| rdfs:comment | - The animals in Fitzgibbon's field seem rather intelligent. Sure, it could just be typical cartoonish anthropomorphism, but perhaps the injection given to the rats and mice of NIMH was contagious somehow. The rats and mice got the concentrated dose, so they're far more intelligent, but Mrs. Brisby (whose mate was a NIMH escapee) and her family seem quite smart, even compared to their 'neighbors'. They have a fully furnished home and wear clothes (The Shrew picked up the habit, or perhaps caught the 'bug' from Mrs. Brisby). The Great Owl is so smart because he ate one of the rats of NIMH, thereby getting the 'full' dose (Hell, he even LOOKS a bit like Nicodemus).
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| abstract | - The animals in Fitzgibbon's field seem rather intelligent. Sure, it could just be typical cartoonish anthropomorphism, but perhaps the injection given to the rats and mice of NIMH was contagious somehow. The rats and mice got the concentrated dose, so they're far more intelligent, but Mrs. Brisby (whose mate was a NIMH escapee) and her family seem quite smart, even compared to their 'neighbors'. They have a fully furnished home and wear clothes (The Shrew picked up the habit, or perhaps caught the 'bug' from Mrs. Brisby). The Great Owl is so smart because he ate one of the rats of NIMH, thereby getting the 'full' dose (Hell, he even LOOKS a bit like Nicodemus).
* Perhaps the intelligence is spread psychically. Nicodemus demonstrates telekinetic powers throughout the film; by extension, the enhanced rats and mice likely possess latent psychic talents that allow their exceptional intelligence to spread to those around them. It may be restricted to rodents and birds, since Dragon didn't show phenomenal intelligence even after eating Jonathan Brisby.
* That would suggest Theory of Primary Perception in animal form, AKA everything is linked by psychic, unconscious bonds; and by extension Collective Unconscious. But something that can bring out latent psychic powers in ANIMALS would have humans swarming all over NIMH, and NIMH itself would quadruple its efforts to capture the Rats. Besides, it still doesn't sound entirely correct for mutations to occur by something simply being there and unconsciously making them happen.
* The psychic powers are Canon. We see them. And that variety of mutation happens in cartoons quite often...
* But psychic powers don't cause mutations themselves. Besides, wouldn't it be ridiculously painful for Mrs. Brisby to suffer the same kind of alterations the Rats did? Even through alternate means? Back to the Mantra.
* It was ridiculously painful. Her hands were in bandages for quite some time after she used that locket.
* True, but that was because she was holding sternly on to the locket even as he burned into her skin, right?
* These mutations would have occurred around the time that the Rats of NIMH first arrived in the field. The delivery system is based on a passive psychic field; it would most likely be a gradual process rather than the rapid and painful mutation that the Rats experienced. Do you think this sounds bizarre enough?
* Passive psychic mutations? Wouldn't ole' Nicodemus know about that?
* Who knows? Maybe he did, and never got the chance to tell anyone before Jenner flattened him.
* He decided to be sadistic and tell Brisby, "Your probably just like us now, but I'm going to tell you you'd have died first, and then told you the truth once we moved your house. Oops, I'm dead! Sorry 'bout that." Nicodemus must have had a layer of humor under all that mystery.
* Covers both the "Why Mrs. Frisby/Brisby Had A Shorter Lifespan" and "Why No Extreme Pain Was Experienced": The pain was physically real, not a result of the neural network rewrite, and a result of the cells changing due to something in the injections that was not contagious, but would allow for inheritable increased lifespan and physical abilities. The intelligence side effect was something else in the cocktail of drugs and viruses. If it was contagious, it would only have mild flu-like or cold symptoms if anything (if thanks to the telepathy, it could have no symptoms, and Nicodemus simply didn't know of the effects). If it was not, then it could be a result of the animals being affected by their interactions with Johnathan and Mr. Ages, and indirectly through Mrs. Frisby and the children.
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