Will we ever see an ALIEN in Firefly...?

POSTED BY: Sardonica
UPDATED: Thursday, August 26, 2004 20:28
VIEWED: 12420
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CORWYN

Monday, August 23, 2004 4:10 PM

Non-terrestrial life seems unlikely.

There should be none on terra-formed planets (or moons), if the terra-formers have done their job correctly. Either they start with a lifeless planet, or they clean it first, anything else is suicide. There are enough problems without life.

Bowden's could be a new 'terrestrial' disease. 500 years and 70 planets is plenty for lots of new diseases. We get many on only one planet. Firefly has 70 worlds each with its own quirks, all in constant contact. With our heros acting to circumvent any controls on cross-contamination.

_Rare Earth_ has been shown to be false in the firefly universe. 70+ earths in close proximity contradicts the conclusion. So there isn't much point in using as an arguments about that universe.

TETHYS

Monday, August 23, 2004 6:53 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by CrevanReaver:
Quote:
Originally posted by Sardonica:
Do you think that all of the plants (and perhaps the molds, funguses, animals, fish, etc.) that exist on all the worlds in Firefly were brought from Earth-that-was, or do you think some may have been indigenous to the worlds?

Plants, molds, fungae, horses, fish, etc. are by themselves Earth organisms. Parallel evolution could not have created them on other worlds. Even if alien life actually does exist, it would most likely be unlike anything we have ever seen or even imagined.
B]

Actually, there have been scientistws studying that factor of life on and off planet. It seems as though lifeforms do exist in "uninhabitable" regions of Earth, such as pools of acid. There has also been evidence of SIMILAR lifeforms on mars, and one of Jupiter's moons. And before ya attempt to debunk that, bear in mind the source: CNN and the Discovery channel.

Not so much as Humans, but as FREE-THINKING individuals, can we assume that we are the pinnacle of creation. Like humans are all that great, to be honest. We lie, cheat, steal, and slaughter ourselves on a wholesale level EVERY DAY.

And besides, the idea that life can only exist on earth is near to saying that there is no life after death (or there is, for that matter). The simple answer that no one wants to truly admit about the question: "Is there life on other planets?"
is this: "I don't know" anyone that tells you otherwise is simply STATING AN OPINION. No one knows the answer, PERIOD. If we knew the answer, then we would be traveling to other worlds, and vacationing on Alpha Centauri, or something.

The idea for no aliens in FF was a very refreshing idea for a show, and one that remains to me to be integral to the story, so I am not disputing that part of it, just simly the closed-mindedness of others (not neccessarily Joss).

"Your mouth is talking. Might wanna see to that"

TMURRIE

Monday, August 23, 2004 8:21 PM

Well no necessarily aliens, like humanoids from Rigel-etc or whatever. But maybe anciet alien artifacts or old ruins of alien cities on a far out rim planet. Not intact buildings. But hints that there was something there a long long time ago. And who knows maybe that could have been what Bluesun bases all of its research and testing on. Old alien clues of life on other planets. But I could be completly wrong.

MICHIZURE

Tuesday, August 24, 2004 3:32 PM

The problem I have with most "aliens" in science fiction is that they aren't -- alien, that is. Most of the time they are thinly disguised human subcultures, adopted to give the narrative a slightly altered perspective. That's okay for a start, but the device wears out pretty rapidly if that's all it's asked to do.

The Rare Earth hypothesis makes too many unwarranted worst case assumptions for me: it's possible, but not terribly convincing. As already pointed out, the number of terraformable worlds in Firefly points strongly in the opposite direction.

I wouldn't mind seeing a limited, really alien alien presence in Firefly. It would have to be weird and incomprehensible, except as a "black box" (i.e., stimulus "A" produces response "B," but no one knows why). Ultimately, the narrative function would be to show us the back of our own heads: it's hard to define what it is to be human, if there's nothing to which to compare.

The best approach (from a story perspective) would be a tenuous, uncertain, X-Files style contact, where no one is certain of what happened. Here's a twisted thought: what if Blue Sun were already aware of these weird aliens, and was crash-developing human psychics as a means of either communication or defense?

--------
Kotoba yori tashika na koto michizure ni shite.

SARDONICA

Tuesday, August 24, 2004 4:08 PM

Quote:
I wouldn't mind seeing a limited, really alien alien presence in Firefly. It would have to be weird and incomprehensible, except as a "black box" (i.e., stimulus "A" produces response "B," but no one knows why). Ultimately, the narrative function would be to show us the back of our own heads: it's hard to define what it is to be human, if there's nothing to which to compare.

I agree 100%

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www.apocalypsefiction.com
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KASUO

Tuesday, August 24, 2004 6:41 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Sardonica:
In fact, these disease mentioned in The Train Job *may* have been an extraterrestrial virus or germ...

I don't know if Bodance (sp?) was a disease so much as a condition. It was said that the miners and townsfolk got it from the ore processors mixing with "air down there", or something to that effect. Sounds like a pollutant with a degenerative side-effect.

JK

Tuesday, August 24, 2004 10:19 PM

I think I'd have a heart attack if an alien showed up in Firefly. Not just from the surprise, but also from my heart breaking at the show's wonderful premise being spectacularly and magnificently buggered up.

Seriously, it just goes against every single grain Firefly has.

Although a story where they think they've found aliens but it's actually something else, all tense and creepy and shadows zipping about; now that might be good.

JK

THEGREYJEDI

Tuesday, August 24, 2004 11:37 PM

There will be no aliens and monsters outside of the range of humans in the Firefly 'verse. Joss has said so. Many times. But to veer off that for a moment, I think that any life encountered that's not human, as we stated before, might be something wholly new. Like in Babylon 5, there was the race of aliens what lived in an atmosphere wholly toxic to humans and other similar breathing species that had a whole gamut of psychic abilities. But the Boden's Disease was a matter of pollution. And All of the planets, save maybe a bare few, were completely uninhabitable by human terms before terraforming. I think the only 'aliens' we'll see are Reavers and those BlueSun 'adjusted' humans. That's it. Those and Book's hair.

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BADGERSHAT

Wednesday, August 25, 2004 6:26 PM

Here's the thing about fungus and mold and that sort--

When you walk in a farm in some foreign country, then come to the USA, you have to tell them if you've been on farmland, touched plants or livestock in your travel.

The reason why is this--
Invading species have no predators, and take over.
Ever wonder why the USA has such trouble with those Asian tree-eating beetle things? It's because someone accidentally brought one or three back, and they had no natural predators here, so they thrived and flourished and multiplied. Same with the exotic trees, fish, weeds, etc.

So, if you're on a planet colonized by earthlings, walking through the farms, and leave, and set down on some other planet, chances are you'll have pollen or spores or whatnot in the soles of your boots. When you walk through the dirt on the new planet, those spores fall off, and if they like the ground, they grow, they spread, and they choke out the native plants.

I think that may be a reason we see so many earth-native plants on all the other planets--all them folks going back and forth are bringing they seeds and such with them wherever they go.

As for the animals, well, they probably just stock em and they thrive for similar reasons--no natural predators.

After a few decades, the colony planets would all look essentially the same, fauna- and flora-wise.

But I think it would be cool, at some point, to have an alien encounter. Nothing blatant.
Anyone remember the episode of Star Trek TNG where they were trapped in a space field, no one could dream when they slept except Troi, and she kept having nightmares about "Two eyes in the dark one moon circles" or somesuch? And it turned out that some alien presence was communicating with her, asking for help.

We never saw those aliens directly, just a weird creepy dream sequence with swirling images. I think that, not quite THAT way of course, but in a similar fashion, where it's all handled non-blatantly, would work nicely...

--Jefé The Hat

***************************
--Don't bother trying to predict, figure out, second guess, criticize, or suggest anything that comes from the mind of Joss Whedon, for you shall usually be wrong, and shall find out the Truth and Purpose in due time.
(This is the Truth of Whedoning)
"I like smackin 'em"--Jayne

DIEGO

Wednesday, August 25, 2004 6:52 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by BadgersHat:
The reason why is this--
Invading species have no predators, and take over.

Well, it's certainly true that it often doesn't take much to give an exotic species a foothold in a new area. However, not all introduced species become invasive. Some go extinct in the new habitat, while others do okay where they were introduced but do not dominate the ecosystem and do not spread. What makes some plants and animals aggresive invaders and others (often close relatives) less successful at spreading in a new place? Honestly, we have a lot of ideas, but we don't know the answer. It's a very interesting question.

But anyway, BadgerHat is right that a few spores or seeds can hitchike quite easily, but simply saying that introduced species have no native predators and will inevitably take over is an over-simplification.

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