The Original 5.... by Jentle

GENERAL DISCUSSIONS

The Original 5....

POSTED BY: JENTLE
UPDATED: Wednesday, March 31, 2004 12:49
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Wednesday, March 31, 2004 2:03 AM

Okay, so in the special features, Joss says the original idea had 5 people and later he upped it to 9...

Which begs the question, who were the original 5? Who got added? Were the original 5 characters as we know them now, or were they completely different?

This plagues me....

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Wednesday, March 31, 2004 2:07 AM

ECGORDON

There's no place I can be since I found Serenity.

My guess would be that they were Mal, Zoe, Wash, Kaylee and Jayne. Any others would have been supporting players over a particular story arc, but not necessarily permanently recurring characters.

But aren't we glad that changed.

wo men ren ran zai fei xing.

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Wednesday, March 31, 2004 3:18 AM

SAFFY

I'd guess Mal, Zoe, Jayne, Inara, and River. Don't know why, but I have a feeling the whole "companion" concept was there from the beginning. Wash has always struck me as an add-on more than anyone else, although I love the character. In an earlier concept, one of the other crew members could have driven Serenity.

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Wednesday, March 31, 2004 4:35 AM

TRASK43

Maybe he had characters like Book and possibly Inara in mind but just as recurring characters.

www.summer-glau.com

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Wednesday, March 31, 2004 4:45 AM

STATIC

I'm thinking the actual 'crew' of the ship. . .

Mal, Zoe, Jayne, Wash and Kaylee

I bet Simon, River, Inara and Book were going to be occasional characters, who would have only been in the first few episodes and then perhaps recurring.

Of course. . .

It could also have been. . .

Badger, Patience, Dobson, The Captain of the UAV "Dortmundter' and Two-fry.

Who knows WHAT that crazy ol' Joss was thinkin?

==================================================
"Wash. . .we got some local color happening. A grand entrance would not go amiss."

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Wednesday, March 31, 2004 4:59 AM

DECKROID

Quote:

It could also have been. . .

Badger, Patience, Dobson, The Captain of the UAV "Dortmundter' and Two-fry.

Who knows WHAT that crazy ol' Joss was thinkin?

I was thinking Crow, Niska, Safron, and the two Hands of Blue guys.

Again, where he would have gone with that bunch is anybody's guess.

I call her "Vera"

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Wednesday, March 31, 2004 5:00 AM

BROWNCOAT1

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

I would have to say Mal is one of the original 5. Serenity is his ship, and the story kind radiates out from him, his past involvement in the War of Independence, and his coming to terms w/ life after losing a war.

I think Zoe was one of the 5 as well. She is the one that is Mal's anchor at times. She keeps him alive, and has been through Hell w/ him.

Jayne would have been one of the 5 as well, as he is hi-larious. Every ship needs its dumb mercenary type, right?

Jayne would have been the one getting the crew into all kinds of trouble.

That leaves two. Kaylee would have been one of these, as you can't have a ship without a mechanic. She is also the little sister Mal never had. Add to that fact that she is the "soul" of crew, the innocence that all of them have lost.

I think Firefly would not be Firefly without River. I think she would have been a stowaway or passenger the crew would have wound up helping out, discovering her past & the experiments done by the Blue Hands.

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

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Wednesday, March 31, 2004 6:37 AM

OKKAY

I had been thinking about this and one thing I considered was that maybe some of the characters might have been combined, like maybe Zoe would have had some Jayne characteristics (or vice versa), Kaylee might have been both the mechanic and pilot...

Simon and River go together, but there might have been a way to work it out so that only one of them was on the crew. Can't decide if it would be Simon or River that would be there, although Simon probably wouldn't have a reason to be there except for River.

My 5 would have been Mal, Kaylee, Inara, and two of these three: Zoe/Jayne/River. And since I don't think there would have been a 4 to 1 female to male ratio, I would have to say probably Mal, Kaylee, Inara, Jayne, and River.

Overall I just don't see how it ever would have worked with just 5, every single one of the nine characters brought so much to the show.

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Wednesday, March 31, 2004 6:57 AM

SEVENPERCENT

Quote:
Originally posted by BrownCoat1:
.

I think Firefly would not be Firefly without River.

I'm with you all the way BC 1 until right here- I'd substitute River for Book- Everyone is overlooking how central the loss of faith is to the Mal character, and how important the war was to the FF storyline (assuming Book to be a war bigwig) - Holding those two principles, I could easily see River and Simon as the season arc characters, with a chance to return (think of Spike and Dru on Buffy), and Book as one of the original 5- Just my 2cents-

------------------------------------------
He looked bigger when I couldn't see him.

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Wednesday, March 31, 2004 7:01 AM

CREESO

I was quite curious about this as well. I can't figure out who the 5 would have been, but I'm doubtful that Simon/River would have been one or two of them. I believe Joss says in Serenity that they had started placing Blue Sun stuff around, though they hadn't quite decided what they were going to do with it yet. With that in mind, I don't think they had worked out all the River details just yet, so I would doubt that she would have been one of the original 5. And Simon, well really he's just there for River. Don't get me wrong, he's important as 1 of the 9, but without River I don't see him being a necessity - as long as someone else could fix a few gunshot wounds. But, then again, its Joss, so who really knows but him.

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Wednesday, March 31, 2004 8:07 AM

BARNEYT

Quote:
Originally posted by Static:
It could also have been. . .

Badger, Patience, Dobson, The Captain of the UAV "Dortmundter' and Two-fry.

Now this would make for an interesting series!

I reckon it would be before the current time-line of Firefly... Set on Whitefall... maybe Badger's just learning his trade working for Patience along with Two-Fry?

Dobson, I reckon, hasn't always been a Fed, I can see him being part of the same gang with Patience and Badger...

The Captain of the Dortmundter would be a local Alliance Commander charged with breaking up the salvage gangs...

and into this mix wanders a young veteran of Serenity Valley just starting out after the war, trying to make some money in salvage...

You reckon Fox'd be interested?

---
"I think the right place to start is to say, fair is fair. This is who we are. These are our numbers." Mr Willis of Ohio - The West Wing

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Wednesday, March 31, 2004 8:34 AM

TOTALLYFRYED

Quote:
Originally posted by Jentle:
Okay, so in the special features, Joss says the original idea had 5 people and later he upped it to 9...

Which begs the question, who were the original 5? Who got added? Were the original 5 characters as we know them now, or were they completely different?

This plagues me....

I believe in that same feature he indicates that the crew came first (Mal, Zoe, Wash, Kaylee and Jayne), and the other 4 (Inara, Book, Simon and River) became the permanent additions. Also, it would make sense to start with the crew, since they would end up staying on the ship all the time, while passengers would come and go over time, providing story arcs as they pass through.

"C'mon, Kaylee. We all know I'm the funny one."

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Wednesday, March 31, 2004 10:13 AM

3OF19

I've often heard that the crew of the freighter in Alien Resurrection was kinda the original inspiration for Firefly. I've only seen it once back when it came out originally so I can't really remember much of the crew. The only person I do remember was the android girl and the guy in the wheelchair.

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Wednesday, March 31, 2004 12:49 PM

LTNOWIS

I don't think he had created the crew yet when he was concieving the series. When he changed it from 5 to 9, he had only really fleshed out Mal. Or that's my take on it, at least.

In regards to the crew of the Betty being inspiration, I recall there was a big, strong, dumb mercenary-type, and a clever, strong, African American fighter-type. I think Joss may have used some elements from the crew of the Betty, and their hostility to the stiff, high-tech military guys, but there's nothing really wrong with that. It's kind of cool to see how it all formed together in his mind, from this and his readings on Reconstruction.

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