Apologies for the lateness of putting this up, this week was full of horrible Real Life distractions that I really wish I didn’t have to get into. Ten more pages to colorize in this chapter, too…yikes. Sorry. I guess I was crashing and burning hard the last time I worked on Chapter 17 too. Was it worth the wait? I dunno.
ABOUT THE COMIC: I should note that it’s more for reader convenience that they exchange rings as a means of showing off engagement; two thousand years in the future they might have an entirely different ritual.
Say it with me, everybody!
awwwwwwwwwwwww
Maybe in the future there are other rituals. But some traditions are classics and might still be around. And who knows, they might have recently watched a video together that showed a proposal with a ring and gave them both the same idea.
On the gripping hand, this was ideal from a storytelling point of view. It’s better to show than to tell, and doing it this way works for your audience.
Years ago I read a book called _The Making of Star Trek_ and it told a story that ties in. For the episode “The Man Trap” they needed a salt shaker. There was a creature that eats salt, and the script called for someone to be carrying a tray with food and a salt shaker, so the creature (disguised as a crew member) could stare at the salt shaker with longing. But what would a salt shaker look like in the Star Trek future? They sent someone over to a “five and dime” store, and that person bought several artistic and unusual salt shakers, very futuristic (with the 1960’s sense of “futuristic” I should think!). Then they looked them over and realized (paraphrased from memory): “These look cool, but if we use any one of these, we will need to add a line of dialog where somebody says ‘Yup, this is a salt shaker’ or else the audience won’t know what it is.” So in the end, they went to the commissary and grabbed an ordinary salt shaker off one of the tables, and that was the prop for the scene.
Then Gene Roddenberry made the decision that the futuristic salt shakers would become Dr. McCoy’s medical instruments. They worked great for that: the doctor waves them over the patient, sound effect of a warbling noise, and he looks at something and says “his heart’s beating way too fast” or whatever. No need to add dialog ‘Yup, he’s using a medical scanner now’.
Anyway, I think the rings were the correct decision and I love this page and the page before it.
They work fine. It’s established that certain metals remain rare/valuable. A ring is a convient form that’s simple to make, easy to keep close, doesn’t interfere with daily activities, yet is still visible as a public sign.
Maybe thousand years in future will they have different ritual and two thousand years it will be rings again :-). Also, I agree with EcchiKitty: what other wearable should they be exchanging? Crowns? Socks? Rings make sense. Maybe bracelets would be good alternative. There definitely isn’t so many options for rings to not return.