There's Something About River by Steamer

GENERAL DISCUSSIONS

There's Something About River

POSTED BY: STEAMER
UPDATED: Sunday, February 10, 2008 23:05
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Friday, February 8, 2008 8:15 AM

Can't recall offhand if I've seen this discussed heretofore. If it has, you can ignore me. (Not that you don't already, but, bah, anyway.

)

Something's had me curious about River for quite some time now, because I've seen a couple of different interpretations of it: most recently I read a discussion in which somebody said that the Alliance 'made her psychic'. Now I can see where they could have gotten that notion, from the BDM opening in which Dr. Mathias describes the brain alterations he's done. Of course Simon wants to know what use we have for a psychic if she's insane, and so a body could probably glean from that exchange that the Alliance is responsible for River's reading abilities.

My own self though, I see it a little differently: Wasn't River a reader before she went to the Academy? Because there are several bits of the show and the R. Tam Sessions which suggest that she was. Especially R. Tam Session #1, when she says that Simon 'hates it when I can tell which girls he likes'. That, and her ability to observe and master anything within minutes of being exposed to it - which possibly results from being able to pick it up from the mind of somebody who had mastered it already. So to my thinking, she was a reader before she entered the Academy - in fact, she was accepted there because the Alliance saw her ability and took her in so they could capitalise on it.

There's another line of Mathias's which contributes to that version: It's possible she doesn't even know that she knows whatever secrets she's picked up. By the same token, I'm thinking it's possible that she herself didn't even recognise that she was a reader - like her family, she wrote it off as deep intuition and enjoyed being able to catch Simon's crushes, amongst other things.

Anybody else favour either theory? Or have a different one altogether? Spill.

Zoe fought till
War was through
Fights with hubby
Sometimes, too
FIREFLY

Captain of the New England Browncoats
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Friday, February 8, 2008 1:10 PM

RCAT

Nice observations. I had always thought that she was just highly observant and intuitive before the "alterations" done to her but, considering the points you made, it makes sense that the program that the school had was to discover those w/ pre-existing psychic abilities (or those who were borderline pschic) and then fine tune them to fit their needs.

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Friday, February 8, 2008 1:53 PM

RIVERFLAN

That last theory was the one I've always thought was likely.

She was problee psychic to begin with, and didn't know it. Tha Alliance might have increased her psychic ability, but not by an astronomical amount. And the mastering ability, while it could possibly be accounted to being around people who have mastered it, I don't really think that's all that logical, and don't forget her mind-staggering intelect.

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Friday, February 8, 2008 4:01 PM

THUNDAR

IT could be that Simon and River were genetically engineered with full cooperation of the Parents. That River was expected to be more advanced than Simon and they picked her to proceed into the program. Daddy Tam had an awfully aloof response to Simon's insistence that River was in trouble.

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Friday, February 8, 2008 5:03 PM

RIVERFLAN

The only thing wrong with that theory, the way you put it, is why would the Alliance deliberately make one greater than the other? They'd want as much tlent as they could get. It would make sense, though, if the gene-adjusting tech improved betwen the conception of Simon and the concepion of River.

But, on the other hand, there was a war fairly recently, and also there didn't seem to be much of an "inproving atomsphere", they way we do nowadays, with new technologys just sprouting all over.

So... it could be argued either way.

Going away now before my point, if I ever had a point, gets babbled away to nothingness.

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Saturday, February 9, 2008 3:20 AM

SPACEANJL

An 'Improving Atmosphere'? They tried that on some place called Miranda, didn't they?

The fun you could have with covert projects...gene-tech, bioware, subliminal triggers. Point is, we don't know what's been cooking in some of the little labs, whose funding it, or why.

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Saturday, February 9, 2008 6:42 AM

RIVERFLAN

True... very true. And they'd want to keep all that experimenting a secret bacause they know the public wouldn't like it at all.

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Saturday, February 9, 2008 11:14 AM

THUNDAR

Quote:
Originally posted by RiverFlan:
The only thing wrong with that theory, the way you put it, is why would the Alliance deliberately make one greater than the other? They'd want as much tlent as they could get. It would make sense, though, if the gene-adjusting tech improved betwen the conception of Simon and the concepion of River.

But, on the other hand, there was a war fairly recently, and also there didn't seem to be much of an "inproving atomsphere", they way we do nowadays, with new technologys just sprouting all over.

So... it could be argued either way.

Going away now before my point, if I ever had a point, gets babbled away to nothingness.

What I should have said was she was expected to be more advanced because of the advances made after Simon was conceived.

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Saturday, February 9, 2008 11:37 AM

RIVERFLAN

The that's okay, then, I just wanted to make sure everyone understood that. I'm kinda picky about imprecise language like that.

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98% of teens have smoked pot, if you are one of the 2% that haven't, copy this into your signature.

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Saturday, February 9, 2008 12:12 PM

PHOENIXROSE

You think you know--what's to come, what you are. You haven't even begun.

I always thought that she was, as said, highly intuitive when she was drafted for the project. However, borderline schitzophrenia is also said to be 'the price of being truly psychic' (pulling that from the novel/shooting script, for those who are wondering) so I think the actual hearing of outside thoughts and feeling of outside emotions was not something she could do before they played with her brain. The difference between noticing body language/empathizing with emotions and having those emotions catch you full brunt across the temple, so to speak.

I don't think that being cautiously ashamed, or selectively ashamed, or in any way ashamed of who I am is any way to live my life.

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Sunday, February 10, 2008 10:50 PM

JEWELSTAITEFAN

She was psychic before the Institute tested her. They sought to expand her capabilities in this field.

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Sunday, February 10, 2008 11:05 PM

ASARIAN

Quote:
Originally posted by Rcat:

I had always thought that she was just highly observant and intuitive before the "alterations" done to her but, considering the points you made, it makes sense that the program that the school had was to discover those w/ pre-existing psychic abilities (or those who were borderline pschic) and then fine tune them to fit their needs.

It's the popular theory. :) And the best one, I think. Even 500 years in the future, I say they can't make people psychic, from scratch -- Wash's whole "Yeah, but psychic? That sounds like science fiction!" to wit. Stripping her amygdala, not allowing her to not feel, makes it harder for her to... not feel. :) No, seriously, I reckon one of the first steps in fine-tuning psychic abilities is to take away any mechanism that might filter out/supress such signals. And then you add some drugs to enhance other areas, etc. But River (see River Tam Sessions) I'm fair certain was already psychic before she went to the Academy.

--
"Mei-mei, everything I have is right here." -- Simon Tam

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