Alan wanted out of Firefly, so I'd imagine would have met a similar fate. Unless the producers wanted to be nice and have him walk into the sunset. Er, fly.
River: You're not right, Early. You're not righteous. You've got issues. Early: No. Oh, yes, I could have that. You might have me figured out, then. Good job. I'm not 100%.
'Objects In Space'
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.
Kevin - Jul 06, 2007 11:26:30 am PDT #9692 of 10001
Never fall in love with somebody you actually love.
Juliebird - Jul 06, 2007 11:29:42 am PDT #9693 of 10001
I am the fly who dreams of the spider
I'd never heard that about AT. I'd read that he volunteered himself to die for the sake of storytelling, or rather that he'd be okay with it if it served the story.
*sticks fingers in ears*
la la la lalalala
Kevin - Jul 06, 2007 11:33:22 am PDT #9694 of 10001
Never fall in love with somebody you actually love.
Yeah, he's said it in interviews since. When the movie came out an 'Official Serenity Magazine' thing was distributed by Titan in the UK, which included an interview with Alan, saying he didn't want to do more than two series of Firefly.
He's a great, great character actor so all power to him.
Juliebird - Jul 06, 2007 11:42:09 am PDT #9695 of 10001
I am the fly who dreams of the spider
Meta does not mix well with . . . other stuff.
Volans - Jul 06, 2007 12:02:42 pm PDT #9696 of 10001
move out and draw fire
Well, and then there's the fan understanding that joss tends to maim or kill the character he believes to be his avatar...so Wash getting a stake through the heart is sort of joss'-psych-profile-meta.
The movie was about River. Mal was great, but the throughline was River. To be about Mal, we would've had to see his Independents background, his loss of faith, and how his character changed as a result of the events in the movie. Other than the deaders, really only River and The Operative changed, with a bit of a shift for Simon.
And I've never been able to watch the bit before "Somebody FIRE!!!" as anything but a GalaxyQuest shoutout.
Juliebird - Jul 06, 2007 12:04:35 pm PDT #9697 of 10001
I am the fly who dreams of the spider
Galaxy Quest rocks!
Kevin - Jul 06, 2007 1:29:59 pm PDT #9698 of 10001
Never fall in love with somebody you actually love.
Mal doesn't change in the movie? Start of the movie, he's on the run, hiding from the Alliance. He's lost his faith.
He stops running from the Alliance, and life, and goes head first for them -- literally -- and risks his and his crew's life for that. He finds faith again, but not in a god, but in himself. The whole crux of the final Mal/Operative scene -- sadly, mostly removed in the final cut -- is about Mal's changes. (The earlier draft I mailed out a while ago actually includes the the very word 'change', but that sadly went missing).
Beverly - Jul 06, 2007 1:50:46 pm PDT #9699 of 10001
Days shrink and grow cold, sunlight through leaves is my song. Winter is long.
Galaxy Quest does indeed rock.
I just really didn't like that the momentum wasn't carried forward on it's own, that there was actually a beat in the movie where Wash has to actually say, "we now have to go seek out another character because not a one of us is qualified to do anything with the plot as it stands."
Yes.
Perzactly. They wouldn't have even had to have Book actually cop to his past (although I'd have dearly loved a confrontation between the Operative and Book with at least a hint of recognition, though it would have had a bigtime Vader/Obi-Wan vibe, just to see those two actors square off), and they also could have had him press Mal a bit more like he did during the first visit.
Now see? We rewrote Spiral. We shoulda had a chance at rewriting Serenity. It woulda been great!
Volans - Jul 07, 2007 1:56:42 am PDT #9700 of 10001
move out and draw fire
Mal didn't change in the way the main character does, but more in the way a minor character does...
But I was awake for about an hour thinking that the movie is actually the story of Mal and River. It's entirely a pas de deux between them. River's survival uses Mal's actions to happen, but more, River's healing, her incorporation, happens because of Mal's actions. At the same time, Mal's healing, his change from on-the-run to taking-it-to-the-enemy, happens because of River's behavior and changes.
Mal is the kinetic force, in a sense the ship, that conveys River to the place she needs to be in order to become a kinetic force in her own right. It's a perfect final chord that the end is the two of them on Serenity's bridge, as equals.
More, including the term "disenfranchised irredentist," but my own Mal is awake now.
Frankenbuddha - Jul 07, 2007 4:46:42 am PDT #9701 of 10001
"We are the Goon Squad and we're coming to town...Beep! Beep!" - David Bowie, "Fashion"
So, Frank, when do you start as a screenwriter.
Now see? We rewrote Spiral. We shoulda had a chance at rewriting Serenity. It woulda been great!
Heh. I think I posted in the Buffy thread once the re-write in my head of sesason 5 (in summary form only) where Riley was the Glory host, not Ben (Adam's chip and removal of same somehow opened the door for Glory to start using the time share). Ben would have been a red herring who gets offed/mindsucked at some point. It still would have ended with Giles doing what he did to Ben, except he'd do it to Riley.