Anybody Know Why Early Licked The Beam?

POSTED BY: Jongsstraw
UPDATED: Friday, November 9, 2007 21:36
VIEWED: 7025
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JONGSSTRAW

Thursday, October 18, 2007 12:25 PM

He just does it, says nothing, and walks away. Why did he lick it? What does it mean? Anybody?

Also, what happened to his ship? It looks like it heads off into space after River starts her EVA back to Serenity. Did she program it to fly off? Why not keep it or sell it?

DAVESHAYNE

Thursday, October 18, 2007 2:16 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Jongsstraw:

He just does it, says nothing, and walks away. Why did he lick it? What does it mean? Anybody?

Joss touches on that in the commentary.

Quote:
Also, what happened to his ship? It looks like it heads off into space after River starts her EVA back to Serenity. Did she program it to fly off? Why not keep it or sell it?

It certainly appears that River fiddled with the autopilot. Keep it? Where? They don't exactly have a hangar deck. Sell it to who? It's not much of a ship just a little buggy big enough (barely I suspect) for just one psychotic bounty hunter. Plus it's a flashy ship owned by somebody looking for River; sell it to somebody and you risk attracting unwanted Alliance attention.

David

'Geeks can't admit that anything worthwhile was invented before 1981. Soon, "making cocoa" will be called "milk hacking."' - Lore Sjoberg

JONGSSTRAW

Thursday, October 18, 2007 2:37 PM

I haven't listened to that episode's commentary yet....thank you for the head's up.

WYTCHCROFT

Thursday, October 18, 2007 3:05 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by daveshayne:
Quote:
Originally posted by Jongsstraw:

He just does it, says nothing, and walks away. Why did he lick it? What does it mean? Anybody?

Joss touches on that in the commentary.

well speaking personally - and as a freak, some people just like to lick metal! especially if it's rusty/iron-ey...

but coming from Early - it's just defilement i think (and maybe it was ad-libbed?)... a burgler licking the cream off a pie in the pantry...

or more dangerously - like the villain in Highlander when he goes to church and licks the hand that's offered him...

CRUITHNE3753

Monday, October 22, 2007 5:24 PM

Because he's a bit weird...?

SUPERUNKNOWN

Tuesday, October 23, 2007 4:14 AM

The commentary for the episode is very interesting; we actually looked at it in my Philosophy classes (took me fifteen minutes and a Powerpoint presentation to explain everything first) and then watched it again with the commentary.

If you listen to it, the episode is largely about River's connection to the ship and how she views everything as a psychic. in order introdyce that, Joss introduced Early, who he describes as being so intuitive that he is almost psychic. You can see that because he had a very different way of dealing with everyone even though he's only heard five minutes' worth of conversation.

Now this is important to keep in mind, because Early feels some kind of connection with Serenity; notice the way he says the line "But maybe not ... maybe I've always been here" to Kaylee (Joss points out that that's one of Early's best moments).

Look at the way he describes his gun when threatening Simon. It's just an object; it is functional, but it only has as much meaning as we put into it (River puts a different meaning into guns). Look also at the way he describes River's room, questioning whether it's really her room when she is not in it.

As odd as it was, Early licked the pole for a reason. He is establishing a connection with the ship on some level. He wants to understand Serenity so that he can find River. He can see the ship, he can hear what goes on inside it, he can touch it and smell the air. Why not taste it as well? To him, this makes sense. It's a bit weird and it's a character quirk, but it's still important.

FREELANCERTEX

Monday, October 29, 2007 10:53 PM

I honestly just thought he was being weird or sumthin. :-P never thought about it on a sensory level.

__________________________
Have you ever wondered why in a dream you can touch a falling sky?
Or fly to the heavens that watch over you?

"I am a leaf on the wind, watch how I soar."

A man is least himself when he speaks in his own person. Give him a mask and he will show you his true self.

You can't take the sky from me...

TRAVELER

Tuesday, October 30, 2007 2:35 AM

River climbs all over the ship. Even if she was just walking by she may have touched the beam. Who knows what information Early may have on her. DNA. Video and audio recordings. He may actually know what she smells and tastes like. So if she walked down that way she probably touched that beam several times.

Or Early is just out of his friggen mind.

http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=28764731
Traveler

RAHLMACLAREN

Tuesday, October 30, 2007 4:33 AM

Early got River's scent from her room. He noticed the smell again from passing by the beam, and decided to make a closer "analysis". So, he licked the beam, since taste is kind of an extention of the since of smell.

On the subject of his ship, I think it was Early calling his ship to the X,Y,Z location of his suit. Either that or Serenity was being turned back on course, and it just looked like Early's ship was moving away.

On a side note, in the game Space Rangers 2, the humans' ranger ship model looks a lot like Early's ship.

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Find here the Serenity you seek.

MAL4PREZ

Tuesday, October 30, 2007 2:59 PM

Might that beam be one River was standing near when she was "listening" up through the ceiling? (Did Joss point this out in the commentary?)

You know, I think the OiS commentary is what really made me love this show - the amount of thought that Joss put into constructing it. And the fact that he had an existential crisis after seeing Close Encounters. A good sci-fi movie will do that kind of thing to me too.

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