Firefly Conspiracy Theories

POSTED BY: Quicksand
UPDATED: Thursday, May 27, 2004 01:11
VIEWED: 12587
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CHRONICTHEHEDGEHOG

Monday, May 24, 2004 2:07 PM

But the question then becomes, why? Learning all he can about the crew is all well and good, but how does it help him in any way? We've already seen the Blue Hands kill anyone who's even talked to River, why would they put someone there to learn everything about them? Wouldn't they already know everything?

He's had more than enough opportunities to take both River and Simon, hell the whole crew, but hasn't. In fact, he's gone out of his way to make sure they're not captured.

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PURPLEBELLY

Monday, May 24, 2004 2:34 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by chronicthehedgehog:
But the question then becomes, why?

Book's adversary is Blue Sun, not petty criminals who can't forget the past. River is the evidence his group will use against the Blue Sun cabal to restore the True Alliance; that is today's battle, Unification was yesterday's battle.

ZEKE023

Monday, May 24, 2004 2:35 PM

Has anyone thought about Early knowning Book? There are only two ways Early would know that Book was not a Shepherd, either it was obvious that he was not from his appearance or demeanor, or Early knew who he was. Perhaps Book was at one time in charge of hiring Bounty Hunters for the alliance... or was a Bounty Hunter himself.

Perhaps he is now reformed... and Joss was going to bring it up later to complicate things with he and River.

I think it's obvious that Book is not bluffing. He wants to be a good shepherd... but perhaps he is to be tested? tempted to return to his old ways?

This is a classic story. Most saints, prophets (with the sole exception of Christ), and other religious icons are reformed sinners.

CHRONICTHEHEDGEHOG

Monday, May 24, 2004 2:40 PM

I'm not questioning why he would want River, but why he would want to infiltrate the ship, rather than simply taking her at the first opportunity. We already know Book is a good fighter, explosives expert, weapons man, and knows a whole heap of people, so why wouldn't he just take her a dissapear, it's not like he couldn't. What benefit is there in waiting?

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SERGEANTX

Monday, May 24, 2004 2:46 PM

It's Wash. He's the key. He's the psychic mastermind behind the whole Blue Hands experiment, in deep cover. It's so obvious when you think about it.

Oh, and River is the Queen of the Reavers. Think about it. "Reaver", "River"... coincidence? I think NOT!"

SergeantX

"Dream a little dream or you can live a little dream. I'd rather live it, cause dreamers always chase but never get it." Aesop Rock

PURPLEBELLY

Monday, May 24, 2004 3:13 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by chronicthehedgehog:
What benefit is there in waiting?

Book has to get River somewhere she will be safe from Blue Sun; more properly where the evidence of Blue Sun's wrong doing can be protected until used in court. River would not be safe in Alliance detention on the Rim, so she is best kept hidden on Serenity. The visit to the core planet of Ariel was an opportunity, and Book stopped off at the Abbey to try to arrange a safe house, but apparently failed; that failure points to the probability that Book and Inara don't yet know that they are both working for the True Alliance.

Inara is, of course, using her life as a peripatetic companion as a cover for her task of establishing a network for the True Alliance in the upper echelons of the border planets, after life on Sinon got too hot for one of her clients, a leader of the opposition to Blue Sun.

Or I could be wrong

ZOID

Monday, May 24, 2004 3:35 PM

Quicksand, et al:

Well, since some consider me "The King of Conspiracy" hereabout, I figure I might as well play a little on this thread, too. First off, I don't consider speculation about where JW/TM/ME might be taking the Firefly story 'spoiling'. If I -- or anybody else for that matter -- guess right, well it's gonna be covered up in so many wrong guesses that very few will notice. And of course, as Book says (paraphrased), "It's not where you're going that matters; how you get there is the worthier part." The same is true for the Firefly story. If we do manage to speculate correctly about the outcome of the individual and group story arcs, JW will make the trip fun and throw some curves along the way.

So here goes, for the many of you who are new(?) to this board and haven't read any of my previous posts on the subject: Shepherd Book -- in my reckoning -- was formerly the military mastermind who engineered the deep flank maneuver that obviated the Independents' defeat at the Battle of Serenity Valley. His true name is General (Retired) Richard Wilkins.

We are given a clue to this via a little tidbit on the DVD cut-scenes; the script with the telling evidence -- with notes in JW's handwriting -- may be found at the official Firefly website at this link: http://tinyurl.com/2e5rj . This script is for a deleted scene that was shot, and then cut from the "Serenity" pilot episode. I believe Joss cut the scene because it gave away too much about one of his enigmatic characters, then was put on the DVD extras because Joss wanted people to figure out some of the things he was never going to get a chance to elaborate on. Please note that while the script says, "General Richard Wil-", the DVD's cut-scene completes the name as "General Richard Wilkins".

I believe the character we know as Book was a man of honor and compassion for those he vanquished in battle (bushido). After the Alliance/BlueSun won at Serenity Valley, the victors purposely dragged their feet during the peace negotiations, in order to maximize the pain and suffering of the rebels, to punish them for opposing Alliance/BlueSun's agenda. The fact that this also caused the death and suffering of their own troops was of no consequence to Alliance/BlueSun leadership; those people were as expendable as used toilet paper. General Richard 'Book' Wilkins, unable to deal with the dishonor and shame of this betrayal to his creed by his own masters, resigned his commission and entered the cloister.

I further believe we might have eventually gotten a flashback of Book and Kaylee's initial conversation, the complete conversation. In the course of the conversation, Book would have asked who captained Serenity. Kaylee would have said, "Malcolm Reynolds"; we'd have seen a widening of Book's eyes because he recognized the name of the sergeant who started with 40 men, eventually led 2,000 and was belatedly rescued with only 150 left alive.

When Inara asks Book why he's so fascinated with Mal, Book replies (again paraphrased), "Because he's something of a mystery." He also points out that while Mal ingratiates himself to no one, he's fiercely protective of his crew (bushido). In OiS, when River reads Book's thoughts, his "I don't give half a hump whether you're innocent or not. So where does that put you?" was directed at himself, for the reasons I've enumerated above. While he had nothing to do with the murder and shame of the aftermath of Serenity, he still holds himself accountable, as every good leader of men does. Another thing to note about that scene: All the other characters look at River when she reads them; Book is looking at his own hands, ...holding a knife. I believe Richard 'Book' Wilkins took passage on Mal's boat to learn more about a simple grunt who eventually commanded 2,000 troops and effectively thwarted Alliance/BlueSun strategy for several weeks, until Wilkins' deep flanking maneuver broke their resistance (as at Thermopylae). As to why Mal and Book thi

DELIA

Monday, May 24, 2004 5:07 PM

I'm sticking with the Zoid theory till I hear something better argued. I like it. It's quirky and implausible enough (with the kind of vague hints that make sense only in hindsight) to be a Joss theory (references to Dawn in the last episode of third season Buffy, anyone?).

Zoid --

Monday means a new quote, horray! Glad to see you've left Mal where he belongs, on Serenity. The quote itself is a bit mysterious -- either you've hidden a vague hint of your own in it, or I'm so used to looking for them that I see them everywhere.

Delia

___________________________________________
ANYA: Don't be ridiculous. Martha Stewart isn't a demon. She's a witch.
XANDER: Please, she-- Really?
ANYA: Of course. Nobody could do that much decoupage without calling on the powers of darkness.

OBJECTIVEASSESSMENT

Monday, May 24, 2004 5:41 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by zoid:
Quicksand, et al:

We are given a clue to this via a little tidbit on the DVD cut-scenes; the script with the telling evidence -- with notes in JW's handwriting -- may be found at the official Firefly website at this link: http://tinyurl.com/2e5rj . This script is for a deleted scene that was shot, and then cut from the "Serenity" pilot episode. I believe Joss cut the scene because it gave away too much about one of his enigmatic characters, then was put on the DVD extras because Joss wanted people to figure out some of the things he was never going to get a chance to elaborate on. Please note that while the script says, "General Richard Wil-", the DVD's cut-scene completes the name as "General Richard Wilkins".

Respectfully,

zoid
_________________________________________________

"I'm telling you right now. When all's said and done, that little girl's gonna change the world. Not just this little bit she's done here, neither; big things. I couldn't be prouder if she was my own daughter."

- Malcolm Reynolds, owner-operator of Firefly-class transport, "Serenity"; from A Child Shall Lead Them: A History of the Second War of Independence Wilkins, Richard

Does the JW note on the script say that in the war footage you can't see the details of the humans? If it does it certainly back up Zoid's theory. Oh and by the way, is it worrying that I get really excited everytime Zoid changes his sig?

"When you can't run...you crawl...and when you can't crawl...when you can't do that..."
"Find someone to carry you"

QUICKSAND

Monday, May 24, 2004 6:54 PM

Quote:
He's had more than enough opportunities to take both River and Simon, hell the whole crew, but hasn't. In fact, he's gone out of his way to make sure they're not captured.

Maybe he works for the Alliance, not Blue Sun. And an undercover operation does not necessitate arresting everyone at the earliest available opportunity. There's subtlety to it. Nuance.

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