Firefly first-time/rewatch (NO SPOILERS, please)

Discussion in 'Science Fiction & Fantasy' started by lurok, Nov 11, 2012.

  1. teacake

    teacake Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    True, there's plenty of new vocabulary. It's a long time into our future after a lot of wars and degeneration and expansion and melting pot. Probably if this was real we couldn't even understand them.

    They refer to Earth as Earth-that-was. If humans still live there its exact location is long lost. It's remembered as their origin planet.

    Unlike BSG though no one is looking for it :)
     
  2. Skywalker

    Skywalker Admiral Admiral

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    So which Earth is Earth-That-Is, and which is Earth-That-Will-Be? :shifty:
     
  3. teacake

    teacake Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    I don't think anything is called earth, or new earth.

     
  4. lurok

    lurok Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    I was also a tad confused because I was convinced Inara was non-human. It's not just the superficial exotic thing either. Something about her character...Although that might also be my subconscious desire to see Baccarin play a Vulcan, Rommie or vampire.
     
  5. Spock/Uhura Fan

    Spock/Uhura Fan Captain Captain

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    These mirror many of my first impressions as well. I think Nathan works as the captain, though. "Kaylee is dead" didn't cause me to laugh and it made the crew look mean. "Boy," wasn't necessary. My favorite character would probably be Simon (the Doctor), but not by much because I ended up really liking them all. By the end of the 14 episodes, they still are a little stereotypical, but they work.

    The language is a bit jarring/disorienting at first, but you get used to it. It's an odd mangle of old American Western English and, I believe, Mandarin Chinese. I think when I watched the DVD special thing, they said that the two big powers in the future spoke English/Chinese and so that's what everyone grows up learning to speak. It would have been nice to get subtitles, but what's said in Chinese is supposed to be negligible.
     
  6. Lindley

    Lindley Moderator with a Soul Premium Member

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    The wording is a bit twisty at times. It takes some getting used to. I imagine that might be even more difficult for a non-native speaker.

    Don't rely on the subtitles on the DVD, by the way. They get a lot of things wrong. For instances, in a later episode the line "Gorramit, Mal!" (which is basically a swearr) is subtitled as "You're a rabbit, Mal!"
     
  7. Miss Lemon

    Miss Lemon Commodore Commodore

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    I thought the exact same thing. There was something quite surreal about her encoounter with that customer.

    I found an online Firefly dictionary, so I can now swear in Chinese. :D

    :lol: Thanks, for the warning. I'll keep that in mind. :)
     
  8. Forbin

    Forbin Admiral Admiral

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    I said out, dammit!
    I'll be in the car.
     
  9. Forbin

    Forbin Admiral Admiral

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    I said out, dammit!
    It's also usually quite rude, and occasionally filthy.
     
  10. Lindley

    Lindley Moderator with a Soul Premium Member

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    Not always. Simon often calls River "mei-mei", or "little sister". What's consistent is that the meaning of the Mandarin can usually be intuited from context, or else doesn't matter.
     
  11. teacake

    teacake Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    I used a word I learned in Firefly to communicate with a chinese waiter recently. The word was bao. It was very exciting, LOL
     
  12. Miss Lemon

    Miss Lemon Commodore Commodore

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    I think the mixture between the American and Chinese culture is an interesting idea, but I do hope the Chinese influence will go beyond the occasional swearing, cute parasols and tea. From what I've seen until now, I'd say the American culture is pretty dominant on this series.
     
  13. teacake

    teacake Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    The impression I got is that there are communities where the chinese are more dominant and they employ western versions of swearing, cute parasols and tea :lol:

    And really it's about design as far as Firefly goes.. you won't find much in the way of cultural analysis here.
     
  14. Miss Lemon

    Miss Lemon Commodore Commodore

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    That's a vast disappointment...

    So what about slashy subtext? :D
     
  15. jespah

    jespah Taller than a Hobbit Moderator

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    Just finished watching the first half of the pilot, Serenity. Well, well, well.

    Queuing up part II.
     
  16. teacake

    teacake Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    It's space opera, think about how much cultural analysis you find in Star Wars.

    As to slashy subtext, well we all bring to the table what we want to take away :lol:
     
  17. teacake

    teacake Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    That's great!!! Looking forward to reading your impressions.
     
  18. marksound

    marksound Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    I think they accomplished a lot in only 14 episodes. Sometimes people forget that's all there was.
     
  19. teacake

    teacake Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    I completely agree. Compare it to other first seasons we accept as being lackluster because they were finding their way. This first season was full of punch.
     
  20. jespah

    jespah Taller than a Hobbit Moderator

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    Looks like our guys have enemies or at least they aren't too interested in making friends. Note - I'm being deliberately vague as I'm not sure who's seen what so far.

    Mal is, most decidedly, not nice to some people. I recognize they needed to get a lot of people introduced and rushed them together, but there's little backstory, except for Simon and River. Shepherd is mysterious; Kayla seems a bit underaged. The other two (names escape me) are married (oops, there's a third, Jayne, who's weird, and a fourth, the companion, whose name escapes me). Sparks will fly, I am sure. I bet fan fic writers 'ship about every possible combo out there.