Subtle yet interesting show observations -- post yours by AnimalM0ther

FIREFLY EPISODE DISCUSSIONS

Subtle yet interesting show observations -- post yours

POSTED BY: ANIMALM0THER
UPDATED: Friday, December 7, 2007 09:19
SHORT URL:
VIEWED: 100625
PAGE 6 of 8

Wednesday, August 23, 2006 12:35 PM

It takes all kinds to make the world go ‘round. Unfortunately, some are pedaling in the wrong direction...

I'm not sure if these are subtle or not, they're simply little things I've noticed.

At the beginning of Serenity when Mal, Zoe, Jayne, and River are about to ship out on the mule, Simon leans close to River and says, "It's okay to leave them to die."

Now this seems like something he would have said during the early episodes of Firefly, considering the number of times he and River have been rescued by the rest of the crew since then.

Later, after River's bar room brawl, Jayne is giving his heartfelt opinion of River and Simon stating, "She ain't my sister and she ain't your crew." Mal had made it quite clear at the end of "Ariel" that Simon and River were part of his crew, and betraying them was betraying him.

I'm sure these points have been made before by people with more extensive knowledge of the show than myself. They're simply things I've been mulling over in my mind when I'm not saving the world from "child molestors and people who talk at the theater."

By the way, discrepancies aside, it's still my favorite show turned into a movie ever made. And that's saying something. (I mean, how can anything compare to Dukes of Hazzard?)

Mercy is the mark of a great man. Guess I'm just a good man. Well, I'm all right.

Rob O.

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Wednesday, August 23, 2006 6:54 PM

ONNAHINLI

yea even better is the dialog:
river:"afraid"
simon:"we'll be okay"
"why that captain is trusting that [chinese 'dirty bacstabbing bitch]
river:"not her jayne"
simon:"afraid?"
"since when?"
river:"since ariel"
"afraid we'll know"
and simon gives the realizing glance!
yea everyone probably noticed that already but i barely caught it with subs ;p
now im wondering is OiS supposed to be before trash? because she seemed so suprised when she read jaynes mind but shes known all along

"I dont know. If i wanted schoolin' i would've went to school"
-Jayne

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Thursday, August 24, 2006 4:24 AM

MRSU

I was watching "Safe" and realized that Tams were Buddists, like Inara.
In the first flashback (Tam's estate) there are Budda statues and shrines all over the place. Funny I didn't notice that before.

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Friday, August 25, 2006 2:31 AM

SHROUDED

Quote:
Originally posted by MRSU:
I was watching "Safe" and realized that Tams were Buddists, like Inara.
In the first flashback (Tam's estate) there are Budda statues and shrines all over the place. Funny I didn't notice that before.

Whoa, nice catch. I've never seen that before. Gotta look for that next time around.

EDIT: Oh, and Onna, I'm going to assume it was because she wasn't expecting it. I mean, she's reading his mind. Or, maybe moreso, she was more shocked at what was going through Book's mind.

But Trash definately comes before Objects in Space - you can see Early's ship in Trash, showing that Early is chasing them. Obviously, it's not going to happen that way if Objects in Space.

---------------------------------------

When you can't run, you crawl, and when you can't do that you sit still and watch episodes of Firefly.

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Friday, August 25, 2006 4:38 AM

MRSU

Quote:
Originally posted by Shrouded:
Quote:
Originally posted by MRSU:
I was watching "Safe" and realized that Tams were Buddists, like Inara.

Whoa, nice catch. I've never seen that before.

Yep. And that would explain why River was so unfamiliar with the Bible. Though Simon bowed his head when Book said grace in the pilot, and that got me confused from the beginning. But Simon was probably just being polite.

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Friday, August 25, 2006 6:02 AM

SHROUDED

Quote:
Originally posted by MRSU:
Yep. And that would explain why River was so unfamiliar with the Bible. Though Simon bowed his head when Book said grace in the pilot, and that got me confused from the beginning. But Simon was probably just being polite.

Yeah. I can imagine Simon doing that out of politeness. But, he may also have different religious beliefs than his parents. Either/or.

---------------------------------------

When you can't run, you crawl, and when you can't do that you sit still and watch episodes of Firefly.

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Saturday, August 26, 2006 10:19 AM

CRUITHNE3753

The technology of public transport hasn't appeared to have changed much in 500 years, is that a late 20th/early 21st Century style double-decker bus I see in the street in Shindig, when they're discussing dresses?

[img]

[img]

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Saturday, August 26, 2006 11:30 AM

SHROUDED

I love those busses.

---------------------------------------

When you can't run, you crawl, and when you can't do that you sit still and watch episodes of Firefly.

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Wednesday, August 30, 2006 2:25 PM

LADYLUKE

I really hope this hasn't been mentioned already (only made it about 3/4 of the way through this thread so far.)

Anyway, I love that in The Message at the beginning when Kaylee and Simon are on their "date" Kaylee is wearing the same thing she wore (well, put back on, anyway) in Out of Gas -- the first time she was on Serenity.

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Wednesday, September 20, 2006 10:51 AM

DONCOAT

From the BDM, at Inara's academy...

When the "not incense" blows up, as the sound of the blast fades, we hear a loud, pure, high-frequency tone on the sound track... exactly the sort of "ringing in your ears" sound you might hear after being close to an explosion. At the same time, other sounds are muffled and only "fade in" over several seconds.

It's a little bit of audio trickery that adds realism to the scene.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I'm pointin' right at it!

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Wednesday, September 20, 2006 11:10 AM

MSG

Again I am compelled to mention some subtle Jayne moments...in Serenity, watch Jayne's hand as they evade the reavers( when he's still in the mule) he's pushing River back and down to keep her out of harms way. And in Out of Gas, the little consoling pat he gives Kaylee is adorable...every so often you see these bits and they increase in frequency as Jayne developes into a better person.

I choose to rise instead of fall- U2

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Wednesday, September 20, 2006 11:41 AM

STINKINGROSE

Voshex,
In a non-pregnant female the uterus is tucked safely away behind the pelvic bone, keeping the bladder company. Her belly wound was up and off to the left more, so that shouldn't be a problem. Most of what would have gotten hit would be intestines at that point, which is what makes gut wounds so unpleasant if left untreated. Digestive juices are normally safely encased in the gut, let them out and they don't know to stop working. Ugh.

So yeah, baby making shouldn't be a problem...unless Simon spends a lot of time on the couch.

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Thursday, September 21, 2006 5:32 AM

SERENITYSHADOW

Stinkingrose,

wow. you don't happen to have medical training do you? I didn't even know what "phlebotomy" meant until two weeks ago.

I just always wondered about Kaylee as a symbol of, in joss's words, fertility, etc. - after being shot. It seems so ironic. The firefly crew always seems to be hanging out in the belly of Serenity like its a womb in the cold, vast, emptiness of outer space. So I thought there might be a parallel there, too.

Simon was a bastard in that scene though. Toying with Kaylee's life, using it as a bargaining chip. He never deserved some one so fine as K. At least not till the BDM anyway.

voshexter

SerenityShadow

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Thursday, September 21, 2006 5:42 AM

NVGHOSTRIDER

I noticed the large man with face paint as Mal, Zoe, and Jayne are on their way to see Badger at the beginning of the Serenity pilot when I first seen it. I never noticed the man he's pushing in the wheelchair is wearing a plains style head dress. I wondered why everyone seemed a bit on edge. Probably never seen so many Indians in their lives.

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Thursday, September 21, 2006 9:58 AM

HERA7

Last night I watched Firefly 2 on my laptop using high quality headphones. I was very impressed by the details of sound in each episode. I noticed things that I never heard before listening to the shows through regular speakers. I suggest doing this to really hear the sound details in the show.

For me, the engine and machinery noises stood out much more, with more details. Each area of Serenity has it's own distinct engine sounds along with their own unique sounds. Before I only noticed the background sounds only when they stood out, like when Serenity was increasing power, etc. Details like this are usually seen in movies but are very rare in a television show.

Another thing I noticed while watching Our Mrs Reynolds, when Saffron (Christina Hendricks) was in Mal's bunk, once she slightly rolled her eyes while in her Saffron character, twice she smirked or stopped herself from laughing at Mal. Very subtle character nuances, perhaps showing her impatience at trying to take Mal down.

A couple nights before was watching The Train Job, where I noticed in the bar at the opening scene, the belly dancer has flashing LED lights in her belly button. Something that I did not notice until watching it for the 20th time. It show up best when she passes Mal the note.

There were some other observations I noticed, but can't remember them exactly right now. As always the acting, details and story were top rate in Firefly, feature film quality on a television budget.

Hera7

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Friday, September 22, 2006 3:51 PM

IFOUGHTFORINDEPENDANCE

yeah, i agree. i was thinking maybe he was an alliance general which would also explain his security card when he gets shot.

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Friday, September 22, 2006 3:54 PM

IFOUGHTFORINDEPENDANCE

also, in that video, when kaylee says "in this very bed," in the background, River bends down and snifs the bed suriously. hilarious little details!

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Friday, September 22, 2006 3:54 PM

IFOUGHTFORINDEPENDANCE

also, in that video, when kaylee says "in this very bed," in the background, River bends down and snifs the bed suriously. hilarious little details!

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Friday, September 22, 2006 5:44 PM

CINDYGROSS

In the movie:
When River is triggered to fight in the bar, she has a "Blue Sun" glow around her for several seconds. It gradually fades back to normal colors.

Shindig:
Wash talks to Zoe about her becoming "corpsified" which is a reference to Gina Torres' character Jasmine in Angel.

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Tuesday, September 26, 2006 5:30 AM

CINDYGROSS

Some parallelism: In "Our Mrs. Reynolds" it starts out with Mal pretnding to be Jayne's wife and then progresses to YoSaffBridg pretending to be Mal's wife.

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Monday, October 9, 2006 7:16 AM

ELOISA

In War Stories, we see Book and Inara putting money into the Mal and Wash redemption fund. Neither would have been paid for the train job had it gone to completion and neither would, presumably, have been paid for the Ariel job, as neither was involved at all. Another moment of crew cohesion.

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Monday, October 9, 2006 7:22 AM

DESKTOPHIPPIE

Quote:
Originally posted by PhoenixRose:
Well, I am amazed no one has mentioned these yet. Unless I'm repeating something that's such common knowledge that no one talks about it, but I'm gonna say it anyway:
River hates Blue Sun. A lot. For instance, when she slashes Jayne across the chest, he it wearing a Blue Sun shirt. First time I saw it I thought she was responding to him insulting her brother, but a few viewings in I noticed the logo on the shirt. The "You owe me a shirt" comment helped a little, too. She was after the logo, not Jayne. And, if you zoom in on the box of food she starts tearing up in Shindig, you'll see a Blue Sun logo on the box of crackers and she's saying things like "They're the ones who take you" etc. The extra behind the scenes stuff talks about Blue Sun being both corporate and government, which makes me think they must have been involved in the "Academy" River was in and so she hates them. Pity we never got the full story of that.

Quote:
Originally posted by DesktopHippie:

Something that's not my observation but that comes from the Shindig commentary. The costume designer mentioned that the leather string Zoe always wears around her neck is a symbol of her marraige bond to Wash. Such a subtle touch, and somehow much deeper than if she'd worn a ring - which in the rougher places she always ends up would be a target for thieves.

See, the problem with that statement is that Zoe is wearing that leather necklace in the flashback scene in Out of Gas where she meets Wash. Maybe it was designed by said costume designer to symbolize her bond to Wash, but the fact that she's wearing it when she meets him ruins that a little bit.

That's all I can remember right now. I know there are other little things, though. Guess I'll have to watch it all again and come back

*************************************************
Bible's broken. Doesn't make sense.

Zhu fu ni, mei-mei

Yeah, I noticed the flashback too. It's a pity, as the costume designer was pretty certain what the leather bond meant. I guess she wasn't told that Zoe had a flashback scene to before she was married that day.

I do remember Morena being surprised in the commentary when the costume designer mentioned what the leather neck tie was for.

More graphics available at www.desktophippie.com - yes, I've moved!

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Wednesday, October 11, 2006 6:18 PM

AIYANOODLE

One of my favorite subtle moments from the movie happens right at the beginning, just after the awesome long shot that folows Mal through the ship. Even though Simon and Mal are arguing rather heatedly about bringing River along with the heist, Simon still gives Mal his shot before he leaves. Mal even calmly rolls up his sleeve for Simon, all the while still arguing. It just shows how even though they may have their disagreements, they're still on the same crew, still doing what needs to be done for each other.

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Wednesday, October 11, 2006 6:55 PM

EVILPOPTART65413

i liked it when inara kissed that other girl.

=D

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Thursday, October 12, 2006 7:27 AM

MRSU

Remember that moment in Ariel when a Nasty Doctor starts harassing Mal and Zoe?
I always thought that him turning on them was random, but it was not. It was yet another example of Mal's folly and Zoe's common sense.

Mal told Zoe to smile to everyone they meet. Zoe reasonably told him that people don't smile in hospitals. But Mal did it anyway, and it was his fake smile that attracted Dr.Nasty's attention. It is very clear when you watch it closely.
But anyway, it turned all right in the end, and it was the result of Mal's folly that allowed them to get medicines from the vault.

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Friday, October 13, 2006 6:55 AM

NEWOLDBROWNCOAT

The final shot in Safe.
Everybody's sitting around the dinner table eating. THey're passing a plate of bread. River hands it to Jayne, he takes a big ol' hunk and passes it on.River reaches out and steals it off his plate.
Jayne catches on too late, and says " Hey--, " , then reaches out to get another hunk offa the plate.
Life goes on in the black, happy normal family fun, and we fade out...

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Friday, October 13, 2006 7:13 AM

CAVALIER

River wandering through the ship at the beginning of OiS. The other eight people are all seen in pairs of friends or couples – Simon/Kaylee, Book/Jayne, Zoe/Wash and Mal/Inara.

In each pair, both people are paying too much attention to each other to notice River, even when she walks directly between the two of them.

It shows how disconnected she was, especially after War Stories.

At the end of the episode, of course, there is a shot to show her as part of the gang.

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Sunday, October 22, 2006 12:52 AM

RAINSTICK

from his cut of the hospital heist in Ariel Jayne obviously bought a crate of apples which we see the crew eating in War Stories. The amazing thing is that Jayne is so generous with the apples. Doesn't quite seem in character. Of course, he is a bit guilt-ridden (as far as that's possible for Jayne) about reporting Simon and RIver to the Feds, so the easiest explanation for his generosity is that he wants to make up for it. It's not really subtle of course, but what I find strange is that acting so out of character and being so gorram generous must make the crew suspicious, so the logical thing for Jayne would be not being generous. on the other hand, that is a far too complex concept and too much reverse psychology for Jayne to grasp.

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Tuesday, October 24, 2006 6:09 AM

CANTER

I've been watching the series a lot lately (thank you amazon.co.uk for DVD's!!) Something I saw last night was the scull and cross bones on the front of the mule in War stories and other episodes. I thought it was such a little detail, but very cute.

I also love Mal's face in Jaynestown when Simon tries to explain why Kaylee is sitting on his lap. It's hilarious, but you don't initially pick it up because the focus is on Simon.

Burn the land and boil the sea...

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Friday, November 10, 2006 3:54 AM

LLA

Something I think is interesting...in Our Mrs Reynolds, when Saffron has run off crying and Mal goes after her, Zoe asks if he's the right person to go after her and he says yes because they are the only ones who don't think its funny...then you see Inara, and her face is not at all amused...in fact she looks downright p*ss*d off!

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Friday, November 17, 2006 2:54 PM

ELOISA

The whole Wash being a leaf on the wind quote.

If a leaf is floating on the wind, it's already dead and it just doesn't know it yet.

That officially felt freaky when I realised it.

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Saturday, November 18, 2006 1:45 PM

ASARIAN

Quote:
Originally posted by NewOldBrownCoat:

The final shot in Safe. Everybody's sitting around the dinner table eating. They're passing a plate of bread. River hands it to Jayne, he takes a big ol' hunk and passes it on. River reaches out and steals it off his plate.

I'm not so sure about subtle; or rather, 't was the kind of subtle that Joss, no doubt, really hoped we would pick up on. :) Because it's a small, but precious and endearing River moment. It's, in the generic sense, about familiy and trust. But here, at the closure of the namesake episode, Joss' absolute genius shines thru; it's about River feeling secure enough to do that: she feels "Safe."

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

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Sunday, November 19, 2006 3:39 AM

DONCOAT

Quote:
Originally posted by asarian:
Quote:
Originally posted by NewOldBrownCoat:

The final shot in Safe. Everybody's sitting around the dinner table eating. They're passing a plate of bread. River hands it to Jayne, he takes a big ol' hunk and passes it on. River reaches out and steals it off his plate.

I'm not so sure about subtle; or rather, 't was the kind of subtle that Joss, no doubt, really hoped we would pick up on. :) Because it's a small, but precious and endearing River moment. It's, in the generic sense, about familiy and trust. But here, at the closure of the namesake episode, Joss' absolute genius shines thru; it's about River feeling secure enough to do that: she feels "Safe."

Good observation!

There's another subtle aspect to it. Earlier in the episode, Jayne stole a lot of stuff from Simon and River. Now she's returning the favor...

Didn't I read somewhere that Summer did that herself, rather than it being written into the scene?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I'm pointin' right at it!

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Monday, November 20, 2006 8:00 PM

SIRI

Quote:
Originally posted by Kizyr:
It wasn't until I'd watched the Serenity pilot three times that I noticed Mal kissing the cross around his neck at the Battle of Serenity Valley. Me and my friend just looked at each other in amazement, since it was the first time he'd noticed it, too. B]

I noticed that when I watched that episode the second time. I thought about the comments about Mal loosing his faith and becoming more cynical about god after the battle of Serenity.

Siri

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Monday, November 20, 2006 11:36 PM

GOPHER18

to continue from that scene, the operative is shown in complete darkness, sorry if its allready mentioned

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Monday, November 20, 2006 11:48 PM

GOPHER18

Quote:
Originally posted by Shrouded:
Quote:
Originally posted by MRSU:
Yep. And that would explain why River was so unfamiliar with the Bible. Though Simon bowed his head when Book said grace in the pilot, and that got me confused from the beginning. But Simon was probably just being polite.

Yeah. I can imagine Simon doing that out of politeness. But, he may also have different religious beliefs than his parents. Either/or.

---------------------------------------

When you can't run, you crawl, and when you can't do that you sit still and watch episodes of Firefly.

they all bowed their heads except for mal

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Tuesday, November 21, 2006 3:26 AM

SHROUDED

Quote:
Originally posted by gopher18:
Quote:
Originally posted by Shrouded:
Quote:
Originally posted by MRSU:
Yep. And that would explain why River was so unfamiliar with the Bible. Though Simon bowed his head when Book said grace in the pilot, and that got me confused from the beginning. But Simon was probably just being polite.

Yeah. I can imagine Simon doing that out of politeness. But, he may also have different religious beliefs than his parents. Either/or.

---------------------------------------

When you can't run, you crawl, and when you can't do that you sit still and watch episodes of Firefly.

they all bowed their heads except for mal

Yeah, 'cause Mal lost his faith at Serenity Valley.

---------------------------------------

The only animals I'm not comfortable with are parrots, but I'm learning as I go. I'm getting better and better at 'em. I really am. - Steve Irwin, our Honorary BDH

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Wednesday, November 22, 2006 6:02 AM

CLEMENTINE

Quote:
Originally posted by Volk564:
in the pilot episode serenity, Mal looks at one of Patience's men and after some banter, says "Nice hat," after which Jayne shoots him. The nice hat thing was a signal to Jayne, as he couldn't see who Mal was talking to - the hat gave him away though, hence the shooting.

Actually this one ticks me a little because they're all wearing hats. Maybe his is nicest. Joss has commented that mostly the bad guys wear hats. Although almost all our BDHs do at some point.

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Wednesday, November 22, 2006 5:44 PM

SCARECROW866

Quote:

Quote:
Looking at the yourtube video of Nathan kissing Sean I notice Sean's making the same gesture at one point.

Can I have a link?
QUOTE]

I was curious too about Nathan kissing Sean so I went a-searchin' and found this!

Annie

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Sunday, November 26, 2006 6:55 AM

ASARIAN

In "Ariel", I've always wondered what makes River so panicky about going to the planet surface ("I don't want to go to that place. Don't want to die." And later: "No... can't go back. Don't want to go back.") Sure, the prospect of walking into an Alliance hospital would make her nervous. But still.

Then, recently, I was reading up on the possible location of the medical facility where the Alliance was experimenting on River, said to be likely... Ariel. And now it makes a lot more sense to me why going down to Ariel to River, who's not normally overly afraid, rang just a little too close to home to her. And why she's suddenly so triggered out and cuts Jayne (presumably slices a Blue Sun resembling logo on his T-shirt) when they're all talking about going down to Ariel.

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

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Sunday, November 26, 2006 6:08 PM

FOLLOWMAL

Asarian, I think you may be on to something here.
I had seen bits and flotsam floating about the boards regarding where the Academy was that River attended... but hadn't read til I checked after reading your post that Ariel was the suspected home of the medical facility where she was experimented on. That makes many of her actions explained more fully.

This show... always something more there... no matter how many times I watch it or talk about it with others. Always something new to be discovered.

What a pleasure too, to talk about the 'Verse some. We don't do that around here so much anymore and I miss it. Thank you everyone on this thread. Thanks, RB.

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

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Monday, November 27, 2006 5:28 PM

TRAVELER

I was just watching "Safe" when Simon is getting kidnaped and River catches up to him. She says something about being lost in the woods. Bingo! In the the first episode Inara uses this exact term. Mal walks in and says the woods are the only place he can see a clear path. So this phrase has been used more than once. Will have to keep my ears alert in case it is used again.

Traveler

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Monday, November 27, 2006 5:37 PM

IN2THEBLACK

also from "the message"

When Womack confronts the postal employee and says "the penalty for transporting human cargo, especially dead human cargo..."

I just love that he has to specify "dead" cargo - implying there's a separate law banning mailing live humans

[/img]

Management is not responsible for ball failure

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Sunday, December 3, 2006 7:44 PM

JLIN

I just watched our Mrs. Reynolds and I love the part when Mal says, "Whoa, good bible." The subtle part was when Saffron is on the bridge with Wash and talking about earth that was. Guess what Wash says. "Whoa, good myth."

Thank Universal for airing Firefly in HD at
http://universalhd.com/Firefly/

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Thursday, December 7, 2006 6:27 PM

JVP

One I noticed is that the comm-unit in the cockpit has the camera and screen as two different components, so that when you look at the screen, you aren't looking at the camera, but in the dorm rooms and shuttles, the camera and screen are one unit.

RE: The Message w/ Audio Commentary:

I only watched it once briefly, but I think Alan and Jewel were reacting to the fact that Wash threw himself forward BEFORE the ship was hit and every one else started shaking.

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Friday, December 15, 2006 10:46 PM

VOLK564

So I just re-watched Shindig, and I noticed a few little things that I haven't seen on this thread yet that I thought were kind of cool. Feel free to shoot me down if these have been posted already.

When Badger & friends "bump" into Mal and Jayne, you can see some pedestrians in the background scatter away and can distinctly hear someone saying "We've gotta go now."

The nice old man who helps out Kaylee is actually looking at her standing her ground to the other girls during their conversation - look for him in the background, the silver hair gives him away.

"Pretentious" is said twice in this episode, the first time by Jayne, during the scene everyone on this board remembers, and then later by Inara when she's trying to get him to understand her line of work. He reacts similarly both times. Pretty interesting, no?

When Badger knocks on Serenity's cargo hold, and Jayne picks up a shotgun while walking to the door to answer it, he cocks it. On top of the classic click-clack, you can also hear an electrical whine, like the gun is being charged or something. Nice touch by the sound guys.

Last, but my personal favorite: after Kaylee gets back from the ball, she sits with the crew and plays cards while trying to hatch "a complicated escape and rescue op." She's changed into her normal clothes - but look at her hair. She's still wearing the frilly pink bow that came with the dress. Could just be that she was in a hurry to change given the situation, but I like to think that the costume crew was having some fun.

-My two cents.

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Tuesday, December 19, 2006 11:30 AM

INDIGOSTARBLASTER

I was intrigued by Mal's expression in _Bushwhacked_, just after he authorizes Book to bury the dead, saying something like, "I don't know if there's any peace to be had, but if there is, those folks deserve some of it." Inara comes up to Mal and says in an admiring way, "Just when I think I have you figured out..."

He doesn't react to the implied compliment, just has this neutral yet tender (or maybe amused?) expression as he looks down at her.

Then we find out it was a pretext for getting everybody off Serenity so they could disarm the Reaver boobytrap without scaring everyone else.

I don't know what the expression means. I guess that's why it intrigues me :)

Indigo S.

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Tuesday, December 19, 2006 11:47 AM

BLUEEYEDBRIGADIER

Quote:
Originally posted by Kizyr:

2) In the Serenity movie... the entire opening with Mal walking through the ship from the cockpit to the cargo hold is shot in one take. No cuts. Not quite subtle, but really amazing when you realize it.

Actually, if you listen to the Joss commentary for the BDM...he states that it wasn't just one take. It was two: one shot starting wtih the cockpit to the hallway leading down to the infirmary. The second take starts with the camera facing back towards Simon and ends with the cargo bay moment. The transition is skillfully done when the camera seems to hustle around the corner to follow the Mal/Simon convo/fight

Literature has shown us some of humanity's greatest achievements; history, some of our greatest failures -- Alun Lewis

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Wednesday, December 20, 2006 9:09 AM

ASARIAN

Shindig.

I've always wondered how long River's been listening in on Badger and henchmen before she wandered in, allegedly all confused. And this because River says: "Now you're what, petty thief with delusions of standing?"

What standing? Or rather, what standing that River knows of? It can really only refer to her having overheard Badger say: "Persephone's my home. I gotta do business with the people here. I don't want it known I brought someone in caused this kinda ruckus." But that convo took place several minutes ago. Which means River has been eavesdropping for quite a bit, all the way through the crew discussing strategy, and up and until Jayne's "We need a diversion." Then River happens to wander in, and provides one (the idea of the possibility of Jayne getting nekkid was probably too much for her to stomach, lol).

Seems River played Badger. From minute one.

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

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Thursday, December 21, 2006 2:37 PM

BAGHEERA

Quote:
Originally posted by asarian:

Seems River played Badger. From minute one.

I didnt think that was subtle, so much as obvious.

Perhaps it may have been too subtle for you to pick up on though, but I certainly dont think she was eavesdropping beforehand. She simply displayed the uncanny intuition she always had (or as wash would put it the "scifi-ish psychic ability")

while my example may not be TOO subtle, i certainly love irony when used as humor, and i have loads of examples... the first that came to my head was this one...

On Heart of Gold, when Mal briefs the whores on how to fight he SPECIFICALLY says "Shoot the rider, not the horse. A dead horse will only provide cover for the rider."

Anyone else recall how Mal finished up the fight with what's-her-name on Whitefall by shooting the horse and pinning her ?

I'm confident this (and many other things) were intentional, which is why I love the show.

(ps... while I'm not averse to the idea that Book was an operative or other instrument of the alliance, I harbour my own suspicions that he was a "hand that holds the instrument" and may have been a major player in Blue Sun after his earlier years as a faithful operative or whatnot performed well... and I certainly agree that he turned to faith out of guilt... but he doesnt seem so out of place with guilt over killing people so much as ... something else... he definately shuddered when the two gals in heart of gold told him the last preacher took out the price of the sermon in trade off both of them... moreso then the thought of kneecapping people at Nisca's)

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