how long has Mal owned Serenity?
POSTED BY: gohm
UPDATED: Monday, March 5, 2007 23:51
VIEWED: 12542
PAGE 3 of 4
He may not have known that he had been promoted considering the state of communications shown in the pilot. But the Alliance, being the efficient beaucracy that they are, captured the HQ records and so he was listed as a Captain on their records.
Also, the money his Ma left in the bank account wasn't that much because the ranch was in desperate times.
It's part of a fic that I'm working on. I haven't gotten past the first page yet, another fic having taken over my brain, and the holidays and all.
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Exit field-promotion theory.
even if i dont have any faith in that theory...
the fact that one of his war buddies still calls him sergeant doesnt mean he wasnt promoted afterwards...
obviously since Harken lived, he wasnt at the battle of Serenity... so their units split at some point or other... and the last rank he may have known Mal at was Sergeant.
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Originally posted by ncbrowncoat:
He may not have known that he had been promoted considering the state of communications shown in the pilot. But the Alliance, being the efficient beaucracy that they are, captured the HQ records and so he was listed as a Captain on their records.
Not in Harken's records, he weren't. :) Harken, commanding a city-wide Alliance cruiser, squarely has him listed as Sergeant.
--
"Mei-mei, everything I have is right here." -- Simon Tam
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Originally posted by Bagheera:
obviously since Harken lived, he wasnt at the battle of Serenity...
Huh? As in: obviously, since Mal lived he wasn't at the battle of Serenity? That don't make no sense.
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so their units split at some point or other... and the last rank he may have known Mal at was Sergeant.
Ah; but don't ya think Mal would have corrected him? Something like: It weren't "sergeant," but "Captain". Unless Mal forgot himself, but then things just get a mite too weird for me. :)
--
"Mei-mei, everything I have is right here." -- Simon Tam
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Just adding my $.40 cents
Seems to me that after the loss by the independent army in Serenity Valley the war was pretty much over (as has been stated) but it wasn't quite finished yet. The pilot eps clearly notes that the fencing of the exhausted Alliace vessel is 6 years after that battle. This means that the OoG eps where Mal meets up and links with most of Serenity's crew could have taken almost a year to happen. 4 to 5 years would be my guess as to how long Mal has had the ship.
On another note I feel Mal did have some family money after the war but he was not rich by any means. I think it took all of his savings to get Serenity and that he got the craft at a bargain price. Remember the sales guy trying to sell him another craft altogether. But with Mal it was love at first sight. Why? because that little craft ment FREEDOM.
Z
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When I see Mal and Zoe together I grab my wallet. Times are hard after the war. I think they robbed alliance payrolls arriving at border planets. I am sure Zoe had no home since she was born on a spaceship. She's come along way with Mal they are 2 peas in a pod. They are just family. Mal always has a plan. That's why Zoe doesn't count him out. Now in the role playing book Mal's home planet Shadow was bombed out of exsistance from the get go of the war. The Union after the War of Northern Aggression only paid for farms they destroyed not what Confederates did. So I believe Shadow an Independence stronghold was not given any money to settlers for their farms and ranches destroyed by the Alliance. So I believe they robbed banks and trains just like Ole Jesse James Gang. Then they got enough to buy a firefly transport. I think Zoe gave Mal her share and is just a silent partner. It makes sense she trust him with everything. Serenity is their home and the crew is family.
"Battle of Serenity, Mal. Besides Zoe here, how many-" "I'm talkin at you! How many men in your platoon came out of their alive".
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Huh? As in: obviously, since Mal lived he wasn't at the battle of Serenity? That don't make no sense.
not, mal... mal's warbuddy that kept calling him sarge... someone named him as harken... but that appears to be an alliance character.
you don't call an officer sarge... but if he WAS promoted post-serenity valley, his warbuddy wouldnt have been there for it.
also, the records the alliance members show are generally from Serenity Valley, which may indicate the rank at the time of the battle, and not subsequent promotions... but then again... Badger made reference to him being a sergeant in the war, and if Mal had been promoted to officer, that would have created a whole different dynamic to that. (although, I think Badger treated the sergeant rank as though it were comparable to officer, which kinda confused me)
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Ah; but don't ya think Mal would have corrected him?
Zoe corrected him if I recall correctly ?
All in all, I find no reason to believe Mal ever got promoted past sergeant except for the babylon 5-ish rigmarole that all the main characters are destined to be big muckitimucks.
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Mal's rank.
In the BDP ( Big Damn Pilot) deleted scenes, Zoe talks about Mal being a sergeant at the Battle of Serenity Valley, and commanding a platoon. But she said that by the end of the first week, so many offecers had been killed that he was commanding a regiment, I think, leading over 4000 men. He maybe never got a formal promotion, the battle bein' so costly and all, and the browncoats losing the war there.
Then he want to POW camp , after the surrender. I've heard the Shadow being turned to a black rock by the Alliance story before, I guess from the RPG. Makes sense.
SO Mal had nowhere to go, but got a little money as reparations and back pay or settlement or whatever, after the peace. Spent all he had, to buy the ship and get her running.
He brought Zoe along because she was his sidekick, and it never entered his mind that she wouldn't come. But he wanted her to feel the same way about the ship he did. Also never entered her mind that she wouldn't follow him.
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Originally posted by Bagheera:Quote:
Huh? As in: obviously, since Mal lived he wasn't at the battle of Serenity? That don't make no sense.
not, mal... mal's warbuddy that kept calling him sarge... someone named him as harken... but that appears to be an alliance character.
Yes. Harken is the Commander of the Alliance cruiser, and the man who interrogates the crew.
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Ah; but don't ya think Mal would have corrected him?
Zoe corrected him if I recall correctly ?
I meant: when Harken, Commander of the Alliance cruiser, called him "Sergeant," Mal surely would have corrected him if his last-begotten war-rank had been Captain.
--
"Mei-mei, everything I have is right here." -- Simon Tam
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Originally posted by asarian:Quote:
Originally posted by Bagheera:
Oh, and I strongly doubt that he was given a field promotion to captain. It always felt to me that he left the war as sergeant, and Captain was a role and not a rank... hence certain character's insistence that he is captain now and "all just folk now".
If you're hinting to Bushwhacked, several times Harken refers to Mal as "Captain Reynolds" when he's indicating the title of the lead rank on a ship, but properly calls him "Sergeant" when referring to his military rank:
Harken: That's a very loyal crew you have there. But then I see by your record you tend to inspire that quality in people -- Sergeant.
Mal: It's not "sergeant." Not no more. War's over.
Exit field-promotion theory.
--
"Mei-mei, everything I have is right here." -- Simon Tam
The only problem is the screen in the BDM that the Operative looks at lists Mal's rank as Captain in the 57 Overlanders.
Being a former Sergeant I'd much rather be a Sergeant than a Captain.
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