Tim Minear reveals another unfilmed FF episode
POSTED BY: Blinker
UPDATED: Wednesday, January 11, 2006 07:31
VIEWED: 54391
PAGE 1 of 13
From accounts of a writing seminar he taught last week:
=====
http://www.livejournal.com/users/_eb/83667.html#cutid1
What were some of the Firefly stories you never got to tell?
He hemmed and hawed, “Should I tell you this?… Oh well, what’s he going to do, fire me?” The original show was darker and this story was more in keeping with that tone.
It opens with Mal and Inara fighting (as they do). Mal tells her she pretends to be a lady and wants everyone to bow before her and kiss her hand but she’s just a whore. Then the Reavers attack and take Inara. While trying to get her back they learn that she had something that would make anyone who had sex with her die. When they finally track down and board the ship they find all of the Reavers dead and Inara shaking and traumatized. They take her back to the ship and Zoe guards her room. Mal tries to get in to see her and Zoe tells him he’s the last person Inara needs to see. He pushes past her, kneels before Inara and kisses her hand.
Of course someone asked, “Is that what the syringe [that Inara gets out when the Reavers approach in the pilot episode] was for?” To which he replied, “I don’t know. Next question.”
=====
http://www.buffistas.org/showthread.php?thread_id=143&post_id=6060
Inara has yet another fight with Mal, in which he says something especially cruel like "I'm not going to get on my knees and kiss your hand like your a lady. You're a whore."
Inara has a sort of chemical weapon in case of rape, so whomever attacks will die immediately after raping her. (I'm not saying this all as eloquently, I'm pre-coffee).
She's kidnapped by reavers in an attack. Mal and crew go in to the reaver ship to save her.
What they find is the entire crew of reavers, all dead, and Inara huddled on the floor, beaten half to death.
Later, in Inara's shuttle, it's only Zoe there, guarding her silently. Mal tried to come in, and Zoe opens a can of whup ass and tells Mal no fucking way is anyone coming in.
Mal gets past Zoe (yeah, right) and walks over to Inara's bed where she's curled up and post-traumatic. Gets on his knees, and kisses her hand.
=====
http://browncoats.serenitymovie.com/serenity/index.html?fuseaction=for
um.viewtopic&t=25271&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=15
He described it as a weapon, not a disease that she carried. He later said in another forum that it had nothing to do with the syringe.
=====
Given the context, I don't see how it could be anything but the same syringe, but there you have it.
_________
Sliders: Gate Haven - http://slidersweb.net/blinker
NOTIFY: N | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
It would be a great opportunity to maim Inara. Her profession depends a lot on her appearance, I wonder if she could still be a Companion if she gets "uglied up."
"I swallowed a bug." -River Tam
NOTIFY: N | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
That's an interesting idea for what the syringe might have been. It also could be Tim just messing with people. Who knows. I know Joss and Tim don't mind doing horrible things to characters, but Inara getting reavered? I'm not sure either would do that. But, they've surprised me before.
Visit WWW.Marillion.Com for a better way to live
"Dreaming the dream that only the sleepless know."
"Say you understand me, And I will leave myself completely.
Forgive me if I stare, But I can see the island behind your tired, troubled eyes." -Fantastic Place (Marbles) -Marillion
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
I love the Mal/Inara relationship
It would have been very interesting to see how this would have effected that relationship
Perhaps an fic exploring this...
Is that wrong?
I can't write anyway 
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Interesting. But there's something very dodgy about the storyline. If the reavers board the ship, how would everybody else survive, and why would the reavers only take Inara? I guess it's always possible that they kidnap Inara while she's flying to a client in her shuttle.
But even then, why does the crew go to rescue her? For all they know Inara is dead, and trying to board a reaver ship trying to save somebody that should be dead sounds like suicide.
Then there's the problem I have with Zoe "guarding" Inara afterwards. Why does she do that? To protect Inara from the rest of the crew? Since when do Inara and Zoe have such a tight bond? Off-hand I can remember only one conversation between the two in the series, and even then it was merely part of a plan to fool JoSaffBridge. And if Inara wants her privacy, why doesn't she just lock her door? Zoe guarding Inara sounds very melodramatic and corny.
NOTIFY: N | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
How can that happen? If she killed a whole ship full of reavers by poisoning them as they raped her, wouldn't she herself be pretty far gone by the time all that was done? I mean, remember Serenity? It looks like there's a lot of reavers on those ships.
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Well it would depend on the size of the Reaver ship, it could have been a small pursuit craft not much bigger than Serenity's shuttles.
"I swallowed a bug." -River Tam
NOTIFY: N | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
You guys (and gals) are great, but I swear you think too much sometimes. If that's a story they had in the offing, then there you go. At this point I don't think Tim's gonna go through all the energy to just make something that complex up. It wouldn't be too difficult to set up situations where these things could happen.
Maybe a small Reaver ship got to Inara in her shuttle on the way back to Serenity, and knowing that it's a small ship (a crew of maybe 6 to 8) and that they've only had her for a couple of hours, they decide to go and get her. There, that was easy.
And I totally think they would be willing to mess with a character in such a major way. That's what allows the story to progress. And change is, as the saying goes, inevitable.
OH, and I wouldn't compare it to Serenity (the movie) either, because these stories were in the works long before anyone thought about making a movie. Joss has said quite plainly that a lot of things had to change once we moved from TV to the silver screen.
Anyway, they would have made it work, and it would have been great, just like every one of the few episodes that we actually got.
Thanks for posting all of this by the way; I love hearing new tidbits and pieces.
I hope Tim didn't just totally spoil whatever Joss had in mind for a sequel to Serenity. Then I actually WOULD be pissed.
"I don't wanna explode."
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Oh my GAWWWD. :-( I'm almost glad we never saw that episode; I don't know if I could stand seeing Inara broken that way.
She's my favorite character, and imagining this episode makes me understand better the people who abandoned Whedon altogether after he killed Wash.
I'd never take it that far, but I uderstand the impulse.
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Wow. That would have been powerful storytelling.
I wish Minnear would bring back Firefly. Whedon is off doing other things and Minnear is the only realistic chance we have IMO.
No wonder the studios killed the show. We need wholesame feelgood tear-jerker TV starring cops, lawyers, activists, and cartoon characters.
XG
Save us Obi-Tim-Knobi. You're our only hope.
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME