Don't worry, we're sure to spot Faith first. She's like this cleavagy slut-bomb walking around 'Ooh, check me out, I'm wicked-cool, I'm five-by-five.'

Willow ,'Get It Done'


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.


Matt the Bruins fan - Oct 10, 2005 10:58:19 am PDT #6222 of 10001
"I remember when they eventually introduced that drug kingpin who murdered people and smuggled drugs inside snakes and I was like 'Finally. A normal person.'” —RahvinDragand

bon bon, I thought of that exact scene when Mal looks down below Mr. Universe's generator at the giant...spinny thing. Hee.

I wanted to take a tape recording of Sigourney Weaver yelling "Whoever wrote this episode should be shot!" and play it a second after Mal looked down at the generator.


Miracleman - Oct 10, 2005 10:58:20 am PDT #6223 of 10001
No, I don't think I will - me, quoting Captain Steve Rogers, to all of 2020

I was sort of under the impression that the Reavers were like hyper-bikers; that is they are roaming and killing and whatnot, but then they go back to their "base" to kill and scream and party or whatever. Like Hell's Angels on super-crack, in space and as imagined by George Romero.


bon bon - Oct 10, 2005 11:00:05 am PDT #6224 of 10001
It's five thousand for kissing, ten thousand for snuggling... End of list.

They're disguised both ways. Mal decides on Haven to go to Miranda, and disguises the ship there.

Oh, that's right. My mistake.

Because they eat their prey live, and they scavenge ship parts.

It's not unlikely, but why do it there rather than at the moment of capture? Everyone on the ship should put a bullet to their brain before then.

I don't have that impression, actually. My impression is that they are mindless killing machines. Like zombies. They'll kill whatever they notice, but they aren't so bright or strategic. Which is why standing still was sufficient to allow them to drift through the first time -- Serenity looked like a non-working ship with no one on it. Reavers don't look that hard.

I buy this, kinda, although these are the same Reavers that go after the Alliance ships at the Mr. Universe planet. But yeah, I guess I can see how their nature would lead to a sort of stasis, although it wouldn't explain the Reaver raiding parties as, say, the beginning sequence.

I'm taking this point well past its usefulness. Just that if the Reavers have the one goal of KILL THE HUMANS the Reaver belt seemed rather inefficient for the task, given what we've seen of their chasing capability. It is only helpful to create a sort of mindless obstacle course for Serenity, and of course as the cover for the dive into the Universe planet.


bon bon - Oct 10, 2005 11:02:12 am PDT #6225 of 10001
It's five thousand for kissing, ten thousand for snuggling... End of list.

I think I must have gotten the impression somewhere that they were there to capture any boat that passed their way. Did Zoe not say that?


§ ita § - Oct 10, 2005 11:06:21 am PDT #6226 of 10001
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.

if the Reavers have the one goal of KILL THE HUMANS

Yeah, I never thought that -- like Jesse, I figured they ate/raped/killed what they saw, and sometimes sent out raiding parties when the entertainment didn't come to them. Exterminating humanity would have looked different, probably from as far back as the series.

If you buy they're not nomadic, bringing toys home for more fun doesn't violate anything I can think of.


Jesse - Oct 10, 2005 11:07:18 am PDT #6227 of 10001
Sometimes I trip on how happy we could be.

I do think it's hard to underestimate Works For The Plot as an explanation for the actions of any fictional character, especially bad guys.


Matt the Bruins fan - Oct 10, 2005 11:08:21 am PDT #6228 of 10001
"I remember when they eventually introduced that drug kingpin who murdered people and smuggled drugs inside snakes and I was like 'Finally. A normal person.'” —RahvinDragand

If you buy they're not nomadic, bringing toys home for more fun doesn't violate anything I can think of.

Except the logic that most of those victims screaming on their radios probably should have known to space themselves rather than be captured alive by the Reavers.


brenda m - Oct 10, 2005 11:11:10 am PDT #6229 of 10001
If you're going through hell/keep on going/don't slow down/keep your fear from showing/you might be gone/'fore the devil even knows you're there

Except the logic that most of those victims screaming on their radios probably should have known to space themselves rather than be captured alive by the Reavers.

Well, there's knowing and there's knowing. And being able to do it at the end. Will to live is pretty strong stuff - doesn't always listen to logic.


§ ita § - Oct 10, 2005 11:11:13 am PDT #6230 of 10001
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.

Except the logic that most of those victims screaming on their radios probably should have known to space themselves rather than be captured alive by the Reavers.

Maybe most of them had. Maybe they couldn't. Maybe they were really stupid. Although we've had the fear drilled into us (and seen it in the crew), it took a bit of talking for Mal to drill the practical response into the people on planet.


Mr. Broom - Oct 10, 2005 11:14:43 am PDT #6231 of 10001
"When I look at people that I would like to feel have been a mentor or an inspiring kind of archetype of what I'd love to see my career eventually be mentioned as a footnote for in the same paragraph, it would be, like, Bowie." ~Trent Reznor

How do we know those were just victims screaming? Reavers seem like a screaming people to me. Also, I don't get the mindless vibe from them; ruthless and perverse beyond belief, sure. But they're not stupid. The Pax didn't make them less intelligent, just uninhibited. They understand space travel, after all. They have to have a society, twisted though it may be. That's what separates Reavers from zombies; if the zombies show up, you prepare to fight your way out. You've got a chance, if slim. If Reavers show up, you run like hell because there's no hope in fighting back.