What happened to Trini's mom? And Tooey's for that matter?
- Tooey's mom is still around, actually; she's the local doctor. She makes appearances in "Operation: Sleepover" and "Porcupine Slippers" (her name is Atsaq), so we can guess she lives in Qyah, but is usually busy offscreen. In the episode with Trini's birthday (can't remember the title), we find out Trini's mom lives somewhere else.
- The "Puppypalooza / Molly and the Great One" two-parter reveals that Trini's mother Joy is a helicopter pilot serving actively in the military, so can only be with her family when she's on leave.
Why do the people of Qyah speak Indian language if Alaska is in the US?
- Because not everybody in the US speaks English to each other. It's a country full of many different languages.
- This is true and I'm not doubting that this seems to be an inflammatory question, but I was under the impression that most Native American languages (beyond Navajo) have been mostly supplanted by English in today's world. From my previous understanding, the overwhelming majority like Comanche or Pawnee are usually spoken fluently only by a handful of elderly individuals in rituals, and essentially died out completely in common use. Is the situation with Alaskan natives as seen with the Molly of Denali show different in that regard?
- It's their heritage, which they wish to preserve and perpetuate. Why shouldn't they speak their culture's language? They have as much right to do so as an Italian-American family in Brooklyn have to use Italian at home ... more so even, considering they're still living on the same land where their ethnic language originated.
- Adding onto that, the premise is to learn about Native American culture and life in Alaska, on top of being told from the POV of an Alaskan Native (Athabascan, IIRC), so speaking their native language would be a part of that.
- Native Americans are not "Indian", as they are not from India. Columbus thought they were from India when he "discovered" America, but they're native to America. Furthermore, they have the right to speak whatever language they please.
- Indonesia, actually. The term Indian used to apply to Indonesians too. In large part because it was a pun. The name India means "land beyond the river," but since the name Indus (the river in question) happens to resemble the Latin word "indo," meaning "native," the Romans ran with it and referred to India as the "land of native people." They kept the pun for the East Indies, so when Columbus thought he'd made it to the East Indies, he referred to the natives as, well...natives. But in Latin-slash-pseudo-Sanskrit. So strictly speaking, the term Indian is not entirely inaccurate. It's just that it's rather rude to force a pun on the locals without their permission.
Why didn't Oscar just go directly to the Fiddle Festival and ask someone there if they had a spare string?
Every fiddle-player for miles around (except Finnegan) was liable to be there, and surely
somebody would have some backup strings in their violin case. Most such cases have built-in pockets for precisely that purpose, and if strings going "plunk" is indeed as common as everyone in the episode claims, then it's bound to have happened to pretty much every musician in attendance ... or at least, every one who's older than Oscar.
- If you're referring to "Fiddle of Nowhere", he probably wasn't thinking about it or didn't want to borrow a string from another fiddler who might need it.
In "Winter Is Coming", why didn't Molly's parents suggest she simply keep those excess socks and flashlights in her room until the store's existing stocks had been sold out?
- It would remind her to be more careful ordering supplies in future, while ensuring the money spent on those extra items would be recouped eventually. It's not like flashlights or socks go stale if kept on a little girl's bedroom shelf for a few months, after all.
How could the writers, who have been so careful to portray Alaskans as accurately as possible, have Failed a Spot Check and written an episode for Balto instead of Togo?
- To elaborate: Most Alaskans and basically all sled dog trainers and mushers know that Balto was only made the hero of the Race of Mercy by the media because his team was the one to enter Nome with the medicine. The real hero was Leonard Seppala's dog Togo, who ran over 200 miles of the relay and crossed a treacherous frozen sound not once but twice! In fact, Seppala Siberian huskies are now the most valued and expensive breed of husky on the market. They are all descendants of Togo. Most every musher could only dream of owning a Seppala Siberian. Balto, by contrast, was neutered and had no puppies. One would think that Tooey would know all about the controversy surrounding Balto. Every mushing family knows it.
- To be fair, Balto is more well-known than Togo, though that wasn't for either of their faults 'cause news at the time left out Togo's contributions and, thus, a lot of contemporary reports left that him out, too, especially as that news spread beyond Alaska and Canada. As y'all can guess, people like an underdog story.
