The Fate of Fanty and Mingo by CaliforniaKaylee

GENERAL DISCUSSIONS

The Fate of Fanty and Mingo

POSTED BY: CALIFORNIAKAYLEE
UPDATED: Monday, August 28, 2006 05:51
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Sunday, August 27, 2006 8:17 PM

Every member of my family is a Browncoat, and we're having a friendly disagreement about the fate of Fanty and Mingo by the end of the BDM. After

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Book dies

(sorry, felt weird about not spoilering that, just in case -- this coming from the girl who's spoiled The Sixth Sense for at least three separate people), Zoe says to wave everyone who ever sheltered them after a job, and specifically mentions "the Sanchez brothers". In the next scene, Mal sees video of several people dead, which we're meant to assume are the people who had sheltered our BDHs. "If your quarry goes to ground, leave no ground to go to."

But here's my question -- were Fanty and Mingo among those who died? Has anything officially been said either way? Do we know for sure they aren't the Sanchez brothers?

I had assumed since the first time I saw the movie that Fanty and Mingo had died, but never really thought about it until a family member challenged that assumption. So what do we think -- are Fanty and Mingo still alive at the end of the BDM?

~CK

You can't take the sky from me...

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Sunday, August 27, 2006 8:35 PM

PHOENIXROSE

You think you know--what's to come, what you are. You haven't even begun.

Well, acording to the novel, the Rample brothers are interogated by the Operative. Their full names are Mingojerry and Fantastic Rample, and they are tapped for information. They claim they are being held unfairly, and the Operative says there are eight warrants with their names on them. "If you wish to continue living to violate those warrants, gentlemen, you will be so kind as to answer every single question I have regarding Malcolm Reynolds and the crew of Serenity." This was taken from the original script, which was presumedly edited down for shooting.
Granted, maybe he didn't spare their lives when he was through with them, but they quite definitely did not "shelter" the crew at any time; they simply found them work and tried to screw them out of a lot of money. Hardly a friendly relationship, and not even a very good business partnership. But they knew the crew, had talked to them and dealt with them, and so would have been of interest to the Operative as sources of information on behavior and habits. Whether he stood by his statement to let them live is never discussed, but I'm betting he did.

Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth. - Gautama Siddharta

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Sunday, August 27, 2006 8:38 PM

FREDGIBLET

I think it can go either way. We are never given any reason to believe that the relationship between the brothers and the BDH's is anyting but business, and if the Operative killed anyone who had business with the BDH's then he would've been too busy killing everyone in the outer planets to have chased Serenity.

That being said, we also are never given any real reason to think that the brothers are not willing to shelter Serenity.

I lean more towards the first theory (not friends) though because of the way the the brothers try to change the deal after it's been made. That is not something friends usually do.

I think that in absence of evidence supporting the friend theory it is better to assume that they were not very close and were instead just occasional business partners.

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Sunday, August 27, 2006 8:40 PM

FREDGIBLET

Quote:
Originally posted by PhoenixRose:
Whether he stood by his statement to let them live is never discussed, but I'm betting he did.

Agreed, if he killed everyone connected to Serenity, he'd be really,really busy.

Quote:

This kicks ass.

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Sunday, August 27, 2006 8:45 PM

CALIFORNIAKAYLEE

Hey Rose! Haven't gotten a chance to give you a hug over the past few days. Glad you're still here.

Ok, so that bit from the novelization does make me think that Fanty and Mingo would have lived until the end of the movie. My first impression from what you said is that the Operative probably blackmailed (or whatever) them into telling him who the crew usually turned to for safe haven after a job. But it doesn't sound like they were on friendly enough terms to have sheltered the BDHs themselves.

Ah well, so I lose the argument. Hopefully we can get through the "I told you so"s quickly, and get back to discussing nice things. Like who Jayne would hook up with. (I'm serious, when I heard my mother and my 15 year old sister discussing this while making dinner, I knew the whole family was too far gone to ever be anything besides Browncoats.)

-Edit: Hey Fred! Yeah, the whole problem is that it could go either way. I guess I was just wondering if Joss or the actors who played Fanty and Mingo had ever said anything. It hadn't occurred to me to check the novel, but I'm willing to concede that you and Rose are probably right.

~CK

You can't take the sky from me...

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Monday, August 28, 2006 5:51 AM

TEACHDAIRE

Also, when the crew are counting off those who have died for giving them shelter, Badger was not mentioned. He seems to be the "go to" middleman of preference for Mal, even if they don't really get along.
If the operative was killing everybody connected with the crew, surely he would be mentioned.

-------------------------------------------------
For every battle honour, a thousand heroes die along, unremembered and unsung...

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