Thoughts on Firefly...
Sep. 8th, 2005 08:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
conuly
Some of this stuff would likely have been addressed if the series had continued - it may even be addressed in the movie. Other stuff... not so much.
1. If Inara's job is so respectable and all (like they insist on telling us every time it's revealed that her job consists primarily of sexing with people for money, which is only every episode...), why again is she hanging around with a bunch of criminals? I'm sure this would've been addressed, perhaps by giving Inara an interesting personality. (I'm not an Inara fan, can you tell?)
2. Is the Alliance itself actually bad? We know certain aspects of the Alliance are less-than-savory, but hey, every closet has a few skeletons, right? So we've got icky blue latex, but maybe we also have theoretically universal health care, and it evens things out...?
3. Exactly what are River's talents, and which of them are natural?
4. Here's the important question. In Trash, how is it that this guy lives in a place where the garbage doesn't have to sit around for more than thirty seconds, but it takes six minutes for the cops to show up at his door after he pushes a panic alarm? Is it just me, or does this show a serious lack of priorities?
5. I would ask what destroyed Earth, and why that meant that the whole of civilization seems to have regressed to the exact same period of history (except with spaceships), but that'd just be silly.
6. Oh, and why is it called a Firefly? Why not a Lightning Bug? I prefer that term. It's more descriptive of what those insects actually do.
1. If Inara's job is so respectable and all (like they insist on telling us every time it's revealed that her job consists primarily of sexing with people for money, which is only every episode...), why again is she hanging around with a bunch of criminals? I'm sure this would've been addressed, perhaps by giving Inara an interesting personality. (I'm not an Inara fan, can you tell?)
2. Is the Alliance itself actually bad? We know certain aspects of the Alliance are less-than-savory, but hey, every closet has a few skeletons, right? So we've got icky blue latex, but maybe we also have theoretically universal health care, and it evens things out...?
3. Exactly what are River's talents, and which of them are natural?
4. Here's the important question. In Trash, how is it that this guy lives in a place where the garbage doesn't have to sit around for more than thirty seconds, but it takes six minutes for the cops to show up at his door after he pushes a panic alarm? Is it just me, or does this show a serious lack of priorities?
5. I would ask what destroyed Earth, and why that meant that the whole of civilization seems to have regressed to the exact same period of history (except with spaceships), but that'd just be silly.
6. Oh, and why is it called a Firefly? Why not a Lightning Bug? I prefer that term. It's more descriptive of what those insects actually do.
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no subject
Date: 2005-09-09 12:54 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-09 01:01 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-09 01:10 am (UTC)At any rate, even if you don't agree that it sounds better, I figure that's why Joss decided to call it Firefly. ;-)
no subject
Date: 2005-09-09 02:14 am (UTC)Remember she's had cushy offers to stay elsewhere...
And i think given time he would have developed her more...he was kind of taking his time developing each character, showing only small parts at a time of who they were and what made them that way...except for Doc and River...their story kind gets shoved in right off because of the fact that they're being chased so they have to explain themselves...but everyone else reveals themselves more slowly... For example, Kaylie(ignore spelling)- how much about her do we really know other than her personality and mechanical skills?
And the alliance is bad because it dominates and uses and takes anyone who questions it out...maybe a little comparable to communist Russia? A good concept gone bad in reality?
And i have to say that I like Firefly better too...besides, its describing a ship and not the bug...and the ship "flies by fire" to describe it very crudely.
no subject
Date: 2005-09-09 03:11 am (UTC)And the alliance is bad because it dominates and uses and takes anyone who questions it out
It does? Do we ever see the proof of this? Aside from the evil school River was at - something like that might be known only to a few of the members of the ruling party.
no subject
Date: 2005-09-09 04:01 am (UTC)Firefly, uhhh, in the DVDs Joss does explain how he came up with the name. Something about being a combination of speed and power, which is what he wanted to convey, but also how they are like an annoying insect to the alliance. Also, in some regions people simply do not call them lightening bugs, and it's possible Joss just wouldn't think of that name.
The alliance seems pretty evil, because they concentrate wealth in the core planets and abandon the outer worlds to suffer, while still harassing them from time to time. They consistently show neglect for their citizens - example: train job, ignoring the people's need for medication Safe: only being willing to offer vital medical aid if the person who needed it was prestigious enough
As to Trash - it makes sense. It's just easier to do something that is automated quickly than something that requires people. 6 minutes isn't bad to mobolize forces and get them to the person in need. But the need for trash disposal is known in advance, every home will need it, and it can be completely automated. Why not have convenient trash disposal when you can, just because you can't get men there faster?
Not all of civilization is in the same period, but they generally avoid the worlds that are doing more poorly and the core worlds that have lots of tech.
River is naturally intelligent and gifted at dance, possibly some other things. Her abilities are meant to be mysteries though.
no subject
Date: 2005-09-09 04:05 am (UTC)No, I remember Train Job. The non-completely-evil Alliance guys were sure they were there to track down the medicine, and return it to the people who needed it. Indeed, they were surprised to hear that they weren't there for a "box of bandaids".
no subject
Date: 2005-09-09 04:03 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-09 04:37 am (UTC)2. The Alliance never seemed evil to me -- just big and governmental, and prone to all the problems that come along with big and powerful governments. The Blue Sun Corporation, now, is probably evil. I don't have a high opinion of the corporate model in general, though.
3. It's been pointed out (by more perceptive people than me) that the Fred/Aleria arc in the fifth season of Angel was basically a canabalized version of what was intended to happen with River, with added demons.
no subject
Date: 2005-09-09 06:54 am (UTC)Errr... how so? The one term is as much a metaphor as the other. Actual atmospheric electrical discharge is involved as much as combustion of gas, i.e. not. :)
Now, if you could convince Joss to rename the ship "Buttward-Luciferin-Oxidizing Bug"... -- BLOB, for short!
no subject
Date: 2005-09-09 05:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-09 06:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-11 08:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-12 01:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-09 08:27 pm (UTC)You forgot to ask why that one guy has a Brittish accent even though there's no brittan anymore and everyone only speaks american english or chinese.
Also - very important - why is the sheppard not a real sheppard, as was implied in at least two of the episodes.
more info on the reavers would be nice as well.
no subject
Date: 2005-09-09 12:54 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-09 01:01 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-09 01:10 am (UTC)At any rate, even if you don't agree that it sounds better, I figure that's why Joss decided to call it Firefly. ;-)
no subject
Date: 2005-09-09 02:14 am (UTC)Remember she's had cushy offers to stay elsewhere...
And i think given time he would have developed her more...he was kind of taking his time developing each character, showing only small parts at a time of who they were and what made them that way...except for Doc and River...their story kind gets shoved in right off because of the fact that they're being chased so they have to explain themselves...but everyone else reveals themselves more slowly... For example, Kaylie(ignore spelling)- how much about her do we really know other than her personality and mechanical skills?
And the alliance is bad because it dominates and uses and takes anyone who questions it out...maybe a little comparable to communist Russia? A good concept gone bad in reality?
And i have to say that I like Firefly better too...besides, its describing a ship and not the bug...and the ship "flies by fire" to describe it very crudely.
no subject
Date: 2005-09-09 03:11 am (UTC)And the alliance is bad because it dominates and uses and takes anyone who questions it out
It does? Do we ever see the proof of this? Aside from the evil school River was at - something like that might be known only to a few of the members of the ruling party.
no subject
Date: 2005-09-09 04:01 am (UTC)Firefly, uhhh, in the DVDs Joss does explain how he came up with the name. Something about being a combination of speed and power, which is what he wanted to convey, but also how they are like an annoying insect to the alliance. Also, in some regions people simply do not call them lightening bugs, and it's possible Joss just wouldn't think of that name.
The alliance seems pretty evil, because they concentrate wealth in the core planets and abandon the outer worlds to suffer, while still harassing them from time to time. They consistently show neglect for their citizens - example: train job, ignoring the people's need for medication Safe: only being willing to offer vital medical aid if the person who needed it was prestigious enough
As to Trash - it makes sense. It's just easier to do something that is automated quickly than something that requires people. 6 minutes isn't bad to mobolize forces and get them to the person in need. But the need for trash disposal is known in advance, every home will need it, and it can be completely automated. Why not have convenient trash disposal when you can, just because you can't get men there faster?
Not all of civilization is in the same period, but they generally avoid the worlds that are doing more poorly and the core worlds that have lots of tech.
River is naturally intelligent and gifted at dance, possibly some other things. Her abilities are meant to be mysteries though.
no subject
Date: 2005-09-09 04:05 am (UTC)No, I remember Train Job. The non-completely-evil Alliance guys were sure they were there to track down the medicine, and return it to the people who needed it. Indeed, they were surprised to hear that they weren't there for a "box of bandaids".
no subject
Date: 2005-09-09 04:03 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-09 04:37 am (UTC)2. The Alliance never seemed evil to me -- just big and governmental, and prone to all the problems that come along with big and powerful governments. The Blue Sun Corporation, now, is probably evil. I don't have a high opinion of the corporate model in general, though.
3. It's been pointed out (by more perceptive people than me) that the Fred/Aleria arc in the fifth season of Angel was basically a canabalized version of what was intended to happen with River, with added demons.
no subject
Date: 2005-09-09 06:54 am (UTC)Errr... how so? The one term is as much a metaphor as the other. Actual atmospheric electrical discharge is involved as much as combustion of gas, i.e. not. :)
Now, if you could convince Joss to rename the ship "Buttward-Luciferin-Oxidizing Bug"... -- BLOB, for short!
no subject
Date: 2005-09-09 05:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-09 06:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-11 08:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-12 01:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-09 08:27 pm (UTC)You forgot to ask why that one guy has a Brittish accent even though there's no brittan anymore and everyone only speaks american english or chinese.
Also - very important - why is the sheppard not a real sheppard, as was implied in at least two of the episodes.
more info on the reavers would be nice as well.