River as a weapon ** SPOILERS** by Chindi

A psychic assassin can be very useful to any government. She could have been used to root out dissent within the government. They could use her to eliminate the underground and various criminal elements that get in the way of the Alliance. They could also use her to prevent another Unification war. Plus we don't know a lot about the connection between the Blue Sun and the government. Maybe the Blue Sun only has partial control of the government and they're planning some sort of coup and that they wanted to use River and the other Academy students to eliminate members of the government not loyal to Blue Sun.

"I swallowed a bug." -River Tam

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Monday, October 31, 2005 7:53 AM

CHINDI

True... many questions.. not enough answers..

need more show...

Chindi

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Saturday, November 12, 2005 8:30 PM

YORG

Quote:
Originally posted by Giantevilhead:
A psychic assassin can be very useful to any government. She could have been used to root out dissent within the government. They could use her to eliminate the underground and various criminal elements that get in the way of the Alliance. They could also use her to prevent another Unification war. Plus we don't know a lot about the connection between the Blue Sun and the government. Maybe the Blue Sun only has partial control of the government and they're planning some sort of coup and that they wanted to use River and the other Academy students to eliminate members of the government not loyal to Blue Sun.

"I swallowed a bug." -River Tam

Exactly. I agree.

There would be no better assassin or operative than one who could read minds. It's the ultimate political weapon. You tell your psychic assassin to "find anyone who doesn't like what we're doing and eliminate them." Cakewalk. Your assassin can kill swarms of people with melee weapons and is a dead aim shot without even looking.

The grandest form of censorship.

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Saturday, November 12, 2005 11:07 PM

Actually, I can think up of better ways of controlling people *insert maniacal laugh*.

"I swallowed a bug." -River Tam

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Saturday, November 12, 2005 11:22 PM

COZEN

Yawn! Another Buffy.

Still, the movie rocks!

Gimme more River. At least she has an intriguing personality.

Gimme more Serenity.

***
"You think somebody wouldn't go see somebody if they didn't want entertainment?"

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Saturday, November 12, 2005 11:46 PM

There are about as many similarities between River and Buffy as Buffy and Batgirl.

"I swallowed a bug." -River Tam

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Sunday, November 13, 2005 10:57 AM

RUBBERDUCKY

maby the alliance had other plans such as expantion the reavers are at te edges ov the galixy whats after them as the saying goes " There is no better time to prepare for was then in times of peace " they may have found something

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Sunday, November 13, 2005 11:16 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Giantevilhead:
There are about as many similarities between River and Buffy as Buffy and Batgirl.

I'd say River has more in common with Max from Dark Angel, except amped up to a much higher degree.
(But then, all things come back to Dark Angel for me

)

Girls kick ass, says so on a tee-shirt.

Chrisisall, appreciator of female butt-whompers

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Sunday, November 13, 2005 12:23 PM

Psychic assassins can also be used to prevent assassinations. Before some important government official is about to make a speech, they could send out the psychics to scan the crowd to see if there are any assassins.

"I swallowed a bug." -River Tam

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Sunday, November 13, 2005 12:41 PM

Chrisisall,

I send my daughter a quote every day in an email.
I would like to send her the quote at the bottom of this post re: girls. May I?

I will credit you. If it's you... I'm assuming it's you...

"Let's not be excludin' people, that'd be rude." Jayne

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Sunday, November 13, 2005 12:44 PM

And I would like to add to the thread that I think River was created to combat Reavers, and I'd like to further say that River is NOW Serenity's and Mal's weapon.

"Let's not be excludin' people, that'd be rude." Jayne

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Sunday, November 13, 2005 12:52 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by FollowMal:

I send my daughter a quote every day in an email.
I would like to send her the quote at the bottom of this post re: girls. May I?

By all means do, it's a quote from Max, well known to hard-core Dark Angel fans!

Chrisisall Transgenic and such

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Sunday, November 13, 2005 12:58 PM

Thank you kindly.... and I am, uh, gonna have to start watching Buffy and Angel and Dark Angel, that is all there is to it!

"We will rule over all this land, and we will call it... "This Land." - Wash

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Sunday, November 13, 2005 1:12 PM

Just looked at your profile, yep, out of those three, you'll definitly LOVE one of them, maybe more (I'm not a huge David Boreanz fan, so Angel was lost on me personally). Anyway, you have to start with one of the girls.
Tall brunette, or short blond?

Chrisisall, who would always go with Max first....
But that's his obsession.

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Sunday, November 13, 2005 1:14 PM

I don't think that River and the Academy students were trained to fight the Reavers, there are much better and easier ways of eliminating the Reavers than through hand to hand combat. The Alliance could just engineer a plague, infect a couple of people, and feed them to the Reavers. Heck, they could even infect a couple of boarder worlds that are on the fringe of Reaver space.

"I swallowed a bug." -River Tam

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Sunday, November 13, 2005 1:19 PM

Yeah, River was gonna be like Early, a cleaner of messes and remover of obsticles.

Chrisisall

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Sunday, November 13, 2005 1:22 PM

Tall brunette. Yep, that's more to my liking...

I think I remember someone telling me that I would just have to see "Dark Angel" it was supposed to be awesome. Didn't get the channel it came on at the time.

Is it out on DVD? I'll have to check it out.

And David B. (?) doesn't do a thing for me, so should I avoid "Angel"?

"Also, I can kill you with my brain." – River

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Sunday, November 13, 2005 1:25 PM

SLOWSMURF

I just realized the great similarities with the plot of starcraft...(though in starcraft, they DO encounter numerous aliens at their new solar system, and the reasons for leaving are different)

Ghosts seem almost identical to what River might be intended to be, and they functioned as assassins/infiltrators. Just because there is a central government does not mean there aren't rebellious people that having spys helps against, and they aren't exactly the most friendly set of leaders ever...

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Monday, November 14, 2005 3:54 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by FollowMal:

I think I remember someone telling me that I would just have to see "Dark Angel" it was supposed to be awesome.
Is it out on DVD?
And David B. (?) doesn't do a thing for me, so should I avoid "Angel"?

DA is on dvd, and you can decide about Angel later, you'll see him on Buffy, who knows, he might grow on ya.

Chrisisall, Mal/Maxfan

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Monday, November 14, 2005 4:11 AM

Reruns of Buffy are on in my area ( I live in a really rural place).... get cable, but it seems limited compared to other folks. I'll watch and see what I think of Angel.

I'm going to Joplin... the big town, lol, and I'll see if I can afford the DVD of "Dark Angel", cuz now I'm really interested.

Thanks, Chrisisall...

Very shiny!

Hey, I also wanted to add that I'm going to look for Toxic Avenger 4... and I also read, think it was in the movie magazine, that Nathan did most of his own stunts, in the movie. I read your thread where you were talking about him being clotheslined.... seems I remember my magazine saying he did all those. Hmmm, I'll read that again today and try to post.

"Yeah, but she's our witch, so cut her the hell down!" --Mal

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Monday, November 14, 2005 4:27 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by FollowMal:

I read your thread where you were talking about him being clotheslined.... seems I remember my magazine saying he did all those.

If that's true, my respect for the man has just tripled!!! Even if he landed on a pad, that's still kinda impressive, most folk don't cotton to hittin' the ground while their feet are still in the air- it's somewhat unsettling.

Chrisisall

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Monday, November 14, 2005 4:34 AM

I'll have a chance to peruse that magazine later today, and I'll try to post what it said about that.

I'll let you know.

Well, I'm always impressed with our Captain, but then I'm silly-pated. :)

"Yeah, but she's our witch, so cut her the hell down!" --Mal

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Monday, November 14, 2005 10:47 AM

SHREW

River has more talents than fighting. I know I will miss a few but she has shown a high gift of mimcry, pyschic ability, scary intellect, empathy, and highly adaptive range of cognitive abilities.
She has been conditioned with triggers and moral inhibitors.
She is a chameleon. She is not a weapon but a "final solution."
Given her brother's protectiveness of her and her own dislike for violence I doubt she will ever be Mal's weapon. She will be a part of the crew and prolly replace Wash as the pilot. I imagine she will come to the rescue but on the whole she will not be used as a weapon by Mal.

Oh side note... She was not meant to kill the Reavers. Quite frankly (before the movie) it was in the government's best interest to let the Reaver's live. I can think of no better way for the government to hide a planet full of evidence that to make sure no one EVER wanted to go there. The Reaver's filled that role quite nicely.

Shrew

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Monday, November 14, 2005 10:59 AM

You know you are right, Shrew...

I'm not sure I was thinking that thru when I said she'd be Mal's weapon... maybe I meant, it's a good thing she's on Mal's side.

"This movie may be a beautiful butterfly, but I loved that damn caterpillar." Joss Whedon.

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Monday, November 14, 2005 5:02 PM

Ok, Chrisisall, this is from the Official Movie Magazine. I'm gonna type it out, hope it doesn't get too long...

The stunt coordinators for Serenity were Chad Stahelski and Hiro Koda. Stahelski was Keanu Reeve's stunt double for The Matrix. Koda was stunt coordinator for the show "Birds of Prey". They both worked on Van Helsing and Constantine.
Ok, that being said... this is what they said about Nathan Fillion in a section entitled Mal Vs. the Operative

"Nathan went 150 percent out with the whole thing and we got a lot of great stuff with him where we didn't acutally have to bring the double to do anything, because he was doing the stuntwork. Joss had this very cool shot where (the camera) started above the platform while they're fighting, and dropped below it just as Chiwetel throws Nathan down and he lands face-down into camera. Nathan was slamming his face straight down into the Plexiglass. And he rode the wire rig we had and did a little piece up there in the air, hanging - I think it was probably 30, 40 feet up above the ground."

They go on to say re: making Serenity...

"I want to do it again!" Koda declares. " I hated to see it end."

Then Stahelski ......"Serenity was one of the most fun movies I've worked on. It was one of the more energetic casts. Everybody was really into doing it. I mean, the actors never left set. They were always either rehearsing or seeing what everybody else was doing. And the production people were all just about making a good movie and I think it's rare to see producers put that much effort into making it right and at the same time watching the budget, but just really making sure everybody had what they needed. It was a great experience and it was fun to work with Joss. He's a guy who loves his job and it shows."

No wonder we loved it so much... they did. All of them.

This movie magazine is really awesome I recommend everyone get a copy!

Hope I didn't bore you with stuff you already knew.

Stay shiny!

"Bwaa...it's kind of a warrior...strikes fear into the hearts of..." Mal

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Monday, November 14, 2005 5:37 PM

DIEGO

Quote:
Originally posted by Shrew:
ROh side note... She was not meant to kill the Reavers. Quite frankly (before the movie) it was in the government's best interest to let the Reaver's live. I can think of no better way for the government to hide a planet full of evidence that to make sure no one EVER wanted to go there. The Reaver's filled that role quite nicely.
Shrew

I was thinking pretty much the same thing. I don't know if the Reavers were kept around as guard dogs to keep people from snooping on Miranda or for some other reason. Reavers may be vicious but an organized navy should be able to eradicate them. Then again maybe it was nothing as well-thought out as all that. The Parliament might have feared that acknowledging the existance of Reavers by starting a campaign to destory them would risk bringing out the truth. In that case it could just be typical political inertia, fear, and denial.

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Tuesday, November 15, 2005 1:58 PM

Thanks kindly, FollowMal, that was real interestin'. All stuff I didn't know.

Nathan IS the man!

Chrisisall

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Thursday, December 22, 2005 10:32 PM

SHUTTLE2

Here's the thing.

I beleive River was a weapon for the Alliance just because they wanted one. THey are being portrayed as evil in the show so why wouldn't they?? I don't think it was specifically for the reavers or for her to hold information. WHy woud they do that?

I mean, every government has a secret service right?? WHy wouldn't the Alliance have one? ANd why wouldn't the train sleeper agents (being evil and all?) Refer to the Alias episode 1.06 "Reckoning".

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Thursday, December 22, 2005 11:03 PM

HWOONDAHN

spoilers again
in the movie, at the beginning, the doctor say "She'll be ideal for defense deployment".
For me, that's implict more things than be only a assassin or a weapon. I see more her than a commander, as we can see in Object in Space. Before be a great fighter, she's superious intelligent. It's more usefull for the Alliance to have a great commander, than a simply assassin.
More, her psychic range is very far, a planet in fact, she can feel all the dead in Miranda. That could very usefull on a battle, for know the plan and the movement of the opposite force.

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Thursday, December 22, 2005 11:41 PM

I doubt that the Alliance would have used her as a commander, partly because she is crazy, and partly because making her a commander would give her way too much power. As for her psychic range, we don't know the population density of Miranda. The planet only had 30 million people so everyone could have lived within a 50 or 100 mile radius from where the crew was and we don't know if River actually "felt" all the dead people on Mirand since she had the memories of people who knew that everyone on Miranda was dead.

"I swallowed a bug." -River Tam

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Friday, December 23, 2005 1:21 AM

HWOONDAHN

Quote:
Originally posted by Giantevilhead:
I doubt that the Alliance would have used her as a commander, partly because she is crazy, and partly because making her a commander would give her way too much power. As for her psychic range, we don't know the population density of Miranda. The planet only had 30 million people so everyone could have lived within a 50 or 100 mile radius from where the crew was and we don't know if River actually "felt" all the dead people on Mirand since she had the memories of people who knew that everyone on Miranda was dead.

"I swallowed a bug." -River Tam

make crazy people wasnt the purpose of the academie, the operator say "River was your greatest success. A prodigy". And, cause of her evasion, they havent time to finish her what they plan for her.
for psychic range, i rejoin your point, but read mind in a 50 or 100 mile radius is suffisant in a battle.
and i steal this theory on a book, i read 10, maybe more, years ago. they train young girls and boys with high capacity for be the future commanders of their army. I dont spoil to much about this book, because i read a movie project who seems to come from the book.

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Friday, December 23, 2005 2:31 AM

They cut out parts of River's brain. It's a trade off, cutting out parts of her brain makes her psychic but it also makes her crazy. Plus she's an experiment, you don't always get what you want from experiments. Maybe the only reason why she's called a success is because all the other experiments were terrible failures. Plus River being a prodigy has nothing to do with the experiment, she was born a super genius. We can't even be sure if she really does have a range of 50 to 100 miles. She didn't get paralyzed by the Reaver's rage until the Reavers were really close. Plus 50 to 100 mile radius would only be useful in small battles which would be rare since they can just bomb everything from space.

"I swallowed a bug." -River Tam

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Friday, December 23, 2005 2:57 AM

HWOONDAHN

Quote:
Originally posted by Giantevilhead:
They cut out parts of River's brain. It's a trade off, cutting out parts of her brain makes her psychic but it also makes her crazy. Plus she's an experiment, you don't always get what you want from experiments. Maybe the only reason why she's called a success is because all the other experiments were terrible failures. Plus River being a prodigy has nothing to do with the experiment, she was born a super genius. We can't even be sure if she really does have a range of 50 to 100 miles. She didn't get paralyzed by the Reaver's rage until the Reavers were really close. Plus 50 to 100 mile radius would only be useful in small battles which would be rare since they can just bomb everything from space.

"I swallowed a bug." -River Tam

The traitement of Simon have effects on River, and he's not as well equiped than a ultra secret science center. And it's clear, on the BDM, as a weapon and as a psychic, she's a sucess.
The maybe it's a maybe like all i write here. radius is a maybe.
all the chosen candidate for the academy must be super genious, it's better for psychic research.
and for the battle without bombing, ther are ku-Dhang and the most know, Serenity Valley

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Friday, December 23, 2005 1:43 PM