Episode Character Focus by Barclay

GENERAL DISCUSSIONS

Episode Character Focus

POSTED BY: BARCLAY
UPDATED: Saturday, August 7, 2004 00:45
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Sunday, August 1, 2004 9:18 PM

So, I was thinking. Many people regard Book as the character they feel least attached to. I wondered why that was, and I think it might be related to the fact we don't have an episode about Book.

Serenity was about all 11 crewmembers (including Serenity and Lawrence here), and the entire FF 'verse. So, a little bit on Book, but not too much.

The Train Job was about the six main crewmembers. It's best summed up with this exchange...

SIMON: "What ae you doing?"

KAYLEE: "Crime."

Meaning that Simon, River, and Book were pretty much oblivious and not involved with the plotline. Even Inara has a greater focus.

There is a bit of an extra spotlight on Mal and Zoe here, however.

Bushwhacked is more about the Reavers and the Alliance than any member of the crew, and what sequences there are with the crew, Book is hardly involved. He is does not go to the ship (only Inara and Wash can claim that, and Wash was on the intercom), and Book's exchange with the Alliance officer is no longer than any other character's.

Shindig is Inara and Mal's cup of tea, with a little bit of Kaylee thrown in because you can never have enough Kaylee. Hardly any mention of Book at all here.

Safe is the story of Simon and River. There is that little tidbit about Book tossed in at the end, but hardly enoug to justify saying the episode is about him.

Our Mrs. Reynolds is Saffron's story, though Mal's if you want to apply it to a crewmember.

Jaynestown... Jayne. All Jayne.

Out of Gas, while the "second pilot" is the story of Mal and Serenity. And a damn good one at that.

Ariel is another episode focused on Simon and River, with a healthy dose of Jayne and a little bit of Mal tossed in.

War Stories is our first Wash episode, and a solid look at his character at that. Oh, yeah, there's that Mal guy, too.

The Message is a Mal and Zoe story all the way, we get a look at the Independants from the war.

Heart of Gold is yet another Mal and Inara story.

Objects in Space is quite the group effort, but really belongs to River.

So, there you have it, every character has their moment to shine save Book (something that would have changed as the series progressed, I'm sure), but that leaves us with the character we are msot disengaged with. And it doesn't look like the BDM will make it any better.

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Sunday, August 1, 2004 10:13 PM

PURPLEBELLY

Ariel is the most significant episode for Book

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Sunday, August 1, 2004 10:43 PM

JAYNEZTOWN

War Stories - good old Shepherd comes in here a little, we know he's a preacher and all but why is he so updated on the activities of the evil Adelai Niska,
after Mal and wash get kidnapped Shepard is helping out he can spot a gunshot and recognize what went down, also seems to have good info on the Alliance and is a fine handy gunman with plenty of ammo on his holy book shelf.
That said nobody thinks of Book as an untrustworthy man,
he is a good fine preacher man of his word so what ever secrets he has remain hidden,
they need the help to take Niska down and get plenty of help from Shepherd.
Book goes about his business shooting away but as an honest fighter he still manages not to kill anyone.
Book could be a skilled killer with a firearm plus he can take down an Alliance cop ( pilot episode ) real quick and without weapons, but something big happened Book and now he follows the enlightened path.

Preach on Shepherd
such a pity the show was cancelled

damn networks !

unlike book I have no problem with foul language,
is saying curse words in Chinese still a sin ?

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Sunday, August 1, 2004 11:07 PM

the movie is not the Series. Only the facts have been changed, to irritate the innocent; the names of the actors and characters remain the same

Quote:
Originally posted by Barclay:
So, I was thinking. Many people regard Book as the character they feel least attached to. I wondered why that was, and I think it might be related to the fact we don't have an episode about Book.

Possible. Nine principal characters is a lot to write for, & about, and a lot to follow. Plus, Book has a secret (or more). It must have been difficult to write for him without messing with the mystery.

For me, their speaking is a big part of it.

I feel Ron Glass has the most difficulty with Joss' archaic dialogue.
Nathan Fillion is wonderful at it; he can rarely say "ain't" as if it's part of his vocabulary, but he styles through the difficult stuff.
Alan Tudyk seems to have the most trouble with Chinese, and Wash may be the character to whom I feel least attached.
Jewel Staite is masterful with Chinese (I have no idea whether she gets it right, but she makes it sound so natural).

Keep the Shiny Side Up

Wutzon: the Radiators, "Devil's Dream", from "Live @the Great American Music Hall"

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Sunday, August 1, 2004 11:49 PM

EMBERS

Quote:
Originally posted by Barclay:
So, there you have it, every character has their moment to shine save Book (something that would have changed as the series progressed, I'm sure), but that leaves us with the character we are msot disengaged with. And it doesn't look like the BDM will make it any better.

actually I thought the movie was going to deal more w/Book...
I'm sure the TV show would have focused more on him, particularly when you notice that in 'Objects in Space' Joss had the strangest and most intreging (IMO) revelation in River's reading of Book's mind (sure didn't sound like a preacher to me!).

But I think you're premise is wrong...if you look around here at fff.com you find a lot of threads debating Book, who is he, where is he from, is he good or bad. More than about most characters (no one is debating Wash's intentions).

Frankly the only character I'm not interested in is Inara, but I don't want to get too attached anyway since I figure she is doomed to die (LOL).

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Monday, August 2, 2004 3:08 AM

JAYNEZTOWN

I think there is something about Book, here's my take on it. He was maybe pretty high up on the Alliance, maybe a leader of battle group or head of some fleet of ships. Anyhow although he was alliance he wan't like the other monsters and killers, book was a good and honest fighter he understood right and diginty, but something wicked happened he was in a bloody conflict or he was ordered to lay waste to an area but totally destroyed a village on some moon. Book a man who was raised on honesty is very upset and conflicted over all the bloodsheed he has witnessed or caused, so he asks questions about his role and leaves the alliance fleet and never shows up for the final battle at serenity. While the final hours of the war rages Book is off looking for guideance and seeking forgiveness for his actions, a group of monks keep his mind at rest with prayer and he turns away from violence and becomes a shepherd as the war ends. That is why he never really expresses any thoughts on the war and why those mysterious happenings in his past are coming back to him now.

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Monday, August 2, 2004 6:10 PM

THEREALME

I almost can agree, Jayneztown. But if Book went AWOL, then he would not have received the welcome he got on that Alliance ship in Safe.

He did whatever horrid deeds he did, THEN changed his mind and sought repentance.

I still think he was the Alliance commander who won at Serenity Valley.

The Real Me

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Monday, August 2, 2004 6:36 PM

JAYNEZTOWN

I reckon whoever won the battle at serenity valley had to be kind of cold-blooded with a mean heart. Book might have fought for the bad alliance but I think he was an honourable soldier at heart. A person who wiped out all the people at the battle of serenity was a great battle leader but a dark and cold man.

I reckon what might have happened rather than going awol is that Shepherd and his fleet were blasted out of the sky and they crash landed near some village where the alliance were about to strike. It was there that book may have seen the real allaince destruction and blood that disturbed him, he might have even been helped by some priest or villagers. Not long after getting help a final alliance wave came and scorched the earth, the village was laid to waste and book and his fleet was presumed dead so the alliance just counted the commander as another body lost in battle, therefore no person would be looking for him. It was here and after that Book might have been reborn and become the man he is today, seeking forgiveness and spiritual help.

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Tuesday, August 3, 2004 12:06 PM

KNIBBLET

Quote:
Originally posted by JaynezTown:
I reckon whoever won the battle at serenity valley had to be kind of cold-blooded with a mean heart.... A person who wiped out all the people at the battle of serenity was a great battle leader but a dark and cold man.

The commander of the Alliance forces at Serenity Valley was no more or less cold-blooded than any other commander.
It was the leaders of the two groups who left people there to die whilst they 'negotiated the peace'. The commander wouldn't make that decision - his (I use the male form because the encyclopedia gave a man's name) political leaders would make that decision.
One doesn't fight a battle without intending to win. Fighting to win doesn't make someone cold - it makes them logical and effective.
A soft and fluffy military commander would be as useful as ... a bodyguard with no peripheral vision.

"Just keep walkin, preacher man."

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Tuesday, August 3, 2004 2:12 PM

JAYNEZTOWN

I still doubt ol' preacher was a winner at Serenity, now I'm going to explain myself by giving examples of real world events but let me first say that I don't intend on making this discussion political, supporting republicans or supporting liberal democrats or knocking republicans bad ways or knocking democrats bad ways.

War is bad, the effects of war are terrible but what usually secures the peace is the attitude and management of the leaders behind the operation. Firefly can be compared to real life events even Joss said taht sometimes the Alliance is like America in Vietnam but I don't intend to make this talk to political. Take Iraq, ok the US has gone ahead, the west has taken Saddam out, we've made that choice and drove tanks into the heart of the Iraq capital. But does that win a war, hell no. Bush may have bitten off more than he can chew, there is still confusion, lack of equipment for troops, a growing hatred within the country, and no security on the streets.
Now take Clinton a rogue, a man who cheated his wife, but a president who knew how to operate on the global level. When Clinton went into Kosovo Yugoslavia and the balkans he ordered the troops to launch attacks, planes bombed the heck out of the place. However it was much better managed, there were no tortures or bombings of markets or mobs killing folk in the street, the situation was much better managed and there is quiet in the area and maybe just maybe a bright future for them. However Iraq is not this.

Now let me say some conservative Republicans are idiots and some are not , so I don't care for the fact that the man who messed up in Iraq is Bush a Republican, if it were an untrustworthy liberal guy or a Democrat by a different name saying all these lies I think we would have the very same problem. Iraq had a much weaker army than back in the early 90s and the fact is Bush has made a failure of this, regardless of the man being liberal or conservative he has made a mess and now this is what we face because of Bush. Joss said the Alliance could be like America in Vietnam. Now there are plenty of good folk who went out to serve and fight for their country but when they got to vietnam they saw what a mess it was, these were folk who were concerned about doing the right thing and trying to stay safe. However the operation in vietnam was a mess and many were unhappy about what the US got itself into except those few radicals with some kind of racial hatred for the commie-vietnamese or those few radicals with a callous attitude toward life and other people.

I know in a war there are no real good guys or bad guys and firefly brings this across also. Maybe I shouldn't be mentioning political events when discussing firelfy, however Joss has based the show on a future that has many similarities and connections to real-life events. It is this sense of history that leads me to believe that Shepherd is a character much like a man who was distraught and conflicted over what happened in vietnam, the hard line somewhere between trying to do your duty and trying to do the right thing for everyone. That's why I feel Shepherd may be coming from somewhere like that place, however I will admit I could be very wrong...just have to hope it's in the movie sometime or else the Show makes a big comeback and fox finally gives it the green light to come back on tv.

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Tuesday, August 3, 2004 4:51 PM

THEREALME

The reason that I think Book was a hard, nasty guy at one time is the Inner Thought that River picked up from him in Objects In Space. I think that was an example of the Old Book. I think it was later that Book saw the mistakes in his life and rejected them to become a preacher. This whether he was the Alliance Serenity commander or not. Just my opinion.

The Real Me

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Saturday, August 7, 2004 12:45 AM

JAYNEZTOWN

Quote:
Originally posted by TheRealMe:
The reason that I think Book was a hard, nasty guy at one time is the Inner Thought that River picked up from him in Objects In Space. I think that was an example of the Old Book. I think it was later that Book saw the mistakes in his life and rejected them to become a preacher. This whether he was the Alliance Serenity commander or not. Just my opinion.

The Real Me

That's a good theory, that instant when River looks into his mind is very creepy indeed. I wonder what Shepherd did in his past ?

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