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Glory ,'Potential'


Firefly 4: Also, we can kill you with our brains  

Discussion of the Mutant Enemy series, Firefly, the ensuing movie Serenity, and other projects in that universe. Like the other show threads, anything broadcast in the US is fine; spoilers are verboten and will be deleted if found.


libkitty - Sep 30, 2005 11:35:44 pm PDT #5416 of 10001
Embrace the idea that we are the leaders we've been looking for. Grace Lee Boggs

And Wash, ah Wash, we will miss you and your dinosaurs in This Land.

I just realized that newbies probably won't know the meaning of the dinosaurs on the console at the end, and I find this terribly sad.

I know Joss won't bring characters back from the dead in this show, but I'm ready for some serious prequeling. I want to know more about Book. I want to see Wash and Zoe fall in love. I could wait for tastes in flashbacks before, but mostly I really don't want either of them to be dead.

Damn, that was a big stake.


§ ita § - Sep 30, 2005 11:37:34 pm PDT #5417 of 10001
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.

For the people here who feel betrayed -- have you felt betrayed by fiction before? Did you know, before you saw Serenity that you could feel betrayed by it? Is there other fiction that can make you feel that way about its 'verse or characters?


libkitty - Sep 30, 2005 11:50:22 pm PDT #5418 of 10001
Embrace the idea that we are the leaders we've been looking for. Grace Lee Boggs

Don't you ever sleep, ita? I thought it was late here! Of course, I have, of late, turned into an old fogey.

eta on topic note: I'm up late because I came home from Serenity and had to catch up on every single review or (formerly) spoiler ever written, before going to see it again tomorrow.


Beverly - Sep 30, 2005 11:51:07 pm PDT #5419 of 10001
Days shrink and grow cold, sunlight through leaves is my song. Winter is long.

I don't feel betrayed, if you're asking me.

This was Joss' movie, and he did what he needed to do to the script and the characters to put as many butts in seats as possible. I don't fault him for that at all. He didn't "betray" my belief in Firefly or those characters. It's another thing. Apples and oranges. The movie wasn't my thing.

But to answer your question about betrayal in other fiction, no, I've never felt betrayed by a work of fiction, unless the writer didn't do the work, and pulled an ending out of thin air with no logical progression to that result. I've mourned for characters lost, to death, to cynicism, to wantonness. But that's not betrayal, that's story development and character development. Betrayal is a different thing.

Firefly has always been a special thing to me, apart from any other show or anything "like" it. Not many folks felt that way, so maybe the depth of my disconnect is strange. But that's what I have: not betrayal, but a quantam leap right out of the 'verse. It's not a bad thing. It's just something else.


Kate P. - Oct 01, 2005 1:07:59 am PDT #5420 of 10001
That's the pain / That cuts a straight line down through the heart / We call it love

I just wonder about the feeling of betrayal at Wash's death. Is Shakespeare not supposed to break your heart when Cordelia dies? Are the New York dock workers not supposed to yell, "Is Little Nell dead?" Isn't that part of the deal?

Absolutely. I love movies/books/TV shows that can break my heart with the deaths of beloved characters. I love that they can write these characters in such a way as to make me care, and care deeply, and I usually enjoy the emotional catharsis that their deaths bring.

Wash's death felt different, to me, because the circumstances of this movie are different for me than any other movie I can think of. I know that a lot of the PR about how "the fans made Serenity happen" is greatly exaggerated, but it still feels like MY movie, MY characters, MY story. And now Wash isn't in that 'verse anymore. It's not the same, and it will never be the same.

Losing Firefly made me sad. Getting it back, even in movie form, in any form at all, felt like a triumph. And then losing Wash broke my fucking heart; it felt like losing Firefly all over again.


Sue - Oct 01, 2005 3:15:39 am PDT #5421 of 10001
hip deep in pie

I have totally felt betrayed by fiction before. (Though I didn't by this movie.)

I think, for me, Wash wasn't in the movie enough for me to feel the shock of his death.


UTTAD - Oct 01, 2005 3:36:00 am PDT #5422 of 10001
Strawberry disappointment.

Can I talk about any specifics about any possible sequel in this thread?


Sue - Oct 01, 2005 3:48:18 am PDT #5423 of 10001
hip deep in pie

I think as long as it's not spoilers, you should be fine. ETA: Can there be spoilers on something that isn't even a given yet?


thegrommit - Oct 01, 2005 4:40:35 am PDT #5424 of 10001
Um.

Saw the movie last night in a sold out theatre with the best looking crowd of fans I've ever seen. Wash's death is an example of why I like to go in unspoiled. If you're going to kill one of my favourite characters, I may as well feel the impact in the full context of the movie. I'm looking forward to seeing it again with some colleagues who've been partially toastered (they've seen the pilot) - if only to see how they react.


Kat - Oct 01, 2005 5:14:27 am PDT #5425 of 10001
"I keep to a strict diet of ill-advised enthusiasm and heartfelt regret." Leigh Bardugo

Yeah, definitely thinner and the character was retconned to a degree; i.e., she's not so much of a tomboy this time, more sensitive and weepy.

She was pretty sensitive on the show.

She was more insulated on the show, but when she wasn't I think it was behaviour consistent with what we saw here.

Really? The moment where I felt like, "Fuck this! That's not Kaylee" was when, after previously gay and/incestous Simon says he wanted to have sex with her (boggle) she eagerly grabs the gun. I keep remembering in the show where Mal gives her a gun and tells her to shoot and she CAN'T do it, even to save their lives. That's when we know that River is super capable super spy. Movie!Kaylee eager to pick up a gun and take Reavers down felt so out of character that I think I actually tried to gouge my own eye out with my finger during the screening (since, you know, can't actually talk and bash when seated 5 rows away from Jane Espenson or one row behind studio folk).

Like Beverly (hello lady!) I was pretty angry over a lot of the changes (co pilot chair!) and I'm not angry over it anymore so much as @@.