Where's the kung fu ?????

POSTED BY: dragonwine
UPDATED: Wednesday, April 7, 2004 15:08
VIEWED: 4746
PAGE 1 of 2

1 2 NEXT PAGE

DRAGONWINE

Saturday, April 3, 2004 7:31 PM

OK so we know that this is an East/West alliance. We see some influence on the Western culture all thru the show, clothing, speech, etc. Even though I don't feel any of the characters are fluent in Chinese, except perhaps Inara, I also don't see any Chinese martial arts displayed by our crew. I would expect it at least from Mal, Zoe and Jayne, but we see more from Book, Saffron and background players in the pilot. Based on the fights found in Angel and BtVS, perhaps Joss felt like taking a break from it on this show.
Still I would at least like to see a more Chinese influenced planet or settlement just to see what the other half of this alliance is all about. Unfortunately I don't feel the movie will touch too much on this, it might confuse first timers. I'll just have to wait til it becomes a tv series all over again.

It's a nothing part til you don't got one, then you have to go to ebay.....aaaaagh!

CHRONICTHEHEDGEHOG

Saturday, April 3, 2004 8:23 PM

I think it's because they've mostly been on western influence planets, rather than the eastern influenced ones. Also, don't make the mistake of assuming everyone of Chinese descent knows martial arts, I've got a lot of Chinese friends and only one of them does, I have many more British friends who do.

On the other hand, the Chinese 'homeworld' is Sihnon, where Inara is from, which is why her shuttle is quite eastern influenced compared to everything else, and she does seem to have some martial self-defence training in Our Mrs Reynolds, during Saffron's escape.

KINGOFKOINS

Saturday, April 3, 2004 9:01 PM

Well, in Serenity, I believe I saw a little Peking opera performance going on...

--------------------------------
It's sickening how comforting the privacy of the mind can be.
"Bible's broken; contradictions, false logistics. Doesn't make sense." - River
http://stripe.filetap.com

SUCCATASH

Saturday, April 3, 2004 10:35 PM

Are you referring to the glimpse of long-haired stick fighters with painted faces? I'm thinking of the scene when Serenity lands on the planet to meet with Badger.

KINGOFKOINS

Sunday, April 4, 2004 9:39 AM

Yep.

--------------------------------
It's sickening how comforting the privacy of the mind can be.
"Bible's broken; contradictions, false logistics. Doesn't make sense." - River
http://stripe.filetap.com

SPOOKYDONKEY

Sunday, April 4, 2004 3:49 PM

Old fashioned knuckles-meeting-face fisticuffs fits in with Firefly's old west motif better than kung-fu. I think it's purely a flavor issue.

SUCCATASH

Sunday, April 4, 2004 4:38 PM

Possible Spoilers regarding the Leaked Serenity Casting List.

Select to view spoiler:

The casting list refers to a character named "The Operative" and he is described as "An expert martial artist..."

Maybe we'll see some Kung Fu in the movie?

Spoiler Thread:
http://www.fireflyfans.net/thread.asp?b=2&t=4295

CROWLEY

Sunday, April 4, 2004 6:33 PM

Well, the "Dead or Alive" script finally features someone of Asian descent, though not an martial artist.

KURUKAMI

Sunday, April 4, 2004 6:49 PM

I think you're all forgetting Jubal Early.

But back to the main thrust of the thread, why would Mal, Zoe, and Jayne know the first thing about martial arts? It's not something they would've learned as kids. The independents obviously received weapons training to fight their war (although perhaps not all that well -- remember what Tracy did in the Battle of Du-Khang in "The Message"?), but it's unlikely they would've gotten lots of martial arts training to boot.

The independents training would focus on the basics first -- this is how you load, fire, and clean a variety of weapons, this is how you wear armor, this is some basic survival training. It takes a long while to train someone into a kick-ass martial artist, and even current military programs (at least in the U.S.) don't focus so much upon that.

What Mal and Zoe know is basically what they grew up with, plus a lot of tricks learned during the War and during their time since. Jayne's just a down-and-dirty street fighter, with little in the way of formal kung fu training. My thought is that he really doesn't have the discipline to pursue it.

Book, though... Book's got background that we never did find out about. So does Jubal, and Saffron, and possibly Inara. But the rest just aren't anywhere the same level of training.

"Sir, I would like to gingerly point out that it is difficult for someone to be gently reassuring when they're holding three and a half feet of sharpened steel."

DRAGONWINE

Sunday, April 4, 2004 7:22 PM

I really do figure Joss was tired of the heavy martial arts from his other works. Now, having seen the Western side of this Alliance (with some Eastern influence) I would like to see the other side of the coin as it were. Sihnon is supposedly the main Eastern central planet. How Western influenced are they now that it is no longer the decadent West versus the inscrutable East. Is it really one big happy Alliance, not counting the Independents of course. I guess it's just a big wait and see.

It's a nothing part til you don't got one, then you have to go to ebay.....aaaaagh!

1 2 NEXT PAGE