Q: How does Mal know so much about Reavers ?

POSTED BY: AURaptor
UPDATED: Monday, February 16, 2004 10:36
VIEWED: 9272
PAGE 1 of 3

1 2 3 NEXT PAGE

AURAPTOR

Wednesday, February 11, 2004 6:15 AM

(sorry if this has been covered )
Both Mal and Zoe seem to know a fair bit about them, Mal a good bit more so. Per Bushwhacked, from the *booby trap on the ship to the step by step progression of the lone 'survivor' to his Reaver state, Capt seems to be almost an expert in them. Any ideas?

*Also,kinda a techie question here. When Kaylee goes to disconnect the trap set by the Reavers, it appears she goes into the hull of Serinity. Wouldn't it make MORE sense that she disarm the boobytrap from the derelict ship ? Seems the mechanism for the trap is what set the tentacles out from the abandoned ship, where they just latched onto the outside of Serinity. What could Kaylee 'bypass' on Serinity that would disarm the bomb? Seems they got that one backwards.

p.s. Did I mention just how much I love this show ?

LINDLEY

Wednesday, February 11, 2004 7:16 AM

I found it very interesting that the Reaver trap seemed to be organic tech.

I suspect that Mal's platoon had some Reaver trouble during the war.

WERESPAZ

Wednesday, February 11, 2004 3:02 PM

I've wondered about Captain Mal's knowledge on this too. To a certain degree, I doubt it was an experience with the during the war, but during the six years between the war and when he bought Serenity. Perhaps while working under another captain he came across a scavenging ship that failed to disarm the trap, or something like that. In any case, he must have interacted with a "survivor" at some point to know that they forced him to watch. It'd be cool if they has some small part in the movie that would shed some light onto this.

-The SpAz

KNIBBLET

Wednesday, February 11, 2004 3:19 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by AURaptor:
Capt seems to be almost an expert in them. Any ideas?

Anyone who lives on the edges of the frontier would of the reavers. Those that actually traverse the stars and run across the bloody ruins, would do all they could to reconstruct exactly what happened.

Some ships have to escape and would tell others how they did it. They might have been part of a convoy and could testify as to what happened to ships that didn't get away.

As Mal said of the survivor, "It would be a mercy to kill him." They had to have run across survivors before and perhaps a few decipherable words got out before the slashing and mutilation began.

I think it's more along the lines of coming across fresh remains and the investigations that were done after the fact.

Mal would do everything he could to learn about Reavers. His ship and crew are a juicy morsel and he knows it.

STATIC

Wednesday, February 11, 2004 4:05 PM

Here's a LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG reach. . .and I apologise, since I'm usually the one to speak AGAINST looooooooooooooooong reaches. . .

Do we have any idea what happened to Mal's mom and the ranch he grew up on? We DID learn that the Reavers don't limit their brutality to ships in space, but that they hit towns as well. . .and Mal is AWFUL close-mouthed about his family.

You don't suppose. . .do ya?

==================================================
"Wash. . .we got some local color happening. A grand entrance would not go amiss."

BROWNCOAT1

Wednesday, February 11, 2004 4:30 PM

I am thinking that Mal has got his knowledge from living out in the black for the last 6 years or more. I would say he has heard stories from people he deals with and perhaps people he knows that have run into Reavers before.

As Knibblet said, Reavers seem to be known about by everyone, kind of like the boogeyman to little kids. I would imagine that Reaver attacks have been recorded and news of the events got out to the general populace.

No telling how long the Reavers have been around, but I would say since before the Alliance was formed.

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

WERESPAZ

Wednesday, February 11, 2004 4:43 PM

Quote:

As Knibblet said, Reavers seem to be known about by everyone, kind of like the boogeyman to little kids. I would imagine that Reaver attacks have been recorded and news of the events got out to the general populace.

I don't think these attacks have been recorded otherwise the Admiral (or whatever) would've been more receptive of the idea instead of his you're-full-of-crap tone he took with Mal. No, I think everybodys heard of Reavers the same way everybodys heard of Boogymen, Ghosts, Vampires and the like. Mostly just stories surrounded by so much fear that people don't often stop to pick up the pieces left behind by them. There's some line in Bushwacked about "I thought they didn't leave survivors".. and that tells me that nobody experiences a reaver attack and "lives" to tell about it. And if anyone came across a ship/town that was hit by reavers are probably so terrified they wouldn't stick around very long to figure out what happened, thinking either A) Reavers are still there or B) Reavers will come back. Also, it's pretty clear that the particular spot where Bushwacked takes place is probably one of the few (if not first) times Alliance and Reavers occupied the same space, even though it wasn't at the same time. Having a meeting between the two would definitely be an interesting day.

Thinking about Static's line of thought, I think that's one of the only reasons somebody would stick around a reaver site. Hoping against hope that their family member managed to hide and survive, or at least trying to figure out the nature of what took their loved one.

-The SpAz

LINDLEY

Wednesday, February 11, 2004 5:10 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Static:
Here's a LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG reach. . .and I apologise, since I'm usually the one to speak AGAINST looooooooooooooooong reaches. . .

Do we have any idea what happened to Mal's mom and the ranch he grew up on? We DID learn that the Reavers don't limit their brutality to ships in space, but that they hit towns as well. . .and Mal is AWFUL close-mouthed about his family.

You don't suppose. . .do ya?

==================================================
"Wash. . .we got some local color happening. A grand entrance would not go amiss."

That's an interesting idea. Very interesting.....

DTT

Wednesday, February 11, 2004 5:39 PM

As for Auraptor's techie question, one of the great things about creating your own universe is that you write your own rules, especially early on.

"You didn't have to wound that man."
"Yeah, I know. It was just funny."

BARNEYT

Wednesday, February 11, 2004 6:02 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Werespaz:
Thinking about Static's line of thought, I think that's one of the only reasons somebody would stick around a reaver site. Hoping against hope that their family member managed to hide and survive, or at least trying to figure out the nature of what took their loved one.

This makes a lot of sense (maybe not such a long reach after all, Static...

) - because Mal's knowledge is a lot deeper and more personal than the average person's. Jayne and Zoe have the standard knowledge, the 'campfire' stories.

But Mal seems to know more, and since it's unlikely that even Mal could survive himself, I reckon he has lost someone to them. Or, rather, rescued someone from the Reavers only to watch them go the same way as the victim on Bushwhacked.

---
"I think the right place to start is to say, fair is fair. This is who we are. These are our numbers." Mr Willis of Ohio - The West Wing

1 2 3 NEXT PAGE