Why did Mal pick Serenity? by Fastmover

FIREFLY EPISODE DISCUSSIONS

Why did Mal pick Serenity?

POSTED BY: FASTMOVER
UPDATED: Saturday, January 27, 2007 09:01
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Friday, December 29, 2006 8:42 PM

I just watched OoG again last night and found the ending part pretty interesting when the used spaceship salesman is trying to sell Mal that really tall and ugly rocket-ship thing. What caught Mal's attention about Serenity? Was it purely her beautiful lines? Some have mentioned here that Serenity gave him freedom, but couldn't any ship give him freedom?

Josh Gray

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Friday, December 29, 2006 8:46 PM

SIGMANUNKI

Why are people attracted to anything? It's a question that really can't be answered aside from the person/people that is/are being attracted to something. And since Mal is fictional, we've got quite a problem figuring this out.

----
I am on The List. We are The Forsaken and we aim to burn!
"We don't fear the reaper"

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Friday, December 29, 2006 9:56 PM

NEWOLDBROWNCOAT

I always wondered if there was another firefly somewhere in his past, maybe childhood, and this was bringing back old memories. Kinda like me seeing a really old Chevy pickup-- loved 'em when I was a kid, but never had the chance to own one of my own.

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Friday, December 29, 2006 10:43 PM

DECAF

Maybe he wouldn't've bothered with Serenity if the salesman had tried to get him to buy it first. Mal feels like a reject from the "civilized" world, and lo and behold, a ship all off on its own that no one seems to care about anymore. Maybe they shoulda given the ship some tight pants and we coulda called 'em twins.

_________________________________
"The probability that we may fail in the struggle ought not to deter us from the support of a cause we believe to be just."
- Abraham Lincoln

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Saturday, December 30, 2006 12:11 AM

PIRATECAT

This is just my opinion (1st amendment) so if you don't like it theirs a corn in between my toes you can kiss. Now, We have Mal with a look at Serenity like Xmas with a red rider bb gun. Inara's statement I loved Serenity from the first moment I saw her. Kaylee's open affection for it. Wash and River's home feeling for it. Shepherd Book's smile like an old reliable friend. Jayne's best deal yet. The #%&$#*# bounty trash Jubial Early said alot about Serenity in a positive man crush way. The simplicity of it, wide openess of it, and no complications to it. Ya know Serenity was a heap in the desert. They bought it cheap, cleaned it up, a junk yard near by for parts, and then Kaylee put in worken order. When Inara signed on board they could enter any port of call.

"Battle of Serenity, Mal. Besides Zoe here, how many-" "I'm talkin at you! How many men in your platoon came out of their alive".

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Saturday, December 30, 2006 6:01 AM

NEWOLDBROWNCOAT

Quote:
Originally posted by PirateCat:
We have Mal with a look at Serenity like Xmas with a red rider bb gun. Inara's statement I loved Serenity from the first moment I saw her. Kaylee's open affection for it. Wash and River's home feeling for it. Shepherd Book's smile like an old reliable friend. Jayne's best deal yet. The #%&$#*# bounty trash Jubial Early said alot about Serenity in a positive man crush way.

Kinda like that old Chevy pickup of mine. Alla these folks musta had a previous, favorable, memorable experience with one of those 40,000 other fireflys floatin' around out there.

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Saturday, December 30, 2006 10:02 AM

KAYLEESTHEGREATEST

serenity was appealing to him because it looked like they shared the same expeience he had. he was just as lost as the ship was. they were both used to their limits. Mal saw that the ship was an opertunity. he saw a ship that didnt deserve to be made into spare parts. the ship was just not being used but it was still a ship just like mal lost his faith but he is still a person that wants t live in the verse as a person not a person that follows the rules because they have no choice. Mal gave the ship freedom and the ship gave freedom to him.

Someday the verse will spit in your soup but at least they gave you soup.
one day
one plan
one mission
one army of browncoats
june 23rd serenity day

-Our mission as browncoats is to make us known.

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Saturday, December 30, 2006 2:12 PM

DONCOAT

Well, if there are any pilots out there, consider:

You're shopping for a plane to start a little cargo business, just enough to make a few bucks and be your own boss. You head out to an airfield where you know there's a plane for sale, and you're listening to a sales pitch when you happen to spot, off in a corner of the field, battered and beat-up, unflyable, but basically intact...

...an old DC-3.

That's what happened to Mal (spaceship version).

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

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Saturday, December 30, 2006 5:33 PM

ASORTAFAIRYTALE

I think that it's just 'cause it's pretty.

Plus that rocket thing doesn't look like it'd be very efficient...

---------
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, December 30, 2006 5:52 PM

FASTMOVER

Quote:
Originally posted by asortafairytale:
I think that it's just 'cause it's pretty.
Plus that rocket thing doesn't look like it'd be very efficient...

I'm certainly glad he didn't go for that rocket thing. I think that thing belongs in the "What a piece of junk" thread in the other sci-fi forum. I must say that a lot of the Alliance vessels in the BDM were nice looking.

That analogy about the pilot in search of a cargo hauler plane is a good one, and also the one that Mal picked Serenity because he wanted to give it another chance and no one else paid any attention to her. The only thing that really interested me is how he mentions Serenity in particular offering him freedom.

I am evil, I am sly, and if you get eaten no one will cry.

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Monday, January 1, 2007 10:51 AM

BAGHEERA

I always kinda had an issue with Reaver ships... they were supposed to be of Alliance origin... built and selected BEFORE they turned Reaver at Miranda, etc...

outdated, yes... falling apart... yes...

but what we see in the BDM are entirely different classes of ships... modified and rebuilt to be more physical attackers... and Reavers never exactly came across to me as the types that would spend days upon end engineering and modifying their ships...

then again, i guess ya gotta overlook some things for the sake of a movie. =p

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Tuesday, January 2, 2007 6:32 AM

GRIZWALD

Simple answer: She called to him.

___________________________________________________
High Priestess of Pork and Ag-Related Activities of the MYTHICAL LAND OF IOWA

Click on my profile for my Annoyingly Long List of Firefly Links.

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Tuesday, January 2, 2007 7:34 AM

ASARIAN

Quote:
Originally posted by Fastmover:

Quote:
Originally posted by asortafairytale:

I think that it's just 'cause it's pretty.
Plus that rocket thing doesn't look like it'd be very efficient...

I'm certainly glad he didn't go for that rocket thing. I think that thing belongs in the "What a piece of junk" thread in the other sci-fi forum.

That rocket ship brings back old memories of that hopelessly patheticly shaped rocket in the comic: "Tin Tin: Explorers on the Moon". LOL. What a piece of fei-oo!

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

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Tuesday, January 2, 2007 10:00 PM

KEVINGREY

Yeah, I have to go with the whole "subjective intangible" on this.

I told my wife, when we watched that episode, that I related wholeheartedly as it reminded me of purchasing my first car.

I was walking around, looking at what the salesman was showing me on the used car lot when I caught this low, sleek little black thing out of the corner of my eye. It was a six cylinder Fiero with way too many miles on it and yet, no matter where we went on the lot, or which car he talked up, I found my head swiveling to look at that car in the new perspective given me by our motion around the lot.

Turns out, he wasn't much of a Fiero fan and when I finally mentioned it, he tried to steer me towards still others, but that was the car I drove off the lot and for many years after that. It was a demon. I loved it.

Went through fuel pumps as though it was digesting them. One a year, as I recall, but everything else about that car was so sound that mechanics gawked at me when I told them of it. Had no top end, (fortunately, since anything over about 120 and it would start to float, it was so light) but it would blow souped-up muscle cars right off the line. That was a fun car.

Anyway, I know the feeling of something catching your eye and just knowing it's yours, regardless of any "sensibilities" to the contrary.

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Wednesday, January 3, 2007 4:56 PM

DOCTROID

I have to say I didn't get the impression Serenity specifically, and Fireflies generally, were considered desireable by most. Certainly not by Zoe, who pronounced it a piece of junk when she first looked at it; and others -- e.g. one of the hijackers in "Our Mrs Reynolds" -- expressed some disparaging views. Nor did everyone have positive prior experience with Fireflies -- we know Kaylee said she'd never flown on one before Mal hired her. (Though Book said he had.)

I tend to agree with the idea that Mal took a liking to her on first sight, seeing in her a reflection of his own losses and needs; and I think Mal's love for Serenity was contagious.

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Wednesday, January 3, 2007 5:04 PM

VETERAN

Don't squat with your spurs on.

Yep, have to go with the classic car or truck angle. Something about those older models that just gets you on the inside, and then again others, not so much.

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Wednesday, January 17, 2007 6:07 PM

TRAVELER

Quote:
Originally posted by Grizwald:
Simple answer: She called to him.

___________________________________________________
I'm going with Grizwald on this one. I think Serenity called everyone. Serenity pulled people toward her for a reason. Not always for the same reason. But a purpose for each of them. Each member has a need and Serenity has the ability to make it possible to achieve. I'm romantic.

Traveler

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Wednesday, January 17, 2007 7:34 PM

BROOKLYNBROWNCOAT

Quote:
Originally posted by Fastmover:
I just watched OoG again last night and found the ending part pretty interesting when the used spaceship salesman is trying to sell Mal that really tall and ugly rocket-ship thing. What caught Mal's attention about Serenity? Was it purely her beautiful lines? Some have mentioned here that Serenity gave him freedom, but couldn't any ship give him freedom?

Josh Gray

Isn't it obvious? Serenity's shape is a fallic symbol, duh

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Saturday, January 20, 2007 7:07 AM

CRUITHNE3753

Could you imagine the set if Mal had taken that ship the salesman was talking up? A dozen little decks instead of a couple of big ones...

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Sunday, January 21, 2007 1:38 AM

WALRUS

I think purely that Mal bought Serenity because she is beautiful... Nothing more

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

www.myspace.com/the_REAL_walrus

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Sunday, January 21, 2007 9:28 AM

FASTMOVER

Quote:
Originally posted by brooklynbrowncoat:
Quote:
Originally posted by Fastmover:
I just watched OoG again last night and found the ending part pretty interesting when the used spaceship salesman is trying to sell Mal that really tall and ugly rocket-ship thing. What caught Mal's attention about Serenity? Was it purely her beautiful lines? Some have mentioned here that Serenity gave him freedom, but couldn't any ship give him freedom?

Josh Gray

Isn't it obvious? Serenity's shape is a fallic symbol, duh

Actually, that ugly rocket-ship looked a lot more like a fallic symbol if you know what I mean. ;)

I am evil, I am sly, and if you get eaten no one will cry.

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Saturday, January 27, 2007 4:34 AM

GIGGLYORONINOMICON

If it hasn't already been mentioned I think one thing was as follows: In "Our Mrs. Reynolds" there's a scene where one of the pirates metions how he thinks stealing Serinity is a waiste of time to his captian (or sometihing thereabouts) and the captian replys that he's just looking on the surface and that underneath she'll last forever and is a good catch. Alot of minor characters comment on how the ship is goesa (sp?). There are obvious paralels to Mal, his kind and his character, ie overlooked and look down upon, judged as bad or scum ect. The Firefly model seems to be pretty much overlooked by an entire universe because of their ignorance (again that's Mal all over) and Mal who knew the ships true value saw those parralels. Serenity is basically his soul in ship.

(first post BTW!)

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Saturday, January 27, 2007 5:28 AM

FOLLOWMAL

Quote:
Originally posted by gigglyoroninomicon:
Serenity is basically his soul in ship.
(first post BTW!)

Welcome, Gigglyoroninomicon. May I call you Giggly?

*hands Giggly a virtual browncoat from the storeroom*

I'd say from your first post, you're needin' one of those.

I agree. Actually I agree with much of what's been said. Mal is like Serenity. So is River.

Also, DonCoat's analogy to buying a plane if you were about to become a small cargo hauler makes sense too.

As my husband and I work on cars and trucks every day and often on fine old classics for folks who speak of them with the same love in their eyes as Mal has for Serenity, I agree with that too.
I've had cars "call to me" and bought 'em!

I would go one step further and say that Serenity has "called" to some of us too. I love Serenity.
Truly. And were she real, I'd ship out on her in a heartbeat.

Go to www.whitenoisethelight.net for more info!

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Saturday, January 27, 2007 9:01 AM

GIGGLYORONINOMICON

Quote:
Originally posted by FollowMal:

Welcome, Gigglyoroninomicon. May I call you Giggly?

*hands Giggly a virtual browncoat from the storeroom*

I'd say from your first post, you're needin' one of those.

That you may, or any abbreviation for that matter gig, con, lee, ron... ron lee, hell you can call me shirly if you like.

Anyway, I recon I've had a mental browncoat for quite a while, but this is the first virtual one I've been graced with, tis an honour. I also recon I'll never take it off, no matter how funny it starts to smell. Looks like a great comunity in here, happy to be part of it.

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