Book's line in Objects in Space?
POSTED BY: Geiiga
UPDATED: Monday, October 15, 2007 14:43
VIEWED: 30285
PAGE 4 of 8
I heard Joss was thinking of writing something about Shepherd Book and who he really is or was.
Greatz!
CaptainJosh
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Ok! Now i have read lots of "book-is-an-operative"-thoughts, here is something new to chew on:
my guess is that book was like mal, a soldier with belive and therefor a high rank. the only difference was, he was on the other side. after the war was over book got the hang of how things were runnin he started to question all he has done sofar and in order to find peace he became preacher. he never tells mal he was an alliance, just coz this would arise an unnecessary conflict.
but i dont think he was an operative nor a spy, nor was jubal, he did just his homework.
books line was in fact kinda' strange.
my inspired guess is, book was talking about innocence, meaning not having sex. because they are talking about masturbating and the like before river enters the room. probably he was just kinda' pissed at the moment speaking about sexual problems of an adult man, but since he is a sheppherd he just had to listen and keep a calm face.
this whole river-operative issue... well i guess that is exactly what the allies wanted to do with her... but on a higher level, to make her read the opponents minds and to be able to protect herself if in danger. the whole sublimminal trigger in serenity(movie) points out that she was thought like some sort of a sleeper.
think this should be pretty much it.
ps:i appologize for probable misspelling or mistakes
-You missed me Malcom Reynolds
-Can't miss what you never had!
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I really doubt that Book was talking to Jayne OR River in that scene. His body language just seems different.
When we see into Jaynes mind he looks directly at the camera, so too, does Simon. Book on the other hand is sort of looking down with a bit of a look of disdain on his face. It looks to me like he was about to execute someone who he had just captured and had put them on their knees to deliver the fatal blow.
In my mind, Book was an Operative and he killed and hunted as the Alliance saw fit. But then he changes. Redemption is a key theme in most of Whedons work, and the idea that people should not be forever judged on their worst deed is a strong themeatic device that he uses. Book probably came to his senses that mindlessly killing people was wrong and he turned to the Bible for forgiveness, but you can never escape your past and he constantly thinks about his past misdeeds which is why River picked up that thought when she went near him.
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Well, sinc it's relevant... actually, more relevant here than in the discussion it was originally posted on... I'll just copy a post I wrote for another thread:
There are enough clues in the series to assume that Inara is dying, presumably from some fatal disease. Particularly this exchange from "Out of Gas":
INARA: I love this ship. I have from the moment I saw it.
SIMON: I just don't want to die on it.
INARA: (glances away) I don't want to die at all.
The implication seems ot be that since she has to die, she wants it be on Serenity. Put that together with the memory River reads in "Objects in Space": "I'm a big girl. You can tell me." To me, it sure seems like she's remembering talking to her doctor, and finding out about her terminal illness. I guess this interferes with all the hopes for a happy Mal/Inara relationship. Sorry about that; maybe I'm wrong.
As for Book, after seeing the movie, one of my first thoughts was, "Hey! We got gipped! We never found out Book's mysterious past!" But then I decided, maybe we did, just in a very subtle way. Personally, I'd bet a lot he was an Operative. The similarities between the two characters (sigh... no, not just the fact that they're black) are too strong to ingore: the Operative reevaluates his life view, and turns his back on his military career, just like Book obviously did. And Book just seemed to be way too efficient a fighter, and know way too much about Alliance military procedure (including Operatives) for me to conclude anything else. In fact, if Joss was going to bring time travel into the 'verse (although I hope he doesn't), I'd say the Operative WAS Book. The two characters seem like the early and latter parts of the same life. What do you think?
"We need a hood ornament."
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Quote:
Originally posted by TheRealMe:
No, Book MAY have once been an operative, but he is not on a mission now.
Sereni-Tree
Now there's an interesting thought. What if the Operative from the movie ends up another Shepard Book a few decades down the line? The possibility makes Shepard Book's backstory that much more tintillating.
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Quote:
Originally posted by ReaverMeat:
Here's my theory.
I think Book knows that Jayne had sold River and Simon out. His thoughts in my opinion were directed at Jayne.
DAMN, another good theory. Sorry to be posting so close.. but this one made a lot of damn sense!
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Quote:
As in Mission Impossible, the Alliance "would disavow any involvement" in his actions and that means treating him like a regular joe when he's been shot.
QUOTE]
But that's assuming that when they ran his ID card NOTHING shows up, opposed to something. And something did pop up, enough "something" for them to give immediate aid to him...
No, I think it's rather likely that Book has some connection... people outside of the "need to know" ranks aren't going to know he's an operative.
Besides when the Operative in the movie provided his clearance, it went through but without any information about him. Only that he was protected and validated by the Alliance.NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Well, Ecamber, we don't know what information Book's ID card provided, either. If all it said was "Operative of the Parliament", that would have gotten the officer on the Magellan jumping.
TheRealMe, First Officer of the Sereni-Tree
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Quote:
Originally posted by TheRealMe:
Well, Ecamber, we don't know what information Book's ID card provided, either. If all it said was "Operative of the Parliament", that would have gotten the officer on the Magellan jumping.
There is a potentially humorous problem with the "blank-check" ID card.
Douglas Adams played with it in one of the Hitchhiker books. Basically, society got to the point where various and sundry biometric tests were required to confirm your identity for even something simple like cashing a check...so they made an Ident-o-Card (or something) which would hold all of your biometric information and prove beyond the shadow of a doubt that you are who you say you are with a simple swipe.
Then Ford Prefect steals the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy's President's Ident-o-Card and suddenly has full access to everything in the building
.So, long and wandery story short, no "Operative of the Parliament" cards for Book or anyone else.
I also have my doubts as to whether or not the Alliance would let an Operative retire or change occupations. Book is obviously someone import within the Alliance, but who?
Politician? Someone would likely recognize him.
Soldier? Not unless he was HIGHLY decorated (see our VA hospitals vs. the care Book got for evidence), and if he was such a huge war hero for the Alliance face recognition could once again prove problematic.
Officer? If you get up high enough the perks could possibly explain the special medical treatment, but the higher you get in the chain of command the more visible you would become, especially to your enemies and other Officers, neither of which recognize him in the series. This is much more likely than the other two, though.
Independant Contractor (ala blue man group) The visibility issues go away with this posibility, but would the Alliance really go out of it's way to save the life of someone who no longer works for them?
Weapon Designer Would be largely unknown to the public even if he was very high ranking in the government, retiring without lots of worldly wealth highly likely if he worked directly for the government (giving away worldly wealth as penance sounds like something Book might do even if the government did set him up pretty), Potential guilt over having your weapons used on people is likely or at least plausible...things sound good, but unfortunately in the series he shows no especial scientific aptitude and lots of hands on kick your ass aptitude.
So in summary...I don't know what Book was, but if I had to guess I'd say that he was a soldier (probably special forces, although not Operative special) who was related to someone who was either a General, Politician, or whatever combination of Politician/Businessman that Blue Sun fits into. His past regrets most likely stem from a mistake that he made, and was not the result of something the Alliance made him do, since he doesn't seem to show any special aversion to the Alliance but does towards his past.
I'm all about the long wandering stories today
.
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Quote:
Originally posted by LaVache:Quote:
Originally posted by TheRealMe:
Well, Ecamber, we don't know what information Book's ID card provided, either. If all it said was "Operative of the Parliament", that would have gotten the officer on the Magellan jumping.
There is a potentially humorous problem with the "blank-check" ID card.
Douglas Adams played with it in one of the Hitchhiker books. Basically, society got to the point where various and sundry biometric tests were required to confirm your identity for even something simple like cashing a check...so they made an Ident-o-Card (or something) which would hold all of your biometric information and prove beyond the shadow of a doubt that you are who you say you are with a simple swipe.
Then Ford Prefect steals the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy's President's Ident-o-Card and suddenly has full access to everything in the building
So, long and wandery story short, no "Operative of the Parliament" cards for Book or anyone else.
I also have my doubts as to whether or not the Alliance would let an Operative retire or change occupations. Book is obviously someone import within the Alliance, but who?
Politician? Someone would likely recognize him.
Soldier? Not unless he was HIGHLY decorated (see our VA hospitals vs. the care Book got for evidence), and if he was such a huge war hero for the Alliance face recognition could once again prove problematic.
Officer? If you get up high enough the perks could possibly explain the special medical treatment, but the higher you get in the chain of command the more visible you would become, especially to your enemies and other Officers, neither of which recognize him in the series. This is much more likely than the other two, though.
Independant Contractor (ala blue man group) The visibility issues go away with this posibility, but would the Alliance really go out of it's way to save the life of someone who no longer works for them?
Weapon Designer Would be largely unknown to the public even if he was very high ranking in the government, retiring without lots of worldly wealth highly likely if he worked directly for the government (giving away worldly wealth as penance sounds like something Book might do even if the government did set him up pretty), Potential guilt over having your weapons used on people is likely or at least plausible...things sound good, but unfortunately in the series he shows no especial scientific aptitude and lots of hands on kick your ass aptitude.
So in summary...I don't know what Book was, but if I had to guess I'd say that he was a soldier (probably special forces, although not Operative special) who was related to someone who was either a General, Politician, or whatever combination of Politician/Businessman that Blue Sun fits into. His past regrets most likely stem from a mistake that he made, and was not the result of something the Alliance made him do, since he doesn't seem to show any special aversion to the Alliance but does towards his past.
I'm all about the long wandering stories today
tl;dr
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