Rick Riordan and Socrates Part 4

The head of the Greek god Pan at the British Museum

After reading Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson novels about the Greek and Roman gods, as well as Plato's stories Apology, Crito, and Phaedo, I wondered if Socrates' teachings might actually have been radical for his time. At one point, he talks in Phaedo about the world being round, not flat. While Pythagorus, an earlier Greek philosopher, argued that the Earth was spherical, most philosophers before Socrates still held that the world was flat. So when Plato writes about Socrates believing in a spherical Earth, that could be every bit as radical as Galileo claiming the solar system didn't revolve around the Earth. And we all know what happened to Galileo, don't we?

Furthermore, while Socrates regularly mentions demigods and gods, he usually refers to God in the singular. One time, he even invoked Jupiter, the Roman version of Zeus. Did Socrates sees the Roman depiction of the gods as superior to that of his traditional Greeks? Or was he teaching that the ultimate form of religion should be monotheistic? 

Interestingly, the word monotheism is itself derived from Greek, and Socrates appears to have held beliefs similar to modern monotheists. Socrates seems to equate God with goodness, thus a believer should cultivate goodness in his or her character. Even if he didn't believe in one God like the Jews and later Christians, did he buy into the whole Greek pantheon, make sacrifices at their temples, and worship all the gods for their individual qualities.

As Pan was the god of theatrical criticism, did Socrates invoke Pan when he discussed a play he had attended? As Dionysus was the god of wine, did he honor Dionysus by pouring a little wine onto an altar, like Percy and the demigods give a portion of each meal to their divine parents? People are always watching you, and with someone like Socrates, who spent his days with his thoughts, perhaps he didn't pay respect to the gods in all the little ways everyone else did.

People are always concerned when philosophers and religious teachers preach a different message from everyone else. People want their children to hold the same values and ideals that they prize. Someone who teaches a radically different message, or even appears to, could be labeled a danger to society.

A drinking cup devoted to Dionysus, the god of wine, in the British Museum.

In any case, whether the leaders of Athens saw him as a bothersome old man, or a dangerous radical, why the need to kill him? Couldn't they just send him away? That was an option they extended to Socrates. But the philosopher rarely if ever left his beloved Athens. While he might praise aspects of other Greek city-states, moving to another town would be like moving to another country today. Suppose someone was kind enough to take him in, give him free room and board, attend his physical needs, and pay for his doctors' visits. The city's style of government would be different. Its cultural and religious festivals would clash with what he was used to. The cultural lens--formed by that city's unique history, government, and religious beliefs--would be completely different from the one through which he saw the world. 

Most old people want to die where they feel like they belong: in their homes. Socrates wouldn't want to be exiled to a foreign city-state. So whether his teachings were really subversive, or his physical needs and/or societal views just got on people's nerves, he opted to take the poison and die surrounded by his followers and friends. What old person, faced with the choice of dying in their own home, or being sent off to a sanatorium (or nursing home) wouldn't make the same choice?

In Rick Riordan's novels, the demigods live in cabins dedicated to their parents. As a child of Poseidon, Percy finds himself bunking alone at Camp Half-Blood. He can visit the cabin dedicated to another god, but he couldn't spend the night in one. Regardless of how lonely he felt, he just wouldn't belong in a cabin dedicated to another god. While modern readers might feel this is unfair, if Rick Riordan had written these stories in Socrates' time, I suspect people would have seen this treatment as right and proper.

Of course, they probably would have seen Rick Riordan's stories as disrespectful in any number of other ways. They might not have liked that Grover, a satyr who dreams of finding the lost god Pan, eats aluminum cans. Or they might objected to seeing the god Dionysus, who runs the camp, as disconsolate because Zeus always prevents him from drinking wine. People always find reasons to brand something they dislike as wrong, regardless of what age they inhabit, or whom they hurt as a result.

Dragon Dave

Rick Riordan and Socrates: Part 3

A Caryatid from the Acropolis in Athens, now in the British Museum

Even though he wasn't present during Socrates' final days, Plato makes no mention of physical or mental disability. So perhaps it's unfair to suggest Socrates was in any way unfit. But the question remains: if the Athenians had put up with his preaching for the majority of his life, why condemn him to exile or death when he's seventy years old?

Even if Socrates functioned well physically and mentally, all societies change with time. Each generation places its own stamp upon society. Socrates' views of right and wrong would have been formed by the society of his youth. It's one thing to tolerate someone's antisocial behavior if that person holds no important position. But if an esteemed member of society continually finds fault with aspects of a community's new direction, or the inevitable modifications to the religious and civil events that knit the fabric of their society together, the leadership would notice. 

Might Socrates have been less a radical than a throwback to an earlier time, or to a societal direction not taken? He certainly fought against societal trends he thought would damage his beloved city in the long term. Given how much Socrates influenced later philosophers, it's only logical that leaders struggling to put forward their agendas would wish to sweep the unamenable old man out of sight, rather than risk him and his followers scuttling their plans for Athens. 

A marble votive relief of Athena from Athens, now in the British Museum

In Rick Riordan's novels, Luke Castellan befriends Annabeth Chase, and helps her reach Camp Half-Blood. Luke is the son of the god Hermes, and Annabeth the daughter of Athena. When Luke turns against the gods, his agenda becomes more important to him than his friend Annabeth, and anyone else who disagrees with his grand vision to build a better future for his fellow demigods, as well as the rest of humanity.

Annabeth's mother, the goddess Athena, was the patron saint of Athens. The citizens there worshiped her for her skills in strategy and warfare, as well as her wisdom. Whether the goddess would approve of the leaders' decision to steer the city toward a better future by killing off opponents such as Socrates is open to debate. 

As for Annabeth, she never gives up on Luke. No matter how many people he hurts or kills in order to achieve his objective, she always hopes he will give up his quest to destroy the gods, and resume his place as a productive, encouraging leader at Camp Half-Blood. It's an idealistic belief, and totally unrealistic, given his decisions and actions. But that's why she's a hero, and why readers love her.

Just like Socrates' followers saw him as a hero, and sought to immortalize him.

Dragon Dave

 

Rick Riordan and Socrates Part 2

A man is handed a Persian-style drinking horn in the Cella frieze at the British Museum.

After reading Rick Riordan's novels about Percy Jackson and his fellow demigods, I took the time to read some of Plato's works: Apology, Crito, and Phaedo. Instead of looking forward, and propounding his own views on life, the Greek philosopher devoted these stories to the death of his mentor Socrates. In sum, they demonstrate what Socrates believed, and when public sentiment in Athens turned against him, why he felt the need to die by drinking poison, rather than opt for exile, or escape the city with the help of his friends.

As I mentioned in the previous post, Socrates was seventy years old when he died. I couldn't help wonder why the Athenians, usually described as the most open-minded and rational of the ancient Greeks, would decide to put this old man to death after accepting his teachings and community involvement for so long. While Plato portrays his mentor as a  man with all his wits, he wasn't present when Socrates drank the hemlock. And it's a fact of life that often, despite our best efforts, we lose mental, as well as physical function, as we age.

The ancient Greeks viewed stages of life such as birth and death, as well as certain illnesses and types of sexual activity, as influences that could corrupt or pollute their society. Plato clearly wanted to memorialize Socrates, and preserve his philosophy, by portraying him at his most rational. But what if Socrates had trouble remembering things? What if he started to rant, began to repeat a handful of arguments, or stopped physically taking care of himself.

Lapses in memory and mental function could have worried ancient Athenian doctors, as well as the priests in the temples of their gods. Had the gods cursed Socrates? Had they afflicted him with madness? In an era when people believed the gods protected them from all sorts of potential dangers, allowing madness to pollute the purity of the citizenry would put everyone in the city at risk. 

The Nereid Monument in the British Museum

Offhand, I don't remember if Percy Jackson and his friends ever meet Astraea, the Greek goddess of Purity, in Rick Riordan's novels. They meet a large number of gods, demigods, and supernatural beings over the two five-book series. As they pursue their quests, Percy and his friends discover that some of the minor gods have grown bitter with the pantheon on Olympus. With nothing to lose, these divine beings who formerly embraced good and preserved the status quo ally themselves in revolts led by the titan Hades and the Earth Mother Gaea. The young demigods attempt to address this imbalance, and win the favor of these forgotten gods, by pledging to honor them, and building temples to them at Camp Half-Blood.

Plato makes no mention of medical or priestly condemnation of Socrates. Still, the suggestion of divine disapproval, whispered in the right ears, could have prompted legal proceedings against any citizen, even someone as esteemed as Socrates. After all, if the philosopher's thought processes were corrupted, isn't it only logical that he would corrupt the young?

Dragon Dave

Rick Riordan and Socrates Part 1

The classic Greek architecture of the British Museum,
a center of learning, and where artifacts from
the Parthenon of Athens are stored.

As you can see by perusing my reading list for 2019, I've finished the ten novels that make up Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson and the Olympians series and The Heroes of Olympus series. I've always yearned to understand how the ancient Greeks regarded their gods, and Rick Riordan's lighthearted take on the subject made the subject more real to me.

This may sound crazy, as Rick Riordan's fantasy novels rival J. K. Rowlings Harry Potter books with regard to character adventures and fireworks. Still, the way he focuses on demigods like Percy and Annabeth, portrays their divine parents, and how the teens utilize their powers to either benefit themselves or protect others, tells me a lot about how the ancient Greeks related to their world. As a bonus, the second series brings in characters from a Roman camp, and demonstrates how the Romans viewed the gods differently.

After reading Riordan's novels, something spurred me to read a few of Plato's writings. His stories--Apology, Crito, and Phaedo--illustrate how his mentor Socrates viewed the world, as well as his place in it. As I read Plato's stories, cast as a series of conversations and arguments, I couldn't help think about Socrates, and why his fellow citizens might put him to death. To follow are some of my reactions and thoughts. They are in no way educated assertions, but merely reflections based on my own outlook and experience.

Socrates was seventy years old when he was condemned to death. The charge seems to revolve around his teachings, and corrupting the youth. But Socrates had lived in Athens, and been a philosopher there all his life. If his fellow citizens have tolerated his teachings up to now, why did his teachings suddenly become too dangerous to tolerate?

The ancient Greeks had far less medical knowledge and capabilities than today. Socrates would have suffered the ordinary accidents of life that maybe doctors back then couldn't set right. In an age without Flu shots, inoculations, and antibiotics, who knows what aftereffects of diseases like Tuberculosis or Scarlet Fever he might have suffered from. Additionally, as a soldier in the Peloponnesian War, he would have suffered injuries and wounds that left scars in more ways than one. 

Anyone who has suffered from a malady the doctors had trouble diagnosing knows the long term implications of infection. Even poorly maintained teeth can lead to a heart condition. It's safe to say the palliatives and ointments the ancients used to treat wounds and illnesses weren't as effective as today's more targeted cures. 

Might Socrates have needed a steadying hand to help him get around? Did he suffer from defective hearing or eyesight? Might he have lung or heart damage? Did the doctors attend him regularly to manage his ailments? In a society in which doctors regularly practiced assisted suicide and euthanasia, maybe the government weighed his physical needs against the community's available time and resources, and manufactured a reason why this long-time philosopher's teachings were suddenly a corrupting influence.

Clarissa, the daughter of Ares, the Greek god of War, in Rick Riordan's novels, might well approve of such a decision. Personally, I suspect that Percy Jackson, the son of Poseidon, the Greek god of the seas, would find a more caring way of dealing with the aged philosopher. 

Dragon Dave

Frank Herbert & John W Campbell in Great Sand Dunes National Park

One moment you drive through scenic Colorado. The next, sand dunes transform the land. 

It's a curious thing, to gaze upon these dunes, and realize that in full sun the temperature can rise to 130 degrees. It calls to mind the devastation that can creep so readily into our world through neglect, or a misappropriation of our resources. For Science Fiction fans, it calls to mind the world of Arrakis, a desert planet at the heart of Frank Herbert's novel Dune.

Dune took Frank Herbert years to write. Inspiration came from an area of expanding sand dunes that a community in Oregon had fought to control. Ideas and guidance also came from editors and fellow writers in the Science Fiction community. Kevin J. Anderson, and Frank Herbert's son Brian, while preserving and expanding the Dune universe, published a short novel called Duneworld, based on Frank Herbert's original story outline. It is a vastly different story, lacking many of the elements that made Dune extraordinary, such as the entire Bene Gesserit order, and the depth of the evil Harkonnen family. This is the story that Frank Herbert might have written, if not for the assistance of his fellow writers, and the guidance of editor John W. Campbell.
 

It was interesting to sit and sketch here, while contemplating this awesome expanse of desert, as well as Frank Herbert's monumental novel. Kevin J. Anderson, a guardian of Frank Herbert's legacy, has hiked here. As an author who dictates his first draft based on an outline while he hikes, he found inspiration and beauty here. While my drawing did service to the sand dunes, my wife's watercolor truly captured the beauty and diversity of the national park.

In Dune, the spice mined on Arrakis helped humanity progress. So every aspect of human community and endeavor must constantly refine itself, and find new ways to meet the demands of a changing world. Sadly, the Science Fiction community has recently chosen to move into the future by attacking the legacy of patriarchs like John W. Campbell because his opinions and beliefs no longer equivocate with theirs. Because a man who died fifty years ago, and whose paradigm of life was formed a century ago, thought and saw the world differently than they currently do, the Science Fiction community has stripped his name from a prestigious award, as well as an annual conference.

So much for honoring a lifetime of contributions to the field, and the countless novels he elevated, like Dune, into extraordinary works of art.

It is easy to destroy, and hard to build. The dunes at Great Sand Dunes National Park teach us that. After two hours sketching in the sun, I found myself wiped out, even though I had sheltered  from the sun, and thought I had drunk enough water. The experience taught me respect for this awesome place, as I have always respected Frank Herbert's novel Dune, and the literary achievements of Kevin J. Anderson. After reading Duneworld in Kevin and Brian's book The Road To Dune, I also respect the magnitude of John W. Campbell contributions to the field, even if the strongest voices in contemporary Science Fiction do not.

Dragon Dave

The Two Howard Starks of the Marvel Cinematic Universe

Dominic Cooper as Howard Stark

While watching the movie "Avengers: Endgame" in the theater earlier this year, I was thrown by the actor who played Howard Stark. He seemed different to me than the man who had played the father of Tony Stark (Iron Man) in "Captain America: Winter Soldier." As it turns out, I soon discovered I wasn't the only one. I told a local comic store owner about my confusion, and he agreed with me that he found the portrayal confusing too.

This weekend, I watched "Captain America: Civil War" for the first time since its theatrical release. I was struck by how the actor who played Howard Stark was the same man who had portrayed him in "Avengers: Endgame." While the character belongs to the past, what occurred between the Winter Soldier and Howard Stark drives much of the action in "Captain America: Civil War," so it's a fairly important role. Obviously, the Marvel Cinematic Universe extends over many films, so recasting of minor roles is inevitable. Still, I was curious about the two actors who played Howard Stark, so I decided to investigate further.

John Slattery as Howard Stark

American actor John Slattery portrayed Howard Stark in "Iron Man 2" (2010), "Ant-Man" (2015), "Captain America: Civil War" (2016), and "Avengers: Endgame" (2019). British actor Dominic Cooper portrayed Howard Stark in "Captain America: The First Avenger" (2011), the short film "Agent Carter" (2013) included as an extra on the home video release of "Iron Man 3," and several episodes of the "Agent Carter" TV series in 2015 and 2016. Additionally, he will voice the role of Howard Stark in an animated web series (or streaming TV series?) in 2021 called "What If...?"

Or, to put the two faces in chronological order:

Movie/TV Series                                       Actor                 
Iron Man 2                                               John Slattery      
Captain America: The First Avenger       Dominic Cooper
Agent Carter (Short Film)                        Dominic Cooper
Ant-Man                                                  John Slattery     
Agent Carter (TV series)                         Dominic Cooper
Captain America: Civil War                     John Slattery     
Avengers: Endgame                               John Slattery      
What If...?                                               Dominic Cooper

Obviously, "Captain America: The First Avenger" is set before all the others (in the 1940s during World War II), and the "Agent Carter" film and TV series would naturally follow. Dominic Cooper plays Howard Stark then. But when Tony Stark travels back in time to 1970 and speaks with his father in "Avengers: Endgame" that's John Slattery playing Howard Stark. John Slattery then plays the role forward, as he portrays Howard Stark's death in 1991, as revealed via a video recording in "Captain America: Civil War."

Was it necessary for two actors to span the fifty years of Howard Stark in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, given the wizardry of make-up and modern special effects? Or was the casting of the two Howard Starks determined simply by actor availability? At least I know what actor played Howard Stark when now, and as a result, so do you.

Dragon Dave

The Yeti and Illustrator Alan Willow

Jamie discovers the Yeti-control spheres in a cave.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Of course, there are all kinds of pictures. Some images really speak to you, while others prove eminently forgettable. But few compare to video, which includes motion and sound, and can bring characters and a story to life in a way words or still pictures never can. 

Sadly, five of the six episodes of the Doctor Who story "The Abominable Snowmen" no longer exist. I've watched the story reconstruction several times. This was a real labor of love for dedicated Doctor Who fans. They cobbled the missing episodes together using photos taken of a TV screen, a complete sound recording (probably compiled from multiple sources, and most likely all from just a child's low-tech cassette recorder) and some fan-made animation. While I'm amazed by their achievement, it's the events from the single remaining video episode that cling most tenaciously to my memory.

 So unlike most of the classic Doctor Who stories, reading Terrance Dicks' novelization of "The Abominable Snowmen" was like revisiting a novel I hadn't read in years. I vaguely remembered bits of the story, but for the most part, while familiar, it was also completely new. Again.

Monks defend the monastery during a Yeti assault.

 Given the worth of a good picture, and how much it can contribute to a story, I'm glad the artist who drew these interior sketches receives credit in the book. Of course, Terrance Dicks gets his name on the spine, on the cover, and inside. The publishers also point out that Mervyn Haisman and Henry Lincoln wrote the original screenplay. While the illustrations are copyrighted by the publisher, at least the illustrator, Alan Willow, gets a mention. That's better than some books, in which the interior artist is never recognized until years later, if ever.

Alan Willow would go on to illustrate more of the early Doctor Who novels. Sadly, the series dropped the interior illustrations after awhile. But at least in these early books, we have these wonderful sketches that enhance the story. That's especially nice for stories like "The Abominable Snowmen," which no longer exist in their original form.

Edward Travers, explorer for Britain's Royal Geographic Society, spots a monk and two Yeti.

A few thoughts strike me as I conclude this series on "The Abominable Snowmen." One is that the novelization copyright is dated 1974. This is the same year in which Terrance Dicks left the TV series, after serving for five years as script editor. So this may represent one of his first literary efforts. A second thought is that it was not widely known at this time that the BBC were wiping old tapes to use again, so it would not have represented an intention to preserve a lost story. Third, and lastly, Doctor Who and the Abominable Snowmen is the first book in the Target Doctor Who series. This suggests that the publishers thought this story was strong enough to launch their range, and that the idea of the Yeti was powerful enough to draw readers to their new book series.

They would have had eleven years worth of Doctor Who stories to choose from by this time, encompassing the first, second, and third Doctor eras. That adds up to over seventy stories! So the fact that Target Books chose "The Abominable Snowmen" to launch their Doctor Who line suggests they must have thought it was extraordinary.

All of which makes me wonder why, with the exception of a cameo appearance in "The Five Doctors," the Yeti never returned to the TV series. But then, Doctor Who has never suffered from a lack of frightening monsters, or threatening alien races.

Dragon Dave

The Yeti and Terrance Dicks

 

Of all the people associated with Doctor Who, Terrance Dicks casts a long shadow. It was he who devised the history of the Doctor in the final second Doctor story "The War Games." He guided the Doctor throughout the Third Doctor's time as script editor, building and deepening the mythology of the Time Lords, and his home planet of Gallifrey. Not only did he write further stories for later doctors, but he novelized more Doctor Who stories than any other writer. For decades, the only way to follow the second Doctor's adventures with the Yeti was through his novelizations of Mervyn Haisman and Henry Lincoln's stories "The Abominable Snowman" and "The Web Of Fear."

Terrance Dicks died recently. Given how much he contributed to the program, his death was a little hard to take in. Perhaps in response, I picked up my paperback of The Abominable Snowmen, and followed his simple, fast-paced narrative. Unlike other authors, Dicks never sought to rework the TV scripts, but related the scenes as they had been filmed. He never sought to impress readers with dazzling wordplay, or elegant turns of phrase. Hence, readers don't get an alternative version of the TV story, but a faithful literary adaptation. 

Perhaps that is the secret to Dicks' success in life. When approaching a new story, he never sought to break the mold, or reinvent the wheel. When the production team asked for a story, he gave it to them in the requested time. When publishers asked him for a novelization, he handed in his manuscripts on time. He did his best without agonizing over every single word or scene. He produced proficient and exciting stories. He always entertained.

I will miss seeing Terrance Dicks in new Doctor Who Making Of specials. But at least I can still listen to his commentary on the DVDs. He wasn't the most insightful presence in those audio recordings, and he often repeated himself. But he contributed so much to Doctor Who that it's hard to think of the program without him. 

He didn't create the Yeti in Doctor Who, but he wrote novelizations of their adventures. When he wrote "The Five Doctors" for the show's twentieth anniversary, he included the Yeti in one short scene. And yes, of all the doctors he could have used, he had the second doctor encounter them. It was the perfect way to include the Yeti, and cap off their involvement in Doctor Who, at least during the classic series era. 

I can only imagine the kinds of stories he might have contributed, had he worked on the newer series. These stories, filmed in Wales, boast production values and special effects that Terrance Dicks could only have imagined in the 1960s and '70s. Might he have pitched a new Yeti story, had the producers asked? It hardly seems unlikely, given the return of so many classic aliens, such as the Ice Warriors and the Zygons, and how today's audiences have enjoyed their return.

Farewell, Terrance Dicks. Thanks for so many great stories.

Dragon Dave

The Yeti in Snowdonia National Park

The Yeti don't get much love in Doctor Who. Sadly, the two second Doctor stories in which they figured prominently, "The Abominable Snowmen" and "The Web of Fear," went missing from BBC archives for many years. Aside from a cameo appearance in the twentieth anniversary story "The Five Doctors," the Yeti silently slipped away from Doctor Who, never to rival the popularity of Cybermen and the Daleks.  

Thankfully, one episode of the six-part "The Abominable Snowmen" still exists, and five of the six episodes of "The Web of Fear" were returned to the BBC in recent years. So by watching the fan-produced reconstruction of "The Abominable Snowmen" and the BBC-reissued "The Web of Fear," fans can get an idea of the menace the Yeti posed for the second Doctor in the 1960s. Still, with so many established alien races, and the program constantly introducing us to more, it seems unlikely that the Yeti will ever rise higher than curiosities in the Doctor Who universe.

Nonetheless, my wife and I thought of the Yeti, and "The Abominable Snowmen," when we drove through Snowdonia National Park in Wales a few years ago. For it was in this area that the second Doctor and his companions Jamie and Victoria encounter the elusive creatures. Or at least this was where the location filming took place. Transformed by the production team, the TARDIS actually lands in the Himilayas, where the heroes protect priests at a Buddhist Temple from the Yeti, and a malevolent entity called the Great Intelligence.

While shrouded in mist, Snowdonia National Park proved rich in character. Towns with seemingly unpronounceable names proved picturesque and inviting. Grass, foliage, and trees burst forth from the hard ground and stark rocky hillsides. We wondered how harsh the winters in Wales might be, given the rugged terrain, and were glad we had arrived in summer, when conditions were cool but comfortable.

I would have liked to have visited the actual spot where the Doctor Who production team filmed the Yeti. Sadly, this area lay far off the beaten track. So my wife and I confined ourselves to well-traveled roads, and enjoyed getting a taste of the area that had doubled for the remote Himilayas in "The Abominable Snowmen."

South of Snowdonia National Park lies the city of Cardiff, where the current Doctor Who production team is located. Perhaps we'll have to return to Wales someday, and see the locations the ninth, tenth, eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth Doctors have visited. I wonder if, by the time we travel there, the Yeti will have returned to Doctor Who? Fans of the Yeti can only live in hope.

Dragon Dave

Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman in Colorado Springs

After flying into Denver International Airport, we drove our rental car south to Colorado Springs. Along the way we passed through the concrete canyons and big box store forests of urban sprawl. When we reached Colorado Springs, we ate lunch at a popular chain restaurant before touring the U.S. Air Force Academy. Then we drove along the freeway, and through wide paved streets lined by strip malls to our hotel. 

It wasn't until the next day, as we hiked in Garden Of The Gods, that I realized we were actually in Colorado Springs, where Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman was set. In the TV series, Dr. Michaela Quinn travels from Boston, Massachusetts to Colorado Springs in 1867, because the townspeople of modern Boston refuse to visit a female doctor. At first, the inhabitants of this frontier town refuse to trust Michaela also. But gradually, she wins their respect, and becomes a valued member of the community.

While Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman was filmed in California, this is the area in which the TV series was set. There may not have been a real Dr. Michaela Quinn. Nonetheless, the issues the character battles, and the events she lived through, were very real indeed. When you see General Custer leading his army troops against nearby Native American tribes, this is where those battles actually took place. When you see Army troops killing herds of buffalo to drive away Native American communities, and clear the land for homesteads and ranches, this is where that occurred. When you see the townspeople striving to attract the interest of the railroads, and thereby develop their town, this is where that occurred.

In the series, all that occurred, or at least began, in 1867. In the one hundred-and-fifty years hence, townspeople like shopkeeper Loren Bray and barber Jake Slicker won. The train came to Colorado Springs, and the town grew. Now there's far more than one school or church in Colorado Springs, let alone one doctor. The town has grown out all proportion to its original size, and has reaped all the benefits of becoming a modern city, as well as the accompanying traffic and overcrowding issues. 

In Garden of the Gods, the beauty of the land in which Colorado Springs was planted remains. This was the place where people like Dr. Michaela Quinn demonstrated that all people are equal, regardless of gender, race, or beliefs. I'm so glad it remains free to enter, and accessible to all.

Dragon Dave