Firefly/Serenity Question....

[jolau]

I just watched the entire series and the movie, and I have one odd question.

How long do you think the Reavers can last?

They don't reproduce naturally, and it seems as if much of what the Reavers do will cause thier numbers to dwindle (living in unsafe ships, malnutrition from lack of food, combat casualties, etc. etc.)

It seems as if the Reavers sole means of keeping thier numbers is through converting, either torturing the people they capture into becoming one, or exposing them to the Pax. (Although I think it's possible they are intertwined somehow)

Any ideas?

[Hermiod]

^Probably not long. In my view, the one thing stopping the Alliance from wiping them out was the fact that they made a handy barrier to stop people getting through to Miranda to find out about the Pax.

Now it's public knowledge, they're just a nuisance to be dealt with.

[Guy Gardener]

It's early days.

besides, we don't know how man has been genetically modified to live a little longer considering how long it takes to stabilize a colony.

[chardman]

I too have recently re-watched the whole series as well as the film, and would like to know: Where was it ever established that the Reavers "don't reproduce naturally"? I sure don't remember anything remotely like that being said, or even implied, by anything on-screen.

I'd sat that devoid of the usual social restraints, and driven almost entirely by their more animalistic urges, I'd think they'd breed like rabbits.

[propita]

Well, they'd have to not rape the women to death first. Then not kill the kids before, during, or after they're born. I really don't see that happening.

In fact, whenever shows/movies have had Reaver-type societies, I've never understood how the society lasted. Since they're all ready to kill, how do they get along long enough to do anything, let alone fly a damn spaceship? Is someone in charge? Do the "recognize" each other and so don't kill each other? A simple line, "They don't kill their own" would at least "explain" why there's some stability in their society.

[David cgc]

Well, obviously they don't kill their own. Those ships all have crews. They didn't even kill the guy in "Bushwacked," and he was only potentially one of them. My guess would be that they can recognize people who share their reaction to the Pax chemical, and don't mind them, but it's seeing the ones who would be pacified by it is what drives them into a rage. They probably have some sort of society and order among themselves, though no one would see it since, anyone who tried to observe them would quickly be eaten.

[Kibbin]

Actually that sounds like the best answer to it I've heard David and is my new answer to be given out should anybody ask. Not that anybody is likely too, but still.

[Gaith]

Aye, this question has been asked several times before... to quote myself:

Gaith wrote:

---

The Reavers - the whole plot's raison d'être - make no sense whatsoever. If they're rage-filled crazies who are always super-aggressive, as the movie pretty clearly states, than how can they pilot and maintain their ships? Particularly since the show and movie are always stressing Serenity's fragility, the Reavers' spacefaring capabilities should be impossible.

It didn't have to be that way. For all we know from "Serenity" (the pilot) and their attack on the moon in the movie's first half, Reavers are just normal guys who take stim-packs or chug Romulan ale before going into battle. But, in order to make a fairly banal statement about human nature (breaking news: doping the bejeezus out of people infringes upon their humanity!), Whedon absolutely shredded the already tenuous credibility of his 'verse according to his own rules.

David cgc's answer is probably the best in-universe reply we're going to get. My reply is that it shows that Whedon didn't spend any more time thinking about the plot of his movie than he did on sketching the characters therein.