Diagnosis: retcon (Inara discussion)
POSTED BY: Bytemite
UPDATED: Thursday, November 27, 2025 21:56
VIEWED: 19100
PAGE 3 of 6
Fox and Universal own the rights, unfortunately, so anything in film would still have to go through them somehow.
I have hopes that with Dollhouse, Joss and Fox may have made some sort of backdoor deal about Firefly.
For the movie, I think Joss' expectations were fairly modest. In the original script, everyone lives, and I think he changed it because he suspected it wouldn't be a smash blockbuster hit.
And remember, like I said, people tend to focus on the killing, it skews the perspective a bit.
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Quote:
Originally posted by 2x2:
I also haven't seen much of Buffy or any of Angel, so I only know his reputation for killing
It's not even just killing characters, it's killing happiness. Everything being all fuzzy-wuzzy gets boring, I'll admit, but I do sometimes wish that more of his couples could just be happy, dealing with outside drama but somewhat less with the heartbreak. I'm not sure how much romance there will be on Dollhouse, so it might not even be a concern for that show. But in all things Joss, I'm inclined to utterly doubt 'happily ever after.'
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I was crushed when it was confirmed that Inara was dying. She's always been one of my favorite characters on the show even though she is disliked by a large number of fans and gets beat up in fanfic purely for being Mal's mysterious love interest; I still think her character is unique.
Rewatching the series and movie with the knowledge that she is dying gives me more reason to love this character. Her behavior makes sense, especially towards Mal. We know Joss writes strong women, but dang, can anyone imagine what it is to live with the knowledge that your days are numbered and there had to be moments that she physically wasn't feeling well. Talk about a strong woman character. No wonder why Mal is so smitten and can't stop thinking about her.
As much as I hate this scenario, I do think there is a lot of storytelling on Joss's part that he would like to reveal to us in his own way. And maybe that's why he had to make Mal get some of his faith back at the end of Serenity to get ready for what is coming in her death or a long term illness with possibly a cure. Mal’s faith and strength will be tested again. I just don’t know what else could be taken from this poor man, though and no wonder why she left. She knew Mal wasn’t ready.
And, yeah, best would be a return of the series, but a miniseries or at the very least a sequel would suffice. A comic book for this kind of story would fall short.
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This is in the fanfiction board (I think?), fanfiction discussion more than welcome...
As is Mal/Inara discussion. I don't think we can talk about the repercussions of Inara being ill WITHOUT discussing Mal/Inara.
I add: Yay for The Slower Path updates!
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I also loved Inara right away. Here was Mal, who had already really intrigued me as an admirable character, but one with an absolutely shocking kind of darkness. Angry, bitter, a really hard person to live with...
And then we meet Inara, descending from the shuttle in the pilot belying the whore insult Mal throws at her... And she takes it, stands up to him. She's the one who has to live with him.
I was already impressed by her strength before. Even if it was just her being strong enough to deal with Mal at his worst and turn him around at times.
Everyone looks at HOG as some sort of breaking point in Inara's character, points at that episode as justification to write Inara as a shrewish, clingy, weepy, jealous witch...
Oh fanfic writer skewering Inara's character, we know Mal is wonderful and you want his babies, but even before we had this alternative interpretation of why Inara left, can you REALLY blame her? Just because the subject of your favourite character's unresolved romantic tension JUST ONCE acts in their own interest instead of for love true love (when Mal went and committed some infidelity his own self), you write them off and hate them forever?
Inara mischaracterizations annoy me. VERY VERY annoy me.
I suppose, in defense of some of the people I may have just insulted, I liked Heart of Gold. It is possible that my tastes are questionable.
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Inara is hands down my favourite character :)
I don't get to read a whole lot of fanfic, so I really only stick to the Mal/Inara stuff, as that's what interests me most, so I think I've been fortunate in that I've avoided the vast majority of the Inara bashing that is out there. I hear about it, but I've experienced very little of it.
That being said, yeah, Inara mischaracterisations are no fun 
Weak plot as it may be aside, I also liked Heart of Gold, because there is so much character stuff in it!!! So much!!! And the scene where Inara cries just kills me... everytime. But I still love it because there is SO MUCH going on with her in that moment! That scene is SO complex and so much more than her just being upset about Mal sleeping with Nandi... but I'm sure there are other threads where that has been discussed to death, so I won't hijack this thread for that :)
But to look at that through the lens of her having a terminal illness as well... it adds even more complexity to everything else she's feeling.
And yeah, the strength of her character, to carry on in the face of such an illness, and to sacrifice so much... to quote Nandi, she's a hell of a woman...
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Before for favourite character, I would have done the obvious, said Mal. He's the one who hooked me. His ironic, heart-jerking, spot on "Right. We win," in the teaser of Serenity, and then in the Train Job when tells the crew they're returning the medicine, that's what made me a Firefly fan.
But even back then, when I first started watching(and listen to me. Back then, for me, was like SIX MONTHS ago. Oh well)... Just with that short little scene where Inara and the crew are first seen together, I found the dynamic between her and Mal fascinating. I really liked the two of them together, even if I knew much less about Inara. I loved watching their banter and their fights, and the both of them together is why I kept watching.
Now that I think there's this illness thing going on, it's really hard for me to choose between the two of them for a favourite. They both have lots going on, and both are amazingly strong characters considering their respective circumstances.
Right now I'm most interested in Inara's subplots, so right now she's probably my favourite, but it goes back and forth. Anyone who's ever read my fanfics has probably noticed the trend. Inara fic, Mal fic, Inara fic, Mal fic...
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Mal is a close second for me, for sure. I think I find Inara a bit more interesting though because we know less about her than we do Mal... because Mal is the focal point of so much of the story, we are able to piece together some bits and pieces of his past, or at least make educated guesses, but with Inara, a lot of it is just a blank slate that we can only speculate about.
And... there's just something about her that draws me in. I became just as smitten as Mal ;o) and I still am.
In a way, I envy you your new discovery, because there is so much out there to find and explore! And I appreciate your newness in that it brings back that energy and excitement for those of us who've been around for years. :oD
And Inara discussion is always a pleasure!
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Inara fascinates me too because we really know so little about her (and she's so hard to write really well). Just hints here and there (mainly through Moreana-remember the one where she says that Companioning is a family business?) that Joss has dropped like crumbs. We devour them all and look for more.
As to the dying, there are more hints, the infamous and mysterious syringe, the annual checkup and her reaction in OMR when Mal mentions having lots of children.
What I hope for (in the miniseries or Serenity 2, please Joss?)is lots of bickering, a healthy dose of angst and a semi happy ending.
http://fireflyfaninnc.livejournal.com/
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