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

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

The language: "it is a future where the only two surviving superpowers, the United States and China, fused to form the central federal government, called the Alliance, resulting in the fusion of the two cultures." Chinese influence abounds in design, swear words, food and other cultural clutter. You can find translations for the Chinese words online.

It's not so much the Chinese but the English language that is confusing to me as a non-native English speaker. These people use strange words and at times the grammar seems messed up.

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.

... "it is a future where the only two surviving superpowers, the United States and China...

I wasn't even sure they were Terrans.

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

 

[Skywalker]

So which Earth is Earth-That-Is, and which is Earth-That-Will-Be?

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

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

Earth-That-Was was the original home of all humans. A series of events led to the mass exodus of Earth's population, A great fleet left Earth founding a new civilization in a new star system. Many of the facts about "Earth-That-Was" have been lost to the pages of history.

 

[lurok]

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.

 

[Spock/Uhura Fan]

So I've watched the first part of the pilot last night, I didn't have time to watch the whole thing, unfortunately. That's why I haven't read lurok's review yet.

Some first thoughts:

- What's with these people's language?! I felt quite disoriented during the first 15 minutes because of it. And why are the Chinese(?) bits not sub-titled?

- I feel the actor who plays the captain looks a bit too young and too shiny to be a convincing grumpy, disillusioned captain and to call the Doctor "boy".

- I had quite some laughs, but some of the humorous bits rubbed me the wrong way. "Kaylee is dead". Har har.

- I do hope the characters will develop beyond the stereotypes they appear to represent in the first 1.5 hours, e.g. the whore, the priest, the nerd, the comedic sociopath…

- I love the feel of the ship, people having to climb ladders and stuff.

- On a superficial note: I think the Doctor is cute.

I don’t sound too enthusiastic, do I?

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.

 

[Lindley]

It's not so much the Chinese but the English language that is confusing to me as a non-native English speaker. These people use strange words and at times the grammar seems messed up.

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!"

 

[Miss Lemon]

I was also a tad confused because I was convinced Inara was non-human.

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

It would have been nice to get subtitles, but what's said in Chinese is supposed to be negligible.

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

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!"

Thanks, for the warning. I'll keep that in mind.

 

[Forbin]

So which Earth is Earth-That-Is, and which is Earth-That-Will-Be?

I'll be in the car.

 

[Forbin]

It would have been nice to get subtitles, but what's said in Chinese is supposed to be negligible.

It's also usually quite rude, and occasionally filthy.

 

[Lindley]

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.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

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

 

[Miss Lemon]

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.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

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

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

 

[Miss Lemon]

...you won't find much in the way of cultural analysis here.

That's a vast disappointment...

So what about slashy subtext?

 

[jespah]

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

Queuing up part II.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

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

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

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

Queuing up part II.

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

 

[marksound]

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

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

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

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.

 

[jespah]

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.