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

POSTED BY: Sardonica
UPDATED: Thursday, August 26, 2004 20:28
VIEWED: 12420
PAGE 4 of 5

Actually, at the risk of sounding haughty...

I'm dating a girl with a Master's Degree in Environmental Education, and the entire focus of her job is the danger of introduced species.

Yes, some are less hostile, but the bottom line is, introduced speices will have less natural predators in the new environment than they have at "home"--it's not really an over-simplification, is pretty much the basic truth. Ecological systems are EXTREMELY fragile, despite the strength of Nature. Remember the snakehead fish thing a couple of years back?

They started off as a few hundred half-inch long nothings, and quickly grew to several feet, dozens of pounds, super aggressive and nasty as hell--choked out the native fish in whatever region it was to the point that the gov'mint had to forcibly eradicate them. All because nothing in the environment was a natural predator of the snakehead fish...

But, really, who gives a crap? The point is, it's pretty darn easy to just watch the show, see the trees and such, and say "Huh, looks like a spruce tree" then not think about it again.

Plus, wasn't this thread originally talking about aliens?

--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

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Originally posted by BadgersHat:
Plus, wasn't this thread originally talking about aliens?

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Aw c'mon BadgersHat, we were still talking about aliens. It's just that THESE aliens are exotic (and possibly invasive) species of earth life introduced to novel environments!

I will reserve my right to disagree with you. But I guess we have wandered off the main thread so I'll drop the argument.

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I dont think there is ever a need for an alien, its not star trek or star wars. Did you even watch Joss talking about the show and how he envisioned it? Cant relate, no need, show isnt about them or what they could offer to the story, the closest you will get is man-made ones, being the Reavers. Dont ever expect to see one.

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Originally posted by Michizure:
The problem I have with most "aliens" in science fiction is that they aren't -- alien, that is.
. . .
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).

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Bravo, Michizure! I agree whole-heartedly.

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Originally posted by geordiesteve2003:
I dont think there is ever a need for an alien, its not star trek or star wars. Did you even watch Joss talking about the show and how he envisioned it?

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Um, yes, I think most of us watched the Commentaries.

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Originally posted by JK:
Seriously, it just goes against every single grain Firefly has.

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I totally disagree.

The point that I believe Joss was making was more of the "Star Trek" mentality of aliens--humans in makeup. Latex aliens that look and act very similarly to us. Aliens who are main characters, and becomes the main focus of the show.

I don't think that Whedon as a writer would EVER preclude in his own SCIFI show the possibility of touching upon one of the most fascinating and important aspects of science fiction: the possibility that there is other life life in the universe.

Of course Firefly is, at its heart, a show about the human condition. The BEST scifi uses the unknown to shed more light on ourselves and the human condition.

Chief Editor, AFM
www.apocalypsefiction.com
Writer/Producer, The NUKE Brothers
www.nukebrothers.com

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Quote:

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Originally posted by Sardonica:
I don't think that Whedon as a writer would EVER preclude in his own SCIFI show the possibility of touching upon one of the most fascinating and important aspects of science fiction: the possibility that there is other life life in the universe.

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Sure about that?

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"I believe we are the only sentient beings in the universe, and 500 years from now we will still be the only sentient beings around. Aliens are something everyone else is doing." - Joss Whedon

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"Aliens, you know, that's something everybody else has done and is doing. It's a great metaphor to play with, but it's not what I'm interested in. I'm really interested in 'you are there,' in 'you are a part of this.' And I think aliens take you out of that. I also need to spend some time away from latex." - Joss Whedon

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Isn't Jayne enough?

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What, you think Jayne's father threw him out of the family for turning out half-human?

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Quote:

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Originally posted by nedward:

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Sure about that?

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Yep.

In the Whedon quote, he didn't say that we were the only life in the universe. He made a point of saying that we were the only sentient life.

I'm not lookin for a race of Klingons or Vulcans in Firefly. I'm looking for an encounter with something fantastic, unknowable and strange...

Chief Editor, AFM
www.apocalypsefiction.com
Writer/Producer, The NUKE Brothers
www.nukebrothers.com

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