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.

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.

How do we know those were just victims screaming?

We don't, but I presumed it from 1, seeing a ship torn apart; 2, the fact that Serenity was in a dangerous situation, so it could be them and 3, the expressions on the faces of the crew. I don't know what they could have seen, but like I said above, it probably wasn't Reaver leisure time.

I don't know what they could have seen, but like I said above, it probably wasn't Reaver leisure time.

Heh. I'm thinking Reaver leisure time is going to involve screaming. However I lean on the side of it not being the Reavers doing it.

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.

Yes, THIS.

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.

And the Alliance was still insisting there was no such thing as Reavers, or that there was no proof of Reavers. There are several cases in the series and the flick of people not believing in Reavers.

So I can see folks in captured ships thinking, "Maybe they're Reavers; maybe they're just pirates."

That does bring up the darkly funny image of intercepting Reaver comm calls were they're glaring at the viewscreens and screaming at each other in some way that actually works as communication.

why is there this Reaver asteroid belt where they all hang out-- way too closely to one another, but anyway-- waiting to entrap some luckless, what, space tourists?

Because this is home, and they've been moving out from there, but some are faster at it than others. Also, as others have mentioned, they may sometimes bring their toys home to play. On the other side, we've been shown time and again that there are a lot of rubes out there. Even on Serenity, not everyone knew that it was a dangerous area until Wash told them. Some group heading off to settle a moon might not realize that it was an area to be avoided.

That brings up something else, though. I didn't notice actual screaming. What I did hear sounded like what River heard in Bushwacked, sort of unrealistic sounding screams, so I kind of assumed that anything we heard was leftover psychic screaming for dramatic affect.

We're given the impression that they're relentless killing machines. As in, they don't rest, they don't lurk, they don't scurry, they don't have a homebase. (IIRC from the show, they were actually encroaching on civilization.)

Not exactly. Wasn't it the pilot where Mal says that maybe they're full? I don't think that the reavers thought that they were dead, just that they (Serenity) weren't running and they (reavers) weren't hungry.

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.

Above, I wrote how I didn't think that there were necessarily folks screaming then and there. However, even if there were, we've been shown more than once that most people didn't really believe in reavers, that they thought they were made up stories. It stands to reason that if you didn't believe they were that bad, you might try to live long enough to discover that you were wrong, at which point it might be too late to do anything about it.

eta: I type too slowly.

I don't know what they could have seen, but like I said above, it probably wasn't Reaver leisure time.

Heh. I'm thinking Reaver leisure time is going to involve screaming. However I lean on the side of it not being the Reavers doing it.

Does Reaver Leisure Time involve Reaver leisure suits?

Is it still a leisure suit if you replace the polyester with human skin?

Depends. Is it plaid human skin?