…Okay, I’m beginning to think my initial assessment of the Institute was grossly inaccurate. It seemed like they were just wanting to know what makes the mad scientists tick, possibly for Tinasky-related purposes. But now it looks more like they’re into turning regular people into mad scientists, probably of the evil variety.
I don’t think this is set /that/ far after Narbonic. Besides I think their daughter had a better relationship with her family than one which would lead to her locking up mad geniuses for a living. Perhaps the mocking is to insure that no one working with them is mad. You wouldn’t want a mad genius to infiltrate an organization working on locking up mad geniuses and if someone can endure those fools at the Institute laughing at them then it’s a pretty good sign of sanity.
In regards to the Institute liason being Helen and Dave’s daughter from Narbonic: She IS a time traveler, so when Skin Hose and Narbonic take place in relation to one another isn’t really an issue. She has the same hairstyle and glasses and Shaenon did say Helen and Dave’s daughter went into psychiatry. Finally, Helen said that she planed to use her anti-madness drug against other mad scientists; the Institute could just be a convenient cover.
Given more recent strips, I doubt it, but maybe this was, at one time, a planned plot-line.
…Okay, I’m beginning to think my initial assessment of the Institute was grossly inaccurate. It seemed like they were just wanting to know what makes the mad scientists tick, possibly for Tinasky-related purposes. But now it looks more like they’re into turning regular people into mad scientists, probably of the evil variety.
I’m pretty sure that’s Helen and Dave’s daughter from Narbonic. Sanity doesn’t run in the family.
I don’t think this is set /that/ far after Narbonic. Besides I think their daughter had a better relationship with her family than one which would lead to her locking up mad geniuses for a living. Perhaps the mocking is to insure that no one working with them is mad. You wouldn’t want a mad genius to infiltrate an organization working on locking up mad geniuses and if someone can endure those fools at the Institute laughing at them then it’s a pretty good sign of sanity.
In regards to the Institute liason being Helen and Dave’s daughter from Narbonic: She IS a time traveler, so when Skin Hose and Narbonic take place in relation to one another isn’t really an issue. She has the same hairstyle and glasses and Shaenon did say Helen and Dave’s daughter went into psychiatry. Finally, Helen said that she planed to use her anti-madness drug against other mad scientists; the Institute could just be a convenient cover.
Given more recent strips, I doubt it, but maybe this was, at one time, a planned plot-line.
Dave is 6’2″ and Helen is somewhere between 5’9″ and 5’11”. Somehow, I can’t picture their daughter being a foot shorter than both of them.