Serenity: It's Never Easy Comic - read it here
POSTED BY: two
UPDATED: Thursday, January 12, 2017 14:02
VIEWED: 76257
PAGE 3 of 8
Quote:
Originally posted by two:
Somebody start a petition. Don't let Zack Whedon cheat on his story-making duties by giving River telekinesis.
It might be better to just ask that Zack not write anymore Firefly stories.
I do not fear God, I fear the ignorance of man.
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He's not BAD exactly. Although they really need another writer on board because for some reason it seems like the stuff he does write is pretty short and not plot relevant.
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Is it just me, or is Mal totally emasculated in this comic?
He doesn’t get a shot off in the stand-off, then he’s saved by River, who can apparently fly now, and then, at the end, he’s being given direction from Zoe, like she’s the new Captain? Is there a subtle role reversal, unbeknownst to Mal, or is Zoe practicing at Captaining her own ship?
And, River doesn't seem to be helping with the piloting, like at the end of the movie...a bit disappointing, I guess.
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Quote:
Originally posted by BYTEMITE:
He's not BAD exactly. Although they really need another writer on board because for some reason it seems like the stuff he does write is pretty short and not plot relevant.
Not BAD is far from good. Even for a short story this was very simple. Simple enough a lot of people could have written it, and many done a better job doing so.
Quote:
Originally posted by PLATONIST:
Is it just me, or is Mal totally emasculated in this comic?
He doesn’t get a shot off in the stand-off, then he’s saved by River, who can apparently fly now, and then, at the end, he’s being given direction from Zoe, like she’s the new Captain? Is there a subtle role reversal, unbeknownst to Mal, or is Zoe practicing at Captaining her own ship?
And, River doesn't seem to be helping with the piloting, like at the end of the movie...a bit disappointing, I guess.
Just do what I do, ignore the comics for the most part, like they are bad dreams. You will sleep better at night.
I do not fear God, I fear the ignorance of man.
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lol yeah a bit.
Although... despite the tough guy man in charge front Mal puts up, most of the time he IS kind of emasculated, isn't he? Zoe, Kaylee, Inara, and later River have Mal wrapped around their fingers and could probably make him do just about anything. And except for Jayne and the airlock scene, most of the crew flat out blatantly ignore his orders and get away with it.
The only time Mal is actually remotely commanding is in a crisis.
Yeah, I kind of liked River as a pilot, she could do something that she didn't have to use the horrible Academy martial arts training she never wanted.
Better Days and Down Time are actually pretty good I think, I wouldn't lose anything from Better Days or the Jayne comic relief from Down Time. And there's lots I like in Those Left Behind, Dobson's return and Mal shooting him twice was great.
Shepherd's Tale was all right... Wasn't happy with the soup scene, think that could have been written in a more poignant and character driven way. But the story itself I don't really have any problem with.
EDIT: Ooh, I think River broke the fourth wall in this comic, I'd actually love it if she spent a lot of time talking to an imaginary friend that's also the audience surrogate. Could be really funny and interesting.
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I understand it that River helps with piloting when she's lucid enough, glad to see she's still touched, if she weren't then she'd turn into a Mary Sue and the story would be boring and disappointing for me. See my subjectline. I haven't read it, but Byte said I'd be okay with it so her word is good enough for me, though maybe someday she'll have to pretend for me so my life doesn't fall apart as a result of a badly written Serenity comic.
I don't mind Zeke's outlook, it balances out all that up there optimism, someone has to think negatively in life, why shoot messengers.
I assume you're my pal until you let me know otherwise.
"A completely coherant River means writers don't deliver" KatTaya.
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Quote:
Originally posted by RionaEire:
glad to see she's still touched, if she weren't then she'd turn into a Mary Sue and the story would be boring and disappointing for me.
Not necessarily. A coherent River would still be human, and have shortfalls and failings. There are limits to what she can do.
I do not fear God, I fear the ignorance of man.
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Quote:
Not necessarily. A coherent River would still be human, and have shortfalls and failings. There are limits to what she can do.
But she wouldn't be River. I seem to recall a conversation between an eight year old River and a twelve year old Simon about the impending browncoat incursion and being forced to cannibalize dinosaurs.
Listen, tell you what, take River out of her symbolic Cassandra Oracle role, remove the quirky eccentric parts of her personality, retcon the damage to her amygdala so that's not affecting her behaviour anymore, and ignore all the involuntary human experiment and mistreatment trauma because it's clearly the Miranda secret that has River so upset all the time. So the moment they address that, bing! No more trauma! All PTSD needs is a few hugs, a deadly crash landing from orbit and a ground battle against cannibal rapists, all cured.
So River's normal now, run her through a Mary Sue litmus test. There's bunches on the internet.
I've actually done this before, and River isn't as bad as some Sues, but she basically is still in the lower end of being a Sue as it is. Hell, MAL is borderline himself (dead family, destroyed homeworld, tragic backstory, author tract that quickly wins over followers and can change minds within a few minutes of knowing him).
"Is the only one in the whole setting who has those specific abilities/they are the best at it" Psychic assassin prototype check.
"Their presence can change the genre of the setting" check.
"Their presence derails the existing formula of the setting and the actions of the other characters" crime heist to supernatural spy thriller check.
"They tend to steal the spotlight and can change the focus of the plot" check.
"Writer deliberately makes other characters look bad so that the Sue looks better in comparison" check.
I mean, look at the above comic. Mal forgets he's fast on the draw, and River has to save him. In a comic from Mal's POV River is given a disproportionate role and amount of screen time because the author is clearly more interested in her. In the previous short Zack wrote (Down Time) River ALSO basically confronted the problem and saved the crew only this time only Book knew about it.
In order to counteract the Sueness, River actually needs some drawbacks for her powers, or she pretty much comes to dominate the entire stage in any story that can be written about Firefly. Cassandra prophet drawbacks for her specific abilities usually go over pretty well. I love River to pieces, she's well-written DESPITE being a Sue, but that doesn't make her any LESS of a Sue.
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There is a big difference between taking away River's quirkyness and truama, and making her sane.
Now as far as her being a sue, that all depends on the writer. If the writer always has River saving the day, doing impossible things and other such stuff yes she can be a sue. If the writer givers her faults and frailties, and shows that she is still dependent on others, then no.
Even if she is still touched, as it was put, she can still be written as a sue. All it takes is those moments of clearity to come at the right times.
I do not fear God, I fear the ignorance of man.
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River is such an open ended charactor, people can write her however they want, that's the beauty of fanfic, ... and I can choose to read whatever I want. I get bored if River isn't touched, having a story with a touched charactor (that's how she is) who is brilliant, loyal, talented and brave (that's who she is) is the big reason Firefly is my favorite show in the world. If elements of that portrayal are taken away then I get bored and don't enjoy the story enough to make it worth my while. Don't get me wrong there are so many other things about Firefly I enjoy, but this is something that is very important to me. And with River if she weren't touched she'd be saving the day _all the time instead of some of the time, could do everyone else's job because she's so smart, would have few limits to what she's capable of, = boring story for me. As it is she saves the crew when she can and she's lucid enough to do it and its exciting, but doesn't get old the way it would if she were stable.
I assume you're my pal until you let me know otherwise.
"A completely coherant River means writers don't deliver" KatTaya.
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