Firefly noob - a few observations.....
POSTED BY: Faqa
UPDATED: Monday, January 29, 2007 11:51
VIEWED: 9017
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So, um, hi. Got hooked on the damnable series a few months back(friend's fault. Gorram Browncoats.....), and must get the movie at some point(for which I am, sadly, spoiled).
Any way, a few questions I've got on Sci-Fi's biggest martyr:
- Jayne. I realize the series got cut off before he could be properly explored, but WHY is he so afraid of Mal? From the pilot onwards, the man functions as Mal's vicious dog - scary, mean and loyal only to him. Unleashed when someone needs to be scared.
WHY? It's not like Mal ever likes him or trusts him(not that he has a reason to....), and it's not like Serenity is what we would call a lucrative gig. Man's a mercenary to the bone, that's proven. It seems that only personal loyalty keeps him around that piece of flying gosu, and I'm puzzled as to what Mal did to earn it.
- A little War Stories tidbit - recall what Jayne comes down with when the crew is prepping to rescue Mal - his Big Fucking Gun, Vera.
He then proceeds to spend the firefight with a pistol, holding Vera in one hand, but never using her.
Weird. Did he just bring it along as a good-luck charm or something?
- "Our Mrs Reynolds", Saffron and Inarra's confrontation. We see Inarra pretending to buy into her act.... then.....
ALARM.
I: "I guess we've lied enough"
S: "You're good"
I: "You're AMAZING. Who are you?"
S: "Malcom Reynolds' widow"
Is there not something..... OFF here? Is it supposed to be implied that Inarra hit the alarm switch or something? They're on a damned catwalk, there's no emergency buttons.
If not, what's the point of the alarm?
- How can this show read my mind in the pilot? I was PRAYING for Kaylee to get shot throughout most of the pilot(she was really annoying until Shindig), and, well..... you know. That was one amazing scene.
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Proximity alarm. That's all I can answer.
Oh, and it's Inara with one 'r'.
Welcome to the site!
Edit: There's a thread here that tells of a good sale for the movie, if you want to get it soon.
http://www.fireflyfans.net/thread.asp?b=2&t=25468
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"What the world needs now is love, sweet love - it's the only thing that there's just too little of. What the world needs now is love, sweet love. No, not just for some, but for everyone."
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First of all welcome to the site! There are a lot of great discussions here, and you're sure to have a good time! 
As YinYang said, it's the proximity alert that is going off, meaning that they were getting close to something that they could perhaps crash into. It's the same alarm that goes off in Bushwhacked when they're coming up on the derelict transport.
I really never knew why Jayne didn't use Vera in War Stories either...maybe he just felt comfortable having her in a fight, just in case he needed to use it.
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Love keeps her in the air when she outta fall down, tells you she's hurting before she keels. Makes her a home.
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I don't think it was the proximity alarm, because they weren't that close to the net yet. I think it was the ship finally figuring out something was wrong with her system and setting off an alarm.
As for why Jayne didn't use Vera, I had heard that it was a non-firing gun, but that doesn't make any sense since it fires quite convincingly in OMR.
There have been a few speculations as to why Jayne is so loyal to Mal. Possibly because Mal treats him as a real person? We may never know for sure.
[]
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Welcome to the 'Verse.
My take on this...
The alarm goes off when Zoe finds Wash lying hurt outside the bridge and the bridge doors sealed. My guess is that Zoe set it off.
Jayne is loyal to Mal because he likes the "home" on Serenity as much as the rest of the crew does.
He also knows that Mal will shoot him dead with no hesitation if he so chooses. I would consider that a good motivation to respect a man who was my Captain. Just MHO.
My take on the non use of Vera is that it's a space station. Lots of close in fighting, perhaps he didn't need to use Vera quite as much as he anticipated. Being his "very favorite gun" he brought her with nonetheless. 
We're glad you joined us, make yourself to home.
I'm sure you'll get an answer soon to your "Kaylee was annoying" observation.
Go to www.goodworkspresents.org to find out how to honor the Captain!
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Quote:
Originally posted by PhoenixRose:
There have been a few speculations as to why Jayne is so loyal to Mal. Possibly because Mal treats him as a real person? We may never know for sure.
I always thought it was because of the discussions at the end of Jaynestown and Ariel - in the episodes preceding those, he's still got a little independent streak (like when he discusses what'll happen when the money is good enough in the pilot, and then when he lets Mal and Zoe handle the townies in the bar in Train Job) but at the end of Jaynestown, Mal is the one he talks to about the kid, and then at the end of Ariel, when Mal should've, by all rights, killed him for selling out the Tams, I think Jayne finally accepts Mal completely as the leader.
Even though he didn't fight in the War, Jayne, IMO considers himself as some sort of soldier...and every soldier has a commanding officer
Management is not responsible for ball failure
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As to Jayne and Mal, maybe it's that Mal isn't afraid of him? Judging by his Out Of Gas employers, that may be a rarity. That may be enoough to command respect. The guy isn't just using Jayne cautiously at distance, he's right in his face, on his level.
And of course, the man likes Kaylee. Which I overlooked in the pilot, but is perfectly true. That's probably another factor(and maybe another reason he doesn't like Simon?).
And on our mechanic... I dunno. When she's on her 'happy, I'm sooooooo innocent' streak, she's still a damned annoyance. She really only works in her mechanic role or when she's with Simon.
"You just gotta have faith in people....."
How about no?
Sidenote: Have seen Serenity by this point - not bad, but Wash's death was pointless(was it planned? Book's obviously was, but Wash's.....) and the whole thing smacked of a mish-mash of several episode scripts. Nice to know Joss had the first season written in advance, I guess.
And was it just me, or did the characters seem a bit... off? Simon and Jayne, especially.
Even though the franchise AGAIN read my mind by letting Simon punch MAL in the face. I been waiting for that since the pilot..... 
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actually Whedon didn't get the series written well in advanced, in fact, FOX denied his use of the SERENITY pilot episode and that gave them like a weekend to write train job.
I dont know if the rest of the series was written on the fly like that, but it wouldnt suprise me too much.
I believe in essence the movie was meant to be the course the show would have taken eventually (however, at a much slower and more detailed pace in all likelihood). Wash's death was a tragedy, and was a completely pointless death. Thats whedon for you. I think Whedon honestly wanted you to think that most if not all the crew would die. I think it is well within Whedon's meanie-head mind to have killed everyone off, except mal, who gets the signal off and walks out to find his crew dead. except for maybe Kaylee, he could never kill Willow and i dont think he could kill Kaylee.
"people like a happy ending. I hate people. So what I do, is I shoot your favorite character... and their puppy." or something like that, its a great quote the perfectly describes Whedon.
Alan Tudyk (Wash) has been noted for saying that he would have pushed for Wash to die in the second season anyway. Not only was his career starting to pick up abit more, but he felt it would be the best sympathetic kill, and i agree (barring kaylee).
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Quote:
Originally posted by nevermore:
I think it is well within Whedon's meanie-head mind to have killed everyone off, except mal, who gets the signal off and walks out to find his crew dead. except for maybe Kaylee, he could never kill Willow and i dont think he could kill Kaylee.
I'm just asking, you have seen Firefly's "Serenity" pilot episode, right? Kaylee is the first one to get shot! Joss would kill Kaylee if he thought it would further the story. Once again I'm not trying to be mean, but there you have it.
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It looks like everyone has answered your questions so I just wanted to say welcome to the site.
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