# Explain Firefly **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 16, 2004, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-firefly/255421 "2004-07-16T14:58:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/bc8723/32.png) [@Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unauthorized_Cinnamon)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2004, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-firefly/255421/181 "2004-08-07T20:44:55Z")
From what Inara’s friend says in “Heart of Gold,” it seems like being a Companion is an all-encompassing way of life, not just a job you go to and then leave. So that kind of explains why Inara is gorgeous and sexy even in private. Me, I want to know what is up with Inara and that syringe, and the other clues about her past. I hope they pursue it in the movie! ---
**Author:** ![ExTank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2004, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-firefly/255421/182 "2004-08-07T21:12:05Z")
There’s so many levels and layers to these people, I don’t think a two-hour movie (or even a movie franchise) can adequately delve into them; hence my desire for a series (even a short, 13 episode series like _The Sopranos_). I’m thinking (hoping, actually) that _ **Firefly: The Movie** _ may jumpstart new interest in it as a series. Only problem with that is, once you go Big Screen… And **Tengu:** NO, I don’t hear any lisp in Sonny Rhoades voice or singing. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2004, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-firefly/255421/183 "2004-08-07T21:41:19Z")
> [@ExTank](#): > > There’s so many levels and layers to these people, I don’t think a two-hour movie (or even a movie franchise) can adequately delve into them; hence my desire for a series (even a short, 13 episode series like _The Sopranos_). I would sort of love for this to come on HBO. It’d be great because of the swearing and nekkidity HBO would allow (I’m the paragon of highbrow tastes here). But it’d be terrible because that’d be the thing that’d convince me to shell out money for premium cable, putting a hurtin’ on my budget. Daniel ---
**Author:** ![jellyblue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e480ec/32.png) [@jellyblue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jellyblue)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2004, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-firefly/255421/184 "2004-08-07T21:44:52Z")
> [@Otto](#): > > Remember though that she’s also setting up appointments during her “down time” so has to maintain for that. > > And maybe she just likes being pretty. Nothing wrong with that. Hey, no, me too! I’m the biggest Froo-froo Princess in the galaxy (besides her): (“_Why_ do you need mascara to run to the 7-11?”) It’s just that I _do_ occasionally peel off the rhinestones to, I don’t know, scrub out the toilet bowl or something, and they’re so realistic about the rest of the crew’s downtime (playing intergalactic basketball and such - which I, like Inara, wouldn’t dream of throwing in on…) My favorite scene with her is when she’s propped up slumped on a bed like a beautiful little rag doll after she gets drugged by kissing Mal : “I fell and hit my head!!” ---
**Author:** ![ExTank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2004, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-firefly/255421/185 "2004-08-07T21:49:58Z")
**RT:** I think Joss Whedon deliberately skipped the scientific techno-babble for one or more reasons. [ol] [li] **Continuity:** By leaving out the techo-jargon, he can’t be pinned down or limited in later scripts by techno-purists.[/li][li] **Artistic:** he’s setting up the premise that the stuff just _works;_ that it’s a “lived-in” universe and is taken for granted. What Lucas did for _Star Wars._ This allows the script focus to be on people almost exclusively.[/li][li] **Money:** He may not have had time (time=money) to concentrate on techy aspects, devoting his writing efforts in getting us hooked on the people, who are (usually) more interesting than machinery.[/li][/ol] For instance, in _Out of Gas,_ even though the engine is dead and life support is out, the ship still has power and _gravity_. Of course, a battery system is not implausible at all, or possibly a small auxiliary generator. This leads to the possible conclusion that the artificial gravity is either a very low-powered system, or an ever present _passive_ system which requires no power (this is lame, but think of the deck being made of an alloy of steel and a high-tech metal called Gravitium 256). Me personally, I vote for “Artistic.” By leaving the techno-babble out of the series completely (well, _almost_ completely), you resist the Star Trekkian impulse to lame together a script about the alien nannites infecting your computer core or establishing an inter-dimensional “beachead” in the middle of your warp core. _Out of Gas_ bears only a superficial resemblance to these techno-maguffins; it is clearly evident the story is about Mal’s love for his ship and crew, how they came together, and their care for each other. Plus, the ending was priceless. Plus, there are instances where Kaylee says they need some (insert techno-talk) and Mal cuts her short and says, “Put that in Captain-speak.” By deliberately and kind of brusquely shifting the focus away from techno-talk the series can stay people-oriented. I have watched only a very few episodes of _Buffy,_ and none of _Angel,_ but I have heard fans complain of later seasons being kind of lame; in all fairness, they usually point out that in those seasons, Joss Whedon has usually turned almost all the writing over to other people. Maybe it’s a good thing, _ **Firefly** _ being a short-lived series; maybe now it can forever reside in our hearts and minds as the mythic, near-perfect TV show. Instead of us, in several years, complaining here that, “Firefly used to be great, now it just sucks.” ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2004, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-firefly/255421/186 "2004-08-07T23:14:13Z")
I agree with your take on it 100%, **ExTank** , and I think it was a very smart decision on Joss’s part. And, again, I think it’s part of his deliberate attempt to make Firefly the anti-Star Trek. How it works isn’t important to the story. They occasionally mention the oxy-generator or something like that, but that’s as techy as they ever get. > [@AerynSun](#): > > Me, I want to know what is up with Inara and that syringe, and the other clues about her past. I hope they pursue it in the movie! I just listened to the pilot commentary today, and Joss says that most people assume it’s some sort of suicide drug, but he had something more “interesting” planned for it that he might get to address one day. ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2004, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-firefly/255421/187 "2004-08-07T23:22:57Z")
> [@jellyblue](#): > > Question: Is there a way to find translations for the Mandarin they speak from time to time? The [Firefly Chinese Pinyinary](http://fireflychinese.home.att.net/). (Of course I cannot vouch for its accuracy.) ---
**Author:** ![jellyblue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e480ec/32.png) [@jellyblue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jellyblue)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2004, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-firefly/255421/188 "2004-08-08T00:08:24Z")
> [@MEBuckner](#): > > The [Firefly Chinese Pinyinary](http://fireflychinese.home.att.net/). (Of course I cannot vouch for its accuracy.) “Baboon’s asscrack”, indeed! Thanks, **MEBuckner** , very helpful 🙂 . ---
**Author:** ![Hunter\_Hawk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/50afbb/32.png) [@Hunter\_Hawk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hunter_Hawk)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2004, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-firefly/255421/189 "2004-08-08T00:30:54Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > 1. Speaking of FTL travel, or lack thereof, there’s nothing to indicate whether all the worlds on _Serenity_’s itinerary orbit a single star, or are in different star systems. Any info out there on which it is, or did they finesse this one, too? They finessed this one, but I’m personally convinced that it’s a multi-star-system setup. For example, in…ummm…_Bushwhacked_, I think (the ep where River and Simon get kidnapped), Simon complains about being “dragged off to the ass end of the galaxy”. If all the action took place in a single solar system, I’d expect him to use a word other than “galaxy”. There are a number of other analogous examples in various episodes, enough so that the Blue Sun guy’s comment about traveling however many million miles seems to be the exceptional case. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2004, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-firefly/255421/190 "2004-08-08T00:48:35Z")
> [@Hunter Hawk](#): > > There are a number of other analogous examples in various episodes, enough so that the Blue Sun guy’s comment about traveling however many million miles seems to be the exceptional case. They talk about ‘the edge of the galaxy’ a lot. Mal’s opening narration in the TV airings, talks about ‘a whole galaxy of new earths’. And the Blue Sun guy’s comment isn’t that out of place in a galaxy-spanning setup. Compared to a trip to, say, Tokyo, going from my house to downtown is an insignificant trip. But going downtown is an awful long way to go without actually getting what I went there for. Most people probably don’t leave their home systems, and the habitable planets, moons, and stations in a given system would all be in a fairly small band - 86 million miles would be a pretty good trek for them - even if they left a particular planet/moon system with any regularity. ---
**Author:** ![Murcielago](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/da6949/32.png) [@Murcielago](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Murcielago)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2004, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-firefly/255421/191 "2004-08-08T01:07:36Z")
Never saw the show when it was on the air, but I’m enjoying the hell out of the DVDs. The moment they got me was near the end of the original pilot episode. When the pool boy from _Seinfeld_ was looking to take a hostage and make demands, Mal shot him in the the head without saying a word or breaking his stride. That was a perfect way to define his character. After hearing the theme a few times, my brain came up with: _Take my love, take my land, You can’t catch me, I’m the gingerbread man…_ Not sure what that is supposed to mean, but my gf thought it was funny when she heard me singing it. ---
**Author:** ![Phnord\_Prephect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/df705f/32.png) [@Phnord\_Prephect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phnord_Prephect)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2004, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-firefly/255421/192 "2004-08-08T01:12:53Z")
Well, I forget exactly why this is, but I remember proving (to myself at least) that Serenity, if not all ships, has FTL travel. Had something to do with certain travel times during a show compared to certain travel times during another show… I forget exactly. When I watch the entire series again next month or so, I’ll try to remember to post my reasoning. q;} Oh, and Book? That ain’t no shepherd! Just look at his thoughts during the eposide where River is ‘freaking out’ and ends up with the gun. They’re NOT NICE. Not at all. Hmm. Speaking of spoilers… And I mean TRUE spoiler. If you don’t want to be surprised when they start making movies, don’t read this! River. Reiver. The men with blue hands. They’re all part of the same bigger plot, that we never got to learn about. I believe that the men with the blue hands get those humans with the right type of neurological makeup, and convert them into more men with blue hands. River has this type of brain, and so they sent her to ‘school’, where the MWBH started working on her. She, of course, resisted the treatment, because she’s a main character; no further reasoning is needed there, really. q;} Anyway… the origin of ‘reiver madness’ is unknown, who cares really… maybe there ARE aliens? So, the Alliance figured out that somehow, it could be replicated, and controlled. End result: MWBH and their ‘sticks of death’ that cause nosebleeds and madness and stuff. River saying she can kill with her mind. The reivers’ disease is contagious, even. Remember the scene with the Alliance guy and the one lone reiver? That LOOK he gave him? This was ALL foreshadowing for the big Reiver Battles in the later seasons, IMnsHO. ::😭:: I miss this show! Please, more movies!! ---
**Author:** ![ExTank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2004, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-firefly/255421/193 "2004-08-08T04:13:30Z")
Well, I said it before in another _ **Firefly** _, but I’ll repeat it here. I believe Book _is_ a Shepherd _now,_ but he wasn’t always. I think he was some kind of CIA agent-analog, or perhaps Military Intelligence/Commando-type for the Alliance during the Unification War. Perhaps a hard-ass merc/bounty hunter like Jubal Early. And he was a very bad man. Then somewhere, somehow, he got (as Mal would put it) “religiosity.” Just my SWAG, though. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2004, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-firefly/255421/194 "2004-08-08T04:25:41Z")
Re artificial gravity and possibly FTL travel, Kaylee states that the ship is powered by a “gravity drive.” What that means exactly, whether the drive powers the artificial gravity (and if so why there’s still gravity in _Out of Gas_), whether a gravity drive allows for FTL travel and so on are not addressed. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2004, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-firefly/255421/195 "2004-08-08T04:42:08Z")
> [@ExTank](#): > > I believe Book _is_ a Shepherd _now,_ but he wasn’t always. I think he was some kind of CIA agent-analog, or perhaps Military Intelligence/Commando-type for the Alliance during the Unification War. Perhaps a hard-ass merc/bounty hunter like Jubal Early. And he was a very bad man. > > Then somewhere, somehow, he got (as Mal would put it) “religiosity.” That’s my theory, too. The line she hears from Book in OiS is likely, IMO, a memory - when River comes in, Jayne’s mind turns to the memory of betraying her. Since Book did no such thing for her, his mind wasn’t drawn away from the discussion of his vows when River came in - his mind was still on his vows, and thanks to his joke about Jayne taking up the cloth, an incident, the guilt about which, prompted him to turn to the Church to redeem himself. ---
**Author:** ![Osip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/4491bb/32.png) [@Osip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Osip)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2004, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-firefly/255421/196 "2004-08-08T21:44:13Z")
> [@Fish](#): > > Well, **RTFirefly** , at the end of _The Train Job_ the two Blue Hands guys say “We didn’t just travel 68 million miles to find a box of Band-Aids.” > > There’s your answer. 68 million miles in a bee-line away from the sun wouldn’t even get you past Earth’s orbit (93 million miles) much less out of the solar system (Pluto, average about 3.7 **b** illion miles). > > Therefore, I say, if they’re complaining about a 68 million mile trip, it’s all within one solar system. The Blue hand guys might have been in the system. Does not mean everything is in the same system. Would have to be one HUGE system based on Mal’s speech to Saffron in Our Ms Reynolds (part of deleted scenes) "there are 70 earths spinning out there and the meek have not inherited a one). ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2004, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-firefly/255421/197 "2004-08-08T21:46:58Z")
It also raises the question, if they don’t have FTL travel, how the hell did they get wherever they are from this solar system? Naw, I’m pretty sure that Serenity is an interstellar ship. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2004, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-firefly/255421/198 "2004-08-08T22:21:06Z")
I watched the first three again today. The terms “edge of the galaxy”, “rim” and “systems” were mentioned as well as the range of ships in “Bushwacked”. They have FTL with a poetic license to operate it. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2004, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-firefly/255421/199 "2004-08-08T23:29:50Z")
Firefly isn’t FTL - in fact the cruise speed is about 5 mph. Remember that scene in the pilot, when Firefly passes the Reaver ship? 😃 Anyway I never felt the technological and scientific shortcomings detracted from this show. If it allows them to tell a good story, who cares if they ignore the details or ignore a few laws of physics? (Hmm, I don’t think I’d ever said that before watching _Firefly_.) ---
**Author:** ![Wearia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/13edae/32.png) [@Wearia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wearia)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2004, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-firefly/255421/200 "2004-08-09T01:05:35Z")
They also mention in one of the episodes that there are 70 (?) inhabited worlds. Not sure if that means moons and planets or just planets. But still, unless they decided to drag some new rocks into the ole Sol system I think their travels take them elsewhere. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-firefly/255421.md?page=9) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-firefly/255421.md?page=11)