Sheppard Book? What was his secret?!

POSTED BY: Deckard
UPDATED: Thursday, November 17, 2005 17:01
VIEWED: 5391
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DECKARD

Wednesday, November 16, 2005 3:49 PM

Hello
Long time reader, first time poster yada yada!

Anyway, I found Firefly through a review in England in DVD Review Magazine, so decided to dive in at the cheap asking price! Great series, quality movie.

Anyway, could someone help? There were many occasions in the series, such as when Book is shot and the alliance refuse to help, but on seeing his I.D they immediatly give him help. And the fact that he knows so much about theft, scavengers, etc etc, that give away a mysterious past that we would probably have ended up seeing at some point if the show had been cancelled.

Then in the movie, Mal also eludes to this mysterious background.

My question is:
Did Joss plan on NEVER telling us this story?
When the film came around and Sheppard Book was killed off, I was a little dissapointed as we never got around to this part of the story. And what was the story? Was Sheppard a former alliance commander or something?

Thanks guys!

Ive seen things you people wouldnt believe.....

ELLERS

Wednesday, November 16, 2005 4:41 PM

I have no doubt that Whedon intended to explain Book in due course, maybe season 2 or 3. It was a bit dissapointing that Book got killed off so quickly, but I wonder if that was a contract thing (ie the actor wanted to move on to other things).

My personal theory is that Book used to be like the evil guy in the movie, but had an epiphany and changed his life. There is a certain calm, deep intelligence that both characters had, even if one was very good and one was very bad.

I wondered about alliance commander theory when I first watched the show and thought "its clearly that", which if put into a Joss Whedon universe means "it is clearly NOT that." Well, probably.

Sure is a bummer that the whole thing got canceled. What I don't get is if one channel doesn't want the rights, why do they prevent other channel's from taking it on? Its sure not a coincidence.

ENGINEANGEL

Wednesday, November 16, 2005 6:22 PM

FIRST OF ALL YOU SHOULD PROBABLY PUT A MOVIE SPOILER WARNING ON TOP OF YOUR THREAD DECKARD. to do it just press edit on the bottom of your response and add it at the top of your response. you will help many browncoats who haven't yet seen the movie remain spoiler free.

Movie spoilers comin' up folks:

Second of all, Book's past will be revealed. Joss has said that his past will be and i believe him. Joss will not have this wonderful storyline cut away. Ron Glass (the actor who plays Book) did not want to be killed off. He wanted to explore book's past as well, Joss has said they will do so and there's also the fact that all of the cast members are signed on for a trilogy. they will all be in the next movies. that may mean flashbacks and that may not.

i am of the opinion that book was an operative. he was working on the project that river was involved in or one like it. He didn't know what work he was doing (becuase as the oprative said "my job is to keep secrets, not to know them")Once he found out what he was doing, he was horrified and decided to get out of being an operative. he turned to the path of religon, trying to believe in something again and fix his mistakes.

just my views. what do you think?

keep fltin'
EngineAngel

FLYWITHMECAPTN

Wednesday, November 16, 2005 6:39 PM

Ellers, I would be real surprised if it were a contract thing, that Ron would want to do other gigs.

On the last CD when they speak to all the actors, he seemed genuinely upset the series was to an end.

just came outta no wheres captn

MISBEHAVEN

Wednesday, November 16, 2005 7:17 PM

There are several things that I find troublesome with Book's past. He does appear to know an inordinate amount of information about the criminal world: he knew Niska (even his first name) and the writings on torture, scavanger operations, thieving, and other elements of the criminal sphere. However, his quick admittance into the Alliance cruiser (once he showed his ID card) seems completely out of place if he were a mere criminal as some have specualted. I'm not entirely sure he was an operative either, but he does seem to know a lot about how the operatives work (Serenity). In addition, Book definitely knows weapons (War Stories) and hand to hand (Serenity Pilot, look at what he did to agent Dobson), and there's something about what River read in his mind in "Objects in Space". To paraphrase, "I don't care if you're innocent or not". That seems to recall the mentality of the operative in Serentity: Mal, "I don't kill children". Operative, "I do". There's also the potential that Book may have been a high level Alliance officer, or perhaps have been involved with Blue Sun in some way. Anyhow, I think we'll eventually find out. I'm not sure if it'll be in the form of comics, books, graphic novels, sequels or (keeping my fingers crossed) a continuation of the series, but I don't think Whedon will leave so many loyal fans drifting in the black indefinitely.

SADLITTLEKING

Wednesday, November 16, 2005 9:06 PM

I agree with the speculation that Book was an operative and, at some point, was "awakened" similar to the way the Operative was in Serenity.

Also, I think Book's past could still be explored with Ron Glass returning in a sequel. Perhaps Mal and the crew stumble onto some unfinished business of his, maybe through a former colleague of Book's, and feel that they owe it to Book in some way to set things right. And through this colleague, the story of Book's past can be told and shown to us through flashbacks.

However Joss decides to do it though is fine by me. After 14 great episodes and an excellent movie, I completely trust the guy.

BROWNCOATER

Thursday, November 17, 2005 1:32 AM

I think Book was either an operative, or he was the general in charge of Alliance forces at the Battle of Serenity Valley. It is more likely he was an operative. If the movies or series continues, I would not be surprised to see the operative from the movie show up again, this time as a shepherd.

HYDRAGON

Thursday, November 17, 2005 1:39 AM

I'm certain it will be explained eventually, even now that Book's gone. I mean, in Buffy, shortly after Oz left, we learned that his real name was Daniel Osbourne! See what you can learn about a character after they've left? We'll find out. Mark my words.

JOSSISAGOD

Thursday, November 17, 2005 2:18 AM

Spoilers Ahead!!!

I too was dissapointed when both Boook AND Wash died! My speculation on Book's past is this: I think either he was an Operative as has been the most popular theory in these posts, OR he was one of the high ranking scientist that worked in the program River was in.

KUANGAORUI

Thursday, November 17, 2005 2:32 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Ellers:
I have no doubt that Whedon intended to explain Book in due course, maybe season 2 or 3. It was a bit dissapointing that Book got killed off so quickly, but I wonder if that was a contract thing (ie the actor wanted to move on to other things).

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Spoiler
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I doubt Book dieing was a contractual thing, sometimes writers will use the death of one character to serve another in the story in this case it gave Mal a renewed faith in himself to continue fighting. There are a lot of instances of this in story telling like Obiwan in A New Hope or Bambi's mother being shot.

Wash's death on the other hand did kind of look like it was tacked on and maybe the actor wanted to move on.

As for explaining Books past there are a lot of possibilities, and there are a lot of ways for Joss Whedon to explain it whether by prequel or meeting up with some one that knows his past. And I am sure it will be told at some point.

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You know what's bad? Animal testing.
You know what's worse? Nuclear testing.
You know what's even worse than that? Nuclear animal testing!!! When will they learn?
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