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Why so depressed and forlorn?
Is it to do with this man being Scandinavian and thus suffering from a
perpetual state of Ibsenian, soul-sucking ennui? Mainly.
But part of the problem is that he's not at all happy with his diet.
 What's that you
say? How can that be? The Wheel is renowned for its food,
which is about the only morale booster there is when you're trapped in
a metal donut with a load of other guys whose showering habits are not
included under the heading of "regular." How fussy an eater can
a man who eats lutefisk be?
Ah, but Mr. Pining For The
Fjords here isn't allowed to partake of the steaks, chops and turkeys
that load the other tables to groaning. He and his mess mates
are in a special programme that requires them to take all of their
nourishment in the form of pills.
Pills for pie, pills for corned beef, pills for coffee and even pills
for vitamin pills. What programme is this? The official
story is that it's to do with training the crew for the first trip to
the Moon, but the hidden agenda is to provide the Wheel with a few
minutes of very laboured comic relief, conflict establishment and
moment of pathos.
That's what you get when you
have Stanislavski as your chief engineer. |
