I just heard from Steve (edits a SW magazine) and it reminded me yet again that I do not really follow the story and characters of the Saga. (sorry, guys!) I am just not from the generation who it had an impact on. There was very little media choice when I was a kid, anyway, but I'll talk Catch-22 with anyone. It was a universe with characters for every occasion...later everyone in my age group seemed to do Lord of The Rings (I know, I know) but I never did, and still haven't (second time around).

If you want to discuss alternate universes with me you have to get into the Illuminati stuff, not just Illuminatus! but all the peripherals, and hints and clues, and cross-references, and dead ends, etc. Echoes in The Prisoner, or Umberto Eco, in genuine straight history books and subversive ones, heresies, magic, perception, manipulation, myths and legends, including urban myths, etc. It's a rich realm, and I hardly share it with anyone...maybe I'm just paranoid.

Still, I do understand the joy of repeated reading (viewing) and trying to work out what is going on, and so on, but I am more of a bloopers and bad continuity person (having worked on some of these things) rather than a true believer....