Things about Firefly that niggle you

POSTED BY: hughff
UPDATED: Thursday, October 19, 2006 17:39
VIEWED: 13457
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HUGHFF

Tuesday, October 17, 2006 10:16 AM

I'm not talking about the big things here, like Fux cancelling the series 3 1/2 seasons too soon or running them out of order etc. I'm talking about annoying little things that you wish could've been different.

For example, Tim Minear (I think) says on his commentary to "Out of Gas" that he wishes Mal could've pulled out a huge gun (VERA!) to menace the invading crew - why would they back down when facing that pea-shooter? Frankly, I'd've thought one of Jayne's grenades would've been reasonable to have stashed somewhere for Mal to grab and would've got them out of there just fine.

For me, though, it's even more pedantic - I am a teacher. I just hate it when anyone (and especially when it's one of the crew) call Serenity a boat. She's obviously a ship. She's large enough to carry a significant cargo. Inara's shuttle is a boat but Serenity is a ship.

What's your quibble?

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DONCOAT

Tuesday, October 17, 2006 11:20 AM

hughff, I don't have a problem with Serenity being called a boat. As you may know, submarines are referred to as boats rather than ships. And what could be more like a submarine than a spaceship? The only difference I see is that a submarine can surface (usually) while a spacecraft has no surface to go to (usually).

So just think of Serenity as a submarine (superatmosphere?) and your problem with 'boat' goes away.

I have a little niggle with the movie Serenity. In at least a couple places, Joss abandoned the "no sound in space" convention that was such an outstanding feature of Firefly. I know, a silent space battle might have been a bit strange, but with the exception of a few close concussions that would have rattled things about, silent would have been more realistic and, in my view, more dramatic. (Yes, I'm aware of the various fanwanks that some people use to justify the sounds in the battle scene, but they don't work for me.)

There are a couple other places where I felt the dialog was somewhat confusing due to some sloppy enunciation that could have been corrected by retakes or re-recording. For example, in Book's last scene Mal says "Shouldn't've been you. Alliance should have come after me." Except Nathan says the first word more like "Shoon't've", which sounds to my ear more like "Should've" rather than "Shouldn't've". Didn't make sense to me on first viewing. Another example: in the River escape scene, Dr. Matthias says "She has her lucid moments." To me it sounded like "She has illucid moments." Opposite meaning!

Finally, in the same sequence, Simon says to River: "Find a..." as River climbs the wall to hide on the ceiling. Clearly the line is meant to have continued something like "Find a place to hide," but Sean cuts the line short. Unfortunately, due to the timing of River's movement, there's no reason for him to stop where he does. It's an obvious case where the line was written to be cut off after "Find a...", and Sean cut it off there even though it should have gone further. The result is awkward, to say the least. It took me right out of the scene.

Compare this with the script for the pilot episode, where Jayne has one of those incomplete lines (he's challenging Mal to a fight). Adam actually wrote in his script what the full line was intended to be, which meant that he could continue on if Nathan didn't interrupt at exactly the right point. The result is a perfectly smooth delivery with no jarring cutoff. (As it happens, Adam did cut the line off pretty much as written, but the point is he was able to deliver the line in a very natural way, not like a line of a script that never had an ending.)

These comments should not be construed as reducing my love and appreciation for the 'Verse in any way! But the little details matter. Joss and the cast most often get them right. Firefly/Serenity has so few of these glitches that you're rarely jarred out of the story, which makes the few exceptions even more regrettable.

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I'm pointin' right at it!

PHOENIXROSE

Tuesday, October 17, 2006 11:31 AM

See, I'm almost positive that Sean actually says "Find a hi-" which I always took to be continuing as "hiding place" but River was already moving and he a) knew he didn't need to finish and b) was amazed to see her climb right up a wall.
I could ramble on about all the little things that kinda bug me, but it would go on for pages and as I'm at work and can't save or think things out clearly, I won't go into it all.

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A good friend who points out mistakes and imperfections and rebukes evil is to be respected as if he reveals a secret of hidden treasure. - Gautama Siddharta

DONCOAT

Tuesday, October 17, 2006 11:42 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by PhoenixRose:
A good friend who points out mistakes and imperfections and rebukes evil is to be respected as if he reveals a secret of hidden treasure. - Gautama Siddharta

Heh. That's me, the ol' evil rebuker himself...

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I'm pointin' right at it!

RABIT

Tuesday, October 17, 2006 11:52 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by DonCoat:
I have a little niggle with the movie Serenity. In at least a couple places, Joss abandoned the "no sound in space" convention that was such an outstanding feature of Firefly. I know, a silent space battle might have been a bit strange, but with the exception of a few close concussions that would have rattled things about, silent would have been more realistic and, in my view, more dramatic. (Yes, I'm aware of the various fanwanks that some people use to justify the sounds in the battle scene, but they don't work for me.)

Uh, if you're refering to the fact that the battle between the Alliance and the Reavers (I'm assuming I'm not spoiling anyone here!

) occurred within the atmosphere of Mr. Universe's world, these aren't fan justifications - these are as written and stated on a number of occassions by Joss. Just an FYI...

Rabit

CANTER

Tuesday, October 17, 2006 5:17 PM

I don't know if you can really call it a niggle...

Simon states right through the Firefly episodes that he doesn't know what the Alliance did to River, so he doesn't know where to start treating her, and he only found out in Ariel that they cut into her brain.

But "Serenity" starts in the Lab with a doctor explaining to Simon exactly how the process worked... and that the "neuron stripping" causes her psychotic behaviour.

He states in "Objects in Space" that he cannot understand why River should know anything about firearms, but in the opening sequence of Serenity he is informed that "she is ideally suited for military deployment...even with the side-effects".

He also explains in the pilot (Serenity) that he developed contacts to smuggle River out of the academy in cryo, but in the movie he breaks her out himself.

I can reconcile the contradictions in my mind, but maybe I misunderstood some scenes.

Burn the land and boil the sea...

DESKTOPHIPPIE

Tuesday, October 17, 2006 5:22 PM

It's the stupidest of stupid little things to get uppity about but... well, in the commentary about 'Shindig', the costume director mentioned that the leather necklace around Zoe's neck symbolises her marraige bond to Wash. I *love* that idea. It makes so much sense in a hostile corner of the 'verse where metal can be hard to come by and thieves are everywhere that something simple would be used in place of wedding rings.

The only problem is... Zoe's wearing it in the flashbacks in 'Out of Gas'! Every time I see that, it bugs me. *sigh*

I know... I know... concentrate on the brilliance of the writing and the wonderful acting, not the necklace...

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INDIGOSTARBLASTER

Tuesday, October 17, 2006 5:59 PM

I just read in Firefly: The Official Visual Companion, Vol. 1 that Gina Torres thinks that Zoe's necklace is made up of her old military bootlaces.

It's interesting to think that maybe Zoe and Wash have no symbols of their marriage -- it's just a state of being for them, one which requires no reminders.

Indigo S.

CYBERSNARK

Tuesday, October 17, 2006 6:05 PM

The camera angle on that certain death scene.

Right. Up. The nose.

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We applied the cortical electrodes but were unable to get a neural reaction from either patient.

DONCOAT

Tuesday, October 17, 2006 6:57 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by DesktopHippie:
It's the stupidest of stupid little things to get uppity about but... well, in the commentary about 'Shindig', the costume director mentioned that the leather necklace around Zoe's neck symbolises her marraige bond to Wash. I *love* that idea. It makes so much sense in a hostile corner of the 'verse where metal can be hard to come by and thieves are everywhere that something simple would be used in place of wedding rings.

The only problem is... Zoe's wearing it in the flashbacks in 'Out of Gas'! Every time I see that, it bugs me. *sigh*

I know... I know... concentrate on the brilliance of the writing and the wonderful acting, not the necklace...

DTH, perhaps I can provide a fanwank to help you out of your dilemma. Notice: what follows is only a suggestion, not an attempt to define canon.

Zoe made the necklace from her bootlaces as suggested above, and that's all it meant at first (as if that weren't enough).

When she and Wash fell in love, it all happened very suddenly and surprised them both. They were on the corner of No and Where at the time so they couldn't buy any rings or other tokens. So Zoe thought to take her necklace and have the marriage official* consecrate that as her token.

Voila, no problem -- the necklace was there all along. Only its meaning changed at the time they were wed.

Now, who'd like to speculate on what Wash's token was?

* I'm not thinking of Mal here, since we know he didn't approve the marriage, nor Book (who wasn't in the picture yet), but some local magistrate or justice of the peace. Wash and Zoe "ran off" to get married!

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I'm pointin' right at it!

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