Question Re: "Space Hooker" Rumor by Nogard

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Question Re: "Space Hooker" Rumor

POSTED BY: NOGARD
UPDATED: Monday, April 1, 2013 08:38
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Friday, March 29, 2013 5:08 PM

There's this thing I've been hearing about how Joss never thought of putting a prostitute character in Firefly until Fox forced him to add a "space hooker", and then he came up with Inara, a character far classier and more feminist than the trash Fox wanted him to add, Joss is God, etc. How accurate is this story, though? I know Fox stuck the description of "space hooker" into the ads for the show, but I haven't been able to find a trustworthy source for the claim that Fox forced him to add a "space hooker" in those specific words. There's just a site that posted uncited TV trivia and TV Tropes, both of which seem to run on the rumor mill.

Maybe you folks know the subject better and can shed some light on this thing?

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Friday, March 29, 2013 5:24 PM

ECGORDON

There's no place I can be since I found Serenity.

I never heard or read anything like that, but if it is true such news would have been before the show premiered. I didn't know much about Firefly beforehand, other than Joss being the creator. I don't watch a lot of TV live so I miss a lot of the promos, and that was the case then just as much as it is now.

In one of the features on the DVD set Joss speaks about originally having just five main characters, and most have assumed that would be Serenity's main crew. The others were added later for more variety, but Joss never implied he was coerced into adding any particular character type. Considering that FOX wasn't that pleased with the western flavor of the show, I'm not sure they would have suggested a hooker which really is as much a cliche of westerns as horses and handguns.

wo men ren ran zai fei xing.

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Friday, March 29, 2013 5:45 PM

MOOSE

Never heard that either.
Does that site have any other Firefly tidbits?

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Friday, March 29, 2013 8:39 PM

NOGARD

Quote:
Originally posted by Moose:
Never heard that either.
Does that site have any other Firefly tidbits?

Just that the role of Inara originally went to Rebecca Gayheart. http://www.ugo.com/tv/what-if-crazy-tv-stories-firefly

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Saturday, March 30, 2013 3:19 AM

ANONYMOUSE

Oh, please...if they couldn't deal with gorram horses, I doubt they could deal any better with "space hookers". Hell, they couldn't even deal with Wash and Zoe being happily married!

:)

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Saturday, March 30, 2013 1:20 PM

PLATONIST

On page 10 of the movie Companion Joss talks in length about the main characters. Inara was originally just to be a whore, it was his wife's idea to elevate her to an educated Companion. Preachers, whores, gunslingers are all classic western character types, throw in Serenity and it's a regular Wagontrain. It was the network who had opposition to the western look and feel of Firefly, Joss goes on to say, when "Heart of Gold" was in production they all laughed jokingly that they were making "Hooker with a Heart of Gold" and that the network would hate it, just loath the episode, probably why it never aired.

Hope this helps

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Saturday, March 30, 2013 1:20 PM

PLATONIST

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Monday, April 1, 2013 5:41 AM

BYTEMITE

I've also heard this rumour, and as far as I can tell there's no basis for exactly the reasons that Platonist mentioned. Fox did NOT force Joss to create Inara's character, she was already established at the time of filming.

We also know for a fact that when Joss came up with Firefly he first envisioned a captain and a first mate - but originally both were going to be men. Meaning Joss still had to have a love interest for his hero. And if we're going by western tropes, well, the kind-hearted tragic soiled dove character would be an obvious one. Though River is also possibly the next character Joss came up with after Mal and Zoe, since he has an inclination for super-powered troubled teen girls. Still.

I find it strange that it's always Inara as a character who gets all these questions about her place and legitimacy in the narrative. Is it just because she tries to leave in the series (though I doubt Joss was ever going to write her out, he clearly has fun writing her banter scenes with Mal or he wouldn't do that every episode)? Or is she really so offensive to people?

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Monday, April 1, 2013 8:38 AM

STORYMARK

Yeah, doesn't really sound legit, or in line with what we know about the formation of the characters.

On a guess (and that's all it is, just wild speculation) maybe someone came up with this theory because of the Firefly characters, Inara (along with Book) is one of the only characters not to have a clear proto-type version present as part of the crew of The Betty in Alien Resurrection.

Excuse me while I soak in all these sweet, sweet conservative tears.

"We will never have the elite, smart people on our side." -- Rick "Frothy" Santorum

"Goram it kid, let's frak this thing and go home! Engage!"

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