The Ships N Guns in Firefly

POSTED BY: JaynezTown
UPDATED: Tuesday, October 11, 2005 07:16
VIEWED: 4712
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JAYNEZTOWN

Monday, August 2, 2004 3:18 AM

Ok, I don'y know much about ships or guns, I know of a shotgun and rifles but never shot a handgun and never seen a handgun, and I don't know much of planes and ships but I'm sure some of you have an idea.

Firefly has some pretty cool ships and guns, but what are they ? I think serenity looks more like a horse rather than a plane or ship while the cop that chases everyone in the epsiode 'the message' seems to be flying a space ship which might be similar to the US airforce's F-18 Hornet

I think I've seen somthing like the Henry model lever action rifle and the Colt model percussion revolver in the show, it's hard to see what the guns are maybe the swords and blades in the shindig episode must be a lot easier to idenitfy

I not sure wha the Alliance ships might be, one shot reminded me of the supercarrier USS John F. Kennedy a very big Aircraft carrier, while another camera angle looked like something out of the Spanish Armada..I wonder what these are ?

any thoughts ?

SOUPCATCHER

Monday, August 2, 2004 3:42 AM

The topic of firearms in Firefly has come up before and I've always appreciated the knowledge that a lot of fans have (so there should be some really good responses to your question). There might be more information in the archives - either in this section:
http://www.fireflyfans.net/threadlist.asp?b=4&a=1
or in General Discussion:
http://www.fireflyfans.net/threadlist.asp?b=2&a=1

Just search for weapons or guns or a similar phrase.

I shaved off my beard for you, devil woman!

JAYNEZTOWN

Monday, August 2, 2004 5:33 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by SoupCatcher:
The topic of firearms in Firefly has come up before and I've always appreciated the knowledge that a lot of fans have (so there should be some really good responses to your question). There might be more information in the archives - either in this section:
http://www.fireflyfans.net/threadlist.asp?b=4&a=1
or in General Discussion:
http://www.fireflyfans.net/threadlist.asp?b=2&a=1

Just search for weapons or guns or a similar phrase.

I shaved off my beard for you, devil woman!

thanks for the link Soupcatcher, I'll try and look around some more

DIXIEFLATLINE

Wednesday, August 4, 2004 5:34 PM

As for ships and vehicles, there are a number that are quite obviously derived from modern-day military aircraft. To wit: Womack's ship in "The Message" is heavily based on the F/A-18, the Fed hovercraft in "Trash" are derived from the F-14, and most blatantly, the ambulance in "Ariel" is a knockoff of the Russian Mil Mi-24 Hind-D helicopter gunship. (I nearly choked on my drink when I saw it sitting in the junkyard.)

I'm guessing this has something to do with efficiency -- on a tight schedule and budget, it's probably easier for the F/X guys to take a pre-existing 3D model for a modern aircraft and modify it, than to come up with a whole new vehicle from scratch. (Of course, I can almost imagine the Hind airframe still being in some sort of use, just massively modified -- it's rugged and versatile enough.)

Interestingly, there's a very very brief glimpse of one of the F-14 type ships in "Serenity" -- when we first see the Docks on Persephone, there's a shot of a girl sitting on a cargo container, and the camera then pans up to the sky. Over her shoulder, you can see the F-14 lifting off its pad.

CLEANER

Friday, August 6, 2004 4:41 PM

Whats the correct term for Serenity, Ship or Boat? Fairly certain I remember Mal refering to Serenity with the phrase "on this boat"

"If wishes were horses we'd all be eating steak!!!"

DIXIEFLATLINE

Friday, August 6, 2004 4:53 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Cleaner:
Whats the correct term for Serenity, Ship or Boat? Fairly certain I remember Mal refering to Serenity with the phrase "on this boat"

"If wishes were horses we'd all be eating steak!!!"

I think technically it's a ship, but it's always referred to casually as "the boat". I assume this is one of Joss' techniques to give the series a life-in-a-submarine atmosphere -- submarines may be ships, but they are always, always referred to as "boats". (Presumably to distinguish them from the other type of ship, namely, "targets".)

FIONN320

Friday, August 6, 2004 7:10 PM

I spent 11 years in the US Navy, with nearly 5 of those years stationed onboard various frigates, or "targets" as the submariners called us . Virtually without exception, when we were ashore we talked about heading back to "the boat" even though it was clearly a ship. It's a term of familiarity. Even shipmates stationed on carriers talked about "the boat" even though there is absolutely no debate that an aircraft carrier is a ship under any known definition of the term. Notice that when Mal is talking to potential customers Serenity is a ship, but he often calls her a boat informally when talking with the crew.

JAYNEZTOWN

Tuesday, October 11, 2005 7:16 AM

those Reaver ships in the movie looked insane