Still Flying: Serenity/Firefly

First of all, sorry for the double post, but it's an entirely different topic.

There are so many different "hints" to this throughout the series. One is the fact that Book is one of the best shots in the crew. Again, he has an extensive knowledge of both Alliance and underworld activities.

The biggest clue is when he was shot. He has clearance to get the treatment from the Alliance vessel.

 

Dear Diary.

Today I was pompous and my sister was crazy.


Someone explain Shepherd Book to me. Or tell me at least that we find out his deal?

 

Books past is never confirmed in the series or the movie, however, in my opinion, it is IMPLIED in the movie. I posted this theory awhile back in a highlighted post.

 

Yeah I had the same theory a while back and got labeled a racist.

It was a popular theory when the movie first came out. Some of the Firefly sites pointed out that theory might be all we ever get with Book.

Some say that Mal and Book's conversation is Whedon breaking the fourth wall. When Mal says "You'll have to tell me about that someday." and Book replies "No, I don't". Its Whedon answering fan's pleas to learn more about Book. This is all your getting, end of story.

 

I agree. It's clear that Book knows enough about a group of people nobody is supposed to know about. Add to that his fighting and weapons skills, and the episode where his ID card gave him absolute clearance to anything in the Alliance, and I'd say we know that Book was once an Operative.

The fact that he has no name is also a clue.

 

I like that Book is never fully explained. I think part of this show's magic is that we as an audience are not spoon fed everything. The people are mysterious they have pasts which they don't like to talk about and it makes it more real and more intriguing.

I hate when shows give up everyhing... once you know all tere is to know, once you have everything... what is left?

 

I think there would have been a lot more to it than that. Yes, Book was probably an Operative, but the real mysteries are:

Why he left the service of the alliance (and why do they treat him so well afterwards?)

And what, if any, significance his actions in the past had on the plot of the show--was he involved with the academy in any way?


Sure, I've got nothing to go on here, but the plot concerning Book would have been very intricate. It was set up delicately enough-- the payoff would also have been spectacular.


(Damn, I wrote that all in the past tense. The payoff can still be spectacular. )

 

That's one reason why I've liked the short run of Firefly, although another couple of seasons would have been nice. Also, the same reason why I like Battlestar - there's so many questions with that .

 

We just got two puppies. I named one of them Kaylee.


Does that make me a nerd?

 

Here's Kaylee.


[image=http://static.flickr.com/38/98932816_e5df7dbf62.jpg]

 

Border collie mix?

 

beafet, I don't think that naming your dog Kaylee makes you a nerd. My husband and I think that if we have another child, and it is a girl, that we are going to name her Kaylee Zoe Jayne. So that would make me a super nerd. I don't want to go there.

 

You are good.

Yes, the mother was a Border Collie. The father(s) is/are unknown.

 

If anybody is a fan of Firefly/Serenity, you ought to pick the official visual companion book. It is very very good. It has like a 30 page Joss Whedon interview and he gives a lot of insight into a variety of topics. There is a really interesting "History of the Universe" section written by Whedon that outlines the colonization of the Firefly verse and the development of the Alliance and the start of the Unification War. Neat stuff. This also includes the complete shooting script, which has a few deleted scenes and lines of dialogue in there. On example, in their final confrontation at the end of the film, the Operative reveals that the release of the Miranda broadcast had led to protests, riots, and calls for a complete recall of the Parliment.

 

I have to agree the visual companion is definitely worth getting.

Titan books is also releasing a visual companion for Firefly sometime this summer.

<-- I love my icon.

 

My brother got me the visual companion for Christmas... it was definitely good.



It kinda pissed me off-- he's go the money for a lot more.


And I spent 50 bucks on him... but whatever.

 

Looks exactly like my dog. Same story we knew momma was a Border Collie but didn't know much about pops. With all the black we assumed lab (which maybe you are in the same boat) but some of the brothers were merle so its still a mystery.

But more on subject, no its not geeky at all to name her Kaylee.

A. Thats one useful thing about TV and Movies.
All the hair brained names they give characters wouldn't do for a real child but the dog doesn't care. My next dog is going to be named River (possibly my child too, I like the name).

B. Uh I forgot what I was going to use as B while I was typing out A.
I think I was going to mention that my dog is named after a punk band but it just goes back to my earlier point about how the dog doesn't care. Its not like you are going to give her a complex.

C. I remembered what I was going to say for B so I'll use it as C.
That dog is going to be the smartest thing you've ever seen walk on four feet. Herding dogs in general Border Collies in particular are literally too smart for their own good. They are also the biggest pain in the *****. Kaylee is very apropos

 

SPOILERS AHEAD!
SPOILERS AHEAD!


The only thing about the Book-was-an-Operative theory that bothers me is that it's a little too obvious. Although come to think of it it's obvious only in light of Serenity, as we'd never met an Operative in Firefly (unless the Blue Hands count), so maybe that was Joss's way of clearing it up since killing Book means this story will never get told (maybe).

No matter what, I think Book has done some very, very bad things in the past. I think it's this that led him to be a Shepherd; he realizes he has done truly evil things and is undertaking a journey of atonement. Kaylee observes and Book confirms in "Serenity" (the Firefly episode, not the movie) that the journey is much more important to him than the destination; he doesn't care where the ship is going. I think Book's time aboard Serenity is a kind of pilgrimage. He says he's been out of the world for a long time, and wants to see it again, but I wonder if there may be more to it than that. Perhaps he wants to see what has become of the Alliance, what life is really like out there.

I wonder if he may be even more highly placed than an Operative. I don't know so much about the structure of the Alliance government (I don't know how much of this info might be out there), but I could envision him as someone secret and behind the scenes who orchestrates things on a grand scale. We know from "Objects in Space" that Jubal Early recognizes him ("That's no Shepherd."). I wonder if Early could have been employed to do anything significant by the Alliance before. (I don't guess he was really employed when he went after the Tams, but I think he could have been used before in a more directly-employed role.) More interesting and significant to me is the reaction of the people on the Alliance Cruiser in "Safe." I don't have the feeling that The Operative from Serenity thinks he will be especially in the Alliance's good graces after his change of heart. Not consistent with the treatment we see Book get in "Safe."

Personal pet theory: In his time with the Alliance, Book orchestrated something big. Maybe he was part of the catalyst behind the Unification War. Or maybe he was somehow responsible for the Battle of Serenity Valley. In any case, my speculation is that it was something that would affect Mal personally. That his time on Serenity was seeing very directly what he was responsible for, and that having to live with a man whom he had hurt and wronged personally was part of his atonement (I don't mean to imply that he picked Serenity on purpose but rather suggest a king of fatalistic appropriateness in his ending up aboard her.) Whatever was in Book's past, I think it was bad in a dramatic way.

Most of that is purely speculation, though.

-Paul

 

I don't think Jubal Early really recognizes Book. In Whedon's audio commentary of the episode, I believe he states during that scene that Jubals line there is an example of his incredible intuition.

 

Or maybe he had something to do with convincing the Brown Coat command to back off and end the war by not sending in the air support Mal so desperately needed in Serenity Valley.

 

Yeah, something along thosse lines. And who knows, whatever the original story for him was supposed to be may have been changed and simplified once it bebcame clear that they wouldn't get to work it out in the TV series -- the episodic format allows for a lot of complexity that the 'verse will probably never see again unless there's an ongoing comics series. But those were the kinds of thing I was thinking about.

-Paul

 

I got Serenity for Valentine's Day. It was fullscreen though, so I had to go exchange it for widescreen.

I also signed up at fireflyseason2.com

 

Watch out for that season 2 site. I'm pretty sure it's run by some lunactic who has no affiliation at all with Joss Whedon. It is very suspicious to me.

 

My personal feeling about a Firefly season 2 is that if Joss aint involved in it in some way, I'm not sure if I wanna know. He's the brains and hearts of the operation. He created the verse so he should have a hand in what happens in it.


Hey beafet, I LOVE Kaylee puppy. She's soo cute.
And it's not too geeky. Think of all the people who have named their dogs Chewie or Yoda.


The theory of Shepard being an Operative is a cool one. I just thought that he had some position of power in the Allience, decided that he'd had enough after something major happened and joined the priesthood. But now that he's dead and with no new Firefly or Serenity outings, we're never gonna know his past.

btw, has everyone seen this, it's hilarious:

http://www.jerrythefrogproductions.com/Serenity.html