DA-NAY AND THE ZANANS AMONG US

From Wikipedia:

In Greek mythology, Danaë was the daughter, and only child of King Acrisius of Argos and his wife Queen Eurydice. She was the mother of the hero Perseus by Zeus. She was credited with founding the city of Ardea in Latium during the Bronze Age.

Disappointed by his lack of male heirs, King Acrisius asked the oracle of Delphi if this would change. The oracle announced to him that he would never have a son, but his daughter would, and that he would be killed by his daughter's son. At the time, Danae was childless and, meaning to keep her so, King Acrisius shut her up in a bronze chamber to be constructed under the court of his palace (other versions say she was imprisoned in a tall brass tower with a single richly adorned chamber, but with no doors or windows, just a sky-light as the source of light and air). She was buried in this tomb, never to see the light again. However, Zeus, the king of the gods, desired her, and came to her in the form of golden rain which streamed in through the roof of the subterranean chamber and down into her womb. Soon after, their child Perseus was born.

Unwilling to provoke the wrath of the gods or the Furies by killing his offspring and grandchild, King Acrisius cast Danaë and Perseus into the sea in a wooden chest. The sea was calmed by Poseidon and, at the request of Zeus, the pair survived. They were washed ashore on the island of Seriphos, where they were taken in by Dictys – the brother of King Polydectes – who raised Perseus to manhood. The King was charmed by Danaë, but she had no interest in him. Consequently, he agreed not to marry her only if her son would bring him the head of the Gorgon Medusa. Using Athena's shield, Hermes's winged sandals and Hades' helmet of invisibility, Perseus was able to evade Medusa's gaze and decapitate her.

Later, after Perseus brought back Medusa's head and rescued Andromeda, the oracle's prophecy came true. He started for Argos, but learning of the prophecy, instead went to Larissa, where athletic games were being held. By chance, an aging Acrisius was there and Perseus accidentally struck him on the head with his javelin (or discus), fulfilling the prophecy.

'THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN'

"THE LOST ISLAND" (PARTS 1&2)

From the Bionic Wiki:

Walter Jensen is a famous anthropologist and amateur yachtsman.

In 1928, Jensen and his schooner Shara are lost in the Pacific Ocean. Rudy Wells and associates search, to no avail.

Jensen with his boat reaches the shield of the Zanans, during an electrical storm. Somehow the storm neutralizes the shield, and he gets through. He lands on the island, badly injured. He is found by the Zanans, who are afraid to go near him.

Jensen is left for three days and nights. A Zanan lady cannot stand to hear his cries of pain any longer. She goes to him, feeds him, and takes care of him. They are in isolation for one year. Da Nay is later born to the couple, with minimal immunity against infectious diseases on Earth.

Walter Jensen, his daughter Da-Nay, and Gerro

First off, the date has to be a typo.  Although I believe Dr. Rudy Wells is either an android or a regenerating alien - not necessarily a Gallifreyan Time Lord - I don't think he was around fifty years earlier to participate in such a search.  And there was nothing about life among the Zanans which suggests that Walter Jensen would still be alive and looking no more than the 52 years of age borne by the actor who portrayed him, Robert Symonds.

And then there's this: in the first episode of this two-part story, Rudy mentions that Walter Jensen disappeared in the same area as that hidden island home of the Zanans twenty years before.  So we're talking 1958, not 1928.

But I'm writing this blog post about the Zanan-Terran hybrid, Da-Nay, daughter of Walter Jensen and a Zanan woman.

The other Zanans had appropriately alien names - Gerro the Zanan leader, plus Torg, Zandor, Arta, and Riga.  And Da-Nay would seem to fit into such a pattern.  But her father was a human from Earth, and I would think he would want to have a say in the choice of her name.

As an anthropologist, Walter Jensen may have included Greek mythology as one of his studies.  So perhaps he thought "Danaë" was a name which sounded Zanan, especially phonetically spelled out in their language - "Da-Nay" - but which evoked his own memories of the world he left behind.  I don't think it had any more of a connotation than that.

Just one final O'Bservation about this 'Six Million Dollar' story - the Zanans are still to be found on Earth, hidden away from human contact on their "lost island".  But aside from their lack of immunity from Terran disease, there really wasn't anything which marked a distinct difference from human anatomy.  It could be that since the Zanans were last seen in 1978, they have been able to build up their tolerance to human ailments, thanks to the serum.  Since they had the blessings of their leader Gerro to leave the island, the Zanans could have spread out into Terran society and be unrecognizable from any human standing right next to them.  And eventually as Walter Jensen did with Da-Nay's mother, they could inter-breed with humans.

Theoretically, there could be Zanans in just about any TV show on the air since at least 1980.  Perhaps one day I might begin inducting such alien races into the Television Crossover Hall of Fame.  (Others would be the Galacticans, Andromedans, Bolians and the Silence......)

BCnU!