Theory on Inara's Needle Box Thingy by geordiesteve2003

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Theory on Inara's Needle Box Thingy

POSTED BY: GEORDIESTEVE2003
UPDATED: Thursday, February 26, 2004 08:48
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Monday, February 23, 2004 2:00 PM

GEORDIESTEVE2003

I've gone over it a bit in random moments and read some of the theories on here about her being very old, or its some kind of drug and she is an addict, but what if we are all looking way too much into this for once. I could very well be proven wrong and I know Joss layers stuff in his shows and reveals small pieces at a time, which I do love about his style, but what if this is just a plain simple thing that we all turned into something major.

So, in Serenity, the Reavers are coming and we know they...do thing to people, and we know Inara doesnt want to die, my first theory was it was a drug to simulate a state of death in the hopes that they would leave her alone, but I've gone off that one. What if, quite simply, its something she uses anyway as part of her work, something to keep her able to work....something we have so many varieties of nowadays including ones in different colours in foil packets. Everyone with me?? What if its just a contraceptive. She might survive, but doesnt want to carry anything from a Reaver to term, the scum of humanity and the known galaxy. Simplistic, but could be right. Hmmmm.

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Monday, February 23, 2004 2:27 PM

VENA

Is this a new spin I hear?

Yes, I think it is!

Very good.

This will take thought.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

'Hahaha! Mine is an evil laugh!'

http://stripe.filetap.com/

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Monday, February 23, 2004 2:30 PM

SUCCATASH

If it was just a simple contraceptive, why did Inara hesitate and look reluctant to take it?

Negative side effects don't seem likely. But maybe she grew sad remembering the baby she had to abort, or the child she may have been forced to abandon.

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Monday, February 23, 2004 2:37 PM

SHINY

I also don't think a simple contraceptive would be worthy of Joss mentioning it as "having something more interesting planned...something I was laying in for later" in the commentary. It would hardly be interesting or mysterious to warrant a story arc about...

RIVER
Purple elephants are flying.
MAL
Good. Thanks for the update.

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Monday, February 23, 2004 8:44 PM

VENA

Quote:
Originally posted by Shiny:
I also don't think a simple contraceptive would be worthy of Joss mentioning it as "having something more interesting planned...something I was laying in for later" in the commentary. It would hardly be interesting or mysterious to warrant a story arc about...

What is more likely to stir up a little mayhem than a pregnant Companion? Joss can, and does, turn the most mundane happenings into full blown, all out catastrophes. Look what a simple pregnancy did to Angel.

Now I know. What is simple about a pregnant vampire… but in the end the driving force behind an entire season was this one little baby.

Joss can take anything and run with it in directions that you would never have thought existed. In the end, it is the exceptionally simple things that move his drama.

Inara with a kid or her abandoned kid might just, maybe, prove to be that kind of simple drama, or hiccup in the road, to get the ball rolling.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

'Hahaha! Mine is an evil laugh!'

http://stripe.filetap.com/

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Monday, February 23, 2004 10:38 PM

SUCCATASH

Posted by Vena

Quote:
Inara with a kid or her abandoned kid might just, maybe, prove to be that kind of simple drama, or hiccup in the road, to get the ball rolling.

It probably would have been the cliffhanger episode of Season One, if Firefly had stayed on the air.

I can see it now:

Inara shuttles to some moon to service a young client. But after she gets naked he says, "No, don't do that. I'm your son. This is all a setup so we can finally speak. My father doesn't know I'm here."

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Tuesday, February 24, 2004 5:15 AM

KNIBBLET

I don't think it's a contraceptive because Inara would have no reason to believe she would even survive a reaver assault. She would in fact, pray that they killed her before they peeled her skin off or used her teeth to make new keys for their reaver pipe organ. Whatever they'd do to her, no zygote would survive it.

I'm guessing it's not an illegal drug because her yearly exam would pick that up and she'd be toast. Therefore, although I don't know what is lurking in that needle, I'm assuming it's something medically acceptable.

There are people who think that Inara's on the run from something or somebody. That doesn't hold it's weight. She's very well known out in the black. Everyone knows what ship she's on and anyone willing to get her would have their own version of Early if it came down to it.

That doesn't mean that the needle doesn't hold something very valuable to someone very important. They might not know that Inara has it. She might have looked at that needle thinking, "If it weren't for you, I'd be in Capital City having lunch at a restaurant with hot and cold running babes."

"Just keep walkin, preacher man."

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Tuesday, February 24, 2004 6:18 AM

HELL'S KITTEN

Quote:
Originally posted by geordiesteve2003:
What if its just a contraceptive. She might survive, but doesnt want to carry anything from a Reaver to term, the scum of humanity and the known galaxy. Simplistic, but could be right. Hmmmm.

Considering the context of the whole thing, I think it's probably a lot more nefarious than just a contraceptive or even a narcotic. (For some of the reasons already stated.)

I guess it's generally accepted that Reavers don't leave survivors. There are a lot worse things than death...such as being skinned, eaten and raped just prior to dying, as has been said. The last thing I'd want to do is play dead just to wake up inside-out. Not that you would wake up from that...but you get the idea.

I'd lay good odds that it's like a suicide pill for those special, no-way-out, worse-fate-than-just-death occassions.

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Tuesday, February 24, 2004 8:24 AM

SHINY

Quote:
Originally posted by Hell's Kitten:
I'd lay good odds that it's like a suicide pill for those special, no-way-out, worse-fate-than-just-death occassions.

Except that Joss explicitly said it wasn't a 'suicide kit' (despite everyone believing that's what it was) in the commentary to Serenity.

RIVER
Purple elephants are flying.
MAL
Good. Thanks for the update.

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Tuesday, February 24, 2004 8:56 AM

NOOCYTE

You know, I would in no way put it past Joss to be yanking our chains on this one. My belief is that it was a suicide shot, and that Joss was laying a bit of mischievous misdirection on us (and Nathan played along with his "She's a junkie" quip).

Some really intriguing theories put forth here, but I really just think whe was thinking of snuffing it rather than become Reaver sashimi.

Department of Redundancy Department

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Tuesday, February 24, 2004 9:00 AM

NOOCYTE

It also occurs to me that the potion in question could be sufficiently deadly that any necrophagously feasting reaver would get a taste of her own medicine. It would be like Inara to get a bit of vengeance from beyond the grave!

Department of Redundancy Department

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Tuesday, February 24, 2004 1:35 PM

GEORDIESTEVE2003

I actually think this is too easy, which is why I suggested an alternative to all of those we've had so far. Joss Whedon is known for his unpredictability, as often other writers have said they think a show is going left, and it goes right. Jane Espenson on the DVD said the same of Firefly, she thought she knew where it was going, but no doubt he had something else planned. Junkie, hmm, I dont think so, suicide kit, no, too easy, and if he was going somewhere with it, definately so. I'm gonna stick with my current hand at the moment on the Pill, not going for double jeopardy.

Quote:
Originally posted by Noocyte:
You know, I would in no way put it past Joss to be yanking our chains on this one. My belief is that it was a suicide shot, and that Joss was laying a bit of mischievous misdirection on us (and Nathan played along with his "She's a junkie" quip).

Some really intriguing theories put forth here, but I really just think whe was thinking of snuffing it rather than become Reaver sashimi.

Department of Redundancy Department

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Tuesday, February 24, 2004 1:39 PM

SHINY

Maybe it's a type of advanced sexually-transmitted-disease-in-a-vial and the real reason Inara had to leave Sinhon was she became (was forced to become?) some kind of assassin...or perhaps she's supposed to infect as many people in 'elite' positions out among the border planets so they can be later blackmailed/controlled by the Guild/Alliance/Blue Sun/nameless conspirators witholding the antidote/treatment?

RIVER
Purple elephants are flying.
MAL
Good. Thanks for the update.

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Tuesday, February 24, 2004 1:52 PM

TMURRIE

Well, I don't really have much of a theory myself. But she did look at it quite worried. As if she didn't want to lose it. It could have been something very very close to her that she didn't want the reavers to have, even if she died, she didn't want this in the wrong hands. Or I could be wrong. Before I heard the commentary, I had no idea what it was, but a suicide kit could be possible, it does make sense. We definatly don't have enough information. The show didn't go on long enough, and so we didn't really get to know Inara, or what kind the role of companion is in this new universe.

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Tuesday, February 24, 2004 4:20 PM

PALEHORSE

Quote:
Originally posted by Shiny:
Maybe it's a type of advanced sexually-transmitted-disease-in-a-vial and the real reason Inara had to leave Sinhon was she became (was forced to become?) some kind of assassin...or perhaps she's supposed to infect as many people in 'elite' positions out among the border planets so they can be later blackmailed/controlled by the Guild/Alliance/Blue Sun/nameless conspirators witholding the antidote/treatment?

RIVER
Purple elephants are flying.
MAL
Good. Thanks for the update.

Here's a thought.(read the whole thing)

Inara is ALREADY pregnant and the drug, in normal usage, holds the zygote in a non-developmental stasis. In a large dose the drug causes the termination of pregnancy. Her check-up COULD have been a pre-natal.

I'm coming at this from the perspective of a father who has experienced the greatest fear. My daughter's birth was an emergency c-section due to placental abruption. The way things were going I was sure that I would lose one of the two most important people in my life, wife or daughter. Both lived and are well, but that fear haunts me to this day.

If Joss is serious about the non-suicide statement then Inara's open fear and desperation could be for her unborn. Were she to survive and be brainwashed, becoming a reaver, her unborn child would then come to term and be born knowing nothing of kindness or humanity.

As to why Joss would write her as pregnant:
-It would mess with the relationship with Mal.
-She couldn't get pregnant.
-Inara's order of companions choose their clients from the cream of the crop. Inara was highly placed in her order. Who's child could she be carying?

There were prodigies and portents enough, One-Eye says. We must blame ourselves for misinterpreting them. One-Eye's handicap in no way impairs his marvelous hindsight.

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Tuesday, February 24, 2004 4:42 PM

GUNRUNNER

Maybe that needle wasn’t to put something in to Inara but take something out? Take out some blood for a DNA sample so that if her body is taken by the Reavers there is evidence that she is dead and her friends and family knows she is gone. Maybe the box is jettisoned in to space with some kind of homing beacon that the Guild knows to look for.

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Wednesday, February 25, 2004 4:49 AM

PALEHORSE

Defense of pregnancy idea:

Joss and iconography, they go hand in hand. The price of having been Catholic.

How cool would he think it to merge Mary Magdelene with Holy Mother Mary.

There were prodigies and portents enough, One-Eye says. We must blame ourselves for misinterpreting them. One-Eye's handicap in no way impairs his marvelous hindsight.

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Wednesday, February 25, 2004 12:21 PM

SAFFY

You know, this reminds me of an endless thread from the Titanic fan forums a few years ago: "Did Rose die or dream at the end?"

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Wednesday, February 25, 2004 1:36 PM

SUINEGAGPF

Here's my theory:

The vile contains some sort of Insta-Steroid to instantly bulk her up like Jayne. That way she could defend herself. The reason that she looked concerned about having to use it was that it may be difficult to reverse the effects thus making it harder to get clients if she looked like Jayne.

-Dave

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Wednesday, February 25, 2004 2:12 PM

IRISANNE

Quote:
Originally posted by suinegagpf:
Here's my theory:

The vile contains some sort of Insta-Steroid to instantly bulk her up like Jayne. That way she could defend herself. The reason that she looked concerned about having to use it was that it may be difficult to reverse the effects thus making it harder to get clients if she looked like Jayne.

-Dave

Hahahaha! I love this. It's like "Inara meets The Incredible Hulk."

I can just picture it!

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Wednesday, February 25, 2004 2:21 PM

SHINY

Don't get Inara mad...you wouldn't like her when she's mad...

RIVER
Purple elephants are flying.
MAL
Good. Thanks for the update.

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Wednesday, February 25, 2004 3:57 PM

IRISANNE

Quote:
Originally posted by Shiny:
Don't get Inara mad...you wouldn't like her when she's mad...

Or GREEN!

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Wednesday, February 25, 2004 7:15 PM

DAVCO92

I still think her secret is that she's dying of some untreatable disease/cancer/whatever. When River looked at Inara and heard "Just tell me" I immediately thought of that as part of a conversation with a doctor delivering the bad news to her. Needle could be a strong pain killer or sedative, possibly lethal in large doses. Of course, "Just tell me" could have ended with "you're pregnant", but that seems unlikely to me. I'm sure all Companions have some form of very effective contraceptive, just like they have standard immunization packs (which she gave to Simon).

Burn the land, boil the sea...

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Wednesday, February 25, 2004 7:59 PM

SHINY

Quote:
Originally posted by Davco92:
I still think her secret is that she's dying of some untreatable disease/cancer/whatever. When River looked at Inara and heard "Just tell me" I immediately thought of that as part of a conversation with a doctor delivering the bad news to her.

I had the same thought after watching it many times, as discussed near the end of this thread:

http://www.fireflyfans.net/thread.asp?b=2&t=3415

RIVER
Purple elephants are flying.
MAL
Good. Thanks for the update.

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Thursday, February 26, 2004 5:06 AM

PALEHORSE

Quote:
Of course, "Just tell me" could have ended with "you're pregnant", but that seems unlikely to me. I'm sure all Companions have some form of very effective contraceptive, just like they have standard immunization packs (which she gave to Simon).

The contracption factor to pregnancy is a tertiary consideration at best in my theory.

The real kicker is that she would be carying a terrible secret. Joss says in the comentary that they were going somewhere interesing with this syringe. It would be interesting for the Order of Companions to have a political agenda.

Not an adiction
Not suicide
River is a telepath
The Hulkster would most likely accidentaly kill the crew anyways
Disasociative drugs don't feel very Joss to me
Inara with a killer bio-weapon seems untrue to her character

But it all comes down to the fact that none of us knows for certain where they were going with this plot twist.

There were prodigies and portents enough, One-Eye says. We must blame ourselves for misinterpreting them. One-Eye's handicap in no way impairs his marvelous hindsight.

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Thursday, February 26, 2004 8:10 AM

NEWSCAPER

If it is a needle and NOT a data chip of some sort...

I do find a shot to unlock a suspended pregnancy interesting.
Or perhaps the syringe *contains* an embryo which has been extracted and is in stasis?

I asusme the Companions have strong rules about getting pregnant -- particularly not accidentally from a client (maybe one she loved?).
She wouldn't abort so she's out in the black, working, but laying low in effect to avoid discovery of her rule-breaking.

Just pulling ideas out of the usual orifice.

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Thursday, February 26, 2004 8:34 AM

KOIPOND

logic says it isn't a drug that induces a death-like state in which Inara plans to weather the Reaver attack only to wake in a day/week. Reavers are canibalistic crazies that rape, eat and flay their victims. what good is being 'pretend' dead if your limbs will be hacked off, your skin removed and you die from blood loss.

another piece of info that points to the terminal illness thing, would be during the comentary for "Serenity", the symbol on Inara's hourglass is translated by Joss as 'Short Time'. that in and on itself is not that big of a deal, but when you notice that for all the other Chinese, both written and spoken, that is the only one he translates for us, it makes you go 'hmmmmm'.

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Thursday, February 26, 2004 8:48 AM

SHINY

Quote:
Originally posted by koipond:
another piece of info that points to the terminal illness thing, would be during the comentary for "Serenity", the symbol on Inara's hourglass is translated by Joss as 'Short Time'. that in and on itself is not that big of a deal, but when you notice that for all the other Chinese, both written and spoken, that is the only one he translates for us, it makes you go 'hmmmmm'.

I had always taken that to be a joke on how short clients feel their time with Inara has been, and while it could very well have a double meaning, the way Joss described it in the commentary sounded more like it was the set guys who came up with it rather than something Joss had asked for specifically.

RIVER
Purple elephants are flying.
MAL
Good. Thanks for the update.

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