TiVo Community Forums Archives - Firefly 1x07: "Safe" (spoilers)

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Firefly 1x07: "Safe" (spoilers)
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Posted by: Hunter Green

"Time to go!" Nice insights into River, but not quite as much as I expected, based at least on the sheer bulk of the "Previously on Firefly" segment.

Anyone else notice that the introduction was a few seconds longer -- like it was an earlier draft before they edited out a bit? Or did I imagine it?

The "witch-burning" thing felt a bit clichéd but I can forgive that because it was besides the point -- it was a MacGuffin. Even so...

They're all growing on me awful fast, but Kaylee doubly so. I physically winced when Simon dissed the ship.

One last thing -- the actor they got to play the young Simon, that was the most amazing job of casting ever. Casting an actor to play a younger version of another actor is always challenging; there's a lot of room for leeway, but the scriptwriters need to establish right off who the characters are so you can match them up. But that actor went "ding" immediately -- he looked so exactly like Simon there was no doubt for a moment. Kudos.

Posted by: TiVoLance

The introduction was different. So what does everyone think about River? Some of those things she was saying she could just NOT deduce from physical clues (a.k.a Goren from Law & Order: CI). So can she read minds? I SURE hope that they do some major character development on her next episode and she can progress past this crazy stage. River and the Shepard are the only characters that don't have their "place" yet. Good episode.

Posted by: Ladd Morse

quote:
Originally posted by Hunter Green
Anyone else notice that the introduction was a few seconds longer?

I noticed that it was different; seemed a bit longer.

I also noticed that the "previously on FireFly" had a LOT of stuff that hadn't been previously seen.

Posted by: Lori

I understand that a lot of stuff in the "previously on firefly" stuff was from the unaired pilot. :(

Posted by: MarkofT

Yup...It was. There was even a mention of an event in the unaired pilot that made it into this episode.

I guess last week was the start of the arc stories. Anyone not on board will probably not see the series until they get syndicated.

Probably won't be seeing a whole lot of development on River's character for a while. IIRC it took 2 seasons for JMS to reveal Kosh and another season to resolve the whole Shadows/Vorlon reasons for being. River seems to be the one of the two main story arcs, Shepand Book would be the other.

I'll wait for someone else to pitch in the first theory on Shepard's secret. ;)

Posted by: TiVoLance

Former Alliance General "doing penitence"?

Son of some high up governmental figure?

Didn't they say he knew a lot about crime? Maybe he is a former judge or sheriff. I would shy away from the darker professions as then the alliance officials would have cared squat about him

Posted by: Rob Helmerichs

Alliance undercover agent? (Former...or not?)

Posted by: Chandler Mike

quote:
Originally posted by Hunter Green

They're all growing on me awful fast, but Kaylee doubly so. I physically winced when Simon dissed the ship.

Same here...the show just grows on you...I love the characters, and Kaylee the most it seems.

Looking forward to each week...

Mike

Posted by: murgatroyd

quote:
Originally posted by Hunter Green
One last thing -- the actor they got to play the young Simon, that was the most amazing job of casting ever. Casting an actor to play a younger version of another actor is always challenging; there's a lot of room for leeway, but the scriptwriters need to establish right off who the characters are so you can match them up. But that actor went "ding" immediately -- he looked so exactly like Simon there was no doubt for a moment. Kudos.

I liked both the young actors. I had the same feeling but had the feeling of recognition for both at the same time. What a great way to give us the feeling of what River used to be like before she was tampered with. I wonder if they'll bring them back for other flashbacks.

Jan

Posted by: ewolfr

quote:
Originally posted by TiVoLance
The introduction was different. So what does everyone think about River? Some of those things she was saying she could just NOT deduce from physical clues (a.k.a Goren from Law & Order: CI). So can she read minds? I SURE hope that they do some major character development on her next episode and she can progress past this crazy stage. River and the Shepard are the only characters that don't have their "place" yet. Good episode.

I wish that they would float River down the river. They have too many characters to develop stories around. They should cut the show by one or two and make it more cohesive.

Posted by: MarkofT

quote:
Originally posted by ewolfr
I wish that they would flaot River down the river. They have too many characters to develop stories around. They should cut the show by one or two and make it more cohesive.

Can't. Count the main actors of the recent major Sci/Fi Space shows. Not the number of people in the credits, but the number of main actors who have a presence over the whole show.

Andromeda - 6
TOS - 7
TNG - 7
Enterprise - 7
Firefly - 9
Voyager - 9
Babylon 5 - 10
DS9 - 12

Firefly is pretty much middle of the pack. Firefly is an ensemble show. It need a decent number of main characters to keep telling stories.

BTW..anyone else notice the pattern for the various Star Treks?

Posted by: MarkofT

quote:
Originally posted by TiVoLance
Former Alliance General "doing penitence"?

Son of some high up governmental figure?

Didn't they say he knew a lot about crime? Maybe he is a former judge or sheriff. I would shy away from the darker professions as then the alliance officials would have cared squat about him

quote:
Originally posted by Medieval Guy

Alliance undercover agent? (Former...or not?)

The Firefly universe has a pretty large separation of have and have-nots. This would lead to quite a bit of machinations and corruption such as bribery, secret organizations keeping the status quo, etc.

One of thse organizations managed to start up an institute to study the "interesting people". This organization does it's best to hide but other organizations find out and keep an eye on things. Whoever Shepard Book is working for wants him to keep an eye on River.

Most of the Firefly universe seems rather religous. Most likely there is not a separtion of church and state. So I would hazard a guess that Shepard Book is employed by the religion arm of the Alliance government.

Posted by: bobjohnson

Kaylee is a hottie.

Any word on how popular the show is? This is a show I'd actually be disappointed to see go. It has a lot of potential.

I also felt the witch burning was incredibly tired.

I think the old tech slant is interesting, but they shouldn't be afraid of showing off hi-tech goodies.

Posted by: RGM1138

Just a couple of thoughts:

In the VO, the Serenity is intro'd as a Firefly class transport. That's new, huh?

And, I'm pretty sure that the date at the beginning is new. (2517 AD) At least, I've never seen it before.

Kaylee is salt-of-the-Earth, good people. And smart. Also, a regular Montgomery Scott when it comes to her boat. :)

Jayne, on the other hand, I wouldn't want watching my back.

Simon, awfully prissy for a guy at the "ass-end of the galaxy, living on a luh-suh wreck." Hey, you could be walkin' home, gurl fren.

And, maybe soon we'll finally see what the "blue hand" people are all about, yes?

Bob

Posted by: bobjohnson

quote:
Originally posted by RGM1138
Simon, awfully prissy for a guy at the "ass-end of the galaxy, living on a luh-suh wreck." Hey, you could be walkin' home, gurl fren.

Hey, that reminds me, am I the only one tired of their wacky space language?

I don't think it adds to the show at all. Once in a while might be alright, but then if you do it rarely, it won't make sense, so my vote would be for them to not do it at all. They should spend more time developing the plot instead of Kingon-lite.

Posted by: Rob Helmerichs

Their wacky space language is known here on Earth as Chinese. Klingon-hevy, perhaps.

I suspect at some point it becomes a major plot point.

Posted by: Fleegle

quote:
Originally posted by Medieval Guy
Their wacky space language is known here on Earth as Chinese. Klingon-hevy, perhaps.

I suspect at some point it becomes a major plot point.

Someone said that the Alliance comes from the old American and Chinese governments, and mixing Chinese with the English just adds flavor and atmosphere. Personally, I like the whole package.

Posted by: vman41

quote:
Originally posted by RGM1138
And, I'm pretty sure that the date at the beginning is new. (2517 AD) At least, I've never seen it before.

It's been on other episodes, e.g. "Jaynestown".

Posted by: murgatroyd

quote:
Originally posted by Medieval Guy
Their wacky space language is known here on Earth as Chinese. Klingon-hevy, perhaps.

Really badly pronounced Chinese, according to a friend of mine.

BTW, the linguistic argument that it would be prounounced differently in the future doesn't work for me. The English usage is what we do now, they should be doing the same for the Chinese.

Jan

Posted by: MarkofT

But Chinese isn't their primary language, English is.

Posted by: Rob Helmerichs

And they grew up watching 20th-century American television, and 26th-century Chinese television! :D

Posted by: DanT

Does anyone else think the comment about "rare Beagles" was aimed at Enterprise? That line just struck me as really funny.

Posted by: bobjohnson

I assumed it was Chinese, but I normally prove to everyone that I'm a boob when I make assumptions. I still don't think it helps. It would make sense that China and America would be the dominant forces in the future, but regardless, it doesn't do it for me.

Dan: I thought that was pretty funny as well.

Posted by: unoriginal

quote:
Originally posted by murgatroyd
The English usage is what we do now

I'm afeared that your wrong there. ;)

Posted by: stormsweeper

quote:
Originally posted by bobjohnson
I assumed it was Chinese, but I normally prove to everyone that I'm a boob when I make assumptions.

Don't assume, presume. At least that way, no one can do that "ass out of u and me" thing when you're wrong. :P

Posted by: Rob Helmerichs

I don't know..."You make a Pres out of you and me" would be a killer insult, no matter what your political affiliation, even if you only count the last two!

Posted by: sschwart

The witch thing gave me a chance to lapse into Monty Python with my friends....

"She's a witch! Burn her!!"

"She turned me into a newt!"
"A Newt?"
"I got better..."

Other than that, they probably could have done without it.

The show is, however, making dramatic improvements with each episode. I wish they would drop the Chinese though... I often wonder what they just said, and have to rewind to discover the reason I missed the word, was that it wasn't in english.

-Steve

Posted by: stormsweeper

Well, cussing in bad Mandarin is a good way to get around network censorship, I suppose.

Posted by: dcheesi

The chinese pronounciation doesn't really matter, as you're not supposed to understand it anyway. Theoretically, the "English" in use would have drifted quite a bit as well, but I doubt you'd want them conducting the whole show in spanglish with Quebecois french mixed in . . .

That said, why bother with it if all the worlds they go to are Anglo-sphere colonies anyway?

Posted by: JYoung

I just wish that Fox would show the episodes in the correct order. Shindig and Safe were supposed to be right after Bushwhacked and makes more sense about why Mal left Simon and River behind.
Note that Fox has scheduled the pilot for 12/20 though. Which version this is, I'm not sure....

However, one thing that I've noticed is that these characters have really grown on me. I found myself smiling when River started dancing with the colonists and was smiling at the end of the episode. Not because it was clever or anything but because it made me feel good.
Very good episode but not quite great.

Anyone else notice that when Summer Glau smiles, she's almost radiant?

Posted by: Graymalkin

This goofy mixture of English and Chinese makes me frelling mad! :D

Posted by: Martha

I've only been watching this show about three or four weeks. I really, really like it, but I don't understand why they use the "poor" grammer that they do? The "he don't" and "I ain't" - what's that about? Obviously I've missed something along the way........

Posted by: Ladd Morse

quote:
Originally posted by Graymalkin
This goofy mixture of English and Chinese makes me frelling mad! :D

Now THAT made me laugh out loud!

Damn SciFi channel ...

Posted by: Hunter Green

quote:
Originally posted by Martha
I've only been watching this show about three or four weeks. I really, really like it, but I don't understand why they use the "poor" grammer that they do? The "he don't" and "I ain't" - what's that about? Obviously I've missed something along the way........

It's a Western. That's how they talk in Westerns. That's how they dress in Westerns. It's in Westerns that they rob stagecoaches and haul cattle and visit mining towns and have sword honor duels and face down old enemies in the street. Oh, and by the way, it's a Western. :)

Posted by: vman41

quote:
Originally posted by Hunter Green
It's a Western. That's how they talk in Westerns. That's how they dress in Westerns. It's in Westerns that they rob stagecoaches and haul cattle and visit mining towns and have sword honor duels and face down old enemies in the street. Oh, and by the way, it's a Western. :)

Since the only Westerns in the last decade were Dr. Quinn and Briscoe County, I think there is room another one.

There is a whole galaxy of worlds, they choose to be in the western ones.

Posted by: DaveLessnau

quote:
Originally posted by vman41
Since the only Westerns in the last decade were Dr. Quinn and Briscoe County, I think there is room another one.

I don't know about that. See my Science Fiction vs Western poll:

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-v...&threadid=81352

Posted by: ariscris

FYI: if i still remember my Mandarin correctly (and after I replayed the bit a couple of times), luh-suh means trash in Chinese...

Posted by: sacherjj

I like the Western feel. It helps allow the show to do things slightly different from all the other just SciFi shows.