Why Serenity has no lasers by GreenFaerie

GENERAL DISCUSSIONS

Why Serenity has no lasers

POSTED BY: GREENFAERIE
UPDATED: Wednesday, December 7, 2005 15:00
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VIEWED: 4834
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Tuesday, December 6, 2005 10:13 AM

Before you go "huh?", I just want to say that I have always liked the fact that Serenity has no giant laser guns, missiles, or any weapons attached to her hull.

Realistically, Ithink the reason for this is to avoid getting into trouble with the Alliance and their pesky laws.

But philosophically, I like to think it's because if you use guns, you're asking for trouble.

If Serenity had guns on her, I'd be surprised, and maybe a little disappointed. But I'm not sure why that is. It's OK for Mal, Zoe and Jayne to use guns. Why not Serenity?

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Tuesday, December 6, 2005 10:27 AM

ACESANDEIGHTS

Its like real life, you can own small arms but you can't mount a 5" gun on your boat, without getting in trouble.

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Tuesday, December 6, 2005 10:29 AM

GREENFAERIE

Maybe I wasn't clear. I'm not asking for the practical reasons. That much I have already guessed. I'd like to know why it would "feel" wrong.

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Tuesday, December 6, 2005 10:30 AM

BROWNCOAT1

May have been the losing side. Still not convinced it was the wrong one.

Well, since Serenity is a cargo hauler, she has no real need for weaponry. I imagine that Mal can't afford ship weaponry since it is all they can do to keep her flying & keep food on the table. I also believe that such weaponry would be near impossible to locate. There is also the problem of all the Alliance attention it would draw which is exactly what Mal seeks to avoid. There are certainly very stiff penalties for non-Alliance ships sporting weaponry, especially one captained by a former Independent.

I too would not look at Serenity the same way if she was sporting guns. She just wouldn't feel right, if you get my meaning.

No sense fooling w/ perfection anyway, right?

__________________________________________

"May have been the losing side. Still not convinced it was the wrong one."

Richmond, VA & surrounding area Firefly Fans:

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http://www.richmondbrowncoats.org

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Tuesday, December 6, 2005 12:23 PM

GREENFAERIE

Maybe it would feel wrong for Serenity to have guns is because she's the crew's home. A kind of haven. It wouldn't feel right if she could blow stuff up. It's a direct conflict with her name, and her purpose. You can't be "serenity" if you're capable of violence...

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Tuesday, December 6, 2005 12:30 PM

AURAPTOR

America loves a winner!

Seems to me that the crew could have jury-rigged some sort of self defense mechanism. Between Kaylees' inginuity and Zoe's expertise in weaponry ( along w/ Jayne's pure love of fire power ) they probably could have come up w/ somethin impressive.

" They don't like it when you shoot at 'em. I worked that out myself. "

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Tuesday, December 6, 2005 1:16 PM

GIANTEVILHEAD

I think that the main reason why Serenity does not have weapons is because ship mounted weapons are expensive and not particularly effective.

"I swallowed a bug." -River Tam

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Tuesday, December 6, 2005 1:21 PM

CITIZEN

I agree GreenFaerie. Serenity is a home, not a battle station.
Stick a gun on her, and she just aint a home no more.

More insane ramblings by the people who brought you beeeer milkshakes!
Remember, the ice caps aren't melting, the water is being liberated.

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Tuesday, December 6, 2005 1:21 PM

CITIZEN

And homes don't like the double post.

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Tuesday, December 6, 2005 1:54 PM

R1Z

Ships are built on the core planets, the routes between which are well patrolled by the alliance, therefore law-abiding citizens have no need for weaponry. Much the same conditions as where you use your pickup truck or suv.

When you take a vehicle out into the boonies, you may or may not need mounted weaponry. It would certainly cause attention from the authorities (when you return to the core), much like mounting a heavy machine gun on your pickup. Also, guns that could be fired from INSIDE the ship would be problematic to install, maintain and service, and how often can you foresee the need to go outside and sit behind a mounted gun? (Of course, when you know you're going to sail through a reaver armada is one of those times.)

The prudent course is to avoid confrontation whenever possible, or to outrun it, and Mal knows this.

To enjoy the flavor of life, take big bites. Moderation is for monks. --Robt. Heinlein

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Tuesday, December 6, 2005 1:58 PM

ACESANDEIGHTS

Quote:
Originally posted by citizen:
I agree GreenFaerie. Serenity is a home, not a battle station.
Stick a gun on her, and she just aint a home no more.

More insane ramblings by the people who brought you beeeer milkshakes!
Remember, the ice caps aren't melting, the water is being liberated.

Now I get what the origonal poster was asking, remember at the end of the movie when they

Select to view spoiler:

took the cannon off that they used against the reavers?

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Tuesday, December 6, 2005 2:39 PM

GREENFAERIE

Quote:

Now I get what the origonal poster was asking, remember at the end of the movie when they

Select to view spoiler:
took the cannon off that they used against the reavers?

Yeah, that was especially good to see. I couldn't stand having that gun on the ship!

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Tuesday, December 6, 2005 2:39 PM

PHILYBURKHILL

Would have been neat if the second shuttle was a fighter of some sort.

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Tuesday, December 6, 2005 2:56 PM

GIXXER

Definite cargo hauler, and the Merchant Marine has traditionally been unarmed.

If you're carrying weaponry, then it's going to compromise your cargo capacity in terms of space, weight or both.

If you do go laser, then you'll have to find a lot of power somewhere, and assuming they don't have a Minbari Power Pack like Mr Garibaldi's ZZR-1100, then you're looking at a serious drain on the whirly thing in the engine room, dodgy compression coils and all. And you'll be likely to be asking for firepower and full speed at the same time.

Alternatively, if you were using slug throwers, then you'd need a whole mess o' welding and such, what with reinforcing the mountings and coping with the recoil. (And the extra oxygen cylinders, if it was using the same weird black powder as Vera.)

Crap chemistry aside, the bit where Jayne and Vera topped Captain Aceveda can be forgiven. Maybe it's just me, but that few seconds was just beautiful. Frantic, seconds to go, panic. Jayne calmly shoots and a hole appears in the face plate. Very cool.

G

Book: Don't get me wrong, I gave him a hell of a fight.
Jayne: Epic, I'm guessing.

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Tuesday, December 6, 2005 3:37 PM

SAMEERTIA

'sides, Jayne likes hanging out in the airlock with Vera.
If Serenity was armed, what would Jayne do when they suckered into a giant electronic net?

"Aww. Gee, Wash. You wanna fire lasers at that? Or can I go get Vera and suit up?"

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Tuesday, December 6, 2005 4:14 PM

GUNRUNNER

Quote:
Originally posted by Gixxer:
Definite cargo hauler, and the Merchant Marine has traditionally been unarmed.

Huh? Ever heard of World War 1? World War 2? The Cold War? The War of 1812? The American Revolution? Commerce Raiding has been a part of warfare for hundreds if not thousands of years. Destroying a adversary’s Merchant fleet is a very effective way to defeat them.

Personally I wouldn’t mind if Serenity had a small concealed anti-personnel gun like the Millennium Falcon in The Empire Strikes Back, but anything large scale wouldn’t fit in.

EV Nova Firefly mod Message Board:
http://s4.invisionfree.com/GunRunner/index.php?act=idx

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Tuesday, December 6, 2005 11:57 PM

BROWNCOATER

There would be no suspense if Serenity could just blast her way out of trouble. Leave that stuff for the Star Trek junk.

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Wednesday, December 7, 2005 12:38 AM

PHILBY

I think it makes sense that Serenity doesn't have weapons. For a start, Mal only flies dodgy jobs as he does for the simple reason that he was on the losing side in the war. He is basically a law abiding citizen, it's just that his view of what the law should be doesn't really run with a fascist alliance view of what the law should be. I think that he would feel Serenity would have an unfair advantage, not something he would be proud of (though when pushed, of course he will strap a whopping big gun to Serenity and use it on anyone, but that is a last resort thing, surely!!!).

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Wednesday, December 7, 2005 3:34 AM

GIXXER

"Wars, blah, blah..."

Probably a safe bet to assume I have heard of all of them, but I was thinking of Fireflies being the sort of merchant ships that get picked on.

Usually unarmed because Laws of Chance mean you might not run into trouble (unless a series is centred on your boat, in which case you're likely to lead a more exciting than usual life).

And being familiar with wars and stuff, you'll have heard of convoys and escorts.

Armed merchant ships usually don't have very serious hardware, while your average raider is likely to be armed to the teeth, and I doubt anyone would want to try and slug it out with the bad guys. Much better to run, or have a warship handy.

G

If I wanted schoolin' I'd have gone to school.

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Wednesday, December 7, 2005 3:51 AM

SERGEANTX

Because Serenity, or "Firefly" at least, isn't about space battles. It's about people.

SergeantX

"Dream a little dream or you can live a little dream. I'd rather live it, cause dreamers always chase but never get it." Aesop Rock

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Wednesday, December 7, 2005 4:28 AM

PIZMOBEACH

... fully loaded, safety off...

Also, same reason the hero or heroine doesn't pick up the gun that one of the bad guys just FREAKIN' DROPPED - kind of a writer's tool to create tension/suspense.
There's the idea of "home" that some have mentioned, which is nice, but if you have ever had your home broken into you may start seriously consider having a big gun handy just in case there's a next time. You probably wouldn't stick it on the top of your roof but would conceal it like Jayne (only better). Certainly, in their world - if we're to believe in their world as real - guns is nice.

Scifi movie music + Firefly dialogue clips, 24 hours a day - http://www.scifiradio.net

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Wednesday, December 7, 2005 6:56 AM

RABIT

Quote:
Originally posted by SergeantX:
Because Serenity, or "Firefly" at least, isn't about space battles. It's about people.

And that, in my opinion, is the real reason.

Rabit

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Wednesday, December 7, 2005 7:16 AM

GUNRUNNER

Quote:
Originally posted by Gixxer:
And being familiar with wars and stuff, you'll have heard of convoys and escorts.

Convoys just put a whole bunch of targets in to one conveniently destroyed package. The only reliable way to protect shipping is to aggressively hunt down raiders before they get anyplace near the convoy.

Quote:
Armed merchant ships usually don't have very serious hardware, while your average raider is likely to be armed to the teeth, and I doubt anyone would want to try and slug it out with the bad guys. Much better to run, or have a warship handy.

Back in WWII tankers were sometimes more heavily armed than escorts believe it or not. The Japanese converted some of their merchants it to a sort of combination transport-escort that was well armed, and they were known to stand and fight till the bitter end; there were times when their gun crews on sinking ships would keep firing until their gun was underwater or a merchant with several torpedo holes in it would turn and try to ram an attacking submarine. A few US WWII Submarine skippers (like Samuel David Dealey) practically considered hunting down IJN destroyers a sport. If there were people like Dealey, O'Kane or Fluckey hunting me and I was in a battleship I would take that battleship out of the water and put in on top of a very tall mountain (but I would be worried that Fluckey might still get me...)

EV Nova Firefly mod Message Board:
http://s4.invisionfree.com/GunRunner/index.php?act=idx

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Wednesday, December 7, 2005 3:00 PM

CYBERSNARK

For examples of how much trouble hull-mounted weapons can get you, I suggest tracking down the old Brian Daley Han Solo novels.

Poor Han seems to spend half his profits trying to bribe port inspectors to ignore the quad guns. That was why he had to hang out at dinky little backwaters like Tatooine.

-----
We applied the cortical electrodes but were unable to get a neural reaction from either patient.

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