[UA] Magonia (was: Re: [UA] Euphemistic Names for Other Worlds)

[David M Jacobs]

At 11:16 AM 10/04/02 +0930, James Knevitt wrote:

>I my Delta/Green game I made Magonia and Freedonia twin breakaway republics
>of the former Unkraine, formed from disaffected provinces along the shore of
>the Black Sea. They're techno-inductrialist socilaist societies with a
>slightly Islamic bent. Think of them as El Amarja for Eastern Europe. :)

On the subject of imaginary Eastern European countries, does anyone else 
remember a British black comedy series called "The Gravy Train"?

The protagonist, Hans Jurgen Dorffman, got his PhD for a thesis on 
Nietzsche, went on to manage African operations for UNICEF (or was it the 
WHO?) and, as the series starts, gets sent to work in the European 
Parliament in Brussels.  Everyone is overawed at his intelligence, talent 
and political acumen.  Trouble is, he doesn't have a clue what's going on; 
sheer luck and conspiracy combine so that things turn out in his favour.

In Brussels, he has to deal with the various scams and bureaucratic snarls 
that plague the inner circle of the EU; the story revolves around a ploy by 
Bulgarian smuggler Milcic (played by Alexei Sayle) to use non-existent 
overripe plums as a cover for his operations -- with the complicity of 
various EU Commissioners.

In the second series, "The Gravy Train Goes East", Dorffman is sent to the 
tiny Eastern European nation of Slaka.  Slaka has nothing to offer the EU, 
but various member states' governments are using the country as a pawn in 
their schemes (the British, for instance, have a project called TEATIME -- 
Teaching English Abroad To Incorporate Middle Europe).

The Slakans are desperate to modernise and join the EU; they retitled their 
formerly Communist dictator, and have tried to adapt to the West as best as 
they can, without much success.  One of the story's antagonists is the 
Slakan Minister for Strange (ie, Foreign) Trade, for example.

TGT is IMO one of the better satires of internal bureaucracy that I've seen 
(up there with "Yes, Minister").  If you can find it, watch it.  If you can 
find it on DVD, please let me know.

(And before you think that this is yet another warped product of 
imagination, the series *does* exist.  It aired in Australia in about 1993, 
IIRC.)



David M Jacobs
dmjacobs at zipworld.com.au
http://www.zipworld.com.au/~dmjacobs/
ICQ UIN: 17027598

"'Kevin,' David interrupted, 'what the Germans should have done
was show the Russians a dead cat and ask them to explain it.'

"'That would have stopped the Soviet offensive right there,' I said.
"Zhukov would still be trying to account for the cat's death.'"

— from Valis, by Philip K Dick


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