Joss' remarks on Inara in Serenity commentary (spoiler for commentary)
POSTED BY: GunslinginBrowncoat
UPDATED: Sunday, February 8, 2004 11:42
VIEWED: 13827
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So saw the hookah! I've been watching em in RM. Saw that and I was like oh my. This thread is so awesome. Remember: we overanalyze, but we never get boring. This stuff rocks. Now I wanna watch the whole series over just looking for these references. After hearing Alan talk about his "3 switches" I decided to try to count everytime he used them.
You think I look good now, wait till you see me in my new "Browncoat T-shirt" 
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I'd like to make some observations that could take this in a different direction. From reading some translations on the net, I have noticed that in Shindig, Inara refers to an older gentleman at the ball as "old friend," and that she calls Nandi "mei-mei," or "little sister," in Heart of Gold. No offense to the drop-dead bombshell Melinda Clarke, but doesn't it seem odd that Morena would be referring to her as a younger sibling? I can definitely see the older sister relationship with Kaylee, but it seems a little off with Nandi. They do a great job of showing that is exactly the type of relationship they have, but it's thrown off visually. Let me be very careful about making this clear -- Melinda Clarke could wash her socks in my coffee any day, but if I had to guess who the "older sister" would be simply by looks... Toss this in with Joss' comment during the pilot that Morena is able to look wise beyond her years. See where I'm going here?
We know a little about Inara, but almost nothing about companions. Ever wonder what a companion does when her looks fade? What I'm getting to is this: just how old IS Inara, the woman who doesn't want to die at all? We know that she loved the ship from the first time she saw it, but did she see it before Mal bought it? Why does Inara have to go so far just to get a basic checkup (with implied STD workup) that could be performed at any medical facility? Are they doing something more extensive? Could it be related to what Inara was holding during the Reaver overpass? I find the terminal illness take very interesting, but I thought I'd also bring up the above possibility. After all, it's not like JW hasn't developed uber-old characters who retain their youthful looks in other series. It's just that this time, it's maybe done in more of a Bionic Family, we-have-the-technology manner.
The biotechnology youthfulness thing could obviously resolve the relationship issue with Inara and Nandi. Nandi is known to have left the companions several years ago. A few years of no cosmetic treatments on a not-so-friendly planet could make the younger girl look like the older girl, especially if the older girl is getting spacelifts and turbotucks in the meantime.
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Okay. . .a couple of thoughts. . .Not particulary on the actual SUBJECT of this thread but more in reference to what OTHER people have speculated on in this thread. . .
WILL YOU GET OVER THE WHOLE SIMON/RIVER INCEST THING???? I'M TELLING YOU, THEY'RE ACTING PERFECTLY NORMAL!!!!!
"Preacher, you got a smutty mind!"
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"Wash. . .we got some local color happening. A grand entrance would not go amiss."
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Quote:
Originally posted by Static:
Okay. . .a couple of thoughts. . .Not particulary on the actual SUBJECT of this thread but more in reference to what OTHER people have speculated on in this thread. . .
WILL YOU GET OVER THE WHOLE SIMON/RIVER INCEST THING???? I'M TELLING YOU, THEY'RE ACTING PERFECTLY NORMAL!!!!!
Maybe that's why the show got cancelled, we got it all wrong.. Fox was protecting morality, because Joss was using his show to corrupt the brothers and sisters of America.... Thank God Fox stopped this evil act.
And might I point out that the thought never even entered my head that there was any suggestion of incest - I can't even see where it comes from (the deleted scene is so clearly an in-joke among siblings)
"I threw up on your bed"
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Quote:
Originally posted by zikzak:
I like the weapon angle. I think it's a special drug that will turn her into a disease-carrier to kill the reavers. Inara was sent out to destroy the reavers, so she picked the rattiest outlaw ship she could find. When they came near, she was preparing to take the drug, knowing it would kill her, the reavers, and the rest of the crew.
Could be, although it would gamble on the basis that the Reavers then go back to a central homeworld, and spread the disease. What little we know of them, that seems unlikely, and it only takes one Reaver ship to start going again.
"I threw up on your bed"
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Quote:
Originally posted by Misguided By Voices:
Maybe that's why the show got cancelled, we got it all wrong.. Fox was protecting morality, because Joss was using his show to corrupt the brothers and sisters of America.... Thank God Fox stopped this evil act.
And might I point out that the thought never even entered my head that there was any suggestion of incest - I can't even see where it comes from (the deleted scene is so clearly an in-joke among siblings)
Yes, that's it. Cordy pumping with a one-year-old on Angel was okay, but the mere suggestion of siblings being a little too close nixed Firefly. This morality brought to you by the broadcasters of Joe Millionaire.
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I always just figured that Inara was on the run from some terrible thing that happened...a teacher that wanted to manipulate her, someone that wanted to kill her, something just like the standard shady past, on the run archetype.
But there are a lot in here I like a lot more than that - she's going to die and she's healing works well, and she's extremely old and that drug works well.
If the drug keeps her healthy and she's dying, she could have been looking at it like "what's the point in taking this anymore?", just sort of thinking about it.
There are some problems with the drug keeping her young, like just exactly why she would have looked at it at that particular moment, and exactly what she's on the run from. But...it's so damn nifty, and I like "mei mei" to Nandi.
Looking back at this stuff is great - like, now that I know about Blue Sun, there are a crapload of references. When River slashes Jayne and says he looks better in red, he's wearing a Blue Sun T-Shirt...that one made me happy when I found it out.
I get the feeling there's a lot of subtlety in these episodes that was foreshadowing stuff that we don't know. It's enormously fun to look for the hints.
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I think you might be right about Inara and the whole age thing. Do you think it might have something to do why she left though? Or the syringe? The terminal illness thing is a good argument, but if that syringe is for medicinal purposes, why would she bother looking at it during the reaver scene? I think the idea of the syringe being used as an enhancement is closer to Whedon's intentions. One idea I would like to through out there is that the syringe would be used for enhancing pheramones (if I'm spelling that right); that way she would be able to control the reavers if they got on the ship. She would be hesitant to use it because the Guild would not want it leaked out that they have something that powerful. Also she wouldn't want to use it because it would also effect everyone on the ship. But I'm not even sure I believe that.
"Till human voices wake us, and we drown."
--T.S. Elliot
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I think you might be right about Inara and the whole age thing. Do you think it might have something to do why she left though? Or the syringe? The terminal illness thing is a good argument, but if that syringe is for medicinal purposes, why would she bother looking at it during the reaver scene? I think the idea of the syringe being used as an enhancement is closer to Whedon's intentions. One idea I would like to through out there is that the syringe would be used for enhancing pheramones (if I'm spelling that right); that way she would be able to control the reavers if they got on the ship. She would be hesitant to use it because the Guild would not want it leaked out that they have something that powerful. Also she wouldn't want to use it because it would also effect everyone on the ship. But I'm not even sure I believe that.
"Till human voices wake us, and we drown."
--T.S. Elliot
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Quote:
This morality brought to you by the broadcasters of Joe Millionaire.
Does ANYONE remember how a diplomatic-type person from Iraq called out an American interviewer, saying "How dare you ask me about morality? Don't you work for a network who's top television show features a man who is lying to several different women, seducing them, and tricking them into thinking they're marrying a millionaire when they're not?"
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"Wash. . .we got some local color happening. A grand entrance would not go amiss."
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