Possible references / homages in Firefly by weerwolf

Quote:
Originally posted by weerwolf:
First Firefly show I saw was Shindig, and it struck a chord since I'm a huge fan of the British made-for-TV movies Sharpe.

In Sharpe's Honour Richard Sharpe has to accept a duel with an expert swordsman, although he himself is much more a brawler than a swordsman. The expert swordsman gets knocked down to the ground eventually. Especially Mal's "Watch it Ath, these things are sharp" made it for me.

And of course Vera, the Callahan full-bore autolock. Callahan as in Dirty Harry Callahan?

Anymore?

----------------------------------
"Damn it Mal... I forgot my line!"

I can see those yep.

The one other one that struck me is Wash saying,"Hang on, travelers..." in Serenity. Traveller is a science-fiction roleplaying game going way back, and in it one of the common group setups are free traders, basically they do exactly what the crew of Serenity does.

Of course I'm probably reading too much into a single line, but hey...that's what we do around here.

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-
"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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Thursday, May 13, 2004 3:00 PM

TALVIN

Quote:
Originally posted by Gunhand:

The one other one that struck me is Wash saying,"Hang on, travelers..." in Serenity. Traveller is a science-fiction roleplaying game going way back, and in it one of the common group setups are free traders, basically they do exactly what the crew of Serenity does.

Of course I'm probably reading too much into a single line, but hey...that's what we do around here.

Glad to know I wasn't the only one to see that!

"I give up. I admit it. I'm a Browncoat."

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Thursday, May 13, 2004 7:31 PM

SHEPHERDSCOTT

Quote:
Traveller is a science-fiction roleplaying game going way back, and in it one of the common group setups are free traders, basically they do exactly what the crew of Serenity does. Of course I'm probably reading too much into a single line, but hey...that's what we do around here.

I don't know about that. Aren't these the same creators who gave us the "Spiral" episode in the 5th season of BUFFY, which basically concluded as an extended reference to Dungeons & Dragons? Willow casts a Shield spell, and the Knights call forth their "clerics" to dispell the shield. Spike even makes the joke that the knights are "role-playing rejects".

* * *

Do the job. Get paid. Keep flying.

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Thursday, May 13, 2004 8:02 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Gunhand:
The one other one that struck me is Wash saying,"Hang on, travelers..." in Serenity. Traveller is a science-fiction roleplaying game going way back, and in it one of the common group setups are free traders, basically they do exactly what the crew of Serenity does.

Of course I'm probably reading too much into a single line, but hey...that's what we do around here.

Absolutely, I keyed in on that the first time I saw it. It's probably a big part of the reason I turned on to the show so quickly. I'd heard Joss was something of geek's geek, but that one blew me away.
We played a wonderful Traveller campaign for a couple of years in high school centered around a free trader called 'The Almighty Dollar'. I drew up pictures and plans of the ship, the whole bit. Wish I still had them, it looked an awful like Serenity.
SergeantX

"Dream a little dream or you can live a little dream. I'd rather live it, cause dreamers always chase but never get it." Aesop Rock

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Thursday, May 13, 2004 8:25 PM

OK, this is really blowing my mind. The aforementioned Traveller connection got me to wondering whatever happened to the pictures and stuff I drew of the ship we used when we played. Well, I did some digging and found one. Its kind of tattered, but its almost twenty-five years old... It's no wonder I was an instant Firefly fan.

It worked!

http://www.fireflyfans.net/sunroomitem.asp?i=1159

SergeantX

"Dream a little dream or you can live a little dream. I'd rather live it, cause dreamers always chase but never get it." Aesop Rock

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Sunday, May 16, 2004 2:50 AM

The relationship between Simon and River reminds me of the movie Benny and Joon.

You have the right to the remains of a silent attorney. If you cannot afford on, tough noogies!

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Sunday, May 16, 2004 4:40 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by SergeantX:
OK, this is really blowing my mind. The aforementioned Traveller connection got me to wondering whatever happened to the pictures and stuff I drew of the ship we used when we played. Well, I did some digging and found one. Its kind of tattered, but its almost twenty-five years old... It's no wonder I was an instant Firefly fan.

It worked!

http://www.fireflyfans.net/sunroomitem.asp?i=1159

SergeantX

"Dream a little dream or you can live a little dream. I'd rather live it, cause dreamers always chase but never get it." Aesop Rock

Now that is a pretty groovy ship there. It does look like something that'd belong in the 'Verse. Especially if you shortened up the nacelles some, they look a little long and Trek-ish but not too bad.

Not a Firefly class but something comparable, maybe something mass produced by a competitor of whoever made Fireflies.

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-
"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 16, 2004 5:20 AM

I suppose so. I had a moment. I'd kind of forgotten about those days somehow. It kind of all came crashing back the other night.

SergeantX

"Dream a little dream or you can live a little dream. I'd rather live it, cause dreamers always chase but never get it." Aesop Rock

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Sunday, May 16, 2004 5:22 AM

That happens to me every gorram day. The crashing of things I'd forgotten.

Gets bothersome sometimes.

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Sunday, May 16, 2004 5:23 AM

Did you get my e-mail, Gunhand?

SergeantX

"Dream a little dream or you can live a little dream. I'd rather live it, cause dreamers always chase but never get it." Aesop Rock

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Sunday, May 16, 2004 5:26 AM

Lemme check here.

Yahoo mail isn't the bestest of all possible worlds but it's about all I have when I'm up here visiting the family instead of down where I live now.

EDIT: That'd be a big no thus far.

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-
"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 16, 2004 5:32 AM

I used Haken's message thing on here. Maybe I didn't do it right. If you don't want to post you're e-mail, drop me a note at sergeant_x at hotmail.com

SergeantX

"Dream a little dream or you can live a little dream. I'd rather live it, cause dreamers always chase but never get it." Aesop Rock

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Sunday, May 16, 2004 5:35 AM

Ahhh okay, I never could figure out how that message thing worked.

No problem with the email, it's: gunhand72@yahoo.com

Feel free to use that, seeing as how it's simple enough even I can figure it out. Even if it is a pain in the arse sometimes.

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Sunday, May 16, 2004 7:27 PM

HOWDYROCKERBABY1

Quote:
Originally posted by SittingDuck:
The relationship between Simon and River reminds me of the movie Benny and Joon.

You have the right to the remains of a silent attorney. If you cannot afford on, tough noogies!

I love that Movie! Is Jayne like Johnny Depp's (totally hottie) character Sam? After all, both of them have a hard time reading and writing!

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
MAL: This is my scrap of nowhere. You go on and find your own.
SAFFRON: You can't just leave me here, on this
lifeless piece of crap moon...
MAL: Sure I can.
SAFFRON: I'll die.
MAL: Well, as a courtesy, you might start
getting busy on that, cause all this chatter ain't doin' me any kindness.

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Sunday, May 16, 2004 8:00 PM

To get back to the original topic, I saw a couple of references to old John Wayne stuff in Serenity. The "Little Lord Fauntleroy" line was from one of his movies and the sucker punch when Mal clocked Simon in the hallway was classic John Wayne.

Objects in Space seemed to be alluding to "2001: A Space Odyssey" in many ways. The first thing I noticed was the plodding deliberate way Jubal Early walked on top of Serenity. The odd sense I got was very similar to the scene from the Kubrick film where the 'space flight attendent' is walking down the isle of the moon shuttle.

Also, the whole situation parallelled "2001" if you think about it. The ship's crew locked in their quarters, the ship/River being sentient.. Mal leaving the ship for the conclusion, River experiencing a rebirth of sorts. Even the scene with Jubal Early tumbling alone in space was borrowed from the movie. Jubal's ship also has a passing resemblence to the external 'pods' that they used in '2001'.

SergeantX

"Dream a little dream or you can live a little dream. I'd rather live it, cause dreamers always chase but never get it." Aesop Rock

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Sunday, May 16, 2004 8:03 PM

TERRIBLETINK

My husband wondered if the name "Jayne" isn't a play on Johnny Cash's "A Boy Named Sue." A guy gets a girl's name and grows up to be a tough guy as result...

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Monday, May 17, 2004 9:36 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by terribletink:
My husband wondered if the name "Jayne" isn't a play on Johnny Cash's "A Boy Named Sue." A guy gets a girl's name and grows up to be a tough guy as result...

Definately possible. In fact when I was telling some of my friends about what to expect the first night I showed them the DVDs one of them said,"Jayne? A guy? Must be like a Boy Named Sue."

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Monday, May 17, 2004 10:38 AM

SPIKEANDJEZEBEL

In "The Train Job", when Jayne shoots the bad guy in the leg - Mal says "Nice shot," and Jayne replies "I was aiming for his head." This is an exact quote of Blake and Avon from the Blake's 7 episode "Orac". Blake's 7 and Firefly have a lot of things in common, both being about a small crew of outlaws in a super-fast spaceship, on the run from a totalitarian government. And Joss has admitted in the past to watching Blake's 7 when he lived in England.

"I like smackin' 'em!" - Jayne Cobb

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Friday, May 28, 2004 1:05 AM

This may be a bit of a stretch, but the Colonel Orbin that Mal describes in The Message sounds vaguely reminiscent of General Hood. For those not up on their Civil War history, Hood was easily the most incompetent general on the Confederacy side. What made me link him to Orbin was the fact that whenever Hood screwed up (which he frequently did), he always blamed it on the men under his command.

You have the right to the remains of a silent attorney. If you cannot afford one, tough noogies!

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Friday, May 28, 2004 12:52 PM

LEAFY

When I watched Firefly the first time around, I wondered if it was an extension of the world in Blade Runner (the movie, not the book by Philip K. Dick). The Asian influence, and the generally dark and gritty feel to it. Not to mention that there are "off-worlds" in Blade Runner, and I was thinking the replicants might have evolved into reivers. Also that in the world of Blade Runner, everything is dissolving into "kipple." If it goes far enough, it could very well come apart.

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Sunday, May 30, 2004 1:03 AM

MANTICHORUS

How 'bout the most obvious one?
Lawrence the Law-man in Serenity, tied up on a chair. Jayne: "I was gonna get me an ear too."
Shades of Tarantino, anyone?

-------------------------------------------
"BADGER: You think you're better than other people.
MAL: Just the ones I'm better than."
-------------------------------------
"MAL: Gotta say, doctor, your talent for alienatin' folk is near miraculous.
SIMON: Yes, I'm very proud."

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Sunday, May 30, 2004 9:31 PM

LITTLEMANLOVESFIRE

Serenity bears more than a passing resemblance to Starbug from Red Dwarf.

And yeah - Blake's 7 is a major one - the show is basically that re-tooled for a new generation, only with no aliens and a crappy ship rather than The Liberator which was the most advanced ship in the 'verse.

Not that Serenity is crappy but you know what I mean.

Star Wars refernces are thick on the ground too. The design on Serenity is much more Star Wars than any other sci-fi (you cxould imagine it flying along next to the Falcon but it would look daft in Babylon 5), Mal is basically a much darker Han Solo and The Alliance dress in very Empire-type outfits.

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Monday, May 31, 2004 3:53 AM

CYBERSNARK

Quote:
Originally posted by Littlemanlovesfire:
Mal is basically a much darker Han Solo

Darker?

I would've said lighter, myself. Han never really cracked jokes as easily as Mal does --he's more of a dryly ironic wit.

If anything, Mal's more like Han after a few years of living/working with the Rebels. Some of their idealistic kindness rubbed off on him, as opposed to pre-SW Han, who tended to be mean and surly (not unlike Evil-Mal).

Also, they're both ex-military. Han quit the Empire after being disillusioned, while Mal was let down by his cause.

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

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Sunday, June 6, 2004 11:22 PM

MANTICHORUS

Quote:
Originally posted by Littlemanlovesfire:
Serenity bears more than a passing resemblance to Starbug from Red Dwarf.

It also bears an uncanny resemblance to a compacted Y-Wing (from Star Wars): http://www.starwars.ndo.co.uk/episodes4-6/ships.htm
Also, as Joss has already said that the idea of Jubal Early came from Boba Fett (also SW), can it be a coincidence that his ship resembles Slave I, Fett's ship?

-------------------------------------------
"BADGER: You think you're better than other people.
MAL: Just the ones I'm better than."
-------------------------------------
"MAL: Gotta say, doctor, your talent for alienatin' folk is near miraculous.
SIMON: Yes, I'm very proud."

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Thursday, July 22, 2004 4:15 AM

This too may be a bit of a stretch, but do you think perhaps that the Fed Lawrence Dobson is meant to refer to Lawrence Dobkin? For those not familiar with the name, Dobkin made quite a few guest appearances in several Westerns, among them Gunsmoke (both radio and TV versions), Have Gun, Will Travel (ditto), and The Rifleman.

You have the right to the remains of a silent attorney. If you cannot afford one, tough noogies!

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Friday, July 23, 2004 9:33 AM

SIKKUKUT

I've heard it suggested that the mechanic Bester was named for Alfred Bester, the first winner of the Hugo award for a novel.

One of the references that I found most enlightening was... the Beatle's quote in the pilot.

MAL: Cry baby cry.
WASH: Make your mother sigh. Engaging the cry baby.

This seems too specific to just be an out-of-universe reference, but rather implies that they still know, if not the songs themselves, then isolated lines and quotes from the Beatles. Which is pretty damn interesting, and probably realistic.

____________________________
"You're mean. Firefly's making me reconsider my lifelong devotion to Star Trek." --My mother

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Friday, July 23, 2004 10:01 AM

ROWAN

Ok after reading some of your ideas about men with women’s names like Jayne does, someone mentioned John Wayne who's real name by the way was Marion which I've always thought was a female sounding name. Then someone else mentioned the Country/western song A Boy Named Sue, and Firefly does have a western them to it. Anyways (although someone has probably pointed this out all ready on another thread) I was suddenly struck by this crazy thought:
J ohn W ayne = Jayne

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Friday, July 23, 2004 10:26 AM

GHOLA

Quote:
Originally posted by Mantichorus:
Also, as Joss has already said that the idea of Jubal Early came from Boba Fett (also SW), can it be a coincidence that his ship resembles Slave I, Fett's ship?

The first thing a friend of mine said when he saw Jubal's ship was that it looked like slave I.

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Saturday, July 24, 2004 1:07 AM