Ok, this is from the movie, so I'm talking about it here: On Sci Fi's Firefly page, they give the Shepherd's name as Derrial Book. In the three pre-screenings I went to (first two times in Chicago, third time in Charlotte), I remember it being Meria Book (which pleasantly surprised me by confirming what IMDB had listed a while earlier). Somebody on Whedonesque says they saw Derrial all three times in Denver.
Can others who remember confirm either way? Firefly character names are a huge pet peeve for me. (It's not Jerry Lee. It's not Warren. And we still don't know anything about Zoe's full name. Damnit.)
It was Meria the two times I went.
I'm pretty certain I saw Derrial in Philly both times.
Meria each time for me. Atlanta & Charlotte.
Oops. . . that was meant for elsewhere.
It looked like Deria to me last Saturday Night at the ComicCon screening.
So, I'm thinking about the "retcon" and wondering if maybe we're going to have a reveal in the Serenity comic book that explains it.
Based on what we see in the movie: Simon getting River out and his competence in doing so as well Simon knowing exactly what was done to River, including a safety word to stop her.
Versus the TV series: Simon says he paid a group to smuggle her out in cryo. Simon claims to have no knowledge of what was done to River and denies any suspicions of her being psychic. Simon's "Master of Disguise" bit on Canton.
The only way these two add up is if Simon were lying to the crew of Serenity from the beginning and playing up his incompetence. Which would make sense from his standpoint. He's an intelligent man surrounded by smugglers and thieves, keeping them in the dark as much as possible as well as making them underestimate him in case things go wrong.
At some point in comic, Mal finds out Simon's been "playing" them from day one and understandibly doesn't take it well. This would certainly explain the antagonism between them in the movie versus Mal's "You're on my crew." and nearly spacing Jayne for betraying him and them during the series.
Granted, this is still a complete and utter retcon, and I don't like that at all, but at least it makes some degree of sense.
Which is why I expect they won't address it at all. It'd take away from the authenticity of, to state a previous example, Simon's Master of Disguise moment. In fact, it'd take away from at least half of his awkwardness throughout the series. I for one hope they don't try to reconcile this. Sometimes things like this have to be ignored a little or stories will start to suck hardcore for the sake of making everything pat.
I am with Mr. Broom on this. I hate it when things that don't make sense are forced to make sense. I have two stories. One is Firefly and one is Serenity. I feel no real need to make these two stories fit seamlessly.
Right. Believe me, you start doing that and you will never be able to watch more than one season of any Star Trek ever again. All you'll ever do is yell at the screen.
