Kate (kate_nepveu) wrote,
Kate
kate_nepveu

Big damn roundup of Firefly commentary (1 of 2)

Okay, per the poll, I'm posting part 1 of the Firefly commentary roundup now. Part 2 will cover covers the series in general, character analyses, and worldbuilding thoughts. I largely plundered these from ealgylden's memories, and just organized them and annotated them, because I am weird like that. Posts added after the series started airing on the Sci-Fi Channel are designated by a (new).

Contents

Episodes are listed and numbered in DVD order. Shooting scripts and transcripts are listed first, then my own posts (for ease of reference—hey, it's my links collection), then other posts in chronological order. Posts discussing multiple episodes are listed under all episodes with a paranthetical notation of which episodes are covered. For each post, I've tried to either summarize or to note the points I thought particularly interesting or that I had a reaction to.

"Serenity" (100) (aired 11th) [contents]

"The Train Job" (101) (aired 1st) [contents]

"Bushwhacked" (102) (aired 2nd) [contents]

"Shindig" (103) (aired 6th) [contents]

"Safe" (104) (aired 7th) [contents]

"Our Mrs. Reynolds" (105) (aired 3rd) [contents]

"Jaynestown" (106) (aired 4th) [contents]

"Out of Gas" (107) (aired 5th) [contents]

"Ariel" (108) (aired 8th) [contents]

"War Stories" (109) (aired 9th) [contents]

  • http://www.fireflywiki.org/109.html
    Shooting script.
  • http://firefly.shriftweb.org/scripts/109.shtml
    Transcript.
  • http://www.livejournal.com/users/kate_nepveu/97794.html (109-110) [2005-05-15]
    Walks a heck of a tightrope in the torture scenes, but I loved the character development.
  • http://www.livejournal.com/users/vonnielake/64991.html [2002-12-07]
    Useful thoughts on character development; sets out the layers of Zoe's choice, and the great way Wash/Zoe/Mal was resolved.
  • http://www.livejournal.com/users/gwyn_r/6902.html?style=mine [2002-12-09]
    More interesting character discussion. Also notes that River's "the one most people seemed either uninterested in or disliked", which continues to surprise me.
  • http://www.livejournal.com/users/eep1313/231487.html?style=mine [2004-10-01]
    Ten things previously unnoticed about the episode.
    • "6. Book talking to Simon about the writings of Shen Yu may not be because he's simply well-read. How did I not notice this before?" I thought Shen Yu was famous—Simon seemed to know who he was—and the parallels were the writers being ham-handed. But, maybe it's another layer for Book as well.
    • "7. No matter how cool Zoe's somersault-and-double-pistol-pull may look, there's no way Niska's men wouldn't have blown her to pieces as she did it." Yeah, I said the same thing.
  • http://www.livejournal.com/users/yhlee/96950.html?style=mine (108-109) [2004-06-17]
    Generally enjoyed it. Found the Wash-Zoe fight to be funny and winceworthy at the same time: I agree, in much the same way the torture scenes were.
  • http://www.livejournal.com/community/mal_contents/2071.html?style=mine (tyreseus) (109-110) [2004-09-08]
    A particularly interesting comment on River: "Again, on my belief that the Firefly universe is symbolic of the psychological state of the characters, River describes her day in ways that also describe 'the black' or the far reaches of outer space. . . . I'm beginning to suspect that the long-term theme of the series is that life is best lived in the outer moons, although one must also visit the core and the black to fully appreciate it."
  • http://nilly.shriftweb.org/warbody.htm [undated]
    Points out that Mal didn't tell anyone about Jayne's betrayal, because they were baffled about the apples, which I appear not to have explicitly noted previously; and that Mal needs to keep Wash awake and alive for himself as well as for Wash. Argues that the fundamental problem between Wash and Zoe is trust, not role-reversal.

"Trash" (110) (unaired) [contents]

"The Message" (111) (unaired) [contents]

"Heart of Gold" (112) (unaired) [contents]

"Objects in Space" (113) (aired 10th) [contents]

  • http://www.fireflywiki.org/113.html
    Shooting script.
  • http://firefly.shriftweb.org/scripts/110.shtml
    Transcript
  • http://www.livejournal.com/users/kate_nepveu/101306.html [2005-05-30] (112-113)
    Creepifying and good.
  • http://www.livejournal.com/users/gwyn_r/7509.html?style=mine [2002-12-15]
    "If you have to have a talking killer, you should always have a talking killer like Jubal Early. . . . What worked so well in this episode was what he brought out in each of the crew he affected directly."
  • http://www.livejournal.com/users/yhlee/99234.html?style=mine (111-113) [2004-06-21]
    "This episode was about River, so how could I not like it, now that she's grown past being spooky frozen girl?"
  • http://www.livejournal.com/users/yhlee/99733.html?style=mine (commentary) [2004-06-21]
    Not a visual thinker; and "Existentialism gives me a headache."
  • http://nilly.shriftweb.org/oisbody.htm [2004-08-10]
    Lots of discussion about the title in particular: "And they [the crew] were surprised . . . to realize that they were not an isolated object floating in space, unconnected to the rest of the world unless it's by their choice. . . . even Early himself . . . seemed to not be able to realize that the connection is there for other people, as well." Because, I would add, he is a sociopath. The later conversation with Simon, about needing to go under the knife to be a doctor, is in much the same vein.

    WRT River: "she's the one to whom nothing can be an isolated object in space, . . . and yet she is the one who, more than anybody we've seen on the show, is distanced and alone. . . . that's what was so lovely in the scene between Mal and River on top of "Serenity"."

    An interesting comparison between two episodes that are generally spoken of as the best of the show: ""Out of Gas" with the emotional meaning for things, with the relationships with the people around us and with ourselves giving meaning to the inanimate objects. And "Objects in Space" in the more, I don't know, intellectual aspects of that meaning?"

  • http://www.livejournal.com/users/bhadrasvapna/73579.html [2004-08-21]
    Discusses the episode from an existentialist's POV: "By reducing the gun back to just an object that [River] picks up when she comes across it, she removes its power as a trigger. . . . She is overriding the brainwashing that is telling her to do bad things [in "War Stories"]."

    In short: "Life is a meaningless void, just objects in space. The part that people miss when you say such things is that it doesn't have to remain that way. That is where our power rests."

  • http://www.livejournal.com/users/sdwolfpup/103570.html?style=mine [2004-11-17]
    The title "makes me think of physics, of motion, of the effect of resistance and the various moments of resistance (and lack of it) all throughout."

    Asks whether Book was talking to River or to Jayne. I think neither, myself, but it's interesting to wonder.

  • http://www.livejournal.com/users/sdwolfpup/158295.html?style=mine [2005-05-05]
    "I think Jubal Early underwent the same type of brain manipulation that River did. He could have been the first generation of it, so he was extra-screwed up as a result of trial and error." Also, "my hypothesis is that she's actually somehow directly talking to Kaylee's mind when she first says her name, and then is on comms afterward. But I have nothing to back that up."

"Dead or Alive" (unfilmed episode script) [contents]

Tags: firefly, links, tv
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