Hands of Blue + Playing with Brains = Reavers?

POSTED BY: TenthCrewMember
UPDATED: Friday, March 18, 2005 21:05
VIEWED: 8360
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BLUEBOMBER

Sunday, February 13, 2005 10:25 AM

Well said, Soup, even if it is just the liqour talking.

The idea that anyone, under the extreme circumstances of prolonged isolation in space, could end up like the Reavers is indeed unsettling at best, and the notion puts things in perspective. But even if that were the case, how does it account for the spread of their affliction? Consider "Bushwhacked." Although the derelict ship was re-fitted for deep space, there was no indication of how long the Survivor had been out in the black. And when Mal tells the Commander that his [the Survivor's] only way to survive was to become one [a Reaver], I have a hard time believing his statement - unless They possess a psychic ability to dominate another person's will, not unlike River's ability to perceive the deepest thoughts of others.

And besides, if The Alliance/Blue Sun had nothing to do with the Reavers' creation, they would have no reason to deny them (remember the Commander destroys the derelict at the end of the episode, most likely as a cover up).

Random question: What name would you give to the Reaver disease? Reaver-ness?..."Reaver-itis?" (gimme a break; it's 3:00 in the ruttin' morning!)

DJ

THEGREYJEDI

Sunday, February 13, 2005 6:35 PM

The kid, a kid, teenager, not fully formed mind, not an above average teen, just a normal teen, watched as the reavers raped, ate, and mutilated his entire family. And his friends. And his neighbors. He was forced to watch. I can't even begin to fathom how traumatizing that must have been. To watch as these beastial men in clothes made of human flesh descended upon everyone he knew and RAPED them, tortured them, ATE their flesh, and took chunks of their skin and sewed it into their clothing. That will make ANYONE go nuts. The only way to survive is to become.

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OLDFAN45

Sunday, February 13, 2005 7:08 PM

I started reading this thread with huzzahs and confetti-tossing for 10's Blue Sun Hypothesis. Soup's eloquent formulation of the alternate interpretation has me throttled back to a pleased-sounding "Yeah!" since I think Soup is right about this: It's far, far scarier to me to think that Reavers are just "that way" because it's innate in humans to be "that way."

We're doomed by the content of our character, or whatever evolutionary pressure put into our genes before we thought up civilization anyway. And the whole "floating larder" idea is just flat chilling. You're a scary one, Soup; get busy on some fanfic from the Reavers' POV, please!

YT

Wednesday, February 16, 2005 8:09 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by BlueBomber:
And besides, if The Alliance/Blue Sun had nothing to do with the Reavers' creation, they would have no reason to deny them (remember the Commander destroys the derelict at the end of the episode, most likely as a cover up).

Remember also that, earlier in the ep, Mal had advised the commander to do just that.

Keep the Shiny Side Up

Wutzon: Bruce Hornsby, "Sunflower Cat/Takes a Lot to Laugh; Takes a Train . . . ", from "Here Come the Noise Makers"

THEGREYJEDI

Wednesday, February 16, 2005 8:44 PM

An alliance commander would be just as motivated to destroy the reaver-torn ship for reasons of public order. Plausible deniability. Keeping the public calm by ignorance. Ignorance is bliss. I imagine many higher ups know of the threat of reavers. But publicly deny it. It would create a panic in the whole allied union of planets if suddenly everyone knew that there were mad cannibals loose in the 'verse. And they were normal men and women until something out there drove them over the brink. I'm gonna have to stick with Soup on this one. It's a hell of a lot scarier to think a man can become a reaver on his own than if he were toyed with. Because the latter makes him the victim, the former makes him truly a monster.

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CATWOLF

Sunday, February 27, 2005 12:52 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by BlueBomber:
And besides, if The Alliance/Blue Sun had nothing to do with the Reavers' creation, they would have no reason to deny them (remember the Commander destroys the derelict at the end of the episode, most likely as a cover up). DJ

Um, I was with you til this last bit. I mean, the alliance government, like any institution charged with administrating a large empire, is going to be balkanized into dozens and dozens of different groups, with different functions, different agendas, and often very limited communication with each other. Assuming they're all on the same page is kind of like assuming that the different departments of the US federal government are all on the same page.

So, other than collecting the occasional BS fugitive, quotidian alliance military officers and ships seem to have nothing to do with Blue Sun's super-secret esoteric operations, and probably know next-to-nothing about them.

Instead, regular alliance military vessels like the one in Bushwacked seem to be there mainly to keep public order, or what passes for public order in the black of space. And Reavers are pretty much the ultimate public order problem. It makes perfect sense that they would blast that vessel-- both to stymie the Reavers AND to keep the central planet public unaware of just how bad things are out on the fringes. That's their job and their imperative.

SIGMANUNKI

Sunday, February 27, 2005 2:06 AM

Don't have time to read the entire thread *sigh* but I had this same idea a little while ago as well. Nice to know that others have it as well.

But how about this. What if the Reavers are Blue Hands Men with Mad Cow Disease?

----
"Canada being mad at you is like Mr. Rogers throwing a brick through your window." -Jon Stewart, The Daily Show

BLUEBOMBER

Sunday, February 27, 2005 2:27 AM

Good point Catwolf. Hadn't thought of it like that.

"Mwa ha ha...mine is an evil laugh. Now die."

TENTHCREWMEMBER

Sunday, February 27, 2005 3:19 PM

Hey Soup, et al,

I think what you say is accurate, about Reavers being what men are inherently inside. That was actually the course I initially was headed in. All I was indicating was that the Reavers *began* as a Blue Sun project, and when the first subjects reverted to that natural violent monsterous state, they became uncontrolled, and then Darwinism took over.

Current Reavers (if I can bend time for a moment LOL) may well be those who simply *became* Reavers as an exposure to them and their ways. Whereas the former, or originals, were created in the sense that whatever experiments were being done "broke" their civilized natures and once they escaped (either by accident or design) they simply grew in numbers...not rapidly, but just enough to become a serious threat to those who encounter them.

Reavers are obviously insane in some fashion, however they are very intelligent, as the ability to fly spaceships, stalk other ships, avoid contact with the Alliance on a regular basis, store bodies, make the survivors watch to torture/convert them, and building of sophisticated booby traps would suggest.

Intelligent and crazy...more dangerous than a griswald laden apple.

I like where this thread has gone/is going. Thanks everyone for participating. :)

Cilantro!
TCM

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SIXGUN

Monday, February 28, 2005 12:01 AM

The "men gone mad on the edges of space" reasoning Mal presents makes total sense. Ever have to read "Lord of the Flies" when you were in high school? The plot involved a group of young boys, prep school students I think, who became marooned on a deserted island. It chronicaled how they began to degenerate into savagery with no adult supervision or law during their isolation.

Since Firefly is part western, I think Reavers are sort of the Indians in Joss's Firefly 'verse. People used to call the indians savages too after stories of scalping and the like got around.

I doubt Joss meant for Blue Sun to be resonsible for every bad thing in the 'verse. That's a little too X-filey. I could be wrong. I hear the movie addresses this so we'll find out in September.

Well, as a rule I say girl folk ain't to be trusted.

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