VoyForums
[ Show ]
Support VoyForums
[ Shrink ]
VoyForums Announcement: Programming and providing support for this service has been a labor of love since 1997. We are one of the few services online who values our users' privacy, and have never sold your information. We have even fought hard to defend your privacy in legal cases; however, we've done it with almost no financial support -- paying out of pocket to continue providing the service. Due to the issues imposed on us by advertisers, we also stopped hosting most ads on the forums many years ago. We hope you appreciate our efforts.

Show your support by donating any amount. (Note: We are still technically a for-profit company, so your contribution is not tax-deductible.) PayPal Acct: Feedback:

Donate to VoyForums (PayPal):

[ Login ] [ Contact Forum Admin ] [ Main index ] [ Post a new message ] [ Search | Check update time | Archives: 1, [2], 3, 4 ]

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Date Posted: 11:02:28 12/14/02 Sat
Author: Cactus Watcher
Subject: CW's Writer's Journal for "Objects in Space" (Spoilers for the ep)

First an answer to Darby’s suggestion on the ATPo board that if Firefly had started with “Objects in Space” then “The Train Job” things would be different for Firefly. Probably not. The worst part about “The Train Job” is that it feels thrown together because it had to be reworked to introduce all the characters. What works about “Objects in Space” is that we already know all the characters. We have to have some idea of what they have been thinking or the opening scene makes no sense at all. We have to understand why River is the way she is or her actions on Early’s ship aren’t clear. A two-hour rewrite probably would have fixed it all. But, Fox didn’t want to give ME the second hour in the first place. I think Darby’s real point is that a great first episode, or at least a really good first episode is what every series needs. Once Fox rejected the pilot as the first episode, they should have put off the start of the show till the first of the year. There simply wasn’t enough writing time available to make any replacement first episode work.

Meanwhile, cancellation or no, I intend to go on with these notes. We will have at least one more episode next week, and FOX is still making vague noises like the rest of the ordered episodes may be shown as fill-ins here and there after the first of the year. When Wisewoman wants to or needs to shut down this site, I can put “the journal” at ATPo or elsewhere. There probably won’t be many new posts here after next weekend any way, unless WW changes the topic of this board.

River’s walk through the ship - I’m pretty sure that what River was experiencing was not the other people’s immediate thoughts, but their feelings. I’m not quite sure what that means for Book’s “I don’t give … if your innocent or not. So where does that put you? Was he a judge? An alliance officer?

The broken branch - Where the heck did Jayne’s pistol come from. I’m half convinced River was carrying it all the time she was walking and wasn’t really aware of it. She even says to someone, “It was in my hand.“ I can’t really judge the significance of the scene as she picks up the branch. What do the fallen leaves indicate?

River - “She understands. She doesn’t comprehend.” Mal isn’t the only one having difficulty with this hair splitting. Comprehension can indicate something broader or deeper. But, it’s still difficult to grasp what’s going on in her head.

Early’s ship, the glass bubble - As a writer, glass bubble cockpits don’t make sense to me for long range spacecraft. Why isn’t really important here. For a director in a visual medium, it’s a nice touch because you can have Early and River sitting on a chair on a crane and have CGI fill in what ever neat ship you want. Actually, as a visual goof later proves, there is a whole ‘ship’ suspended from the crane in “Objects in Space.” See below.

Wash and Zoe - “I’m just getting a weird heat-bounce off our wake.” “Engine flux?” In my stories ships indeed do have a ‘wake’ and there is a very good reason for it. Here in Firefly, it’s best just to chalk this whole exchange up to gobbledy-gook and not analyze it too carefully. It sounds wrong in more than one way. But, given time it could have been explained in the course of a long series.

“Even Vera could barely breach the hull.” This is something I would have liked to hear earlier in the series. As I said in an earlier journal, firearms and spaceships don’t mix. At any rate, the hull of Serenity is officially more or less bulletproof. It certainly would be easier to make bullets that wouldn’t breach the hull and still do what they were supposed to, say hard plastic bullets instead of soft lead as Jayne tells us their made of. Oh well, no one can think of everything.

River listening , her balancing act - Since people in chat last night had obviously missed it, when River was listening to the crew discuss her future, she was balancing with one foot on each hand rail of the walk way below. It certainly reminded me of her being a dancer again. It’s very much something a small person with good balance might do to get closer to hear. It’s been awhile since I’ve been that small, but I remember doing such things. Ah, the good old days…

Book disturbs Kaylee and Simon - The tender moment is broken. Kaylee’s reaction is interesting here because she gave Simon a lot of grief in “Jaynesville” for letting the presence of others make him deny his relationship with her. Here she’s doing it too. Is this a sign that Simon is changing her?

Early arrives - Early has to get in somehow or there is no story, but the fact that he does more or less unnoticed is disturbing. Mal just happens to hear the noise in the hallway. Opening an airlock anywhere on the ship ought to set off a signal at least on the bridge and in the passageway nearby. “Airlock safety” issues (not necessarily ship-invasion issues) would be too important to ignore on any space ship. This is one of those uneasy choices a writer has to make. It’s awkward, but it has to been ignored.

Early speaks - “Am I a lion?” “That ain’t it all. I’m a bounty hunter.” “That ain’t a shepherd.” “It’s not your moment, Doctor.” - Did anyone else begin wondering if someone had been doing experiments on Early’s brain as well? Often he’s acting suspiciously like River. As if he were an “early” version of what River was to become?

Inara says she knows what Early must be feeling. Early strikes her and says, “Don’t go visiting my intentions. Don’t ever!” This also gives me the impression that Early like River may have some telepathic power.

“River’s gone.” - It’s fun that most of what River says when she is a disembodied voice, (especially before Early is convinced River might have become one with the ship) is absolutely true.

“Jubal Early, bounty hunter.” - An interesting choice for a name. Jubal Early was a Confederate general in the war between the states. Like some other important men in the South he actually opposed Southern succession from the union before the war. But, after the war, unlike many other Southern officers such as Robert E. Lee and James Longstreet, he refused to make peace with the Union government. He refused to take an oath swearing loyalty, which would have allowed him the right to vote again among other things. He preferred to remain in the terms of his times ‘Unreconstructed.’

River to Early - “You’re not well.” Another hint he might be like her.

Mal shoves Early - there is a prop mistake here. Actually it could be called a film editing mistake. Early helplessly strikes his ship before drifting away. The ship twists away and then instantly twists back as if it’s on a cable. There is a quick cut and then Early’s ship is spinning correctly until River presumably regains control. Anybody else notice something else very wrong with this whole scene?

River to Mal about Simon - “He takes so much looking after.” Cute line, and what else can she say that would be better?

Mal to Inara - “How’s your lip?” This scene indicates a lot about what Inara feels and what she can let herself show to Mal. It’s no wonder to me that Mal is always “pulling her pigtails” and in River's mind he says nearly weeping about his future with Inara (at least as I’m guessing, he’s saying about his feelings toward her), “None of it means a damn thing.”

Will Early return? If the show somehow goes on - oh yeah! Why do you think he was so concerned that River might play with the dials in his ship? Just that she might run off with it? Not likely, since he seemed in control on Serenity. That there were some kind of weapons, she might fire. Again not likely with her friends all on Serenity. Early has some kind of device that will allow the ship to return to him…

See you next week.

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Replies:

[ Contact Forum Admin ]

Forum timezone: GMT-8
VF Version: 3.00b, ConfDB:
Before posting please read our privacy policy.
VoyForums(tm) is a Free Service from Voyager Info-Systems.
Copyright © 1998-2019 Voyager Info-Systems. All Rights Reserved.