Theories and Questions about Colony

[formerlyfreedom]

A spot to talk about Colony spoiler free - questions, comparisons to other shows, what you THINK might happen...

[Ham Tyler]

Cool! I didn't know this thread existed.

 

Now that I do, what is going on with Helena living in the Santa Monica bloc and how did whoever the Hosts are, build a wall that extends out into the Pacific and for what reason?

 

It's apparent that satellite phones are the only form of communication between humans in one colony and another, so who was Helena talking to?

 

When Helena said she had "talked with New York," does that mean New York is free, or occupied?

 

Could Helena secretly be part of the resistance?

 

Who is the governor general and what is the scope of his or her powers in the new order?

[Accidental Martyr]

I posted this in the last episode thread but then figured I probably should put it here.

Does money still have value after the "arrival"?

Haven't we heard people say something about "credits", or something like that, used to get food?

What about credit and debit cards?

Are there still banks?

Are there still stores, businesses, etc. (besides the bar?)

Do people pay with cash at the bar?

Didn't we see a wad of money in Katie's secret box in the vent?

[ottoDbusdriver]

I posted this in the last episode thread but then figured I probably should put it here.

Does money still have value after the "arrival"?

Haven't we heard people say something about "credits", or something like that, used to get food?

What about credit and debit cards?

Are there still banks?

Are there still stores, businesses, etc. (besides the bar?)

Do people pay with cash at the bar?

Didn't we see a wad of money in Katie's secret box in the vent?

 

Great set of questions -- you would think that Carl Weathers' character would have to be getting paid somehow otherwise why would he work at all ?  Because he seems pretty apathetic about everything.

 

We saw a barter system at the high school where Will's son was trading oranges for other food products.

 

Will was working at a garage making fuel cells in the pilot episode -- obviously someone was paying to get those made.  All the booze at the Yonk appeared to come from outside the Colony, so someone had to be shipping it in.

 

Proxy Snyder seems to be getting paid in artwork and other perks like bacon and eggs and coffee -- which, aside from the art, has to be shipped in from somewhere as there isn't a lot of agricultural land in the LA bloc.

Edited March 7, 2016 by ottoDbusdriver

[holly4755]

are they still paying taxes

why have a colony at all unless they like slave labor and need it as a breeding ground - buy with all the technology they waste on the colony,why not have robots do the work?

 

Are the factory workers allowed to speak

are they dying because of gravity, exposure to toxins or radiation

[Accidental Martyr]

When was "The Factory" on the moon built?

Did they build it after the arrival?

If not, wouldn't people on earth have noticed it before?

What's the incentive for the people (guards, etc.) who work on the moon?

[Accidental Martyr]

What's the deal with the "Rolodex"?

How were the "aliens" able to gather all this information?

Did they already have all this info or somehow compile it after the arrival?

Does this mean that "alien" technology is compatible with earth computers?

Edited March 7, 2016 by Accidental Martyr

[Raja]

My theory is that Earth is a zoo. The factory and the colonies are nothing but a place to study a small breeding herd

[MrPissyPuppy]

Maybe it's an artificial intelligence that's a bureaucratic version of Skynet.   That would explain how it might have gotten information on everyone and why time wasn't the same for it.  

Edited March 8, 2016 by MrPissyPuppy

[eskimo]

While it's most likely an alien force, I've thought maybe it's future humans and they've come back to change something that happened along the way.  Possibly save the planet from humans destroying it with pollution and war.    I don't know, just a thought.  But I'm on board with the idea that this was set up long before, and the 'arrival' was just the date it was implemented.

[Maverick]

Will theorized (and I think it was later confirmed) that the Rolodex was something put together by intelligence agencies prior to the Arrival and the invaders were able to make use of it to determine who could be useful and who was a threat to be eliminated.

[Joimiaroxeu]

Into the second season it's still interesting to me how much the symbol the show is using for the Colony Transitional Authority is like the seal for the city of Phoenix:

Wonder if the producers had to pay Phoenix to head off a copyright infringement claim?

[Anthony]

I have a theory.  The Hosts are actually us from another period in time, which is why they do not experience time the same way that we do.  They could possible be from the future or the past.  The SciFi geek in me wants to say they are some kind of advanced civilization from the Egyptian era, which is why such the focus on birds.  Many Egyptian drawings show human figures with bird heads...hmmmm....Anyway, it will be interesting, since this show has already shown that this a world wide occupation, if anything interesting has been happening with the pyramids...I guess we will just have to wait and see.

[rose711]

Is there a good story so far for this? I can't remember who all the people are: who was the unarmed guy Will killed last season? I watched the season 1 wrap up but it didn't cover everything. 

i am following the basic plot but I didn't enjoy last season enough to watch or pay attention.

ive looked for a good summary but didn't find one.

maybe this show isn't too popular? 

I really wish the cast had been different. The Kate character is just awful and I dislike the actress. She isn't enough to keep me off the show but it's close. 

 

I found that Entertainment Weekly has been doing weekly recaps!

Edited February 20, 2017 by rose711

[rose711]

So I read that the plan is for 6 seasons. I will probably give up and wait until it's over. I'm not investing 6 years into this show it isn't good enough. Plus the aliens seem so powerful that it's like the humans will never have a chance, so why bother.

[fauntleroy]

11 hours ago, rose711 said:

Plus the aliens seem so powerful that it's like the humans will never have a chance, so why bother.

Agree. I've only watched this show in bits, for this reason - depressingly one-sided.

[keaura]

Just a theory and maybe because I read too much sci-fi-fi, but what if the RAPs are here to help humanity? Or rather, to rescue humanity. Suppose there is some disaster going to happen (e.g., our sun going nova) and the RAPs have been planning to take as many humans as they can to a new planet - the "Colony" is actually a new world for humanity.  

My idea comes from the fact they seem to be collecting art and other things. Why? If they were starting a new human planet they would want to take as much art and other artifacts as possible. 

Perhaps the point of the factory is to build those pods which are suspension modules. You'd want to put people into suspended animation for a long interstellar voyage. 

The leader of the Red Hand said in her message that the Occupation is a product of humans, not the RAPs. Suppose the RAPs told just a few humans about what they planned and let humans "organize" it. 

Finally, maybe the RAPs are choosing people who would be good for a colony - not the politicians and the Occupation leaders, but the rebels and scientists and the artists. They seem to be targeting specific people.

Again, just a fantasy theory.

[Hanahope]

That's an interesting theory.  I could believe a benign alien force to help us, but due communication difficulties or just logistics (avoid panic), the aliens only communicated with world leaders.  Then corruption set in and some leaders abused their power. 

[holly4755]

except for the massive death of the population caused by the aliens, the interference with electronics and basic communications. the bombed buildings by their drones.  The radiation killing people in factories.

[amcalabrese]

On 3/31/2017 at 4:16 PM, holly4755 said:

except for the massive death of the population caused by the aliens, the interference with electronics and basic communications. the bombed buildings by their drones.  The radiation killing people in factories.

My theory is that the aliens are under some sort of pressure elsewhere in the galaxy.  Maybe they have some sort of disease that is killing or wasting their people (destroying the ability to procreate), maybe it is a natural disaster or maybe it is an enemy.  Hence they need resources and to restock their population.  So they exploit certain resources on Earth as well as seize people that fit within their algorithm as able to be useful to them and survive in a new space environment.   

[whiporee]

I think the aliens are robots, and this is what happens when the Cylons win. 

There are logistical problems with an intelligent, exploring life form being small enough to fit into that little globe. Also it looked like it was rebooting or something when it was coming back. It would explain the need for worked and the factory, because they are synthetic life and therefore need supplies to be built. And the signal they found in 68 could have been instructions on how to build intelligent life, and that's where the whole thing began. 

[kikaha]

My spec: the aliens want our bodies to 'live' in.  i.e. we are really more like hosts for their minds.  All humans who go to the factory get their bodies processed, to be inhabited by the alien brain/intelligence/spirit/whatever animates the invaders. 

[GreyBunny]

On 3/31/2017 at 2:16 PM, holly4755 said:

except for the massive death of the population caused by the aliens, the interference with electronics and basic communications. the bombed buildings by their drones.  The radiation killing people in factories.

This.  If the raps are using human bodies (presumably the ones in the pods) as vessels for their own consciousness/brains, they're no more than hostile parasites, body-snatchers, and murderers.  They're not helping or doing anything good for humanity. Those who go to the factory are there as slaves doing hard labor until they get radiation sickness bad enough for them to be culled (killed).   If what Noa said was true and they have a rap defector who is against what is happening to the humans (also the convo about alien moderates and hardliners), the raps aren't clueless, they are able to communicate complex ideas back and forth with the humans and they know what they're doing is destructive.

[ottoDbusdriver]

But if they are robots and artificial intelligence, what's with all the avian symbology ?  The birds on the flags, and everyone calling them Raps (assumed to be short for raptors).

Maybe there is a really teeny tiny bird inside that sphere -- humanity ruled by hummingbirds.  :)

[Accidental Martyr]

21 hours ago, ottoDbusdriver said:

But if they are robots and artificial intelligence, what's with all the avian symbology ?  The birds on the flags, and everyone calling them Raps (assumed to be short for raptors).

Maybe there is a really teeny tiny bird inside that sphere -- humanity ruled by hummingbirds.  :)

I keep wondering where the term "Rap" came from in the first place. How did it get coined? How did it originate? Are the humans who were apparently setting things up before the invasion responsible? Are they the ones who came up with all the bird symbols, etc.?

[Raja]

5 hours ago, Accidental Martyr said:

I keep wondering where the term "Rap" came from in the first place. How did it get coined? How did it originate? Are the humans who were apparently setting things up before the invasion responsible? Are they the ones who came up with all the bird symbols, etc.?

I would expect something like The Walking Dead with each colony having its own slang term but "Rap" just came from nowhere on the show. About the same time the Red Hats competence dropped a couple of steps and we had Black Jackets start to run around

[theredhead77]

On 4/7/2017 at 6:04 AM, whiporee said:

I think the aliens are robots, and this is what happens when the Cylons win.

I'm thinking a hybrid of Cylons, The 456 of  and the ID4 aliens.

[chrisjdel]

On 4/9/2017 at 5:56 PM, Raja said:

I would expect something like The Walking Dead with each colony having its own slang term but "Rap" just came from nowhere on the show. About the same time the Red Hats competence dropped a couple of steps and we had Black Jackets start to run around

I think it comes from the raptor symbol used by the occupational authority. Raptor, shortened to rap. And they definitely were using the term early on in season 1. For some reason they've just made more direct references to the aliens in season 2.

On 4/9/2017 at 7:12 PM, theredhead77 said:

I'm thinking a hybrid of Cylons, The 456 of  and the ID4 aliens.

Those cybernetic bodies may be called Hosts because they hold the consciousness of one of the aliens. Powered armor that's very hard to damage comes in handy on a hostile world where all the natives want to kill you. It's also possible this is just the ultimate evolution of the spacesuit. A surrogate body for working either in vacuum or on the surface of a planet whose atmosphere and/or temperature aren't conducive to their physiology. Or maybe they've lived in zero G space habitats for so long their bodies are too fragile to survive a planet's gravity. Even on the moon their delicate forms would be crushed under their own weight. Or of course, they could simply be a race of AIs. Who knows?

Edited April 12, 2017 by chrisjdel

[chrisjdel]

On 3/31/2017 at 5:16 PM, holly4755 said:

except for the massive death of the population caused by the aliens, the interference with electronics and basic communications. the bombed buildings by their drones.  The radiation killing people in factories.

Remember that scene at the Factory in season 1 where a worker started spitting up blood and was hustled away by the red hats? It certainly appeared they were exhibiting symptoms of radiation sickness. Maybe it's exposure to rap tech like the gauntlet. Or you could have a scenario similar to the 2009 movie Moon, in which the walls of the facility are too thin. Normal radiation levels on the moon don't require heavy shielding. But when there's a solar flare or other such event there is no atmosphere or magnetic field like on Earth to protect you.

Thick exterior walls and partial burying of the facility are two approaches to screening out the radiation. If you don't bother with any of that, workers receive hazardous levels of exposure each time a solar event occurs. Eventually this leads to acute sickness and death. If the raps built their Factory on the cheap it would certainly explain why they're burning through workers and always need more. Based on the gauntlet it seems like radiation levels that are too high for humans don't bother the raps one bit.

Edited April 15, 2017 by chrisjdel