Decoding River's letters from 'Safe.'

POSTED BY: asarian
UPDATED: Friday, March 6, 2009 09:21
VIEWED: 10187
PAGE 2 of 3

PREV PAGE 1 2 3 NEXT PAGE

ASARIAN

Saturday, March 4, 2006 10:34 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Simylee:

I might be a little silly and not reading the posts how they are meant to be, be you folks are decoding the letters from the series. Right? Well, in Serenity, the book for the movie, it shows has Simon decoding them, how he is decodes them, and what they say. But, if you folks are trying to do something entirely different, I am sorry.

Hey Simylee,

Pardon my daftness, but I'm lost here; "the book for the movie", what do you mean by that? You mean to say you actually possess a piece of work that has River's letters, and you know what they say?? I'd be very interested in learning what book that is!

And yes, the letter we tried to decipher here, is the one we actually get to see, from the episode "Safe." Simon is holding a stash. But the one I saw, as far as I know, is the only time we get a half-way visible angle on them.

--
"Mei-mei, everything I have is right here." -- Simon Tam

SQUISH

Saturday, March 4, 2006 11:27 PM

I believe SIMYLEE is referring to the novelization of the movie by Keith DeCandido. It has a bit about Simon cracking River's "code" in the letters (mainly the scene from Safe, but a bit of further exposition about how he found the code). It doesn't really add any information about the content of the letters. And, you have to be a bit careful about the novel. It is not canon, meaning that Joss has said that he didn't contribute to it nor did he approve it. But it's a pretty good read and it has a nice little theory about how Wash knows Mr. Universe.

I know I've seen discussions of people attempting to read these letters before, you might try searching old messages here, or looking in the archives from the official Serenity site that should be over at Gossi's site now.
Hope that helps!

RE: your interpretation of River's letter, where she writes "the deep blue, crystal-clear waters just made those summer days melt away" could it be that she's saying that the "deep blue, crystal-clear waters" of Blue Sun have essentially melted away her childhood (i.e. destroyed it essentially)?? Just a thought I had.

squish

ASARIAN

Saturday, March 4, 2006 11:58 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by squish:

I believe SIMYLEE is referring to the novelization of the movie by Keith DeCandido. It has a bit about Simon cracking River's "code" in the letters (mainly the scene from Safe, but a bit of further exposition about how he found the code). It doesn't really add any information about the content of the letters. And, you have to be a bit careful about the novel. It is not canon, meaning that Joss has said that he didn't contribute to it nor did he approve it.

RE: your interpretation of River's letter, where she writes "the deep blue, crystal-clear waters just made those summer days melt away" could it be that she's saying that the "deep blue, crystal-clear waters" of Blue Sun have essentially melted away her childhood (i.e. destroyed it essentially)?? Just a thought I had.

squish

Hey squish! ("Don't say that. Not ever." Sorry, couldn't resist).

Thanks for the book info. I, myself, am really only interested in canon (I mean, if I wanna make something up, I can do that myself, I reckon). But I appreciate the source info nonetheless.

I agree with your idea that the "deep blue, crystal-clear waters" of Blue Sun have essentially melted away her childhood. Or, in the broader sense, I agree that this line is pivotal, and that River means to communicate that Blue Sun is taking away something from her (or has taken away). It was this line that essentially piqued my interest in examining this letter.

It's a credit to Joss' attention to detail, that we can even talk about this. :)

--
"Mei-mei, everything I have is right here." -- Simon Tam

SIMYLEE

Sunday, March 5, 2006 12:17 AM

I do mean the novelization for the movie written by that guy with the crazy name :) It is a fun read and I liked the whole Wash and Mr Universe thing, it was fun.

I think I see what you're trying to do now though, but I felt I would come out of my shell and lend a piece of info.

ASARIAN

Sunday, March 5, 2006 12:23 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Simylee:

I think I see what you're trying to do now though, but I felt I would come out of my shell and lend a piece of info.

Hey Simylee,

It warms the heart that people are coming out of their shell (or out of lurk) for our precious River! :) Yes, she has that effect on people!

Anyway, I'm happy that you did. :)

--
"Mei-mei, everything I have is right here." -- Simon Tam

NUCLEARDAY

Saturday, March 11, 2006 4:12 PM

Hey Asarian, just listened to the latest Firefly Talk PodCast ( http://fireflytalk.libsyn.com)...

Congrats on getting on the "air" so to speak. I believe this thread was pretty much the entirety of the Forum Recap for this week. ;p

________________________________________________
You can take my hope when you pry it from my cold, dead fingers.

CABOT

Saturday, March 11, 2006 7:30 PM

Wow, pretty cool, everyone in this thread got mentioned...well everyone but one.

::pout::

Anyway, a good lesson to remember...careful what you say, who knows who might be listening.

River: Midbulk transport. Standard radion accelerator core class-code 03-K64. Firefly.

ASARIAN

Saturday, March 11, 2006 11:58 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by nuclearday:

Hey Asarian, just listened to the latest Firefly Talk PodCast ( http://fireflytalk.libsyn.com)...

Congrats on getting on the "air" so to speak. I believe this thread was pretty much the entirety of the Forum Recap for this week. ;p

Hey nuclearday,

Thanks for pointing me to this! :)

This is so totally cool! YAY! :) I heard people talk about podcasts, but never actually heard one before. So you can imagine that this was quite a lovely surprise! :)

And, OMG, I came off sounding like a complete Rivernut! Oh wait, I say it like it's a bad thing! :) lol. And I heard myself saying: "I still spent my entire day doing exactly what I wanted: thinking, dreaming, and obsessing about River." And you know, as a staunch and utter River devotee (adoree, rather, if that's a real word), I'm totally honored and proud to have said that on the podcast air!

LONG LIVE RIVER TAM!

--
"Mei-mei, everything I have is right here." -- Simon Tam

LVS2READ

Sunday, March 12, 2006 2:20 AM

Ooh, this is fun! I read old handwriting when researching family history. Who knew I'd apply those skills to Firefly!?! Anyway, here's my take on the letter in question. I screen capped it from my disc, so got a few more words than are shown on your cap, but nothing major. The ellipses indicate where Simon's thumb is, or the letter disappears off screen. Also, I kept the line beginnings and misspellings.

Quote:
Dearest Mother and Father

I hope you are both well and doing fine.
Things are okay here at the school as
I am doing well in school. My teachers and
proffessors all say it is so. I have
missed the familiar surroundings of love.
But a lot more than I thought I would.

My thoughts often wander to the
grand time we had last summer at
the lake. I/It was warm and sunny
and the lake, the deep blue, cristal clear
waters just made those/them summer days
melt away.

We all had such a good tyme
swimming and boting and all under...
and sleeping the old(?) caben. I...
did not want it to...
while...

I know some of the lines don't make a lot of sense, but then they weren't supposed to, were they? *g*

Thanks for giving my brain a workout!

"I love my captain."

ASARIAN

Sunday, March 12, 2006 3:03 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Lvs2read:

Ooh, this is fun! I read old handwriting when researching family history. Who knew I'd apply those skills to Firefly!?! Anyway, here's my take on the letter in question. I screen capped it from my disc, so got a few more words than are shown on your cap, but nothing major. The ellipses indicate where Simon's thumb is, or the letter disappears off screen. Also, I kept the line beginnings and misspellings.

Quote:
Dearest Mother and Father

I hope you are both well and doing fine.
Things are okay here at the school as
I am doing well in school. My teachers and
proffessors all say it is so. I have
missed the familiar surroundings of love.
But a lot more than I thought I would.

My thoughts often wander to the
grand time we had last summer at
the lake. I/It was warm and sunny
and the lake, the deep blue, cristal clear
waters just made those/them summer days
melt away.

We all had such a good tyme
swimming and boting and all under...
and sleeping the old(?) caben. I...
did not want it to...
while...

I know some of the lines don't make a lot of sense, but then they weren't supposed to, were they? *g*

Thanks for giving my brain a workout!

Thank you, Lvs2read, for that workout you gave your brain! :)

It's interesting that you read: "surroundings of LOVE," because I thought that word read as "Love" too, although "home", as later suggested by Cabot, seemed to make more sense. But, like you said, she's not necessarily trying to make sense; in fact, one could argue River is deliberately trying to make not sense. :)

Alo, very cute how she misspelled "proffessors" (with double f). Good catch! I didn't even see that.

Seems like you added some valuable info. :) Especially the typos, and this line: "I... did not want it to..." To what? "end"? Seems likely. In combination with her earlier statement, that "the deep blue, cristal clear waters just made those/them summer days melt away," we basically find her saying two things now: a very good time she had, that she did not want to see ended, and an indication of an accelerated ending process by the BLUE waters. So, thank you very much! Your skills paid off. :)

I'm at my parents' now; but soon as I get home, I'll take a renewed screen-cap (mine I also took from the DVD, but I guess I took it at a wrong spot).

--
"Mei-mei, everything I have is right here." -- Simon Tam

PREV PAGE 1 2 3 NEXT PAGE