Least favorite Firefly character

[StarshipDefiant]

I don't mind it being vague, besides who's to say that Christianity (or any religion) is the same five hundred years into the future where Humanity isn't even in Sol anymore, let alone on Earth? Maybe the bible, as they know it, is drastically different then it is today.

 

[Kegg]

To some degree they rely on traditions. In many other ways not so much. But in many ways ALL my pastors are far less traditional than how Book was portrayed. That said yeah it was vague, but not very.

But your pastors would (I am guessing) be in the Protestant tradition? That's a rather broad encompassing thing, granted, but it's been around since the Reformation. The absence of celibacy is more or less uniform, IIRC - it's chiefly practiced in the Catholic and Orthodox churches.

Ah well. On the other hand, I can forgive Whedon for wanting to avoid theobabble as much as technobabble (if I may steal a neologism from another poster here), but Book isn't as well thought out a character as he could have been. He makes the moral and/or ethical quip in a humourful, likeable way, and off he goes. I almost feel that the stuff about his secret past was simply so he could be given a little more depth later on, and it's manifestly clear that the film had basically no use for the guy at all.

 

[Lindley]

The unaired version of the pilot named Book as a Catholic, as I recall.

 

[Michael Chris]

The unaired version of the pilot named Book as a Catholic, as I recall.

Unaired pilot??! What wheere? when?

 

[Kegg]

The unaired version of the pilot named Book as a Catholic, as I recall.

'Shepherd' isn't a title used in Catholicism, aber; and Shepherd appears to be Book's title.

 

[Michael Chris]

But with the change in language and all that it's certainly possible. After all, the protestant "pastor" hasn't been around that long, and just means shepherd.

 

[RoJoHen]

The unaired version of the pilot named Book as a Catholic, as I recall.

Unaired pilot??! What wheere? when?

I must ask the same question.

 

[Kegg]

But with the change in language and all that it's certainly possible.

What change? We basically seem to have English plus some truncated swear words and Mandarin phrases.

After all, the protestant "pastor" hasn't been around that long, and just means shepherd.

Quite, but, you know, Catholics. He'd either be lay clergy (a priest) or a member of a religious order (a monk or friar).

 

[Skywalker]

Christianity in the time of Firefly is probably very different from current Christianity, likely with a lot of influences from Eastern religions due to the cultural melting pot that were the generational ships mankind used to reach their new home.

 

[Colonel Midnight]

In that comparison, I'd say it's the actor who made the difference. Alan Tudyk's talent was obvious regardless of his underwritten/unimportant character. The guy who played Mayweather? Pffft.

Wait -- there was an actor who played Mayweather?? I thought TPTB just used a cardboard cut-out with a cheesy grin on it for 4 years.

Cheers,
-CM-

 

[Michael Chris]

Christianity in the time of Firefly is probably very different from current Christianity, likely with a lot of influences from Eastern religions due to the cultural melting pot that were the generational ships mankind used to reach their new home.

Certainly plausible. Just look at some of the mixture of Christianity and native faiths in certain parts of the world.

But with the change in language and all that it's certainly possible.

What change? We basically seem to have English plus some truncated swear words and Mandarin phrases.

To be honest I wasn't even considering the language used in the show, but how language really does change. My best guess for Book's Christianity would be that it grew out of some breakaway sect of the Catholic church.

After all, the protestant "pastor" hasn't been around that long, and just means shepherd.

Quite, but, you know, Catholics. He'd either be lay clergy (a priest) or a member of a religious order (a monk or friar).

True.

 

[Lindley]

The unaired version of the pilot named Book as a Catholic, as I recall.

Unaired pilot??! What wheere? when?

I must ask the same question.

http://www.catfoodkiller.com/ff/se1.zip
http://www.catfoodkiller.com/ff/se2.zip

If there's a password, it's "firefly".

There are a few alternate scenes. The biggest change is the lack of the battle at the start. Temp music, too. The picture quality's fairly bad. VLC can play Real files.

 

[Harvey]

Now that I think about it, this must be the early version that Whedon talks about on the Serenity (episode) commentary track. Too bad it's not on the DVD (or the Blu-Ray).

 

[StarshipDefiant]

Now that I think about it, this must be the early version that Whedon talks about on the Serenity (episode) commentary track. Too bad it's not on the DVD (or the Blu-Ray).

He often doesn't like to (at least with Buffy and Angel, anyways) release the 'original'/'unaired' stuff, which is why I was surprised "Echo" was released on the Dollhouse DVD.

 

[barnaclelapse]

To some degree they rely on traditions. In many other ways not so much. But in many ways ALL my pastors are far less traditional than how Book was portrayed. That said yeah it was vague, but not very.

But your pastors would (I am guessing) be in the Protestant tradition? That's a rather broad encompassing thing, granted, but it's been around since the Reformation. The absence of celibacy is more or less uniform, IIRC - it's chiefly practiced in the Catholic and Orthodox churches.

Ah well. On the other hand, I can forgive Whedon for wanting to avoid theobabble as much as technobabble (if I may steal a neologism from another poster here), but Book isn't as well thought out a character as he could have been. He makes the moral and/or ethical quip in a humourful, likeable way, and off he goes. I almost feel that the stuff about his secret past was simply so he could be given a little more depth later on, and it's manifestly clear that the film had basically no use for the guy at all.

I definitely agree with you there. I would have really liked to have seen some more development with his character, which made his appearance in the film all the more annoying.