Joe Staten Interview - August 2006
When, in the course of an otherwise unremarkable email exchange, Joe Staten, in response to a comment about being prodded once again for Story tidbits, said, and I quote, "Prod away!", we were more than glad to accomodate him. Here once more is Joe, joined by Frankie and Robert McLees, on various and diverse aspects of the Halo Story.
HSP: First off, I'd like to know if there are any elements of the story that haven't been touched on, or maybe touched on obliquely, that you'd like to see get some added attention? Any little back-story tidbit that might not make it to a book, film, or game, but could stand alone as a (short) short story, in the same vein as the Conversations booklet perhaps?
JS: I'd love to see the conversation between Shaw and Fujikawa about how - exactly - a Slipspace drive works. Frankie imagines it would happen at poolside with Tom Baker and George Takei playing the lead roles. McLees tends to think the conversation would have to happen in some place as absurd as Slipspace itself. Like the place where Spartans go when they "never die."
HSP: One of the HBO forumgoers noted an interesting description of the Jackals on the Joyride site:
JS: Unlike races such as the Unggoy, the Kig-Yar were space-faring long before joining the Covenant. While it would be more accurate to call Covenant Kig-Yar ship captains "privateers" (with commissions granted by the Ministry of Tranquility), yes: they have been know to engage in acts of piracy on human ships. But these events haven't always helped the Covenant cause...
HSP: Could you tell us a bit about the origin and history of the Flood? There was a quote from Jason that the Covenant had a previous history with the Flood; perhaps you'd shed some light on what happened, where it might have been, and when this "previous history" happened?
JS: McLees assures me that, in this case, a picture is indeed worth a thousand words:
HSP: Imagine you are an aging ONI operative, sitting with an old friend on the porch one fine summer night, the cares and intrigues of battle and politics a hazy memory. Let's hear a story!
JS: Does it have to be an ONI operative? Because Frankie insists this see the light of day:
HSP: The dialogue from the Halo 3 trailer bears obvious similarity to the Cortana Letters from the early Halo days. Given that they have been discouraged as canon over the years, are they now to be afforded greater consideration? Additionally, the Letters themselves were strongly reminiscent of the messages from Durandal, the rampant AI from Marathon. What are your thoughts on "rampancy," AIs in the Halo universe, and Cortana specifically?
JS: Canon is tricky (see my controversial statement about "I Love Bees" - believe it or not, we're actually working to answer the "is it, or isn't it?" question right now!). The Halo story has as many loose threads as influences. And we do our best to sew the former into canon as we find them - are reminded of their potential. The Cortana Letters are an excellent example of this phenomenon. For all sorts of reasons, they lingered in canonical purgatory for years. But when we needed some compelling dialog to remind folks what's at stake in Halo3: Bam! Newfound utility! Alas, I'd have to say that, as of now, the only canonized parts of the letters are the fragments we pulled for use in the announcement trailer.
HSP: Humans (SPARTANS, specifically) have been shown in both the games and the novels to have an innate understanding of Forerunner glyphs, symbols, and controls. Is this something that will be elaborated on in Halo 3? Is there a Forerunner alphabet or language that can be at least partially deciphered from currently available sources? What would those sources be, specifically?
JS: I mentioned the Ministry of Tranquility earlier, and it just so happens to have an extensive library of Forerunner glyphs - though Ministry Prophets (even with the help of their Huragok librarians) have nothing approaching a full understanding of the Forerunner language. At least, they've never told anyone if they do...
HSP: When did the Forerunner die off - in human years?
JS: Inscrutable alien beings with problematic ethics never die... they just fade away. But if what you're asking is: when did the Forerunner take their "Great Journey," that would be about 100,000 years ago - around the time our Homo Sapien ancestors decided to migrate out of Africa. Mind you, that's a hotly debated paleontological theory.
Once again, we'd like to thank Joe, and also Frank and Robert, for their invaluable contribution to our obsess... er, speculations. Thanks, guys!