I don't think ... (more spoilers)
|
He persuaded the crew to self-immolate at all. My sense was always that he killed or severely injured a few crew members, placed them in the observatory, lured the others in there, and then flipped off the protective screen. He was homicidal when the Icarus II arrived, so I always assumed that he was homicidal beforehand.
Also, I looked at Pinbacker as a sort of extremely selfish hyper-Calvinist. He probably had some basic religious belief that got twisted into something incredibly destructive and ugly by a mental break. He was the captain of the Icarus, solely responsible for the survival of the human species. If he failed, everyone would die. I'll bet he broke under the pressure. He couldn't take the risk of failing, so he decided that it must be God's plan for the sun to dim and all life on the Earth to die out. And he -- being the closest to the sun on a self-sustaining ship -- would be left alone with his God.
At least that's my gestalt on the whole Pinbacker character, largely based on one scene. There's a point where Capa confronts him and says something like "My God! My God, Pinbacker!" And Pinbacker replies "Not your God, *MINE*!" That struck me as very jealous and very personal, as if he (Pinbacker) was murdering everyone so he alone could be the last of God's Creation at the end.
|
|
|