Betsy's right: Joss doesn't have sound in space. Which is one of the things that I love, but then it makes me crazy when he gets other, basic, scientific things wrong.

Like forgetting space has 3 dimensions: they couldn't just go around the Reavers?

Because decades of sci-fi have trained people think of space as being something like the Earth's surface in many ways. You cross it like you cross a landmass or an ocean. There are precise paths and your destination won't move. Everything's on more or less a plane with no real Z axis to speak of. It's not remotely true, but that's how we've learned to visualize it. It's part of overall sci-fi canon. Thus, trying to represent maps of outer space in true three-dimensional style can be difficult to grasp to some people, so Joss has gone with a more traditional approach--2D approximations. Everyone understands those.

If they'd chosen to break with tradition and go full-on 3D, they could have just said the Reavers claimed the entire surrounding sector (or whatever) of space.

As Matt said above, the reference to terraforming makes the multi-planet solar system less unlikely. They had scouted the local univerise via robot ships for scientific reasons over the millenium before earth was destroyed. When it became obvious that earth was at an end, they picked the solar system most like what they needed and engineered it the rest of the way - not always getting things exactly like they wanted. Not even a huge wank. You can justify 90% of that logic chain from series or film cannon. The parts you can't are not really a hell of stretch, given the capabilities implied and the time passed.

I never knew before how hard it is to be spoiled. Yesterday when everyone was nattering about which Serenity crew-member would be which Star Wars character and ita said something about "Unca Wash" -- I ALMOST said that it could never be and then I remembered.

Poor Wash. And poor us -- I already miss him.

It is hard. Sometimes when I know a secret I feel like I'm going to say it involuntarily. Like if someone says to me "Hey, it's a nice day outside", I have a knee jerk reaction to say "Wash dies!".

Off topic -

Lilty, I'm coming up to Maine this weekend. I hope to be coming up Friday, and would be coming through Portland 7-9ish. I'll be heading back Sunday and be going through noon-ish. You around?

On topic - I just make damn sure before I post about Firefly right now that I haven't said a movie thing (I looked at my Luke/Leia/River/Simon comment yesterday for a good 2 minutes before I posted, just in case).

What happened at the Serenity preview stays at the Serenity preview.

I almost did the exact same thing Sumi, before realizing she was unspoiled and posting anything there would be a Bad Thing.

I'm kind of torn about being spoiled for that myself. Wash was my 8th favorite character on the show, so I doubt I would have been among those with the most outraged grief reactions, and I kind of regret the moment isn't going to have quite the HSQ factor for me when I see it. Then again, if it had been Zoe or Kaylee in his place I'd have wanted to be spoiled ahead of time so I could be emotionally prepared for the loss.

For the next few days, every conversation I began with my best friend started not with "hi" but with "Wash is dead." He would then say, "I know."

Okay, we're still doing that.

Wash is not dead. Wash will not be dead until Sept 30. It's just that we have a tragic and certain foreknowledge. It's the kind of vibe Walter Benjamin would totally go for, if only he had the pop culture lurve.

He's Schrodinger's Wash: dead to us, but not to the world at large. Or maybe he's Relativity Wash: dead or not-dead depending on the position of the observer.