^ All this formatting info would be moot if saturn5 would just use the Preview button, and, you know, preview what the post will look like before hitting Submit.
Oh, and the posts are much better. I would LOVE it if you could leave out the Whedon Alumni. Unless it's a really big deal, just leave it out. Please. Pretty please.
I'll meet you halfway and just post the latest Whedon Alumni. And I did try the preview option and that's WHY the entire post post was in Font Italics and unreadable. I had to edit and repost. Still, only three more reviews to go anyway;
THE MESSAGE
[FONT=Verdana]The good;
Love the ice planets, someone should make those for real. We see more of Mal and Zoe during the war pre-Battle of Serenity and nobody pines as well as Kaylee does (except Willow?)
The bad;
Kinda a weak story with not that great a denoument.
Best line;
Zoe (to Tracey); "The first rule of war is never to let them know where you are"
Mal (exposing himself to the enemy and firing wildly) "Here I am! Here I am!"
Zoe; "Of course there are other schools of thought"
also like;
Jayne (non-plussed by Tracey's unexpected ressurection but observes) "Spry for a dead fellow!"
and
Tracey; "Do you think I'm stupid?"
Mal; "In every possible way"
not to mention
Mal; "There's always someone out there keeping a bullet with your name on it. The secret is to die of old age before they get a chance to use it"
which leads to;
Tracey; "You killed me"
Mal; "You killed yourself, I just carried the bullet for a while"
Packing heat;
Mal's still trying to offload the Lassiter from Trash but he may have to wait a while until the heat cools off. Jayne takes the opportunity to load up with ammo at the spaceport, considering all the different types of guns they use bullet resupply must be a nightmare. We see Zoe take a H&K G36 from the Alliance soldier she kills, the type of weapon we later see her and Mal use in the battle of Serenity. The Browncoats seem to use M16s and Mal has a H&K UMP submachinegun. Tracey takes a H&K P9 pistol from the crew.
Kinky dinky;
Jayne infers that seeing corpses puts him in the mood for sex but is quick to deny necrophilia. Naked Tracey.
Notches on the Serenity bedpost;
Inarra;3+1 possible, Atherton.
Wash; 1-the missus
Zoe; 1-the hubby
Kaylee;1-Bester
Capt subtext;
Womack threatens the postman with homosexual rape in prison. Mal straddling naked Tracey.
How'd they get away with that?
Simon cutting Tracey, yeesh!
Total Serenity crew; 9-
Mal, Zoe, Jayne, Wash, Kaylee, Inarra, Simon, River, Book
Whedon cliches;
Devoted siblings, haunted charismatic leading man. Teenage girls with superpowers. Hookers. Babbling insane girls with truth in their madness. Fake cockneys. Misguided religious zealots. Numbered t-shirts. Girls with botanical names (Willow, Saffron, Jasmine). Absent fathers. Clever use of extensive flashbacks. Women in boxes.
Bondage; I've been reminded that I didn't include Mal and Wash tied up by Niska in War Stories so...
Mal; 2
River; 1
Simon; 1
River; 1
Jayne; 1
Wash; 1
Knocked out;
Book; 2
Simon; 2
Kaylee; 1
Jayne;3
Mal; 2
Wash; 1
Inara; 1
Zoe; 1
River; 1
Kills; Zoe kills 2 Alliance soldiers during the war. Mal kills Tracey who seems very resilent, perhaps due to his organ smuggling surgery?
Mal; 12-
Zoe; 12-
Jayne; 11-
Wash; 2
River; 3
Whedon alumni-
Jonathon Woodward; 3-as observed in the commentary, a hatrick (but not the only one), the vamp Holden Webster whom Buffy slays in 'Lies my parents told me', the traitorous Knox in season 5 of Angel and now Tracey in Firefly, each character seeming good but betraying everyone at the end.
Alliance good or bad?;
Inara seems to be suggesting she return the Lassiter for a reward but Mal won't hear of it, maybe to avoid her getting in trouble or maybe he just couldn't stand dealing with the Alliance?
Womack is operating by himself as obviously the Alliance consider organ smuggling illegal although it doesn't seem to bother Mal and co.
Missing scenes;
One rumoured storyline for later in the season is that Mal is approached to join a group of ex-Browncoats who want to restart the war and destroy the Alliance. He is then faced with the choice represented by Zoe on one side who wants to go back to the war and Inara on the other who says that would be madness.
Firefly speak;
Gorram=goddam.
Weak tea=not good
Back birth=idiot
Companion=high class courtesan
Gengish=competent
Doh-ma=understand/understood?
Rutting=bloody (or perhaps 'fraking'?)
Chin-cha-da=hell
Purple belly=officious bureaucrat
Ta-gow=Oh god!
Won-gwa-pee= to urinate or defecate
Gosa=excrement
Tien-sha-duh=rubbish
Los-soh-ret=crap
Dien-dyododo-chowen=bastard
Wah=what the hell?
Mah song=quickly
Jin-seen-yung=idiot
Nu-shu-quong=nice going
Mai-hong=hello
Sheinou-niou=no good
Mei, mei=little sister
Niou-se=lame
Hey-shu-peegou=dumbass
Moon brain=inbred?
Jus-sa-gran=dupes/suckers
Swa-shi=petty, small time
Trim=sex
Roller=tank or armoured vehicle
Jon-su=bitch/hardass
Wetware=smuggled organs
Shot; -Wash shot in the face
Mal; 2-
Kaylee;1-
Jayne;3-
Book;1-
Wash;1-
Reminds me off;
The spaceport very reminiscent of Blade Runner whilst the post office scenes are reminiscent of season 4 of Babylon 5 (goverments rise and fall but the postal system is forever). The police craft if reminiscent of the former US Navy F14 Tomcat fighter.
Questions and observations;
No aliens in the Fireflyverse, much like BSG. Simon just seems to live with his foot in his mouth (even River thinks he's a 'boob'). I guess being such a goodlooking guy and a successful surgeon he never really had to try to get girls before. His observation that every other woman in his extremely limited social circle is married (Zoe), a professional who refuses to 'service the crew' (Inara) and his sister leaving Kaylee as a last resort is about as sensitive as bombing Hiroshima.
Jayne has a mother (and possibly a sister?) whom he sends money to. Jayne wears a hat which is unusual, in Firefly it's mostly the bad guys who wear hats. A very different version of pre-Serenity Mal here, funloving and seeming to think of the war as a great big game. Kaylee has rigged a hammock in the engine room, perhaps because of the events of Out of Gas? Or because that way Simon can just walk casually in on her which he couldn't in her room cabin?
The mule has survived it's use as a kamikaze in War Stories and is lodged in the Serenity's hold. Interestingly Jayne who we think of as a tactically shaven gorilla shows suprising sensitivity, removing his hat at the sight of the corpse and telling Book that seeing the dead makes him value life all the more. Nice mention of Saffron, Mal&co thinking that the Feds are after the Lassiter because she sold them out.
Shepherd once again shows an interesting depth of knowledge of the Alliance police.
.
Marks out of 10; 6/10 A little disappointing after the quality of the preceding eps, largely rescued by a few good lines.
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