Once we’ve figured out everything else, perhaps we’ll know why so many planets look like the Mojave Desert. Something to do with genetically engineered Joshua trees.
Yeah, but Simon’s idea to raid the hospital was a direct response to his increasing difficulty in controlling River. I think the point of her running around the ship having fun was to show that Simon’s new treatments were effective, and if they were effective, then Mal would likely be inclined to relax a bit on her restrictions.
One of the few consenus (consensi? I used to know a girl named…but I digress) I’ve come across on the board is that there are unwilling (or less than enthusiastic) settlers dumped off on barely survivable worlds surviving with 19th century technology.
Hi kids. I got me a comic book on the way home from work. Disclaimer: I do like comic books, although I am not a fan of manga, so I don’t share BayleDomon hesitation.
Anyway, I liked it! Some of the characterizations are…not exactly perfect, but the story is there, it’s a brand new Firefly story! What more can a girl ask for, really? The Chinese is actually written in Chinese. I snickered a little at one scene, and went “awww” over another. Shiny.
Yeah – but the scenery looks specifically like the Mojave, not like a generic barren planet. Not that I mind.
I don’t usually go for comic books based on tv shows, but I think I’ll make an exception this time.
Just curious. Those of you who are into the comic scene, is this a comic that’s going to sell out really quick and attain some value as a collectible, or will it be like most comics and barely appreciate at all?
I wouldn’t be opposed to picking up some copies if it’s liable to go up in value, and it wouldn’t kill me to support the Firefly franchise a bit. What are comics these days, two or three bucks?
No clue if it’ll ever go up in value, but it only cost $3. Not exactly breaking the bank.
I was going to order the comic online, but decided not to once I realized shipping was going to be $6 for a $3 comic book. I’ll have to actually leave the house to get it. Alas.
Well, wouldn’t the problem with firing Vera in a vacuum be that without air surrounding the barrel, there would be no means to cool her? Just looking at the physical appearance of Vera, I’d say she is probably (probably will be? shrug) air-cooled, which means without an atmosphere wrapped around the barrel to pass the heat off into, the gun would very quickly overheat and sieze. The case would hold air around the barrel and possibly include some kind of cooling device, I would think.
Okay, three pages into the thread, I actually get around to rewatching the episode in question.
Jayne and Wash both slay me in this episode. The scene where Zoe and Wash are loading themselves up with weapons is great. Kaylee is apparently channelling Willow here. I love her asking Jayne “Can they do that?” and he snorts and says “No”. To which Wash responds with waving that itsy bitsy gun around and talking about leaving no man behind.
The other great line I’d forgotten about is when Zoe shows up with Mal’s ear, Wash says they’re going to get him back, and Jayne asks “what are we going to do, clone him?”
Oooh, one thing I’d forgotten to mention about the comic that pleased me, it was displayed prominently in the window of the store, with the Mal cover. Sweet. The stack of comics on the shelf seemed a little light too.
Actually, in one of the commentaries somewhere Joss says that they did try to get it right, and got burned by their technical ‘expert’ who flat-out told them that guns need air to fire.
Joss clearly doesn’t know much science, but they solve that by A) not using too much of it (no technobabble), and B) consulting with people who do know, to make sure they don’t get anything egregiously wrong. That puts them head-and-shoulders above most other televised science fiction. Towards the end of ‘Star Trek - the Next Generation’, the writers were getting so lazy that wouldn’t even bother trying to invent their techno-gobbledegook. The script would just say, “Giordi: <insert trekspeak>” No attempt at all to match it to actual science or make the technology worked within the plot or was consistent - it was just, “say something techy and whiz-bang, okay?” And the worst part is that they started using it as a Deux Ex Machina. They’d write themselves into a corner, and then get out by essentially waving a magic wand. “We’re all going to die! Wait, if I just re-configure the warp modulators, I can create a rift in the space-time continuum that should channel our dilithium plasma right at the enemy! Amazig that our starfleet engineers never thought of that before!”
To me, that’s inexcusable. You want to write science fiction? At least take it seriously. Build a consistent universe that makes sense, put people in it who behave they way you’d think they might if they lived in that universe, come up with consistent rules for what is and isn’t possible in your universe, and don’t violate them. That’s not too much to ask, but almost no television science fiction does it. Firefly did. They made the odd mistake, but they were honest mistakes. But you can tell they tried to get it right, and that shows through.
That’s the problem with Star Trek. It really gives sci-fi a bad name. In fact, it makes you question just what the definition of sci-fi is. After awhile Star Trek was pretty much introducing wizards. It’s like:
Borg: “We are the Borg. Resistance is futile.”
(Gandolf flies in on a large eagle.)
Gandolf: “You shall not pass!”
Is it sci-fi anymore, or just fantasy set on a space ship?
Joss Whedon was at least trying for semi-hardcore sci-fi. He still left us hanging though. FTL or not? 70 earths in one solar system??
If they had a single solar system with 70 *space colonies * in it, I could buy that. But 70 earths? And they all get the same amount of sunlight because they’re all in the habitable zone? Riiiiight.
Love the show anyway though.
I just noticed that the other day too. Hilarious, and typical Jayne reasoning.
That’s why I don’t like River shooting with her eyes closed.
I think you’re having your cake and eating it, too. 
It’s pure Science Fiction in that “What would happen if Stagecoach were set 500 years in the future”, but it isn’t hard because not much is explained. If they don’t have FTL, it takes six mnths to go from Earth to Mars, and that’s waiting until they are in the right position. If they have some cheap and powerfull energy source that can accelerate and decelerate much more quickly than we can, they’d have it on the colonies to make them more productive instead of wagons and steam trains.
Where’s the fantasy in that? She’d already seen where they were. She didn’t want to see them die. It’s hardly fantasy
You have to aim a gun. You just don’t close your eyes and point. The fellas you’re shooting at usually don’t “stand still for it”, as it were.
The targets were all stationary. Besides, we already knew that River was capable of all sorts of weird stuff. 
Actually, it’s a shooting trick that’s quite achievable with the proper physical memory and hand-eye coordination, and was featured in several “Wild West” shows of the late 19th/early 20th century. I can’t do it, but I know someone who probably could if they practiced at it.
There was a fella (can’t remember his name) who could accurately empty a single-action six-gun faster than a fully-automatic weapon.
If River is somewhat (or quite possibly considerably) mentally advanced (super-smart, high memory quotient, superior reflexes, etc.,) I can see her making the shot(s).
This episode moved River into the potentially scary category; up to this point, the only manifestation of superior physical abilities was her learning a dance after only a few moments of observatiion in the ep. “Safe.”
I rest my case.
You’re also (presumably) not an “off the charts” genius at calculus and physics (and body mechanics, which would be important here) who’s had their brain fiddled with by the gov’ment. It’s supposed to be spooky and freakazoid that she could do that, but it doesn’t take wizards or fairies to make it so.
It’s also possible that River has psychic powers. There are a number of things–telepathy, clairvoyance, and even psychokinesis; time travel; faster than light travel–which are almost certainly impossible but which by convention can still be featured in a reasonably “hard” science fiction story without it being considered fantasy.