalan Retirement Scheme)
so the probability
is that Jenna's family are more respectable than she is ... yes, yes, I
know
Blake's an Alhpa with political-criminal connections (Ushton) but I do
think
the word 'political' is important here.
Though - if the fanfictional assumption that Gan comes from a farming background can be accepted -
Of course, in MY fanfic he used to be a bank manager
-(Y)
From: "Dana Shilling" dshilling@worldnet.att.net Subject: Re: FW: [B7L] Alma Mater
And Jenna had to sleep sometime, and someone had to be responsible for piloting at those times.
Are you sure that Jenna needed sleep?
She seemed to be quite alert throughout the trip to XK72 (Breakdown).
The trip was said to take 150 hours; Zen refused to set a course to the station, so Jenna took them there on manual control.
Part of the way there, Zen took the computers off line because of the orange swirly thing; Jenna was still on manual control, and they got Zen back when they arrived at the station.
That's a pretty impressive piece of flying - over six days continually spent at the manual controls, and we never saw her take a break!
Wildean
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Dana Shilling -
Pat Sumner -
Sally Manton