mow many doctors does it take to keep a ship flying?

POSTED BY: Paladin
UPDATED: Sunday, February 15, 2004 03:57
VIEWED: 2972
PAGE 1 of 1

PALADIN

Friday, February 13, 2004 3:41 PM

Sorry if the thread name sounds kinda dumb. I couldn't think of a good way to summarize my question.
The other day when I was watching "Out of Gas" with my brother, we got to talking about Simon. Is he the first doctor on Serenity's crew? Mal an the rest seem to get shot at almost every week. In the series, most of those events end with a medical crisis that only Simon can solve. (yeah, I know it was written that way, but still...)
I figure Mal and Zoe aren't totally incompetent when it comes to dressing field wounds (they lived through a war after all). I also know that there are medical facilities that they can get to (if the patient isn't dead first) that don't involve the Alliance. But seriously, how has the crew lived this long without a real doctor on board?

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"If you take sexual advantage of her, you're going to burn in a very special level of Hell, a level they reserve for child molesters and people who talk at the theater." -Book

STEVE580

Friday, February 13, 2004 8:51 PM

Well, consider the substantial risk to the crew that comes about from River's presence. I'm sure Mal would have just dropped Simon and her off on some planet, if it wasn't extremely difficult to get a doctor on board through conventional means. I mean, consider how much doctors make; there's no way Mal'd be able to pay on an adequate amount.

So my guess is that before Simon, Zoe was the medic, and they went to core planets for serious emergencies. Remember, they didn't even have basic medical supplies stocked that Simon needed for his very first procedure - I say basic, because I doubt Simon carried a huge collection of medical tools with him.
-Steve

FLAMETREE

Saturday, February 14, 2004 12:09 AM

I had asked myself that very question but decided it was just a tv show :)

TEELABROWN

Saturday, February 14, 2004 12:28 AM

"Now if you're wondering how he eats and breathes,
And other science facts,
Just repeat to yourself 'It's just a show, you really should relax...'
For Mystery Science Theater 3000!"

Sorry.

_____________
"Freedom is the Freedom to say that 2+2 makes 4. If that is granted, all else follws"-Winston, 1984
Teela Brown, keeper of bad typing.
"No one reads these things any way."- Bart on Blackboard

PUMAMANREDUX

Saturday, February 14, 2004 1:44 AM

Don't be sorry Teela ...

Trivia ... had this idea in my head the other day as to what do the people in the Firefly verse do for video and holo entertainments such as movies, vids and such ...

Then I thought perhaps the Cortex takes care of that for the masses

Then I had a thought (or was it mine?) that a bulk of such entertainments (other than holopool) are a staple in the Alliance held worlds and so the audience didn't see such things (probably cause Joss and Company wanted high end tech to be limited and it was cheaper not to have a lot of gimmicky stuff around like futuristic holoshows).

Then I realized quite late in this thought process that Firefly is just a well done TV show and the MST3K lyrics came to mind ... and I relaxed

Drama is life with the dull bits cut out. (Alfred Hitchcock)

DECKROID

Saturday, February 14, 2004 2:00 AM

Well, maybe they just keep getting killed off themselves, ya know? I mean, if everyone keeps getting shot, well, almost everyone, it might stand to reason that the docs keep getting themselves wacked.

Kinda like the drummer for Spinal Tap.

STEVE580

Saturday, February 14, 2004 9:10 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by DeckRoid:
Well, maybe they just keep getting killed off themselves, ya know? I mean, if everyone keeps getting shot, well, almost everyone, it might stand to reason that the docs keep getting themselves wacked.

Or, perhaps, they've never had a doctor before - but they've gone through a couple dozen other crewmembers, who die from various causes, due to a lack of one.

How come "What did Mal do before Simon came" gets a bunch of "it's just a show", but things like "How does the engine work" get answered with a bunch of scientific/engineering stuff? Just wondering what the dif is, is all. I mean, of course it's just a show, and it's not like it matters at all whether or not they had a doctor onboard before Simon. But it's something Firefly-related to talk about; and, with an absence of any new Firefly material, isn't that the point of this board?

-Steve

FLAMETREE

Saturday, February 14, 2004 9:57 AM

obvious really,

tech stuff is serious and deserves a serious answer. - There are ways to make space ships fly and turn.

Obviously if there was no doctor they would all be dead in a week and there is no logical way to explain their existence.
Q.E.D.
Questions like how did they servive before Simon are just plain silly and highlight that this is just a tv show.
:)

LTNOWIS

Sunday, February 15, 2004 2:50 AM

Aren't there a lot of less dangerous missions they go on, but don't get in the TV show, because they're boring? For example, when they sold the medicine they got in Ariel, there wasn't any violence at all, until the last run. Or, consider Inara's quote "There are planets where we can both work, Mal, planets that we used to go to." This suggests that their life got more dangerous and adventurous when the series started.

STEVE580

Sunday, February 15, 2004 3:57 AM

That's what I always assumed...

And even once the show started - delievering Giesha dolls isn't terribly dangerous.
-Steve