Book's past

POSTED BY: Phatcorns
UPDATED: Saturday, January 21, 2006 19:09
VIEWED: 8225
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PHATCORNS

Friday, January 20, 2006 12:39 PM

First off, SPOILER warnings. Second, I would have used the search feature, but I didn't see one.

What is Book's past? He of course says that he doesn't have to tell Mal, but I saw on the boards someone write this: "I suppose the conversion felt a little forced, but was probably necessary as a device for hinting at Book's past." The conversion referring to the Operative no longer being a pawn of the parliament.

And what does Book mean when he says "I don't give half a hump if you're innocent or not. So where does that put you?" Will we ever find out?

Also, I'm not too concerned about not getting anymore of the show. I of course want more, but after the death of Book and Wash, I just don't think the show would be what I want it to be. It's kind of hard to explain, but I just am happy with what I got and I love.

By the way, this is just some random fanboy bragging, but I have been watching the show since the very first episode. I found out about the show from ads on IGN and I watched an interview with Jayne where he answered "sexy" to these two questions: "what do you think of when I say space hooker" and "what do you think of sci fi fans?"

NANDIFAN

Friday, January 20, 2006 2:34 PM

I, too, am totally interested in what Book's past is. My boyfriend speculates he is an ex Operative, but I don't know if I buy that for sure. But there definately is something very interesting going on there!

I think I might have to agree with you on the other point as well, though I would be interested to see what Mr. Whedon would do to fill the void left by Wash and Book.

MALFORPRESIDENT

Friday, January 20, 2006 2:39 PM

Needless to say I have no idea about Books past, however in terms of a new show: it is quite possible to do a show based on the time in between the last TV episode and the BDM. Therefore, you get to see why Book left, where the boys in blue went, why Inara left, and a few other questions that were never answered. That means we could get Book and Wash back! And possibly get a few more episodes with Mr. universe. Just a thought.

GWEK

Friday, January 20, 2006 2:49 PM

I know it's not quite what folks are looking for, but I'm involved in a fanfiction project that's a virtual continuation of the show. We're finishing out season one, and will tell the story of the movie over season two (as if Whedon had been able to do it over 22 episodes instead of 2 hours).

Our first three episodes are available in the Blue Sun Room (under V, for Virtual Firefly Episode 1x16, etc.) or at our site, stillflying.net.

"Here's how it might have been..."

AMITON

Friday, January 20, 2006 3:03 PM

Malforpresident,

The answers for why Book left and where the Blue Hands went is in the comic books =) Inara left for the reasons she gave before the end of the series. I don't think those are considered mysteries, really. Also, there is only supposed to be about six months between the end of the series and the BDM, and that's what the comics were written to cover. I'm pretty sure they're considered cannon, so unless they made episodes to rehash what was already written, I don't know that they could fit stuff in between the series and the BDM.

Amiton.

BROWNCOAT1

Friday, January 20, 2006 4:26 PM

Well, as we see in the series, Book has a lot of knowledge on crime, firearms, and stuff of that nature in what one might say is an intimate nature. We also see that he has some training in hand to hand combat as exhibited in his disarming & pummeling of Dobson in the series pilot "Serenity".

There is also the obvious weight his ident card carries w/ the Alliance in the episode "Safe". When they looked at him lying there wounded on the stretcher in the cargo bay they could not have been less compassionate, that is until he offered his ident card & they scanned it. Boy did that change things. The Alliance surgeons sure seemed to have a fire lit under them when Mal & crew were watching the procedure through the observation glass.

In the movie we see that Book knows about Operatives & how they pursue their quarry. It is obvious he is at very familiar w/ how the operate & their mindset. He even remarks how they are "believers".

My honest thoughts are that Book was an Operative at some point. For some reason we can only speculate at Book lost his "belief" in the Alliance or those in Parliment he worked for & he took up a new faith, a faith in God & became a priest.

__________________________________________

"May have been the losing side. Still not convinced it was the wrong one."

Richmond, VA & surrounding area Firefly Fans:

http://tv.groups.yahoo.com/group/richmondbrowncoats/

http://www.richmondbrowncoats.org

MALFORPRESIDENT

Friday, January 20, 2006 6:11 PM

There are Comic books? Good thing I have veterans to keep me aware. Tell me how I can get my paws on those...

TREVOR

Friday, January 20, 2006 6:24 PM

While I always considered Book could be an Operative, I recently had another thought. Is it possible he was an Alliance officer, one who fought at Serenity Valley himself? Possibly had a big hand in what happened after the cease fire? And had a change of heart afterwards, towards the alliance, found religion for the same reason that Mal lost it? This could explain knowledge he has, and his unwillingness to discuss his past with Mal, Zoe, and the rest.

AMITON

Friday, January 20, 2006 6:40 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by MalforPresident:
There are Comic books? Good thing I have veterans to keep me aware. Tell me how I can get my paws on those...

Yeah, there are three comic books, each with three covers (for a total of nine...one for each of our BDHs). The distributor is Dark Horse Comics. They can be found at a lot of local comic shops still, and if not, then they can be gotten online as well. I had to go to three different sellers to get all nine of them, but (to me) it was well worth the money =)

On a related note, we're supposed to get another short stint of comics from the 'verse some time in the near future. They've been officially announced (I think?), but haven't been given any release dates yet. Also, the original comics are being bundled into a single volume in the next couple of months, too, from what I understand.

Amiton.

NIRVANA

Friday, January 20, 2006 6:45 PM

Quote:
There is also the obvious weight his ident card carries w/ the Alliance in the episode "Safe".

This is also what intrigues me... If he was an ex-Operative, then why would they show him respect?

I think he had some sort of important role to play with the Alliance, but I wonder if it was a more political one. I am curious about how the storyline in the comics explain it -- I am by no means a comic book person, but I am planning on buying the compilation when it comes out at the end of the month.

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