Accurate Firefly/Serenity Timeline

POSTED BY: Yinghuochong2011
UPDATED: Friday, May 12, 2017 07:47
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ALMANAC

Wednesday, September 21, 2011 5:51 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Bytemite:
They worked with Joss though, I thought?

Well, "worked with" is a relative term. The fact that Whedon was willing to sign off on something like this (if he even did so directly, as opposed to someone else at Mutant Enemy) could be an even stronger indicator that he/they don't care and aren't thinking about this stuff.

I'd be more okay with a certain interpretation of the 'verse and its geography (even one I don't agree with) if they didn't just make up a bunch of stuff themselves--planet names, that sort of thing. If the majority of your work involves a bunch of places which were never referenced in any way in the actual series or movie, why am I going to think of the two as related?

Quote:
No reason why Joss can't give a shrug and a "sure why not" if someone figures out how his soft sci-fi could be hard science. So long as they don't break any of the aspects that Joss does want, like "No FTL" it seems harmless to me.

I suppose, but (to go back to my previous franchise example) it's sort of like trying to figure out how a Hogwarts wizard would fit in the Star Trek universe--you could do it, and it is harmless, but eventually, you're just doing your own thing far away from the original authorial intent.

Edgar Governo
Historian of Things That Never Were
[url] http://www.mts.net/~arphaxad/history.html]

Visit the Browncoat Saloon
[url] http://www.myspace.com/browncoatsaloon]

Browncoat Saloon Schwag
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BYTEMITE

Wednesday, September 21, 2011 5:59 PM

Well, according to a line in OMR, there are supposedly over 70 worlds in the verse and to create a COMPLETE map of the verse they had to pad things out somehow. Often they actually used fan-invented worlds and names, which I thought was a nice touch.

And I think there's probably enough variation in names and descriptions that someone could easily find what they want if they were going to write a story, so I do kind of treat the QMx map and atlases as canon.

M52NICKERSON

Thursday, September 22, 2011 12:11 PM

I agree with Bytemite here. It is not like the information they added really changes anything. So I don't see how it is moving away from Joss original intent.

I do not fear God, I fear the ignorance of man.

PENNAUSAMIKE

Thursday, September 22, 2011 3:19 PM

I would also have to reinforce that the work by QMx qualifies as canon.
They have worked with a number of people from the Firefly and BDM Serenity creative teams* to produce the work that they have.
In a world where Joss has made a number of canon timeline errors, I think it only helps for someone to have taken the available info and reconcile it in the best way possible.
The QMx Atlas is the best use of minimal info from a rushed, short-run TV series and a movie modified from the TV show to (attempt to) achieve greater audience appeal.

If anyone is willing to attempt to reconcile the gross timeline errors between Firefly, BDM Serenity and Shepherd's Tale; use of the QMx work should only bring a little order to a badly muddled state of canonicity.

Mike

* Geoffrey Mandel, Timothy Earls, Carey Meyer, Barry Chusid

M52NICKERSON

Thursday, September 22, 2011 4:47 PM

I generally discount the 8 months stated by Mal when he is yelling a Simon. He could have meant 18 months, or could have been just going back to an event 8 months ago. People make say the wrong think all the time, especially when made and manhandling a doctor.

I do not fear God, I fear the ignorance of man.

PENNAUSAMIKE

Thursday, September 22, 2011 5:07 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by m52nickerson:
I generally discount the 8 months stated by Mal when he is yelling a Simon. He could have meant 18 months, or could have been just going back to an event 8 months ago. People make say the wrong think all the time, especially when made and manhandling a doctor.

Not just that; Joss sent out a memo, quoted in the Serenity Companion volume, describing the world of 2507.
Except, oops, he meant 2517 or 2518.
Joss is self-admittedly clueless about science and firearms.
Doesn't mean he isn't a wonderful storyteller or aces dialog guy,
but it does impact his science fictional world building skills.

Some points are fan-nitpicking, but sometimes the errors can become glaring enough to effect whole plotlines.

Hey, I wouldn't have built this,
http://fireflydvd.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=3541
if I hadn't been MORE drawn in by the characters, the dialog,
and the overall construct of the 'verse;
moreso than the science and timeline errors.

Mike

ALMANAC

Friday, September 23, 2011 7:09 PM

My responses below will probably come across as rather harsh, for which I apologise.

Keep in mind as you're reading that I'm only speaking here from the POV of someone putting together an ongoing timeline for the franchise--with new material being added as new official stories come out--and that has nothing to do with fan activity in general, which is (of course) awesome. :)

(I'm a Browncoat, too, after all...why would I ever have a problem with that? ;))

Quote:
Originally posted by BYTEMITE:
Well, according to a line in OMR, there are supposedly over 70 worlds in the verse

Well, a line from a deleted scene, but I hear what you're saying. I don't doubt the validity of that line, despite the scene's deleted status.

Quote:
and to create a COMPLETE map of the verse they had to pad things out somehow.

I prefer to have the unnamed places remain unnamed, to keep things open for any future stories being told by Joss Whedon and Company (who seem to be concentrating on doing so in comics, for the most part). The veracity of something like the Atlas falls apart as soon as one or more stories come out with places that don't fit with that interpretation.

Quote:
Often they actually used fan-invented worlds and names, which I thought was a nice touch.

That actually makes me less inclined to think of those names as being in any way canonical.

Quote:
Originally posted by pennausamike:
I would also have to reinforce that the work by QMx qualifies as canon.
They have worked with a number of people from the Firefly and BDM Serenity creative teams* to produce the work that they have.

I know who was involved in putting that stuff together, and it's obviously licenced and therefore "official" in that sense, but...

Okay, let me put it this way. Something like a Star Trek technical manual is official and licenced and sometimes co-authored by people who worked on the series, but that doesn't stop a series from contradicting it when it wants to. The actual show writers aren't going to be thinking of it as too important, so that information is at a distance from that universe as the writers themselves perceive it.

To put it another way, I'm never going to include anything from Browncoats: Redemption into the timeline either, despite the number of people from the series who contributed in some way, because that still doesn't make it canonical.

Quote:
In a world where Joss has made a number of canon timeline errors, I think it only helps for someone to have taken the available info and reconcile it in the best way possible.

...

If anyone is willing to attempt to reconcile the gross timeline errors between Firefly, BDM Serenity and Shepherd's Tale; use of the QMx work should only bring a little order to a badly muddled state of canonicity.

I created the Firefly Timeline, so I'm hardly going to argue with you there. ;)

Having said that, the QMx work is way, way down my list of both canonicity and priority. If you look at my list of sources on the timeline itself, you'll get a sense of my own "hierarchy of canon," which begins with the stories themselves and extends downward through other background material.

Once I get through all the information from the fiction which has been released, as well as deleted scenes, shooting scripts, the movie novelisation by Keith R.A. DeCandido, and the Serenity RPG (which I haven't incorporated yet at all)...perhaps then I would start looking at stuff like the Atlas or the 'Verse in Numbers, or something like a prop from the movie whose details aren't visible in the movie itself.

That's quite a long way off, though.

Edgar Governo
Historian of Things That Never Were
[url] http://www.mts.net/~arphaxad/history.html]

Visit the Browncoat Saloon
[url] http://www.myspace.com/browncoatsaloon[/url]

Browncoat Saloon Schwa

M52NICKERSON

Friday, September 23, 2011 7:21 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Almanac:
My responses below will probably come across as rather harsh, for which I apologise.

I don't think they were harsh at all. In the end it is your timeline and your interpretation.

Personal Canon is always the most important. For me the only things that really matter are the Series and the Movie.

I do not fear God, I fear the ignorance of man.

PENNAUSAMIKE

Saturday, September 24, 2011 12:38 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Almanac:
My responses below will probably come across as rather harsh, for which I apologise.
SNIP

Likewise, not at all.
Everyone who accomplishes a task must set parameters and boundries.
I think you've done a great job with your timeline,
and worked hard to fit it within the information you're comfortable with using.

Mike

PENNAUSAMIKE

Saturday, September 24, 2011 4:05 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Almanac:
SNIP or something like a prop from the movie whose details aren't visible in the movie itself.

Edgar Governo
Historian of Things That Never Were

This is a scan of the River Tam Brain scan I bought from Geoff Mandel a few years back.
This is the scan Dr. Josef Mathias was holding in the scene where Simon is watching River in the chair.
I don't have a back-lit panel, so the image isn't perfect,
but there is some good info on this;
just like the Prop Store images of the info plates handled by the Operative.

By combining the info on the scan with the Propstore images, we see that:
River Tam (Test Subject 443/95/4521) was entered into the Osiris School for the Gifted on August 22nd, 2515.
The Alliance designation for the Osiris School for the Gifted is Alliance Research facility 41,
where River was tested on September 7th, 2515.
Once it was determined that River was a good candidate for the Alliance psychic program,
she was moved to the secret Alliance Research facility 54 for Project Oracle.
She was further tested on psychic abilities on October 13th, 2516.
It was expected that she would be finished with the program on June 4th, 2518,
but her brother, Simon Tam, removed her without authorization in 2516.

I think it is funny to note that River scored in the 98-99th percentile in everything except Social Interaction,
where she scored 47%.

I attempted to remove the watermark in MS Paint, but that wasn't really feasible,
so I started transferring info and images to Word documents
so I could print on vellum and sandwich the sheets in clear plastic,
to create something similar to the plates the Operative handled in Project Oracle's library.

But that's another project that died on the, not-enough-hours-in-the-day, vine.

Mike

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