Author Topic: Something I just kind of noticed that struck me as odd...  (Read 2615 times)

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Offline musicman88

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Something I just kind of noticed that struck me as odd...
« on: October 21, 2009, 09:23:13 PM »
Erek and the rest of the Chee were originally created to be playmates with the Pemalites, right?  Why then do we never see or hear about Erek or any other Chee... well, actually playing with anyone.  I know that the series doesn't focus around them or anything, but wouldn't Erek or some other Chee have invited the Animorphs to play a round of soccer or something at least once and make it worth mentioning?  The Chee just kind of seem a bit too... serious.  Maybe that's just Erek, but still, it makes me wonder...
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Offline Chad32

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Re: Something I just kind of noticed that struck me as odd...
« Reply #1 on: October 21, 2009, 09:36:04 PM »
I'm not sure, besides the biased character focus towards the main cast. KA makes the Chee, Free Hork-Bajir, Yeerk peace Movement, and Auxilaries, but doesn't spend a lot of time fleshing any of them out. Though at least the Horks got a Chronicles book.


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Offline DinosaurNothlit

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Re: Something I just kind of noticed that struck me as odd...
« Reply #2 on: October 21, 2009, 09:44:13 PM »
Interesting point.  Yeah, I think that occurred to me at one point, too.  I've come up with a couple possible explanations.

First off, the Chee are more than just their programming.  They're sentient creatures too, you know?  They are not rigidly bound (well, except for the nonviolence thing) to do as they were programmed to do.  And so I think, maybe they were once playful and happy beings.  But the extinction of their masters surely had an effect on them.  I know I'd have a hard time being playful and happy all the time, if I'd witnessed death on that scale.  Plus, as Erek points out, the Chee's memories don't wear out with time the way living creatures' memories do.  So they remember that massacre just as though it had just happened.  Heck, if I were them, I'd be downright depressed, all the time.  It's a testament to their optimistic personas that they're able to function on any social level at all.

The other thing I noticed, was that it says in book 10 that they do play, with dogs and each other, in their little basement-dog-park place.  At least, I think that book mentioned some of them chasing each other around.

I imagine that the Chee probably prefer each other's company to that of humans.  After all, they're basically immortal, whereas humans grow old and die.  They probably tried to avoid getting too close to humans if they could avoid it, just to minimize on the pain of seeing a close friend die.  Erek's relationship with the Animorphs was pretty much purely professional, and necessary because he didn't want earth to fall to the Yeerks.  But he'd have no reason to want to play with them.  And since the books were told from the Animorph point of view, it stands to reason that they don't tend to see any of the Chee playing very often.

Offline anijen21

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Re: Something I just kind of noticed that struck me as odd...
« Reply #3 on: October 21, 2009, 11:37:51 PM »
yeah, you're totally right. The other thing that bothers me about the Chee is book #27. The one-digit password is funny, since the Pemalites were so trusting. Why even bother with a password at all, but hey, whatever.

So IF THEY'RE SO TRUSTING, why would they even need to conceive of some security protocol that suspends animation in case a fight breaks out? I thought the end of #27 was the most blatant deus ex machina in a series that handed them out like condoms at a progressive high school.

But yeah, the Chee. They'll never make perfect sense, from their ever-fluctuating definition of "nonviolent" to their attitudes to their holographic capabilities. They are the amazing plot caulk, used to fill whatever holes need to be filled.
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Offline Stephquiem

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Re: Something I just kind of noticed that struck me as odd...
« Reply #4 on: October 22, 2009, 01:01:51 AM »
I never really thought about it. There never really seemed to be a place for it? Since the books were very Animorph-centric, and Erek really only ever showed up to give bad news...

...Now that I've said that, I'm having images of the Animorphs passing Erek on the street and... well, reacting in whatever way would be appropriate for whoever it was. :P

Offline Darth Revan

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Re: Something I just kind of noticed that struck me as odd...
« Reply #5 on: October 22, 2009, 01:12:23 PM »
Yeah, why were the Chee even keeping an eye on the Yeerks in the first place? They had operatives everywhere before the Animorphs were even created. Why were the Chee interested in the innerworkings of the invasion in the first place? If they wanted to, they could've just lived on without even being bothered by them.
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Offline DinosaurNothlit

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Re: Something I just kind of noticed that struck me as odd...
« Reply #6 on: October 22, 2009, 01:28:37 PM »
Yeah, why were the Chee even keeping an eye on the Yeerks in the first place? They had operatives everywhere before the Animorphs were even created. Why were the Chee interested in the innerworkings of the invasion in the first place? If they wanted to, they could've just lived on without even being bothered by them.

The Chee like dogs.  And they like humans because we like dogs too.  :)  I think that's a quote from one of the books (probably #10), but I can't be arsed to go look for it.

But, seriously, if the Yeerks had taken over, they would have eliminated everything they didn't need.  Which meant dogs.  And the Chee would not have allowed that, since dogs were all they had left of the Pemalites.

Plus, with enough aliens on earth it becomes more and more likely that the Chee's secret would have been discovered.  It would have just been too risky for them, on the off-chance that the Yeerks eventually invent (and by 'invent' I mean 'steal') some kind of hologram detection technology.  Then the Chee would have been very very screwed.

Offline Darth Revan

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Re: Something I just kind of noticed that struck me as odd...
« Reply #7 on: October 22, 2009, 01:35:47 PM »
Yeah, but what could they do? They were non-violent. Why would they have operatives if they couldn't do anything to stop the invasion?

Also, why couldn't they do any non-violent sabotage? use the hologram to sneak on board, disable engines or do something to that effect. They were basically sentries that didn't check in all that often. Sure they were handy in some cases, but I think they were hugely under-used.
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Offline DinosaurNothlit

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Re: Something I just kind of noticed that struck me as odd...
« Reply #8 on: October 22, 2009, 02:12:56 PM »
Yeah, but what could they do? They were non-violent. Why would they have operatives if they couldn't do anything to stop the invasion?

Hmm, that's a good point.

Maybe, even though they had no way to know that the Animorphs were created, they could have been waiting for the Andalites to come, and then the Chee would help out by feeding them intel?

Besides, you want to know what your enemy is doing, even though you can't do anything about it.  I know I wouldn't want to just sit around and hope for the best.

Also, why couldn't they do any non-violent sabotage? use the hologram to sneak on board, disable engines or do something to that effect. They were basically sentries that didn't check in all that often. Sure they were handy in some cases, but I think they were hugely under-used.

Eh, non-violent sabotage wouldn't have done much.  If a ship has its engines disabled, if nothing else happens, then they can just fix them again, with no harm done to them.  And if something does happen (ie, an Andalite fighter comes along), the Chee would have been responsible for the deaths of everybody in the Yeerk ship.

I just thought that the Chee would never have been able to do much, even if they had taken a more active approach to the war.  I mean, if the Animorphs could just barely even slow down the Yeerks, even being able to kill freely, what could the Chee have done?

Offline Phoenix004

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Re: Something I just kind of noticed that struck me as odd...
« Reply #9 on: October 22, 2009, 02:51:10 PM »
Even if they extinction of their masters didn't affect them (which we know it did) they've had thousands of years for their programming to mature and evolve, which is possible due to them being sentient. As previously mentioned, the only thing that was strictly programmed into them was the inability to cause harm (I wonder if KA is family with the Isaac Asimov's work?) Besides that they're programming seemed to work much like that of a living sentient being; to grow and change based on the individual. They're all friendly because they were raised by a peaceful race (which is why Erek still hated violence even during the brief time that his programming was altered) and they all love dogs because they are the "descendants" of their creators.

The playground under Erek's house is probably the place they go to have fun. It's a place where they can interact with dogs and other Chee without having to hide who they are from the world.

It would be really cool to see a proper Chee Chronicles. They could start by showing how the Pemalites were destroyed (imagine seeing the death of the Pemalites from the Chee's POV) and then move on to show the Chee settling on Earth and infusing the essence of the Pemalites in wolves. After that we'd see the Chee learning to live alongside humans for the first time.
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Offline Chad32

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Re: Something I just kind of noticed that struck me as odd...
« Reply #10 on: October 22, 2009, 03:00:49 PM »
It would definitely be cool to see Erik's life from start to finish in a Chronicles book. The book could end somwhere in book 10 of the main series.

I sometimes wonder if a robot could actually be sentient, but that could get into a complicated debate, like the kind of debate I was in at another forum. It wasn't about the Chee, but just the question of whether or not robots should be treated equally to Humans if they had a good enough AI. I personally lean more towards no.


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Offline Darth Revan

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Re: Something I just kind of noticed that struck me as odd...
« Reply #11 on: October 22, 2009, 03:38:21 PM »
but just the question of whether or not robots should be treated equally to Humans if they had a good enough AI. I personally lean more towards no.

Yeah, that becomes the same like a religious debate. Neither side can be convinced that they're wrong.

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Eh, non-violent sabotage wouldn't have done much.  If a ship has its engines disabled, if nothing else happens, then they can just fix them again, with no harm done to them. 

Yeah, but it would slow down their progression.

Would the Chee be able to destroy or capture a Kandrona? Or would the fact that taking the Kandrona would lead to starvation be against their programming?
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Offline Chad32

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Re: Something I just kind of noticed that struck me as odd...
« Reply #12 on: October 22, 2009, 04:00:35 PM »
Anything that has a reasonable chance to cause harm, directly or indirectly, is against their programming.


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Offline anijen21

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Re: Something I just kind of noticed that struck me as odd...
« Reply #13 on: October 22, 2009, 04:28:13 PM »
I wonder if you could make the argument that anything that inhibits free will, including nonviolence programming, invalidates sentience...maybe the Chee were being remote-controlled the entire time.
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Re: Something I just kind of noticed that struck me as odd...
« Reply #14 on: October 22, 2009, 06:39:01 PM »
Maybe they just died off when the pamalites died. They say that dogs mourns they dead owners until they die themselves sometimes. And if they were made to love peace they have to hate war and the yeerks so thay have to fight...