Did Joss paint himself into a corner with Serenity?
POSTED BY: OPPYH
UPDATED: Monday, September 1, 2008 22:55
VIEWED: 28681
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Well, Joss did say in the Serenity Visual Companion that if a sequel was made, he has every intention on bringing Wash and Book back. He said it was gonna be in a cool way too, not that they had twins or were cloned or something. If anyone could, it's Joss. He brought back Colossus in the comics and it made sense. He did it in a cool way.
Anyway, here's my take on how to bring both characters back.
Lets say the crew left Haven, also leaving Book behind. Something tells me they wouldn't have strapped his dead body to the hull. Anyway, not long after Serenity leaves an Alliance ship arrives to inspect the damage. They find Books body and realize who he is. Remember the officer in the episode "Safe"? They imiediatly gave Book medical attention. Same here. They take Book aboard their ship and "fix" him. Not just for who he is, but because they feel he can tell them about Serenity and where River is.
Same with Wash. The crew was forced to leave Serenity very quickly after Wash was killed. We know the Alliance was there too cause they showed up after River killed the reavers. They would've first searched the ship. Finding Wash, they would also feel like he could give them much needed information about the crew of Serenity. So, they take his body as well.
Now, you might be wondering how the Alliance "fix" both Wash and Book.
Wetware.
Remember what Tracey was transporting in the episode "The Message"? Organs. "Super" organs. Who's to say the Alliance can't replace the damaged organs in Book and Wash with wetware? After all, they wouldn't have been dead long.
We could then say that the funeral at the end of Serenity simply used monuments. Doesn't mean the actuall bodies were buried there.
That would make for a cool story for Serenity 2. Wash and Book are alive, being questioned by the Alliance. Serenity finds out about this. How?
The Operative.
He doesn't become part of the crew, but Mal get's a tip from the Operative on what the Alliance has done.
So, with River being the temporary pilot, Serenity takes off on an adventure to rescue Book and Wash from the Alliance!
I can just picture the scene when Wash enters the bridge again. He sits down in the pilot's chair. Sets his dinosaurs out, and hits the 3 switches, ready for take off!
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I see no Drama in having Simon bring Wash back and alive for Zoe. Zoe made her choice to stay loyal to Mal and her role on Serenity rather than leave with her husband, when he wanted to, (see his comic fantasy). He died a hero doing his job to save his family. Why take that away from him? Zoe's character growth will come from her grief and acceptance of his death, like the old saying, "what doesn't kill ya, will make ya stronger and wiser". There is potential for story writing here. Either, by being that new single mom or a returning Dust Devil.
And, Mal doesn't need anymore partners in crime. He has River, Zoe, Jayne, Kaylee, and Simon. What he needs is to love a woman, that loves him back (Inara) and make babies with her (a family) so he can emotionally pull himself out of the Valley and he can start by being man enough to tell her so. Again, potential for story writing. A very long one, knowing, Joss.
Simon, Kaylee, Inara, and River are young enough to have a life time of stories. So, I'm not sure of where this thinking comes from, that because one character dies there is no more room for storytelling. Joss kills his characters because people do die in real life drama. That’s the way it is, but life goes on.
Unfortunately, Serenity, metaphorically killed Firefly. These characters won’t be seen in a series, other than movie sequels. The actors are busy (thank goodness), and are getting older. Movie sequels make the most sense or maybe a mini series.
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Well, I don't think people are worried about Wash and Book's death causing a lack of stories. Like Joss said, you can take all nine characters and have nine different spin-offs.
I think it's more of an matter of having "the whole" crew back.
If we really want to start talking about the rest of the crews future, I think it would be off the ship. I mean let's face it. If Mal and Inara get together and have kids, I see Mal starting a ranch. Because at that point, he wouldn't need Serenity anymore, in my opinion. Serenity is his love because it fills a void. If he were to marry Inara, neither one would really be running to or from anything.
Jayne would leave Serenity because he'd get paid more somewhere else since Mal left.
Simon and River almost left in the movie. Wouldn't take much for them to leave. If Simon and Kaylee married, they would leave as well. Raise their family somewhere safe. They'd be able to make a living fixing ships and people.
Not sure what Zoe would do. Her story has the potential to become tragic if Mal and Inara got together. Zoe had two things to take care of. Mal and Wash. With Wash dead and Mal not really needed her anymore, her life would kind of be up in the air.
The point is this. Serenity is the thing they all need to fill the voids in their life. This made up family is what they live for. Once you start introducing real family into the equation, the need for Serenity diminishes. That's why I've never been a fan of Mal and Inara getting together. I've never been a fan of anyone having babies either.
The phrase "Happily ever after" is put at the end of stories for a reason. Once everyone is happy and has what they want, the story is over.
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Quote:
Originally posted by Platonist:
I see no Drama in having Simon bring Wash back and alive for Zoe. Zoe made her choice to stay loyal to Mal and her role on Serenity rather than leave with her husband, when he wanted to, (see his comic fantasy). He died a hero doing his job to save his family. Why take that away from him? Zoe's character growth will come from her grief and acceptance of his death, like the old saying, "what doesn't kill ya, will make ya stronger and wiser". There is potential for story writing here. Either, by being that new single mom or a returning Dust Devil.
And, Mal doesn't need anymore partners in crime. He has River, Zoe, Jayne, Kaylee, and Simon. What he needs is to love a woman, that loves him back (Inara) and make babies with her (a family) so he can emotionally pull himself out of the Valley and he can start by being man enough to tell her so. Again, potential for story writing. A very long one, knowing, Joss.
Simon, Kaylee, Inara, and River are young enough to have a life time of stories. So, I'm not sure of where this thinking comes from, that because one character dies there is no more room for storytelling. Joss kills his characters because people do die in real life drama. That’s the way it is, but life goes on.
Unfortunately, Serenity, metaphorically killed Firefly. These characters won’t be seen in a series, other than movie sequels. The actors are busy (thank goodness), and are getting older. Movie sequels make the most sense or maybe a mini series.
For once Platonist, I totally agree with you. There's also more conflict between Mal and Inara and Mal settling down doesn't mean that he or any of the crew will leave Serenity
And life does go on after the death of loved ones. I found that out at 18 when my father died suddenly and again now at 48. My Mom passed at the end of May. Life is different, but it goes on.
http://fireflyfaninnc.livejournal.com/
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I dunno Slowhand; I've never felt much of a Zoe/Mal/Inara triangle vibe. I think all three could still co exist on Serenity. Wash/Zoe and Mal did. Zoe's role has always been Mal’s working partner. She doesn't fulfill Mal's romantic idealism or he wouldn’t be looking Inara's way. They've never been that intimate beyond the jobs or Wash wouldn't have made his way into Zoë’s heart.
All love and need Serenity in their own way, why would they leave or that change? Besides, Mal and Inara have enough obstacles to overcome without throwing Zoe in the mix. She needs to arc on her own to gain strength to keep going, and there you have the stories.
And isn't it inevitable that eventually all characters will move on and start families of their own (those that are still alive), otherwise the verse becomes cartoonish. Some may stay or choose to leave. Nothing lasts forever, except family and love.
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A thought about future Firefly:
Do they have cloning tech? Surely the Alliance does, we're cloning sheep now, why not people in the future?
IF that is the case, what would happen if Wash was killed, but for some reason the Blue Hands decided to clone him? Then he could be an agent provocateur, inserting himself back into the crew, for some twisted purpose he may or may not know.
Or as far as a new series, I wouldn't be upset if Joss just picked up from the end of Season Only and went forward, and just make the movie a "dream sequence" so that we get all the characters back, and the story line continues on.
My two cents anyway.
'Who are you and how did you get in here?' 'I'm a locksmith. And, I'm a locksmith.'
Police Squad
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@ slowhand, You're also forgetting that Mal doesn't WANT to be on land.
and why would Inara willingly throw away what she believes in to be with Mal? she wouldn't = no happy ending for them two. (if she did, she wouldn't be the same person..)
As for a Mal/Zoe vibe, no. Just no. I thought that War Stories went to great lengths to dispel any possibilities of that happening.
A good storyline to explore is Zoe becoming captain (but under different circumstances than what mal4prez is exploring.) - only problem would be getting to a situation where that would be possible. Getting rid of Mal in a believable fashion is hard, especially if you work towards a sudden but inevitable return.
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You might as well ask if Joss painted himself into a corner when he killed off Jenny Calendar, Angelus, Joyce Summers, Buffy Summers, and Tara Maclay.
The answer to either question is no.
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Yeah, no corner here. Joss is a wizard that way.
Agreeing Chrisisall
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Quote:
Originally posted by ncbrowncoat:
And life does go on after the death of loved ones. I found that out at 18 when my father died suddenly and again now at 48. My Mom passed at the end of May. Life is different, but it goes on.
And was the death of your parents entertainment?
That is a totally cruel question, but it speaks to the difference between fiction for entertainment and real life.
Death and reality are things we deal with, and learn to move on from.
I look to fiction as entertainment. If I want unhappy endings, all I gotta do is wake up! But please keep in mind that I acknowledge that my bias runs to the fact that I like my entertainment to be FUN and I expect life to be tempered by MISERY, so when entertainment is tempered by MISERY it becomes a reflection of life and ceases to be entertainment. Good entertainment resonates of real life without getting sucked into dwelling on real life drawbacks.
I offer my sincere condolences to ncbrowncoat for the real-life loss of your parents.
But I guess I'm surprised that you would want that real-life saddness mimicked in your entertainment.
I'm not entertained by having fictional characters (that I've been led to be emotionally invested in) killed off as a form of audience manipulation. I will miss Book but his death was a more acceptable fit than Wash's.
Books death was important to the storyline and character development because Book was the catalyst to Mal regaining a little bit of his "rudder". Book's casual murder by the Operative and his dying wish, nay, DEMAND that Mall "believe" again made Mal and crew confront River's Miranda secret, rather than just run. Wash was sacrificed meaninglessly as a plot gimmick to create peril.
I understand the idea of killing characters for dramatic effect, but my whole point is that at no point is the show (or a Serenity sequel) made better by the loss of Wash as compared to what that character brings to the table dramatically. If we "had" to kill off a fictional character I would agree with this reasoning but we don't "have to" kill off anybody. Its a work of fiction. There is no REAL peril in any of it.
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