1019 Guinea Pig

[QL Damsel]

Guinea Pig
April 2, 1959

Secret U.S. Military Base, New Mexico


In 2004, the U.S. Military needs to shut down all Level 1 Top Secret projects that are not weapons-related. The cost of maintaining an operation in Iraq after 9/11, plus the rekindling of the space program by President Bush have forced costs to be cut. In short, PQL will be dismantled, Ziggy terminated, and the PQL staff reassigned to other projects. Al must find a way to convince a four-star general to give them more time to get Dr. Beckett back, or try to convince him that the project works. Sam, in 1959, must figure out his objective without information from a dying Ziggy or from Al, while having leaped into a dying man whose medical records are classified with no listing of date of death. Sam breaks some rules in helping a quantum physics specialist finish his Time Displacer Unit so that Sam can use it to get home.


Written by: Greg Carey


Thanks,
TVS Team

[QL Damsel]

Our rating system this season consisted of six raters! We took the average of six raters and came up with an average for that episode.

Based on ratings of 10 being the highest and 1 being the lowest, the average of this episode was: 8.6


Some of the comments given were:

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Valery S. Gemini said:
Reading this was a bit terrifying... because these "budget cuts" schemes sound SO true in OUR reality. Of course there's no PQL in our world, but I'm sure that a few scientific projects, and thus people, do suffer now, because of that almost uncontrollable urge of a few politicians to look under everybody else's pillow for hidden terrorists or WMD (ooops - a part of myself tells me this ain't a political forum... sorry)

Back to our favorite topic, then. This idea of using the current world events & politics to explain how PQL could be stopped is just brilliant, treated much more realistically than in the early TV ep which dealt with the same problem. This description of a "dying" complex sounds so true, that I could almost hear Ziggy (with a HAL 9000-like voice): "I'm afraid, Al..."

The "Sam" part is terrifying as well: is it ONLY the author's imagination -as I hope, or did they REALLY used terminally ill people to run such kind of tests in the 50's? Sam's "huge mistake": considering the little info he knew and the lack of usual help from A & Z - not to mention a possibility for him to go home, he had no other options. We already know that he'll put "this" wrong right next week, but HOW?

Only one VERY small disappointment with this story (but maybe my comment will become obsolete with part 2?): there's almost nothing on Sam's reaction after he knows that PQL is being shut down, and what this means for him, losing Al forever, being stranded in time, etc.

Never mind that. Another new author, another EXCELLENT episode. Thanks again to all the VS producers and writers!

RATING: 9.25

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Sporty said:
I would rate GUINEA PIG an 8 (This was a good story. It is a good read.)

RATING: 8.0

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Morris Finkle said:
This story just blew me away. What got me at first was how quickly Sam disregarded his rules... it seemed very out-of-character for him, but seeing as how Ohdee's cancer was "bleeding" into him, I can overlook it. A terminal illness has a way of affecting a person's judgment, as some other past stories have explored. And from the way Part 1 of this story ended, I think Sam's moment of weakness is going to have far-reaching consequences for a long time to come... even AFTER he fixes his "mistake," if he CAN. Or perhaps, they already HAVE... (With time travel involved, tenses tend to get a bit mixed up.)

Excellent job, Greg! Welcome aboard!

(By the way, I LOVE the part about the British Invasion! Heh heh!)

RATING: 9.25

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Seeker said:
Interesting story line and nicely written. Will be interested to see how this is resolved in Part 2.

RATING: 8.0

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Sparky said:
No comment given.

RATING: 8.5

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Kazzi said:
Unable to rate.

RATING: NR

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Now, it's your opportunity to rate this particular story. Let the author(s) know how you rate this story. If you'd like to give feedback, please go ahead and leave a reply!

Thanks!
The Virtual Seasons Team

Greg, I know I told you this in an e-mail before, but...

It's SCARY that the original idea I had many years ago that ultimately evolved into "Second Genesis" was SO similar to what you wrote in "Guinea Pig."

Without giving too much away, is it possible that I could refer to this "damage to the space-time continuum" in an upcoming story? This could tie in with all that "inconsistency" stuff you mentioned elsewhere. A "rift in the fabric of time"...

If you want, I could e-mail you my ideas... Anyway, great story so far! I don't know if I can wait to read Part 2! Especially since I know about... something you're going to reveal...

Welcome to the fold, indeed!

[DeadZoneLeaper]

Hey D-Man,

You might want to wait to see what Sam does (or doesn't do you might say...)...I cant say anymore now until Part II hits next week...Part I is just a set-up to a small plot-twist that may have an impact on a lot of previous stories...Will Sam repair the major damage to the space/time continuum or not? You'll have to wait a week...hehehe

Dman..email me your idea and I can at least hint if it will work or not..You know about the plot twist but there's a little more to it than what I told ya...

[leaper1]

Well, Greg is it?

What a powerful debut!
Some really great touches.
I agree with Morris about the uncharacteristic nature of Sam's selfishness, but as he said, terminal illness breeds drastic actions. I doubt many would resist the temptation to save themselves.

Looking forward to the exciting conclusion next week.

Well done, and welcome aboard - what do you have up your sleeve for the next one?

[Vince Beckett]

Great story here. It introduces Alexander Garner, who becomes an important character in the Eleventh Season.

[DeadZoneLeaper]

After revisiting some of my stories recently, I just remembered that a scene from this episode was almost very eeriely duplicated in a movie. My original draft for this story had Sam leap in and find himself in the ditch in the desert just like normal. The part I cut out was him getting out of the ditch and finding he was near a street of houses out in the middle of nowhere. I cut it because I felt it was too long a segment for the "leap-in" where he spent some time going into a few of the houses, and found them "deserted" except for furniture and mannequins propped in different rooms. WHen I saw Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull last summer in theaters, I nearly (pardon the pun) leaped out of my seat. On the big screen was Sam (OK - Harrison Ford actually as Indiana) running into the deserted house, and then the kicker was the long shot of the neighborhood as it pulled back to reveal the long cylindrical tower that housed the bomb about to be detonated while the sirens blared... However in Guinea Pig, the bomb was extremely less powerful as it was a test of a Perfect Clean Hydrogen Bomb. The US government really did (without any success) try to make these bombs so that they could destroy enemy cities but have little to no radioactive fall-out. In Sam's case fortunately, it was a smaller bomb with much less power and radiation... Anyway, if you saw Indy 4 (whether you liked it or not as it has sparked debate among fans), you can at least get an idea of what Sam leaped into (minus the neighborhood but with a trench instead)...