Firefly Episode Discussions

Simon's Dad

POSTED BY: JLin
UPDATED: Sunday, October 14, 2007 22:59
VIEWED: 7956
PAGE 3 of 3

Thursday, January 25, 2007 10:56 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by WanWeiTrip:

I think the parents were written as an example of "All that is required for evil to succeed is for the good to stand by and do nothing."

They are not inherently evil but by not acting (for whatever reason - fear or uncertainty) they have allowed bad to happen. They have stood by (as many of us do) and said "It is not up to me. Things will be worse if I rock the boat."

In that sense it is better that they were left a little ambiguous and unclear, that we don't know all about them.

We are made to feel about them, as they feel about River's situation - uncertain.

Genius!



I think you hit the nail right on the head; it's all about subtlety. Personally, I can imagine that this whole convo between Simon and Gabriel I quoted, from that early shooting script, was, in the end, probably deemed too spelled-out. Whereas, as you say, the genious is really in having the viewer be uncertain: it could be this, but it could very well be something else. Take the example of this shooting script bit, for instance, for OoG:

----------------------
BESTER
Mal. Whaddya need two mechanics for?
MAL
I really don't. Pack your things.
(then)
She got a name?

INT. SERENITY ENGINE ROOM

MAL
Kaylee!
----------------------

As we all know, in the actually aired episode, Mal just says: "I really don't." Period. The "Pack your things." is implied. Much better this way. I 'spose a lot of this has been Joss and Tim fine-tuning the scripts. The final product is a veritable stream of subtleties, making near the entire gorram show quotable. :)


--
"Mei-mei, everything I have is right here." -- Simon Tam

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Friday, September 28, 2007 10:38 PM

bump for comparison:)

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Sunday, October 14, 2007 10:54 PM

I absolutely agree with you, WWT

I've already posted in a thread very much like this one, so I won't repeat myself; here's the link if you want my opinion http://www.fireflyfans.net/thread.asp?b=12&t=30663&m=543169#543169


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Sunday, October 14, 2007 10:59 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by RiverFlan:

here's the link



LOL! thanks shiny River person

- i had no idea i'd forgotten to put the link in the bump, D'oh!

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