Firefly noob - a few observations..... by Faqa

FIREFLY EPISODE DISCUSSIONS

Firefly noob - a few observations.....

POSTED BY: FAQA
UPDATED: Monday, January 29, 2007 01:51
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Friday, November 24, 2006 7:48 AM

So, um, hi. Got hooked on the damnable series a few months back(friend's fault. Gorram Browncoats.....), and must get the movie at some point(for which I am, sadly, spoiled).

Any way, a few questions I've got on Sci-Fi's biggest martyr:

- Jayne. I realize the series got cut off before he could be properly explored, but WHY is he so afraid of Mal? From the pilot onwards, the man functions as Mal's vicious dog - scary, mean and loyal only to him. Unleashed when someone needs to be scared.

WHY? It's not like Mal ever likes him or trusts him(not that he has a reason to....), and it's not like Serenity is what we would call a lucrative gig. Man's a mercenary to the bone, that's proven. It seems that only personal loyalty keeps him around that piece of flying gosu, and I'm puzzled as to what Mal did to earn it.

- A little War Stories tidbit - recall what Jayne comes down with when the crew is prepping to rescue Mal - his Big Fucking Gun, Vera.

He then proceeds to spend the firefight with a pistol, holding Vera in one hand, but never using her.

Weird. Did he just bring it along as a good-luck charm or something?

- "Our Mrs Reynolds", Saffron and Inarra's confrontation. We see Inarra pretending to buy into her act.... then.....

ALARM.

I: "I guess we've lied enough"
S: "You're good"
I: "You're AMAZING. Who are you?"
S: "Malcom Reynolds' widow"

Is there not something..... OFF here? Is it supposed to be implied that Inarra hit the alarm switch or something? They're on a damned catwalk, there's no emergency buttons.

If not, what's the point of the alarm?

- How can this show read my mind in the pilot? I was PRAYING for Kaylee to get shot throughout most of the pilot(she was really annoying until Shindig), and, well..... you know. That was one amazing scene.

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Friday, November 24, 2006 7:51 AM

YINYANG

You were busy trying to get yourself lit on fire. It happens.

Proximity alarm. That's all I can answer.

Oh, and it's Inara with one 'r'.

Welcome to the site!

Edit: There's a thread here that tells of a good sale for the movie, if you want to get it soon.

http://www.fireflyfans.net/thread.asp?b=2&t=25468

---
"What the world needs now is love, sweet love - it's the only thing that there's just too little of. What the world needs now is love, sweet love. No, not just for some, but for everyone."

http://richlabonte.net/tvvote - Vote Firefly!

(by xRiverTamx / Kelai)

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Friday, November 24, 2006 8:15 AM

ASORTAFAIRYTALE

First of all welcome to the site! There are a lot of great discussions here, and you're sure to have a good time!

As YinYang said, it's the proximity alert that is going off, meaning that they were getting close to something that they could perhaps crash into. It's the same alarm that goes off in Bushwhacked when they're coming up on the derelict transport.

I really never knew why Jayne didn't use Vera in War Stories either...maybe he just felt comfortable having her in a fight, just in case he needed to use it.
---------
Love keeps her in the air when she outta fall down, tells you she's hurting before she keels. Makes her a home.

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Saturday, November 25, 2006 8:56 PM

PHOENIXROSE

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

I don't think it was the proximity alarm, because they weren't that close to the net yet. I think it was the ship finally figuring out something was wrong with her system and setting off an alarm.
As for why Jayne didn't use Vera, I had heard that it was a non-firing gun, but that doesn't make any sense since it fires quite convincingly in OMR.
There have been a few speculations as to why Jayne is so loyal to Mal. Possibly because Mal treats him as a real person? We may never know for sure.

[]

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Saturday, November 25, 2006 9:16 PM

FOLLOWMAL

Welcome to the 'Verse.

My take on this...

The alarm goes off when Zoe finds Wash lying hurt outside the bridge and the bridge doors sealed. My guess is that Zoe set it off.

Jayne is loyal to Mal because he likes the "home" on Serenity as much as the rest of the crew does.
He also knows that Mal will shoot him dead with no hesitation if he so chooses. I would consider that a good motivation to respect a man who was my Captain. Just MHO.

My take on the non use of Vera is that it's a space station. Lots of close in fighting, perhaps he didn't need to use Vera quite as much as he anticipated. Being his "very favorite gun" he brought her with nonetheless.

We're glad you joined us, make yourself to home.
I'm sure you'll get an answer soon to your "Kaylee was annoying" observation.

Go to www.goodworkspresents.org to find out how to honor the Captain!

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Saturday, November 25, 2006 9:16 PM

IN2THEBLACK

Quote:
Originally posted by PhoenixRose:
There have been a few speculations as to why Jayne is so loyal to Mal. Possibly because Mal treats him as a real person? We may never know for sure.

I always thought it was because of the discussions at the end of Jaynestown and Ariel - in the episodes preceding those, he's still got a little independent streak (like when he discusses what'll happen when the money is good enough in the pilot, and then when he lets Mal and Zoe handle the townies in the bar in Train Job) but at the end of Jaynestown, Mal is the one he talks to about the kid, and then at the end of Ariel, when Mal should've, by all rights, killed him for selling out the Tams, I think Jayne finally accepts Mal completely as the leader.

Even though he didn't fight in the War, Jayne, IMO considers himself as some sort of soldier...and every soldier has a commanding officer

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Management is not responsible for ball failure

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Sunday, November 26, 2006 7:57 AM

FAQA

As to Jayne and Mal, maybe it's that Mal isn't afraid of him? Judging by his Out Of Gas employers, that may be a rarity. That may be enoough to command respect. The guy isn't just using Jayne cautiously at distance, he's right in his face, on his level.

And of course, the man likes Kaylee. Which I overlooked in the pilot, but is perfectly true. That's probably another factor(and maybe another reason he doesn't like Simon?).

And on our mechanic... I dunno. When she's on her 'happy, I'm sooooooo innocent' streak, she's still a damned annoyance. She really only works in her mechanic role or when she's with Simon.

"You just gotta have faith in people....."

How about no?

Sidenote: Have seen Serenity by this point - not bad, but Wash's death was pointless(was it planned? Book's obviously was, but Wash's.....) and the whole thing smacked of a mish-mash of several episode scripts. Nice to know Joss had the first season written in advance, I guess.

And was it just me, or did the characters seem a bit... off? Simon and Jayne, especially.

Even though the franchise AGAIN read my mind by letting Simon punch MAL in the face. I been waiting for that since the pilot.....

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Thursday, December 21, 2006 4:23 PM

NEVERMORE

actually Whedon didn't get the series written well in advanced, in fact, FOX denied his use of the SERENITY pilot episode and that gave them like a weekend to write train job.

I dont know if the rest of the series was written on the fly like that, but it wouldnt suprise me too much.

I believe in essence the movie was meant to be the course the show would have taken eventually (however, at a much slower and more detailed pace in all likelihood). Wash's death was a tragedy, and was a completely pointless death. Thats whedon for you. I think Whedon honestly wanted you to think that most if not all the crew would die. I think it is well within Whedon's meanie-head mind to have killed everyone off, except mal, who gets the signal off and walks out to find his crew dead. except for maybe Kaylee, he could never kill Willow and i dont think he could kill Kaylee.

"people like a happy ending. I hate people. So what I do, is I shoot your favorite character... and their puppy." or something like that, its a great quote the perfectly describes Whedon.

Alan Tudyk (Wash) has been noted for saying that he would have pushed for Wash to die in the second season anyway. Not only was his career starting to pick up abit more, but he felt it would be the best sympathetic kill, and i agree (barring kaylee).

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Thursday, December 21, 2006 5:26 PM

JOSSISAGOD

Quote:
Originally posted by nevermore:
I think it is well within Whedon's meanie-head mind to have killed everyone off, except mal, who gets the signal off and walks out to find his crew dead. except for maybe Kaylee, he could never kill Willow and i dont think he could kill Kaylee.

I'm just asking, you have seen Firefly's "Serenity" pilot episode, right? Kaylee is the first one to get shot! Joss would kill Kaylee if he thought it would further the story. Once again I'm not trying to be mean, but there you have it.

Fe'nos Tol
JOSSIS(Most Definitely)AGOD

Self appointed Forsaken! Been on the list for a while now!

98% of teens have smoked pot, if you are one of the 2% that haven't, copy this into your signature.
"Look at me, I'm STUPID!" The Doctor.

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Thursday, December 21, 2006 7:51 PM

WHIMSICALNBRAINPAN

It looks like everyone has answered your questions so I just wanted to say welcome to the site.

"Well, my days of not taking you seriously are certainly coming to a middle." http://whimsicalnbrainpan.blogspot.com/

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Friday, December 22, 2006 9:00 AM

NEVERMORE

of course i saw it lol. She got shot, but she didn't die.

I guess we can just have a difference of opinion, I just don't think he could have brought himself to kill Kaylee. But we'll have to agree to disagree. lol.

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Saturday, December 23, 2006 5:56 AM

BAGHEERA

Quote:
Originally posted by Faqa:

- Jayne. I realize the series got cut off before he could be properly explored, but WHY is he so afraid of Mal? From the pilot onwards, the man functions as Mal's vicious dog - scary, mean and loyal only to him.

Thats what I love about the show, the sometimes confusing dynamics of the ship that makes it a FAMILY and not just a crew.

My take on this, is to look on the whole crew as dogs or wolves.

Mal's the alpha, from his strength of character more then his strength of body. Yes, he may at times suggest doing something inviolate, or even DO things that might be wrong. "I saw the captain shoot a man, and I'm not sure he did the wrong thing" (roughly quoted from Book)

As the alpha, Mal represents the ship (the pack) in all its dealings good or ill. He decides who eats or starves, who lives or dies.

Jayne's highlight is that he ISNT part of the crew, as much as he does for them. Its been made clear in Jayne's history that he's done time as an alpha himself, and served under other alpha's reluctantly.

Jayne obviously doesnt have the sort of reputation or temperament required to deal with the sorts of people Mal gets jobs from, so would have to give up his meal ticket to fly solo again.

The crew would sooner leave the ship then serve on a ship with Jayne leading the way (firefly or no).

and Jayne's experiences with prior alphas showed that he was used to having the good meat taken from his mouth.

Mal's given Jayne... maybe not a comfortable living... but one thats equal to everyone in the pack... and being treated as an equal is something Jayne is unfamiliar with.

Mind you, being treated as an equal and being an equal are two entirely different things...

Ariel really shook up Jayne too... not only did it highlight to him how badly he would fare on his own (his "good money" from the feds proved to be *insert mandarin for elephant offal*), but Mal told him "You turn on my crew, you turn on me" or basically that if Jayne cant change his ways, he doesnt have a place in the pack.

Regardless of the fact that Mal chose not to keelhaul him for his treachery.

By the time of the movie, we are finally seeing Jayne a little more comfortable with viewing the crew as brothers and sisters and not just people that are taking shares of his take and food.

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Thursday, January 18, 2007 1:14 AM

WALRUS

Quote:
Originally posted by PhoenixRose:
As for why Jayne didn't use Vera, I had heard that it was a non-firing gun, but that doesn't make any sense since it fires quite convincingly in OMR.

Well, OMR is before War Stories.... So maybe Vera got raped by the decompression thing when It broke the suit and stopped working and now Jayne just uses it as a good luck charm or something...

But he has it in Heart of Gold.... And in Objects in Space he tells Mal that not even Vera could breach the hull that that's the best one he's got...

Maybe it's just because Adam didn't use it whilst they were shooting that scene... Or maybe Jayne could have been waiting for the opertune moment

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Monday, January 29, 2007 1:51 AM

MOTOPSYCHO

As pointed out,vera could barely breach the hull (of serenity at least), 'and she's the best i got mal' but i think that vera is used in the correct circumstances,like if she was the only gun ever shot by jayne,she'd get a bit boring? whereas whenever you see him coming out with vera strapped on, it evokes a 'uh oh! theres gonna be some screamin an bleedin afore todays done!' his whole position is a bit vague at times but you remember mal asked him in front of his previous compadres, theres a place for you on my boat,that shows him mal aint afraid,he has balls and jayne respects that,ok,so he tried playing out but look how that turned out for him? mal couldve left him there to rot,but STILL brought him home,just pecked his tail a little so as jayne understood who the boss is,after that his loyalty to mal is unwavering,he knows he owes............

kaylees annoying you? send her to me and youll never be bothered by her again,i swear it!!!

lets go to the crappy town where im a hero.........

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