Firefly Virtual Season 2 ideas

POSTED BY: Ananti
UPDATED: Tuesday, April 18, 2006 19:19
VIEWED: 33322
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GIANTEVILHEAD

Friday, October 28, 2005 2:15 AM

Ah, I misunderstood, I thought the topic creator wanted this to be post Serenity. My ideas, the new River hunters, the earth that was, fits in better post Serenity, although I could come up with some ideas for what happens between the show and the movie. I think it would be interesting to expand more on the Unification War, how the war was fought, what kind of tactics each side used, and it would be nice to explore the dark underworld of the core worlds, maybe a cult.

"I swallowed a bug." -River Tam

ANANTI

Friday, October 28, 2005 2:43 AM

Hi guys, thanks for all the responses!

I'm glad so many of you liked the idea. I really hope we can get this thing going. I'm going to see about geting a domain/website set up, anybody here good with web designing? I'm hopeless when it comes to visual stuff like that.

Anyway a lot of what I've thought on this overlaps with the thoughts on the thread already so I won't repeat them.

In addition to what has been mentioned these are somethings I'd want to include:

1) Giving Mr. Universe a real introduction.

2) Running into the underground group that helped Simon brake River out, with flashbacks that expand on how River was rescued. 1 and 2 could tie into each other, perhaps this underground guy introduces them to Mr. Universe, perhaps Mr. Universe provided some of the hacking technology that enabled the break in?

3) Fun things with recurring villains. Saffron?

Mainly I really want to expand on the character of the Operative. There is so much to him that can be so fascination, but because the length of the movie format that Joss wasn't able to explore.

Keep coming with the good ideas.

GIANTEVILHEAD

Friday, October 28, 2005 2:55 AM

I think that it would be cool to do a story where the underground wants Simon to do something for them. I know that Simon paid the underground to help him but I'm thinking that the underground is like the mafia, and since they did Simon a favor, they're expecting a favor in return. Plus it would be cool if the underground has ties to a cult based on one of the Core worlds. Plus I have an idea for a story arc where River gets addicted to a drug that makes her lucid.

"I swallowed a bug." -River Tam

BRETTYBOY

Friday, October 28, 2005 3:48 AM

In keeping with the underground theme, we could add a story involving other children that had been freed, or maybe river desperately wants to go back and rescue a friend.

GIANTEVILHEAD

Friday, October 28, 2005 4:33 AM

Well, here's what I think happened to many of the other Academy students:
[url] http://www.fireflyfans.net/thread.asp?b=12&t=14229

"I swallowed a bug." -River Tam

BARCLAY

Friday, October 28, 2005 5:59 AM

I think this idea is gorram shiny. I want to be on board with it, but not sure writing is the way for me to do it. Maybe as some sort of editor/creative consultant who makes sure the "whole" arc is slowly played out?

I think that having a strong underlying story is crucial, I want to emphesize on thing, every episode of Firefly worked as a stand alone. I think if we can mimic this manner of telling the story, but remaining episodic and not a soap opera, so much as possible. A few two parters here or there, I'm thinking, or, at the very least, making sure we have some episodes thrown in that break from the storyline (think X Files, Deep Space Nine here).

I'd also like to see things tie into the first season, for example.

The Lassiter. We've all kinda been assuming it paid for the upgrades to Serenity, but I think a humor-based "we can't get rid of this thing" episode might be fun, sending the crew all over the place trying to unload the gun covertly.

The Heart of Gold. Who's up for a return visit? Maybe while Inara happens to be visiting? Sexual tension abounds.

Early. Did he die in space? Obviously the answer in my book is no, so he can be brought back. But how? Is he connected to the Operative?

The Reavers. How do they go from things you never see to big scary things? How do we do this without seeming sudden or cheesy?

Blue Sun. Hey, remember them? Obviously the Blue Hands were the "big bads" of season 1, and now they're gone [comic books], but what about this huge corporation that makes River freak out?

Onward!

"You are on the Global Frequency."
http://www.frequencysite.com
http://kfmonkey.blogspot.com

MUTANTEMU

Friday, October 28, 2005 8:58 PM

This is the fist time I've used Quotes, so here's hoping I got it right.

Quote:
Originally posted by GWEK:

If we're going to do this right, we need to first consider the end of season 1.

Including the two part pilot, we have 15 out of 22 episodes for season 1.

The comic book miniseries from Dark Horse is clearly the season 1 finale (and, therefore, should be required reading for any serious attempt to figure out how season 2 would've played out). It shows us how Book and Inara leave the ship (GREAT scenes both), as well as tying up a few other story arcs.

If we assume that would have been 2 hours, that brings us to 17/22 season 1 episodes. I don't think the 5 "missing" episodes would have been integral to the plot (in fact, the miniseries implies that it's been "business as usual" for a while), except perhaps, to introduce Haven so we have a reason for Book to go there when he leaves the ship.

I agree. A few other additional Season 1 events to consider, in my own opinion, are these:
1) At the end of "Objects in Space," Serenity is heading to New Melboune to drop off Inara. While there, Inara's departure is delayed when events happen that provide a clue to her past; revealing to Mal that her motives for leaving aren't selfish.
2) The crew are finally able to pawn off the Lassiter. But after buying a new HoverMule, they lose the rest of the cash (either via Niska, or lost while escaping from Reavers).
3) The events of the mini-comic series (entitled "Those Left Behind").

Quote:

1) Season 1 is pretty much "the year they work for Badger." Season 2 would then be "the year they work for Mingo and Fanty."

2) Given the way JW does things, we wouldn't see more than the briefest hints of the overall year story arc until "act 2" (around episode 8 or 9), so the major stuff (such as the Reavers and the Operative) probably wouldn't be introduced until then (at the earliest).

3) I could see the overall arc of the first act (roughly episodes 1-8) going something like this: Having cut ties with Badger, Mal now tries to work for Mingo and Fanty. But Mal and his crew, they're trouble, so first they're going to need to prove themselves with a few big jobs. We might even get recurring opposition in the form of another crew that works for M&F (possibly even the crazy folks from the first issue of the comic).

Again, I agree. In the comic's 1st issue, the opposing crew, led by a man named Ott, does indead work for Fanty and Mingo.

Quote:

4) Throughout this, the crew begins to use Haven as, well, a haven. During the first season, Serenity is their home, but they start to develop a second home. It's also a good way to keep Book as a recurring cast member. . . .
Clearly, though, we have to care about the folks of Haven and see that Mal and crew care about them, so when the Operative's men slaughter lay waste to the place in act 3, it means something. . .
I suspect that, had the story been done as a series, we'd've had 5 episodes where the Operative is just hanging out with Inara, having political and philosophical discussions so that she (and we) can see just what an intelligent, clever man he is.

Other events throughout Season 2 would be (as more than one person has already mentioned above), the introduction of Mr. Universe, showing the Underground movement. I also think we would've seen the return of Jubal Early; his ship DID turn around at the end of the episode. I think we would also discovered that Simon knew from the start that River is psycic; minor acting subtleties from the show seem to confirm this.

Quote:

7) The whole Miranda/River-goes-crazy-due-to-subliminals would've taken a lot longer to play out: a line here, a scene there... stuff that we realize the truth of only in retrospect. Joss is good like that.

I believe that the Operative would've also persue other ways of finding the crew of Serenity, not just the subliminal messages. Maybe hunting a certain red-headed con artist so she'd seek refuge with them? Can you im

GIANTEVILHEAD

Friday, October 28, 2005 11:03 PM

It is possible that Simon has troubles with the underground. Somehow I doubt that the underground helped Simon out of the goodness of their hearts. I think that the underground had their own plans for River, she is a very valuable individual, and perhaps underground never intended to give her to Simon and wanted to use her for their own schemes. I think the only reason why they told Simon that River was in trouble was so that they could gain access to his resources. Maybe some decent members of the underground thought that taking advantage of Simon like that was wrong and helped him escape with River. It would explain why River arrived on Serenity in stasis, she wasn’t smuggled out of the Academy in stasis, she was smuggled out of the underground base in stasis. The crew coming into conflict with the underground would also explain why Mal was so unhappy with Simon in the movie.

"I swallowed a bug." -River Tam

EXQUEMELING

Friday, October 28, 2005 11:33 PM

Yeah, this sounds like a top idea! When can I read the script for the next episode!?!

For those of you looking for a proper introduction for Mr. Universe, read the Serenity novel, as it turns out, he is a contact of Wash's from pilot academy - it gives quite a bit of background to him and lots of plot ideas to work on/with too...

GWEK

Saturday, October 29, 2005 3:27 AM

One thing that occurred to me while I was thinking about this thread was exactly how much do we use the movie as "canon"? The idea, after all, sort of a reinterpretation.

For example, "Firefly" seems to imply that Simon funded River's rescue but did not participate in it. In "Serenity," however, we see that he was her literal savior.

Personally, I like the TV show interpretation, because it allows some of the mystery to drag out a little further. I had two different ideas related to this:

1) When River starts to unravel because of the secret of "Miranda", Simon realizes that he needs more answers from the Underground, so he either tries to go after them himself (which likely involves him getting in way over his head and requiring rescue) or hires Mal and Co. to track them down.

2) Alternately, I had the idea that perhsp someone from the Underground realizes, to some extent at least, what's going on and acts as sort of a "guardian angel" to River, following her and the crew from a distance. Ideally, this would be done in such a way that the audience thinks that the guardian angel is actually "the Big Bad" for part of Act II (meanwhile, if we go with one of my other suggestions, the Operative is discussing politics, music, and art with Inara).

I could see the guardian angel character being someone who has secrets of their own and hooks up with the crew in the short term sort of filling some of the Book role. Also, as a minor point, it would be the guardian angel, but Simon, who knows "the safe word."

As mentioned, there is backstory for Mister Universe (and other thigns) in the novelization, but the question becomes what's the best place to work it in?

I completely agree with whoever it was who said that the most of the episodes should be stand-alones, but if we use "Buffy" as an example, as the story progresses, we'd see stories that tie together more strongly. For example, "Shindig" and "Safe" are essentially a loose story arc, and later episodes are tied together by the medicine from Arial and the Lassiter.

I'm seeing something like this:

ACT I (roughly Episodes 1-8): These are mostly stand-alones tied together by the idea of the crew trying to prove themselves to Mingo and Fanty (and possibly by visits to Book and Haven). Inara is largely absent and, if there there's any "Big Bad" it's a crew that Mal and Co. compete with (possibly Ott's band of misfits).

Our first run-in with the Reavers probably occurs near the end of Act I or the beginning of Act II, leading us to believe, mistakenly, that they are the "Big Bad."

ACT II (Episodes 9-16): By now, the crew is in good with Mingo and Fanty, but River is starting to unravel. We first meet the Operative and Mister Universe, but have no idea of the roles they'll eventually play. Again, these are largely stand-alone episodes, but might involve the Underground, a major job for Mingo and Fanty, etc. River's bar brawl on Persephone occurs somewhere near the end of this act.

ACT III (Episodes 17-22): This is basically the last half of the movie writ large, and unlike msot of what we've seen before, is pretty much one big story arc (consider the third act of most seasons of Buffy or Angel).

Basically, I could see an entire episode devoted to the rescue of Inara, an episode for the death of Haven, and the last 2 or 3 episodes are pretty much the journey to Miranda and then the battle at Mr. Universe's place.

Okay, so, enough with the ideas. Down to business. How are we going to do this? Who's in? Who's in charge?

If we're serious about this, I think it's time to start organizing rather than just throwing out ideas.

I certainly don't want to usurp anyone's power, but I'll volunteer right now to help organize things. Can I be, like, a head writer or somesuch? :)

Also, is anyone aware or another group working on this same concept? If so, we should hook up with them so we're not duplicating effort.

Anyone want to set a website for this? Is fireflyseasontwo.com taken?

Thoughts? Opinions? Who's in? And who wants to play p

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