BIGGEST MOVIE SPOILER YET!!

POSTED BY: chronicthehedgehog
UPDATED: Sunday, July 18, 2004 06:13
VIEWED: 6972
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TIGER

Friday, July 16, 2004 5:39 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by SoupCatcher:
...most other TV shows would've had the engineer completely build a new part out of socks, dishwashing liquid, metal stair tread, and duct tape. Or completely change the principle of the engine so that power came from a re-calibration of the aft tehallybopper relay. Firefly takes the problem and treats it as a socio-technical problem...

I COMPLETELY agree. I could see Tim and Joss discussing this very idea while putting this script together. Maybe they even started with it - how can we have the ship break down and NOT save it with a miracle/impossibility of science, ala Star Trek?

I mean really, your house or apartment contains some pretty advanced technology, but if your furnace dies in December, can you divert power from your refrigerator to keep the house warm?

---------------------------------------------
...The beauty of things was born before eyes and sufficient to itself; the heart-breaking beauty
Will remain when there is no heart to break for it.

ROWAN

Friday, July 16, 2004 6:45 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by CapnHarbatkin:
That's the kind of thing that only someone with too much time on their hands come to realize. (makes sign of capital "L" against his forehead).

(((((((((((((((CapnHarbatkin)))))))))))))
Well if it would make you feel better I noticed all those as well. I do think it was the same part that Wash picks up. But to really earn that "L" you have to watch all the good parts at 1/8 speed over and over just so that you can see every nuance of the actors movements and facial expressions LOL! like I do

PURPLEBELLY

Friday, July 16, 2004 7:10 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by CapnHarbatkin:
Everyone feel free to kick on this but I think the compression coil/catalyzer is:

1. Mentioned as needing to be replaced in Serenity, the series pilot
2. Again requested by Kaylee in The Train Job

This isn't a kick, but one observation before I get to the good (sic) stuff. As originally broadcast, The Train Job replaced Serenity as the pilot, so the two statements can be compressed as Mentioned in the pilot. Its placement in the pilot was essential.

For me, the relationship between Captain and Engineer at a moment of crisis is beautifully drawn in Out of Gas; there are no recriminations, just facing the task. Fillion and Staite work well together throughout the series, the timing of small tactile moments being particularly good, but the timing of the moment that hangs between them in the engine room as they push back the recrimination, is Art; set up by Minear, of course.

Of course, you may disagree.

CAPNHARBATKIN

Friday, July 16, 2004 1:44 PM

(((((((((((((((ROWAN)))))))))))))

Quote:

But to really earn that "L" you have to watch all the good parts at 1/8 speed over and over just so that you can see every nuance of the actors movements and facial expressions LOL! like I do

Yippee!! Now I've got an idea for something new to do this weekend (after I go see I, Robot of course!).

KNIBBLET

Friday, July 16, 2004 2:07 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by CapnHarbatkin:

Everyone feel free to kick on this but I think the compression coil/catalyzer is ...and is it just me or does... Wash pick up a part that looks exactly like the catalyzer in Ariel and throw it against the ambulance when they're in the junk yard?

I swear to god I've seen that part before.
I think (mind you, it's been 25 years and I haven't seen one since tech school) that it's a water separator off a P-38.
That is an environmental systems part off an obsolete aircraft or I'm just another wacky former mechanic who's sniffed too much Trichlorotriflouroethylene.

"Just keep walkin, preacher man."

CAPTAINHARBATKIN

Friday, July 16, 2004 4:45 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Tiger:
I mean really, your house or apartment contains some pretty advanced technology, but if your furnace dies in December, can you divert power from your refrigerator to keep the house warm?

Uh, no, but I CAN light my oven and leave it open and warm my house THAT way. I can also use my gas grill, my Coleman stove and my massively powerful high pressure propane burner to heat my house.

These even use a different fuel source (propane, not natural gas), and yes, I normally have 80 pounds or so of fuel for them. I have all that even though I live in a warm climate, where it's not likely to be life threatening if my heat is off, even in the dead of winter. Might be less comfortable then I like...

I can't help but believe, that even in the future, a frontier mechanic will need to be able to solder or braze a chunk of material into a busted machanical part, and turn it down on a lathe until it will function again. (Or some sort of metal/epoxy mixture as a patch, or a molded ceramic substitute or carbon fiber or ...)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
...they'll rape us to death, eat our flesh, and sew our skins into their
clothing - and if we're very, very lucky, they'll do it in that order.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

KNIBBLET

Friday, July 16, 2004 5:03 PM

Quote:
Posted by LYNCHAJ
is that a P-38 (Lightning) or a T-38 (Talon)? I don't think there has been many P-38's flying since WWII.

It wasn't flying - it was sitting in a huge hanger at Chanute full of tech school type airmen being taken apart and put back together again and again and again.

ARGH!!! T-38 --- not P-38. Gads. I'm losing my everyloving mind.

"Just keep walkin, preacher man."

SEMTEXJACK

Friday, July 16, 2004 8:00 PM

You've lost me completely.

I can drive a Pallet Truck!!!!!!!

Lok'Tar Ogar

KNIBBLET

Friday, July 16, 2004 8:17 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by lynchaj:
Ahh, Chanute AFB, in Illinois right?
... old Luke AFB... and the aircraft were always in pieces spread out all over the hangar with SE wires and cables draped everywhere. I always wondered where they ever got anyone brave enough to ever fly those things.

Shoot me, don't Chanute me. I spent the longest four months of my life at Chanute. It was so boring, we used to look forward to 2:00 on Tuesday afternoon.

Tuesday afternoon was the final test for firefighting classes. Fuel was poured onto an old airframe and the firefighters let loose. You couldn't see the plane from where we were, but you could see the smoke. Stopwatches in hand, we'd cheer on the graduating class. They had 2 minutes to get the fire out or they had to start over again.

I was supposed to go to Luke for my first assignment; however two weeks before my school ended, my fate was changed to Langley.

"Just keep walkin, preacher man."

SOUPCATCHER

Saturday, July 17, 2004 9:57 PM

Quote:
originally posted by CapnHarbatkin
I'm starting to like Soupcatcher's posts more and more.
...
3. Wash pick up a part that looks exactly like the catalyzer in Ariel and throw it against the ambulance when they're in the junk yard?

Why thank you Capn :tips hat: (use your own imagination emoticon)
This scene was intriguing to me as well. This takes place after Out of Gas and I've wondered why Wash threw this part away. Two interpretations come to mind: that since they currently don't need the part it is useless to the crew, or Wash doesn't know what a catalyzer is or has forgotten that this was the part that caused all the trouble (he was distracted a bit during the experience, what with Zoe fighting for her life and all, and I don't remember him being in on any of the Captain-Kaylee conversations). I could see it being either one, or even just Joss further reinforcing the notion that the catalyzer is a "nothing part", like the not-so-much-Mal captain says.

Quote:
Originally posted by PurpleBelly
For me, the relationship between Captain and Engineer at a moment of crisis is beautifully drawn in Out of Gas; there are no recriminations, just facing the task. Fillion and Staite work well together throughout the series, the timing of small tactile moments being particularly good, but the timing of the moment that hangs between them in the engine room as they push back the recrimination, is Art; set up by Minear, of course.

Great observation, PurpleBelly. I've often wished that some of my previous bosses were more like Mal in this scene. He doesn't forget the big picture. He doesn't focus on the details of the past. One question I do have though is when Kaylee takes responsibility for not preventing the breakdown. We as viewers know that she was expecting this part to break as far back as the pilot episode. She brought it to the attention of Mal so she did her job (identify potential problem, identify the solution, lobby for that solution with those who control the resources). So did Mal do the right thing, by Kaylee, in not shouldering that responsibility away from her? (hooray for awkward sentence construction!!). I give him a pass because it clearly had nothing to do with getting the engine back online - water under the bridge so to speak. But that always bugged me that Kaylee blamed herself (granted, I'm partial to the engineer rather than to management

).

I shaved off my beard for you, devil woman!

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