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Eden

 Eden
type
TVTItem
 Eden
label
Eden
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Eden
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A 1959 Science Fiction novel by Stanisław Lem. A routine flyby by a human exploratory spaceship ends with the crash of the ship on an uncharted planet. The crew survive, but find themselves stranded in a strange and clearly inhabited world. They then face two tasks: the first is repairing their mangled ship and technical equipment to hopefully return to space and ultimately home. The second is to find out as much as possible about the inhabitants to determine whether they pose a threat and ideally, make contact. But the society of the inhabitants of Eden, the “Doublersâ€�, is strange and troubling, and making contact might be harder than initially thought.
 Eden
fetched
2024-05-04T20:32:38Z
 Eden
parsed
2024-05-04T20:32:39Z
 Eden
isPartOf
DBTropes
 Eden / int_1161fb48
type
Bizarre Alien Biology
 Eden / int_1161fb48
comment
Bizarre Alien Biology: Not surprising for Stanisław Lem, but the Doublers really deserve special mention. Their name derives from their bodies appearing to consist of two parts: a big, bear-like translucent section which is similar to a shell or coat, but which is also used for walking, and a small, thin brownish torso with arms and a head which is connected to the inside of the shell and can be retracted into it.
 Eden / int_1161fb48
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Eden / int_1161fb48
 Eden / int_1748bdb4
type
TokenNonHuman
 Eden / int_1748bdb4
comment
Token Non-Human: After their visit to the valley village, they find a Doubler desperate to join them and get away from there. They adopt it, but it proves of little help in understanding Eden society, only communicating by gestures and spending most of its time sleeping.
 Eden / int_1748bdb4
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Eden / int_1748bdb4
 Eden / int_1c445e86
type
Poor Communication Kills
 Eden / int_1c445e86
comment
Poor Communication Kills: Once again, communication with truly alien beings in a Lem novel proves to be an incredibly difficult undertaking, with consequences for both sides. Unlike in Fiasco however, there does appear to be something deeply wrong with Doubler society.
 Eden / int_1c445e86
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Eden / int_1c445e86
 Eden / int_26e5c183
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Polluted Wasteland
 Eden / int_26e5c183
comment
Polluted Wasteland: With much of their technology being nuclear powered, and their only way through the black dome being a radioactive antimatter explosion, the landing site tends to get contaminated fast. However, the humans do everything they can to minimize the effects and even take irradiated soil along with them rather than leave it behind.
 Eden / int_26e5c183
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Eden / int_26e5c183
 Eden / int_2eb94abd
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Deadly Euphemism
 Eden / int_2eb94abd
comment
Deadly Euphemism: The translation computer ends up choosing the term “Procrustes� to describe the method of government control the Doublers are subjected to. Procrustes was a giant in ancient greek myth who waylaid people and forced them to fit into a bed, either by stretching their limbs or cutting off their legs.
 Eden / int_2eb94abd
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Eden / int_2eb94abd
 Eden / int_4987746e
type
Ridiculously Fast Construction
 Eden / int_4987746e
comment
Ridiculously Fast Construction: Once the Doubler government has taken a good look at the rocket, they decide to wall it off using artillery-fired seeds which over the course of a few hours sprout into a black wall and then after a day or two grow into a black dome enclosing the landing site. The material is extremely hard and durable, and self-repairing, so the crew has to resort to the Defenders antimatter cannon to blast holes through the barrier whenever they want to leave.
 Eden / int_4987746e
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Eden / int_4987746e
 Eden / int_49d59be9
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Scenery Porn
 Eden / int_49d59be9
comment
Scenery Porn: The lakeside town of the Doublers is described in great detail, and the crew is struck by how beatiful Eden can be.
 Eden / int_49d59be9
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Eden / int_49d59be9
 Eden / int_4e3d253b
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Downer Ending
 Eden / int_4e3d253b
comment
Downer Ending: The Doubler government makes it clear that they want the humans gone by starting a bombardment with actual artillery shells. The rocket takes off successfully, but the two Doublers who met the humans prefer to be vaporized by the rocket exhaust rather than return to Doubler society.
 Eden / int_4e3d253b
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Eden / int_4e3d253b
 Eden / int_526cd1cb
type
Murphy's Law
 Eden / int_526cd1cb
comment
Murphy's Law: After the initial crash, anything that can cause a mess in the ship has caused a mess: the electrical system is busted, the robot assistants are unreachable, a horrible radioactive brew is filling up the lower decks and the ship’s library got thrown off the shelves. To make things worse, the ship has drilled itself into the ground, and the crew might not be able to open the hermetically sealed hatches before the oxygen runs out.
 Eden / int_526cd1cb
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Eden / int_526cd1cb
 Eden / int_55af5099
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Rube Goldberg Device
 Eden / int_55af5099
comment
Rube Goldberg Device: The factory the crew comes across works like this, involving some fully automated, convoluted production line where dozens of machines create products, reshape and modify them, only to eventually melt them down again to start the cycle anew. The Engineer does not take this apparent insanity well.
 Eden / int_55af5099
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Eden / int_55af5099
 Eden / int_5a4aa505
type
Government Conspiracy
 Eden / int_5a4aa505
comment
Government Conspiracy: The Doubler powers-that-be end up cordoning off the landing site, claiming that the creatures that came down are dangerous and horrifically mutated by cosmic radiation.
 Eden / int_5a4aa505
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Eden / int_5a4aa505
 Eden / int_5e544ae6
type
We Come in Peace — Shoot to Kill
 Eden / int_5e544ae6
comment
We Come in Peace — Shoot to Kill: Despite their best intentions, the human actions must come across as strange, threatening and unpredictable from the Doubler perspective.
 Eden / int_5e544ae6
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 Eden / int_5e544ae6
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Eden / int_5e544ae6
 Eden / int_6dd4006e
type
The Great Repair
 Eden / int_6dd4006e
comment
The Great Repair: The ship is still basically spaceworthy after the crash, but getting it in any shape to fly means working off a long, long list of repairs. And the crew starts off with nothing but a flashlight and some improvised tools to accomplish this...
 Eden / int_6dd4006e
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Eden / int_6dd4006e
 Eden / int_87f13be4
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Designer Babies
 Eden / int_87f13be4
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Designer Babies: The ruins of facilities are found where great experiments were carried out by the Doubler ruling class to create better beings. This did not go as planned. Some of the resulting Doublers are preserved in epoxy-like blocks while others are living in small pariah communities.
 Eden / int_87f13be4
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Eden / int_87f13be4
 Eden / int_96475bb6
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Awesome Personnel Carrier
 Eden / int_96475bb6
comment
Awesome Personnel Carrier: The Engineer takes great solace in finally getting the Defender, their armored exploration vehicle, working, which is armed with an anti-matter beam.
 Eden / int_96475bb6
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Eden / int_96475bb6
 Eden / int_96a33f11
type
Riddle for the Ages
 Eden / int_96a33f11
comment
Riddle for the Ages: Like the crew, we are left with a lot more questions than answers about Eden and its society. Why did the Doublers in the city only move around in groups? What was the deal with the statue of the human-like figure seen carried around in the lakeside town? What was happening in the gorge village that put the Doublers there into such a panic?
 Eden / int_96a33f11
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Eden / int_96a33f11
 Eden / int_a7caa5b5
type
First Contact
 Eden / int_a7caa5b5
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First Contact: The crew is quickly aware that Eden is inhabited by intelligent beings, but the things they see first bewilder and then appall them. They end up sneaking around the edges of the Eden civilization trying to gather information on their culture and technology. For their part, the Eden government does not take long to realize that they have visitors from outside.
 Eden / int_a7caa5b5
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Eden / int_a7caa5b5
 Eden / int_ac320c0e
type
Nuke 'em
 Eden / int_ac320c0e
comment
Nuke 'em: The crew makes repeated use of the Defender’s cannon to shoot holes in the black wall. In a chaotic situation on one of the expeditions, the Engineer panics and makes use of said beam to kill a large number of Doublers. He ends up deeply shaken by the experience.
 Eden / int_ac320c0e
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Eden / int_ac320c0e
 Eden / int_bf487e2b
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Translator Microbes
 Eden / int_bf487e2b
comment
Translator Microbes: Completely averted. Only after much effort and the incredible luck of meeting a Doubler scholar, is the crew able to assemble a translation machine. But because mathematical logic was the easiest common ground to be found between the two species, the machine translation is extremely basic: the vocabulary is limited, the grammar is non-existent and complex concepts such as feelings, cultural and political terms can’t be translated at all. In desperation, the crew switches the translator over to a more improvisational mode, which uses jumbles of earth words to approximate Doubler terms.
 Eden / int_bf487e2b
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Eden / int_bf487e2b
 Eden / int_c3478f1d
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Badass Bookworm
 Eden / int_c3478f1d
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Badass Bookworm: The Doubler scholar that eventually meets the crew. He saw the rocket come down while working in his observatory, and decided that this was a chance he could not miss. He risks everything to make it to the rocket and meet the visitors from the stars.
 Eden / int_c3478f1d
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Eden / int_c3478f1d
 Eden / int_c5cc0783
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Internal Retcon
 Eden / int_c5cc0783
comment
Internal Retcon: The Doubler ruling class has become frighteningly good at this. They not only erased the evidence for failed state-run genetics and industrial projects, they not only erased the names of the rulers, they erased the fact of their own existence.
 Eden / int_c5cc0783
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Eden / int_c5cc0783
 Eden / int_d0f2df7e
type
Monowheel Mayhem
 Eden / int_d0f2df7e
comment
Monowheel Mayhem: The Doublers use tall, shiny discs to get around. The driver sits in the hub, and the disc extends legs to stabilize itself when stationary.
 Eden / int_d0f2df7e
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Eden / int_d0f2df7e
 Eden / int_d7b34c31
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Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep"
 Eden / int_d7b34c31
comment
Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": The crew consists of the Coordinator, the Doctor, the Engineer, the Chemist, the Physicist and the Cyberneticist.
 Eden / int_d7b34c31
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Eden / int_d7b34c31
 Eden / int_e8e56799
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Blue-and-Orange Morality
 Eden / int_e8e56799
comment
Blue-and-Orange Morality: The crew has some uncomfortable discussions over whether this is in effect for the Doublers, as some of the things they witness are reminiscient of atrocities from mankinds past, but as the Doctor points out could just be a result of this trope in action.
 Eden / int_e8e56799
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Eden / int_e8e56799
 Eden / int_f20be1a6
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Surprisingly Mundane Reason
 Eden / int_f20be1a6
comment
Surprisingly Mundane Reason: strange metal tubes implanted into Doubler corpses were initially suspected to be weapons of murder, then equipment for some sinister medical procedures. Actually they are merely the writing devices, implanted into each Doubler electrical sensitivity organs shorty after birth - procedure no more painful or dangerous than ear piercing for humans.
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Eden

The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

 Eden
hasFeature
Alien Works / int_135f7515
 Eden
hasFeature
Bizarre Alien Biology / int_135f7515
 Eden
hasFeature
Starfish Language / int_135f7515
 Eden
hasFeature
The Great Repair / int_135f7515