The Crew Never Wins by christhecynic

GENERAL DISCUSSIONS

The Crew Never Wins

POSTED BY: CHRISTHECYNIC
UPDATED: Saturday, February 25, 2006 09:41
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Friday, February 24, 2006 1:30 PM

Just something I've noticed:

Episodes:
Serenity:
Enemy 1 Badger: Gets his way
Enemy 2 Patience: Gets her goods
Enemy 3 Reavers: Live to rape and kill other people

The Train Job
Enemy 1 Niska: Still very much alive and pissed off

Bushwhacked
Enemy 1 Reavers: Don't show up
Victim 1 colonist: Had to be killed
Enemy 2 Alliance: Alive and well

Shindig
Enemy 1 Atherton: Humiliated but more powerful than the crew dares to dream
Enemy 2 Badger: back on the same side

Safe
Enemy 1 Hill people: Alive, well and ready to set others on fire

Our Mrs. Reynolds
Enemy 1 Yo-Saf-Brig: Knocked out
Enemy 2 Guys in the net: Very much dead, finally a win

Jayne's town
Enemy 1 Guy in charge: Alive and well, if angry with his son
Enemy 2 That guy: Well he's dead, but he took a muder with him.

Out of Gas
Enemy 1 Other Crew: Alive and completely unharmed
Enemy 2 Flashback bad guys: Unknown, probably alive but harmed.

Ariel
Enemy 1 Alliance: Not even seriously irked
Enemy 2 Jayne: well he's Jayne

War Stories
Enemy 1 Niska: Lives.

Trash
Enemy 1 Yo-Saf-Brig: Left for the cops

The Message
Enemy 1 Cops: Alive and well

Heart of Gold
They actually won, but Nandi died

Objects in Space
Enemy 1 Early: Left adrift.

-

Movies:
Serenity
Enemy 1 Alliance: Weakened but still ruling the system with an iron fist
Enemy 2 Reavers: Still alive, which means they will still spread terror and pain

-
-

Occasionally our crew does win, but most of the time a happy ending takes the form of, "We lived through it and no one is in pursuit at the moment." Slightly different from things like Star Trek where the crew goes around winning and such.

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Friday, February 24, 2006 1:53 PM

DAVESHAYNE

Quote:
Originally posted by christhecynic:
Occasionally our crew does win, but most of the time a happy ending takes the form of, "We lived through it and no one is in pursuit at the moment." Slightly different from things like Star Trek where the crew goes around winning and such.

Which is the point. Mal doesn't need to beat anybody, he just wants to go his own way. Still flying is wining for our crew.

David

"A lot of people are asking me, you know, what exactly is Firefly? It's a tv show you morons!" - Joss Whedon

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Friday, February 24, 2006 2:33 PM

BLACKCOLLARBROWNCOAT

Niska needs to die. I thought Mal was going to when he was like "you wanna meet the real me now?" with that crazed look in his eye. Killer.

I'm a leaf on the wind. Watch me soar.

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Friday, February 24, 2006 2:35 PM

CHRISTHECYNIC

Quote:
Originally posted by daveshayne:
Which is the point. Mal doesn't need to beat anybody, he just wants to go his own way. Still flying is wining for our crew.

Which was my point, but I took the long way around in saying it.

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Friday, February 24, 2006 2:54 PM

DAVESHAYNE

Quote:
Originally posted by BlackCollarBrowncoat:
Niska needs to die. I thought Mal was going to when he was like "you wanna meet the real me now?" with that crazed look in his eye. Killer.

I'm a leaf on the wind. Watch me soar.

Unfortunately Mal didn't make sure the torturer was dead before turning on Niska and so suffered from a case of homicidis interuptis.

David

"A lot of people are asking me, you know, what exactly is Firefly? It's a tv show you morons!" - Joss Whedon

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Friday, February 24, 2006 2:57 PM

DAVESHAYNE

Quote:
Originally posted by christhecynic:
Quote:
Originally posted by daveshayne:
Which is the point. Mal doesn't need to beat anybody, he just wants to go his own way. Still flying is wining for our crew.

Which was my point, but I took the long way around in saying it.

Sorry I got more of a "they never win" vibe than a "they have a different definition of wining" from what you said.

I'll just be sitting in the corner with my funny hat now.

David

"A lot of people are asking me, you know, what exactly is Firefly? It's a tv show you morons!" - Joss Whedon

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Friday, February 24, 2006 2:58 PM

CHRISTHECYNIC

Quote:
Originally posted by daveshayne:
Sorry I got more of a "they never win" vibe than a "they have a different definition of wining" from what you said.

That's because I didn't say it very well.

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Friday, February 24, 2006 3:06 PM

RISEAGAIN

One thing I noticed was that what makes this show so great is that the main characters don't always win. It helps me relate to them and it also makes me feel like the outcome of every episode is up for grabs. They do succeed a few times in the show but not enough for me to think they were always going to win and thereby loose my interest. The show has a shakespeare feel to me. That human feel that every life has a sad ending it's the journey to that end that makes it worth it.

"It always had your name on it, I was just carrying it for you."

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Friday, February 24, 2006 3:30 PM

CHRISTHECYNIC

In Mrs. Henderson Presents, a movie that seems to be favored by the very old, the main character gives a speach that says, "No matter what people may say all deaths are in vain," or something very much like that.

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Friday, February 24, 2006 3:36 PM

LEEBO

If Mal had killed Niska in the torture room, he would have broken his own credo.

You're get to be awake, armed, and facing him before he shoots you dead.

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Friday, February 24, 2006 3:43 PM

CHRISTHECYNIC

Quote:
Originally posted by Leebo:
If Mal had killed Niska in the torture room, he would have broken his own credo.

You're get to be awake, armed, and facing him before he shoots you dead.

Remember when he shot the Alliance pilot in Serenity when the guy was awake, unarmed, and surrendering?

Not saying the guy didn't deserve it, but Mal broke his own thingy.

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Friday, February 24, 2006 3:56 PM

RISEAGAIN

Quote:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Originally posted by Leebo:
If Mal had killed Niska in the torture room, he would have broken his own credo.

You're get to be awake, armed, and facing him before he shoots you dead.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Remember when he shot the Alliance pilot in Serenity when the guy was awake, unarmed, and surrendering?

Not saying the guy didn't deserve it, but Mal broke his own thingy.

There is only one Mal rule.

In the future there will be puppies and somehow Mal will have to kill them. Per Joss.

"It always had your name on it, I was just carrying it for you."

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Friday, February 24, 2006 4:03 PM

DAVESHAYNE

Quote:
Originally posted by Leebo:
If Mal had killed Niska in the torture room, he would have broken his own credo.

You're get to be awake, armed, and facing him before he shoots you dead.

I don't think that aplies to Niska. Simon, a person who Mal has taken under his protection will have the benefit of that code but someone who was never in Mal's crew - who had been torturing him and his pilot and who had actually already killed him once that day - can be killed out of hand. Anyway even if Mal does subscribe to the fighting chance for everybody credo I think he is more than in the mood to break a few rules at the skyplex.

David

"A lot of people are asking me, you know, what exactly is Firefly? It's a tv show you morons!" - Joss Whedon

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Friday, February 24, 2006 4:06 PM

RISEAGAIN

Lets not forget Crow.

"The last thing you will see is my blade!"
"Darn." Mal pushes Crow into engine.

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Saturday, February 25, 2006 8:31 AM

CYBERSNARK

Awake: conscious and aware of one's surroundings. True for Niska, Crow, the Haven pilot, and the Operative (in Inara's chamber, when Mal shot him).

Facing [Mal]: aware of Mal's presence, and able to avoid/flee/fight. Again, technically true for Niska, Crow, the Haven pilot, and the Operative.

Armed: literally, presenting a threat to Mal and/or his family. Niska (had tortured Wash [despite Wash only being an employee], tortured Mal, killed Mal, and had revived Mal with the explicit intention of torturing him some more), Crow (had just threatened Mal [and his crew, by implication]), the Haven pilot (arguably responsible for the deaths of the Haven citizens and Book [who is, as Mal notes, part of the crew in absentia], a member of a group with whom Mal was, at that moment, at war, and who would probably kill again if given those orders), and the Operative (despite his words, his presence was a threat to River, who is also part of the crew, and even to the crew as a whole by implication) all qualify.

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

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Saturday, February 25, 2006 9:41 AM

SIGMANUNKI

Um, why does winning have to mean that they kill there enemies?

I'd say that the win all the time. They just don't do it very well.

----
"We're in a giant car heading into a brick wall at 100 miles/hr and everybody's arguing about where they want to sit."
-David Suzuki

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