Dying on a far away planet

[peterkienle]

Recently I started watching Stargate Universe. I am actually quite drawn in as long as I ignore all the sounds in space.

Just in case you don't know: A group of people end up on an ancient space ship (which looks like a giant airplane) which travels through space at FTL speeds. It drops out of FTL every so often to refuel by diving into a star. It also makes frequent stops close to planets which have a stargate. Of course the humans explore the planets and in the last few episodes a few of them don't make it back to the ship before it goes back into FTL (it does all of that automatically). Now they are stranded on some alien planet, millions of light years from home and I find it very emotional.

So here is the question: I am a godless atheist who doesn't believe in an after life, etc. But why should dying on a planet so far removed from Earth have such an emotional impact? Watching these scenes felt like the loneliest thing ever.

[Noclevername]

I am a godless atheist who doesn't believe in an after life, etc. But why should dying on a planet so far removed from Earth have such an emotional impact? Watching these scenes felt like the loneliest thing ever.

Humans are social animals. No matter what your beliefs, you still have the human instinct to gather around the dead to mourn. Ancient protohumans and humans probably had a lot of hunters or gatherers who just walked out of camp one day, and never returned, no body found, nothing. The desire to know what happened to them must have been overwhelming in the survivors, and we inherited their need to know.

[Solfe]

Saying goodbye to those who have past away, even symbolically, is just something that people do. I would place it in the same category as laughing, smiling and crying.

[PlutonianEmpire]

On Star Trek, this is a regular occurrence, obviously, but every now and then, it happens to one of the major characters, which would give these events a bit of a bigger emotional impact.

[swampyankee]

So here is the question: I am a godless atheist who doesn't believe in an after life, etc. But why should dying on a planet so far removed from Earth have such an emotional impact? Watching these scenes felt like the loneliest thing ever.

Hopefully, I don't trip over the "don't talk about religion" rule. Since I'm not a godless atheist (isn't "godless atheist" redundant?), but I'm also not a theologian, I may be in error, but my understanding of the three great monotheistic religions (Christianity, Judaism, and Islam) is that G-d is omnipresent, so there isn't any religious concern about the location where one dies. For any of the other religions, major and minor, I've no idea.

[Cougar]

But why should dying on a planet so far removed from Earth have such an emotional impact?

"Emotional impact" is a curious thing. Dying is typically a sad thing, but if a bad guy gets killed, we might think, "He got what he deserved." So obviously context matters. Why do you think so many movies have a scene near the end where a crowd of people are clapping? This is a formula that apparently goes to an innate human response.

I just saw a movie with significant emotional impact. Temple Grandin. Autistic savant. Very good. Claire Danes as Temple Grandin was extraordinary.

[primummobile]

I think that dying is probably the most lonely experience anyone could face. I know that when I do die, I would prefer to do it with people I love around me. If that isn't possible, I would still prefer to be on Earth, so I can go out with some connection to my life still intact.

I think it will always have an emotional impact if you see someone else going through that. The scene from Saving Private Ryan in the loft of that building where the German very slowly stabs the American through the heart makes me a little ill to even think about. Part of the reason it is so powerful is because it is such a personal kill. But the more powerful thing for me is that he died on a foreign continent, far from home, and no one will ever know what he said or how terrified he was when he died. That's probably the most powerful death I've seen in a movie and it shows perfectly how alone we are when we die.

Dying on another planet would be, in my opinion, much worse. I would have volunteered in a minute to go to the moon, had I even been alive then. But I wouldn't want to have been the Command Module Pilot. The very real possibility that I may have had to leave my friends behind to die alone on an alien world would have weighed too heavily on my mind.

[TJMac]

This thread really makes me think. I have had two relatives die, at the time, quite alone while it happened. One was while I was in my teens, the other in my mid twenties. At the time, I remember having some distress at the thought of being alone at that moment. I do not know if it matters, but both died by their own choice, at the end of a lengthy and incurable illness, whereas quality of life was about to take a sharp downturn.

I have always suffered a bit from wanderlust, and the thought of sitting foot on another planet seems, well, amazing I guess. I would now, or would have at any time in life, been happy to be part of a colonization effort, even knowing that I would not set foot on Earth again. (I feel strongly about this. Several threads have given me some thought, and as much as I feel Earth is a spectacular and beautiful planet, a part of me still wants to put boots down on another planet.)

That said, dying alone is not currently an issue for me. In at least one very near death experience, with friends nearby, I remember nothing of what they told me later, including the one that held my hand and kept me conscious waiting for the ambulance, nor of the pretty lady who stopped to help, and later sent flowers to my hospital, purely as an act of random kindness. I expect the experience, be it peaceful or painful, will be quite private and alone, whether there are people next to me, or if I were alone on a distant planet. I doubt my last words will be of any importance.

That is my personal feeling. I do not want my son or daughter to die alone on a distant planet. I suspect some form of depression that causes me to look at death as less than the enemy I once considered it. (Self-diagnosis anyone?)

So, it makes sense, that a character that you have grown to like, could cause some emotional feelings, thinking of them alone and dying in an alien place. It has long been my assertion, that it is proof of good writing if you experience genuine feelings for fictional beings.

TJ

[R.A.F.]

I think that dying is probably the most lonely experience anyone could face. I know that when I do die, I would prefer to do it with people I love around me.

Call it my "wicked" sense of humour, but this comes to mind...


"When I die, I want to die like my grandfather--who died peacefully in his sleep. Not screaming like all the passengers in his car"

[danscope]

" Rumors of my demise have been grossly exaggerated . " Mark Twain

[primummobile]

Call it my "wicked" sense of humour, but this comes to mind...


"When I die, I want to die like my grandfather--who died peacefully in his sleep. Not screaming like all the passengers in his car"

Humor aside, it would probably be preferable to die unaware rather than to see it coming in slow motion. So in that case, no loved ones!

[starcanuck64]

Empathy is a big part of being human so I can see getting emotional about people dying in a very lonely place...but I recently got really emotional over the ST(NG) episode "The Offspring" where Data builds a "child" Lal who soon dies.