Para-Medic, real name Dr. Clark, was a member of FOX in the 1960s, serving as a medical adviser to Naked Snake in 1964 and 1970. Afterwards, she became one of the founding members of the Patriots, chief of FOXHOUND's medical staff, and a key factor in the Les Enfants Terribles project. She was killed by Gray Fox in 2003.
Biography
Early life and career
Dr. Clark was, as she described, "a highly regarded physician..."[4] along with having a "spotless reputation, being highly skilled, patient and good-looking to boot." Due to her tendency of talking too much, she was given the nickname, "Quack." At some point prior to 1964, Major Zero recruited her into the CIA.
Operation Snake Eater
- See also: Virtuous Mission and Operation Snake Eater
In 1964, Dr. Clark adopted the codename "Para-Medic" which originated from her desire to create a unit of medics that could parachute into battle, when they were needed most.
Para-Medic during the Virtuous Mission.
In September 1964, she provided radio support to Naked Snake during the Virtuous Mission. After asking Snake his real name during their introduction to one another, he claimed that it was "John Doe", a colloquialism for an unidentified male corpse, to which Para-Medic jokingly responded that hers was "Jane Doe." She supplied Snake with medical advice and information on the flora and fauna in Tselinoyarsk, which usually resulted in Snake asking how each tasted, a fact that she found quite tiresome after a while. Para-Medic was also in charge of recording Snake's mission data. After Snake was injured during his encounter with The Boss at Dolinovodno, Para-Medic instructed him on how to self-administer treatment for his wounds, which included various lacerations and broken bones. Following the failure of the Virtuous Mission, Para-Medic visited an unconscious Snake during his recovery at an advanced ICU.
She then faced the threat of having her medical license revoked if the CIA's follow-up mission Operation Snake Eater did not succeed. When Snake was again ordered back into Tselinoyarsk a week later, she volunteered to help him anyway, telling Snake that her medical license wasn't important to her. When Snake rendezvoused with fellow spy EVA, Para-Medic backed up the latter's suggestion that he get some rest, pointing out that he would have remained in the ICU until his injuries had fully recovered had it had been up to her. When EVA was later injured in a motorcycle crash while escaping through Lazorevo, Para-Medic gave instructions to Snake on treating her injuries.
Following the success of Operation Snake Eater, Para-Medic was present at the awards ceremony in Langley, where Snake was awarded the title of Big Boss and the Distinguished Service Cross. She expressed concern when Snake walked away from the room without uttering a word.
Post-Snake Eater
In 1970, Para-Medic went on to establish the nation's first paramedic system in Seattle, Washington. In addition, she also founded the paramedic corps of the United States Armed Forces, fulfilling her dream.[5]
San Hieronymo Incident
- Main article: San Hieronymo Incident
In late 1970, Para-Medic was entrusted to monitor any incoming transmissions to a specific radio frequency, which was known to the original members of the FOX unit. When Naked Snake was captured during the San Hieronymo Incident, he infiltrated a Red Army communications base on the Peninsula, and use the frequency to reach Para-Medic. She explained to him that he and Major Zero had been blamed for a rebellion in FOX, and that any members who hadn't joined Gene's command were murdered. Informing him that Zero had been imprisoned, courtesy of the Pentagon, she also suggested that Snake contact Sigint, as he was willing to lend a hand from ARPA.
Snake later returned to the communications base to contact Para-Medic about a form of tropical malaria that his new comrade Roy Campbell had come down with. Para-Medic diagnosed him over the radio and informed Snake that he would have to infiltrate the nearest hospital in order to find the preventative drugs to save Campbell's life. With the help of Jonathan and his other new recruits, Snake was able to save Campbell.
Following the incident, Para-Medic greeted Snake along with Sigint and Major Zero on an airport runway when he returned to the U.S.
The Patriots and FOXHOUND
Sometime after, Para-Medic was recruited alongside Big Boss (Naked Snake), Ocelot, Sigint and EVA into the Patriots by Zero. The organization was set up by Zero in an attempt to realize the dying dream of The Boss, who had wished to see the world whole again. In 1972, under the orders of Zero and now going by her real name of Dr. Clark, she headed the "Les Enfants Terribles" project to create clones of Big Boss (she had always been fascinated by the prospects of human cloning and had even told him that she saw him as "such an excellent specimen" eight years earlier). Dr. Clark's Japanese assistant served as an egg donor during the project.
By the 1980s she had begun working for a company called ATGC and was a well known name in the biotech industry, specializing in bio-engineering. She had also begun getting involved in further genetic research. She began to fall out of the public spotlight, with those who didn't know her personally believing she was a man. Word had also started to spread among other academics that she had become involved in cloning. Huey Emmerich in particular had become privy to her work and was aware of her involvement in a cloning project conducted in the early 1970s although he did not know the exact details of it mainly due to her secrecy about all personal details. Despite this secrecy however he was able to deduce that she was a pivotal player in Cipher (despite erroneously believing her to be a man).
Big Boss, Dr. Clark, Zero and Donald Anderson.
Dr. Clark later became the head of FOXHOUND's medical staff and chief geneticist, organizing and developing the Patriots' genetic research programs. Even though military-based genetic therapy was banned under international law by the early 2000s, the Patriots remained unperturbed, as the laws in question were simply declarations and not actual treaties.[6]
In 1999, Dr. Clark was the scientist in charge of placing Big Boss into an artificially induced coma, following his defeat by Solid Snake in Zanzibar Land. She was also responsible for reviving Gray Fox by encasing him within a cybernetic exoskeleton and used him as a guinea pig to test her gene therapy techniques. During the next four years, Dr. Clark and her team kept Fox drugged while they experimented on him, the results of which were used in the creation of the Next-Generation Special Forces.[7] In addition, she also placed bad nerve connections on Fox, leaving him in constant agony.[8] In 2003, Fox finally killed Dr. Clark after he was freed by his adopted sister.
After death
Dr. Clark's death allowed Gray Fox to take revenge for all the years of torment he had endured while Naomi Hunter becomes the new head of FOXHOUND's medical staff. Dr. Clark's death was also plotted by both EVA and Ocelot as part of a plan to eliminate Zero's faction of the Patriots that were allied against Big Boss's faction.
Personality and traits
According to Para-Medic's personal data, as of 1964: her eyesight was 20/25, her blood type was "B"; she had had no previously documented illnesses; her main hobby was watching movies; her favorite food was sushi; her least favorite food was crab (in a radio conversation, she said they stink like "cat pee"); her favorite types of animals were small birds (in two radio conversations, she expressed shock and disgust when Snake thought about eating "a cute little bird" and also ordered him not to eat The End's parrot); her favorite drink was Japanese sake; her treatment specialty was injections; her favorite monster was the Venusian; she kept her measurements top secret; and her favorite mascots were the Kerotan and the GA-KO.[3]
Para-Medic
Being a total movie fanatic, Para-Medic frequently and enthusiastically talked to Snake (and occasionally Sigint) about them. She actually convinced Snake to go see two movies that she talked about once his mission was complete: Jason and the Argonauts and A Fistful of Dollars. In addition, Para-Medic's obsession with horror movies and vampires led Snake to have a vampire-themed nightmare during his imprisonment in the fortress Groznyj Grad, where Snake fought half-breed monsters. Her habit of telling Snake about movies was extensive enough that Snake briefly and indirectly compared Ghost to Para-Medic irritably when he mentioned Bride of the Monster.
Para-Medic was fond of Snake, as she had volunteered to help him during Operation Snake Eater, valuing his safety over her medical license. Throughout the mission, she took many opportunities to lightly tease him and was unsettled by his willingness to eat anything. Regardless, she respected his talents as an agent and assumed that Snake thought highly of her in return.[9]
Despite being likable and kindhearted at first, Para-medic's personality later changed. In 1964, she admitted to Snake that while she was intrigued by the notion of cloning, and even considered him an excellent specimen, she couldn't condone it morally. By 1972, however, she had decided to pursue such research, and would go on to conduct unethical experiments on Gray Fox decades later. She also became so reclusive that people weren't even sure of her sex, her age, where she was from or if her surname was real.
Unconfirmed history
| The following information has been detailed in official Konami-licensed media, written by various external authors. Its status in the Metal Gear canon is unconfirmed.[?] |
In the late 1960s, U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson gave his support for the "Les Enfants Terribles," into which Dr. Clark was recruited.[10] Dr. Clark, along with the succeeding President and General Jim Houseman, personally oversaw the births of Solid and Liquid Snake in 1972. The President and Houseman both expressed reservations about the project, though Dr. Clark attempted to allay their concerns by further explaining the project's goals to them.
Behind the scenes
Para-Medic's Metal Gear Solid 3 render.
Dr. Clark was originally implied to be male in the original Metal Gear Solid. In the English version, Naomi repeatedly uses the male pronoun "he" to describe Dr. Clark, while in the Japanese version Naomi only uses the equivalent pronoun kare once.[11] It wasn't until the Metal Gear Solid novelization by Raymond Benson that it was revealed Dr. Clark was a woman. The book also revealed that she was involved in the Les Enfants Terribles project. The Metal Gear Solid 4 Database covers up this inconsistency by explaining that Dr. Clark "seldom exposed herself to others and left almost no data behind after her death. As a result, Naomi was convinced that Dr. Clark was a man."[12] This was expanded upon in Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain when Huey Emmerich referred to Clark as a man when speaking to Venom Snake and even then, he wasn't even sure if Clark was a man or a woman because very little was known about her. However, in the novelization of Metal Gear Solid, Solid Snake assumed that Dr. Clark was a male until Naomi corrected him. Benson and Ryan Payton added this line as a subtle joke.[13]
A leaked voice casting sheet for Metal Gear Solid 3 stated that Para-Medic used to have a husband, to whom she was divorced by the time of the game's setting. None of this is mentioned in Para-Medic's Personal Data, nor anywhere else in the game itself, so its status in the series' canon is unknown.[14]
A certain radio conversation with Para-Medic, in Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence, features dialogue text being displayed in French, even though she is audibly speaking English. This occurs when Snake asks what movies Para-Medic likes, after learning that she didn't actually watch The Great Escape.
Para-Medic's model in Portable Ops.
Para-Medic is the only person in Snake's support team who doesn't say a word in the Metal Gear Solid 3 Movie, a recut of the cutscenes from the game strung together to act as a movie, included in the Existence disc of Subsistence.
While Para-Medic received the nickname "Quack" because she talked too much, it is also a term used to describe a person who pretends to be a doctor.
According to Hideo Kojima, despite Operation Snake Eater's success, the United States Government revoked Para-Medic's medical license anyway.[15] However, Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots contradicts this by revealing that she was still a doctor.
Along with Sigint, Major Zero and Ocelot, Para-Medic's appearance within the story line of Portable Ops is restricted to the radio, and the animated comic style cutscenes. Her in-game model is only used once she has been recruited, an event with unknown status to the game's canonical story due to Para-Medic greeting Snake upon his return to the United States. Like Sigint, Para-Medic received a new model for Portable Ops.
Heather Halley, Para-Medic's English voice actress, stated in an 2015 interview that when she first auditioned for the role, Para-Medic's name was listed as "Naomi Hunter." The exact reasons for this are unclear, however, as she was unable to shed any light on the subject.[16]
Portable Ops recruitment
In Portable Ops, the player is given the option to recruit Para-Medic. This section details how the recruitment takes place:
After Snake manages to get the malaria medication for the San Hieronymo Peninsula, Snake returns to the Communications base to thank Para-Medic for the tip in regards to how to treat malaria. Para-Medic, after accepting the thanks, asks Snake what is truly going on, as she knows that he came back to the Communications base for more than thanks. Snake then admits that he also came to contact her because he needed another favor. He explained that he needed a few of her Paramedic unit members to be dispatched to the San Hieronymo Peninsula, as he needs all the medical help for his unit that he can acquire due to the fact that while several of the personnel have basic medical training, he can't get all of them onto his side, and even if he ended up getting one onto his side, he still can't completely trust their competency level, as some don't have enough medical training and experience to help fix up his soldiers. Para-Medic breaks it to him that there is none available due to the fact that they have all been dispatched to Vietnam, and she doesn't have the authority to issue an order to San Hieronymo Peninsula anyways. She does decide to go to San Hieronymo, however, despite Snake's protests.
A few days later, she arrives at her destination, but hides in the Hospital, requiring a rescue. A Spy Unit discovers this, and submits a report. After speaking with Roy Campbell, one of the resistance members then escorts her back to the truck.
Recruiting Para-Medic is the only way to freely access her radio frequency. Para-Medic also receives a slight redesign from her appearance in Metal Gear Solid 3, as she's given a slightly larger bust than in the prior game.
- "As a member of FOX, Paramedic provided medical support to Snake during Operation Snake Eater. In her previous job as a doctor, her incessant chatter earned her the inevitable nickname of "Quack." A hardcore movie buff, although her tastes are widely regarded as being a little bit weird."
- ―Character description in Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops Plus
Movies mentioned
As mentioned previously, Para-Medic was a huge movie fan. Here is a list of the movies that Para-Medic mentioned to Naked Snake during the events of Metal Gear Solid 3:
- 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
- Abbott and Costello meet Frankenstein (despite Naked Snake's fear of vampires, he makes no reaction when Para-Medic mentions Dracula)
- The Alligator People
- The Alamo
- The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms
- The Big Broadcast
- The Bridge on the River Kwai
- The Blob
- It Came from Outer Space
- It Conquered the World
- Creature from the Black Lagoon
- The Curse of the Werewolf
- Dracula (Naked Snake has a nightmare after Para-Medic mentions the movie)
- Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
- Earth vs. the Spider
- The Fly (she briefly compared Snake's oxygen mask to the titular character)
- A Fistful of Dollars (referred to by its alternate literally-translated title, For a Fistful of Dollars; the film being mentioned is an anachronism because in real life, it was released in Italy on September 12, 1964, not earlier in England)
- Forbidden Planet
- Frankenstein
- From Russia with Love (when she is describing the movie to Naked Snake, Major Zero mentions having seen it and suggests gadgets that Snake could use, similar to James Bond)
- The Great Escape (mentioned by Zero as the source of his original codename "Major Tom"; Para-Medic never actually saw it because she was not interested in the movie)
- Godzilla
- The Guns of Navarone
- The Incredible Shrinking Man
- Invasion of the Body Snatchers
- It Came from Beneath the Sea
- Jason and the Argonauts
- The Last War
- Mondo Cane
- The Magnificent Seven
- North by Northwest
- On the Beach
- Plan 9 from Outer Space
- The Quatermass Experiment
- Rebecca
- Them!
- The Thing from Another World
- The War of the Worlds (it is implied that Para-Medic never actually saw the movie, instead shutting her eyes for the majority of the film)
- White Zombie
At one point, Para-Medic asks Snake if he's seen a film called My Mother was a Teenage Spider Queen from Mars. When Snake replies "I can't say that I have", Para-Medic says, "Neither have I." Para-Medic later admits to not paying attention due to Major Zero talking to her at the time. It is also to be noted that the movie title was a reference to David Bowie's former band, The Spiders from Mars, similar to Major Zero's former codename of Major Tom. Also, when calling her while wearing the Raikov Mask, Para-Medic will mention that the mask makes him look like a Venusian before clarifying with "I mean, not the crab kind... the other kind", a reference to the main antagonist from the film It Conquered the World, the Venusian Crab. A similar reference to It Conquered the World was made in Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, although it was lost in translation.
Similarly, in Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops, Para-Medic mentioned another list of movies. Due to the change in gameplay mechanics in Portable Ops, compared with Metal Gear Solid 3, saving the game is not required to have Para-Medic talk with Snake (or in some cases, Snake's soldiers) about various movies:
- Dirty Harry (when telling Snake about the movie, she also asks him about the .44 Magnum)
- Fantastic Voyage
- Night of the Living Dead
- Orgy of the Dead (when asked by one of the soldiers as to what made it scary, Para-Medic replied that it was most likely the fact that it was even made in the first place)
- Planet of the Apes (this is one of the few movies that she does not ask Snake about; she asks one of his soldiers instead)
Other appearances
Para-Medic appeared in the Versus Battle on the official series website.
- "''STRENGTHS: Patriotic, FOXHOUND’s Top Doc
WEAKNESSES: Talks Too Much
FEATURED FACT: Dr. Clark took her “Para-Medic” nickname based on her wish to form an airborne medic unit that could parachute to wherever they were needed
FEATURED GAME: METAL GEAR SOLID: THE LEGACY COLLECTION" - ―Para-Medic on Versus Battle
Para-Medic is also featured in the Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes app, as an unlockable officer character for the Mother Base Developer. She is unlocked after obtaining 50K+ points on Hard Mode of the Ground Zeroes Side Op Eliminate the Renegade Threat, while connected to the app.
In the end credits timeline of The Phantom Pain, Dr. Clark's year of death is incorrectly given as 2005, as it is grouped together with those of Kazuhira Miller and Donald Anderson.
Main Appearances
Other Appearances
- Metal Gear Solid/Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes (mentioned)
- Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty (mentioned; via In the Darkness of Shadow Moses)
- Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence (Secret Theater; non-canon)
- Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops Plus (non-canon)
- Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (mentioned and flashbacks)
- Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker (mentioned)
- Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance (mentioned)
- Metal Gear Solid: Social Ops (trading card)
- Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain (mentioned)
Gallery
References
- ^ Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, Konami Computer Entertainment Japan (2004).
Radio Mode, Personal Data (1/4). [1] - ^ a b c Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, Konami Computer Entertainment Japan (2004).
Radio Mode, Personal Data (2/4). [2] - ^ a b Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, Konami Computer Entertainment Japan (2004).
Radio Mode, Personal Data (3/4) and (4/4). [3] - ^ Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, Konami Computer Entertainment Japan (2004).
Major Zero: [Naked Snake], her skills as a doctor are beyond reproach. You have my word on that. - ^ Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops, Kojima Productions (2006).
Naked Snake: Congrats on launching the paramedic corps [Para-Medic]. Looks like all your hard work finally paid off. - ^ Metal Gear Solid, Konami Computer Entertainment Japan (1998).
Solid Snake: I thought international law banned the military use of genetic therapy. // Naomi Hunter: Yes, but those are just declarations, not actual treaties. - ^ Metal Gear Solid, Konami Computer Entertainment (1998).
Naomi Hunter: Apparently for their test subject, they decided to use the body of a soldier who was recovered after the fall of Zanzibar [Land]... // Solid Snake: And that was Gray Fox... // Roy Campbell: But he was already dead... // Naomi: Yes. But they revived him. They fitted him with a prototype exoskeleton and kept him drugged for four years while they experimented on him like a plaything. Today's genome soldiers were born from those experiments. [...] They used him to test all sorts of gene therapy techniques. - ^ Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, Kojima Productions/Platinum Games (2013).
Raiden: Used to be even worse - Back when Dr. Clark was still experimenting. Bad nerve connections would screw with the test subject's pain receptors... It was torture. Compared to that, I had it pretty easy. - ^ Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops, Kojima Productions (2006).
Para-Medic: This is Para-Medic. Got a question for me? You want to know about my relationship with Snake? Well... I guess you could call us old war buddies. I respect him as a brilliant agent. And I'm sure he thinks of me as a beautiful, clever, dependable, wonderful woman. - ^ Metal Gear Solid by Raymond Benson, Del Rey Books (2008).
"The Carlsbad area was perfect for the project. I'm in debt to your [the 1972 President's] predecessor for backing it." - ^ Konami Computer Entertainment Japan. Metal Gear Solid. (in Japanese). “クラーク博士のこと？いいえ、彼を殺したのは兄よ。 (Kurāku-hakase no koto? Iie, kare o koroshita no wa ani yo., "You mean Dr. Clark? No, that was my brother who killed him")”
- ^ Metal Gear Solid 4 Database ("Para-Medic"), Kojima Productions (2008). [4]
- ^ Metal Gear Solid 4 Afterthoughts with Ryan Payton
- ^ Metal Gear Solid 3 voice casting sheet [5][6]
- ^ MGS3 CINEMA KOJIMA COMMENTARY: Arctic Air Space ～ Bolshaya Past Base. Retrieved on 2014-02-03.
- ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCJ5F3IAoYo