how long has Mal owned Serenity?
POSTED BY: gohm
UPDATED: Monday, March 5, 2007 23:51
VIEWED: 12542
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Oops - sorry. I forgot to include text besides the subject line.
Mal clearly is not a moneyed individual, so more than likely he had to gather some funds to buy his Firefly. So, at the start of Firefly, has he owned the ship for two years? Three? One?
Perhaps it took him five years after the war to buy Serenity, and at that point he contacted Zoe. It's never stated that they were together after the war.
Your thoughts will be most appreciated.
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In the commentary for Out of Gas, they were saying that the 'four plus years ago' flashbacks were shot in such and such a way, and the '24 hours ago' flashbacks another way and so forth. My best guess is that Mal has owned Serenity for about five years when the series starts. That gives a year after the war ended for him to save up for a ship. And remember, Serenity wasnt running when he bought her, which would have lowered the price.
It's also been said that Zoe and Wash were married a year after they met, so he HAS to have had it for more than a year.
[]
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5 years seems about right.
He couldn't have built his client base or "reputation" (said in Niska voice) in a short time.
And if there was a vast 4-year gap between the end of the war and the purchase of Serenity, it would have been alluded to, I think.
He could have gotten the money in many ways. Some kind of Alliance compensation for bombing Shadow to hell and destroying all his worldly possessions. Or maybe his first big crime! :D
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Mal's mother owned a ranch. If he inherited it, that might have given him his start. I'm taking a guess here. But Zoe might have invested in the ship. In "Out of Gas" I suspect Mal is showing the ship to Zoe to sell her into buying in. From the scene it was a hard sell.
Traveler
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I always thought that Mal owned the ship outright because the first thing that Zoe asked Mal when she saw the ship was "You paid money for this, sir? On purpose?" She wasn't much impressed with Serenity in the beginning, was she? 
Annie
You can't the sky from me.
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Yea Scarecrow866. Zoe did not show much enthusiasm. I like when she asks "What's that?" That is why I was surprized she joined Mal. They must have had a long time together during the war. As shown in "The Message" they differed in their methods, but there was respect for each other.
I still get the impression Mal is trying hard to get Zoe to like the ship so he can get her to invest. Didn't Mal sound like salesman showing a prospective buyer a new car. Or in this case a used one. A very used one.
Traveler
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Quote:
Originally posted by traveler:
Mal's mother owned a ranch. If he inherited it, that might have given him his start.
The subject of Mal's ranch goes back to the start of the Unifaction War. The line in the Ballad of Serenity "Take My Land" refers to Mal's family losing their ranch to the alliance as a part of an anexation and occupation policy to quell rebellion. It was one of the reasons Mal joined up before the conflict.
This isn't Canon, but many ppl I know believe that's the backstory about the family ranch on Shadow.
Mal's money for Serenity might have come from the a land sale, but I tend to doubt it. I think he just pulled together all that he had, that not being much, and bought what he could afford. And judging Zoe's comment "You paid money for this?" he didn't have all that much when he was talking with that scrap ship dealer.
Do not fear me. Ours is a peaceful race, and we must live in harmony.
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MALS OWNED SERENITY FOR 7 YEARS
RIKMJWSL777
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I think Mal was trying to sell Zoe on Serenity because he loved it so much. She was going to go with him regardless, but he wanted her to be enthused about it because he was.
And no, he cannot have owned Serenity for seven years, because the series takes place SIX years after the war. And I would appreciate it if you would stop yelling (using all caps)
As for the ranch, well, the Serenity Visual Companion says that when Mal tried to go home, it was destroyed. Don't think it would be worth much. (It also said that it just never occured to Zoe not to follow Mal, which is what I'm talking about in my first paragraph there) []
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