Resurrection
POSTED BY: UnregisteredCompanion
UPDATED: Tuesday, October 25, 2005 22:53
VIEWED: 7965
PAGE 3 of 3
Woah! No wonder you got a name like DeepThinker! You could also add to the new organs and drug that simulates death deal a bit that explains Book's past. Perhaps he is some covert op and needed Wash for just the very purpose you mentioned and that the bio-spare-super-guts part of the Alliance are fighting some internal war with the brain-fraggers that were working on River and (seeing as they seem to share some kind of mind-fragged link) the Reavers. 
Maybe your idea would explain why things went down the way they did, but there are a couple of other questions: 1) How do you convince the morbid viewers who like to see main characters killed off that resurrection is a good idea, and 2) how do you explain why Wash didn't tell Zoe what was going on? The second question could be a case of Wash not knowing he'd been injected with the drug and when he comes to suffers some kind of memory damage for a while so is in no rush to get back to Zoe (who he doesn't remember for a bit). Book may be a little more adapted to this kind of thing though ...
Mind you, the conflict between the crew and Book when they find out he and Wash are alive and nobody told them ... but you mentioned the Doc did. Hypocratic oath and all, what does he stand to get out of it? Maybe River gains some kind of protection if the covert op goes okay. Still, Kayle and Zoe are going to be seriously ticked when they find out he kind of lied to them. Next question, how do you stop River inadvertantly blabbing it and unsettling the others, seeing as she can get in other people's heads ("also, I can kill you with my brain") with her special abilities?
Please! Tell us more so that we can entertain ourselves with idle speculation until Season Two starts. Who knows, maybe the powers that be are reading this stuff right now, noting the interest, and coming up with ideas as a result! Think positive people! 
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I'll answer the second question first because its a lot easier.
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2) how do you explain why Wash didn't tell Zoe what was going on?
What I was proposing was that everyone knew some people on board had taken the brain-protecting drug from the medical researchers. As they hadn't enough for everyone, some people got placebos and some people got the real treatment. Only Simon knew. Perhaps he rigged the lottery for River's sake - he'd need Wash to fly the ship, and Book was more trustworthy in a fight than Jayne - so he was preserving a minimum team to protect River. If he'd had a fourth dose I suggest it would go to Kaylee to keep the ship running (and because of how he feels about her). He doesn't need Mal, Zoe and Jayne to protect River, so they don't get doses.
So Zoe knows Wash might have been treated. Whether he was or not is irrelevant with a huge horde of Reavers about to kill them all, so during the time inside Mr Universe's enclave it just doesn't come up.
After the fighting stops, there is no reason to be pally with the Alliance and tell them they are going to resurrect Wash. Indeed explaining how they are able to do it might have complications.
However, once the fighting stops the on-screen narrative skips forward a week or so. Serenity is repaired and that must have taken a while. During this time Simon can tell Zoe and the others that Wash got the treatment and resurrect him.
They then all discuss the Operative's information and decide that Wash and Book need to pretend to stay dead and go off on their secret mission.
To convince any watchers, the rest of the crew perform a fake burial service all the while knowing full well that Wash and Book are alive and well.
So I don't need to explain why Wash doesn't tell Zoe. Zoe knows all along. The only duplicity is by Simon because he doesn't run a fair lottery with the drugs, but bends it for River's sake (which he would do, wouldn't he?)
At the end of the film, for all the evidence we have, Wash could be on life-support in the medical room, waiting to have his heart and lungs patched up. There is no proof he is in the grave. All we know is that the crew of Serenity wanted the world to see them performing a funeral for Wash. If they are doing that because it is a lot simpler than explaining to the authorities how come Wash is still alive after getting a big spear through him, then that's all the explanation we need. Secret missions and such like are fun but unnecessary.
And now for the harder first question:
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1) How do you convince the morbid viewers
who like to see main characters killed off that resurrection is a good idea?
Many successful films and tv shows exist where there is some clever twist. If we can make the twist entertaining and clever enough, it will win through on its own merits.
The "western" genre allows resurrection and the old serials used it as a common plot device - the gold mine collapses but the hero escapes down a side tunnel, the villain shoots the hero but a pack of cards in his pocket stops the bullet. We see the death but the death is side-stepped.
Of course, the fact that this plot device was used so often is one of the reasons that audiences now want to the characters to die. They are tired of being cheated by cheap tricks - why was the side tunnel or pack of cards never mentioned before, and for that matter since when can a pack of cards stop a bullet?
I've tried to avoid the trap of the cheap trick by sticking to things we've already seen and can reasonably infer.
A second reason why audiences want a character to die is they want to see something heroic. Living in a universe where the laws of physics, biology and geography conspire to keep you alive is just not heroic.
So we could say, that even the miracles of sci-fi medicine can only postpone death, and that Wash has now got 6 months to a year to live.
Or we could create an existence for Wash that might not be considered worth living. How about this as a nightmare scenario? The medical wizardry tha
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Just realised I might have failed to clarify a point. My proposal is that the medical wizardry resurrection drug was given to Wash and Book well before the start of the film. So much before that it is old news and no longer a current topic of conversation.
The wizardry doesn't resurrect a dead brain, it stops the brain dying in the first place by getting the brain cells to enter a protective hibernation state when deprived of blood or oxygen (like real-world bacteria can do by forming spores or cysts). Even with the treatment, damage to the brain would still kill you.
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Very thorough indeed, and I have to agree with the whole killing off of characters to prove courage as a writer, but sometimes it gets to being a cliché or outright pointless. Having read many WH40K novels, it seems that some writers no longer have the brass to actually keep them alive and maintain the suspension of disbeleif. What happened to Wash (btw, sorry about forgetting to put the *spoiler* tag on this topic, my bad) was not heroic but did demonstrate the mindless and unpredictability of Reaver madness; now we lack the on-board cynicism and random humour that really completed the balance of serenity's many personalities.
I like your whole resurection theory, but have found that many stories have predictable twists and Firefly is one of the few that really explores new ground and has a chance to make such twists worthwhile. I think the use of Wash and Book for some secret mission is great but needs to expand on what we already know, raising more questions than it answers. Maybe the effects are only temp and they need to raid some secret medical lab to get medical treatment (the black kind that comes in hinky syringes might be too easy and remove too much of Inara's mystery).
But what else do they uncover while they are there? Is this the only reason that they have to go or does Book have something else to do? Why do the others have to know about the resurection drug? Maybe it was something Nisca gave Mal and Wash to keep them alive if he killed them through torture? Maybe Book was given it as some kind of proceedure during his past so he could complete certain 'tasks' for his previous career?
Maybe it didn't have to be some lottery deal but Simon has seen it before during his work as a doctor but kept it to himself (patient-doctor confidentiality and all)? Maybe it only lasts a few months? Maybe it does have side-effects like a boosted ego that allows certain people to wander about butt-naked in the middle of a hot desert without feeling embarrassed? Simon did infiltrate the place that held River, afterall, so who knows what he saw and what he knows?
Then there's the Zoe going burko business after Wash gets 'hurt' to explain. Perhaps her not knowing seems more feasible, and the Captain did get the business end of that Alliance freak's sword, so how he lived is a mystery ... That had to do some damage to important organs, and despite Simon's initial surprise in Heart of Gold at finding 'super-organs' (perhaps just being so far out in the border worlds), he may have even worked on projects involving their development, explaining his ability to heal serious gunshot and stabbing wounds.
I just think some serious twists to explain some things would be more appropriate, and mysteries, secrets, double dealing, covert-ops, agencies within government working against one another, and stooges or sympathisers (willing or unwilling) within the ranks are all really good things to create conflict and suspense (even if they do turn out to be false later on). It also adds depth and flavour to characters and storylines and Firefly has this in spades! In fact, I'll say it again; this is what sets Firefly apart from the standard 'good vs evil' and politically correct dogma spouted by most of the previous series that follow this kind of genre, especially when they are so predictable and fail to challenge the audience with issues that need to be seriously considered.
"I threw up on your bed" - River 
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