Fenspace not a dystopia? Could have fooled me, what with the unaccountable paramilitary organization with 'troubleshooters' all but given a liscense to kill, the nasty crime gangs still out there, the US somehow being blocked from space by the fen who are doing their best to keep them down along almost all the rest of earth's nations. Really could fool me.
Fenspace was supposed to be about 'the little guy can make a difference, and rise to power' as much as 'dreams came true'. Only I'm not seeing much of either after the Boskone War. A group of guys working a huge project out in the Oort cloud so that it's a pleasant surprise to fenspace? Nope, Great Justice would sabatoge them and prevent it from happening, I'm told. Trying to tie the US into fen politics in order to keep them from doing something incredibly stupid that would be actual reaction instead of sticking their fingers in their ears like everyone seems to think they would? War on Fenspace!
That's not exactly utopian, there.
The US just sitting on the sidelines and doing nothing is a giant plothole. It makes no sense in-universe. Either it has to be rendered unable to interfer, or we need to show it getting involved for better (fen carefully guiding it Up, tying it up with a series of treaties to keep it pacified), or worse (uncontrolled reaction to Boskone War, troublemaker and possible war).
And, the US suffering a massive economic collapse and falling from superpower status would be a good thing, from a storytelling point of view. One, you can open up many of the 'pressured by the US' states all the way for handwavium schenanigans. After all, what is it going to do? Not trade with them?
Two, it gives an excuse for a dane diaspora storyline. People hear it's going to get better, they can see that it slowly is. But with them already having suffered through four or more bad years, they're tired of waiting. They look everywhere, and then the lure of handwavium beckons. So Up they come. Space, its economy almost untouched by the Default Disaster, offered hope of that better tomorrow they crave.
The status quo is even more shook up. The post-war complacency falters as there is suddenly Competition. Kandor, Helium, the Crystal Cities, the Browncoats and Belters, Stelliva, the Rockhounss, everybosy is suddenly feeling the pressure as a flood of danes slowly crests the dike of weird and dangerous the fen built up. It would be the big reason the fen are exploding outwards in S2. We already have things like the housing crisis on Mars and the new stations popping up like weeds in the Jupiter Trojans, and stuff like the argentian rancher with the Island station.
Fenspace is back to being the western boom town it was before season one, the scars of the war fading as dane spacers flood out.
And, it sets up to reset the fen/US relations by 2020, ending that sillyness.
Fenspace was supposed to be about 'the little guy can make a difference, and rise to power' as much as 'dreams came true'. Only I'm not seeing much of either after the Boskone War. A group of guys working a huge project out in the Oort cloud so that it's a pleasant surprise to fenspace? Nope, Great Justice would sabatoge them and prevent it from happening, I'm told. Trying to tie the US into fen politics in order to keep them from doing something incredibly stupid that would be actual reaction instead of sticking their fingers in their ears like everyone seems to think they would? War on Fenspace!
That's not exactly utopian, there.
The US just sitting on the sidelines and doing nothing is a giant plothole. It makes no sense in-universe. Either it has to be rendered unable to interfer, or we need to show it getting involved for better (fen carefully guiding it Up, tying it up with a series of treaties to keep it pacified), or worse (uncontrolled reaction to Boskone War, troublemaker and possible war).
And, the US suffering a massive economic collapse and falling from superpower status would be a good thing, from a storytelling point of view. One, you can open up many of the 'pressured by the US' states all the way for handwavium schenanigans. After all, what is it going to do? Not trade with them?
Two, it gives an excuse for a dane diaspora storyline. People hear it's going to get better, they can see that it slowly is. But with them already having suffered through four or more bad years, they're tired of waiting. They look everywhere, and then the lure of handwavium beckons. So Up they come. Space, its economy almost untouched by the Default Disaster, offered hope of that better tomorrow they crave.
The status quo is even more shook up. The post-war complacency falters as there is suddenly Competition. Kandor, Helium, the Crystal Cities, the Browncoats and Belters, Stelliva, the Rockhounss, everybosy is suddenly feeling the pressure as a flood of danes slowly crests the dike of weird and dangerous the fen built up. It would be the big reason the fen are exploding outwards in S2. We already have things like the housing crisis on Mars and the new stations popping up like weeds in the Jupiter Trojans, and stuff like the argentian rancher with the Island station.
Fenspace is back to being the western boom town it was before season one, the scars of the war fading as dane spacers flood out.
And, it sets up to reset the fen/US relations by 2020, ending that sillyness.