We all know what Bureau 39 is. What about Bureaus 1-38 and possibly 40+? Also, since Bureau 39 was such a secret, are the other bureaus also secret? Just what do they do?

Any ideas?

Joy,
Lynn

I have to imagine that one of the first Bureaus would be the most insidious of them all and closest to the heart of Government--the Bureau for Re-Election.

That reminds me of a lot of the Yes, (Prime) Minister shows: My first reaction is to laugh, and then my second reaction is to shudder because it's probably far closer to the truth than I would care to think...

Joy,
Lynn

Perhaps the number references something else, perchance the year in which the bureau originated. Wasn't 1939 an important year in Superman history?

Had the bureau been Bureau 51, I would have figured that the number referred to Roswell. 1939 was the year that the first comic book dedicated to Superman was published. Superman himself, however, debuted in Action Comics #1 the year earlier. But even if this were the reason for the number (and it well may be), it would only be the RL reason -- not the in-universe reason. AFAIK, there is no in-universe reason for 39 to have any significance.

Joy,
Lynn

For some reason I always assumed the significance was related to 39 being a multiple of 13; there's a role playing game called Bureau 13: Stalking the Night Fantastic that was fairly popular in the eighties and nineties, which may have given me that idea.

Interesting, Marcus. Until a couple of days ago, I hadn't thought at all about the origin of the name (either in RL or in the L&C-verse).

Does anyone else have any speculations --or, even better, actual knowledge -- about the origin of the bureau's name?

Joy,
Lynn

Maybe the original bureau had 39 members?

From the script:

NEWCOMB (Cont'd)
We were just a small group when
we started, but we all took
special oaths on the same day.
August the second, nineteen-
forty-seven. I was about your
age.

I'd say 39 would definitely fit the parameters of a "small group."

In Specimen S, I had Trask's father come up with the name off the top of his head when meeting the Kents, just because it must have seemed professional and mysterious.

I was going to suggest that it might have been chosen (for the show) because of Dean's professional football number, but that was 36, not 39, and in college it was 11.