The Savant Crew
POSTED BY: jewelstaitefan
UPDATED: Wednesday, May 15, 2019 23:47
VIEWED: 14721
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This is an observation which I'm not sure has been made, and I haven't found a mention, and I sense a lack of awareness about it.
This was triggered by a comment in another thread suggesting that Jayne is not much of a tracker or hunter.
I'm new here and I fully understand you all have a 5 year head start on me, and I am likely not proficient with your archives or search function. If this has already been brought up, I do apologize.
As I understand, this body of work could have easily been called The Savant Crew, as things were laid out in Out of Gas.
In most or all episodes Wash is repeatedly alluded to being an incredibly gifted pilot, and apparently Joss intended for him to be an even greater savant of a pilot - being cool, calm, collected under extreme flying challenge (the more difficult and crucial, the more calm Wash would become. Seems Alan decided on the "wild and crazy" gifted version of Wash, but still a tremendously gifted pilot even so.
KayLee has little or no formal training, but just understands mechanical works. Without ever being on a Firefly, she intuitively knew what was wrong with it to keep it grounded, what it needed, and how to fix it more than anybody aboard, including the "genius mechanic" Bester. She is a savant mechanic, a gifted natural.
Mal and Zoe are no chopped liver when it comes to hunting, tracking, and correllaritively evading and eluding, until they were surprised to have gotten caught by the gang that Jayne was with. They conjured who it was that was so much more gifted than them and tracked them down, and it was Jayne, so they convinced him to join them. This was their interest in him - as a superb tracker/hunter, better than they. As the best tracker they had ever been caught by, this shows him to be a savant in this talent - his talent with guns was just extra gravy. He wasn't trained by or in the military, nor with formal schooling - just savant "street smarts" as it were.
This is the crew, all savants.
Book and Inara are passengers, both with extensive training and education.
Mal and Zoe were in their military. Most great military legends are not referred to as savants, partly because so much of a well-rounded training and awareness is needed, that one specific isolated talent is not held in esteem if the rest of the package is left wanting. Training also is practiced in the military, and individualism is not often a prized characteristic.
However, in this body of work, it is often stressed that they were "volunteers". This does not make them Tennessee natives. I get the impression that this is a reference or term used to imply what we would call "National Guard", or the Reservists before the Cold War end, commonly denegrated as "Weekend Warriors" - always less trained, with outdated equipment, and statistically less effective in combat. In this context, Zoe is the only surviving member of her unit. Zoe and Mal are only 2 of a dozen dozen survivors of their entire fighting force of 330,000+ in Serenity Valley, after the entire Officer Corps was KIA after the first few days of the battle.
It is arguable that Zoe and Mal are effectively gifted in military work, and the ways that those skills serve them in their current endeavors.
Mal knows fully well that the crew are all extremely gifted in the skills they are aboard for.
Simon becomes crew, and he's not much different in this way. Incredibly gifted, he's a savant doctor if such a thing exists, practically a trauma surgeon in his teens. This is assuming his explanation in the pilot is accurate, and I have no reason to doubt it.
Not all of the crew fully appreciate the incredible giftedness and talents of their fellow crew, I think Wash and KayLee being the best exception.
Now consider River. The Mother-of=All-Savants. Makes Simon look like a moronic idiot by comparison. At the end of BDM Mal tries to introduce her to the intricacies of piloting a spacecraft when she performs takeoff practically better than Wash. How ironic that this band of savants, gifted and talented, fear her so mu
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Why would anyone suggest that Jayne was not much of a tracker or hunter?
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try this thread:
b=2&t=30770
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couldn't get the thread link to work but - i'm astonished. I'm not a JAYNE cultist by any stretch of the imagination - but his tracking skills?
he's a 'natural' surely?
as for a 'savant' crew - interesting and cogently argued - i don't think many have explored it quite that way but certainly the talents and flaws of the individuals - and as a bunch of Heroes... keeps the board ticking over.
Mal seems a gifted shot, definitely.
There's a tiny scene of Zoe in Warstories - that the commentary picks up - she's just walking - but she takes in every angle of possible attack and retreat etc... knows EXACTLY what she's doing.
i suppose any adventure drama thrives on the friction involved in derailing gifted heroes...
As for Simon - i don't think we see fully - but i would probably say - yes, of course!
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Wash, Kaylee, Jayne, Simon and River are unquestionably savants at what they do. Mal is talented but not a savant. The thing that makes or breaks this crew is not their individual skill but their cohesion. That is what Mal supplies. You cannot give what you do not have. Mals loyalty to his crew is palpable to all and begets loyalty in return. The execution of this loyalty then elevates Zoe to the level of Savant. :)
From one thing, learn ten thousand things.
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I was tired, forgot to mention Mal was the best quickdraw in the verse, as far as we know.
I still meant to say that Mal and Zoe are effectively a different category than the rest - they are essentially the "partners" that run/command Serenity, the rest serve at their pleasure.
Sudden thought - how many times, and to whom does Mal entrust command (other than Zoe)? Wash is the normal getaway pilot hiding with KayLee and whoever, but otherwise who?
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Sorry didn't make a link.
In your browser's web address block, after ".asp?" change the "b=" stuff to what I said.
If you are questioning Jayne's tracking skills, please review the Out of Gas scene where Mal and Zoe meet him.
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yeh - i did the link maually - it's an interesting thread - but the questioning of jayne's tracking skills still surprises me.
as for the crew's overall 'gifts' - i'm sure there are probably slight shifts and subtle discontinuites given the varied writers and the need to service a plot...* in that one respect only are we lucky to have but a single season to view - if we'd had 7 by now - the arguments would run and run!
There may be straight forward clarification of the characters in the supplementary books editted by Espenson and co - but i don't own them.. plenty hereabouts will post and say...
as for 'street smarts' there are good comments by mal4prez and nbz on this in regards to mal having 'street smarts' (try: http://fireflyfans.net/thread.asp?b=12&t=30227&m=544169#544169) not just in general but in his recognising River as 'reader' (and other examples in other posts).
*river of course has proved a controversial figure in fics set post Serenity movie. Just what ARE her abilties etc a sometimes enthralling, sometimes tedious debate...
i just had fun pre-supposing that before she got frozen in the box for the pilot, she was a much more aware and ready weapon - but hell, i just MADE IT UP! - that's probably what the show writers would do - within reason.
sorry if that all sounds Off Topic, it aint really. Jayne's abilities ebb and flow equally but less obviously. check out the BSR here - or http://www.stillflying.net
i'm pretty wiped - hope that all made sense:)
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Actually I think that the crew are much less perfect than the usual, less textured, space opera heroes. If Mal were better at his chosen vocation of petty crime, he wouldn't be broke all the time and perpetually shot at by the people who are supposed to be on his side.
In many ways, Inara is a model Companion, but she fails in the critical job skill of not falling in love with completely unsuitable men.
And, while any geek (a substantial part of the Firefly audience, I'm sure) can sympathize, Simon obviously failed every part of high school not actually involving classrooms.
However, Jayne has already gotten much older than mercenaries generally get to be, so he must be pretty good at it...and let's not forget his Miracle of the Bent Scope.
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Quote:
Originally posted by shinyseven2:
Actually I think that the crew are much less perfect than the usual, less textured, space opera heroes.
i don't you'll find many here as disgree with that!
...but being 'perfect' aint the same as 'gifted' or being a 'savant' to use the phrase of the thread.
flaws make characters make drama:)
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