re-reading dead or alive and... by wytchcroft

FIREFLY EPISODE DISCUSSIONS

re-reading dead or alive and...

POSTED BY: WYTCHCROFT
UPDATED: Thursday, October 11, 2007 03:02
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VIEWED: 2462
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Thursday, October 11, 2007 1:39 AM

(Dead or Alive - unfilmed commisioned script for firefly read it here: http://www.fireflyfans.net/feature.asp?f=45 )

i was struck by several things straightaway.

Quote:
WASH
Just sayin' that every once in awhile
it'd be nice to not have to clear
every single thing.

ZOE
For the last time, he's the Captain.

WASH
Let out some of the starch, darling.
You're not in the military anymore.

ZOE
It's not that, it's...

WASH
Yeah, yeah. Who you are. The code.

This shines a nice little light on zoe...

Quote:
ZOE
Capt'n?

WASH
(dropping his arm)
Yeah, dad. Can we go? Promise to be
home before midnight.

Zoe gives him a look.

MAL
Go. Wouldn't want to be responsible
for cold curly carrots.

ZOE
Thanks, sir.

Mal as father figure again - and, coz it's a gag - not very subtle. (It gets even less subtle with Inara!) So SAFE was not exactly a one-off with the (possible) paternalising...

River is... er, interesting - she is quite adult in her reaction to the children - giving them a focus - entertaining them with a story - until:

Quote:
RIVER
(sweetly sing-songy)
And then the beautiful princess got
tired of waiting for her handsome
prince and tried to escape, but they
found her and to punish her they
locked her in a smelly, white, cold
room where the evil blue demons
strapped electrodes to her face and
started to shock her. Zap, zap, zap,
until she couldn't stop screaming.
Only no one could hear.

which is a reversion. but what strikes is "tired of waiting for her handsome prince and tried to escape"
So river tried to escape before... and she sees Simon as a handsome prince?
maybe...

i'm not convinced by the portrait of river overall but without summer it's hard to tell how the 'crazy talk' would sound. a bit clunky i reckon.

The shame of the episode is that it's the only one to explore the alliance and its effect! (complex issues abound) And give us some back story on shadow!

when i first read it - it was all the main PLOT that was striking - and comparing it to The Message etc... but it is the small bits that i find really striking several readings later...

what do other people make of it???

make someone a browncoat today - don't drive nobody away

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Thursday, October 11, 2007 2:29 AM

SPACEANJL

I can see why the episode wasn't filmed; too similar in parts to things they wanted to do elsewhere. So they mined out the episode for ideas (recycling - v Firefly)

But it is a shame we never got to see that edge of darkness Simon has in him. I don't blame Jayne for being freaked, end of 'Trash'. Simon is a good deal more scary than River when he's being all eerie-ass calm.

(I did however nick the turtle out of it, because - big bad mercenary with a fuzzy toy turtle? Oh yes.)

With River...don't know why, but I get a feeling that what her parents wanted for her and from her was not quite what she wanted to be. A nice little corporate-merger style marriage was not going to be on the cards. Goes back to that discussion on the Tam parents - if what you want from your daughter is a pretty, bright little ballerina and what you get is a freaky-ass genius assassin...I think Regan wanted a doll-daughter to dress up and show off, and River is not going to be that, ever again. (Seen the R. Tam sessions? The 'little mouse' of the first interview breaks your heart.)

But the Alliance stuff was interesting - rebuilding of infrastructure, and how just maybe not everybody sees them as a bad thing. And the whole 'where do you draw the line at criminal' thing - the fine line between freedom fighter and terrorist, and Mal having to face that.

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Thursday, October 11, 2007 2:44 AM

WYTCHCROFT

Quote:
Originally posted by SpaceAnJL:

But it is a shame we never got to see that edge of darkness Simon has in him. I don't blame Jayne for being freaked, end of 'Trash'. Simon is a good deal more scary than River when he's being all eerie-ass calm.

agree completely - and this is what drove me to the re-read... in search of some simon insight... and i was well rewarded.

Quote:
(Seen the R. Tam sessions? The 'little mouse' of the first interview breaks your heart.)

yes those sessions are a goldmine - albeit a fraught one!

Quote:
And the whole 'where do you draw the line at criminal' thing - the fine line between freedom fighter and terrorist, and Mal having to face that.

yes - Firefly is always best when it's taking the moral grey-ground:) there's more to explore in that direction i think...

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Thursday, October 11, 2007 3:01 AM

MRBEN

Although they're not canon, I really enjoyed reading the scripts over at http://www.still-flying.net - they provide some interesting ideas on characters, and the season 2 fleshes out the story progression from the movie nicely.

mrben

"Carpe Aptenodytes"
http://www.jedimoose.org

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Thursday, October 11, 2007 3:02 AM

WYTCHCROFT

love that site:)

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