I usually remember words I've heard before, so when I found out that the people of Bregna were called Breens I was pretty sure I had heard it somewhere. There was a videogame from the late 80's called "Dan Dare-pilot of the future" and it was based on a 50's TV-show or possibly a 30's-40's comic. Who knows? This Dan Dare landed on a planet called Anastasia(yes, the lost daughter of the Czar) where the inhabitants were called BREENS. This might just be another coincidence. I just remember a episode of the Simpsons where they were abducted by aliens from Rigel 4. Marge:"So you speak English?" Alien:"Actually it's Rigelian but our languages are exactly the same by an bizarre coincidence"(this was of course meant to be funny). I remember one thing that happened to me some years ago. I was reading "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley and was going to "review" it to my English teacher. Actually he was short on time and let a girl do hers at the same time as me. So what book had she been reading? "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley. WHAT!!??? Unbelievable! What are the odds on that to happen? We picked exactly the same book out of millions and were going to tell about it at the same time. Makes you wonder. Breens.

-- Vercingetorix (danijel_peek_a_boo242@hotmail.com), July 02, 2001

Answers

dan dare was a long running strip in Eagle magazine, a british publication. 50-odd years old I think. whats brave new world like anyhow? Ive tried reading it several times but get distracted by other novels. the director in the first few pages i can only see in the mold of trevor goodchild. rigel 4. how to cook FOR humans....

;)

-- shteeve (steppenwolf@breathe.com), July 02, 2001.

Brave New World was way ahead of its time and is nowadays admired by most sci-fi fans and other readers as well. I thought it was brilliant but of course the technology of the 26'th century was surpassed even in the 1960's. For instance the rockets with propellers (!) managed about 700 mph and when Huxley wrote this novel in 1932(?) he surely thought that was the speed they would have reached by 2500. Of course the Concorde, the first supersonic airliner, reached Mach 2 in 1969 already. The futuristic society is interesting, where people don't breed but are "hatched" in different models depending on what kind is needed. Actually I disagreed with the girl who had read it at the same time as I had. She thought the society was terrible whereas I said: "On the contrary, it really does work" Of course I sometimes was more at Trevor's side than Aeon's. Trevor the villain? I think he can be brilliant too. Trevor is no megalomaniac but a visionary. I'd vote for him.

-- Vercingetorix (danijel_peek_a_boo242@hotmail.com), July 02, 2001.

There is also a species called "the Breen" in Star Trek, and I believe they appeared about the same time as Aeon Flux. Which influenced which, if at all, who knows. I suspect it's just a coincidence.

-- Mat Rebholz (matrebholz@yahoo.com), July 03, 2001.

Man, those "Breens" are obviously found everywhere in the Universe.

-- Vercingetorix (danijel_peek_a_boo242@hotmail.com), July 03, 2001.

Hey, Vercingetorix. I couldn't help but notice your comment about Trevor Goodchild being a visionary. I think he is clearly a nut, or megalomaniac if you prefer. Then again so is Aeon. They're both too caught up in their own existential struggles to take much heed of anyone else besides each other. I see Trevor as being more of a Mussolini type character, or maybe a Stalin.

-- Logo (Vosepherus@aol.com), August 24, 2001.