A (new?) Book Theory by howdyrockerbaby1

GENERAL DISCUSSIONS

A (new?) Book Theory

POSTED BY: HOWDYROCKERBABY1
UPDATED: Thursday, May 6, 2004 12:20
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Sunday, May 2, 2004 6:26 PM

Okay... so this is the basic gist of my new Theory.

Book WAS a high-ranking Alliance Officer before and during the war of Unification, and he had been married but his wife had somehow died many years before, so he was left to raise their son on his own. His son rebelled and joined the Independent's and fought in a major battle (possibly the Battle Of Serenity) and the Alliance not only beat the Independent's brutally, but also treated their Browncoat enemies immorily, resulting in torture or things even worse than that, and the death of Book's son. Book found out about what happened and then went into a deep depression resulting in some soul searching which ultimately caused him to enter into his priesthood. He feels responsible for the untimely death of his son and is then lying to himself and others when in Serenity he says "I never married."

soo... there it is...

hope this isn't a

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Here's to Jayne, the box dropping man-ape-gone-wrong-thing"
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

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Sunday, May 2, 2004 6:43 PM

GUNHAND

Hmmm, nifty theory, the only problem with it would be if Book wasn't lying when he said twice in Serenity,"I was never married." when the guy from the Brutus wanted him to ship out with them, and then again to Kaylee when they first met, both times to being called,"Grandpa."

The other bit was in Lost in Space when Jayne and he are talking about being a Shepard and Book pretty much says he never had sex.

But!

No one ever hooked Book up to a lie detector, and like Mal said to Inara in Our Mrs. Reynolds,"You can't open the book of my life and jump in the middle. Like woman, I'm a mystery." Which is true and could be telling, he said book but could it have been a sneaky Joss way of saying something about Book.

We already know from the "landscape" line in the commentary for Serenity that Joss sometimes sticks in a specific word for a definate reason. So it could be that Book is lying, he's a mystery...

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-
"Oh hey, I got an idea. Instead of us hanging
around playing art critic till I get pinched by
the Man, how's about we move away from this
eerie-ass piece of work and get on with our
increasingly eerie-ass day, how's that?"

My eerie-ass website:
http://gunhandsfirefly.homestead.com/Index.html

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Sunday, May 2, 2004 6:56 PM

GUNRUNNER

Well Gunhand he may have been so traumatized by the death of his wife and son he repressed it so much that he doesn’t conceder that he was married.

Of course he may not have been married but it may have been his girl friend and son who was killed.

I still think he was the head of (or a high up of) the Alliance’s version of the FBI/CIA/DIA/KGB/GRU etc and had to go underground to avoid being killed off for fighting corruption.

The Firefly CCG Web Site:
http://mywebpage.netscape.com/Bllm119/firefly_ccg_web_site.htm
>Help out today!

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Sunday, May 2, 2004 7:00 PM

GUNHAND

I can see that Gunrunner, the whole alphabet soup angle. Most definately.

I just wanted to make sure I had a lot of "if he's lying/telling the truth" in there because if you just look at the words said it'd be a big no on the theory. But any theory is as right as any other right now. Provided Book's lying (or has post traumatic stress) about his past.

However, I believe the good Shepard is lying about a lot of things, so this could be the case. I still think he's some sort of Kung-fu Inquisitor Walks The Earths Monk with a very shady...well painfully legit but evil...past.

Editted it because I forgot something, a common event anymore.

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-
"Oh hey, I got an idea. Instead of us hanging
around playing art critic till I get pinched by
the Man, how's about we move away from this
eerie-ass piece of work and get on with our
increasingly eerie-ass day, how's that?"

My eerie-ass website:
http://gunhandsfirefly.homestead.com/Index.html

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Wednesday, May 5, 2004 1:20 PM

KARENKAY99

Smellin' a lot of "if" comin' off this plan.

"They say the snow on the roof is too heavy. They say the ceiling will cave in. His brains are in terrible danger."

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Wednesday, May 5, 2004 1:48 PM

TRAGICSTORY

I would have to disagree with that theory just because IF Book's son had been killed by Alliance scum, he would have gone Punisher/Boondock Saints/Braveheart/Etc on them.

He would be them one filling Serenity with high explosives and leading Reavers into the core with a smile on his lips and a BIG "fuck you" on his mind.

Not pretending he never married.

-----------
"Societies are supported by human activity, therefore they are constantly threatened by the human facts of self-intrest and stupidity." --Peter Berger

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Wednesday, May 5, 2004 1:48 PM

TJACK

I think it more likley that Book was a Bounty Hunter. {Kind of an earlier, less crazy, version of Jubal.} It would explain his knowledge of weapons and criminal ways as well as the thoughts reveled in OiS

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Wednesday, May 5, 2004 2:11 PM

LOST

Quote:
Originally posted by Tjack:
I think it more likley that Book was a Bounty Hunter.

But why would he have been rushed to the Alliane medical facility if he was just a lowly bounty hunter. He was one of their own, I'd bet good money on it.

And another thing, I'm having a hard time with the whole Book lies idea. I doubt if he has lied at all during the show (feel free to prove me wrong). He creatively omits or speaks with loopholes, but not outright lying.

***
Hey, I've been in a firefight before! Well, I was in a fire... Actually, I was fired from a fry-cook opportunity.

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Wednesday, May 5, 2004 2:23 PM

DEADLYMIDGET

My guess is he was a judge or prosecutor type, joined the order after sending the wrong people to the medical labs or letting the wrong ones go free.

Would explain the not 'giving a hump if you are innocent' comment that River read from him as well as the ident card getting him special treatment. Could also be why he knows so much about crime.

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Wednesday, May 5, 2004 2:33 PM

LOST

Quote:
Originally posted by DeadlyMidget:
My guess is he was a judge or prosecutor type...

Now that I can see.

***
Hey, I've been in a firefight before! Well, I was in a fire... Actually, I was fired from a fry-cook opportunity.

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Wednesday, May 5, 2004 2:54 PM

EMBERS

Quote:
Originally posted by howdyrockerbaby1:
Okay... so this is the basic gist of my new Theory.

He feels responsible for the untimely death of his son and is then lying to himself and others when in Serenity he says "I never married."

Well, I have to disagree with this theory because it doesn't (IMO) suit Joss' style.

Joss will mislead us with double meanings, or with the actor playing a different emotion that implies things he isn't saying... But I have never known Joss to have anyone tell an out and out lie.

Book is full of secrets, and they are hinted at in various ways (the way Early attacks him as tho he was a soldier instead of a shepard, and the way Book spends as much time as Jayne working out...), but I don't believe that a clear statement like 'I never married' would be a lie... Altho it may have some important meaning because it was repeated twice, and Joss usually doesn't waste words, not once much less twice.

I'm happy to know the movie is evidently going to tell us more about Book, because I am VERY curious about him!

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Wednesday, May 5, 2004 4:27 PM

TJACK

To Lost:
What if Book were a highly placed Bounty Hunter well respected by the Alliance? That would also explain Jubal's recognizing him.-"That's no Shepard"

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Wednesday, May 5, 2004 4:27 PM

TJACK

To Lost:
What if Book were a highly placed Bounty Hunter well respected by the Alliance? That would also explain Jubal's recognizing him.-"That's no Shepard"

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Wednesday, May 5, 2004 4:41 PM

FIREFLYTHEMOVIE

Quote:
... But I have never known Joss to have anyone tell an out and out lie.

Well, that's not entirely true. I seem to recall Willow doing a whole lot of lying around Season 6. And the Scoobies lied to their parents all the time. But the audience has always known they were lying, fairly soon after the fact if not as they're lying.

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Wednesday, May 5, 2004 4:49 PM

EMBERS

Quote:
Originally posted by Fireflythemovie:
Quote:
... But I have never known Joss to have anyone tell an out and out lie.

Well, that's not entirely true.

No, you're right...but somehow I always felt that there were clues when it was a lie...

It is hard to call, cause the more I think about Book repeating that 'I never married' line twice made me think there must be more to it....

There is so much we don't know about everyone on board the Serenity (I'm so glad we're getting the movie!)

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Wednesday, May 5, 2004 5:13 PM

KINGOFTHEMUDDERS

"I never married" and "I'm not a grandpa" can still work.

- Book never married BUT had a love affair which produced a child. This child grew up and joined the browncoats

- That child died in the war and never had a child of his own. Therefore, Book was never a grandpa.

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Wednesday, May 5, 2004 5:51 PM

CAPTAINMAL

I'm thinking that Book is some sort of double agent. He wroks, ultimatly, for an antiAlliance or anti-Blue Sun outfit which is determined to find out what they are doing in the "River Project" and in the course of that service he had been or is a double-agent within the Alliance.

So they Alliance thinks he's on their dime and mal and Co. think he's a simple shepherd butreally he's neither...he has his own agenda. One that's not contrary to being allied with Mal & Co. but one that is definatly contrary to Alliance/Blue Sun interests.

Just so much suposition of course....

"Why we still discussin' this?"

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Wednesday, May 5, 2004 5:53 PM

GUNHAND

Well Book is definately the mystery that I'm most looking forward to seeing more about when the BDM comes out.

All sorts of theories here, and most of them could fit, heck they all could fit at the same time depending on how sneaky and/or bad Book was before he became a Shepard.

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-
"Oh hey, I got an idea. Instead of us hanging
around playing art critic till I get pinched by
the Man, how's about we move away from this
eerie-ass piece of work and get on with our
increasingly eerie-ass day, how's that?"

My eerie-ass website:
http://gunhandsfirefly.homestead.com/Index.html

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Wednesday, May 5, 2004 6:02 PM

KINGOFTHEMUDDERS

It should be noted in every Book discussion that Tim Minear said who book is "isn't what you are thinking"

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Wednesday, May 5, 2004 7:21 PM

JUMPY

The thing I find that sort of screws up all these book theories is when he starts crying during the Serenity episodes cause he's fallen in with theives and the dude got killed etc.

If he was so important and was involved with killing peeps in some capacity why does he put on the waterworks because its all too much for him? You think its just an act? They don't suspect anything about him in that particular time so why go to the trouble?

I dunno its just wierd is'all

Simon: Oh yes, he's a real beast...It's a wonder you're still alive.
Jayne: He looked bigger when I couldn't see him

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Thursday, May 6, 2004 8:04 AM

CARDIE

I believe that Book has a very bloody past of which he sincerely repented when joining his order. I think he cries at the end of Serenity because he's only out in the world again for a day or so and he's already accessory to a killing. Moreover, no matter how sincerely he's tried to become someone who will never kill, the old thrill of seeing a bad guy eliminated is back again. I took his regret to be like that of someone who has kicked drugs and then finds out he's fallen in among drug dealers.

There is however something going on about Book's sexuality. There's the repetition of the never married line, the vow of celibacy, the answer that he's more or less intact. All that's got to tie into the mystery of his identity, but I can't for the life of me figure it out.

Cardie

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Thursday, May 6, 2004 12:20 PM

CAGEYBEE

i like this theory very, very much. i just wonder, would the alliance be so eager to give book such prompt medical attention if he was, in effect, hiding out from them?

me

~Mal- "how drunk was i last night?
Jayne- "i don't know. i passed out."

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