Defender of the Light wrote:
Some time ago, someone (I forget whom) posted an idea about crossing Ranma
with the works of Robert Anson Heinlein. The idea was based on the fact that
Ranma's cursed form, Nodoka, and Maureen Johnson all have red hair. It
involved Nodoka being Lazarus Long's sister. I do not recall any actual plot
details, but Ranma could be eligible for Howard benefits, if Genma's parents
were alive at the time of his marriage, and if he married someone with living
grandparents--Shampoo would almost certainly qualify, and Akane might.
Heinlein does relate the story of someone whose father had drowned, but still
qualified based on his grandparents life. I do not believe that the cause of
Mrs. Tendo's death is ever given in TOS. (Many fanfics do say that it was
cancer, which definately disqualify Akane.)
The Howard bloodlines are firmly established by the beginning of the
20th century. They wouldn't risk security by adding new ones. Since the
Howard Foundation was firmly established as American (note their public
statement of purpose), it's improbable that a legitimate Howard family
line would be established in Japan in the mid-20th century.
My own twisted mind couldn't let this go, and took it a step further. When
the Time Corps was considering attempting to prevent WWII, guess who they sent
to do research in pre-war Japan? That's right, Maureen Johnson
Long--apparently she was their only agent that spoke Japanese. She posed as a
Canadian tourist. However, it is highly likely that the Time Corps would have
deemed the information learned as a tourist to be insufficient, gave her some
cosmetic surgery, and sent her back with a different cover story. What if
Nodoka Saotome and Maureen Johnson Long are one and the same?
Bull****!!
There are a few possible holes that would have to explained away, the most
glaring of which is why Maureen would remain in Japan after the war. Once
Ranma is born, she'll remain for his sake--rejuvination technology coupled
with time travel makes lifespan issues almost irrelevent.
Okay - how about the *MASSIVE* hole that Maureen Johnson (one of the
most compassionate and empathetic women in several universes) would
either demean herself by mating with Genma Saotome or allow her child to
be taken away by the transparent subterfuges used by Genma. The mere act
of attempting that idiot contract bit would have had Genma kicked out by
Maureen, if not killed!(And *any* inhabitant of Tertius circa 4400 AD
that found anyone treating a child like Genma treated Ranma *would* kill
him!)
The society the Time Corps bases itself in--that of the planet of Tertius,
several centuries in the future--is notoriously uninhibited when it comes to
sex. This could be the cause of Nodaka's ideas of manliness. (And also means
that she would almost certainly _not_ have remained faithful to a husband
absent for ten years.)
Maureen's ideal of manliness includes compassion and virtue. On Tertius,
Genma would be considered a savage and an animal. And *never* would they
allow any definition of 'amnliness' or 'honor' to be sufficient to force
a mother to aid in her son's death!
(And a Long wife is *always* faithful. She never sneaks around on any of
her husbands - he knows all about the many men she might sleep with.)
Maureen single-handedly got the Time Corps to authorize a mission to retrieve
her father from the middle of the Battle of Britain (said operation was
expanded to enable the British to win that battle, thus shortening the war and
preventing the use of atomic bombs on Germany), so it's unlikely that she
would leave her son in 20th century Japan when she leaves herself. It might
be...interesting...to drop Ranma and his fiancees in a society where manogomy
is the exception rather than the rule.
She would have never had him in the first place! If she chose to have a
child in the past (and with Tertian medical technology, it would be
*choice*! She'd be sterilized while out, or given voluntary control of
her fertility), she would have either raised him on Tertius or raised
him in the 20th century with no awareness of her real origins.
The Time Corps would probably value Ranma's abilities as a martial artist. In
Time Enough for Love, Lazarus Long demonstrates proficiency with a staff, and
the Time Corps does operate in eras in which their usual weapons would make
them a tad conspicuous.
The Time Corps value intellect and versatility. They might accept him as
an operative (after several decades of retraining).
And Lazarus himself has over 25 centuries experience in hand-to-hand
combat, fighting learned on hundreds of worlds. What would they need
with a 16-year-old punk?
Ranma's exotic abilities might not even be learnable by others -
assuming they could get him to teach them.
Heinlein's concept of World As Myth allows for crossovers with absolutely
anything else--he himself brings Camelot, Wonderland, and Ox into one of his
novels.
That's *OZ*, not 'Ox'.
I doubt I'll be writing this myself, but does anyone want to run with it?
The most that might come from it is the Time Corps wanting to learn
about ki-manipulation, and *maybe* adding genetic material to the Long
bloodline. They could learn the ki-abilities (if they're capable of it)
by posing as students and seeking Ranma as a teacher. If they wanted
DNA, they could snatch a cell sample, make a clone, and raise it as a
member of their society (Yes they would - the Longs consider DNA as
being the property of the species, not the person).
It's possible that Nodoka could be an illegitimate daughter of Woodrow
Wilson Smith aka Lazarus Long. It's unlikely that the Rumic World has
more than the most casual connection with the Heinlein Mythos, but could
have been explored. But Lazarus would have been given the same
reversible-sterility-or-voluntary-fertility option, so it becomes more
unlikely.
It's possible that such a story could be written, but *Nodoka* as
*Maureen* is a travesty!
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Jack Staik
Property of Jillian
http://home.earthlink.net/~jstaik1043/otaku.htm
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